j.a.arunan

Time on Earth

This is not intended to be a complete autobiography.

It is simply a chronology of moments, periods, thoughts, experiments and changes that I feel are worth keeping in the record.

Some entries may be about business. Some may be personal. Some may be photographs, observations, mistakes, new interests, people I met, things I built, things I stopped doing, or views I later changed.

Older entries do not need to be rewritten to match what I believe today. Where my view changes, I would rather leave the earlier view in place and add what I understand differently now.

  1. 1973

    Born in Tuticorin.

  2. 1975–1992

    Brought up in Chennai. School, family, curiosity, early exposure to computers, and the years of simply experiencing the world before adult life began to take shape.

  3. 1988

    An early experiment with BASIC programming and a small venture while still in school.

  4. 1991

    Started experimenting with construction while in college.

  5. 1992

    Tried oyster mushroom farming with friends. Around the same period, the aluminium business that would become an important part of my working life began.

  6. 1993 onward

    Left college and entered working life more fully. Business, manufacturing, software and systems gradually became interconnected parts of how I learnt.

  7. 1997–2000

    Experiments with computer assembly, software development and technology training.

  8. 2004

    A significant family and business transition. Took greater responsibility for the manufacturing business and began thinking more deeply about systems, people and independence.

  9. 2008–2014

    A long period of experimenting with small businesses, shared support systems, entrepreneurship and ownership models.

  10. 2014–2018

    A period when life and work changed considerably. Several earlier structures came to an end. Much of what I thought was permanent turned out not to be.

  11. 2018 onward

    Started rebuilding quietly, with a different understanding of business, ownership, people and dependence.

  12. 2022

    A long personal chapter came to a close.

  13. 2026

    Fifty-two, approaching fifty-three. Still building and learning, but increasingly interested in peace, useful work, good conversations, and questioning whatever I think I know.

A record of where I was then — not a claim that I was right.