Rumble in the Wind

Assamese Gamosa - The humble style statement When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went through the yoga poses in Lucknow on International Yoga Day, the white piece of cloth with red patterns on his shoulder stood out against his complete white attire. But very few might be aware that this humble piece of cloth called the ‘Gamosa’ has irrespective of religious and ethnic backgrounds , it stands out as an Assamese identity. Before the advent of the ‘whats app’ and internet, any Assamese who travels out of Guwahati, makes sure to have a couple of ‘gamosa’s’ neatly packed. One is to be used as a towel ( ga -body, mosa -to wipe) and the second one is to be adorned over one’s shoulder as an identity symbol to other Assamese brethren in not so familiar place. great cultural significance to the people of Assam. Worn by all Assamese people Hand woven by women weavers across the plains of Assam, the Gamosas are made of mainly made using cotton threads except in some cases silk threads...

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...

Speech delivered at the  The  ConnectIT Day",   a conference  on ‘ Harnessing Information Technology for Not for Profits’ , organised and conducted by  NASSCOM Foundation - 2nd June 2011 Thanks for the introduction. Frankly speaking I am not an Information Technology (IT) person. What I will try to do today is speak from my experience of being involved first as a service provider for NGO’s in the IT sphere and second as a receiver and as a consequence a sufferer like many in this room of what IT can do to our lives. I co-founded an organization called MITRA Technology Foundation way back in 2000. As some of you might recall, it was the time when every one prophesided doomsday of the personal computer by the so called Y2K bug. It was also the dot com boom with the bust. We felt that although there was a lot of action happening in the commercial sphere, there was a huge potential to be tapped in the NGO sector. There is a buzz amongst NGOs about leveraging ...

This post is not about 'Marathi Manoos' or about the Tiger and his cubs or even Bolywood, but about the spirit of 'Aamchi Mumbai'. As I climbed on to the cool cab and told the cabbie to take me to my destination at Peddar Road, I was thanking my stars for finding my wallet after a 3 hours chase across Mumbai. I told myself that this is possible only in Mumbai. In Delhi, where I reside you cant even think of even registering a complaint with the police, forget about finding your wallet which you have left behind in a cab. It all began on a March evening when my cab driver asked me whether I am interested to take the route to Peddar Road in South Mumbai from Santa Cruz airport through the newly opened Sea Link. Since I have heard and read and seen so much about this controversial yet an amazing engineering feat, why not? So off we tool a detour from Bandra to the Sea Link. What an amazing experience. You can see the shore line of Mumbai from the middle of the sea as you...

This peice was composed by Rajat Mitra, a Ashoka Fellow when the group was discussing the merits of a Business Model for social enterprises. Its an interesting read so posting it. This is in regard to your question about ‘Business Models in Social Entrepreneurship’. Hope it helps our father of the nation Mahatama Gandhi’s business model. The year is 1920 and Mahatma Gandhi is applying for his grant. His interviewer is a MBA graduate. It goes as follows: (Though there were no MBA’s then but let us assume one existed) MBA GRADUATE - I can see you have a goal to get India free. It is a Good proposal but let us see if it is realistic and if we can fund it. Q1. How many years would you need to get India free? I need a timeline, a plan and a model by which you will throw the British out. GANDHI scratches his head and says it might take a 10, 20, 30 years or a lifetime. MBA GRADUATE - That is very vague Mr. Gandhi. Can’t you give me a specific date by which you can get India free? GANDHI says...

This write up is based on my visit to Bhagalpur, Bihar, India which falls under one of India's most improvised districts. Bhagalpur is famous for Silk Weaving and according to Government data, there are at least 50,000 weavers. Advent of powerlooms, cheap imports from China and lack of any investment from Goverment or the private sector has completely destroyed the weaving industry. At present a family cant even earn Rs1500 (approx $33) per month. Bhagalpur (April 15-April 17, 2009) I woke up at 6.30 in the morning and felt that something is wrong since we are not moving. Any one who has travelled through Indian Railways always dread for this moment. When the train suddenly stops and doesn’t move for more than 10 mins. It can be a faulty track, faulty engine, someone pulled a chain to get down, an accident ahead, a rail blockade by some nationalist fighting for free rail travel, ...all bad thoughts clouds your mind. The previous day I took the Vikramshila Express from New Delhi and...

This piece was written as an essay for the New Generation Seminar Series ( www.eastwestcenter.org/ngs) The old piggy bank, which all of us have used in our childhood, provides an interesting metaphor during these challenging times. It conveys the principle that whatever goes in comes out (no promise of supra normal profits), that small is beautiful (Microfinance vs Big Ticket Loans) and a good product is one which is simple in its design (Thank you derivatives!). If only the Wall Street guys had one of them. Similarly, at CFM we work with our artisan groups across India to make products which are simple in design but utilitarian in nature, taking into account the need of our customers. With around 10 milllion people dependent on handicrafts in India, a slowing global economy will have a severe impact on the ability of these people who are already under tremendous strain to earn a decent meal. Handicrafts is not only about creating jobs at the community level, but has other multiplier e...

 Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the  villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He next announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf.  In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I...

Global X interviews Rahul Barkataky, founder of the Community Friendly Movement in New Delhi. CFM creates a global market for handmade ... http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/global-x/archive/2008/01/15/rahul-bartaky

An article on Mint featuring my first start up- MITRA Technology Foundation IRMA graduates Nainwal, Shalabh Sahai and Rahul Barkataky set up iVolunteer—a skill exchange for voluntary work http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/18235343/Welfare-over-wages.html

For some strange reason we as a nation tends to forget this great philosopher When I Asked God for Strength, He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face When I Asked God for Brain & Brown, He Gave Me Puzzles in life to Solve When I Asked God for Happiness, He Showed Me Some Unhappy People When I Asked God for Wealth, He Showed Me How to Work Hard When I Asked God for Favors, He Showed Me opportunities to Work Hard When I Asked God for Peace, He Showed Me How to Help Others God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted, He Gave Me Everything I Needed - Swami Vivekananda

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a ...

Convocation Speech Delivered at University of TorontoBy Jeff Skoll, 06.18.03 Thank you, Dr Dellandrea, for the wonderful introduction and thank you to Chancellor Jackman, President Birgeneau, Dean Martin, Dean Venetsanopoulos and the University for conferring upon me this honorary doctorate. Finally, my mother can say "my son, the doctor." Better still, since this is a doctorate of Laws, my mother can also say "my son, the lawyer." Since I'm already an Engineer, I think that completes the proud mother trifecta. Speaking of proud mothers, this day truly belongs to those of you who are graduating today and to your families. You have come to the fruition of many years of hard work and you should be proud of what you have accomplished. But keep in mind that none of us made it here entirely on our own. We had the support of this university, a society and culture that values education and, in particular, we had the help and encouragement of our parents and families. S...

How does one build a successful technical career? SUBROTO BAGCHI gives you the nine key factors. THE other day, I met a bright young engineer in MindTree and asked him what his ambition was. He was very clear. "I want to be an architect". My next question to him was, what does he read? He looked surprised and then replied that he does not read much outside what appears on a computer screen. My next question to him was whom all does he admire in MindTree among the three best architects? He named the predictable three. Then I told him what the fundamental gap was between him and the best three. It was about the ability to make intelligent conversation about any subject under the sun - a capability borne out of serious reading habits. The next thing I asked him to do was to poll these three on what were the six books they had read last. The result was amazing. The three named eighteen books in all - of which at least six were common. Ninety percent of the books had nothing to do...