RISC and PURA

Recently I got an email from a researcher in Delhi who wrote, “I have been attempting to do an extensive survey of the PURA/Growth Pole concepts. I came across your RISC concept again while searching for related literature. . . What fascinated me the most was that this was the first piece written on such issues in India that is explicitly (and rightly) seeing this as a coordination failure problem, and talking about both infrastructure and accompanying services.”

He then went on to ask in what way RISC differs from PURA. My response, for the record:
Continue reading “RISC and PURA”

Found on the web – 2

Illusions of the senses tell us the truth about perception.

That is a quote from the website 67 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena. To me the site is treasure chest.

Take for instance the Motion Induced Blindness. Pretty amazing. Or how about the Freezing Rotation Illusion?

Channeling Tommy

This blog is a big fan of Thomas Friedman (Friedman has his own category with six posts). So I would like to share a bit from this article by Norman Solomon which attempts to synthesize Friedman’s brain waves [hat tip: Ashok Bardhan]: Continue reading “Channeling Tommy”

Demographic Cognitive Dissonance

People who don’t practise what they preach are not necessarily hypocritical. Perhaps they are merely not sufficiently intelligent to realize that what they do is inconsistent with the logical implications of what they preach. This gap between what they insist to be true while doing something which reveals their words to be false can be attributed to what is politely called cognitive dissonance but more accurately should be termed as stupidity.
Continue reading “Demographic Cognitive Dissonance”

Seeking funding?

If you are an entrepreneur seeking funding for your brilliant idea, it pays to understand how VCs and angels think. Sramana Mitra over at Sramana Mitra on Strategy has a series of interviews with VCs and angels. Feel free to contact her if you need advice on any specific ideas you have which requires funding. If she likes your idea, she would provide you access to her extensive investor network, as well as help with business development and customer acquisition.

[Remember: If you get funding, you owe this blog big time. Don’t forget to send in a large check. 🙂 ]

Administrivia: Deleted Comments

If you have recently commented and have not seen it, it is because the last 15 comments were deleted by mistake. Do re-submit the comment if you don’t mind. The managment sincerely regrets the trouble. Those responsible for the mistake will be fired.

Thank you.

Diwali Greetings

diwali_lamp

Om sarveshaam swastir bhavatu
Sarveshaam shantir bhavatu

Sarveshaam poornam bhavatu
Sarveshaam mangalam bhavatu

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
Sarve santu niraamayaah

Sarve bhadraani pashyantu
Maakaschit duhkha bhaag bhavet

[Translation]

Auspiciousness be unto all
Peace be unto all.

Completeness be unto all
Prosperity be unto all.

May all be happy
May all be free from disabilities!

May all seek the good of others!
May none suffer from sorrow!

swastika_lamps

Thundering Airlines

The mother of all thunderstorms is roaring outside the window as I write this from Kolkata. I got here last night from Pune after a brief stop-over in Mumbai.

The sky was ominously dark this morning and now it is pouring so hard that visibility is reduced to less than 100 feet. The thunder and lightening is almost continuous. There is something deep inside which rejoices in beholding the awesome power of nature. There must be something atavistic in this reaction, a genetically programmed response to life-giving rain.
Continue reading “Thundering Airlines”

Mobile Internet and India

“In India, the Future of the Internet Will Be Built around the Mobile Phone” reads the title of one of today’s articles at Knowledge@Wharton. It is an interview with my colleague, Rajesh Jain, CEO of NetCore. Rajesh believes that the mobile phone will be the primary device for interacting with the web for a vast number of users in India. It is easy to follow his logic.
Continue reading “Mobile Internet and India”

Found on the web

New and improved 🙂 feature on this blog: “Found on the web.” The inaugural item is the Hubble Space Telescope pictures. Check them out and even download them as wallpaper, but don’t stop wondering how magical the universe is and how fortunate we are to be able to observe it.

Spiral galaxy

galaxy