One ...

One day I will go and meet my mother wherever she is. 

One year I have seen death and birth!

One month of hope and despair!

One day everything will be ok.

One day I will look behind and see what have I done for that one day.

One moment I sometimes regret, but that moment is gone.

One thing for sure, I want to leave for many lives.

One moment of despair, but you will rise from that despair.

One mother, I lost, but she is always there in my many mothers.

*I wrote this in dedication to the Mother of a dear friend, who I lost to Covid19 and it reminded me of my own Mother. Mothers are just special!

Maybe Instant?

Maybe Instant?

As I walk into the railway station a c70% of people are consumed in there mobile. Including me writing this blurb! 

Nobody has time to look at the trees, the sky or the people around you! Maybe I am a nerd! Presume it is the hook of instant news, facebook or gif of Boris johnson. But something which is giving instant gratification. Maybe newspapers are digital, I don’t know if people are reading the newspaper! I try to read the BBC news app. News is my poison to get high!

Friends cannot wait to speak to meet before they flash there latest good news or (people rarely flash bad news in social - yet). Not sure how many household tiffs can be dedicated to the grass is greener on the other side (aka Facebook friends) side stories on facebook!  Anyways the point is instant gratification of sharing the news!

Grown-up running out of patience!

Kids growing up without patience!

Granny’s worried about lack of patience!

Are we slowly turning into zombies! With a phone device! Looking alike! Doing alike! A single of grey covering the earth all looking same! It seems consuming via mobile is a cult following. A lot of us know - when you follow a cult (check google). On that note, you have google home/Alexa a device listening to you constantly and soon live with you!  So bring home the *unknownAI. Some other time running out of battery on my train commute! 

My high street...

My high street...

Discounts everywhere

Starts from 70% but can go anywhere

But do I see footfalls 

I don’t even see two souls

Is my high-street getting lonely? 

Are my people getting lonely?

Maybe I arrived at the wrong time?

Doesn’t matter as I see kids having a great time?

I know human nature is to explore

I know Amazon is great but we need options more

People will come back to the high-street

As there is more to a shopping treat!

#Whydo

Why do women have to put make-up in moving trains, when they are good enough without it?

Why do women have to cook, work and raise kids and still have less representation in boardrooms?

Why do women have to put the extra mile extra effort for everything?  

Why do every month they have to go through the pain of periods, but still have to deliver at home and work?

Why do women have to carry the pain of giving birth, but still expected to report back in less than 12 months?

Why do women who are great at getting stuff done, but we have fewer women taking science and technology as a career?

Why do women who are naturally skilled to multi-task and have great eyes to find bugs, have so low representation in software testing? 

Sorry ladies for the delay. You are awesome every day. Not just on women’s day!

Wife

It is my wife, who helps me run the ship tight!
It is my wife, who helps me keep everything in sight!
It is my wife,  who makes my day bright!
It is my wife, as people say is always right!
It is my wife, who is an absolute delight!

My Mother

It is for my mother, that I exist!
It is for my mother, that I persist!
It is for my mother,  that I fight!
It is for my mother, that I see day light!
It is for my mother, that I have a drive!
It is for my mother, I get five out of five!
It is my mother that I live !

My Mother

It is for my mother, that I exist!
It is for my mother, that I persist!
It is for my mother,  that I fight!
It is for my mother, that I see day light!
It is for my mother, that I have a drive!
It is for my mother, I get five out of five!
It is my mother that I live !

It is time to fire!

It is time to fire, as we have in our hearts a desire!
It is time to fire, as we have in our eyes a desire!
It is time to fire, as we want to fly higher, which is a desire!
It is time to fire, as we want to prove something, which is a desire!
It is time to fire, as it is my mothers desire!

Its indeed a Sunday afternoon, and I am in front of my mirror,
She look into my eyes and says there are some unspoken thoughts
I ask her why some thoughts are unspoken , she replies they are meant to be unspoken
I ask her how can I share this thoughts, she says you need to have guts,
I ask her I am not afraid of my thoughts, the mirror says you are afraid if your feeling will be hurt
I Ask Mirror, why people have expectations, she says life is based on an Inspiration,
I ask her what’s that inspiration, she says that’s what is your expectation
I ask her what's my expectation, she says love is your inspiration
I ask her why people are afraid of love, she says for it’s a treasure trove
I ask the mirror do you love anybody, she says smiles like a rose poppy
I ask her are you tired of my stupid questions, she says that its me who is answering the questions,
I ask the mirror who are you, she say I am you………….

2012: Make or break facebook  

I think 2012 will be the litmus test of facebook – sustainability not a success. It is a success. Now the whole “privacy issue” is going to be tricky for Facebook to manage. With the continuous breach of trust, facebook is testing the limits of it 800mn+ users.

The fact is Facebook is now too big to fail. A 100bn+ IPO in 2012 is a fact. Now why the rush or push? I think the IPO will act more as an “insurance cover” rather than an action to raise more money for Facebook.

Why and how insurance cover?

• A public listed facebook will have more weight and more credibility – when it makes new product releases or updates that affect our privacy. You will now have more transparency – as per the Facebook spokesperson.
• As  a public listed company with millions of shareholders (I forecast) – if Facebook fails millions of shareholders will fail. So by listing facebook, it will not only raise some cash  but the more important thing is that they will now have – millions of underwriters in their retail shareholders  who will ensure Facebook is not a forgotten story

So the IPO is good for Facebook .

Steve Jobs - Apple Apps store - A Platform for entrepreneurs.


This week Steve Jobs CEO of Apple resigned. Most of the press and stock market gave a pessimistic verdict that Apple's market dominance is now limited to max 2 years. It will be dethroned from its market position as soon as the product vision of Steve is exhausted with iPhone 6 and iPad 4.

I am not interested in the perennial success of Apple as I hate repeat winners. But my blog today is not about the future of Apples market cap.

I have a simple observation. Steve Jobs biggest contribution to the entrepreneurial community is creating the app store. The iPhone, iPad and iNext? are simply the tools of consumption. But the Apple Apps store is the invisible glue which will help Apple evolve.

In all the mobile competition between Apple v Google v Microsoft - What's in for the entrepreneur - well today finance or sales or  marketing guy can come -up with  profitable business idea - build it and monetize it via app store. The store is perfect for small and sole-proprietary based entrepreneurs - who are not cash rich. App store is the quickest and fairest way to reach you mobile target audience.

I don't think Microsoft or Google (?) have till date created something similar to the Apple App store - that appeals to the small entrepreneur. Google has the Apps- Android Market, but I think it will be a second fiddle and people will struggle to monetize on it - in its existing avatar.

But thanks Steve and Apple for the App store!

One of the grass-root thinkers of the Modern World is Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad better known as C. K. Prahalad.He left us on his heavenly journey on April 16 2010. The world lost one of its brightest brains. He gave us a gem in the form of a book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

One thing that this universally proved is that poor or the less privileged is not a burden to the developed nations or to the UN but rather an untapped market. The approach to this market is pay as you go.

A recent research by McKinsey & Company suggest that "Fully 2.5 billion of the world’s adults don’t use formal banks or semiformal microfinance institutions to save or borrow money, our research finds".

But it would be great if on this unbanked population geographic map we overlay the Micro-finance growth market.I am sure the maximum growth in Microfinance will come from areas that have the maximum density of unbanked population. The success of Micro-finance is a great academic and economic case study which re-emphasize the fact that the underprivileged is the largest economically untapped segment.
market.

Now something from the technology and services world. The theme of 2010 is Cloud Computing. Research estimates put that by 2010 approximately 2/3 of IT infrastructure services will move into in this virtual world.

But what this clutter is missing is that the quickest and biggest market for cloud in this recessionary market is the Start-up community. In this trying times when VC's are very selective in seed funding. Cloud computing will be the biggest compliment to Start-ups.

As the initial capital commitment is less the Start-up can use this Pay as you go services more effectively.The opportunity is for all large IT infrastructure companies, VC's, and vendors who shy away from start-ups. If the delivery model can be tuned as systematic investment plan keeping the operations cost low, the profit from catering to start-ups will be massive.But as in Micro-financing one has to due some basic credit assessment of the borrower so also in SAAS services one has to do the basic credit check. The idea is to sell less in quantity and more in volume.


The analogy is that Start-ups are at the bottom of the pyramid when it comes to financial attractiveness of services sector, where as a SAAS model of hand-holding will be a massive boost to the community.

What is common in SAAS, Microfinance and CK Prahald is that they showed us the road to success need not be always in selling to the high and mighty.

The road ahead for companies will be to adopt and accept the fact that to be successful they cannot ignore the underprivileged in our case the start-ups.

CK gave us an idea that has just scratched the surface of new ideas and we have miles to go...

What's the difference between Absolute and relative ? Most of us will say, its very easy to explain with some example. Let say as on 21.02.2010 my height is 175cms that's an absolute statement. My brother is 180 cms. I am shorter than him by 5cms that's a relative statement. So the summary is, an absolute statement is actually a fact and relative statement is a comparison .

But hold on. My height on 21.02.1987 was 90cms. Which is a fact, so this absolute. Now there cannot be two absolute statement i,e my height is 90 cms and 185 cms . But they are facts, but they are dependent on another variable in this case time. So every absolute fact is actually a relative fact when it comes to time.

Lets extend this fact. Sun is at the centre of the universe this is an absolute statement. But just go back 500 years and most of the world believed in the opposite fact that earth is at the centre of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus showed us light. So when we compare the fact of 2010 with a fact of 1450, the earlier fact is correct relatively.
So the summary is a thing is absolute only when we compare it to another parameter.

Just observe things around you and you will start thinking all absolute things are relative in the long run.

The perfect world. Its amazing when we wait to do things that you want to do , but the elements are not perfect to do. Lets say I want to go to cinema ,but since we don't have the right group or friends circle who love the same genre of cinema , I will most likely avoid going to that movie.

So we wait for the perfect world when we want to do things , when every thing is as per my expectations. Unfortunately we will get such rare scenarios where every element will fit to your expectations. If we summarize it will be called a Lucky world.

We all know luck is a rare phenomenon. So if you want to enjoy the moment go and have it rather than wait for the that perfect world.

My personal experience, you will have a more perfect moment or lucky moment if you do that act rather wait for things to be perfect.

Water Scarcity


When I was a kid , I learnt that Air, water, food are three basic things to survive. I grew up, the fact remain same, only that all the three are getting short in supply for people like me.

I picked up water because Air and food scarcity are two extremes for me to comprehend. Any ways coming to water scarcity , a lot of people are still under the impression that 71% of the earth water bodies. No only 3% of of that's 71% is suitable for human drinking. So if we have 100L water bodies for 100 people only 2.13L is suitable to drink rest is ocean water.

Anyway to learn more about the scarcity read this World Health Organization (WHO) presentation
.

Facts:
We are quickly exhausting fresh water bodies, as population is increasing rapidly or demand for water is increasing and supply is choking
Abuse of water in developing country is mind-boggling, soleley because of awareness

Solution:
The general public needs to made aware , why , how and where we should conserve water.

E,g
Cost-effective recycling of water
Rainwater harvesting

Use twitter, LinkedIn, facebook, to spread awareness about creating drinking and saving drinking water.
Pool your ideas, link with people, synergies communities working with people.

Do you see anything common in communism and open source technology?

Is the technology front also getting divided into capitalist and communist? I am market driven guy. But when it comes to technology I think open source has some of the ethos of communism. Unlike the political success of communism, open source is strongly challenging the paid software market. Why ?

I think the answer lies in the concept that technology evolution is driven by creative introspection . And open source acts as springboard to all the major creative techie brains to unleash there outputs.

How the end-user adapts this tussle will be an interesting trend to track?

Will cloud computing be supporting open source?

Which products require placement?

Which products require placement?

I saw the 3 Idiots movie for the second time and this time internalise some things from marketing product perspective.

I am not writing this to share any Gyan, but with questions for which I am seeking answers. I will refer to two very short scenes from 3 Idiots and leave them with two open ended questions.

Scene 1:Aamir and Madhavan breaks into Boman Irani’s office to steal question paper.If you observe the scene when Aamir puts the question paper back in the envelope, he applies gum on the seal to close it. The gum bottle was turned around, to not display which brand it was but by seeing the typical blue bottle with black cap, you recognize it as the Camlin Gun bottle that you may have used n number of times. Now the question is why did even without seeing the name on the bottle, I can identify the brand with the blue bottle?

I made some observations:
•There is no such brand as the blue bottled Camlin gum that has created such strong brand recall.
•Its been able to do this brand recall simple by being an unchallenged product for a long time
•But will it hold on to its market share since , non-sticky adhesive rollers are fast capturing the glue market


Scene 2: When Mona Singh (Kareena Kapoor’s sister) is helped by Aamir and friends to deliver a child using suction cap on a TT Table

If you observe Kareena, show an animated video demonstration of how to deliver a baby using a suction cap. Now the video is shown as a video on YouTube.

Mind you YouTube is not product placement but is acknowledged as a Media Alliance. To make this scene logical YouTube was the ideal platform to extract this demo.

In all likelihood the production team of 3 idiots must have approached YouTube , to use the latter as an ideal platform to extract the delivery demo video as that will make the scene more authentic. My search in YouTube using key words like Suction cap enabled delivery didn’t fetch that video.

Now the question is here is a brand that was needed by movie to make it look its scene authentic. Don’t’ you think this is exceptional? As normally product run after movie banner to make there product placed e.g. Airtel, Reliance BIGTV etc did in the movie.

My observation is that utility of a product in this case YouTube makes the brand indispensable.

All will be well.

All will be well.

Aaall is Wellll. Catchy isn't it. A lot of us will aspire to become RANCHOD DASS CHANCHAD - PHUNSUKH WANGDO (Amir Khan name in 3 Idiots) . Will because deep down most us, may have felt that , I became what they wanted me to became and not what I wanted to become . The fact is the pressure on kids today is enormous , by the time he is in standard III Momma ensure the kid joins ABACUS, so that his mathematics become super kick,and the grains of technology is engraved. In some parts of South India, by standard VIII the kid is asked to prepare for STD VIII, STD X, STD XII and the engineering entrance. Most of the parents think that any entry into IIT or any top engineering college is an automatic passage to IIMS than to USA and then to green card. Obviously the parents think that children will have a secure economic coverage (the Sharman Joshi family) and the they will have now a proud medal to display (Madhavan's family). I think ALl is not well with our education system. I won't go into lengths. But rather give an example which I know very closely. I abandoned my science stream because I was in love (OSL) with a girl who was into commerce, so I joined commerce. Though I never told my parents why I chose commerce and they never asked to join IIT's. I joined commerce and frankly the competitive environment of my tuitions made me a better student (3 year scholarship of which one year I forgot to take the money).So that was little success. All is well, listen to your heart. I joined commerce. Part 2 was what to do in commerce, obviously do Chartered accountancy to have secured life. Wrong step. Failed miserably, not even able to clear the foundations. Then came the first novel in my life called the Fourth Estate . I have read only three novels Fourth estate, The Stranger in the mirror and The Fountainhead. Anyways Fourth estate introduced me to the world corporate and no commerce taught me the fundamentals. Then I thought IIM's will be my launching pad into corporate. Tried for two bloody years practices, DI, algebra, Russian maths, English everything converted 29 percentile to 91 but still no break through. But one thing I learned mathematics from economics perspective. I fell in love with number. every thing I see started summarizing in numbers. Small success love for numbers. Anyhow I didn't know what I am good at so followed the flow and joined a B-school which has the best campus , surrounding and some smart teacher. Two people inspired me first Professor Ganti Subrahmanyam my economics teacher. I never understood what he taught but learnt how economics can be used in all spheres of knowledge be it finance or marketing. My first step I love economics and want to use it to understand consumer pattern. Got my goal Sridy will be a marketing consultant by 30 with ROI as his benchmark. I was never good in books or concepts except how practical can it be. Then we were introduced to a man called Professor Vinod Sambrani , disciplined as an iron, thinks like Google search and taught us marketing with examples. I don’t understand words much but if presented in objects or visuals its easier, and he did that he taught marketing like a science with everything as practical as possible. Since my fundamentals are weak , I picked bits and pieces. But still worth and getting my bread butter implementing some of his concepts. I knew my skill is into developing marketing communications and implementing customer engagement models . I have just started and still have a long way to go and Life is all about continuous learning. I am today in London as digital marketing consultant. I am grateful to my parents never pushing me to IIT's , and thanks to IIM's for never accepting me, they made me fall in love with numbers and all my teachers for the knowledge. For my friends who are with me today and forever there. One thing more Do what your heart says. I decided to come to London to make money quicker so that I can have my Dasvidanya dreams complete. But when I was at the final stages of taking this step my mind started saying, Sri leaving this comfortable job in India , why try the unknown in London. I again listened to my heart, which said Sri try this or throughout your life you will repent you never tried. To all my young friends try everything, till you find that onething which gives you satisfaction. All will be well.

I donot know ...........

I donot know ...........

I don't know why I get dreams that
I don't know why I write
I don't know why I took a road to this road
I don't know why the sun rises and the mooon shines
I don't know why there is summer, spring winter,
I don't know why the flowe attracts the vbee
I don't know why wait for somebody
I don't know is that somebody
But I know she will come one day............

Alternative Energy : What’s the way forward.

--> Alternative Energy : What’s the way forward.
Hi All,

This is something I am going to write today , rather than my normal figment of imagination stuff.

The objective : What’s are doing to the energy challenge to the economy :

Facts;

• We will be in trouble in Carbon emissions are not controlled to acceptable limits.
• There is growing friction between developing and developed economies
• US will fall behind China when it comes Nuclear Power
• Today US has 104 odd Nuclear reactors contributing 20% of total energy supply
• This reactor's will expire by 2020 will be replaced by 6 such reactors , China will build 100 odd 
• Remember the replacement is only to sustain that 20% contribution
• Countries like India are coal driven and will remain their for long-term unless cheap alternatives are there.
• Green option like Solar, wind is highly capital intensive and are expensive to consume.
• Consumers today can adopt green energy source if they are CHEAP both in developed and developing countries.

• Changing energy consumption will make 2012/22/32/.... a reality if things are not in place

Solutions:

• UN has to relook its pathetic energy policies for that’s the impact and influence centre for world
• USA should divert military technology to develop green energy scope , best brains are there.
• US will have to reform fast by stopping coal and gasoline driven economy
• Countries both developed and developing should create a regional centric FUND that works exclusively for sustainable source of energy
• Let there be a CHINA FUND, INDIA, US FUND solely investing in companies, universities, Private-public set ups to indentify.
• Technology community should work how battery technologies can be improve.
• My opinion if there is wills there is a way to make SOLAR and WIND energy source less cheaply for consumption.
• Countries should open-up to share new technologies e.g. CHINA can teach how to make 104 Nuclear reactors in 10 years, US can tell about battery technology; India can contribute by Grass root innovations.

I don’t believe in myths but Carbon emissions are a challenge,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Mayans were there that’s a fact--- but there predictions need not be true.......

Lets work for energy efficient planet.