Blue Peepal

  The news of queen’s demise erupted a lot of emotions, from loss to loathing the symbol of British colonialism.  Emotions aside, the sheer length of Queen Elizabeth’s reign made her imagery in public memory as immortal. My loyal following of BBC News over last two decades fed me regular doses of Westminster updates and of it’s occupants as a subsidiary interest.  That aside, news about the Royal family could run a social media platform by itself.  So what does the Queen and the Royal family mean to the world?   To start with, British monarchy has interchangeably acted as an institution and as a family, or you may agree that as an individual on the throne.  Together with long heritage, history and being integral part of UK’s political influence it has adapted and shaped it’s relevance. A mature global relations office has cultivated a direct line with major heads of state. That works as a soft power. It is also keenly conscious of it’s ‘Royal’ or above-than...

If jokes on Bangalore traffic were to be sequentially arranged, they could touch the moon and come back. People graduate from frustration to acceptance, almost like it is an organ inside their body. I have moved a step further. First, I was philosophical that there are powers beyond me that control the universe, and Bangalore traffic. Then the James Webb Telescope hit me, physics-cally . The famed telescope replacing Hubble travelled 1.6 million kms distance from earth over a six-month journey and was on schedule with its complex deployment sequence. My journey to office over a 11.5 kms distance has even Google Maps’ hard-tested algorithms apologizing for their ‘estimated’ time of arrival. And the quest began. Defying Newton Imagine Newton sitting under the apple tree and is hit by an apple. My personal view, it was perhaps not the first apple that made him discover the theory of gravity. There must have been few hitting him over a period of time, and he would theor...

My blogging journey Source: iStock Stories need to be told. Especially the ones that go around in your head, long after you have read, experienced or moved on from the subject. They cling to you and wait for that moment of calm, of purposeful reflection, or when you are searching for purpose. I started BluePeepal in November of 2011 as a lens to see the world around me, to verbalise things I understood or, at least took an interest to explore. The name combined the beautiful clarity of blue skies and Peepal, the tree that is associated with search for meaning. How it all began? Around mid-2011, the financial press was screaming of debt crisis in Europe with Greece in particular. The world was still in the grip of post 2008 crisis anxiety attacks, the Euro block in a crisis of confidence. Rebalancing Euro was my debut article that reasoned why not put Greece in some quarantine, work with a stability plan than bloat the situation and wreck nerves all around the world. Austerity was a co...

  Image courtesy - Reddit In case you thought the title appears from some sci-fi movie or, series, it indeed is! This famous line marked the end of an episode for most of the legendary Star Trek – The Original Series (TOS). The warp factor indicated the target speed the famous starship ‘ Enterprise’ would attain; warp factor one stood for light-speed. My fascination for the series got ignited after I watched a documentary “For the Love of Spock” about Leonard Nimoy who played the epic character Spock; what followed was 60 episodes of Star Trek absorbed over 35 days. Broadcast in 1966-69, the series put the voyages of the Enterprise in an inter galactic space 300 years into the future. The last episode preceded man’s landing on the moon by six weeks, with several episodes referencing moon landing as a retrospective event. Why re-discover Star Trek – TOS? Prototyping a future To imagine a future in certain scientific details that’s not 10, 20 but 300 years away is more than just...

Source: Pixels.com Everybody loves a good formula. In times of pandemic, governments and pharma companies would give an arm and an eye, if you will, to get that vaccine formula, or the composition. A central bank can manage inflation without surprises, or an investment advisor can guarantee a return with a basket of assets. It is like getting a key to a stubborn lock. The fading effect of Formulas Back in my school, a much touted line “Put the formula, get the answer” almost became an aphorism. It was used by certain teachers, fellow classmates, seniors and of course intrusive relatives. Later, when you prepare for competitive exams where time is a bigger punishing force than complexity of questions, formulas act as the magic pill. They shorten response time to answer. Once you have seen the effectiveness of memorizing formulas, the enchantment begins. The mind starts looking for formulas that can navigate a problem’s complexity. The problem-solving function is partly rep...

You solve one problem and you solve the next one, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home. The Martian (2015) "Our market-share is 2.7% and our major competitor has 96.5%." There was great expectation around the new vehicle launch and to turn the tables. As the product manager talked with enthusiasm, there was trepidation in the room among old timers. This was the third re-launch in 12 years of the same light pickup truck. The wise had wrinkles, the young were indifferent. At 23, the market-share number to me was more numerical information, than emotional encumbrance; when it is your first job, the slate is clean. Into the fire As my first sales role took shape after an eventful business review meeting which ran more than 4 bruising hours, I was desperate to leave the conference room to attend my best friend’s wedding. The wedding was grand, and the follow-on receptions lasted few days more. The Zonal Head called for a meeting...