Month: May 2014

Categories
Musings

Paintings & entrepreneurship style

Your art form says a lot about your personality. A typical oil painting is a very structured art requiring high degree of planning and execution happening over multiple stages (5-12 layers of paint coating).
The first layer: Strategic direction: A charcoal sketch which broadly defines the placement of the various features of the painting.
Second layer: ground work: Where the painter defines the color scheme. The artist defines, which portions are core/important and which are context/background.
Detailing: Here the artist focuses on the core and shapes/re-shapes it till he is satisfied with the output..
Creating the background, supporting features that will give the proper context for the viewer to fully appreciate the beauty of the painting.
Finishing touch which brings all the pieces together.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcw93sF1s90]
Basically the painter draws the face, then the cheek, then the eye and finally the tear in the eye.
However the glass painting is just the opposite, you first draw the features then the background. Everything is other way around. Then there is photography where in an instant the magic is created.
Entrepreneurs are also very similar. There are few which have a vision, a clear goal and a methodical approach. They build partnerships, brand, products each leading to the final goal. Most great product companies are made the same way.
However there are several who just chase the money. They might seem to drift from project to project each of increasingly larger size and hence creating a very profitable group of companies, a conglomerate.
Then there are some charismatic magicians who create companies instantly. Their brand name is sufficient for customers & investors to line up. People are talking about their next product launch even before the company reveals its intentions.
There is no way to compare one art form with another. Similarly there is no way to compare one entrepreneur from another. But like the uniqueness of product ideas even all entrepreneurs are truly unique. Some achieve success through years of sweat & sacrifice while some stumble into success. But to the vast majority it’s always a distant dream. Similarly most people pursue art, but very few create anything even worth the paper it is printed on. Not sure if entrepreneurs look at themselves as artists, but they are not very different.

Categories
Musings

THE REMAINDER THEOREM

Guest post by T. R. Ramaswami
Many statistics are pouring like tears from vested interests to make the BJP victory look less impressive than it is. In fact, in all bipolar contests the BJP has trounced the Congress. One such table shows that the BJP has achieved a single party majority with the least percentage of votes. The table is amusing. It goes from 1952 to 1984 and then jumps to 2014. That itself tells the magnitude of the victory. The table has also been economical with the truth. It should have a column showing how many parties contested the elections. The Congress votes until 1984 are now split between the NCP, BSP, SP, TMC, RJD, JDs, BJD and many more. Until 1984 the main other parties were only the Left and the two DK descendants. The Congress followed the British policy of divide and rule by allowing the political structure to fracture as it suited its interests. However, as in economics, even in politics, the divide and rule policy appears to have a law of marginal utility. Divide too much and you will become the remainder. That is exactly what has happened. The equation has shifted. Now after having tasted blood will the parties that were originally part of the Congress come together again? Let the Congress try for an amalgamation – if it can.
ELECTORAL SOCHIFICATIONS
The election has thrown up so many issues – each can be an article. Rahul Gandhi not to be blamed as he was not PM candidate? OK, he was unfit to be PM candidate, but was he not the leader of the election campaign? If not who was? Moreover, who fights elections – party or government? What started in 1969 when Indira Gandhi neutered anyone with a political base and made personal loyalty the key factor, is now complete. The Congress wanting to be everything to everyone is now nothing to anyone except to the family. It was an ice-cream carton – party size, but to be enjoyed by one family. A democracy was slowly converted into a hereditary wombocracy.
Although the BJP has a majority and pre-poll alliances, post poll alliances must not be allowed. Post poll alliances must statutorily banned and pre-poll alliances formally documented and registered with the EC. The President, EC and the Judiciary must ensure this so that the elections are not a tamasha to get 800 million out of the way so that 550 can decide who loots the country in what proportion.
The role of NOTA has been minimized by deliberately castrating it. Make it potent it with a provision that if NOTA wins in a constituency, all lose their deposits, and see what happens. Only when NOTA can reject everyone, democracy will be in the hands of the voters. If first past the post is undesirable then only NOTA can ensure a true winner.
IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
The next government needs to begin work on some long overdue national and social reforms. The first is an amendment to the Constitution relating to citizenship. Indian citizenship is too cheap. Many are o not aware that Indira Gandhi and Mujibur Rehman signed an agreement that refugees who came before March 1971 will NOT be repatriated. Evidently this was to get more so-called “secular” votes. Only “Natural Indians” alone would be eligible for ALL Constitutional posts and those involving security. A Natural Indian is one whose both parents were Indian citizens at the time of his/her birth and who has never held the citizenship of any other country even for a single day. That should settle the hash of not only false Gandhis but also Farooq Abdullahs and Navin Patnaiks. Next, if we are secular then we need a secular civil code. Let us formulate one and throw it open WITHOUT COMPULSION to all Indians. Let ALL Indians be allowed to segregate religion from personal life. There are many who want to boot mullahs, bishops and purohits out of their lives. In one generation religion and caste will cease to be a vote garnering issue. The government must affirmatively demonstrate that it is the executive and legislature that run this country – not the judiciary or the EC or even the CAG. Lastly let subsidies and reservations come with riders – like limits on number of children eligible, preferably no children. Why allow poverty to be perpetuated? What about loss of voting rights? The country needs people who work for a living. Not those who vote for a living or need votes for a living.

Categories
Musings

Xenophilic Indians

I wonder why there is so widespread adoption for anything foreign and apathy for local. Why are we so ignorant or ashamed of our own culture and heritage?
Last week I went to Concorde Manhattan, an apartment complex in Electronic City Bangalore. The project had 10 towers each named after a great person. Unfortunately none of the names were Indians.
Outside Bollywood & cricket, almost all celebrities became widely popular first abroad then domestically (rather than the expected other way around). Notable names being Mahatma Gandhi, Amartya Sen, Arundhati Rai became overnight celebrities only after the rewards and recognition abroad. Some of the most famous Indian industries flourish because they don’t do any business in India. Take Lakshmi Mittal or IT Companies of the world. Even in Bollywood, no viewer will watch a movie unless the movie has western clothes, songs shot abroad. A month ago, I met an NGO activist Harish Hande during the recent I5 talks in this campus. He sadly admits that his NGO is neither the best nor the most revolutionary. Yet he was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award only because he is eloquent in English and has worked so hard promoting his company Selco internationally.
English language skills has become the only scorecard to judge how a person, the universal language for the high class gentleman. Your family and friends will hold you in high esteem if you work for a MNC. If you happen to be working for an Indian company, then number of foreign trips will determine how successful you are professionally.
Many products carry a tag “export quality” signifying that produce for the local market is inherently inferior. Even traditional Indian practices and philosophies gained relevance abroad before we Indians even understood its value. No wonder even today we use the western names which has ‘a’ attached towards the end of Yoga, Ayurveda etc. rather than the original Indian name. At ISKON, which is probably the biggest temple in Bangalore, they Chant “Hare Rama! Hare Krishna!” not “Hare Ram! Hare Krishn!” because of its international image.
Why is it that we are constantly and often blindly following foreigners? Can’t we make a judgment for ourselves? Why is it that local talent and ideas are being starved domestically in our quest to adopt anything foreigners. I would like to end this note with the famous story of a couple on the donkey.
A man and wife along with their donkey were returning from the forest. The man was riding the donkey while the woman was walking. The passing-by commented on how the inconsiderate man was making his wife toil in the hot sun. So the wife mounted on the donkey which was immediately followed by comments on how the man was henpecked and cuckold etc. Frustrated they decided that both of them would ride on the donkey. Now the passing by commented on how heartless the couple was and how they are doing to over-work the donkey to death. So both of them decided to walk. No, wonder the donkey ran away and the couple was too tired to pursue. Gist is that its important to listen to others, but there is no wisdom in blindly aping the society.