Rumble in the Wind

2k or not 2k Things were planned well in advance. It was decided that dinner should be served not later than 7 p.m. to all round protests from my family members. That morning I took a trip to Sarojini Nagar market to pick up a monkey cap, a pair of gloves and a muffler. On the way I drop by at a pathology laboratory asking them whether they have any old used chest X-ray films available. The lab staff looked baffled. But when I explained the reason, they all laughed and handed me two instead of one. With my scooter filled to the brim with petrol paid with my last remaining old 500 rupee note, I was ready for the night. The previous day I realised that all my old illegal 500 and 1000 currency notes which I have kept folded and hidden in an old worn out envelope from the prying eyes of our in house Income Tax Authority- my wife, has been completely exhausted. Thanks to demonetisation, after so many years of avoiding them, I was able to re-connect with my relatives, friends, foes

Dear competitors, faculty member and friends, It’s nice to be back at this auditorium as a speaker, because last time I was playing the role of Ravan on this stage. It’s also a great privilege to be in the midst of such a large group of young people from across India competing on ideas to solve some of the biggest challenges the world is facing today. Let me start by telling you about myself. I was born and brought up in Assam in an environment where there is a lot of pressure from family and friends either to become a engineer or doctor. But fortunately I didn’t get admission to any one of them and went to Assam Agricultural University to do a course in Agriculture and my life changed for ever. Although I didn’t learn any thing about agriculture, those four years sowed the seed of entrepreneurship in me. Since you had all the time to do everything except study, some of us got together and started ‘Friends of the Environment’- a club of students and academics to create awareness a

Lets ‘Start-up and Stand-up’ On Jan 16 th  2016, the Prime Minister of India launched the much awaited ‘rock star’ event ‘Start Up India, Stand Up India’ with the objective of strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. According to media reports, before the event itself the Government was faced with a much difficult task- how do you assign 1500 passes to around 100,000 prospecting pass seekers? But the larger question is, should the government try to influence or even dictate the start-up ecosystem? Can entrepreneurs be created? Can start-ups really create jobs for millions of India’s youth as envisaged by the Government? Is being ‘number one in start-ups’ as the PM spelt out on Republic Day speech,  more of an aspiration for the country than a practical goal? The basic idea of ‘Start up India-Stand Up India’ is to encourage entrepreneurship in India. In the last few years India has seen a dramatic change in the start-up scenario since Sanjeev Bhikchandani launched