Thursday, January 28, 2016

All my best posts are the posts I haven't written

From Seth Again

Sometimes I'll get a great idea for a post while out walking or showering or generally not in front of a keyboard. Not just great ideas, but fabulous ones.

And then, after rehearsing the keywords over and over so I don't forget before I write it down, I forget.

And that post, the post I didn't write, the post that never saw the light of day--that's the best post ever.

I think most dreams work this way.

The thing is, an unwritten post is no post at all. It's merely a little bit of gossamer on wings of hope. Doesn't count.

The only good posts are the ones I've written.

I think most dreams work this way, too.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The Black Tournament - Barefoot Football

'Barefoot and Badass in Bangalore - The Independence Cup is a Tournament with a difference' - Swaroop Dev


The whole thing caught my attention first when I overheard Amit on his phone, about sponsoring Jerseys for a football team. When I asked...he's like, 'my pub manager plays for this football team, it's a crazy event, a barefoot tournament that's been on in Bangalore since years'. Sounded interesting, and I wanted to know more.

Know more I did....Swaroop wrote an article on it for a magazine called Motherland, ( strong recommendation to watch the one minute clip, the dexterity and skill on display can bring goosebumps..it's like he is one with the ball) and it got published this month. 

Excerpts from the article:

'Legend has it that the only time India qualified for the Football World Cup, in 1950, the team withdrew because they weren't allowed to play barefoot. It had worked well for them in the maidans back home, they argued, and studs didn't suit their style. The actual reasons were far more symptomatic of Indian sports selection issues; lack of funds and internal squabbles. But why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Every August in Bangalore comes around a tournament that brings alive an ignored football subculture in the city that's not generally predisposed towards the game. The Independence cup, or the Black Tournament as it's called on the street that does more than keep that delightful barefoot urban legend alive.

Set in a pretty but nondescript ground that's nestled in Bangalore Austin town, it's a tournament that's been on for 65 years. The teams are a rule book defying seven a side. There are no tickets, no seats, no changing rooms, no press, and no advertising. And it's played barefoot.

The tournament pits more than 60 teams from the slums and lower income areas of Bangalore. The teams as well as onlookers are predominantly from Bangalore's Tamil Christian community. One of the largest surviving 'converted' communities since the British missionary days, there are over 1.5 million Tamil Christians in Bangalore, and a majority of them sit in the lower middle class to the below the poverty line range. If one generously generalizes, it'd be fair to say they are, for the most part, avid church goers and highly patriarchal, with a penchant for cheap liquor, loud fights and drama. The new lot, with gelled hair, studded ears, tight shirts, are tough, blue collared workers and cocksure. They love their movies, superstars, tamil music, their 'areas', their language and their identity. And they love their football.

The cantonment is generally the domain of Bangalore's upper middle class, and the ground itself is flanked by posh apartments and large villas. But on every Sunday, for four weeks leading up to the finals on August 15th, the roads outside the ground are transformed into chaotic parking lots, densely packed with rickshaws, cycles, low budget bikes, and souped up scooters with film star stickers. It's like a Hell's Angels run on a sleepy little town that leaves its residents shaking their heads. The atmosphere around the ground evokes both intrigue and dread for what might follow. Vulgar team songs, drunken threats and loud opinions swirl in your ears. Unsurprisingly there's not a woman in sight, though that doesn't stop the MC from beginning every sentence with a polite, 'ladies and gentleman'.

Money stays behind the scenes and bragging rights for a year is the biggest prize on offer. There is, invariably, some delectable pre-match entertainment on show before each game. It's not exactly Jennifer Lopez at the superbowl, and almost always impromptu, but it's raucous and entertaining stuff.

There are also poignant stories of dashed dreams. From an ex-Olympian who is now a withered watchman with a fifty year old team photo crumpled into his wallet, and others of youngsters who were picked for the Bayern Munich Youth Trials but didn't have the passport or the money needed to finance the trip. On that day, it's all wonderfully romantic.

The football itself is fast and rough. with just 20 minutes a half and 7 players a side, there's a lot more running and hustling to do. It's barefoot, on an uneven mud field, with the odd rock popping out, and plenty of dust in the air. Despite all the chaos, the tournament progresses remarkable smoothly towards the final on Independence Day and attracts an over 10000 plus crowd.

After the finals, the crowds hang around, swigging, smoking and swearing, and warming up for the fights that will soon break out outside the gates, as is customary after the potent mix of a good drink and rough football. Soon after these scuffles they will pick themselves up, dust away the effects of the day, and sober up for a mundane job the next morning.

The street brawler transforms into the bank clerk. The rabble rouser opens up his cycle shop and the kid with gelled hair sheds his Messi t-shirt for a corporation school uniform. It's back to business as usual for this particular football - mad community. It will be a year before most of them see each other again, and they can't wait.'

Thanks Swaroop. Great job surfacing an unknown and fascinating event, and an interesting facet of Bangalore. And nicely written; I must have read it atleast ten times.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Good Deed of the Day

Last week, Diksha and a friend ordered food from Burger King, and there was stuff leftover. I was so irked by the mess, I threw the remains into the trash. And then the second thoughts, the feeling bad..... it was after all chicken nuggets, so I actually picked them back up, put it away in another container and stuck it in the fridge ( I was irritated remember, that's when you stick it in, rather than put it in :)

Each time I opened the fridge, it would bug me, (oh, most important piece of information, all our cats seem to have gone off on sabbatical, that's why the fridge), so I pushed it right behind and forgot all about it.

This morning, I see one of the cats sitting outside the french window, peeping in hopefully,  and the moment she saw me.....mewing an..... 'I'm back' kinds.

I was immersed in my book, so for a while I chose to ignore her. But the mewing was persistent, and the look so doleful, that I had to drag myself to the kitchen.

Opened the fridge for milk, and that's when I suddenly remembered the nuggets. It's such a pain because cats don't like cold food.... .so had to microwave for a minute and all that.

The experience of watching her eat.....first she couldn't figure out what it was (staple is bread and milk) ......trying it out ......and then the relish with which she ate it. It was just so gratifying and worth all that trouble. I actually put aside my book and sat and watched her eat them all, so much so, I forgot to take a picture  :)

Monday, January 25, 2016

Intelligence vis a vis .....sagacity, maturity, wisdom???

There was a time when I'd think Intelligence is what it takes 'to Know' 'to Understand'.

The ability to analyze, see the larger perspective, to go beyond what's visible, grasp the subtle, think quick........and that would be intelligence. 'Intelligence is what it takes to succeed'. That's what we've been led to believe. And then you get stumped when you see people who you know to be Intelligent, yet, just not getting it. 

And then you wonder.....

I thought this person was really intelligent (and he is), so how is he not getting it? And then I started to look for what this person would be.

This takes me back to an incident: I was on a trip to Vermont, and I'm telling Nammu, (my dear cousin who lives alone in the woods, by choice) about a friend at work, and I say 'he's one of the most intelligent persons I've ever ever met' and bang comes the question....'what do you mean by intelligent?'

And I go "emm....well...uh....he's just got this ability to see right through things, understand the why of things, ask the right questions....plus the analytical ability to source and apply those answers....and ....."

And I realize today that if I didn't find a word then, I still don't have a word. Intelligence is only one of the factors in this kind of person, and there has to be that more......

I tried 'maturity' (but realized you can have mature without intelligent), so while maturity came close, it still fell through.

Wisdom and Segacity are nice, but they somehow seem to preclude the razor sharpness of a quick analytical mind, which is such a pleasure to watch, so dropped off.

Even Howard Gardner's list of Intelligences doesn't necessarily cover it. Sure emotional intelligence is a big part, but it's yet more.

And that ability is something which I think is dynamic, and that's really the best part. The open mindedness which is a pre-requisite actually abets its growth. And you pack in intelligence, and integrity and energy and curiosity and sensitivity...... and you have a veritable powerhouse there.

This might sound crazy abstract, and maybe even purposeless ( who said I don't love arm chair philosophy :), but look around you and you'll see it, or rather the lack of it. You'll find people who you've always known to be intelligent.......and do you see the cracks? 

That's when you figure that there's one fundamental difference. Intelligence is static, while that level of being is dynamic and all encompassing. Rare...but so beautiful.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Listening

The more I learn about listening, the more there is to it.

If I once thought I listened well, I now know how,  it can also be a process of continuous growth.  

This kind of ties in to what we spoke of the other day in difficult conversations.......that we all have our perspectives, own framework of rationalization........... and when we listen, we typically take in through that framework. That would create an automatic process of interpretation, judgement and reaction.

We need to watch out for that.

To be able to really listen, we need to be able to set ourselves aside. And to set aside, you first need to know. You need to know your own framework, your feelings, your thinking....so you can actually step out of them and then listen. Listen not just to what the other is saying, but to what the other is feeling.

(while listening applies in a lot of spaces, this becomes imperative in emotion or feeling based conversations)

First off, why is listening even important?

Because, as it turns out, 'being heard'....'being understood' is one of the most fulfilling, and unfortunately not so easy or commonplace, as you'd think, of experiences. Can be with a friend who has been through a difficult situation or something as simple as listening to your little one narrate her experience at play. It's what makes the other person feel they matter. It's so worth it.

A nicely said piece from 'In the path of the barefoot counsellor' Fr.Joe Currie

"Listening is more than hearing. It's not about let the other person speak, or about giving advice or opinion. The basic purpose is to really understand the other person. We are constantly speaking the language of feelings, but rarely listening at that level. If you don't understand how a person feels, you haven't understood him. 

What the other person wants above all else is to be understood. That would make it active listening. You cannot listen to another unless you are listening to yourself. If you cannot hear your own feelings, you will never hear theirs."

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Like Crazy

Sweet and intimate....... intelligent and real, a movie with it's heart in the right place.



College days.... youth and energy at a peak and you have a blooming love story between Jacob, (Anton Yetchin) and Anna ( Felicity Jones). Cute and old fashioned start, where she leaves a long long note on his windshield, asking for a date..... they meet....they hang out.... and then they just start spending all their time together. All too soon summer vacation is here, and Anna is British, so her visa has an expiry date.

She can't bear to leave, even when it means going back to get documentation completed and coming back as planned. They give in to impulse......... and a glorious summer of love and sex. And that one mistake has impact that lasts a life time. It lands them in terrible immigration issues and what ensues are the struggles of a long distance relationship.

The chemistry between them is smoldering and incredible, when together and even when apart. The issues of long distance communication make their brief reunions that much more endearing and intense. 

Yet, when apart, they also indulge in easy, but seemingly unacceptable relationships with other partners. Jacob is into a relationship with his co worker at the furniture design workshop where he designs furniture and Anna is in a relationship with her neighbor. And there's assumptions and pressures and issues. You see the agonizing times when the thumb hovers over the send button to honest messages, and instead sends out carefully worded ones.

The question that seems to get asked is..you know you are in love with 'The One', yet there are other 'ones', and how much can it distract and take away. This movie is not for those who believe in 'The One', or 'Soul Mates' which can outlast anything and everything......in here the other relationships seem to seep into the very fabric of their love and leave them torn somewhere in between. Not as much their own but their inability to accept it in the other. 

I never really understood why Jacob couldn't get a visa to England. His love and effort seem sincere and honest enough, but I guess when you're in love what's needed is less sincerity and honesty, and more a craziness to do what it takes. The 'Like Crazy' is just more her than him I thought.

A definitely worthy watch. 

Friday, January 22, 2016

Handling Difficult Conversations

Year end time is that dreaded time of year .....the time for performance assessment and feedback.... and invariably involves some difficult conversations. 

And much as you think you have it all covered in your head, we tend to forget that we have only our perspective covered. And when the objective is to provide feedback that's actionable, then it becomes critical that you communicate right.

A very common error that many of us make is to believe that we're starting the conversation on an objective note, we believe we're stating fact. However, the moment this fact is pointing to a negative outcome or behavior from the other person, take it that we've started wrong. 

There will likely be an immediate defense mechanism that kicks in and creates a feeling of alienation in the other.....bad bad start.

A few things we can do to keep the other person involved and to enable us being heard: (while this is gathered from sources and experience that are work related, it's useful in any difficult conversation as well)
  • Start by 'asking' rather than 'telling' ; Leading questions are still fine if needed....give them a chance to express their perspective, and more importantly, the feeling that they are being heard. And, actually listen.
  • Own your perspective ;  Don't for instance, say 'you have missed every deadline we set'...instead say, 'I'm upset this project is three months behind schedule'. There's a higher likelihood they will listen, rather than if you start to blame.
  • Explain that it's not about intention; Respect the other persons intention, empathize with the effort........ but stay focused on the impact. Impact here is the delay, so how do we work around it
  • Pay Attention to your words; Keep them simple and clear, and more importantly neutral. Also, don't apologize for your feelings, your expectations are valid. Your looking for change at the other end....... not sympathy. 
  • Say 'And' not 'But' - The other person doesn't have to be wrong for you to be right
  • Pay attention to your body language ; Non verbal cues can completely take away from what you're saying....looking at your phone, or out the window, rolling your eyes, shrugging your shoulders......your body language should also show intent to listen.
A tip I read somewhere, which was also interesting:

If it seems as if you’ve entered into a power struggle in which you’re no longer discussing the substance of your conflict but battling over who is right, you might want to call out what’s not working. Say, “we seem to be getting locked into our positions. could we return to our goals and see if we can come up with some new ideas that might meet the objectives?” 

While you can’t force others to appreciate, understand, or even just hear your perspective, using the tactics above increases the chances. Getting your point across, coupled with genuine listening, is a necessity if you want to reach a resolution.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Getting Ahead vs. Doing Well

Another one from Seth

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I was at a fancy event the other day, and it was held in three different rooms. All of these fancy folks were there, in fancy outfits, etc. More than once, I heard people ask, "is this room the best room?" It wasn't enough that the event was fancy. It mattered that the room assigned was the fanciest one.

After a company in Seattle famously raised its lowest salary tier to $70,000, two people (who got paid more than most of the other workers) quit, because they felt it wasn't fair that people who weren't as productive as they were, were going to get a raise.

They quit a good job, a job they liked, because other people got a raise.

This is our culture of 'getting ahead' talking.

This is the thinking that, "First class isn't better because of the seats, it's better because it's not coach." (Several airlines have tried to launch all-first-class seating, and all of them have stumbled.)

Class rank. The most expensive car. A 'better' neighborhood. A faster marathon. More online followers. A bigger pool...

There are two challenges here. The first is that in a connection economy, the idea that others need to be in coach for you to be in first doesn't scale very well. When we share an idea or an experience, we both have it, it doesn't diminish the value, it increases it.

Life is more fun when you don't compare. It's possible to create dignity and be successful at the same time. (In fact, that might be the only way to be truly successful.)

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This is one that I completely completely agree with. I hear a lot of folks say, 'whatever you do, get to the best in'. Always about competition. I've heard friends of mine tell their children this.  And I've always wondered why.

Why can't my objective be just what I want.... 'my best'. Peer pressure goes against it. It almost borders on funny....peer pressure forces you to compete. Ironical, huh? 

Find yourself. Know yourself. Focus on yourself. It's not just a path to being happy or successful, but is also the most unselfish thing you can do. It's the space where you will likely be your best.....contribute your highest......give the most.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Freud - An Add On

The reason I write this separate from the recent post on Demystifying Freud, is because I found it extremely significant, and it's such a minor instance, that I didn't want it getting lost in the descriptive:

The episode is one which Freud witnessed when he went to Paris on a fellowship to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, a renowned neurologist who was conducting scientific research into hypnosis.
'Jean had hypnotized a woman, and under the state of hypnosis had told her 'to open the window at 1 pm'. (this was done at ten am). 
She was out of hypnosis in ten minutes, and back to normal life. She was later attending class in the institute, and at 1 pm she got up and opened a window. A colleague asked her why she was opening the window, and she responded saying she was suddenly feeling warm. (She had absolutely no recall of the instruction given earlier).' 
What really struck me in this instance, is not as much carrying out an instruction given during hypnosis, (because that is known and expected) but how an instruction fed into the unconscious state, actually travels into the conscious state with a completely justified rationalization in the present.

It's enormous in implication. Almost to say that 'rationalization' is as subjective as opinion. 

Monday, January 18, 2016

SELCO.... in the New York Times

Electrifying India, With the Sun and Small Loans




Slide Show - 7 Photos

A few years ago, the hundred or so residents of Paradeshappanamatha, a secluded hamlet in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, gathered along the central pathway between their 22 densely clustered homes, and watched as government workers hoisted a solar-powered streetlamp. As the first display of electricity in the town, it was an object of mild interest, but, being outside, the light didn’t help anyone cook or study, and only attracted moths.

Still, when B. Prasad arrived two years later to encourage people here to abandon kerosene lighting for solar-powered home systems, people had some idea what he was talking about. What sounded preposterous to the village residents was the price. Mr. Prasad, an agent for Solar Electric Light Company, or Selco, was selling a panel and battery that would power three lights and an attached socket for phone charging for approximately 12,800 rupees, or $192

“There was no way we could afford that,” P. C. Kalayya remembers thinking. He and his neighbors rise early in the morning to walk miles along a nearly impassable dirt road to work on coffee, pepper and betel nut plantations. Mr. Kalayya earns $3 a day — he’d been earning $2.25 until a raise came through this year — and half his wage is withheld by his employer as repayment for various loans.

And yet, despite what seemed on its face an impossibly high cost, Selco agents succeeded in persuading Mr. Kalayya and 10 other village households to make the switch. Now, his wife can better see how much spice she is putting in as she cooks, and Pratima, their 18-year-old daughter, can study long after dark.

The idea behind Selco, and other companies like it, is to create a business model that will help some of the 1.2 billion people in the world who don’t have electricity to leapfrog the coal-dependent grid straight to renewable energy sources.

About a quarter of the world’s off-the-grid people, or 300 million or so, live in India, mostly in remote, rural communities like Paradeshappanamatha, or in informal urban settlements. Hundreds of millions more get electricity for only a few hours a day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to achieve universal electrification in India by the end of 2022. His main effort is adding hundreds of new coal plants, which have contributed to near-apocalyptic pollution levels across large swaths of the country.

On the other hand, Mr. Modi has also promised investments that would significantly increase production from renewable sources. Partly to that end, Mr. Modi and President François Hollande of France started an “International Solar Alliance” during the recent climate talks in Paris. With an initial pledge of $30 million from India, Mr. Modi said that the eventual goal was $1 trillion in global funding for solar technology development by 2030.

Solar power accounts for just 1 percent of India’s current electricity production, mostly through large plants that contribute power to the grid, but a generation of Indian energy entrepreneurs is out to prove that a faster, cleaner and ultimately more economical route to universal electrification is through solar home systems.

“Why is it always about a grid?” asked Harish Hande, a co-founder of Selco India. It was one of the first of more than 40 companies now offering solar home systems in India.

Selco systems typically include a small panel connected to a battery that stores enough power to run one or more lights, phone chargers and, with higher wattage options, some small appliances. Since its inception in 1995, Selco India has sold 318,400 solar home systems, and has provided power systems to almost 10,000 schools, hospitals and other institutions, almost all in Karnataka.

“Solar home systems have been around for a long time by now, and they are a successful model,” said Robert Stoner, the director of the Tata Center for Technology and Design at M.I.T., which works directly with Selco and others, including the Indian government, on renewable technology development. “Their challenge is that they cost a lot — far more than the average person has, even a relatively well-off person.”

So if it is difficult to persuade a middle-class family in an industrialized country to invest in solar, how do you persuade a family that lives on a couple dollars a day?

Mr. Prasad is a consummate salesman who talks a mile a minute, wears his hair in a side-part and keeps three pens in his breast pocket. On his home turf in the villages of the Chikkamagaluru district in Karnataka, his salesmanship is put to the test. If he can manage to interest people in what is often an unfamiliar technology, he then pitches his potential customers on the more mysterious, but crucial idea of financing.

For two decades, Selco has worked to persuade a network of banks to provide financing options to poor people who were typically seen as too risky. As Mohan Hegde, the company’s operations manager, noted, “The idea behind Selco is to take a poor man to the bank and see if what he can afford to pay per month is acceptable to the lenders.”

The sales presentation, once it includes assurance of financing from a bank, is much more palatable to potential customers: Pay the bank monthly installments of roughly the same price you’d spend on kerosene, and in a few short years, you’ll own the system and your basic energy needs will be fulfilled by the sun free.

“When we say free, their ears prick up,” Mr. Prasad said.

Without financing, decentralized renewable energy could never compete in India with kerosene, which is cheap because the government subsidizes its sale at a cost of more than $5 billion a year. Use of kerosene contributes to carbon emissions, but also to more personal and immediate hazards like skin irritation, respiratory problems and a significant fire risk. Ultimately, it provides only dim, flickering lighting.

For many of Selco’s customers, financing the solar home system is their first interaction with a bank. The experience is often new for the bankers, too.

“Honestly, I had never even heard of Paradeshappanamatha, and beyond that I’ve never dealt with financing such small sums,” said Shahanaz Ali, the manager of a branch of the Kaveri Grameena Bank, where Mr. Kalayya and his neighbors eventually opened accounts. “I’m very new to this job, so taking risks with these kinds of people is worrisome. They have no collateral, so I have no security in giving individual loans.”

Ms. Ali telephoned a superior based in a nearby town who had interacted with Selco customers before, and he reassured her that very few defaulted. He offered her an idea for financing that Selco had used for other remote villages.

“I created what’s called a ‘Joint Liability Group,’ ” said Ms. Ali. “In the J.L.G., we give a loan to a group, and each member acts as another’s guarantor, so therefore if one defaults, the whole group does, too.”

Through the cooperation of hundreds of banks like Ms. Ali’s, Selco effectively shifts financial risk away from the customer, and away from its own investors. By and large, the risk to the banks has been worth it — 7.4 percent of Selco’s hundreds of thousands of customers have defaulted. But each new bank needs to be persuaded to participate, and so salesmen like Mr. Prasad can’t promise customers financing from the get-go.

“The banks are only with us because we are relentless about our business model, and the only reason we can be that way is because we have wonderfully patient investors,” said Mr. Hande.

Selco’s three investors are foundations, two European and one American, that function like venture capital firms, but emphasize social impact rather than profitability. Selco’s margins are only around 3 to 4 percent; net profit was just $62,500 in the 2013-14 financial year.

Other solar home system providers in India, as well as in Africa, have steered clear of the arduous bank-centric model and opted for pay-as-you-go plans, similar to prepaid cellphones. The user pays a shopkeeper for a certain amount of electricity and essentially rents the system.

“In the pay-as-you-go model, the company is forced to own all the capital, so they end up with this incredibly large balance sheet and take on a lot of investor risk,” said Mr. Stoner, the director of the M.I.T. research institute. “On the other hand, it does allow individuals to get the benefits without having to take on loans.”

Mr. Kalayya’s family hopes that their solar home system, with its lights and phone charger, is only the beginning. Pratima, who is one of four people in the village to have attended school, said that getting bank accounts and understanding loans had broadened her family’s sense of possibility.

“The faster we pay off this loan, the more likely we are to get another one,” she said.

Ms. Ali, the banker, had offered families in Paradeshappanamatha a minimum monthly payment of 350 rupees, or about $5.30, but after a group discussion, the families decided to make spending sacrifices so as to pay 500 rupees per month. They had seen electric appliances in town that could improve their lives.

“We still have to do manual grinding of grains and spices,” Mr. Kalayya said. “It takes up a lot of time. The next loan can be for a machine that will do this.”

The solar home system, or S.H.S., model has steadily grown as the technology becomes more affordable. A report released in early 2015 by the Climate Group, an international nonprofit working toward a low-carbon economy, together with Goldman Sachs, estimated that the 40 to 50 S.H.S. providers in India were on track to sell at least five million solar home systems in India between 2014 and 2018. The report added that “better models for consumer finance alongside large demand and rising incomes,” along with projected growth in per-capita income, could expand that number to around 7.2 million households, or more than 30 million people, by 2018.

If true, solar home systems would still account for only a minuscule proportion of India’s electricity supply, and profit margins for providers would remain in the low single digits.

The scale of the S.H.S. business model depends on its adaptability to dense, urban areas, where homes are often makeshift and temporary, and where almost all of the net growth in India’s population is projected to occur. Many urban migrants have no legal rights to live where they do, which leaves them vulnerable in countless ways, including the inability to demand electricity from the public grid, or, for that matter, to have access to the kerosene subsidy.

In a cluster of around 70 hovels made of scrap metal and plastic about an hour’s drive through bumper-to-bumper traffic from Selco’s headquarters in Bangalore, the company is trying out a model specialized for urban, landless people.

The ramshackle settlement doesn’t have an official name, and the Bengali-speaking migrants who live there refer to the place as “near Hebbal flyover,” referring to a nearby overpass.

Mosidul Haque says he came to the settlement three years ago from a town in the state of West Bengal, 1,500 miles away. He now roams Bangalore for recyclable material, which he puts into giant burlap sacks tied to a bicycle that he uses as a cart. He makes an average of 300 rupees a day from a middleman who buys the scrap.

Mr. Haque used his savings to open a small stall selling cigarettes and tea, and when Selco scouted the settlement, they identified him as a possible operator who could run a pay-as-you-go-style business for area residents.

Based on the number of people living in Mr. Haque’s vicinity, Selco provided him with two large solar panels to put on the roof, 32 power storage batteries and an equal number of single-bulb lamps to rent out. Mr. Haque now sells electricity from the batteries by the hour. He also fully charges phones for 5 rupees, or about 8 cents, saving his customers trips to distant charge shops whose owners they don’t trust, where they would have to stand guard for the duration of the charging.

He gets paid 1,000 rupees a month, or about $15, by Selco to serve as an operator, and also earns on the batteries and phone charging. But each month, he must pay 4,000 rupees as an installment toward the 80,000-rupee price, or $1,200, of the entire system, which is owned by Selco until the payments are complete. Very few banks would lend to itinerant workers like Mr. Haque, whose assets and livelihoods are so vulnerable, so this model shifts risk back onto Selco and its investors.

The risk is not just that Mr. Haque will come up short. This November, he returned from visiting his home in West Bengal to find that one of the solar panels had been stolen. He’d rather not inform the police; he says they already see the migrants as thieves, and look for excuses to evict them. Selco’s investors will cover the cost of the panel, and the replacement is going to be installed on a higher pole.

Running a solar business in an informal settlement like “near Hebbal flyover” involves a thicket of problems. Mr. Haque worries about whether his home will be razed or if he’ll be able to generate electricity during the long weeks of monsoon rains, or dense winter fog, when lighting is more important than ever. And when your customers are living hand-to-mouth, just collecting payment is a daily frustration.

“People take mobile charges and light payments from me on credit, and then they never pay,” Mr. Haque said. “When you go and ask them for the money, it always turns into a fight. People here get a chance to loot and before you know it, your money is gone.”

While Mr. Hande, Mr. Stoner and others try to iron out problems like these, they acknowledge that solar home systems don’t represent a complete solution to energy poverty, if only because it is so intertwined with the precariousness of the lives of his customers.

“With S.H.S.’s, at the end of the day, you are just replacing an existing cost with a better technology,” Mr. Stoner said. “Having electric lighting at home might allow a child to study for longer hours, so you are introducing an indirect productivity benefit, but it doesn’t help you pay next month’s loan.”

“Still,” he said, “that first kilowatt of electricity someone gets is worth an awful lot because they go from darkness to light, with a very small amount of energy.”

Demystifying Freud

Talk to anyone on Psychology, and a name that invariably pops up is Freud. It's like everyone knows Freud, maybe will even quote Freud, talk about what Freud says. 

I did some recent listening and reading on Freud again, so here's like a first level snapshot

His biggest contribution is the idea of the unconscious mind, and his famous theory on personality, the psychoanalytical theory that is built on it. The theory is based on how it is the unconscious mind that drives most of human behavior, and any resolution of conflict can be understood through accessing the unconscious mind.

                 
                     
The iceberg metaphor is used to explain his basic concepts of the unconscious mind.

Freud proposed that our personalities are made up of three conflicting entities.

1. The Id - which is made up if an instinct based energy, the libido, which is largely made up of sexual energy. He also spoke of the death instinct, and said that efforts to suppress this instinct led to conflict.

The Id is largely a pleasure principle. If it feels good, do it...if it doesn't, stay away.

2. The Superego -  which operates on a moral principle. It is created through childhood based on instructions from parents and society.....it contains all the rules, the dos and dont's of our lives.

The superego has guilt as its weapon against the pleasures of the Id.

Obviously, the Id and the Superego have major conflicts, because many of the ways the Id wants to behave are against the rules of the Superego.

3. Acting as a mediator between the Id and the Superego is the Ego.

The ego operates on a reality principle. The role of the ego is to act as the referee between the Id and the Superego, giving each enough control to allow the game of life to be played.

As the ego develops strength, it begins to carry around a self-concept that can be used as a standard, so that each conflict between the Id and Superego does not have to be individually mediated.

There's a simple experiment which enables us to understand how much happens at the unconscious level. If we picked a person, anyone that had an influence or issue with, and spoke for twenty minutes (even to yourself, but aloud).......you'd be amazed at how much more would be said than you'd readily admit.....focused speaking brakes through the filters, and feelings start to flow. Its apparently a very powerful technique and is today used in a lot of other talking therapies and not just psychoanalysis.

Apparently the ego controls ones thinking so much that repression is part of it's duty. And it's when you let go, talk, even just to yourself, that the censoring mechanism will crack and a lot of what's within will flow through.

According to Freud there are no mistakes or accidents, which is why even a 'slip if tongue' in many contexts is referred to as the 'Freudian Slip'.

An Interesting Snippet: Apparently Woody Allen has been in psychoanalysis all through his grown years as he is keenly interested in understanding the human psyche and behavior, and a lot of his movie themes are thoughts thrown up during his psychoanalysis sessions.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Yeh Raaten..Yeh Mausam.....

A simple, honest and beautiful rendition.....of a favorite song

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Nurture enables Bloom

You'd think it's obvious, but each time you see it, it doesn't seize to amaze.

Bangalore's had a prolonged rainy season, June through November, so I haven't needed to water the garden in months. Some occasional weeding and pruning and cleaning was all it had taken. Six whole months, so can't blame me for getting out of habit and a wee bit complacent there. 

Through December, I'd check in, see the plants all looking green and nice..... so convinced myself there was enough moisture and they were all fine. Even my water hose had cracked up for lack of use.

Last week I started watering.....been just a few days..... and was so struck by how the green turned to color.













Survival and Existence, I guess will mostly happen......but nurture....and you see blossoms and bloom :)

Friday, January 15, 2016

Whatever Works

Yet another Woody Allen, Manhattan based, quirky film...... where he explores the irrational and absurd, and makes a meandering kind of story of it.

           

Boris Yellnikoff, a hardened cynic, actually full blown misogynist, played by Larry David, is a nuclear physicist, once nominated for the Nobel Prize. He's now divorced, retired....and spends all his time.....well,  just being a misogynist I guess.

As Allen often does, the movie starts with this group of friends in the middle of an intellectual discussion, this time on the paradoxes of life...like life is beautiful...yet, that it's miserable to see it wasted by humanity, yes, Boris' bitterness speaks. Larry David is amazing in the role.

Boris's marriage is interesting, interesting in a completely paradoxical way.....because, it seems like a perfect match, same interests, both highly intelligent, similar values......like he says...it was so perfect, he couldn't stand it. Hard to understand, even the wife doesn't get it, but that's what Boris feels, so he leaves.

And into that bitter world of his enters Melody St Ann Celestine, who is all that her name evokes...sweet, innocent, optimistic, naive, and lacking anything close to intelligence or intellectual.

Evan Rachel Wood, is convincing in the role, and through all that lack of intelligence which he is totally brazenly contemptuous of, she proposes marriage.  He's shocked and appalled and he's initially like, what can I give you except hypochondriasis, morbid fixations and misantropy? However apparently dumb, she has a mind of her own, and she sees greatness in him and in all her innocence wants him. And marry her he does. And it flows on till it does....till it reaches where he wants her and she moves on.

It's about whatever works, even if different things work at different times.

It's an Allen for sure...but I wouldn't put it at one of his best

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Nisar Ahmed... and his Alfaaz

Nisar Ahmed..... the cab driver I happened to meet today.


I get in and say, "Lavelle road", and he's like "Madam ji. mujhe lavaleee road pata nahi hai". So I'm like..."Chaliye, mein dikathi hoon...naye ho kya aap yahaan?"

And that started off this beautiful conversation. He's like " Ji, bas paanch din huye mujhe taxi lekhe"

"Pehle kya karte the?"

"Mein bus chalarahatha...Bangalore se Pune"

"Arre wah, bus ke baad taxi? Kaise? Kaunsa acha lagtha hai?"

"Madam ji, bees saal bus chalaya...hindustan ka kona kona dekh chukha hoon"

"abhi, taxi mein traffic ki tho dikath hoti hai.......... par ghar ke baahar hawa kaane ka mauka miltha hai..........logon se mulaqaath karne ka mauka milta hai......... aur aap jaise behenji ke meete alfaaz sunne ka mauka milta hai"

By then I was floored, as you can imagine :)

Then it figures that his daughter is settled in Perth, Australia. His son is working in Dubai. His wife is headmistress of a school. He's been to Dubai for six months, stayed in Australia for an year, and then he's like..."Watan ki yaad agayi, aur bas chala aya".

"Paise ki kami nahi thi, maasha allah, par retirement ke baad, ghar baite baite bas sofa neeche chalagaya.......aathi hai tho driving, isiliye taxi shuru kiya hai."

I was like .." dhaag dene padegi aap ke sonch ki, mein tho badi kush hoon ki app ne jo soncha, woh kiya"

"Ghar mein kisi kho nahi pasand mera yeh taxi chalana, kehte hain 65 saal hogaye, abhi ghar me aaram kijiye........par batayiye madam ji, meri mann khi qwaish pura hota ghar bhaite?"

I liked him, and his urdu so much, that I was like, "aap ko sunthe sunthe, mujhe tho hyderabad ki yaad aagayi"

(for those who don't speak urdu, apologies, but this is more about the language itself, so not translating)

Ahmed bhai....nostalgia for hyderabad...... and some home sickness.....made this post

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

One of Woody Allen's beautiful, and brilliant ones. What Somerset Maugham does in writing, Allen does in celluloid. Digging into the depths of human nature, into the most seemingly ambivalent, irrational, intriguing spaces.....

He's made over 50 films in as many years...how amazing is that. He should be knighted or some such thing in my opinion. He's simply epic.

It's quirky, it's deep, it's honest.....he seems to pick some bold and hidden thoughts, and have them play out in reality. Offers no judgement, no solutions......just acceptance.....spontaneity all the way round.




Vicky and Cristina are two friends on a summer holiday to Barcelona. While they are the best of friends, and have similar outlooks and thoughts on almost everything, their attitude towards love is diametrically the opposite. Vicky likes her love safe and stable, while Cristina is searching for that wild and untameable romance.

During their holiday, they are approached by the oozing machismo, handsome Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) for a weekend out, a forthright and honest invite at a first meet, and while Vicky is suitably outraged, Cristina is game. Javier Bardem clearly has immense fun making the offer. They all go.

There's beautiful Barcelona and evolving relationships.

Then steps in the ex wife, Maria Elena, played by Penelope Cruz, an intense, temperamental art genius. It's then evident that Juan and her still share a deep love, yet there's tempestuous, almost violent fights all the time.

Penelope is full of oooomph (intended additional o's) and energy, and seems to just fill the screen with her presence. Scarlett J as Cristina, is good too..... she's after all a favorite, what else would I say (see).  There's also very interesting chemistry and attraction between Maria Elena and Cristina. 



As always, Allen seems to make anything close to normal pale into boring. Vicky's fiancee is this nice, settled, intelligent, fun loving guy..you know, all the makes of a perfect fit... but he just comes off as so passe when pitched against characters like the bohemian, artisty Juan, or the temperamental Maria Elena, or the passionate Cristina. 

And somewhere along, even the safe and stable Vicky can't resist the draw of this bunch, especially of Juan....and it only seems right .



It's an interesting menage a quatre, with it's crazy but fascinating dynamics. 

Barcelona, a very significant part of the film, renders itself as another seductive character to the story, especially countryside Barcelona, it's stunningly beautiful.

Strong recommendation to watch... witty, thought provoking, solidly unconventional.....all the way Allen.

Monday, January 11, 2016

The Last Three Steps

If you've seen 'Walk', you'd need no further context.

For those who haven't: There's one time that Philippe falls during his learning days, and that's when his mentor, Papa Rudy tells him ....

"You haven't finished until you've actually reached".

Apparently even statistics ( on tight rope walking) show that the most accidents happen during the last three steps.

It's all about the mental strength and focus....... and when one is almost there, it's somehow more typical or rather commonplace to slacken on the focus. 

I just experienced that first hand. There was this course that I was really keen on doing in January.

I'd done my spade work, lots of research and gotten in touch with the organization way back in October. After that I was relentless in my follow up. Never lost sight of it, had emails going, regular phone calls going, everything I needed to.

And finally when the course announcement came last week, I thought I'd get back to Bangalore ( I was in Pune) and respond. Which I did. And I got back a regret mail, as they had it on first-come-first -serve basis, and it was already full up.

It turned things topsy turvy for me. I had my next two years plan hinged on this course, as it was also a qualifier for a long term course I want to take up.

I couldn't believe that it had gone wrong like this. I kept asking myself what I'd done wrong. 

Sure, I can blame a skewed process, a disorganized system, an arrogant director, and all of that........ but at my end, I knew I'd let off at the last three steps.

Huge Huge lesson there. 

In this case it still turned out a happy ending.....I persisted, until I was a pain....but more than that, lady luck favored me....but I'll never ever again forget. Last three steps.....

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Anam Cara

“A friend … awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you.”

The Anam Cara is a Celtic notion of Soul Friend, and is brought out beautifully by John O 'Donohue, an Irish Poet and Philosopher.

                     

Some excerpts:

"In the Celtic tradition, one of the fascinating ideas is the idea of soul-love; and the old Gaelic term for this is Anam Cara.  With the Anam Cara you could share your inner-most self, your mind and your heart.....it was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an Anam Cara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul.” 

It did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. .... it allows understanding to dawn, you are without mask or pretension.......  and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person’s soul… 

But being an anam cara requires of a purposeful presence — it asks that we show up with absolute integrity of intention. 

It altered the meaning of identity and perception... the world of your intellect takes on a new tenderness and compassion… You look and see and understand differently. Initially, this can be disruptive and awkward, but it gradually refines your sensibility and transforms your way of being in the world. 

The anam cara perspective is sublime because it permits us to enter this unity of ancient belonging."

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Osho and New Years Resolutions

A friend sent me this.... saying..."Thought it would resonate with you so completely"
--------------------------
Someone asked Osho: "If one were to make only one new year's resolution, what would you suggest?"

Osho said: "This, and only this can be the new year's resolution: I resolve never to make any new years resolutions because all resolutions are restrictions for the future. All resolutions are imprisonments. You decide today for tomorrow? You have destroyed tomorrow.

Allow the tomorrow to have it's own being. Let it come in it's own way! Let it bring it's own gifts.

"Resolution means you will allow only this and you will not allow that. Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego. Resolution is saying 'I cannot live spontaneously". And if you cannot live spontaneously, you don't live at all- you only pretend.

So let only one resolution be there: I will never make any resolutions. Drop all resolutions! Let life be a natural spontaneity. The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules."
-------------------------------------
I received this a day after I'd made my new year resolutions :). And it came with the message from a very very close friend ( Vishakha knows me real well ) stating  "I thought this would resonate with you so completely"

Do they contradict? Do they not add up? What would my reply to her be?

I had before me .....An Impression.....A Fact... and The Reality.

It took me a while to figure it out.....to figure out how they fit.

My resolutions were all about process....little ones, to put some discipline into areas I want to focus on.  Fitness, Habits, Focus areas and such. 

Spontaneity is a framework...an attitude

And that's when you realize that what is known of you, is primarily through your underlying attitude... and the net result......while what you see in yourself is primarily the process, as it's something that's always on. Each decision (however spontaneous) has behind it a lot of thought.....process...and sure, within ones own framework.

Interesting to sometimes see yourself through the eyes of others. It's still you. In fact, at times, maybe even more you. What say??

Existential Bummer

A Jason Silva video.....nicely done, good visuals, high energy, all under three minutes, and sure, deeply existential too.....



Thanks for sharing Sagari....with a cheers to the forever moments !

Thursday, January 7, 2016

The EF Final Story

Today was final presentation on the EF, the Entrepreneur Fund, that I've been pretty much living, breathing, sleeping, eating as it's said, the whole of last year. And it's a story that's really dear to me, because it not only grew into a really interesting and successful project.... but also because it so grew me as a person.

A surprise validation came in the form of this article published yesterday, and this was one of our most complex cases, Ashok Kalburgi on who we invested a lot of time and energy. I could have danced a jig when I saw the write up.

For easier readability, right click on the picture, open in new tab, and then use the zoom that shows up when you hover over the picture. Trust me, it's a worthy read :)

In terms of project, the purpose was a one year pilot to identify and support micro energy entrepreneurs in Bihar, Orissa and North Karnataka. Being SELCO, the target group was the underserved entrepreneur. The goal was to use this as pilot to create a model that can be institutionalized.

We've done entrepreneurs who are (mostly) not only not educated, but even one who did thumb impression on cheques ( we insist on cheques because we want them included into the banking system and it's entrepreneurship so it's a loan, albeit at 2% to 5% interest )

We have some really interesting experiences here; let me narrate one. This was Geeta, one of our first women entrepreneurs. Before we deposit the monthly repayment cheque we call them to confirm if the money is in the bank. We did that, yet the cheque bounced. We called again and she reconfirmed depositing the amount. Yet the cheque bounced again. Accounts was getting upset. So we actually went to Sirsi and met her ( her emi was Rs.600, but we spent Rs.3000 to go meet her). And the issue? She'd deposited the amount into another account.

Another one: One of our fridge entrepreneurs said he was keeping the fridge turned off for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening, and we didn't understand why. When we meet him we realize it's because he'd set the thermostat at freezer temperatures and everything was freezing over.

There are so many such fascinating stories, but to move on.

At a personal level, as a story...we started in January 2015, with a nice program and plan, and by June we had accomplished almost nothing. Less than 5%. Quite literally staring failure in the face. I almost gave up, actually did........I agreed to reset targets and budgets, and even that I was skeptical about. But that evening something changed.

My guardian angel didn't give up on me I guess.

Woke up with a changed mindset. No reset , no compromise. I told myself and Harish that I'd do it. A defining moment of taking ownership.

And starting from there, it's like a new energy came in from nowhere. Slowly but surely the wheels turned and whirred and picked up speed, until by end December, we had not just completed, but exceeded targets and expectations on all parameters.

And there are some clear lessons that I learnt through the process, and shared today. Take Ownership, Crystallize Goals, Trust and Empower people, Visualize objectives,  Constant and Never Ending Improvement .......Some basic principles which when imbibed work magic. You'd think one should know these with so many years work experience right? Guess one did too, but at some theoretical level. The difference between theoretical knowledge and experiential..... it's a chasm. Huge personal learnings.

Here are some of the pictures from today's presentation:

One of our awareness programs underway:


A hamlet in interior Orissa where we found an entrepreneur, Prabhat, to provide solar lights on rental basis


Eramma, one of our women entrepreneurs in Sindhanur


Thimayya Shetty, another one of our entrepreneurs


A sewing machine entrepreneur Sreenivas


Prabhat, one of our super enthusiastic entrepreneurs. It was a chance meet that triggered this equation and once he had our number, he just wouldn't stop calling.


A brilliantly challenging and satisfying project, deep and sincere thanks to SELCO and all who were part of the EF team.....it gave me one of my best work experiences ever. 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Mastani Mahal

While I didn't even know Mastani before I saw the movie Bajirao Mastani, since the movie, I think I totally love her.


The moment I knew I was going to Pune, visiting Mastani Mahal got added into my To Do's for the trip. Once the work part of trip was accomplished, we ( Sagari and me) set off to Shaniwar Wada, as I somehow presumed that Mastani Mahal was either within or close to Shaniwar Wada.

As we get there, we realize through talking to the cab driver that it wasn't in Shaniwar Wada. Well, we searched Google and we read on some site that it was in Kothrud, so we head there. And as we get close, we're still frantically reading because there is no specific location and Sagari's like, 'this is nuts, Kothrud is a big area, how are we going to find it' 

We split some sites between us and read on our phones and realize that the entire Mastani Mahal had been dismantled in the sixties and shifted to a museum called Kelkar museum.

Finding Kelkar museum again was tough because of so many one ways and the narrow streets of old Pune, but finally when it's almost closing time we get there. The guy at the counter is like...bandh hone wala hai. But we still buy our tickets and are finally in.

Within minutes, we're wondering......has the Mastani Mahal been converted into museum or is it 'in ' the Museum? So I'm back at the ticket counter and asking the ticket guy.... when there's this gentleman someway in behind the counter, with his back to me who turns and says...come in here at the back. Very mysterious. I go and tell Sagari that he's asked us to come peeche. And she's like, 'jeez, kya hua? Did we do something? What did you say? He said nicely or weirdly? '

We go in and find that he's the Director of the museum and when he realized we were really interested he took us to his office.......and he told us the story of Mastani Mahal. And was it fascinating. To him Mastani Mahal is real, part of life and he knows the story in real time. He hasn't even seen the movie, the only reference he made to the movie was to say that Sanjay Leela Bhansali had visited the Mastani Mahal.

And the wonderful part of it was that the story he told us was almost the same as the one from the movie, except maybe the first meeting which was dramatized, but the rest of the love story was as deep and as intense.

And then came the coup. He's like...the Mastani Mahal is under restoration, and not open to public. Would you still like to see? Imagine our joy...I was like, Yes please, if needed we can even come back tomorrow. He took us right then......and just the feeling of being there.

Here's the rest in pictures:




This is Rekha Hari Ranade


She is the daughter of Dr.Kelkar, who founded the Kelkar museum. Mr.Sudhanva Ranade Kelkar, the Director, was nice enough to not just show us Mastani Mahal, yet under restoration, but also introduce us to his mother.

He said, my grandfather who was an optician (Dr Kelkar) founded the museum, and he went about with such focus that people called him paagal aadmi (madman), and my grandmother and mother ( in picture) have devoted their entire lives to the museum.

It felt like such an honor meeting her, as well as him. As he said himself, it was not just coincidence, he said it was intended, and it sure felt that way too.

Portraits of Dr.Kelkar and his wife that greet you at the entrance of the museum

 

Sudhanva Kelkar Ranade, Director of the Kelkar Museum, and Rekha Hari Ranade


Restoration work on in the Mastani Mahal


On the way back, we happened to pass the Shaniwar Wada, and though it was closed, I got off to get a nice picture of the Peshwa...... well, the statue of the Peshwa.


An interesting outcome of the long conversation with Sudhanva,......we're now working along with him on a project on the Mastani Mahal. Starting the evening not even knowing where Mastani Mahal was, to finding it..... and then ending the evening with a commitment to a project on it. Well, life does have it's ways.