Skip to main content

Make versus buy

Chickpet is one of those serendipitious destinations in Bangalore. Every visit there, like in many other city markets is a revelation. Today, when we went there, the Raja market was one such revelation - this place sells stuff that people use to make dresses, jewellery and suchlike. The place was crowded to the brim - which means that there is a sizeable set of people who make their own creations - designers if you will. One of the things I have often believed that India is a place where people dont do their own work - as in, the DIY industry is non-existent. Todays visit made me rethink that assumption at one place atleast.

Anyway, we had to buy a timepiece for the house - since the one in the kitchen had outlasted its working use. And while conversing with the shopkeeper (conversing with shopkeepers in Chickpet is a great eye opener) - I realized that he sells clock movements (Thank you Ajanta, clocks - for figuring out that there is a market here) as well. The clock movement costs some 60 rupees and a full timepiece costs some 140 rupees. So, while we bought the timepiece, we also bought a movement set, and, with the kids, plugged it into a CD and created a clock with a Lego housing.The clock now occupies a place of pride in our front room (and I presume it will keep moving around as the kids wish).

The thrill that this simple activity worth some 65 rupees and some one hour of our time gave us is unimaginable. The more I think about it, making stuff with kids is one of the most constructive learning experiences for them (and for us).

And then, why cannot it be so for adults?

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more