Yellow Monkey guys heard about GameFounders program through their social network. Krishna has a friend who participated an accelerator program in Australia and he pointed him a website (check it out: www.f6s.com), where you get updates from different accelerators, events, programs and he got an update from there. Shailesh has another Indian friend who is taking part of the Start-Up Chile programme (http://startupchile.org/), who advised to check out some other accelerator programs. And now Yellow Monkey Studios is in the GameFounders program with their original puzzle game called HUEBRIX.

In the beginning they had some trouble with visas and when the last verdict was received, it happened pretty much as Krishna describes: “I was sleeping and then I got a call that the visas have arrived. Then I called Shailesh and then he booked the plane. Then I thought, oh gosh, I don’t have a bag. And then I bought a bag and put everything inside. And then we got on the plane”. Perfect organizing, don’ t you think?

There is a little side story to tell as well. Krishna is about to get married and the wedding date was set to be in May. BUT destiny played some new cards to them and when the visas arrived, they had to change their plans quickly.  “She was never sure we get selected or not. Then she wasn’ t sure if we get the visas. And then we were already going. There was no time to react”, says Krishna when describing what her other half thought about the plan change.  Shailesh adds:  “In the morning we didn’ t know that we were going and in the evening we were already packed and on the flight. That was crazy!”  Krishna and his future-wife will now get married in November!

About life in Estonia, both Krishna and Shailesh feel it’s nice and peaceful (compared to Mumbai and its busy streets). “When I go back, there will be constant honking and traffic and noise”, is how Krishna explains it.  “Slow” and “peaceful” are the adjectives that come up in their minds when describing Estonia. Also they are enjoying the long days of light and that it gets dark quite late compared to what they have used to.  Nice reviews for Estonian tourism pages 😉

For Krishna, it was the first time to travel out of India and be away from home that long. Shailesh had done some travelling before, the most northern place he had already visited was Prague in Czech Republic. Of course now he can add Tallinn, Estonia to his travel map as well. What they can tell according to their observations is that the major difference between India and Estonia is the small  amount of people in the streets. “It’ s like a ghost town for us. In India it is like a sea of people everywhere and all the time,” comments Shailesh.

Coping with the weather conditions has not been entirely easy. Krishna got ill and he even had to visit the hospital. Fortunately he was taken care of really well and now he is as good as new. Shailesh has been luckier and has not missed a day in the office. At least because of health problems. Both guys admit that one thing they had to face here was that they didn’t have enough warm clothes to put on. “It’s endless sauna in Mumbai, you don’t need warm things there,” is what Shailesh says.

Food is another topic. Shailesh admits that he has been eating a lot of junk food in the past weeks and that he is kind of disappointed about the little variety of real “Estonian” food. He was just expecting more interesting gastronomic experiences.  Krishna on the other hand is happy about the variety of fresh salads and also approves “Kalev” chocolates. After a long discussion about “mangos and pineapples in Estonian supermarket” it is also clear that Estonian fruit selection (especially in winter/early spring time) is nothing compared to what they have back home.

Being in Estonia for six weeks already, there have been some funny incidents as well.  Even though Shailesh was known about his cool moustache already before, he did not know that his precious moustache can get him free drinks in bars. When he was out last time, he got at least 4 free shots from a random guy who expressed his sympathy by yelling: “Awesome moustache, man, let me buy you shots!” True story!

One thing they missed doing in Estonia is making snow angels and other stuff connected to snow. Even though the snowy period was rather long this year, they did not get the chance to take advantage of it.  Shailesh was dreaming of snow fights while Krishna just wanted to jump into the snow and lie there: “I didn’ t get to completely lie down, but there was a mountain of snow and I just hugged it.”

All in all, they like it in Estonia.  Most of all they appreciate the opportunity to get to know so many interesting people during the program. Yellow Monkey Studios’ advice for the next teams to participate GameFounders accelerator is:  “Know for sure what you want to do and take the advice that applies accordingly”.

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Yellow Monkey Studios: Krishna and Shailesh