Nepal: In turmoil or in transition?

During the early part of the last month, I happened to visit Kathmandu for one of my consulting assignments. Given that Kathmandu has been one of the major tourist destinations and there has been some mystery attached with the Himalayan Kingdom, I was excited about this trip. As it was more than a week long trip, my stay over there did help me experience different facets of Nepal.

Five major challenges faced by Indian startups

One keeps coming across conversations that focus on when would India provide or start producing the next Googles or Facebooks? After all, many Indians have played a key role in turning the Silicon Valley as the global innovation- hub. While nobody may have a conclusive answer to the question posed above but nevertheless many startups have recently emerged in India, especially in the field of internet commerce.

Despite frenetic activities (by the Indian standards) on the startup scene, it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the entrepreneurs. In this blog I will focus on major challenges being faced by startups in India. I have tried to incorporate views of some of my friends who did give entrepreneurship a try. While some of have them have returned to become private naukars again, others are still part of the former breed.

The Five myths about Strategy Consulting

My stay in consulting so far has been a brief one but nevertheless it has been an eventful one as well. Interacting with consultants at different levels and from different geographies has been an enlightening experience. As is the case, I used this opportunity to ignite the discussion and this time my topic was “myths about strategy consulting”. Based on my interactions, experiences and a bit of reading on “strategy consulting”, these are the five myths that I have come across. 

The Five steps to Success

We all want to be successful. Isn’t it? But how many amongst us feel that we have achieved success? They say that success is relative. True, but even when we feel good about an achievement on a given day , someone else’s opinion may make us ponder whether it was worth the effort? As they say in a famous ad we keep asking ourselves, “have I really made it large?”

In this blog, I’ll discuss the five simple steps that can help you judge whether your achievement comes into that premium category that we all know as “success”. But if my personal experience is anything to go by, I must warn you that though the steps are simple but implementing or imbibing them isn't.

Bihar: The road-map to prosperity

For the past few weeks, I have been going through various panel discussions, books, blogs & news articles, both national and international that had some relevance or relation to Bihar. Through this blog dedicated to Bihar, my focus will be on laying out a roadmap for a prosperous Bihar. I will include the findings from the above exercises as well as inputs from discussions that I had with my Bihari as well as non-Bihari friends. Let us now start our expedition.

The Theory of Relativity

Friends, just like most of us, even I am not fascinated by the complexity of Science. So you can be rest assured that this post is not about scientific applications of the theory of relativity. But the essence is derived from it. That’s why this theory assumes so much importance as it touches us every day. Let’s explore how?

Einstein's theory of time and space, special relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock depends on the motion of the observer of that clock; likewise for the length of a "yardstick.” So if you haven’t guessed yet, this post is about Relative Grading. A much used term in academic set up especially in the past few decades. As the common saying goes, “Nothing is absolute, everything is relative.”

This is how IITK introduces Relative Grading, “Many ideas and things were shipped from Washington DC to Kanpur. When a packet from one of these shipments was opened, a brilliant proposal of adopting "relative grading" emerged. And IIT Kanpur was amongst the first, in the country to adopt this relative method of evaluating performance.” Their inputs have been used in the following paras to shed more light on this topic.

The side-effects of Campus Placement Process

In my previous blog, I tried to jot down some of the benefits that the campus placement process has brought. Most if not all of us would agree that campus placement has been one of the most positive development in the field of education and has increased the purchasing capacity of the Indian youth with its wide reach.

The Campus Placement Process

Scene 1: The setting, early 1980s. Rakesh has done his father proud. He has made it to the coveted government engineering college. He is the first engineer from his locality. Well-wishers have made a beeline to his home. They have garlanded him and the sweets are being distributed to one and all. The boy, who was better known by his nickname “Raju”, has a new name now; “engineer sahib”. There is glint in his eyes. This glint symbolizes excitement. He knows that the road ahead is not easy. He will have to fight it out for the few available government jobs when he passes out after four years. But he is least worried rather he is excited about joining the engineering college. He has heard great things about it. It’s a temple of learning to him. He is keen to learn under the guidance of a few well known professors as well as eager to quench his thirst of knowledge at the institute’s library and laboratory, two things he sorely missed at the district schools and colleges.