Vuja De
Hello Fellow Mavericks, welcome to another exciting episode of the ‘Ordinary Maverick’ podcast.
A few months ago, our city experienced a severe thunderstorm. While storms are nothing new to most of us, this one stood out as a windstorm that brought down power lines and toppled trees across the state. Thousands of households lost electricity for weeks, and the damage was extensive, trees crashed into homes and blocked roads.
Living on a mountain, we saw plenty of trees fall around us and lost power briefly, but our electricity was restored within hours. By comparison, other parts of the city went without power for weeks, forcing residents to seek shelter in hotels or alternative accommodation because life without electricity became nearly impossible. It really makes you appreciate how vital electricity is for daily life, from cooking and heating to refrigeration.
During this time, we received numerous phone calls from people assuming we'd been hit the hardest due to our location on the mountain; many thought our outage would be prolonged. Surprisingly, we had reliable power throughout those weeks, aside from a short interruption. This gave us pause to reflect on why that was the case. Our neighborhood, along with the local utility crew, is well prepared for such events. Residents habitually monitor trees for overgrowth and trim branches proactively to prevent them from falling on power lines, which proved invaluable during the storm. As a result, we weathered conditions much better than others. Although some houses elsewhere suffered devastation from fallen trees, homes on the mountain are generally constructed in clearings to minimize that risk. Of course, nature remains unpredictable, but I believe our foresight made a significant difference.
This experience illustrates the concept of Vuja De—the act of seeing familiar situations through a fresh lens. Unlike Déjà vu, where something feels like it has happened before, Vuja De occurs when you encounter a routine event or circumstance but view it in an entirely new way, feeling as though you're experiencing something totally new.
It can also mean looking at a particular situation in a different way. In this instance, we felt fortunate to be on the mountain, ha ha.
The more Sanjana and I discussed Vuja De, the more intrigued we became.
It’s such a critical one that drives innovation and creativity. Having a fresh perspective on something familiar sparks ingenuity and solution thinking. It can make you aware of possibilities, opportunities that no one else was noticing.
Some decades back, when we were living in Mumbai, India, that’s how a home business of sorts started. My origins are from a central State in India, Madhya Pradesh. Now there are some food items that are unique to the State, like Bijoras. It’s a traditional delicacy, made from white pumpkin pulp, lentils and sesame seeds and has a unique taste. It is delicious and full of nutritive value. Making bijoras is a bit of a labor and time intensive process as one must grate the white pumpkin minus the hard skin, soak lentils, grind them with numerous other items, mix all of it into a semisolid knead and then shape and dry them in the sun for at least 7 to 10 days. We got our quota of bijoras every time we went home to Madhya Pradesh. Until Vuja De struck! We thought, how about if Bijoras were available in Mumbai? And that sparked the idea of a home business. Under the guidance of my mom for getting the recipe of the bijoras right and with Sanjana taking over the marketing and putting things together, we started making and selling bijoras. Guess what happened! Demand outpaced the supply! We were all sold out before new batches could be made. I am sure if we had persisted, we would perhaps have a full-blown business! But life had other plans and Bijora making wasn’t one of them! Ha ha.
Practicing Vuja De in our lives can help us professionally and personally. We often have brainstorming, white boarding sessions in our workplace. These are meant to stimulate out of the box, blue sky thinking where we outline the problem and throw out ideas. We are looking at the same problem but, exploring different solutions.
Adopting the Vuja De mentality in our personal life helps in so many ways. We can look at a situation, a challenge in a different way. Even view our relationships with new eyes and catch a different perspective. It also means thinking of things that are usually assumed to be negative as positive.
It’s about shifting perspectives to rethink what matters most versus what matters least. Try it. It will help in rebalancing how we live life and not just living each day on auto pilot.
Just the other day, I was driving down our mountain. Same road, have done this thousands of times. People who come over often say ‘oh gosh, you’ll have this additional mountain road to get up to your home’, perhaps seeing it as a pain, as additional time for traveling anywhere. We see it differently. And each time I drive the route, I marvel at nature, at the beautiful trees, seeing them in every season. During the fall, it’s a riot of colors, during spring, tons of flowers, and during winter, the snow makes it magical. For us, the mountain road signifies calm, serenity, a sense of leaving the hustle bustle behind. A different lens. Guess in some ways, I am practicing Vuja De and not letting the ‘same road’, same routine get me down.
So, how did this term Vuja De come about? It was sometime in the ‘80s, when comedian George Carlin coined this during a stand-up routine. It’s also discussed in Adam Grant’s book, ‘Originals’, defining it as looking at familiar things with a fresh perspective to gain new insights. In some ways it is similar to the Zen philosophy of ‘Beginner’s mind’, the practice of looking at the world without preconceived notions, as if seeing it for the first time.
Here’s an interesting story about the invention of the microwave. Percy Spencer joined the navy as a defense contractor post World War II, he had a keen interest in radio technology and was working on military radars. But one day, he was standing close to an active radar set when he felt the chocolate bar in his pocket melting. He started experimenting using popcorn kernels to see if that would work in this case too and yes, it did.
The rest is history, and we all have a microwave in our homes now and I am sure have popped popcorn and watched movies a zillion times!
Vuja De thinking can also help when dealing with trauma. We are big fans of theatre. Sanjana’s Mom established and led a theatre group in Mumbai, India and her childhood was spent surrounded by theatre experiences. Ever since we’ve been together, theatre has brought joy and creativity in our lives and we loved introducing this to our girls too. We are all big theatre fans. A while back, we watched a play, ‘Little Big Things’ in London. It’s the depiction of the true story of Henry Fraser who had a life changing diving accident in 2009. Henry is now an incredible mouth artist, motivational speaker and a best-selling book author. He saw life through a different perspective after the accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down and discovered mouth painting. It’s a fantastic musical, beautifully enacted, with a powerful inspirational message. Do catch it if you get a chance.
Nothing should get one down. Practice Vuja de and see the challenge you’re faced with in a different way. The answer will come to you.
Remember our Maverick formula? The most important thing is to go with your gut, be true and fall forward. Still your mind, and practice Vuja De thinking. You will get the answer, you will feel it in your gut, your instinct. Then of course, you need to have the courage to be true and fall forward
Fellow Mavericks, have you experienced Vuja De? share your experiences at ‘theordinarymaverick@gmail.com’ and follow me on Instagram #theordinarymaverick. I love hearing from you.
This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing day! Keep well.
This podcast series was put together as a team effort from the Bhardwaj family. Concept, design, title, researchers and reviewers: Ajey, Sanjana, Avantika and Niharika Bhardwaj; Script– Sanjana; Cover design – Niharika. All rights reserved.
