Serendipity and Learning

Many years ago, India was primarily a third party services ecosystem. There were a dime a dozen third party IT service companies and BPOs. This wave ran out of steam soon enough,  leaving in its wake unemployable skills and managers. And all around us were complaining op-eds on how India does not have any products and has only services. Cut to today. Whether we have products from India or we dont, we have start-ups.  We have had them for a few years now, but what this ecosystem has created or led to creation is some really cool tech talent. This kind of talent either did not exist or was hidden, but the start up ecosystem has made this the talent very desirable. Start ups are formed, many fall by the wayside, some become big - the ones that fall by the wayside try again, the ones who are big enable many people to make money some of when pour that back into an idea that they are passionate about and every single such action leads to creating an ecosystem. Thoughts as I i...

I was talking to a long time friend of mine who is now a yoga teacher. He is the unlikeliest of yoga teachers. He runs his own factory, had no connection with spirituality or philosophy and joined yoga out of curiosity because he wanted to accompany his mom. His mom stopped, and he continued and continued.  For 12 odd years.  At the end of which he knows enough to be a teacher - somewhat, in his words. And he started teaching a few people,assisting the experts in teaching and so on and so forth. The line of yoga he is a teacher is in - is the world renowned Iyengar Yoga.  It has no certifications, no fixed hours, no syllabus and follows a rigorous method of learning. People learn for years and there is a method and an order for it.  All around, while there are others offering quick fix teachers certifications and yoga courses, this method continues to follow a time honoured tradition of building skills and expertise.  This is not about whet...