Brand Blanshard wrote eloquently about American education in his essay “Quantity and Quality in American Education.” The essay was published nearly half a century ago but the message is universal. Thanks to Anthony Flood for making it accessible. It is a long and thoughtful essay, worth reading in its entirety. The last bits resonate most forcefully with me, and so I present this extended quote for your reading pleasure and intellectual delight.
Continue reading “Reasonableness”
Month: March 2007
The Urbanization Leap
Economic growth is an imperative if the widely discussed goal of development has to be achieved by India. There are a number of well-known causative factors that lead to economic growth. Among them are an educated and healthy population, reliable and adequate infrastructure, a free and fair market-driven economy, and the availability of public goods such as law and order, political freedom, efficient governance, etc. These causative factors have complex interdependencies and have to be present–simultaneous in time and co-located in space—for economic growth, and consequently, development. Even after a fairly superficial analysis it becomes apparent that these factors of economic growth can be most efficiently provided in – and are usually associated with – cities.
Continue reading “The Urbanization Leap”
Beware the Ides of March
Julius Caesar was warned by a soothsayer to “beware the ides of March.” The ides of March is today, the 15th of March. Good ol’ Julius disregarded the warning and on this fateful day in 44 BCE he fell dead, assassinated by his friend Marcus Brutus. As Shakespeare wrote, it was the most unkindest cut of all. (“most unkindest”? Bill, Bill, when will you learn how to write English!)
Continue reading “Beware the Ides of March”
Like Cricket? Tell Marianne.
A French journalist, Marianne Enault, is writing a piece for a French newspaper about cricket fever in India and wrote to me requesting help.
Continue reading “Like Cricket? Tell Marianne.”
India–the Land of Endless Opportunities
Where there be challenges, there be opportunities. That is a mantra well-known to every entrepreneur. That immediately implies that India is truly the Land of Unlimited Opportunities. The challenges have been created by a persistent attachment to a certain way of thinking and doing. As Einstein astutely noted, the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Translating the challenges into opportunities requires a different way of thinking.
Continue reading “India–the Land of Endless Opportunities”
The Directness of Zen
Here is a brief video on the Zen Mind — An Introduction. I like Zen Buddhism. It is profoundly simple and direct. The voice-over states clearly at the end of the clip that “… do not differentiate yourself as apart from others, or from the world outside. The search for self-realization is powered by our anxieties and our fears which feed our ego causing frustrations in our daily life. Selfishness, jealousy, anger, hate — which unconsciously serve to protect us, and in doing so, set us in opposition to everyone and everything. To awaken to this realization is the practice of Zen. ”
Then from the Department of “Do as I say, Not as I do” the copyright notice warns, “No part of this motion picture may be copied or broadcast unless authorized. Copying is illegal and subject to prosecution.” Now what was that bit about not differentiating ourselves from others?
Inclusive Growth Discussion
Where is India today? How did it get here? Where should India be going? And how should it get there? These are the big questions that I try to grapple with. And that is how I began my presentation.
ISB at night [source]
Recently I was on a panel discussion titled “Business Strategies for Inclusive Economic Growth” held during the semi-final round of the Global Social Venture Competition at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on the 9th and 10th of March. The panel–moderated by my friend Dr Reuben Abraham–included Mr Varun Sahni of Acumen Fund, Mr K Krishan of Malavalli Power Plant Pvt Ltd, and Arjun Uppal of the IFMR Trust.
Continue reading “Inclusive Growth Discussion”
Denying reality
The business plan was about creating a business which would help the blind become more productive. But the presenter took elaborate pains to avoid the word “blind”and instead constantly referred to the “visually challenged.” I suppose the PC police would have immediately handcuffed and hauled off anyone who was so insensitive as to directly point to blindness and call it such. No, a person is not blind but visually challenged. And I wondered how long before the PC police decree that “visually challenged” is itself un-PC and now you have to refer to blind people as “visually differently enabled” and in due time, it would have to be “non-visually enhanced” and then to “non-visually gifted.”
Continue reading “Denying reality”
Economics in One Lesson
The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
Continue reading “Economics in One Lesson”
The Narrow Corner
“Short, therefore, is man’s life; and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus – (121-180) noted that in his Meditations. Here is a picture of how small the earth is whose narrow corner we dwell.
Continue reading “The Narrow Corner”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 