Imagine a restaurant where the number of employees exceeds the number of seats. Would be a very expensive restaurant indeed. Now imagine an airline where the number of employees exceeds the the number of seats. Actually, you don’t have to imagine that one as India has two such airlines where all the employees cannot be seated in the planes simultaneously. When the two state-run airlines merge shortly, they will have about 132 airplanes — my estimate is around 20,000 seats — and 35,000 employees.
Continue reading “Air Indian”
Markets work
You know what the secret of a great economy is? Markets. Why? Because voluntary trade is beneficial and welfare improving. As if you really needed to be convinced of that, here is an item that my friend Saheli from Berkeley alerted me to: free lodging in exchange for breast milk.
Markets rule. And not just in Berkeley. Everywhere.
How to be an expert
Legend has it that Arthur Rubenstein was once asked on the street for directions to Carnegie Hall. “Pardon me sir, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” He said, “Practice, practice, practice.”
Here’s something you may enjoy listening to. A Scientific American podcast (mp3 download ~9.5 MB) on what it takes to become an expert. Anyone can provided one puts sufficient sweat into it and does so smartly over an extended period of time. So all of you who have small children, pay special attention.
The Expert Mind and the Interplanetary Bicycle Ride
In this episode, Phil Ross talks about what scientists have learned is necessary to achieve expertise in virtually any field. Ross’s article on the subject, The Expert Mind, is in the August issue of Scientific American. And Sheldon Schafer, who sports the title of Curator of the Solar System (a huge model of the solar system centered in Peoria, Illinois) discusses the Interplanetary Bicycle Ride, coming up on August 12 and 13. Plus we’ll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned on this podcast include Spectrum.IEEE.org; http://www.lakeview-museum.org; and the Scientific American Digital Archive, http://www.sciamdigital.com.
Some are Born to Sweet Delight
Hi from Mumbai. Been here for a couple of days, and tomorrow I go to Bangalore for a few days.
Mumbai is not too unpleasant at this time of the year weather wise. Spent last evening in Colaba meeting with a friend. Best way to get there from my office in Lower Parel is to take a local train and then a cab from Churchgate station to Regal theatre.
Continue reading “Some are Born to Sweet Delight”
Feynman Rocks
Liked this email I got from Uday. With his permission here it is:
Continue reading “Feynman Rocks”
Roger Waters in the Flesh
It began with
So ya thought ya
Might like to go to the show.
To feel that warm thrill of confusion,
That space cadet glow.
I’ve got some bad news for you sunshine,
Pink isn’t well, he stayed back at the hotel
And they sent us along as a surrogate band
We’re gonna find out where you folks really stand.
I was there to see Roger Waters perform yesterday at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. He is the creative genius behind the lyrics and much of the music of The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. He sang selected songs from The Wall in the first half of the concert and then performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety in the second half. Just before the intermission, the huge pink inflated rubber pig took off for the skies. Painted on were the usual political slogans and on its butt was “Impeach Bush Now.”
Continue reading “Roger Waters in the Flesh”
Challenge to Indian Entrepreneurs
SaaS: How About a Middle Ground?
Guest post by Sramana Mitra
Last Fall, I wrote a widely read piece called Venture Capital in India, in which I pegged the Indian venture boom to be largely in Real Estate, Retail, and to an extent in Consumer Internet, not much in actual technology.
Continue reading “Challenge to Indian Entrepreneurs”
India, the Lamb State
Don’t know much about history. Thanks to the government control of education, we are not told inconvenient truths. Fortunately, in this day of free information flow, one is slowly getting wise. I think it is just a matter of time before Indians figure out the truth. I find it bitter irony that India’s national motto is “Satyameva Jayate” — Truth Alone Prevails — and the powers that be do all they can to delay the victory of truth.
US to Deport Indian national
Just in case you were getting carried away reading Indian newspaper reports about how wonderfully Indians in the US were doing, here is a report that will give you pause. One can be fairly certain that this will not be reported by the main stream Indian press. After all, we cannot imagine home-grown jihadis, can we? We are a secular country.
Continue reading “US to Deport Indian national”
Take a Time Out
I worry about the kids. The kids I know hardly have any time for themselves. They are always busy with school, homework, tuitions, tennis lessons, tabla lessons, and preparing for this or that exam. There is no unstructured time for them to just do what they feel like doing, or for just doing nothing. I suspect (just a hunch, no proof) that it could be causing these kids to be unimaginative, non-creative and dull. They need to take a time out. But that means they have to reduce the “academic” load on the kids. They are being burdened with too much stuff to learn, and in the end, they end up missing the essential bits. But that is an entire different tirade that I will not go into right now.
Continue reading “Take a Time Out”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 