Where new Ideas Come from

A couple of links herehere and here talk about new ideas require open culture.

A contradictory report says that China is increasingly file number of patents.

Of Inequities, Complexities and Solutions

Poverty, Illiteracy, Child Mortality seem distant and difficult to recognise when one sees it all around from childhood. The average is closer to the normal. One gets the real experience after coming from abroad or living in a city like Gurgaon. The scale of inequity is exponential. High towers neighbour small dingys and slums. Naked children prostate on the bonet of air conditioned cars begging their share of the prosperity.

The inequities are huge with the development indicators for some of our population as low as that of sub-saharan Africa and others as high as that of a developed OECD region. The complex question is how can one single individual assist in removing these blots in a sustainable manner. The question becomes complex as the sheer size of the numbers who are in need of help is quiet large. A drop of water rather even a complete tanker of water in the barren deserts will not be of any help.

The problem is structural and needs to be tackled accordingly, I have always believed that funding people directly is not a good idea and not sustainable. Creating a framework that allows multiple generations to become self sufficient and further spread the reach is essential. But the next question is what is that framework? Is it to create entrepreneurs through micro financing, to initiate education in the region, to bring guaranteed employment to the people, to provide health care facilities? Which one of these have a maximum impact and start a chain reaction that alleviates the evils? How can technology help?

Get the History Together!

I am fascinated by Delhi and its history. From middle ages (possibly ancient times) to the modern times the city stands testimony to the stories of empires, nations, people and cultures. As you start following these stories you are led deeper into the ever more entrancing alleys of eras gone by. Interconnected scripts written by legends.

I feel it in the air when I visit safdarjung, lutyens, old delhi. I never ever felt this tide of time that had shaped the city, the sense of history that emanates from its various monuments, the culture – a foreign and ingenious blend – while reading in textbooks or during my annual visits in summer holidays.

It is quiet hurtful that a rich and colourful past, the wisdom of ages gone by, lies neglected and decaying. History is extremely important for people to know where they came from and where they are going. To have their moorings so that change does not make them fickle. I wish if someone takes it into his hand to plot the text book on the lands of India and restore history to its right place and value.

Ulysees – A wonderful poem

I have loved this poem from the time I read it in 12 years ago on a sunny afternoon. At that time, I didn’t understand it fully but loved the basic theme of being on one’s own and pursuit of knowledge. Overtime the understanding has grown and has added to the happiness that I get from reading it off and on. This is I think the stuff what classics are made of: ever relevant and deepening with time.

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Ulysses
Alfred Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vest the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers;
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all to little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads you and I are old;
Old age had yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Project Management and Delegation

It is always fascinating to see the ability of some organisations/people to execute things in a perfect manner. The skill to execute strategy is by far the most important skill that has to be acquired. At a personal level, it requires Discipline, Dedication and Determination. In teams the goal has to be achieved by taking the team along on all these parameters along with ensuring that it remains motivated and the individual members grow- i.e. quiet acute personnel management.

Delegation is the basic current that runs the team and probably is the most important aspect that a project managers should look at.

Usually, delegation is seen as a tool to either offload tedious work or something that the person delegating the assignment is not interested in doing. The assumption is that it will help the individual gain productive time. However, while working in teams, it is never the goal.The goal is to finish the project in budget with a motivated and happy team.

Actually, delegation should be to offer interesting stretch goals to the team members. The most tedious work needs to be kept for oneself along with project management. This is the best way to finish tasks fast and as desired, because it is highly likely that the work you offload and are not interested in doing, your team member does not like to do it as well. This makes it really tough to get the tasks finished as desired.

Teaching 100,000 english

That’s the mission I aspire to acheive to contribute to social responsibility. I think it will be immensely beneficial if I can somehow build a process and a coalition to enable teaching the english language to atleast 100,000 people.

It is a worthwhile mission because it will allow individuals a foot in the globalised world. It is far more important in this age and time because of the availability of technology that can easily provide accessibility to internet on mobiles – the most widespread medium of communication in India. If we can all somehow learn english , we can be the biggest content contributor globally. This will allow us to shape world opinion the way we see things, and hence close cultural ties with the world. Ultimately, leading to more and more jobs and a brighter economic future.

Secondly, I think the fact a large proportion of population would be educated – it would bring sense into our democratic system. The other day I was going through a forwarded email about the education qualifications and criminal records of our parliamentarians. I was saddened to see that more than 20 percent of the strength of the house had criminal records and the educational qualifications were also not something to be really proud of. It is also sad to see that people who have been uneducated have not led their community to education and a bright future. However, I resigned myself to an apathetic attitude – thinking that the leaders are representatives of their voters. If the voters, want such leaders than they should be there. I think the reason for existense of such kind of leaders is the prevailing scarcity for everything (security, education, healthcare facilities, infrastructure, etc.) leading people to elect those who can arm twist their way to snatch some proportion of the scarce pie for their constituency members. With education and proper laws things can change and better governance will be provided as it will be difficult to fool and divideople.