Jennifer Lopez dances her way at a beach shack in Goa #india

goa dancing

Goa pottery through the eyes of Charles De Silva

Tourists in Goa say bye bye to 2018 with beach fireworks

raviraj naik

Goa crusaders: Clinton Vaz, garbage expert at GoaFarmersMarket in BPS cl...

Suprajit Raikar of Raika honey at #GoanFarmersMarket at BPS club #Margao...

GoanFarmersMarket at BPS club Margao #goa #india

air odisha

Rape, garbage and corruption impact: Foreign tourists give Goa a miss du...

A picture is worth..

So, Christmas has finally come and gone, and here we are again, hopefully still merry and bracing for 2019. It’s a good time to celebrate, but an equally good time to kickback and recharge. Me? I’m doing the latter. By a beach, relaxed. The looming end of the year has had me reflecting on how I got to this point.

 

Six years ago, I joined a financial daily as a data visualiser. A recent J-school graduate, I wasn’t sure what lay ahead of me. Data visualisation to me was just bar charts and trendlines. And so it remained until I read The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte, a statistician and professor emeritus at Yale. A chart can speak volumes, I learnt. If done right, that is.

 

When I joined The Ken a few months ago, I was happy to learn that the motivation to declutter and refine information extended to the realm of design. Here, a chart—a simple chart—is the product of endless debate between journalist, designer and editors. As a designer, I could not be happier to be a part of the story-making process. The result is evident in our infographics and charts—creative, lucid, and loaded with information.

 

To give you an idea of the way we visualise our information, we’ve curated a list of some of our favourite infographics as part of our year-ender series. Check them out here: https://the-ken.com/best-of-2018-infographics/

Investing in our minds

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. It’s a phrase I’m sure you’ve heard or read at some point; but only recently did I stumble across the fact that it’s actually a tagline for an ad. A campaign started in the US some 40-odd years ago by an organisation called the UNCF (then the United Negro College Fund) to raise money and fund higher education for young African Americans. The message, in essence, was that there were a lot of young, bright kids who wouldn’t get a shot at college, unfortunately wasting their potential, their minds and their lives.

 

Interesting fact of the day aside, our story today carries a similar message. Not about educating children, but about improving our minds—more specifically, our memories.

 

In the fourth part of our monthly series—now a subscriber-only series, The Simplicity Paradigm, Saurabh Mukherjea and Anupam Gupta take a long hard look at the fickleness of human memory. Our minds are all too prone to mixing together different memories, or filling in gaps with imagined happenings, they write. This mental distortion of our past, naturally, then colours just how we image the future.

 

All well and good, you might say, but what then? Saurabh and Anupam lay down a series of tips and suggestions on how we can set about strengthening our capacity to remember, drawing on formal research and their own experiences. Memory, they say, is one mental muscle, so to speak, that benefits greatly from extensive and deliberate practice. It would be a waste not to hit the mental gym.

 

That reminds me: apparently, the UNCF, in 2013, decided to update their slogan (it had remained unchanged since 1972). “A mind is a terrible thing to waste… but a wonderful thing to invest in.”

 

Here’s our story, enjoy: https://the-ken.com/story/step-into-the-memory-palace/

The last hurrah

I won't hold back in my unabashed favouritism for this month. There's so much to love. Winter. Christmas movies. Mulled wine. Cold noses. Throwbacks. One final shot...at a year passing by. And suddenly, it's a whole new year.

 

Quite simply, I love December.

 

And yet, it is a month for sombre introspection, that final moment that forces us to take the plunge or let go. December, for any year, is the last hurrah. How so ever you may need it to be so. (Collectively, as an office, our Bengaluru bureau has poetically chosen this day to move to a bigger, brighter, more welcoming space.)

 

And since we've arrived at the month of throwbacks, without much ado, let's jump right into the last week's stories. We had a good bunch.

 

Our TKOW piece on Sunday had Pranav and Ashish team up to make us think about hitting that delete button on our social media accounts. "There are a lot of reasons to let go, but also enough to stay. Something you are likely to say about addiction," they write. Phew.

 

On Monday, Rohin completed the Dunzo saga. And how. The part 2 of his interview with Kabeer Biswas details many things few founders would talk about. Biswas wants Dunzo to become an invisible delivery layer for Indian cities, using which users can transact with any local business and have products delivered in about an hour or less. It's a long read, but what's a good weekend without the perfect long piece? This is the one.

 

Salman's Tuesday piece on BigBasket looked into the online grocer barrelling into the micro-delivery space with three back-to-back acquisitions in October. The potential is there, but unlocking it is a whole other matter, he writes.

 

Midweek, Arundhati looked into Google finding a safe toehold in India's sideloading game. While India’s the country with the most number of annual app downloads from Google’s Play Store, P2P file sharing from apps like SHAREit has kept Google’s visibility of tier 2 and 3 users opaque. Go on, read it; it's free.

 

Ruhi's Thursday piece documented Thyrocare's journey in India's $4 billion diagnostics market. Can Thyrocare’s commitment to affordable preventive care help it weather the storm? Read to know. 

 

The week closed with Ashish, again. This time, he wrote about new, high-profile tech appointments across Oyo (Aditya Ghosh), SoftBank (Sumer Juneja), WhatsApp (Abhijit Bose), and the soon-to-be A91 (Kaushik Anand). All executives have their task cut out. Ashish details how.

 

Before I start saying goodbyes, in case you missed our 4 PM email yesterday (do go read it), we have an exciting new series launching tomorrow—Going Home. Very much in keeping with throwbacks and nostalgia. Pretty sure you'll love it.

 

Have a fantastic weekend.

Going Home, to Santacruz, Bombay

Lathika George, the writer of today’s evocative story about losing, finding and reminiscing about the place you call home, left hers the same year I was born. Home for her was Santacruz, then a quaint English-style suburb of the city known as Bombay, where strains of jazz, Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones drifted out of open cottages and bungalows in a tight-knit community of mostly migrant residents from Portuguese Goa. Houses with names like Felstead, Felicity Park, Norman Haven, and Henleen, George’s own house. 

 

The city she describes - now called Mumbai - seems magical. One where serendipitous and unique experiences still seemed possible. Like bumping into an M.F. Hussain or a Mario Miranda at a cafe. Or visits to famous restaurants or jazz performances still had the power (and rarity?) to imprint themselves in our memories.

 

Nostalgic writing is hard. Because it's easy to slip into the sappy wistfulness of the "golden days”. A cognitive bias that comes with many names. “Rosy retrospection”. “Good old days”. “Reminiscence bump”. 

 

But George masterfully weaves in and out of Santacruz through the decades. From the air-raid sirens in 1971 during India’s war with Pakistan; to shady men with black briefcases filled with cash and “win-win” offers; to Koli wedding processions next to quaint Portuguese-style cottages with gables and porticos; and to the last of the bakeries to still home deliver a "chicken roll and a mutton puff with cake for dessert for Rs 100.”

 

George’s writing almost made me nostalgic about Delhi, the city I grew up in. 

 

This is part 1 of our series running through December Sundays. 

 

And it’s free. 

 

https://the-ken.com/story/lathika-george-santacruz-girl/

 

Apple desperately needs to think different in India

In January this year, I bought an iPhone X. 

 

<pause for laughter> 

 

I know. Sigh. 

 

The reaction among my peers was a combination of incredulity, horror and disdain. One friend wanted to know if I was going through a mid-life crisis. Another asked me if I had won a lottery. When my father heard about how much I paid for it, he reproached me for not using it to buy something else, like a nice flat in Coimbatore.    

 

What can I say? It’s hard to be one of the few iPhone users in India. We stick together, keep our heads down, and discreetly walk in the shadows. Patting our pockets nervously. iPhone in one. Charging cable in the other. Every iPhone user knows the fruitlessness of expecting a lightning cable to be around at a party, airport or restaurant. Android users have luxuries such as sideloading, dual-sim handsets and provident fund accounts. Not for us. Instead, we have our buyer’s remorse. Once in a while, we spot each other in a crowd, nod in solidarity, and smile wistfully when our iMessages to each other turn blue. 

 

How did it come to this? 

 

That’s what Vandana tries to answer today. Apple is the world’s most influential smartphone manufacturer around, but as far as India is concerned, it’s practically a fringe player. Consider this: Apple’s market share in India is less than 1%. And it’s ranked third in the premium smartphone segment. There are many reasons for this - from pricing, marketing, strategy, leadership and a lack of commitment from the company itself. After talking to Apple’s resellers, distributors, competitors and other sources, she stitches a story about a company that desperately needs to think different. But isn’t. 

 

Today’s story is about how the first trillion dollar company in the history of the world is struggling to crack India. About why the world’s largest empire became the resistance. And about what their new country head has in store ahead of him. 

 

It’s a great story to begin the week. You can read it here: https://the-ken.com/story/apples-india-struggle/

 

Meanwhile, if you are an iPhone user, stay strong, my brothers and sisters. One day we shall rise. One day they will no longer laugh loudly when we proudly wear our Airpods.

 

Until then, let’s all use EMI payments and mobile insurance plans.

Indian regulators' mantra to check the big tech boom

Allow me to take you to Bonn, Germany. To the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), also known as the Bundeskartellamt. It is the country’s antitrust watchdog.

 

Andreas Mundt, president of the FCO, has said that it will go the distance to protect competition in the digital economy, against big internet companies. Namely, Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. Mundt’s points are simple. The internet should be open, to allow new players to come in. And users must be able to use the services of the companies in a free and transparent manner. In chasing these objectives, the FCO has found the big tech companies lacking. And for a good amount of time now, it has been investigating them. 

 

Starting 2016, the FCO has been investigating how Facebook collects user data, without their knowledge or permission. In a wide-ranging probe, the FCO is investigating how Facebook uses that data and does it do so by abusing its dominant position in Germany. Earlier last week, the FCO started an investigation into Amazon. Mundt said that the FCO has received several complaints from small business owners, who operate as third-party sellers on Amazon. Their complaints range from contract clauses restricting lawsuits against Amazon and company practices on blocking and shutting seller accounts. “Its double role as the largest retailer and largest marketplace has the potential to hinder other sellers on its platform,” said Mundt at a press conference. 

 

Increasingly so, the world is waking up to the problem that is big tech. Our story today argues that India and Indian regulators deserve a pat on their back. 

 

Despite all their shortcomings, Indian regulators have kept big tech in check. Both Amazon and its arch-nemesis Flipkart (now owned by Walmart) don’t have the kind of structural control over the e-commerce market in India like Amazon does in the United States. Then, there’s Google Tax. Every time a company has to pay advertising fees above Rs 1 lakh ($1,417) to a company that is based outside India, it has to withhold 6% of that payment. That goes to the government as equalisation levy. There’s the sanity of holding someone accountable at WhatsApp (owned by Facebook). There’s holding up Net Neutrality. Data localisation.

 

There’s a good story here, and it's free. From my colleague Vishal, who is interning with us. Read: https://the-ken.com/story/indian-regulator-mantra-big-tech/

 

About Bonn. Quiet city. Excellent people. Eating Frikadellen, watching the Rhine. Okay, beer.

GE startup GenWorks’ rural India healthcare push

Some stories have a long tail. GE Healthcare’s several attempts to crack the Indian market is one such story.

 

In 2012,  when Terri Bresenham, now the Chief Innovation Officer at GE, took charge of its healthcare business in India, she said, during a conversation, that she found this market unique. Mostly because people shopped around for healthcare, it was not a payer-driven market. Which, in her view, brought out the “best in people”.

 

She would go on to push GE’s Make in India drive that year that would manufacture devices locally and sell it across rural India and the rest of the developing world. (As would other medtech giants like Philips and Siemens.) But nothing much came out of those high-decibel, high-PR strategies. For the simple reason that even if a product line is actually low-cost (which for all these companies was not exactly), the crux lies in bringing a complementary change in the business model. Can those who sell high-end equipment also sell low-cost devices? Are they incentivised enough? And even if they sell, is there recurring revenue to be made out of those sales?

 

GE finally understood this in 2015 and invested in a startup (26% stake) which it carved out of its own products, people and potential revenues. GenWorks was created to push GE Healthcare boxes beyond tier-1 towns. It was helmed by one of GE’s consummate salesmen, who was also promised a certain revenue in sales commissions.

 

Now that’s a calculated move. One that the conglomerate has not taken elsewhere. A unique market calls for a unique measure.

 

GE is super secretive about it, but we know it has yielded good results for the two and which is why GenWorks is closing $10 million in funding very soon. But can funding find a solid business model? One with recurring revenue?

 

That’s Gayathri’s story today; a giant’s small bet in India. Let’s dive right in: https://the-ken.com/story/genworks/

8th Quotes from the Earth - An Environmental Film Festival

Hi, 

Toxics Link and India International Centre present 8th Biennial Edition of " Quotes from the Earth - An Environmental Film Festival.

Environmental Film Festival ‘Quotes from the Earth’ has been the first of its kind in the Indian Capital Since 2004. It uses a discursive platform to highlight environmental challenges at the national and international level through films that happen to be one of the most powerful medium of communication and discussion. The festival is a collaborative effort by Toxics Link and India International Centre, New Delhi. 

The festival will witness screening of films on themes ranging from Biodiversity, Water, Livelihoods to Climate Change and Sustainability.

About the Organization: Toxics Link is an environmental NGO founded in 1996, engaged in disseminating information to help strengthen campaigns against toxic pollution, provide cleaner alternatives, and bring together groups and people concerned with, and affected by, this problem.

ENTRY FREE! 

DATE AND TIME:  Thu, Dec 6, 2018, 9:30 AM – Sat, Dec 8, 2018, 6:30 PM IST

LOCATION: India International Centre, New Delhi 

-  Rohit

---------------------

Regards,

Rohit Rellan

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitrellan

Follow me on TWITTER: twitter.com/rohitrellan

Be my friend on FACEBOOK:http://www.facebook.com/rohit.rellan

Skype :rohitrellan

WeWork: WeWork office spaces supports businesses through a network of 150,000+ members who work with each other across the world. WeWork is more than just an office space – we provide amenities, services, and technology that evolve space into experience.Private offices and Co-working Space in #Gurugram, #Mumbai & #Bangalore 

Book a tour at WeWork ! http://bit.ly/2vnqkYB ;

InviteReferrals is the Simplest tool to design and launch customer referral campaigns in minutes. For a free demo account Log on to https://bit.ly/2IFQYmk ;

The C-word

If I were to tell you a single company was in the process of launching the following products, who would you guess it was?

 

1. A new broadband service
2. A new video streaming service, including live TV channels
3. An Android TV set-top box
4. A "smart stick" that converts regular TV set-top boxes into smart ones that can deliver online content too

 

The disruptor with bottomless pockets filled with billions, Reliance Jio? The original telecom big daddy, and still the largest player, Bharti Airtel? Or perhaps Star TV, the 800-pound gorilla of TV programming?

 

The correct answer is Dish TV, India’s first satellite TV operator (satellite TV in India is called DTH, or Direct-to-Home). Who’da thought, eh?

 

Dish TV (and DTH) was launched in 2003 with an eye to offer better quality, pricing and programming choice to subscribers via satellite, bypassing thousands of notorious local cable operators altogether. In the 15 years since, DTH has signed up close to 70 million subscribers. If you’re thinking “that’s not a lot for a country with 1.3 billion citizens”, I’d tell you that’s not all, because the average revenue per subscriber is just around $3 a month. 

 

Earlier this year, subscriber numbers actually fell, albeit they picked up subsequently. (If it looks like a peak, quacks like a peak, and swims like a peak…)

 

In the middle of this existential angst comes the dreaded “C”-word - Convergence. The lines between ISP, cable TV, DTH, mobile operator and media companies are increasingly blurring, at least in urban households. Would consumers pay for DTH if a converged telco like Jio (which is rolling out high-speed fibre broadband and digesting the acquisition of two cable broadband companies at the same time) can offer them broadband, telephony, TV and streaming services in one convenient bundle?

 

That’s what satellite TV operators like Dish are trying to answer. By trying to disrupt, morph and cannibalise themselves before competitors do. Read Harveen’s story to find out how: https://the-ken.com/story/convergence-and-dth/

Toilets lessons for Goa's Rane from Paris Goans

Russians enjoy camel ride in Goa #india

Fire dancers on Goa beaches

Shiva Valley the haven for drug users in Goa

Qatar church sets the Christmas spirit with stars show

Russian girl does yoga practice on Morjim beach

The other Goa where drugs, sex and prostitution thrives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5JdhFRl8VE

Shiva Valley the haven for drug users in Goa

Russian women dancing to the tunes of Hindi music in Goa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-GtxQn9Gn8

Russian girl does yoga practice on Morjim beach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=den7rnom4d4


Goa's Ashwem Beach and Jade daughter of singer Mick jagger #india

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXGeJLETOac