Just for the Record (Author : Kid Haidér)

Hashim looked up at the mirrored, steel-and-glass pyramid of the Petronas Towers as its shine reflected back at him in the chilly blue daylight of Kuala Lumpur. Hashim dreamt of his very own building, his very own empire, and his very own reflection. A shining building, a monument to all that he had built and to his ambition. His life, in many ways, was the complete antithesis of this dream. He worked hard as a graphic designer, and he was appreciated for his job. He was a good designer, some even going so far as to call him a talented one, but there was this gnawing feeling in his heart. The feeling of potential was wasted. He had the feeling that he was missing something. Something more. Something of his own.

The seed of his dream was planted one night during a brainstorming session with a friend who is a fellow graphic designer. They were discussing a project, and Hashim, buoyed by an epiphany, quickly drew a crude sketch for a mobile application. The concept was simple enough, but the possibilities ignited a blaze of inspiration. It was a way to combine his passion for design with his passion for food in a single project, a mobile application that unites food enthusiasts who seek organic products, specialised dishes, and gourmet recipes in a single place.

The longer the thought percolated, the more solid it became in his mind. It was something real; he could almost grasp it. His gut instinct told him that it was more than just an epiphany—that this was an opportunity, an opening, a way to escape from his day job and build something entirely his own.

The fear was there, a constant companion whispering doubts in his ear. He had a stable job and a comfortable life. Starting a company was a risk, a leap into the unknown. But Hashim knew he couldn’t ignore the voice of his intuition. He had to take the leap.

He spent that first month doing research, planning, and reading everything he could find about starting a business and the food industry; he spent the next few months learning about app development and different forms of marketing, and evenings and weekends on the app prototype, buoyed by the excitement of making something new, something of his own.

The ride wasn’t always smooth. There were sleepless nights, investor rejections, bouts of self-doubt that threatened to derail the whole enterprise, setbacks, technical snags, and budgetary black holes. At times, he wondered if he had made a giant mistake.

But Hashim was not ready to surrender. He kept pulling on the thread, reminding himself of the reasons that he had begun, the sense of possibility that had sprung up with the idea, and the gut feeling that this was a calling. He drew on the support of friends and loved ones who believed in him and his vision.

Little by little, his worries started easing up. His app started attracting a few small-time investors. He assembled a team—a small group of dreamers who were willing to devote themselves to making his app a reality.

On the day the app was made available to users, Hashim was ecstatic. He had been working towards this moment for months, staying up all night and ploughing on through the rejections from inspectors. It was the start of a journey, sure, but what a start.

As he read the positive, excited comments and reviews, he swelled with pride, for he had created something real. The tiny seed of an idea he’d planted in his mind had sprouted. Someone else’s life was being made easier by his app; someone else was enjoying food as a result of it all; someone else was being brought closer to beauty.

Hashim had learned that the most rewarding experiences in life come from those moments when, in the face of crippling doubt, you take a gamble on the faintest of intuitions returned when you follow the flicker of your own flame. The process was often hard, but, in the process of making something meaningful, the reward was in the doing.

And when he stood on the balcony of his modest flat and watched the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur become silhouettes at dusk, he realised that his own glittering tower, his own empire, was much more than mere fantasy—it was a plausible goal within his grasp. He had leapt, he had committed, and he was already having the ride of his life.

Previous: Tale 6

Next: Tale 8

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