Serendipity and Learning

Bhujia Barons is a book on the Haldirams story. Haldirams is among the foremost name in Indian friend snacks and has made a name for itself in the past few years. Prior to Haldirams, there were no major nationwide 'namkeen' brands in India - and it was mostly serviced by local small businesses. Perhaps it is timing or their marketing astuteness they were ready when the Indian supermarket boom happened. It is not that they were the first snacks in the market, but they have created a category for themselves and are a leader of the snacks market in India. And their entry and success have prompted many a small and big player into the traditional snack market in India. They created a market which not many people realised existed - right under their noses. What I liked about the story was, about the founder was just one of the snack makers in Bikaner - a place which, now, like then was a place for traditional namkeens. The story of many other namkeen makers would not have been v...

Give the kids the internet and they will click on anything that is not connected to education. That in a nutshell is how kids are. Games are good, but puzzle games? No. Math game? No. Something that remotely resembles education? No. Ditto when it comes to videos. Mr Bean? Yes. Random junk cartoon? Yes.  Mindless advertisement? Yes. You get the picture? So when the little one was given a link to Ted Ed, I was not very optimistic. He had not liked Khan academy, so I was sure this will go the same route. Somehow, Ted Ed caught his fascination. And for now, he has junked youtube and random games. Even if his interest dies down in the interim, it is good that he has this at the back of his mind and he will switch to it (as he often switches to his favourite people on youtube who have taught him, among other things, origami, lego and other experiments. 

I am sure, you, like me, are a member of a few ecommerce sites. Most of whom have all your personal data (but you don't know it yet). Be that as it may, for the present, they have your mail id and phone number. And if you are still among the hapless people who use the same email for registering with the ecomm sites and your work/regular email - your mailbox will be under sever duress by now. Ditto with SMS. Almost all of human communication has moved away from SMS - leaving the SMS to the bots. And what do we get in these SMSs and mails? Sale. Sale. Sale. Everyday there is a sale. Either there is sale of specs (the last time I bought a specs it was when my doctor recommended a change for me, not when there is a sale). Or there is a sale of donuts (yes, make statins miles free with them please, that may tempt me a few decades later). Or there is a half price sale of lingerie. Or apparel. Or electronics. Either it is Diwali. Or a Zillion Zollar Zale. Or the last 3 days...

There is something about this book - a quality that I am unable to put a word to. When you read this book, the story of Nike - and unlike other much heard about stories in the tech world, this is a story that I had never heard - there is a lot of reality in it. And thats what stands out - that it is real. Very very real. Real emotions. Candid. There is grit. There is struggle. There is tenacity. There are stories of breaking down. Going down. Not giving up. The one thing that endures is 'not giving up'. Ever. The story is of someone - Phil Knight (and his band of co-founders and the core team) and how he and his team get to where to got to. And to a large extent about Phil holds it all together. And the journey with its ups and downs and how they continued to stay there despite numerous obstacles professional and personal. About how each of them sweated it out to make it. As I read the book, I was unable to put it down. Shoes? Yes, a story of shoes - unputdownable. The n...

Many years ago, Saru (as she is known) was my Master coach for all of one session. I can never forget how she handled her 'coachee'. And how meeting her left me thinking that I have miles (prefixed with thousands of) to go. And a few days ago when I learnt that she was running a session, I did everything I could attend the session. It was touch and go. With all the Bangalore bandh and all that, I somehow managed to get a seat on the session quite at the last minute. And was it worth it! She is, what I might call as a master facilitator. Gentle. Jovial. Stern. Knowledgeable. Even paced. Never hurried. No gimmicks - just sticking to the subject and taking people along. No comedy track. Very simple slides and material. Her knowledge did most of the talking. Slowly pulling people into the centre. Gently nudging them to think. Teasing thoughts out of them. Pushing them to think a bit more. Disagreeing at times. Rarely definitive, but when she spoke in definitives, she made he...

The economics of places where buses stop for night halts are usually very interesting. For a variety of reasons. Many a time the food quality is bad - like outrightly bad - but the bus staff get a good deal (usually free) so the bus stops there. They stop at random places sometimes - like a lime juice place or a tea place in the middle of the night. Or pick up boiled tapioca (this is a mind-blowing snack - try it sometime) sellers and then drop them off a kilometre or two away while getting their snacks in return. So, the bus passengers are dependent on the place and some often end up eating there. It was one such place the bus halted a few days ago. And this place, apart from the usual food - sometimes a 'pan' shop, sometimes a juice counter or an ice-cream counter or a general store had a few more things. One was a shop that sold pickles. One was a toy shop. One was pop corn counter. And one was a counter that sold 'Maths' books - a book that claimed to make Math...

I attended a heritage walk last week. (I have attended one before this - but that was in a different city and a different person and an underwhelming experience.) This walk was in a shortish area - a triangular patch of land - and it is an area I thought I know very well. After all, every Mumbaikar knows the area around CST - Metro - Crawford market. Firstly the walk was named Beyond Bazaar Gate - which I had no idea why - until I learnt that the Bazaar Gate was one of the gates of the original Fort. Heritage walks in places you have no clue about are well, a revelation - because you have no clue anyway. But a heritage walk in a city you know well are a challenge because there are some facts you already know - and thats a challenge for both the person who is attending and the person who conducts the walk. I learnt that Bhendi Bazaar had nothing to do with Bhendi (Ladyfinger), but it was a corruption of Behind the Bazaar - which became localised as BhendiBazaar (this is particula...