WorldRemit India head loves cricket & photography, enjoys capturing the beauty of nature

Ruzan Ahamed, Country Head – India, WorldRemit loves photography. A couple of years ago, he got a DSLR camera, and that has become his newfound interest.

"Capturing the beauty of nature is something I really enjoy. I am an amateur when it comes to photography, but I have started learning and experimenting. Sri Lanka is a great place to do that provided you get to travel around the country. My most recent pictures were ones I took in Colombo that show the daily life of ordinary people. One of the fishermen (at sunrise) and another of a street food seller (just after the sunset)," he told ET Panache.

Passion play

Ahamed's other passion is cricket. He has played the game for a good number of years in his life (at college and club level).

"I enjoy watching a few of my then teammates playing at the international level representing Sri Lanka. However, since the whole pandemic I have not been able to get outdoors much and play it, nor has there been much cricket that I can watch," he said.

Ahamed started working from home from the day he joined WorldRemit around two and a half years ago.

Home work
"I did not expect the lockdown to change things a lot. But it has. Everyone in the company is now working from home which has resulted in me having to put in longer hours. When you work from home, it is hard to somewhat separate your personal and work life. Also, it has been a very interesting time because our business has been growing rapidly during this period. I am a person who wants to be on the ground, close to action, solving problems. But the lockdowns have restricted travel. Last year I visited six countries. I miss travelling, meeting business partners and talking to customers in person. I have focused some of my efforts in talking to businesses (especially start-ups) outside of my usual interactions to understand how the pandemic is impacting them," he said.

Ahamed worked on building synergies within the organisation to create value for customers. This has been an eye opener for him as it has already resulted in a number of opportunities. In terms of life he has had the opportunity to spend a decent amount of quality time with family doing fun stuff like watching BBC’s Our Planet series in the nights and playing carrom games to keep everyone in the house active and engaged.

"Luckily in Sri Lanka we have had a few months of free movement after the first lockdown. This has allowed us to visit a few places around Sri Lanka which was a really refreshing change for myself and my family. The beauty of Sri Lanka is you can go from sunny beaches to misty mountains in a few hours," he says.

New things
Ahamed is lucky to witness the sunrise and sunset from the rooftop of his home very clearly almost every day. Since the lockdowns, there has been less air pollution, so the views are amazing.

"Some days I can clearly see the mountains that are about a hundred miles away from Colombo. Waking up early in the morning to capture these beautiful scenes has kept me going. I’ve started to read and listen to great wildlife photographers like David Yarrow. Honestly, it has somewhat made things difficult for me because every time I read, listen or watch a show on photographers like David Yarrow I am frustrated because I can’t leave my home but really wish I had the freedom, like pre-pandemic times to just go out into the wild. Playing with my daughter and reading her lots of books is also something I have enjoyed during the lockdown," he said.

Lessons
"I think this pandemic has taught me so many lessons and made me realise what is important in life. Billions of people are stuck indoors due to something that cannot even be seen with the naked eye. Few key learnings for me are:

Appreciate the little things in life that we take for granted. This is the starting point to be positive and always look at the bright side. Just being able to spend time with loved ones is a luxury. There are many things that are beyond our control that are not worth worrying about. I have realised that focusing on what can be done and doing the best we can is the way to go. Always look for opportunities. Challenging times bring the best out of you so focus on the right opportunities. Undoubtedly this is a very difficult time for all of us. But this is a great time to help others, adapt and learn something new," he ended.