Blackholes, Kali, Bhagawad Gita : Connecting some dots.

This entire post is trying to connect some unconnected dots from our scriptures, our culture, epics and today’s science as we know it. All that I am doing is posing some questions which you might want to examine. I am not an academic, so my thoughts are scattered as well. These stream of thoughts were triggered by a particular type of Facebook posts that I have read which speak about how deep into the Bhagawad Oppenheimer was.

Dot 1: कालोSस्मि

I am referring to J Robert Oppenheimer, of the Manhattan Project, of course and his philosophical quandry which was (evidently) resolved by the Bhagawad. After the atom bomb came to being, Oppenheimer very famously said “Death, I am become” loosely translating “कालोSस्मि” from the Bhagawad. That is where this thread started for me.

कालोSस्मि appears in Chapter 11, verse 32.

श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्त: |
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे
येऽवस्थिता: प्रत्यनीकेषु योधा: |

You will notice that कालोSस्मि here does not translate the way Oppenheimer saw it. More so, because of the event that precedes Chapter 11. Krishna shows Arjuna his Vishwaroopam to get the latter to get up and fight, on the Kurukshetra battlefield. This is the third time, in the epic, that Krishna does this. The usual imagery mentioned, something that only the subject is able to see, is a super large innumerable forms with thousands of arms, eyes, mouths etc. The text, of course, refers metaphorically to the multiverse, the cosmology that is within Krishna’s being. Obviously seeing a being with a thousand arms, eyes etc. would not have perturbed Arjuna that much. What he got to see is something else. The word काल (Kāla) has many more meanings and interpretations. Only two of those are death, and time. One meaning also encompasses all of creation. You would find the same interpretation in the Buddhist “kālachakra” . This word, again, does not translate to something as simplistic as “wheel of time”, and is at a level quite different from “time”. Krishna then, is telling Arjuna that he (Krishna) is काल, in the form of universality, and that he will wipe the Kouravas out even without Arjuna’s effort and that the latter doesn’t really matter in the larger realm of काल. This level of cosmic universality, perhaps, is what yogis have tried to understand and only some Siddhas have managed to.

Dot 2: Durgā

Durgā is known in our scriptures to have been created to slay Mahishāsura, by collecting supreme energy from Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh and many other lesser gods. Durga thus is this tremendous embodiment of true source of divine powers of the “male gods”. She is known to have expressed herself as a blinding source and beam of light during her battle with Mahishāshura, on Chāmundi Hills in the outskirts of Mysuru. The original name of Mysuru, you might be aware, is “Mahishur“.

Dot 3: Dasha Mahavidya

Many of our Goddesses, have vividly violent form too. Tantrism, worships these 10 Goddesses (all manifestations of Pārvati), as Dasha Mahāvidyā. Meaning Ten Great Learnings (or Wisdoms). Of the ten counterparts, Durgā’s is Kāli, Lakshmi’s is Kamalā and Saraswati’s is Mātangi and so on. You will find these same 10 being worshipped in Tibetan Buddhism today, in Tibet, Ladakh, and in our eastern states. This form of Buddhism, Vajrayāna, loosely defined, is the Buddhist form of Tantric Shaivism from where the understanding of the Dasha Mahāvidyā arrive from.

Dot 4: Kāli

Kali – By Raja Ravi Varma – https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/goddess-kali-ravi-varma-press-karla-lonavala/iAHNImEWSOYQeg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21792915

Now, if Kāli is the antimatter to Durgā‘s matter, then she must be dark as opposed to Durga‘s blinding white light energy. She is. Let us consider her form. She is described as large, darker than the darkest night, long untied and disheveled hair, not a thread on her body, scimitar in hand, wearing a necklace of severed heads, and blood smeared on her body and hair. A rather fearsome imagery. This pagan imagery, since, has been “civilized” a bit to work with different weaker sentiments. She, undoubtedly, is the most powerful, and most violent of the Dasha Mahāvidyas, and her pujā is done timebound, for a short while with utmost respect.

The thread

What could Kāli be metaphorically representing, something that we are today aware of? Her name signifies two of her attributes – one who is dark, and the other epithet is “devourer of time”. She has the severed head necklace, and is unstoppable. Clearly, she destroys, rather violently. To me, that reminds of a cosmological feature – a blackhole. It’s gravity dilates time infinitely and devours light, is super large and ever growing, is completely bare (but not empty) and totally unstoppable. It pulls other celestial bodies (most of which are spherical in shape, at the unit level) in and destroys them. Is Kāli then an earthly representation of a black hole?

Now connecting all the way back. Could Krishna have been showing Arjuna a representation of time-space continuum and the fundamentals of Kāl and creation?

Everest, the tallest.

The mountain is in the news again, for three different reasons, all in the same week. One of human conquest, one of human stupidity, and the third of nature’s unpredictability.

First, the one about human achievement. Indian mountaineer, Anshu Jamsenpa summitted twice, within a week. She has summited twice in 10 days in 2011, and last week was witness to her fourth and fifth successful summits.

Anshu, with HH Dalai Lama

The 37-year-old mother of two from Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh (state in the far east of India), summitted on the 16^th May, and then again on the 21^st May. Before her second ascent, Anshu said: “My only aim now is to unfurl the national flag once again atop Mt Everest and pay homage to Lord Buddha. I seek blessings and support from my fellow countrymen.” She was blessed by HH Dalai Lama before leaving for the expedition. What a Rockstar!

The second story is about Ravi Kumar, from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh who is untraceable on the mountain after having summitted on the 20^th. Kumar and his guide, Lakpa Wongya Sherpa, got separated during the descent near the Balcony and the latter was later found unconscious and suffering from frostbite at Camp IV.

In another incident six climbers suffering from altitude sickness had to be rescued and then sent to different hospitals. The human body isn’t made for 25K feet, and the body cells literally start dying at that altitude. If one isn’t a trained and seasoned super hi-alt mountaineer, please stick to doing mid-altitude treks. Everest or other 8-thousanders aren’t really for you stupids.

The other in-fashion thing for some years now is to go up the mountain with a guide. Everest isn’t a tourist spot, you know. In 1996, most of those killed on the mountain weren’t seasoned mountaineers either. And there is no business that a ward should get separated from a guide. The life of the ward is the guide’s responsibility. Lakpa, this might have been your eighth summit, but your license needs to be taken away.

And finally, “…a piece of mountaineering history has disappeared “, said British mountaineer Tim Mosedale after he descended from his sixth successful summit attempt. Considered to be the last obstacle, some 58 metres below the summit, the rocky outcrop known as the Hillary Step has collapsed. Likely because of the 2015 earthquake. Last year, the American Himalayan Foundation did publish images, but it was not clear whether the rock formation had actually collapsed because of the snow cover. Tim Mosedale who summitted last year as well this year, has confirmed, with pictures that he has posted.

The crumbling away of the Hillary Step makes summitting easier and quicker for the inexperienced climbers, but also will expose them to the elements for a longer time because of the potential traffic jam which will ensue with larger number of climbers passing through that spot.

Deaths on Mt Everest (data, graph courtesy – BBC)

More than 240 people have died on the mountain (above base camp) so far, and three more already added this year, more so since climbing up has become almost a joke. Teams have to be sent up every year to clear rubbish and debris from previous years’ climbs. There are bodies on the mountain, and plenty debris. Most seasoned pioneers regret what happens to the mountain every climbing season.

But, we need to stop for a moment and perhaps listen to Sagarmatha. The mountain, I believe, is telling us that she feels tired and abused and that we should stop climbing her now.

 

India Post – unsung heroes

  When was the last time you went into a post office? Or when did you meet the postman for your area? Most people would say “umm…can’t remember, long time back, I think” or some such. You would remember the postman when you were expecting your passport to come in, or your income tax refund was due.

Many of us, if not most, have moved over the courier companies and use them to send out letters, packets etc especially if the destination is one of the metros, or tier-1 cities in our country.  Oh, India Post is un-realiable. Maybe, used to be. But, this is the only service which connects the country and its people to every remote corner. Literally.

I used to run a retail ecommerce company till last year. There was no way we could send out packages to remote areas in the east, up into Kashmir (Dras, Kargil, or even Pulwama), into Port Blair or to Agatti. Forget these places, it would be difficult to send out cash on delivery into villages in the heart of the country using one of these courier companies. Their reach is limited and their level of reliability is zero beyond a certain range. Take it from me, I have used them and used them all.

There have been cases when I have had to call the post master in a remote area in Arunachal to follow up on a packet and his patient reply to my irritated self was “Sir, the village is far from here with no roads. The postman walks to that village and it takes him about a day. His round trip is about 2.5 days. He goes to this village once every other week, sir! Please be patient, sir”. Now, show me a courier company which can even attempt this.

India Post charges the least of all and their speed of service is really about the same as anyone else. In our years of successful operation, India Post has not lost a single article that we have sent through them. Not so with the courier companies.

But, that is all about business and efficiency. Oh, but postal service in other countries is so much better. Agreed, India Post perhaps is not the most efficient. But, consider the yeoman service they provide really for a pittance. Their mail delivery people (postmen, or women) walk; mostly. Some travel on bicycles. Regardless, of the weather they do deliver. Umbrella in hand, when its pouring outside or in blistering heat. And how does the delivery person travel in a developed country? In a truck.

How much does a postman in India earn? You know its a pittance.

Now, what kind of coverage does India Post and its staff provide? Started formally in 1858 (integrating various independent networks), the network has a staggering 154,866 post offices of which ~90% are in rural areas. This is the largest distributed postal network in the world. No exceptions. No courier company (or even all of them put together) could even dream of having a network this dense in the next 100 years.

The highest post office in the world is in Hikkim, in Himachal Pradesh (15,500 ft above sea level).

Not impressed yet? Go use them. No they don’t have pasted smiles, but stuff gets done. Visit them a couple of times and they recognize you. They are our unsung heroes.

Zero Inflation Rate isn’t really that good. There is much more to the data.

I read bunches of people starting to celebrate the zero% inflation rate on the WPI. Same with the newspapers today. But wait up, a zero inflation rate on the WPI really isn’t necessarily that good. Before you want to shoot me down for saying this, lets step back a bit and understand what the zero inflation rate actually means. Here are some points to consider:

• The previous government pulled out a bunch of items (from the basket) because they were pushing the inflation rate.
• There has been a significant drop in the price of petroleum based fuel, and a slow down of manufacturing
• Consumer price index is not directly dependent on the WPI. It is related for sure.Otherwise, you would see a proportional drop in CPI as well.

How does the WPI get formed? Its an index of 676 commodities categorized under the groups of Primary Articles (20.12% weight), Fuel and Power (14.91% weight) and Manufactured products (64.97% weight).

The September 2014 WPI report tells us that:

• In primary, food articles dropped by 0.4%, non-food articles by 0.7% and minerals by 5.9%. BTW, minerals includes crude and that dropped 12%
• Fuel and power dropped by 5.4%. This component of index is based completely on petroleum based fuels.
• Manufactured products dropped by 0.3%.

What does the above mean? There are two clear large components of this drop.

• Crude and petroleum based fuels have caused a fall.
• The drop of 0.3% in manufactured products is the biggest mover. 0.3% of 64.97% is a whopping 19.5%. A drop in price of manufactured goods usually means supply is outstripping demand.

Lower inflation rate may sometimes imply a lower lending rate. However, you would appreciate that a lower lending rate isn’t always good for the economy and nor is a super low inflation rate.

Yesterday’s RBI report (data for October) tells us:

• CPI has fallen a percent from 6.5% to 5.5%
• In WPI – Primary articles have dropped 0.4% to 1.8%. Fuel and power have dropped to a 0.4% from 1.3% and manufactured goods have dropped from 2.8% to 2.4%. So a 0.4% drop here equals a 26% drop overall in the WPI.

One should also note that our:

• Imports have dropped from 25.5% rate to a 3.6% rate. Some of that could be because of the falling Rupee as well.
• and our exports rate has gone to a -5%.

There is much more than the zero % WPI rate than meets the eye as far as our economy numbers go. Just one data point does not show the health of the economy. A 26% drop in WPI due to slow down in manufacturing, a -5% growth in exports does not sound that nice, does it?

30 things that I learned from my startup experience (all parts)

Here is the entire series of seven parts on the “30 things that I learned from my startup experience”. This has been serialized earlier on slideshare and on linked in.

30 things that I learned from my startup experiences 1. Introduction : This deck will introduce you to the structure that I am using to talk through the 30 things; 30 things which run across the various areas of building and running a startup. I am sure you could categorize them in different other ways too; but am using this for ease of reference and explanation.
2. The Idea :This is even before planning. Still in your head, and  perhaps on some sheets of paper. You might have done some basic calculations.	3. The Start : Both these are action oriented and essentially are about putting your ideas on the canvas of reality, rubber meets the road kind of thing.
4. The Execution : This, as the title suggests is about bringing your idea to fruition and making the rubber hit the road.	5. Funding : A rather crucial part of the cycle and something that consumes an entrepreneur from the very beginning. Read about my experiences and learning.
6. Marketing and Sales : These are essentially about selling (or preparing to sell) – to your customer, to your investor etc. Doesn’t matter who you are selling to (or preparing for), it is about how strong your story is and how you narrate it.	7. People, Emotions and Learning : These three are all about the softer side of the business, and to a large extent about what goes on in your head and heart!

The CMO-CIO Divide

CMO-CIO infographic (copyright Accenture 2013)

Retail 2020 for the Retail CIO

The last some years has been nothing less than a train wreck, and a traffic pile up put together. Things seem to look up for a bit and then go down into the dump. Maybe, its a W-shaped recession after all. But there is a bit of a silver lining.

Retail will have a very different shape in the next decade. How should the CIOs of retail companies prepare? Here are some pointers from my experience interacting with Retail CIOs worldover for about the last seven years.

Proactive alignment with business

IT not always being aligned with the mainline business has always been the bane of many a CIO organization. Right now is the opportunity to make the change. CIOs must choose to drive leadership in IT areas which directly add to the company value propositions, and not wait for business to set direction and strategy for IT.

Act local, think Global

All retailers must think of the world as their consumer base. Thinking global does not necessarily mean proliferation to the scale of Starbucks in which case you could see half a dozen starbucks signs standing any stop lights in downtown AnyCity in the US. The Body shop is a fairly decent example, and so is WHSmiths in gradual global expansion, and reducing overall risk by placing the eggs in different baskets. Of course, this needs the processes and systems to support such geographic diversity and this is where the CIO comes in to play a major part. In some geographies e.g. India, most of this progress will be through JVs, and the CIO plays a part in integration and adapting to local IT needs

Consumer and demand driven

Retailing is slowly becoming, and will completely be Customer driven rather than merchandise driven. The hammer and nail syndrome will have to go away. As shake downs happen, the retail geography changes. New specialty, and information driven retail comes to play very strongly. Here are two examples – Airtel is the largest seller of music in India today. Best Buy’s largest competitor perhaps is Amazon, and not other brick and mortar set ups (now that Circuit City is history). Better understanding the customer behaviour is what will make the difference.

Out of the box

Time to think differently, time to adapt and bring forth disparate step changes in technology. Retailers who are able to harness technology for bringing in innovation will see progress. Technology which brings in quick supply chain squeeze, inventory handling or deliver top-line increase will see being adapted, and CIOs need to be ready to move rapidly.

No return, No exchange?

no exchange, no return policy at Health & Glow

Retailing policies, often arbitrarily setup, often amaze me. Here is another one of those. Health & Glow, as many of you know are aware, is a JV between Dairy Farm and Arko International with 65 stores in India operating from four metros. Dairy farm also runs similar health & beauty formats elsewhere in Asia under Guardian and Mannings brand names. It also owns and operates Foodworld in India.

Neatly carved out niche in the Indian market without any other format competitor to really talk about except Dabur’s NewU. But the typical Indian retailing bug has bitten these folk too. As you will see in the cell phone picture above, they don’t allow returns and exchanges. Given the fact that this is a cosmetics type convenient store, I do appreciate that they need to be wary of returns and exchanges especially because if their items get used, they can’t be put back on the shelf at all – as is, or refubrished.

But, there will be occasions where the product is defective, doesn’t work or there is a quality glitch. Completely beats me how can they not return or exchange in those cases. This can’t even be legal. Whatever said and done, customer service and retailing in the country are still distant cousins who have not yet met.

Word of mouth! and lack of greed.

Retail in a way is such a strange world of dichotomies. This, of course, is where basic economic theory meets the road. This is where you are supposed to generate demand, in such a manner that it should not be underwhelming, and it should not be outstripping supply either and reach a optimal point of bliss. Of course, you are to use, direct and indirect marketing to ensure stickiness, and attract new customers. This is where, we are starting to realize that word of mouth works effectively in the modern world too.

In one of the previous posts, I had talked about the world of socialonomics. That is so alive and kicking in India, and always has been. It will continue to work regardless of whether the Twitters, the Facebooks or the Orkuts of the world exist or not. With a population of 1.3Bn, the situation is so different. Take for example Wahid Miyan’s biryani in Lucknow. His sons run the two eateries now and with great elan. The picture on the left shows you one of the places. Has no ambience to talk about, is located in a hard to find bylane and their food stocks run out by 10pm every night. He sells the standard set of kebabs available all over Lucknow, biryani and some specialty food as well.

All the basics of retailing theory fail here. No location! No replenishment till the customers keep arriving! No great shopping atmosphere! But, works purely on quality of merchandise and word of mouth. What also works in this case is the lack of interest (from the owner) to perpetually expand his business. He is very happy (I spent time talking to him) with what he makes and remain in his niche. Its completely a different ballgame out here and this is why retailing in India will always be different. and I hope it remains that way instead of the nameless, faceless retailing of the west which totally lacks character.

How many people does it take…

End of the Reebok sale

How many people does it take to scrape off decals from a store-front window? At least Five 🙂