India's Energy Plans - or the lack of it!

Anything tangible or intangible, that costs money is evaluated very carefully and used equally carefully in India. This means expenses are controlled and kept as low as possible. The scenario in energy consumption in India is no different. It is not surprising that the per capita energy consumption figures are very low inspite of high rate of development now taking place.

Conventional sources are depleting, and even those coal based projects that are located at pit-mouth (for instance, in Jharkhand, WB) have only paltry stocks as fuel reserve. The solution is either to import coal and gas, or look towards other non-conventional sources.

India is blessed with an abundance of sunlight, water and biomass. What vigorous efforts during the past two decades have done is that people in all walks of life are more aware of the benefits of renewable energy, especially decentralized energy where required in villages and in urban or semi-urban centers. India has the world's largest programme for renewable energy as well.

However, a critical issue is that most of the capital allocated to such initiatives does not reach the intended target. A major share of this capital is consumed trying to make policies and trying to figure out what should be done. Policymakers' lack of clarity and gap between state and centre leads to unwarranted delay too.

What is required is a "learn as you go" approach, thereby reducing time-to-market, and inculcate a sense of continuity for the plans.

Startups - and money!

Raising money is the second hardest part of starting a startup. The hardest part is making something people want: most startups that die, die because they didn't do that. But the second biggest cause of death is probably the difficulty of raising money. Fundraising is brutal.

One reason it's so brutal is simply the brutality of markets. People who've spent most of their lives in schools or big companies may not have been exposed to that. Professors and bosses usually feel some sense of responsibility toward you; if you make a valiant effort and fail, they'll cut you a break. Markets are less forgiving. Customers don't care how hard you worked, only whether you solved their problems.

Investors evaluate startups the way customers evaluate products, not the way bosses evaluate employees. If you're making a valiant effort and failing, maybe they'll invest in your next startup, but not this one.

But raising money from investors is harder than selling to customers, because there are so few of them.

When investors can't make up their minds, they sometimes describe it as if it were a property of the startup. "You're too early for us," they sometimes say. But which of them, if they were taken back in a time machine to the hour Google was founded, wouldn't offer to invest at any valuation the founders chose? An hour old is not too early if it's the right startup. What "you're too early" really means is "we can't figure out yet whether you'll succeed."


Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone

True story, huh!

Jesus waited THREE days to come back to life. It was perfect! If he had only waited ONE day, a lot of people wouldn't have even heard he died. They'd be all, "Hey Jesus, what up?" and Jesus would probably be like, "What up? I DIED yesterday!" and they'd be all, "Uhh, you look pretty alive to me, dude..." and then Jesus would have to explain how he was resurrected, and how it was a miracle, and the dude'd be like "Uhh okay, whatever you say, bro..." And he's not gonna come back on a SATURDAY. Everybody's busy, doing chores, workin' the loom, trimmin' the beard, NO. He waited the perfect number of days, THREE. Plus it's SUNDAY, so everyone's in church already, and they're all in there like "Oh no, Jesus is DEAD", and then BAM! He bursts in the back door, runnin' up the aisle, everyone's totally psyched, and FYI, that's when he invented the high five. That's why we wait three days to call a woman, because that's how long Jesus wants us to wait.... True story - Barney

"As we mature, the relationship matures with us?"
That's just something my friend read in psychology today.
Alright, she read it in Cosmo.
Alright, I read it in Cosmo.
Alright, it was CosmoGirl!

There are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to really know it is a mistake is to make that mistake and look back and say, "Yup, that was a mistake". So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you'll go your whole life not really know if something is a mistake or not. Does any of this make any sense? Did I make a mistake?

"Roughly speaking, there are three times when a cyclist in mountains should drink: when he is thirsty, when he isn't thirsty, and in between."

Too many things..

I am feeling mostly better now - still sore, but much of focus has moved to my head - something I am at least used to. I am unfortunately, also rather cranky - both because of the headache and because this whole episode has put me behind where I wanted to be right now.

Have you ever had too much on your mind, or does that just happen to people who can admit to over thinking? I have SO many things swirling around in my brain lately that I cannot even focus on one simple blog post. I can barely even manage conversation which is very strange.

My first thought is around why I am "killing time" instead of doing something constructive. Yes, I keep busy with one thing or the other, but there hardly is any value addition - it's plain vanilla trivial stuff.

Second thought is around what all needs to be done in next two weeks - it's crucial because biking trip will overlap with other commitments, and I need to prioritize.

Third is argumentative – friends or extended family – which one comes first?

Fourth – a subset of third – with friends, how do you manage expectations? More importantly, transformation of good to great, or good to worse, depending on how external factors & personnel play their part.

Fifth one is around keeping personal and professional life separate!

Sixth thought my mind keeps boggling over is how to stay satisfied – and does it make sense to stay satisfied? Because if one does, there is no motive to improvise. If one doesn’t, it leads to expectations, which may or may not be logical.

Seventh, how much should one multi-task?

Eighth, related to seventh, is whether it makes sense to be a jack of all trades, or master of one?

Ninth, is whether being polite is also a matter of concern – last night, I had a fight with someone while parking my car, and the other person starting fighting saying “Don’t try to be sweet with me!” Duh! – did he want me to be brash instead of polite?

Tenth, I am feeling hungry now, though I don’t feel like eating anything alone.

And I won't go past 10 because if you have not already stopped reading you will soon. But my brain has never been so burdened with things I cannot solve with just making a list or drinking some beer.

Primary activity, trying to figure out “beck & call” issues, what to say to whom at what point of time, practicing for biking trip, things to file, filing returns, keeping the house clean, planned meet for friends sometime soon, insurance of my car which expired last month, career aspirations & putting them in place, books to read, meetings scheduled for the week..

Sometimes I briefly wonder if anyone realizes how difficult it is to organize this mess I have willingly gotten myself into and how much I appreciate having information early enough to help me figure it all out. I mean we are talking about a serious "spreadsheet situation".

dressed to kill?

Strange is the phrase "kill time" - how can you kill time? Is it same as the way you would make time, save time, lose time, use time, spend time, waste time, consume time?

One of the earliest references I got for the phrase dates back to 19th century, when the playwright Dion Boucicault wrote in 1841, "Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them."

Kill time, but you won't get a sentence! (Pun intended)

"There are times when the one thing you want the most is the only one you can't get. That's destiny for you, my dear friend."

another rant

...why is it that it ends up being complicated, when it's just starting to get simple, yet again.