About friendships and hugs

I am sure almost all of us cried on our first day of school. That feeling of being snatched away from your mom, your first friend in this unknown world, must have brought hysteric tears to your eyes. Then slowly tears gave way to a big smile in the ensuing days – all thanks to the tiny hands of a friend who held yours and together you were able to make that bond called friendship. These most special bonds become a source of myriad of experiences over the years making us smile, laugh, cry, shout, celebrate and get into trouble all the time. Some friendships last an hour, some a few months or maybe a few years and some last a lifetime. Recently, I got back in touch with one of my first real friend (we studied together in class 1 and 2) after 22 long years all thanks to a common friend and of course Facebook and Whatsapp. Two people who met briefly right at the beginning of their journeys, remembered each other through the thick and thin of life. I plan to visit her soon in Switzerland and have loads of fun - something that we missed out on all these years. But yes, we will remember to celebrate responsibly. Wink!

I would like to share a small story from my school life. A story that reflects that fire makes the gold shine brighter or tough times make friendships stronger. Sample this - we were 2 friends in class 8 (well within our teens and senses), convent school in a small town. Both of us enjoyed our time together in class, lunch and play. Neither of us were into big school gang etc. Then came a third friend in the picture. We started off as common friends but slowly the friendship between my friend and this third friend started to become stronger and jealousy started to creep into me. One fine morning I went to my 2 friends and said something nasty. The third friend pushed me hard (so much so that I fell down on the playground). Anger rose in me and I scratched the face of my friend (some blood could be seen). I was angry that how did she let the third girl hit me and didn’t do anything about it. I also saw a slight smile on her face when I fell. Before either three of us could get the sense of what had just happened, another girl from our class saw me scratching and immediately complained to the teacher. What followed was a huge lecture and a forced patch-up attempt by the class teacher.

Obviously I was crest fallen and ashamed of myself by the end of the day. Kept thinking about what I had done and fearing that I have lost my one real friend forever. Then came the most difficult morning of my life – the morning after. I reached school reluctantly and saw my friend at the assembly. I couldn’t muster enough strength to go to her. The only thought in my mind was to run away. Then I saw her walking towards me. She came to me, hugged me tight and murmured a sorry. That’s it. It was enough to wipe away all the bitterness, anger and awkwardness. The slate was clear. The bond was stronger. Forever. Three years back, the two of them made it to my wedding, flying in from different parts of the country – my only two friends. Moral of the Story - share a hug. It’s the only thing needed in the most difficult emotional situations. It strengthens the yaari dosti of friends and makes them last a lifetime. 

P.S. This blog is intended for audience above the age of 25 years.

Clean India, Green India – Renewable Energy Perspective

Considering India's recent notable policy reforms in the renewable energy sector, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has ranked the country at fifth place on a list of 30 countries on ease of doing business in the renewable energy space. $52.5 billion Total clean energy investments (2009-14) in India. However, it’s a long journey that we as a country have to cover to reach the goal set by Modi government to reach the target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. And most of this has to do with the awareness about the various renewable sources of energy available.

Let us take up the case of wind energy. Wind energy is a free, renewable resource, so no matter how much is used today, there will still be the same supply in the future. Wind energy is also a source of clean, non-polluting, electricity. Unlike conventional power plants, wind plants emit no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. However, lack of widespread awareness among the masses has prevented governments from using this clean energy source to its fullest.

To this effect IndianWind Turbine Manufacturers Association has launched Windergy India – a unique digital platform to create awareness about the Wind Energy sector in India. Windergy India, is slated to be the voice of the Wind Energy industry. Windergy India aims to create wider public awareness on the benefits of wind energy, and the sector’s efforts in India. Its mission is to develop recommendation for Wind Energy among the general public and to establish wind energy as a viable solution to India's energy crisis and its impact on global warming and climate change.

States like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan have already embarked on the wind energy bandwagon and have ordered or started working on projects installing wind energy plants within their states. At 7.4 GW, Tamil Nadu has more wind installed than any other state. Thanks to years of efforts spent in increasing awareness about the usefulness of wind as a renewable and clean energy producing source and advancements in technology, the industry is finally running catching up on investments and quick approvals from governments. In a measure to promote clean energy generation, the Indian government has exempted parts and components used in wind-operated electricity generators (WOEG) like tower, rotor and blades from excise duty.

Update: The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference has strengthened the resolve
of clean energy crusaders like never before. The attention that the sector has received by the 
heads of various countriesincluding India and USA is going to go a long way in bringing 
renewable energy sources such as Wind Energy to the centre of action for most governments.

Kill the noise with data - A BigData Use Case

Maximum noise is produced by the exceptions. Managers beware.

The Pareto (80/20) principle holds good at all times. Period. I heard this incident (now an anecdote) from an ex-CXO at an erstwhile taxi aggregator startup and found it so interesting that this story ought to be told. So often than not, as management we are swayed away by the noises created around us. It’s quite ironic that these noises that compel us to take life altering decisions are more often than not produced out of exceptions.

Just the other day I requested my new intern to call up some of our existing customers to introduce a new product and get their feedback. On inquiring, she reported that one of our customers seemed extremely unhappy with her call and backfired her with complaints like when the supply of our current products is insufficient to them, how can we think of introducing a new product and she went on offloading her distress upon me. 

Once she was finished I quietly inquired how many other customers had she called. The answer was 9 others. “And what was their reaction”, I asked. “Yeah they were quite happy with the new introduction”, she replied. Well, there you go – a live example of how the exceptions cause the most ruckus.

Thus it becomes necessary for managers to carefully identify and ignore the exceptions to be able to see the big picture.

This other incident narrated to be by my friend will help me rest my case. A big problem arose before the management team of this erstwhile taxi aggregator startup based out of Bangalore when their sales and marketing team started showing dissatisfaction towards the one-fare-for-the-entire-city policy irrespective of a particular region’s proximity to the airport. The insistence was that the fares should be reduced for the northern region as it is closer to the airport in comparison to the rest of the areas and this will help them satisfy the customers in the north. The management was under pressure to give in to the demand and introduce differential fares. However, they chose to look into the data before taking any decision. 

After comparing bookings from all four regions (north, south, east and west), it was revealed that the north region (closest to the airport) had close to 0% contribution to the total bookings while the south region (farthest from the airport) had the maximum i.e. close to 80% contribution to total bookings followed by the east and west respectively. So, the sales and marketing insisted that they want the reduced fares for the north in order to increase the booking contribution from the region. However, the management stumped them by presenting an analysis of the demographics of the north region (showcasing the income group residing in the area) substantiated by booking patterns from competition (all of which had minimum bookings in north) thereby establishing the fact that due to its low income residents and proximity to airport, the north region can never be a heavy contributor to business hence it is best to concentrate on rest of the regions and keep the fares unaltered.

Thus we see how analytics has become a way of life (business) and data is important to kill the noise.