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Dear Mr Shiv Sainik,

I trust you have read Rajdeep Sardesai’s open letter to Mr Uddhav Thakeray doing the rounds on the internet. Frankly, for two reasons I won’t be surprised if you haven’t. One, it is in English. And two, it is extremely well-written and very thought–provoking. If you haven’t read it I suggest you ask your children to translate it for you. Like the offspring of most Shiv Sainiks I presume yours too are studying in the most elitist of convent schools. But first, let me introduce myself. I am just a Stupid Common Man. Have you seen the film ‘A Wednesday’? You must, even though it is in Hindi. Nasiruddin Shah’s soliloquy at the end of the film where he spits out his pent-up anger against the system and all politicians will make your hair stand on end. He calls himself just a Stupid Common Man. That’s what I am too, as are the faceless thousands and thousands of us in this city. And like the Stupid Common Man, we are a very angry lot today; angry at your silly and immature antics, and angry at the city being held to ransom by your aging leader and his coterie of Yes Men. I have tried to understand what your core values are, but I am stumped! Let me spell out why. Your agitation against Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Gandhi, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar turned out to be as riveting as a deflating balloon. Nobody paid heed to your leader’s call, least of all we Bombay manoos who you have turned into a kind of experimental guinea pigs in the political laboratory. What kind of wishy-washy, spineless, sloppy fellows are you! Sorry, Mr Shiv Sainik, the nation did not want an apology from SRK – far from it. They just want good, edge-of-the-seat cricket. And the nation showed what they think of your fading leader by making SRK’s film the biggest grosser in Bollywood. What Rahul G gave you gentlemen was a resounding slap-in-the-face by doing what your leader has never done – Rahul mingled freely with the ordinary manoos in Bombay. Sachin endeared himself to the whole country by proclaiming that he was an Indian first. As for Mukesh Ambani, please await the next chapter. Now let me tell you why we are an angry lot. Your creaky gramophone record about Marathi pride being hurt has ceased to convince us any more. During your current tenure at the BMC, 35 Marathi municipal schools were shut down. Is this your idea of pride? Rahul Bose (I don’t think you gentlemen have even heard of him) in a recent TV interview gave statistics to show that Bombay has already lost out to Delhi in virtually every department of administration. Forget Delhi, it is losing out to Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Is this your idea of pride? And your flip-flop about allowing the Australians to play in Bombay has many of us in splits. If you are against immigrants, surely you should be supporting racism in Australia! And if you are protesting racism in Oz, does it mean that you have had a change of heart about the North Indians? Is this pride, or total Alzeimeric confusion? Yes, we are angry at your threats to paralyse Bombay at the drop of a sparrow’s droppings. And, more important, we are angry at your wanton destruction of public property. Your loss at successive elections is enough proof of the adage “You can fool some of the people all the time, or all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”    Now let me tell you why some countries are great and the others are not. This will perhaps appeal to you, if you have progressed beyond high school. You have probably heard of a country called USA – it is the most powerful nation in the world today. It is so because of the way it allows the human potential to flower and flourish. Leaders – in politics and in business - in the US come from all parts of the world. If you ever were an avid newspaper reader (real newspapers, not the Saamna variety) you will recall that there was a man called Henry Kissinger. He was a German refugee from the Holocaust, and he became Secretary of State. That Mrs Indira Gandhi gave him a bloody nose during the ’71 war is another story. But let me give you an example that you would probably relate to better. You surely have seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films. He flexes his biceps and can put Salman K to shame – iconic and breath-taking stuff for your stone-throwing, public property-destroying foot-soldiers. He migrated from Austria about 40 years ago determined to make it big in the US. Arnold is presently Governor of California. And there are several Indians in Obama’s (he happens to be the President of the US) administration, including a few Marathi manoos (No, Please, Al Gore is NOT a Marathi manoos). And their contribution to American society and economy is just enormous. The point I am making is simply this: you can throw out the ‘outsiders’ only at your economic peril. All along you have been talking only about job reservations. Have you ever given a thought to job creation? Have you ever wondered why very, very few Marathi manoos make it to the IFS, IAS, IRS and the higher echelons of the armed forces? It’s now high time you gave a thought to that, AND DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Now try to picture this. Bombay accounts for about 35% of the income tax collections of the country. This you probably know. What you probably do not know is that companies pay income tax in the city where their registered offices are situated. Now just imagine - and please try to do so seriously because we are not talking kaanda bhajiya but real big mega stuff – what would happen if the big 3 suddenly decided to shift their registered offices to Baroda, or Bangalore, or Delhi? Do you recall the downfall of Calcutta when Charu Mazumdar and his naxalite thugs ran amok there? And the ruins of Uganda when Big Boy Idi Amin threw out the Indians? In economic terms it’s called flight of capital. The Tatas called Mamta didi’s bluff and shifted the Nano project lock, stock and barrel to Gujarat. That left Bengal gasping for breath. Mukesh Ambani is already talking of shifting his registered office to Jamnagar . . . I leave the rest to your imagination. And have you ever thought what would happen to Bombay if the film industry, what Bombay is really synonymous with, decided to move to Noida? Sorry for being harsh on you, dear Mr SS, but I am just a Stupid Common Man letting off steam against your apathy, utter lack of vision and foresight, and utter lack of concern for us. Now let’s see what you gentlemen CAN do. You are controlling the BMC for the moment. And I say for the moment because I see the Rahul G tsunami in the distant horizon fast approaching Matoshree. SO IT’S TIME YOU DID SOMETHING FOR BOMBAY! You have until 2012. Merely changing names of cities and roads and monuments, and creating an identity crisis for everybody, will not help. I’ve never heard you gentlemen talk of Urban planning, eliminating corruption, especially in the BMC that you presently control, giving us good roads and footpaths, parks and gardens, upgraded municipal hospitals and schools, uninterrupted water and electricity. All that I’ve heard is the tinkling of shattered glass panes of the IBN Lokmat office, cinema theatres and of bhaiyya-owned taxis, and attacks on Kumar Ketkar. And you gentlemen have woken up to the existence of Vidarbha only when they started demanding a separate state. It just boils down to plain neglect; so much for your oft-touted Marathi pride. This polemics has ensured your survival, but it has not taken you very far. You are fast approaching a dead-end. In fact, when the obituary of the Shiv Sena is written what will be remembered will not be the flyovers you built, but for   Bashing up south Indians, Bashing up north Indians, Digging up cricket pitches Damaging the only world cup trophy brought by Kapil’s Devils, The Enron-Dabhol scandal, The  Michael Jackson fund-raiser and the funds that disappeared, The   Miandad-Supremo camaraderie, Flight of capital and business (Hope you read ET. There must be a Marathi version), But there is hope for you yet. Start talking economics and you may just survive the Rahul Gandhi tsunami. But above all, please read Rajdeep’s mail. If you survive you will have Rajdeep Sardesai to thank.

Yours angrily,

Stupid Common Man

21st Feb 2010.

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Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor on Listening to your dreams.

You can change the world during a 30-minute shower. There's something about the hot water flowing over your head that makes what I call the "good part" and the "absent part" of your brain talk to each other. When you stand there with the soap in your hands, you begin to reinvent the soap. You think, I can put this clear soap together with this cream soap... I can make a better soap! Then you think, The shampoo doesn't have very good packaging. The next thing you know, you dream up a cool business idea. You turn off the shower and step one foot out onto the bathmat, then suddenly, you can't remember anything.

[In the shower], your mind, body and spirit are all moving into your subconscious, where you invent new things, solve problems and potentially create opportunities or big ideas. You have to pay attention to your subconscious. Learn to focus on your idea and maintain that idea long enough, so that when you get out of the shower, you're able to capture your idea on a nearby pad of paper.

I keep a pad of paper next to my bed, ready to catch my dreams and ideas. This leads me to a small, but important, life story.

In 1994, I had an ad agency that specialized in recruiting and retaining talent. Our success was built around the concept of creating "big ideas" for our clients. One day, a client said, "No more big ideas. I want a monster idea."

I actually had a dream about a monster idea, a bulletin board system for jobs. Paying attention to my subconscious, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and wrote down much of the interface and the concepts that are still used at Monster today.

Monster.com is now in 25 countries and has become the largest and most popular job search and career management site on the internet. Listen to your subconscious, learn to capture its power, and maybe, just maybe, you'll be the one to come up with the world's next monster idea!

Jeff Taylor is now working on Eons, a web business targeted at the 50- to 100-plus age group.

The entire article is here. One of the best entrepreneurship articles I've come across.

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I was running through some articles when I came across something about the relation between reverse innovation and disruptive innovation. Being a marketing enthusiast, it got me thinking, which streamed into me disagreeing too, to some extent. Or more really having second thoughts on the outcome of the concept. 

For starters - Reverse Innovation is an innovation which is taken in and used by developing countries before (if) it is used by the cash rich developed countries. So like when a twitter would not classify as a reverse innovation, a tata nano would.

Disruptive innovation on the other hand gets a little complicated. Imagine a product which has 2 primary features. For example a phone which has 2 features. Feature A --> Ultra super camera. Feature B --> Low Price. Now while most of the world is kicked about Feature A, or the camera, very few are worried about the price. Now from the backdoor slips in a Disruptive innovation. While the current phone focusses on enhancing the camera, and hence catering to the major audience, the disruptive innovation launches a phone which a mediocre camera but an ultra low price, targeting the smaller market share. Slowly, due to technological innovations, R&D, and some super Chinese production, they manage to produce the same camera phone at an ultra low price. Now the audience begins to slip from buying the old phone to the new one, which NOW offers both a super camera, and a terribly low price.

As much as this might make sense, it just forces me to think otherwise. I don’t believe that customer decisions are based on feature comparison parameters alone. It's of course more than that. Why would I be paying so much for a star bucks coffee? I might get a similar coffee at a much cheaper price. But I am paying for it being starbucks right. Not too add star bucks launching an instant coffee, which they claim to be as good as their regular coffee is one of the lamest decisions I’ve come across. Why would I pay for a star bucks brew when your instant is as good? Anyways, going further, when a disruptive innovation is launched, it automatically brands itself to be a cheap product with toned down features. So for me, in my mind, you have blocked the cheap priced - mediocre feature seat. And our mind doesn’t play musical chairs that easily. To get me off that chair and jump up, it’s going to take much more than some music and a lame prize at the end.

Point being - economically it might make sense. But I'd never wish that purchase decisions are based on mere feature comparisons. Its the clever branding, the mega ads, the perceived value that makes the market exciting.

~S

P.S. The original article is here

P.P.S. Reading the HBR (and likes) is sort of therapeutic.

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Inspired by "Top Ten Things I Learned About Life from Playing Computer and Video Games" I was excited to add my lifes lessons from Bollywood. I've been bought up on indina cinema, and I thought if I've spent so much time at the cinemas, there is surely something I've taken from it. So here goes.

There are bad days, and most bad days are (seem) long. Good news is, they do get over.

Follow your heart. Eventually, they have to understand you.

When everybody says you not making sense, and it just cant work, you might be cooking up your biggest success.

Contacts and money might get you in the ring, but you fight is backed ONLY by your talent.

It's life. It's alright to fuck up once in a while. We do get second chances

It's never a bad time to break into a song.

Life is unfair. Opportunities are directly proportional to who backs you. Unfortunate, but true.

If you are hot, the world's willing to overlook a lot of what you lack.

Bad guys have fun yes, but suffer eventually. Be good, get the woman and the money.

~S

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Situations in life are always binary. They always function on the Base 2 number system of having either a 1 (yes) or a 0 (no). Programmers / Mathematicians could reverse that, but the meaning doesn’t change.

I think most times I tend to presume it’s bigger than that. But stripped down bare, its not. It’ always a 1 or a 0. The problem seldom lies in the multiplicity of choice as much as it lies in making the choice. I’ve seen that with a lot of people too, but I’d rather use this forum to talk about myself. Am I selfish?  YES Am I Narcissistic – NO. Again Binary :-) 

When you sit down and complain about something, there is always an option of making that change. No I don’t mean it in a social sense here. Not that we couldn’t do with some of it though. But yes, I mean in a more selfish manner. When you sit down and complain about how boring my life is and how unfulfilling it is, the option is always there to make that change. Problem arises in making that gear shift. I particularly liked what I read the other day. It said – to get something in life you never had, you have to do something you never did. So true. You wished you had a better car, but the wishing is never going to get it. You have the choice to make that change, do that ‘something’ to bring that change. And yes, it takes time. Sometimes a lot of time. It might take a life style change for some. But it depends on what you are bargaining for right. The best view is always from the peak. And getting to the peak doesn’t happen easily. 

Particularly Indian attitude sometimes gears towards the miracles. I’ve also read a lot about the Secret and how imagining and feeling it in a parallel space translates to surely achieving it – apparently as certain as the law of gravity. I am not sure. It works more on a basic level of keeping you motivated and positive in the times you would most times be otherwise.

Our maths works on Base 10, and we end up studying that for most part of our student life. Choices (like computers) are still primitive though. It’s still black and white. The primary colours are meant for Base 10, and of course we do love a colourful life. But only if we could work them in Base 2, like they are designed, and leave the colours for art. 

~S

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Rome wasn’t built in a day apparently, and the same goes with everything I do in life. It takes time, a lot planning (and re-planning), some coffee, for the effect rather than the caffeine in my case, and emotions running through a spin machine running at a few million RPM. Amongst the many ‘Romes’ that I plan on building, the largest and most significant one is reaching my 15’th August… 4’th July if you in states.

Fear / Apprehensions are cyclical in nature. Funny bit – the wheel can be broken. Tough bit – it’s not as easy. Were good things ever easy? Apart from twitter of course, which I am a newbie too. The sweetest part though is once broken, its cant be glued back on. It’s like one of those ‘unbreakable’ things at the toy store.

I’d like to live in a world where I fear nothing. But that really only comes from facing your fear. Once you expose yourself to your greatest fear, it holds no power. So those dinners with 10 people you don’t know and a lot of esoteric jokes, breaking into a dance in the middle of nowhere, losing your dependence on a routine, to even making the first move with the loner at the next table. Do it once, and you can do it again, and again.

Luckily for me, it’s doesn’t take Gandhian measures to build a free life. Its like an internet meme to a great degree. Should hopefully snowball.

So yes, my Romes on its way. Its going to take a lot of time, but what the heck, am chasing my ‘la la’ land 

~S

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Lying in the depths of the sea, massive waves crashing on all sides, and engulfed by the wind, the water running into your system, and the fear lurking below you in the unknown depths, its all about survival and making it out of there alive.

Running a start up is something of that sort. Only difference being you don't just want to get out of there, you want to get out of there with the loot. And you want the loot so that you can go out there more effectively, and come out with a bigger loot. And then you send a team, and do the same thing. Over and over again. And then you realize, it's not about the loot that makes you go back there. It is the thrill of going in, accompanied by a lot of factors that force you to go in again. One of the factors being of course your semi risque mind space.

There is so much that goes on in my mind at most times, money is mostly the last, if existent item on the list. Being covered on rediff and suddenly a lot of people tend to believe you make a lot of sense. I want to plan logistics to the minutest detail, and then plan it a little more. GPS needs to be checked and worked on again. Sales calls are in process. And there is so much that is needed to be done. When I sit back on a night like this and think over it, it's not about the money. It never is about the money actually. If it was, I would be doing something else. Is it my semi resque mind set? Am I a fool who loves saying 'i do my own thing'? Am I a passion driven guy who just decided to take the broken road this time. I am not sure.

And btw, doing your own thing doesn't work well with women too. I just read a Paul Graham article, which said exactly that. (Ok, so we establish it's not about the money, and it doesn't work with women - hmm...)

The coffee gets darker (Am a tea drinker. I said that for effect). The beds less used now. My TV misses me. My dvd player is running the same movie for a week now. I pause and play 10 minutes of it. And something kicks me back to the key board.

Yes, the greens are faint. The surprises, well, bright.

~S

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A very close friend, Saagar, sent across this interview. It's a must read. It's more about really the right vision and attitude than investing.

What does it take to become a successful investor? Brilliance or Smartness?

Neither, Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that gets other people into trouble in investing.

When do you deicide to invest in a firm?

The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble. We want to buy them when they're on the operating table. (Mr. Buffet bought Coke when it had its biggest fiasco after launching New Coke; he bought American Express when it went through a loss making phase in the early 60's)

What do you look for in people when they come to sell their firms to you?

I don't look for the usual credentials such as an MBA, a pedigree (Harvard, Wharton), or cash reserves or market cap of their firm. What I look for is just a passion in their eyes; I think that's the key. A person who is hungry will always do well. I prefer it when people even after selling stay on and work for the firm; they are people who can't wait to get off their bed to get to work. Passion is everything; there is no replacement for innate interest.

Mr. Buffet, you told us that Berkshire Hathaway has $ 45 Billion in cash. Why aren't you investing?

Up until a few years back I had more ideas than money. Now I have more money than ideas.

When do you plan to retire?

I love my job; I love it so much that I tap dance to work. Mrs. B, the founder of Nebraska Furniture Mark worked until she was 104, she died within 6 months of her retirement, that's a lesson to all my managers, don't retire! I personally am going to work 6-7 years after I die, probably that's what they mean when they say- "Thinking out of the Box"!!

Why do stock market crashes happen?

Because of human nature for greed and insecurity. The 1970s were unbelievable. The world wasn't going to end, but businesses were being given away. Human nature has not changed. People will always behave in a manic-depressive way over time. They will offer great values to you."

What are the things that are taught wrong in Business school and the corporate world?

I like such open ended questions, I think Business schools should refrain from teaching their wards about profit making and profit making alone, it gives a sense of 1 dimensional outlook to the young students that loss is a curse. In reality, in the corporate world, failure and loss making are inevitable. The capital market without loss is like Christianity without hell. I think they should teach the student on how to buy a business, how to value a business? Not just on how to determine the price of a business. Because price is what you pay, value is what you get.

Do you still hate Technology stocks?

With Coke I can come up with a very rational figure for the cash it will generate in the future. But with the top 10 Internet companies, how much cash will they produce over the next 25 years? If you say you don't know, then you don't know what it is worth and you are speculating, not investing. All I know is that I don't know, and if I don't know, I don't invest."

How to think about Investing?

The first investment primer was written by Aesop in 600 B.C. He said, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Aesop forgot to say when you get the two in the bush and what interest rates are; investing is simply figuring out your cash outlay (the bird in the hand) and comparing it to how many birds are in the bush and when you get them."

How do you feel after donating $ 40 Billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation? You are a hero to us!

I feel nothing. I haven't sacrificed anything in life. I have had a good life. I donated after I turned 75. I think I admire those people who sacrifice their time, share their food and home, as th e people to be emulated not me. Besides, what is money before a man's life?

What do you think are the pitfalls in donation?

I have never donated a dime to churches or other such organizations; I need to believe in something before I end up doing that. I have been observing the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for years now and I am confident they will do a fantastic job of making use of the money. I am a big believer in Outsourcing; others believed in me as an Investor and gave their hard earned money to invest. I believe in Bill Gates, he is a better donor than me.

Why do you work from Omaha and not Wall Street, New York?

Wall Street is the only place where people alight from Rolls Royce to get advised by people who use the Public transportation system.

You seem to be so well read, tell us how it all started.

My father was a stock broker, so we had all these financial books in our library. He introduced me to those classics and I got into them. I am lucky that my father was not a fan of Playboy! Reading is the best habit you can get. Well, you can learn from teachers too, and have mentors but there are so many constraints attached- they will talk fast, talk slow, they might talk like a pro or they might be terrible communicators. Books are a different animal altogether, I love reading! The beauty about reading and learning is that the more you learn the more you want to learn.

People who join Berkshire Hathaway seldom leave. How do you get along well with all your executives?

I try to get quality people. I always say - Hire someone in your organization who is better than you are. If you do that, you build a company of giants. If you get people worse than yourself, you build a company of dwarfs. And do not try to do everything yourself. Delegate the jobs and look out of the window. The results will come. That's how you build institutions. It happens only when you empower others, believe in others. I am an investor, I am much secured at that, I have no clue how to make Coca-Cola or how to dole out credit cards (Mr. Buffet owns 8% of Coca-Cola and 13 % of American Express). I understand the wisdom of the aphorism that you cannot please all the people all the time. Of Course, you will always find qualities that you don't like in people around you, but if you observe carefully the love of the work unites you both. There is no point in being obsessive about a bad quality in a person, whom you otherwise respect.

I am a small time businessman from Dallas, Texas, what do I need to do to hit big time?

Be patient, Achieving your financial goals and dreams will not happen overnight. As much as we would all really love to accomplish our goals in a few years, this is an ongoing process. Defining your financial goals is not a one-time task; you need to keep adding new plans at different stages in your life. We all admire the skills of Olympic ice skaters, pro golfers, and concert pianists. But do we remember that they didn't acquire their skills overnight? They had to practice hours on end for years to achieve their dreams. The key to success is to continue learning throughout your life with a voracious appetite.

I think it is marvelous that you have had a golden run with investing, how did you do that?

My rule is to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. Besides, I call investing the greatest job in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it. Stay dispassionate and be patient. You're dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it's like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with drinking Coke, you should be OK. First the crowd is boozy on optimism and buying every new issue in sight. The next moment it is boozy on pessimism, buying gold bars and predicting another Great Depression, most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.

Mr. Buffet you have seen so many crashes and recessions, your take on facing recessions and stock market crashes?

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians. Every scenario is different. But always remember, Tough times do not last. Tough people do.

What is the biggest advice you would impart to a young investor like me?

Think for a moment that you are given a car and told this is the only car you would get for the rest of your life. Then you would make sure that you car is taken care of well, it is oiled and detailed every now and then. You would make sure that it never gets rusted, and you would garage it. Think of yourself as that car. You just get 1 body, 1 mind and 1 soul. Take care of it well. Invest in yourself that would be my advice.

You personally know many of the Financial executives who are engineers of the current turmoil in the financial world, surprisingly even after record losses, those executives receive astronomical salaries and bonuses and arrogantly declare that they deserve it, why dint you advice them from making such decisions and what's your view on their justification for their pay ?

I like sharing my ideas but don't like imposing my ideas on anybody. It doesn't make sense and is a waste of time. If somebody has decided that they know everything that is there to know, nobody can help them. The best way to learn and succeed is to know that we know nothing. There is an entire universe out there and still some of us think we can know everything. In the world of investing a few people after making some money tend to imagine they are invincible and great. This is the worst thing that could happen to any investor, because it surely means that the investor will end up taking unnecessary risks and end up losing everything - arrogance, ego and overconfidence are very lethal. Personally I don't feel too comfortable with too much extravagance, because I always think like an investor. My thought process doesn't see a lot of value in a fancy car or a designer suit. Thinking like an investor always is very important to bring in a sense of discipline and focus. Before reading balance sheets and investing you need to make sure your outlook and mindset is that of an investor. Never let ego, arrogance and over-confidence control you - not just as an investor but also as a human being. You will never have internal peace if you are unable to look at everybody around you with love, compassion and understanding. Irrespective of who the person is, he or she can teach you something you don't know. I have learnt so much from people all around me and I wouldn't have been able to learn all these wonderful things if I had not spoken to them with a smile. To quote Sir Isaac Newton- If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.

~S

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I am no history enthusiast. But Nobel, for Obama, this early? Well it surely got me going like ‘Umm… Ok…’. And that’s not what a Nobel prize should do. It should get me out of my chair and make me go ‘Man he deserved it’.

I believe the contenders were Greg Mortenson and Dr. Denis Mukwege. And that transformed my ‘Umm… Ok…’ to ‘What the fuck?’

I am not sure who decides the prize winners. But whoever you are, you might want to shift base to the Oscar Committee. Guys, this place is known to fuck up, and regularly. They are the guys who have NEVER nominated Jim Carrey for an oscar. They are the guys who chose Denzel Washington’s over the top cop act over Russell Crowe in a beautiful mind. More recently, these are the same guys who chose Slumdog over Frost/Noxon and Milk this year.

‘Dear Nobel Peace Prize Selectors (Norwegian if I am not wrong) – The Oscars await you’

Greg Morenson is a mountaineer who has dedicated his life to backward villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan to offer balanced education as compared to the madrassas. His belief is that only through education and an understanding of the world at a young age will terrorism be cured.  The Mortenson founded Central Asia Institute has established over 131 schools in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan, which provide education to 54,000 students including over 44,000 girls.

Dr. Denis Mukwege on the other hand is a Congonese doctor, who during the war treated (for free) gang raped women. Performing more than 10 surgeries a day sometimes, we has treaded more than 21,000 women only during the war.

Well… Greg and Denis, you guys in my mind are the ‘Yes we Have’s’. You guys have been there, done it and continue doing it. Obama, Umm… Am sure you can, but a Nobel before you do…. ‘Ok… Umm…’

I can’t offer the Nobel. But Greg and Denis – I could send you a beer and a lot of love. Can’t say for  many people, but you guys truly ‘make the world a better place to live in’.

~S

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Driving alone for long periods of time can make you think. And think of things you didn’t thing you would think. Yesterday was one of those days.

I remember being very keen to learn about human evolution a few years ago. I read, and I showed off the knowledge I read about. I looked for opportunities to bring up the topic of human evolution, and then reacted with a shocked ‘What? You haven’t heard of Darwin?’. So anyways one thing led to another, and I thought to myself – ‘This is how humans evolved, but what about the world? How did the other species evolve? And how to humans fit into the larger scheme of thing?’  I came across this theory by a German guy (I think) about how every species on earth was in some ways a weaker version of the previous existing species. (By this logic, prokaryotes should be the mightiest things to have ever been on earth btw).

By now I had driven for a couple of hours.

So getting back, I also read somewhere that humans and dolphins are the only animals that have sex for pleasure. (So why are pigs blessed with a 30 minute orgasm? Shouldn’t the two species that appreciate it be blessed with it?) Couple this with the fact that a few years ago America alone had some 8 lac unplanned teen pregnancies. Further, in terms of how frequently people have sex – America ranks 19’’th. For all you inquisitive guys, Greece ranks first on the list.

So yea, there are 18 other countries who are having more sex than America. And population superpower China ranked 4’th. If we take all of this into consideration, there would be at least a good 30 lac unplanned pregnancies al over the world every year. So aren’t humans not extinct only because they have sex only for pleasure? This is the one thing, that allows us to have the power of numbers. If it wasn’t for pleasure, every year there would be 30 lac lesser people. In the last 10 years, 30 million unwanted people are added!

And this leads us to needing more space, taking over forests, fucking up the eco system. Tigers die, cheetas die, the seas aren’t good enough for so much sea life, not to add that we eat a lot of them.

If it wasn’t sex for pleasure then, we might not have been still around.

Yes, I drove for 4 hours at a stretch in mad Bombay traffic.

~S

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When it comes to technology, I've always been a sort of later riser. I've worked in the internet industry for 3 years now and have in fact been into online marketing for a fair amount of time too. It's ironical then that I got 'facebooked' a mere 8 months ago. I was later than my sister, my younger cousin, and my 50 year old uncle. Only my aunt who didn't know how to start the computer was later than me. Twitter I was sort of better though. I could at least tell my mom how it works and what it was without her knowing. :)

Posterous! Nobody in my family, and most of my friends don't know what this thing is. Incentive enough to sign-up. Finally I got something I can teach them about the internet that they dont know, or are not already on.

Not sure of what I am going to write, and how often I'll post.

~S

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