Abhishek Reddy was well-prepared for life. He planned to work hard and accumulate as much money as possible by the time he was 35, then take an early retirement, supposing he would live to be 70. While things were initially going as per plan, the creative and branding designer from Andhra Pradesh realised that in the quest to hustle and make the best of his early years in the profession, he was burning out working 15 hours a day. At 22, he made the decision to “retire” from his work at that point.
Now, two years after leaving his ₹1.5 crore per annum job, Reddy has bought a farm in Obulapuram village near Pamidi town. He is managing it with his mother and sister, and enjoying the best time of his life.”Life is boundless,” he declared. Reddy, also known as “Silly Sensei” on Instagram, engages his 1.2 lakh followers with short, funny, and educational videos while sharing his agricultural journey. “First, I established my own web design business in Hyderabad, where I also provided businesses with original branding concepts. Since it was an exciting opportunity, I accepted a job offer from one of my clients that valued my work so highly that they offered me a Rs 1.5 lakh annual salary, but I ended up working roughly 15 hours a day in the office,” Reddy told Moneycontrol.”I used to work on weekends as well. I could even take off on holidays and festivals including Sankranti.”
His mother, Neela Reddy, also took early retirement from her government job to help establish the farm. Coming from an agricultural family, she had a passion for growing her own food. Recently, she harvested her first batch of greens from the farm.
“Currently, we are working on monetising the farm and it still needs some work but in a couple of years we are looking forward to making about Rs 2 crore a year,” he stated. Aishwarya, his sister and an IIT Kharagpur alumna, is excited for the family to move to the property. “She has a thriving career in the city, but she too is very enthusiastic about working with the farm, monetising it, and making this business a success,” Reddy stated.
