hey nippon how are you
i'm doing good how are you i'm doing
great so before we start i do want to
say that your name nippon
which means an expert so you've been an
expert in a number of fields
you are the founder of this uh
organization called service space
uh tell me a little bit about what they
do
What is Service Spaces
well service spaces uh started in 1999
in the silicon valley by we started by
building websites for non-profits and
now we do a whole bunch of other
projects but at its core it's a
volunteer-run ecosystem and here the
volunteers are not just serving to help
others and create an external impact
that's there but you're also serving to
for inner transformation to change
yourself along the way um and so it's a
it's a it's a big incubator of all kinds
of projects that try to circulate a
little bit more love in the world yeah
so talking about love
every time i get your email i see you
have a very unique signature
and you have a mission statement around
it
what is it about like
what is something about smiles what is
it exactly
i i don't know usually i'm smiling so i
write based on what i'm what i'm feeling
in that moment but um yeah i'll often
sign my
emails saying with smiles
yeah and every time i read your email
i would smile because it's such a nice
way to end it
and i also read somewhere that you were
studying at berkeley you were doing
computer science and philosophy
and you were on the path to you know
the high-tech path
and then you had a change of heart uh
what happened there and how has that
journey been like were there any
pitfalls you know
we all want to do good but what was your
experience in that
Giving to be happy
yeah i mean i think this was you have to
kind of understand the context that of
that time silicon valley
dot com
greed was all over the place and here i
was
uh an indian guy coming out of berkeley
into that field and there were lots of
very lucrative opportunities but my
heart said that that wasn't my calling
that you can uh accumulate a lot um and
still not be happy you know and so for
me i at that time i was thinking more
about happiness and i realized that it
takes giving to be happy
and giving you know to give you don't
first need to acquire a whole lot
a lot of people think first you get and
then you give
and i i realize that that's actually
kind of a there's a there's a fault in
that logic which because according to
that logic then we are born bankrupt
yeah and then you accumulate and then
you give you know and i just think that
you can accumulate a few things like
maybe financial resources you accumulate
over time maybe your reputation you
accumulate over time maybe fame you
accumulate over time but things like
love we're born with you know and so if
you can think in that broad way like how
can i give uh with so many other forms
of wealth
and i think that became the thrust of
the rest of my
my work i realized i i in giving i was a
lot happier than i was in getting or
taking um or accumulating like the
security you feel from accumulation
pales in comparison to the connection
you feel when you are giving
um and so
taking this i mean this is a very
difficult path right to even explain to
people your you know your parents your
children your
right everybody right everybody first
thing you when you go to a party you're
like you know hey what do you do and i'm
like yeah i volunteer and they're like
no what do you really do i'm like no i
really volunteer they're just like okay
well next person you know
um we'll talk to you later
we're or in the indian community you
know people will be like oh shouldn't
you be taking care of your parents
instead of like you know living off of
them i was like no i'm not living off of
them it's like are you taking care of
them what kind of a son are you i was
like well why don't you go ask my
parents you know but uh
you have you have that whole cultural
thing of like oh and so many sacrifices
were made for me to have the
opportunities and i had so much
potential all that kind of stuff that
people tell you
and you're like and and in those eyes
you're seen as wasting all of that
potential because you're going out and
practicing giving that's something you
do when you're 65 you know after you
retire like that's not something you do
out after college um and so yeah it was
a you know it's it's a kind of uphill
battle um and uh you you work through it
and you have to listen to that inner
voice you know you have to listen to
that uh calling inside you and even my
parents wanted to make sure that it
wasn't just i was i wasn't just doing a
rash thing that i actually genuinely
felt it so they did accept your choice
and they were i'm sure at the end of the
day they were happy but during that time
it must be hard for them as well right
yeah they wanted me to be sustainable
they said look we can take care of
ourselves we want you to follow your
dreams but like we want you to make sure
we want to also make sure that you know
how to take care of yourself you know
um and so
and and this is not a it's like none of
their friends kids are doing this kind
of thing so it's there's no precedent
for it you know so in your mind it's a
new story
and uh you know they they certainly
especially my mom was certainly worried
and was like no this is not a why don't
you do it on the side or why don't you
go out first make all the money and then
retire and then go do all this you know
early retirement you know i technically
relate to that because i mean obviously
i'm not at your stage but i feel the
same you know i always wanted to do
something
in this field and that was the thing
everybody kept saying yeah you should
just do it on the side it's good
yeah
so you know last year has been quite
dramatic for all of us right pandemic
and everything and we talked a little
bit before about the
the kitchens that you were holding which
is not going on right now the karma
kitchens the volunteers
what else have you learned in pandemic i
mean what is like a couple of just maybe
the one biggest lesson that you think
that you can talk about
Living bridges
well i think one biggest thing is i
think that in the pandemic everyone
started to think that life every there's
so much so many emergencies and your
react react react react you know to the
here and now and i think when you just
take that very short-term view you
forget about the long-term view which is
not just emergency but emergence which
is a longer-term view and longer term
could go all the way you know they have
these living bridges in meghalay i don't
know if you know about these bridges but
they try to put these concrete posts on
both sides and build a bridge and all
those would like fall down
and what they realized is what what
survives are these living bridges and
living bridges are essentially
trees on both sides whose roots start to
interconnect so every generation takes
these roots and they know what to do to
connect these roots to the next bit and
then the next generation comes in and
takes it to the next
and over many many generations you have
this thick root system on which people
can walk and traverse and these roots
they're known as living bridges
they take many generations but they are
so robust they are so resilient they are
so sturdy and they serve everybody so i
think there's place for short term and
emergencies
and then there's space for emergence and
how do we balance that personally but
also systemically right how do we do
that and i think most of our
systems are rooted in the short term
yeah
are rooted in the here and now are
rooted in consumerism
and i don't think that that is nearly as
deep as i'm thinking something beyond
and i think one other thing i would add
is that i think
sorry
i think thinking about
like is this a war story or is this a
love story i think was a great question
yeah right like is it are we are we
being attacked and oh my god if we don't
fight back we're gonna we're gonna die
or is this an invitation to deepen our
interconnection and to deepen our love
or is it both
and which one is it more how are they
interconnected like all these kinds of
questions are a little bit more nuanced
yeah than just saying oh my god let's go
you know let's go attack this thing and
eliminate it yeah i really think what
you're saying is really a reset button
for all of us right in our lives
is really like we started thinking in a
different aspect because we were forced
to think about it almost and that's what
exactly what you're saying right you
look at it as a bridge or is it a tree
or is it like you know all these things
we were forced to do because
it happened
yeah yeah and i mean the media kept
saying all these negative stories of how
there's so much fear yeah alongside the
fear there's always also a great rise in
compassion alongside the suffering there
were so many people who were trying to
alleviate suffering like everyday heroes
doing like the smallest things with with
incredible you know even in the first
days like people even if they were
quarantined they're playing going to the
balcony and playing music and and
figuring out a chorus right like the
police are stopping and playing guitars
you know
it's like kids are having a lemonade
stand and saying free jokes you know it
was just a parallel universe that we
started living in almost
yeah well i think people respond with
love like people want to respond with
love when you see suffering that's half
of the story sure there's a lot of
suffering yeah but another half of the
story is that when faced with that
we have this tendency we we have this
kind of innate
