The 2023 Forbes India 30 Under 30 compilation of entrepreneurs and professionals across finance, technology, art, entertainment and sports, reminds us that the free spirt is alive and kicking
Beat Generation may be as removed as a me-too unicorn is from Jack Kerouac. Startup business models are after all largely meant to fulfil consumer needs, although the problem may be there are too many trying to meet similar demands. The Beat Generation of authors rejected what was popular and the norm, thriving on liberation and exploration of all hues.
Blame this seemingly outlandish association to a reread of Kerouac’s 1957 novel On the Road when in the throes of putting together Forbes India’s annual ’30 Under 30’ edition. On the Road’s protagonists Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty embark on a wild road romp from America’s East to West Coast. With generous doses of jazz, drugs and poetry, the duo breaks all rules and becomes “the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…”.