Dreams – or Nightmares

Why do we sleep? Here is an interesting talk which tries to answer: http://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep?language=en I am a person who wants my 8 hours of sleep. 6 hours is comfortable. 4 hours is doable. Anything less than 4 hours is tragedy. I remember taking over night buses not being able to sleep in them coming home … Read more

Data Driven Marketing

One of the central philosophies that Naren espouses is that all customers are not equal – and should not be treated equally. The profitable ones need to be pampered – and the non-profitable ones to be neglected. To start this process of iniquity, one needs to start with data.The data should help answer questions like … Read more

Auroville – Sustainability Workshop

Reached the Auroville ECR junction – and decided to follow instructions in the welcome mail related to hitchhiking. Every two wheeler seemed to be carrying three people – so started walking. As the evening progressed, and I had only walked 3 km, was not sure if I would finish the 8 km before nightfall. So … Read more

Art School

Rahul Gaekwad is an alumnus of the JJ school of Art, Mumbai. An interesting blend of spirituality and aesthetics. The spirituality is noticeable in his dhoti, which is designed for use in Hattha Yoga and made by the Isha ashram, Coimbatore. It is held in place by a rubber band. The spirituality is also evident … Read more

Science Talk at IUCAA

The program started with a film titled ‘Man’ by Steve Cutts. Is available on Youtube. Was an interesting way of portraying how we have converted everything in our path to garbage today. What is important is not the clean-up, but the steps that will lead to garbage not being created. The first talk was by … Read more

2020 Auto Expo Notes

Took a Bla Bla car from Dehradun. Volunteered for driving duty around Muzaffarnagar. Nice to have someone correct your while you are driving – was warned of lane violations by the young car owner. Reached Ghaziabad by 2030 hrs. Got dropped off right on the Vaishali Metro station road. Met up with Rakesh, who was … Read more

Top five regrets of the dying

A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and among the top ones is ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard’. What would your biggest regret be if this was your last day of life? A palliative nurse has recorded the top five regrets of the dying. There was no mention of … Read more

Steve Jobs – Learnings from his Life

What defines Apple? 1984 – Macintosh  2003 – Ipod 2008 – Iphone 2010 – Ipad What are its products known for? – Simple to operate, great to look at Why did the Mac have a translucent cover? – Perfectionism Why did Apple not get into dot com? – Focus What made Steve Jobs his first … Read more

Hitting the Reply Button to Emails

It is said that mankind has progressed more in the last two centuries than it has in the last two millenia. And what could be the reason for that? The answer is quite a simple one: Because there are many more of us today compared to the numbers that existed till the 19th century. Is … Read more

Waste Busters

Why do we educate ourselves? The broad answers are all future oriented, with the prime one being that we need to make a living. We live for earning a salary that can be spent on our supermarket binges. And what happens to that shopping a few weeks later – most of it lands up in … Read more