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Through the trip, I couldn’t help thinking about the role of religion in our life. As my in-laws told stories from the origins of Jainism to Abhishek, I realised how little I knew about the founding principles and philosophy of my own religion. It is something that needs to be corrected. Even in today’s modern times, a part of us is still rooted in our traditions. Temples have been a part of our lives through the centuries. If India has to change for the better, this change has to come from a better understanding of our own identity and culture. Somewhere through the generations, much of that has been blotted out. Our...
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Palitana is a town of temples. The entire local economy is centred around the constant stream of pilgrims throughout the year. The new cars mingle freely with the horse carriages - it is a mirror of an India which exists in multiple decades simultaneously. Part of the charm lay in the dharamshala  we stayed at. The facilities were excellent. Many Jain dharamshalas tend to compromise on the basic hygiene and facilities, but not this one. Abhishek and I got plenty of time together to play - Uno, a bit of Chess, and Name-Place-Animal-Thing. And he used the floor of our room to make his own bus depots, trains stations and airports with...
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Climbing down after spending 3-odd hours in the temples at the top was much easier. But one had to be quite careful to ensure one didn’t slip given the slightly wet ground. The excitement of reaching the foothills increased with each step down. The climb up had taken me an hour and 45 minutes, while the descent took about an hour. Through the trek up and down, we are not supposed to consume any food or water. So, from 7 am to 2 pm, that meant no eating and drinking. No wonder then that the sugarcane juice we had once we had reached down tasted extra sweet! The pain in the legs starts...
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We did the climb up to the temples on Sunday. The 3,200 steps seemed much tougher to climb than the last time I did them. I stopped many times en route, even though the common wisdom is that one should just continue. Bhavana made Abhishek walk-and-talk and set a fast pace, and they made it to the top faster than all of us. The toughest part of the climb was from steps 1,000-2,000 - the middle path, as it were. The destination is still away, and one is tired from the first part of the climb. After that, it is a countdown to the top. There was a slight drizzle as we did...
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Like we had done two years ago, we went to Palitana in early August just before Abhishek’s school re-opened. Abhishek was the one who was keen to go, and my in-laws obliged him! Palitana is one of the more well-known Jain temple sites. The main temples are situated on the Shatrunjay Hills. The climb is quite an arduous one (more on that later). We took the overnight train (Bhavnagar Express) from Mumbai. We reached Songadh next morning on time at 10:30 am, and then took a 45-minute auto-ride to the dharamshala we were staying at. The monsoon season created the green and cool setting, which made it quite nice. We spent the next two-and-a-half days there, a day longer than...
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From a series I wrote a year ago on the challenges of being an entrepreneur: For me, every year as an entrepreneur is one to be savoured because of the learnings. Just because I did something right in the past does not guarantee success in the future. Building a business is hard. There are moments of joy - but there are many more moments of pain. However experienced one is, situations are different and have to be dealt with accordingly. More than anything, one has to be optimistic and keep the big picture in mind for what one wants to do. It is that vision of the future that keeps the enthusiasm...
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This week’s links: Information Overload is Nothing New: by Peggy Noonan (WSJ). “Step back, or aside. Think what you think, not what they think. Everyone is trying to push. Don’t be pushed.” A Smartphone Retrospective: by Marco Arment. How the mobiles have evolved in just 3 years - in pictures. The Future of Internet Search: by Esther Dyson. “When people search, they aren’t just looking for nouns or information; they are looking for action.” Taking the Mystery out of Scaling a Company: by Ben Horowitz. “If you want to do something that matters, then you are going to have to learn the black art of scaling a human organization.” PM and The Speech-Writer: by...
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To create a micropayments infrastructure, we need to build on what already exists. Mobile operators in India have created an amazing network of points of presence where one can buy airtime. They know how to handle cash that users pay. (Cash remains the preferred payment mechanism given the low penetration of credit, debit and cash cards in India.) Today, mobile operators cannot use the cash balance that is there with them for purposes other than voice and data services. Besides, the high incidence of taxes (10% service tax and 15% spectrum and allied charges, for a total of about 23% on what the end users pay) makes it difficult to use...
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I have written on this topic earlier. I needed to write a brief note recently - so I took some of the earlier ideas, and updated them. As voice becomes a commodity on mobile networks, the action is shifting to mobile data services. In this context, India’s user base is only second to China. This availability of a domestic market can help India become a large market for mobile data networks as networks become faster (3G and 4G), and as devices become cheaper and better. Since mobiles and data services are a global phenomenon, Indian companies can also emerge as global leaders by leveraging technology platforms, content and services they create for the large domestic market. India thus has...
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I had taken some photos on Aug 3 of the potholes on the road in the context of the Bandra Terminus story I had written yesterday.The pictures tell the story. 
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