Squashing BoP Myth no.7

The Payoff for Investing in Poor Countries : HBS Working Knowledge: "Conventional wisdom says that people in BOP markets cannot use such advanced technologies, but that's just another misconception."

How Anil Ambani plans to woo rural India: "If you thought customers in semi-urban and rural markets were using mobile phones only to make calls, think again. If Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd is to be believed, this is a myth, which has been broken.

Much to its surprise, the company realised that a sizeable portion of its customers in the towns and villages of the Bimaru (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states were using cellphones to log on to the Net, stream video clippings and for infotainment.

GSM companies might be concentrating only on voice revenues in their quest to address the rural markets. Reliance, however, is banking on data and video to do the magic. Not that it is giving up on voice. It only means that the company is increasingly expecting a large part of the revenue to come from data. This is the key plank of Reliance's big new push into the hinterland of the country.

The company means serious business. It currently has its network available in over 240,000 towns and villages across the country constituting for 42 per cent of the rural population. But by the end of the year, it wants to nearly double the rural coverage to 400,000 villages - about 50 per cent of the rural population."

More on Bottom of Pyramid here and here

Amusing

Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consulting and Counseling Blog:
"Now, the big U.S. tech companies, investment banks, consulting firms, and consumer-goods companies are trying to find people who can function globally. An MBA with overseas work experience, or familiarity with one or more foreign markets, has a real advantage. That person can probably choose among several great job opportunities.

If I had a college-age or graduate-school-age child right now, I'd try to encourage him or her to spend a year or a semester in China, or in India."

The ring!

My roommate (who in his previous job has test driven these) says my bike's clutch lever's too hard.
That's one complaint with my bike almost everyone makes first time they ride it.
Every time I go on a long ride, I lose some skin on my ring finger and the little one on my left hand.
"You continue riding that thing and you will have a hard time wearing a ring" they say.
Someting me mom says too, but that has nothing to do with the clutch, I guess.

Empathy: The religion of Globalization

In a world where every action has an impact on everyone else in the world.
When walls cannot keep "your" people together and "them" away, rules and rituals stand no legitimacy in boundaries of geographical areas or epochs of time.
Anything that puts your mind into a category is evil
For the first time "Capitalism" and "Communism" are both bad words, everywhere and always.
Fanaticism, the greatest evil of them all.
Inclusion, greatest virtue.

I declare Empathy my religion.

Swami Vivekananda started his address at the1893 World Parliament of Religions with the words
"Sisters and brothers of America."
This was followed by a wild applause that lasted a few minuets they say.

These words were never more relevant than they are today.

"As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

"Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me."

"Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

And he concluded with

"If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

One Child One Laptop!

News from PC Magazine: $100 Laptop Effort Gains Momentum: "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's plan to deliver low-cost laptop computers to children in developing nations and impoverished American students is moving forward, according to Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of the school's Media Lab."

Honesty!

A mobile phone rings in the parliament, the speaker asks the "culprit" to hand it over to the marshals and no one does.

This, a day after they discussed witnesses turning hostile in Jessica Lal murder and Best Bakery trials.

A friend asks me what I intend to do after my MBA, I tell him I want to work in the social sector. He says "So that’s what you wrote in your essays. What do you REALLY want to do?"

My roomie is hit from behind at a signal. Falls. Few bruises. Before he is up on his feet and lifts his bike, the car's gone.

Someone puts a spoon in the office microwave. The thing just blew up. Charred black. No one admits to it.

And no one's surprised.

No one's surprised because we are culturally dishonest.

Google Buys Writely

Writely Blog: "Here are our 'top 10' reasons why being part of Google is fantastic for Writely and the Writely team:

10. Writely is like a caterpillar that we hope to make into a beautiful butterfly at Google!
9. We love Google's philosophy and values -- especially 'Focus on the user.'
8. We're as passionate as Google is about respecting users' privacy.
7. Many of our users are already Google fans using other Google services.
6. Being at Google will help us do more great things faster.
5. Some people didn't feel comfortable trusting a tiny startup with their documents...and we're no longer a tiny startup.
4. We like lava lamps and they're pretty much standard decor at Google.
3. Three words: Free Googleplex lunches ;)
2. As fun as it's been to launch a popular, global, 24x7 Web service, it'll be nice to take a vacation once in a while!
...and the number one reason???
1. We'll be able to bring Writely to not just thousands but millions of users -- the more, the merrier :-)"

The Great Indian Dream

Read it. Read it NOW!

India: Asia's Other Superpower Breaks Out - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com: "In the decade that I've been going to Davos, no country has captured the imagination of the conference and dominated the conversation as India in 2006."

Indian Penal Code

IPC 302. Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or 104[imprisonment for life], and shall also be liable to fine.

IPC 307: Whoever does any act with such intention or knowledge, and under such circumstances that, if he by that act caused death, he would be guilty or murder, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if hurt is caused to any person by such act, the offender shall be liable either to 104[imprisonment for life], or to such punishment as is here in before mentioned.

Now if you kill someone you will be hanged.
If you try to kill someone and fail, you get ten years.

If you are failed murderer, there are two ways to look at it.
1. When it comes to murder, the court of law rewards you for incompetence.
2. A successful murderer has accomplished his/her purpose in life but you, a loser that you are, deserve another chance at life (or death)

Here's Scott Adams on the topic

Inviting Entries...

....for "My office is a madhouse" awards.
Here's my entry.
Try-n-Match that!

Set your priorities right, will you?

Session 3 at the Urdu high school, I notice something different about all the girls in my seventh standard class.
The head mistress tells me that some "US based Muslim organization"'s just donated head scarves for all the girls in the school.
A total of 109.
Half of those 109 black scarf covered heads don't have slippers in their feet.
Most can not identify the alphabet.
Unless something extraordinary happens, not one of these 109 will make it to 11th standard.

The school does not have a permanent water connection.
Got an electricity connection just this year. (Its a 50 year old school, inside Bangalore)
Might be asked to move because it does not own the land it's built on.
Desperately needs a big piece of tarpaulin for the kids to sit on when the afternoon meal is served.

Now, I am a big, almost belligerent supporter of preserving our cultural identity.
But, we got to set our priorities right.
Don't you think?

Now that’s greatness...

At 26, Orson Welles produced, co- wrote, acted in and directed Citizen Kane.

It was Orson Welles's first movie as an actor and a director.
And Citizen Kane is considered to be the greatest film EVER made.

26 Year old Welles, in one of the most difficult roles ever, portrays millionaire Charles Foster Kane from ages 25 to 76.
And does it so convincingly.

Orson had only one casting rule "get people never before seen on screen"

The role won him an Oscar nomination. One of only 5 actors to be nominated for best actor for their debut film.

The movie itself is loosely based on life of Tycoon W. R. Hearst who controlled a third of all media (print and radio) at that time. Hearst tried his best to stop the movie release.
He tried buying the movie just to destroy all prints.
However, Orson had signed a contract with the RKO giving him complete rights on the movie. Something never before done in Hollywood with any director (let alone a 26 year old rookie)

The battle that followed destroyed everyone involved.
Citizen Kane is the last movie made by RKO
Orson Welles's name and the movie itself did not get a single mention in any of the Hearst's newspapers and radio stations.
Movie theatres refused to screen the movie and it was shown in tents all over America.
Major Hollywood studios refused to work with Orson Welles for a long time.


"I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time."
-Orson Welles

The Raghu Dixit Project

Website
http://www.raghudixit.com/
Blog
http://www.myspace.com/theraghudixitproject

Highschool Drama

My chemistry teacher casting for drama titled "The periodic Table"
I was heaviest of all actors, and hence offered the Lead.

I am fine, how are you?

"You as a software professional can contribute a lot to this effort to spread literacy in every village."
Join Pygmalion Content Development


‘I am fine, how are you?’ - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition:

"‘I am fine, how are you?’
Kids in government schools are discovering the joy of learning English, thanks to a novel project, says Jayalakshmi K.


At the Kudremala Government Primary School in Mysore, you see happy children everywhere. Some are taking a test from a dietician. Some others talking and playing. But when they see they have visitors, all the 50 odd students ranging from six to 12 years of age, come running to greet us. Every grubby little hand wants to give a hand shake accompanied with a “How are you?” and an expectant pause for you to reply and ask the same. “I am fine, thank you.” “My name is Mohan. What is yours?” The chatter goes on for some time and we are taken to the sanctum sanctorum, the school’s single classroom that now houses the computer. A teacher is finding her way around the workings of the machine under the guidance of another.

While politicians and intellectuals bicker over the need to teach English in government schools at an earlier stage than is being done, some enterprising individuals have been on the job already. Under the leadership of Dr G K Jayaram, the first chairman of Infosys, and now founder director of ILID, an NGO that imparts professional help to the social sector, these men have been tirelessly covering distances to reach schools in remote areas and impart English education to the eager audiences there."

No, I did not conceptualize this organization

...but if you see a ".co.in" version of the same, you know who's behind it.

For every M.A. in English literature who thinks I am an idiot if I advocate phonetic spelling, I know 100 children who think "English" is stupid language if "So" , "To" and "Go" don’t rime.

SSS Aims, Objectives, Axioms: "Aims and Objectives of the Simplified Spelling Society.
Aim.
The reform of English spelling for the benefit of learners and users everywhere.


Objectives.
A. To publicize the unnecessary difficulties of English spelling and the benefits that its simplification would bring.

B. To raise awareness of the alphabetic principle, its corruption during the long history of written English, and its more rational application in other languages.

C. To promote research and debate on ways of reforming English spelling, and to prepare a graded set of proposals for relating word-forms more predictably to speech-sounds.

D. To help co-ordinate proposals for English spelling reform across both English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries.

E. To persuade the public, opinion-formers, policy-makers and relevant agencies of the need for and practical possibilities of reforming English spelling.

Six Axioms on English Spelling.
1. The letters of the alphabet were designed to represent speech sounds; that is the alphabetic principle.

2. The alphabetic principle makes literacy easy, allowing the reader to pronounce words from their spelling, and the writer to spell them from their sounds.

3. As pronunciation changes through the ages, the alphabetic principle tends to be corrupted; the spelling of words then needs to be adapted to show the new sounds.

4. Unlike other languages, English has not systematically modernized its spelling over the past 1,000 years, and today it only haphazardly observes the alphabetic principle.

5. Neglect of the alphabetic principle now makes literacy unnecessarily difficult in English throughout the world, and learning, education and communication all suffer.

6. Procedures are needed to manage improvements to English spelling as a world communication system."

Stitches on the outside!

I think the way we wear our clothes says a lot about the human psyche

We would rather endure the irritation if the stitching rubbing against our skin day in day out than display imperfections in our garb.

And then there are days when I wear all my clothes inside out and feel like god.

“I am comfortable with myself, I don’t really care what you think of me”

Icebreaker

Sunday morning at Urdu High School
Trying to make friends at the first sessions of the Reading Program

ME: Filme Dekhte ho?
KID: Haan
ME: Kaisi filme dekhte ho?
KID: {No reply, stupid question}
ME: Hero kaun sa acha laga hain
KID: Salman Khan
ME: Salman Khan Kyon Acha Lagta hain
(This is my favorite question to ask children. It is a good way to learn what drives the child, what is it that he/she looks up to in life, what he dreams. I usually use it with great success to drive the point that people ho beat up other people are not always the greatest and what they show in films is not what you should aspire....)
KID: Wo bhi musalman hain, hum bhi musalman hain.
ME: ______________{NOTHING. Somebody, please fill in the blanks for me}

He is in seventh standard, can not identify the English alphabet, works in an ice factory after school and says he will come to the reading class every weekend if he can sit next to me in the class.

Azim Parkar

Azim Parkar
Year 2000, I met this guy Azim Parkar, who taught me one way to  “Succeed in Life”
It’s quite simple really.
Whenever you meet a person just make a list.
List of three things that you like about that person.
And then every time you meet him/her keep updating that list.

May be its something that someone just told him and he just passed it on.
But the fact that he gave me this lesson is one of the three good things I remember about Azim.
The other two being

1. The fact that he empathized a lot with just about everybody


2. He thought our hostel was great place to live because it was such a peculiar mix of people

I met him in the Rs. 150 a month charitable hostel in Chincholi Bandar, Malad, next to one of the biggest dumping ground in Mumbai then. He was born and brought up in Dubai where his father was some bigshot in the National Bank there.

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What IS a guy supposed to feel?

I have to thank Bangalore Traffic Police for making my life more interesting over the past year or so. They have been successful at it by just making the boring task of going back home from office an adventurous treasure hunt. Bangalore traffic police is GOOD.

But all that changed the day they changed the direction of St. Marks road one-way.

I don’t get see the call girls on the St. Marks footpath in the evening anymore.

They have taken that element of excitement out of my life forever.

Not that they are absolute jaw droppingly beautiful or underdressed. But then when an overly made up face approaches you and purposely makes a hoarse voice to ask you "Helllllllo, what are you doing tonight?” one's got to feel something.

That brings me to an interesting question. What is a person supposed to feel when a customer soliciting professional sex worker approaches him?

Proud, that someone feels you are financially capable of affording the it?

Or Embarrassed that someone looks at you and says that’s the kind of immoral and desperate guy who would want it?

Or ashamed, that someone looks at your face and says, “Now, look at that face. That’s the kind of loser who’s got no chance if he’s not paying for it ?

What IS a guy supposed to feel?