Month: February 2019

  • The shrinking shelf life of ecosystems

    One of my favourite business frames in the recent past has been Jeremy Liew’s “When a consumer market is new, distribution wins. As consumers become educated, product wins. When products reach parity, brand wins.”

    Two events happened in the last fortnight that made me reflect more on this. The first was Apple’s power move on Facebook and Google. The second one was here in India – FDI regulations affecting Amazon and Flipkart. Both were shows of influence, and involved distribution.

    It made me realise that the shelf life of this entire distribution-product-brand cycle is shrinking. Disruption is happening far before organisations can take advantage of wins at a previous level. (more…)

  • Punjab Grill

    …and we have a brand new mall in Whitefield. Let’s not speak of whether we wanted one. The mall wasn’t fully functional when we visited (mid November), but from the looks of it, the Indian non-resident Americans of Shantiniketan would be a happy lot. I was most excited by a microbrewery coming up. That makes it 9 in the vicinity! As D mentioned, there would really no need to get out of Whitefield on weekends.

    Meanwhile, Punjab Grill was what we visited for, and that was on the ground floor. The frontage is completely open, and while that might show off the interiors to passers-by, it does take away from the privacy. The decor is definitely fine dining – plush seating, chandeliers, photos of royalty and elegant crockery. The staff is very courteous too.

    All of that also means the pricing is exorbitant too! There’s no alcohol available, so we asked for lassi – D wanted a Kesar Pisteywali version and I chose coconut. We asked whether the coconut flavour was fresh (and not powder or extract) and were told it was. Reality was different and given the Rs.295 we were paying for it, I did something uncharacteristic – I sent it back, and asked for what D was having. That was thick, rich and a much better offering for the price.

    The Murgh Tikka Punjab Grill was our chosen starter – boneless chicken with a mildly spicy red chilli marinade. This was delicious fare and highly recommended.

    Mains was a Patiala Shahi Kadai Murgh which had onion, tomatoes, and green chili in a cashew based gravy. Microgreens for the with-it quotient. 😉 The Zafrani Paronthi Naan sounded interesting and turned out to be so as well. Filling too. D tried the Rajgira Parantha, which was described to us as one with an aloo filling. It didn’t have much of that but did have great texture.

    A nice paan shot (complimentary) ended the meal well.

    The wallet was lighter by a little over Rs.2500. We did know that going in, so we were mentally prepared. The service is extremely good. They are courteous, describe the dishes- along with the spice level to expect, and make sure serving and refills happen at the right time. If you’re in the mood for North Indian fare in this part of the world, this will do the job.

    Punjab Grill, Ground Floor, Forum Shantiniketan, Whitefield Main Road Ph: 49653240

  • Regression planning

    During our reindeer sledding tour in Tromso last year, our guide, who was a Sámi, gave us a glimpse of their way of living. A semi-nomadic life, built around their reindeer herds, which involved them traveling for several days twice a year across hundreds of kilometres. She told us how the capture and nurture of reindeers, and the lifestyle itself, has changed from a means of livelihood to a tradition that only very few are interested in.

    In Fahadh’s movie Njan Prakashan, there is a hilarious, yet poignant moment, when he is asked to help the other workers plant rice seedlings in a field in Kerala. The workers immediately start off and are soon singing in gusto. Fahadh, who has never done any of this before, stands with his mouth agape, and then asks what the language is! His boss explains how most of the paddy field workers in Kerala now are Bengalis, and they’re singing their customary song. “We’ve forgotten our job, we’ve forgotten our song“, he says (roughly translated). (more…)

  • Freedom

    Daniel Suarez

    If you’ve read Daemon, I suspect it’d be very difficult to not read its sequel. If you haven’t, you know where to start!
    Freedom picks up right where Daemon left off with the kind of intense action that dominated the last portion of the latter. Even as the Daemon systematically tears apart the corporations and financial systems that rule the world, its enemies prepare to launch a counter attack. What makes it all interesting is that the different players in the game have divergent agendas.

    It is also interesting that the book brings to life at least a few concepts that I have read in non-fiction in the context of how unemployment, extreme capitalism and the wealth divide will cause fundamental shifts in civilised society. Neo-feudalism, trust based community networks, and the irrelevancy of state borders are a few examples. In doing that, it also shows the possibility of how new systems could end up just like old systems because the basic human tendencies remain constant.

    The narrative sets a scorching pace, and one is tempted to just zoom forward a few pages just to know how a plot point is going to end. Excellent read!

    P.S. I somehow felt that it was written with a movie or two in mind. Almost like a screenplay.