Serendipity and Learning

Those who wanted the service industry to create a Microsoft or an Adobe in India miss the point that it is an ecosystem that creates, not exhortations. Along the way that Indias services industry was floundering or stumbling and bumbling along, a company named Flipkart was formed. It seemed innocuous enough - after it was an Amazon clone - started by selling books, went onto sell many other things. The market that was India was lucrative enough for Amazon itself to come onboard. Flipkart itself spawned a host of me-too brands. And it gobbled up Myntra.com - which remains a premier fashion destination online in India. The Paypal mafia had a similar clone in India - the Flipkart mafia. Demonetization led to a surge in digital payments. GST led to more digital transactions. And an entire tech ecosystem emerged to meet the demands of new India. Slowly but surely, the tide turned. Engineers did not want services jobs anymore and instead wanted meatier tech jobs,  wanted to solve real p

The late 90s to early 2000s were all part of Indias service economy boom. Everybody who was anybody became an engineer. Every engineer from mining to petrochemical became interested in IT services. If not anything, it offered a steady income for an aspirational country. But this interest in services also came at a cost. In my own experience, I found people thinking purely of work as a service, devoid of too much initiative or risk and spending their lives as it were on a spec sheet and clients orders. It also de-skilled people - unless they were careful about building a skill - it was an instant road of managerial anonymity and a career devoid of any skills. Along the way, for those who are familiar, were lamentations from people that all these services are not enabling India is not producing the next Microsoft or even a web browser. There were IT services giants, but they were not producing any products. And such it went that people argued that services was an industry while others

Of late, Bangalore has seen quite a few bike sharing companies. They have tried it a while back, but this time Yulu seems to be getting some traction just as Pedl gave up. I never got a chance to try it, but being somewhat of a cyclist myself, I was always in favour of it. And then they launched the Yulu miracle. Stuck as I was between two bus points - I wanted some option and spotted a Miracle there. Decided to take it. And I must admit, I enjoyed the ride. It was slow - any amateur who can balance can ride it - the brake was a bit iffy though. The road was a bit scary given fast motorcycles that zoomed past. But I hope that it reaches a good enough adoption rate for people to be able to use it - both the cycles and the Miracles. And I wish, somehow we could build cycle paths into the current ecosystem (seems impossible I know, but well) PS: Given Bangalores weather, we need more walkways and cycle paths - and that will solve half our commute problems. Given current commute con

Being in Learning and Development has its side benefits. Recently attended a kitchen meeting in preparation for an assignment. And it turned out to be a education for me....about the world of gastronomy. Well no, it was like someone opened a door into a library room into the size of a stadium and closed it fast before I could read a page... Here is a sample... Jambalaya versus Gumbo - which is what? Not that I particularly know or can recognize one from the other, but one is a rice dish and one is a stew. What is Sambal ? I learnt this word as well :) I thought it had an Indian origin, but similar to Jambalaya I was wrong. How about Gallo pinto? Surely Goan? Naah, see for yourself . And apparently all this can be easily found in the worlds greatest culinary book - Larousse Gastronomy .

Some days ago, the fellow stumbled upon Morse code. And from then on it has been a flurry of investigation on Morse code and finally he found a Morse code keyboard on the phone. Whoever? Whyever? But it is fascinating how the internet can set you off on such serendipitious paths - some interesting, some positively not (like a few weeks back when he wanted to memorise the first 100 digits of pi and insisted on reciting it to unsuspecting listeners). The Morse code is an interesting path. The Lego puzzle box another interesting one - that led to multiple smaller inventions in the fray - some of which saw light of day some that did not.