Hacking Life – the India Way is a presentation I made at Microsoft SCS 2012 in NYC in January.  Here’s an introduction by Stuart:

In this presentation Dina makes a nice case viewing “hacking” as a generative construct for thinking, and an organizing principle for life … hacking life and living … rather than it being just about hacking infrastructure to do different things. In other words think about how hacking empowers the user and betters their life, rather than the technical approach or the work around. And this presentation is not about the much-touted concept of Jugaad!

And a video recording of the presentation that I did later, as the slides were just a support for my talk:

3 random gems from my wise maid this morning.:

Gem 1: We were discussing an imminent death in one of the TV soaps. She says:  “People die only when they get a better role & more money. Wish that happened in real life”!  Karma redefined?

Gem 2: [[Warning: this is a graphic one engaging all your senses!]]. She burps really loudly.  Full throated. I say: Try keeping your mouth closed?  She says: “You don’t understand – if you burp with your mouth open and let it out with a large sound, it lightens your stomach and is worth it.  Otherwise why burp?”

Aside: As a child, I remember my Hindi tuition teacher who would burp right after drinking tea my mum served him.  Burping loudly each time.  I once asked him why he did that and he said it is to say “thank you”. Indian culture!

Gem 3: She is making me a nice spicy paste for fish.  We’re chattering away.  She asks me when my “gori” friend (“white” friend) is coming to stay again.  Comments that my “gori” friend would find the masalas too spicy. And then comes up with this gem:  “You know didi, they are so white because they eat so much butter and cheese and not enough spice”

My maid….she keeps me real. And is my number one in-home, real-time, living ethnography project!

Some of her earlier Gems:

On the Walk n Talk Idea Cellular ad: “should be banned!” tells me she has seen people fall off local train while talking on cellphone

Another time, she  asks “are newsreaders on TV more intelligent & better educated than you, didi?” Her logic; they must be because they’re on TV and I am not

Then this one: “pple r saying obama is going to buy India. he’s rich & owns america. what will happen to congress/shiv sena?” 

And this, I will never forget.

And finally, after months of derailment, and a ton of good longitudinal projects, we’re live!  A little history here

And still, it’s Independence Day in India tomorrow. (Today is Pakistan’s Independence Day – reaching out to all those devastated by the Pakistan floods.). Our media is full of the obligatory ‘cliched’ thoughts on freedom – corruption, poor governance, terrorism, naxalism, separatism, communalism, overpopulation, poverty etc et etc – ably supported by commercialization of the weekend, with obese pages of Independence Day retail ads, deals and discounts – each one cashing in on the the ‘liberated consumer’. I’d like to share some interesting reads this Saturday, on the brink of our 64th year of Independence. What I like about this selection of articles is that they are talking about specific notions of freedom – migration and free speech – not very much new content, but nicely written thought and thematic pieces that force me to look outside my urban elitist wired window.

Migration and Freedom:

I began with the Outlook Independence Day issue – The Mobile Republic – which is devoted to the challenges  migrants face, and the  faultlines of migration in India. Underlying this issue is the theme of an unequal India, one that pretends to be inclusive, but the cracks are many. This map reveals how much migration there actually is – making sense of mobility – metadata:

Nandan Nilekani, in his column We, The Innumerable talks of the ‘dual track’ in our development (sometimes I feel we are quite schizophrenic as a country, esp. when I travel to rural areas), and the need for a sense of ‘personhood’:

Nevertheless, growth in India is still, visibly, ‘dual track’, with the rapid transformation of urban India and the income growth of the middle class contrasting sharply with the rural country, where growth still remains an attractive but uncertain promise, and people’s aspirations are often cheek to cheek with their frustrations. Here, among the dust of the village and the faded wheat fields, it is difficult to comprehend the momentum of the Indian city.

The risk of being left behind

In the period when India experienced slow, near-stagnant growth rates, one humorous remark was that in India ‘everything proceeds at the rate of the slowest member’. The challenge today may be the opposite: that India’s breathtaking growth, combined with high rates of inequality, will leave too many behind and make the problem of our ‘slowest members’—lagging sectors and regions—an especially urgent one. In fact, in our rapidly expanding economy, inclusive growth thus becomes an even larger priority—else inequity left unaddressed means that the people left behind find themselves falling further behind every year, as the differences become too significant to overcome.

Neelabh Mishra talks of the Pardesi’s Perils - in this case, its not about migrating abroad but from state to state within the country:

Land sharks, labour contractors, businesses that need labourers in large numbers, politicians—they all feed the middle-class anxiety such a situation creates to make the migrants even more vulnerable. For instance, in Jaipur and Ajmer, a perverse reduction is being deployed: all migrants are Bengali speakers, all Bengali speakers are in fact illegal Bangladeshi Muslims, all crime and terrorist activity is their work. Whipping up communal frenzy in this way makes it easy both to deliver up slum clusters as real estate to builders and constituencies to politicians of a certain hue. Similar processes—not confined to Jaipur or Ajmer, and which other political parties are certainly not above using—create volatile situations exploited to the hilt by the predators who create them.

There is also another kind of faultline, created when powerful migrants arrive to prey upon weaker locals. The tribals of Jharkhand have long resented the Diku, or the outsider, first British, then Bengali, and later Marwari or Bihari, who exploited them. The tribals of Dantewada and Bastar too have similar terms to express their resentment for migrant communities that have long exploited them. Reduced to a minority in their own land, Jharkhand tribals first sought a separate state; now they are entwined in the Maoist insurgency. In Dantewada, many tribals are fighting a near civil war against the State, again under Maoist leadership.

And there are many other articles on migrants and their stories of success and pain as they strive for different dimensions of freedom in the ‘new’.

Free Speech

On, to Livemint Lounge – an issue dedicated to Free Speech. Well done @priyaramani and team – some great articles there. From Sunil Khilnani’s ‘A case for offence’ (he’s the author of The Idea of India):

All beliefs command a certain political respect—they should be heard. But let’s be equally clear that not all beliefs are equal, nor should they all be shown equal respect in intellectual or moral terms. Some beliefs are correct, others are false; some are better, others are worse. To think that the belief that widows should be burned on their husband’s funeral pyres stands on a par with the belief that all young girls should be educated, is morally repulsive and intellectually stupid.

But how are we to find this out, how do we come to evaluations that lead us to reject some beliefs—even if they are embedded in religious world views—and to embrace others? Such matters are not to be found out by consulting holy books or scriptural authorities; nor by polling the offended sentiments of religious believers.

We like to think of ourselves as argumentative, as debaters welcoming of diverse views and energized by confrontation. In reality though, what passes for argument is melodrama: shouting past one another, whether in Parliament and state assemblies, in TV studios, or at a railway counters; or else a timid refusal to really engage at all, a cowardly deference to “sentiment”.

The truth is, we’re not very good at tolerating views that question, mock or subvert our accepted beliefs—especially if we happen to be able to describe these as our religious beliefs. This collective chippiness—which makes us boastful and seeking the approval of others, but unwilling to take their criticism or questioning—is not a conducive psychological precondition in favour of free speech.

Salil Tripathi’s essay – We are not Free – on how our laws are restricting our freedom:

And today, those laws restrict Indian freedoms. Argumentative Indians? Maybe—so long as the argument is about cricket, or cinema, or perhaps mangoes. As the injunction says in an Irani restaurant in Mumbai, discussion about religion and politics is out of bounds. But you can talk about cutting chai and bun muska, while the owner’s father’s portrait looks over you, deciding what you can speak and think.

Technology and Freedom

I’ve yet to see much written about the intersection of technology and freedom. The articles made me reflect upon the special blend of relationship between technology & migrants, and technology & free speech. Both are complex issues – with many dichotomies. On the one hand, access to mobile phones and computers is known to empower the disadvantaged and the poor – however access issues and cost create a digital divide.  In research studies we have conducted among migrant workers and technology, we’ve found that the cell phone is often the new calling card and gives migrants a sense of ‘personhood’ (to steal Mr. Nilekani’s term). It’s also a device that brings the city (work, play, relationships, entertainment, services) to them – equal opportunities??? – that’s perhaps pushing it too far. But ironically, the same cell phone and the internet can become divisive tools – when used to arouse feelings of hatred and to mobilize crowds to violate their fundamental rights as human beings and citizens of India, as the vile MNS does in Bombay.

Then there is the whole issue around free speech and censorship. These two polarizations seem to continually blend into each other, amplifying one another, feeding the divisions. Sometimes I feel, the more we change, the more we remain the same .. or even go a few steps back. Doesn’t really make sense, but it would seem that the more we (people) speak and voice our views enabled by technology, (through mainstream media and social media eg. twitter, facebook, sms, BBM, blogs, flickr, youtube etc.), the more the government feels the need to impose on our freedoms and invade our right to privacy, by censoring us and taking away access. First, Blackberry, next Google, Skype?  One may argue that  there is justification with all the terror attacks and threats. Still, these bans only  feed back into us shouting even louder, more viciously and manipulatively and sometimes unreasonably.

None of this is freedom for anyone really.

And it’s not just the government that we incite and who incites us – caste groups, fanatical religious groups, political parties, big corporations and interest lobbies who often hide behind the face of the government, and even just ordinary people like you and me who have different views from ours and feel they have the right to say just about anything to anybody.

So we shout. They try to stifle our voice. We use our social networks and communities to amplify and spread our voice, and our opinions. We shout louder and more viciously for our freedoms, and find ways of attacking back and circumventing bans. One such case was when the Government tried to ban blogs – prompted by some misguided sense of nationalism -inept censorship at its best!  And a few times I’ve been on the other side where I’ve been forced to close or delete comments, invoking my own powers of censorship over my blog.

Sanjukta Sharma writes so aptly, in her introduction to the free speech series:

We celebrate the old and new kinds of free speech in this special issue. It’s a freedom, the lack of which we remember every other day. Our right to freedom of expression in the Constitution has “reasonable restrictions”—the “reasonable” often bordering on the bizarre. Hurt sentiments over calling Billu a barber; outrage over the biography of a national hero; violent attacks on those who commemorate the spirit of a certain fun-loving St Valentine with sweet nothings and oblong-shaped balloons—something irks somebody all the time. If you laugh at Indianness, you are booed. If you have a mind, you are stupid and deserve to be called names.

The free speech issue, not surprisingly, became less about freedom and more about censorship and restriction—in art, movies, erotica and the public sphere.

The question then is, who is really free in all this? Is it possible that the louder we all shout, we stop listening to each other? And when we stop listening, we cannot understand or empathize with the underlying issues and signals beyond all the noise – real issues faced by those who censor and are being censored.

And when we stop listening, we live with fear. Look at the mess the USA is in today – fear seems to have been one of the key operating themes driving many of their decisions in the last decade.

If fear frames our next decade, we will never really be free.

Image from: Wikipedia. Kairos as portrayed in a 16th century fresco by Francesco Salviati

“Chronos is clocks, deadlines, watches, calendars, agendas, planners, schedules, beepers.  Chronos is time at her worst. Chronos keeps track. …Chronos is the world’s time. Kairos is transcendence, infinity, reverence, joy, passion, love, the Sacred. Kairos is intimacy with the Real. Kairos is time at her best. …Kairos is Spirit’s time. We exist in chronos. We long for kairos. That’s our duality. Chronos requires speed so that it won’t be wasted. Kairos requires space so that it might be savored. We do in chronos. In kairos we’re allowed to be … It takes only a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

I couldn’t help taking these pictures off television today. And turned off TV entirely. Which I should have done a week ago, with all the rehashing of events on 26/11 last year. Just because you have so much footage during the terror attacks, does it mean it is revamped and repackaged into more and more noise (don’t forget the background dhadam dhadam music!)?

I have two three fundamental issues with all this sensationalism. One – that this sort of ongoing TV coverage is what terrorists actually desire and live and die for. While we mourn, they celebrate. Two – it’s just more noise and talk and outrage and anger and glorify heroes – how does all this Prime-time coverage actually help families of innocent victims, and all of us too, as a nation? Three (added as an update) – don’t fool us with all your citizen journalism sort of stories to round up people for your ad campaigns (Idea), media campaigns (Join Hands, lets meet here to show our solidarity etc) to showcase you care – the war here being who rounds up the most people, tweets, phone calls, and who gets the highest TRPs etc.

It’s also what prompted me to refuse all TV interviews around how social media helped da da da. I told them yes do stories by all means on how social media can provide something useful during disasters of all kinds, but why specifically today or this week?

I hope you see what I see from these screenshots of  slogans and headlines which say things like – ‘Lets Remember’, ‘Never Forgive, Never Forget’, ‘Lest we Forget’.  I grabbed them off TV channels CNN-IBN, Times Now, NDTV 24/7, Headlines Today, India TV, etc …etc etc etc.

Of course we remember, of course we haven’t forgotten, of course we can’t forgive. What are we doing about it all?  Sadly, none of the channels provide us with any clues to the answer.

Young minds through the lens of young eyes.

The day after coming back from TEDIndia I was catapulted back into work – preparing for a big presentation-workshop today, which was good. This was in Gurgaon, and I spent the evening in Delhi with my sister and her young 6 year old Zai, who is totally fascinated with my iPhone, particularly the camera and the way photos are displayed. I was desperately trying to finish off my presentation, my sis wasn’t home, and feeling guilty about not spending time with him. So I gave him his own little ethnographic research project to do – to photograph things around the house that he loves, and those that aren’t his favourites. And asked for an explanation for each. Here’s what he came back with , in just 10 minutes, sure of some items, but with questions about how to slot some others! (Many pictures are blurred but they tell his story).

Amazing what a phone-camera in the hands of a six-year old can reveal about how a child frames his world. I’m glad it’s not all black-and-white!

His favourites:

The door handle – which he explained as being a favourite because when he turns it, he can go into the garden to play

The brand new wallet he got for his birthday last month.

His crayons and here’s his favourite painting – there are many many all over the house, but he likes this one in particular

His Bike -he loves going fast on it every evening around his neighbourhood

Himself! – he says he is a nice boy who doesn’t fight with other kids in school. And everybody (waving his hands wide open) loves him

His Globe – he likes spinning it fast and watching how the world whizzes around

The guitar his dad made – he is learning to play

His Sports Day notice from the school – he loves his school and running races, he says.

His maid, Rajni didi – who is really his playmate and favourite punching bag (he’s hers too!)

Me – because I’m his Dina Maasi (aunt) but he wished I wasn’t working

What he doesn’t like:

Pile of Newspapers – his explanation is that he doesn’t like to read. Would much rather draw or paint.

Ashtray with a stub – when I asked him to explain this, he says much like a grown-up, “obviously Dina Maasi – this is bad!”

The Inverter that kicks into action when electricity fails. He says it’s too noisy.

Those that he isn’t sure about, or is torn about:

Scissors – he uses them a lot for all his art and craft work and at that level loves them, but knows they can be dangerous

Boomerang – again, loves playing with it, but knows if he misfires, he or someone else could get hurt!

Croc – he likes it during the day, but at night, it scares him

Actually, my super lazy blogpost post TEDIndia. It was an absolutely fantastic experience and the best part was meeting such a great group of people. I feel incredibly fortunate, and humbled to have been a TEDIndia Fellow.

I’ll be blogging more thoughts and pictures in the next few days, but for now, here’s a compilation of my Tweets (for me, my notes and apologies for typos & grammatical errors) as I was live-tweeting some of the sessions.  Read them, bottom-up!

DAY 3:

well done #tedindia blog and social media team! “TEDTalks will be available starting mid-november” http://is.gd/4PIaR
oddly enuff, many of the BIG names were in the latter group – disappointing. #tedfellows pre-conference truly gr8. will blog later #tedindia
talks i loved – those that came thru w raw honesty. disappointed when projects pitched w’out extracting big pic & some ‘same old’ #tedindia
overall thoughts on #tedindia – transformational for some, inspiring to others. for me utterly humbling & I made many super new friends
feels strange being back after #tedindia and having to shift modes so rapidly. working on a research presentation & off to delhi for monday
oieee TED is almost over … a bunch of us are leaving on the 1 pm bus for bangalore. so pack-up time real soon #tedindia
india is a nationalism of an idea that has emerged long ago – consensus in diversity is how we move into 21st C #tedindia @shashitharoor
Tharoor – the story also rests on political will – secular india & how we’ve embraced religions of the world. a (ra-ra moment) #tedindia
the country that tells the better story wins! (i so agree – and our stories are also in our pop culture). #tedindia @shashitharoor
afghanistan – most popular TV serial – Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi – eg. of soft power. lots of popculture egs. @shashitharoor #tedindia
.@shashitharoor tells stories interestingly. empowerment of the poor is the real achievement of communications #tedindia
thanks for all the shout-outs for my tweeting from #tedindia
the cell phone 15 mn/month story – what did we have to do to get there.!! talks of growing up w’out one. #tedindia @shashitharoor
soft power emerges partly because of govt but partly despite it #tedindia @shashitharoor sez
talking of india’s potential in the 21st century – the Future Beckons – soft power #tedindia
lakshmi also sez @shashitharoor singlehandedly made twitter popular in india. ???. #tedindia
Lakshmi apologizes to tweeters following @shashitharoor for late start #tedindia
A. Balasubramanium – artist, sculptor, painter, printmaker on stage – work here – http://is.gd/4PmVM & http://is.gd/4PmZL #tedindia
lol sivamani doesn’t spare a suitcase – he’s making it sing! wonder if brand managers r watching – sponsorship opps galore :):) #tedindia
he’s using everyday items – pans, empty 10 litre water bottle etc. sheer genius – Sivamani #tedindia
sivamani is awesome! hope all u tweeters r watching the livestream. @shashitharoor will be on later. http://ted.indiatimes.com/ #tedindia
the irony is that so many years of denying being a girl has led us here!! eve ensler #tedindia
being a girl is so powerful that we’ve had to train everyone not to be a girl. Eve Ensler #TEDIndia
Eve Ensler – playwright and activist – best known for The Vagina Monologues is on!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Ensler #tedindia
Matthew Spacie – talking of rugby being an institutionalized safety valve. And Play as a way to learn. Sport teaches u abt life! #TEDIndia
Matthew Spacie – a #TEDFellow – Magic Bus – http://www.magicbusindia.org/
Riverside school url http://www.schoolriverside.com/.
if the city gives to the children, in the future, children will give back to the city #tedindia
in Ahmedabad – how did the city respond to the school? every other month – biggest street closes down & infected by kids playing #tedindia
kid said – teacher told me “i can do it” – but parents said what abt grades?? kids actually did v v well in math eng and science! #tedindia
Kiran Sethi – aware (see the change), enable (being changed), empower (leading change) = “i can” – infect children with this bug #tedindia
Kiran Bir Sethi Riverside School. Contagious is a good word – laughter, passion, inspiration – infected by “i can” bug! #tedindia
Aravind Eye Care – Fastcompany article here – http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/43/drv.html #tedindia
disappointed w session – where’s the new way of learning in all this? eg. ask questions faster, stories, dialogue, real-time etc?. #tedindia
“eye care with the efficiency of macdonalds” – deliver eye care like a burger??? heh! Aravind Eye Clinic – #TEDIndia
CK Prahalad is talking of mobile revolution now!. Didn’t say too much we haven’t seen. Wish he had focussed on stories of change #tedindia
Interview w CK Prahalad on how bottom of the pyramid strategies are paying off. mobile phones as an eg. #tedindia . Link -http://is.gd/4PjBV
CK – 4. multilevel dialogue. 5. Knowledge creation. all thru access to connectivity, information, analytics, dialogue, assessment #tedindia
CK – how to democratize learning? a. eliminate info asymmetries, b. give access to analytics, c. make access affordable & avail, #tedindia
CK – for the first time in history, everyone has access (cell phones eg.) leads to democratized learning. #tedindia
CK – instead of having an institutions view of citizens have a citizens view of institutions – facilitated by tech and internet. #tedindia
CK – how do we change – break down hierarchical power structure becos pple hc access to information and can challenge each other #tedindia
CK – why do gr8 companies lose leadership – becoz cant excape the past or create the future. mistake momentum for leadership #tedindia
multiple discontinuities challenge mental models – learning is abt selectively forgetting the past & refuelling for the future. #tedindia
CK Prahalad – discontinuities egs. eg. suddenly deal w 5 bn pple on less than 2 USD a day OR 400 mn connected by mobile phones #tedindia
CK Prahalad – success has its own learning disabilities built into it . Discontinuities disrupt the process! #TEDIndia
social determinants to learning impt. learning must lead to change. information –>inference (educ + socialization –> Action #TEDIndia
CK Prahalad on!!! #tedindia I want to separate teaching fm learning. learning does not take place in isolation – we’re part of a social grp
Sashwati – “if we can’t reach them, we can’t teach them” – mobile & wireless tech will bridge the gap. with engaging content. #tedindia
looking forward to C.K. Prahalad’s talk. Galli Galli Sim Sim – Shashwati Banerjee of Sesame Street Workshop on now. #TEDIndia #TEDFellows
wow #TEDFellows get a Nokia E71 and a 1500 USD cash card among other things! pays for my new macbook :):) #tedindia

DAY 2

Hehe. The bollywood party continues in the bus back. #tedindia rocks. http://twitpic.com/oi3wi
song at #TEDindia Grand Party at Lalit Palace Mysore. Bollywood Nite. Jai Ho! http://twitpic.com/ohvo2
Abhay Deol – thinking woman’s eye candy (paraphrased by Shandana). He’s cute. And seems a lil nervous #tedindia
E3it. Engage entertain educate immerse transform. It’s his mantra. Cost him 250 USD. He’s a dude!!! Rocking #tedindia
RT @tedindia: TED’s June Cohen invites you to join the TED Open Translation Project http://bit.ly/2yFqSF #TEDIndia
E3it. Engage entertain educate immerse transform. It’s his mantra. Cost him 250 USD. He’s a dude!!! Rocking @tedindia
Digital Hampi. Travel to hampi. Ramachandra Budihai takes us there on his augmented reality headset! #tedindia
familiar sight at #tedindia queing up for the vest seats in the house http://twitpic.com/ogrr6
Loved Kavita Ramdas. On feminism – there’s no need to lose yr femininity or yr traditions. SHE (woman) rocks & can be on top. #tedindia
Experienced a real TEDmoment in the last session. Magical. Collective. Worth being here even if just for that. Thanks #tedfellows #tedindia
What can civil society do? Accept and embrace victims of human trafficking in our daily lives. And tell 2 friends. #tedindia
Touched by Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala. rebuild faith in victims of human trafficking. 1 person changes life of 3200 people. #tedindia
Rapid transformation impt for rapid diffusion. Esp w mess we r in. Often best solutions cone in v lil time. Agility. Banerjee #tedindia
RT @infosys: Banny Banerjee: reframing insights -> concepts – > prototypes – > new paradigms in design that r solutions to probs. #TEDIndia
The simulcast lounge is cool. V v comfy. Here’s a pic. #tedindia #tedfellows http://twitpic.com/og7l7
For me best part of the last session was Bribe Buster idea. Wish the others had moved to the ideas space more than showcase work. #tedindia
Anil Gupta – scalability must not become the enemy of sustainability. Shows egs of innovations fm grassroots to global #tedindia #tedfellows
Anil Gupta knocks maslow’s hierarchy of needs out of the stadium! Don’t have to go thru levels fr self actualisation.
Anil Gupta -honeybee network. To learn fm & support grassroots innovation. Minds on the margin are not marginal minds.
@shaffimather totally loved the bribe busters thought. Let us know how civil society can help. #tedindia #tedfellows
RT @pkgulati: Shafi at @tedindia – we are insane people and an insane person does not know what’s an impossible task !! #tedindia
New idea. How to fight the demand for a bribe!! Call in the Bribe Busters Dial …… Nice :) Shaffi Mather. #tedindia #tedfellows
Shaffi Mather. Ambulance service. Dial 1298. Similar to 911. Furst on scene on 26/11. Was at Jugaad workshop Y’day. #tedindia #tedfellows
Dr Asher Hassan. Main Bhi Pakistani Hoon. (I too am Pakistan). Sharing stories of normal people thru photos. #tedindia #tedfellows
RT @bcampbelljr: Idea from TEDIndia – write your obituary. If you don’t like the way it reads, change your life – now. #tedindia
Quite inspirational!! Q- one key idea to spread ? Shukla Bose A- educate the teachers!!! #tedindia #tedfellows
Content of education is education. Not necessarily things like toilets. Take one child at a time and unleash her potential. #tedindia
98% of fathers r alcoholic. An ex-maid was of 28 kids selected for Duke’s scholarship. These kids r using facebook!
Showed videos of kids of roadside flower seller talking of hardy boys and ducatis. Kids teach their parents. ICSE curriculum. #tedindia
Dream is to prepare kids to live peacefully in this conflict-ridden global world. English medium. #tedindia #tedfellows
What?? Her research found one out of four teachers in slum schools donot go to school all yr!! Educating poor > a numbers game #tedindia
Shukla bose- 3 schools for poor kids. 26 yrs in corporate world. Quit. 2003 started Parikrama fm kitchen table.
Q fm @tedchris.how do u get yr insights working in villages on ground?? A- test it first & refine. Iterative process.
Need to combine psychology marketing art and the scientific method. On the verge of a new social science – Sendhil
Intentions don’t always translate into actions. Last mile problem shd be talked of as last mile opportunity. #tedindia #tedfellows
Sharing puzzles w us. We hv intuitive ways of dealing w the world. For Last mile problems our mental models may not always work. #tedindia
Sendhil mullainathan on stage. How people make choices and decisions. #tedindia #tedfellows http://twitpic.com/ofray
At the TED x Fellows breakfast. Spreading ideas. #tedindia #tedfellows http://twitpic.com/ofndt
(ed) RT @rmack & @AndreMartin: “A trip into d secret, online ‘cloud’”: where & how yr files r stored online -plain English http://ow.ly/zuwf
Does anyone in the simulcast lounge at #tedindia have an iPhone charger?? It’s a real trek to my room!!He got 3 sets of standing ovations. @tedchris says he’s one of the most outstanding innovators he has ever seen. #TEDindia #tedfellows
Integrating computing with everday objects. How powerful is that!!! Pranav mistry is sheer genius. Wow. #TEDindia #tedfellows
Wow!!!! Took paper. Removed mic from camera. Clipped cam to paper. now plays games using paper as the computer. With info too. #TEDindia
Explored 3D pen and stickynotes. Then reversed this thinking Why not paint real life with digital info??? And WOW!!!! #TEDindia #tedfellows
Pranav Mistry – SixthSense we use objects and gestures as part of everyday life.wHy not mimic in tech?? #tedfellows #tedindia
Modified camera to record his acuity. Dylan is the system being used. Now testing Dylan for autism. Awesome!!! #tedindia #tedfellows
Motion or dynamic info processing the bedrock in recovery. Using Darius his baby as a baby cam!!! #tedindia #tedfellows
Really enjoying being here. Get a bit of “india shining” feel tho. 1st session was v entertaining. 2nd session a bit of same old. #tedindia
Pavan sinha fm MIT tells us that recovery is possible and has treated 200 kids despite extended congenital blindness. #tedindia #tedfellows
Project prakash. Neuroscience. Outreach +treatment + study. Showing kids from blind school on video. #tedindia #tedfellows
For all those who asked. Was in the main auditorium so no tweeting. Only allowed in simulcast lounge and last row. #tedindia #tedfellows
And another pic of the mainstage. #tedindia #tedfellows No video allowed at all. http://twitpic.com/obxvm
The TED stage. Event begins in 10. Nice sarees as a backdrop. Mobiles off soon. http://twitpic.com/obx04
Crazy rush for the best seats for the opening session of the main event. #tedindia #tedfelliws. http://twitpic.com/obvqe
Jugaad flourishes where government fails to provide solutions. Bottom up social arrangement. Scale makes it viable. #tedindia # tedfellow
What??? RT @vishalgondal RT @ppeach: Credit card companies know whether couples will divorce 6 months before they do. #TEDIndia
Calls chit funds stripped down capitalism! Regd industry 3-4k billion dollars. Unregistered 10 to 100 tines that amt. #tedindia #tedfellows
Modit on Chit funds in context of jugaad. Much like the kitty party concept. Lending/saving/ insurance device. #tedindia. #tedfellows
Reuben sez new term for ambulance = death taxi ! #tedindia #tedfellows
Charges approx. 2.5 times normal taxi rates Bigger barrier is cultural, located in association with dead body. Jugaad #tedindia #tedfellows
Context for his business idea. 90% usage of ambulance in india was for dead bodies. #tedindia #tedfellows jugaad panel
Shaffi fm 1298 dial for ambulance. Jugaad. Differential pricing paid &free. depends on type of hospital. Pvt or public #tedindia #tedfellows
For working poor. Rentals play a key role in pricing. Selling impressive homes fr USD 6k to 10 k. Jugaad #tedindia
Housing market in inda. 25 million units of unfulfilled demand. USD 150 billion opportunity in sales. Jugaad
Dhaval fm ashray housing. His company treats land as working capital rather than rely on appreciation. Jugaad.
David Kyle on jugaad panel sez jugaad is inherent in education sector in india. He’s a financer.
Jugaad is a work around the system sez Reuben. Affordability is at the heart of jugaad
Workshhop on jugaad with reuben abraham and others just starting.

DAY 1:

5 Mins into Microsoft surface demo here’s what we see. @amitvarma spilt coke on it. Hehe. #tedindia http://twitpic.com/o8ezk
Watching a demo of Microsoft Surface. 10000 usd. #tedindia #tedfellows http://twitpic.com/o8enq
over and out for now – party time !!!
announcements on now – party at brindavan gardens tonight – gr8 becoz infosys campus does not allow booze!!!!!!!
he’s a great speaker!! whatever brilliant ideas you hear – the opposite also may be true – essence
he should study indian addresses too!!!
final lecture of the day beginning – confounding systems of japanese streets = derek sivers
new opps for collab, multimedia integration, imaginative ways to tell their story – grade 4 using it too!!!
Rob Newberry – students using prezi. http://prezi.com/. So what does web2.0 in classroom mean for the future?
kids r thinking vieually – engaged and tech minded – when u ask for proof of learning – non-linear ways!
Rob Newberry – emerging tech are changing classrooms & students. give it to them, rather than teach, u see learning!
she’s holding a brain in her hand! talking of info processing. starts left goes right forward & backwards
strange twist – cowdung trade led to increasing cattle & degrading forests & elephants (which were in my coffee!!)
growth of trade in cowdung – YES cow dung – it is being sold as get far higher price than chemical fertilizers
Prof. Madhusudan Nature Conversation – nice first slide – “waiter, there’s an elephant in my coffee!”
Bacterial Consortium formed to solve these probs. Cultured at diff salinity levels. Nitrifying BioReactors
Prof Mohan Kandaswamy – traditional systems of aquaculture lots of waste & harmful ammonia – pollution – hi mortality.
eve blossom’s company is lulan artisans http://www.lulan.com/blog/ -
artisans vulnerable to trafficking – at risk. formed social venture to prevent human trafficking & generate eco opps.
talks of human trafficking as a marketplace – and she felt the call to do something after a horrifying experience
Prof Eve Blossom – moved to vietnam as an architect of buildings and left vietnam as an architect for change
Raqs – photo, installations, video – invite viewer to analyse a crime. subodh gupta – celebrates everyday artifacts
interesting set doing art and installations – loved the skeleton of a rickshaw by jitin kallat
Ravin Agarwal 10 indian artists- bharti kher, – bindis, balasubramanium, chitra ganesh – amar chitra katha,
.@thecomicproject tons of references to Jugaad this morning at the Fellows sessions!
the infosys campus is fantastic in a weird sense – architectural kitsch! not sure i love it tho – ot inviting me to explore more!
Ramachandran – Gandhi neurons – there is no independent self that is outside of others – bridging the science-humanities gap!
similarly – with touch – these neurons are based in empathy. but you don’t feel the touch. empathy but not experience
MIRROR neurons – transmitted eg. tool use, fire, shelter, language – this is the basis of culture and civilization.
neurons fire when person performs a specific action. a subset will also fire when u look at someone else performing that action
VS Ramachandran – representation of self and others on the human brain #tedindia @tedfellows . puts electrodes in nerve cells & eavesdrops
Suneeta Reddy – Apollo Hospitals talked of telemedicine – a bit like a pitch – didn’t learn v much
Richard Alderson of Unltd India – DNA of social entrepreneurship made up of Economic, social, political, Spiritual.
First interesting TEDUniv talk – PalletRacks Structures by Freeman Murray
this morning was cool; got to hear what 25 Fellows are doing! will be posting pics I took later.
TED University consists of 4 minute talks – 3 sessions with 6-7 people each. Before the main event tomorrow
Bruno Guissani introduces the first session at TED Unilversity #tedfellows #tedindia Kiran Khalap talking. Are Ideas Good or Bad?
In the bus to #tedindia with #tedfellows. Much bonding happening. @amitvarma is in form! http://twitpic.com/o3l2e

Leon Benjamin argues that command and control organisation is actually killing people, in a post titled “How public companies are killing their own employees”.

“I was working in Bangalore with Tesco a few years ago. I remember having conversations with successful upwardly mobile young Indian technologists about new houses, cars, holidays.  I pointed out that what comes with all this prosperity is the slew of western ailments associated with the export of capitalism’s model of organisation – diabetes, stress, obesity, jealously, distrust, rapacious greed and so on. They just laughed at me. This was published last week:

India outsourcing workers stressed to the limit. From obesity to sleep disorders – a healthcare crisis in the making?”

I’m not surprised they laughed at you, Leon!

In many parts of India, we’re still early on in the ‘capitalism-consumption’ curve  and are at the stage where we’re enjoying the early fruits of capitalism.  From a position of having/owning little, to this desire for more more more, and more.

Perhaps this can be situated in different aspects of our emerging culture of consumption – people have the desire to own items that are badges of success and they find easy availability (many more highly compelling ‘consumer’ touch-points), and easy access (thru credit for instance) to them. It’s difficult for us to think of the possible long-term negative fall-outs as we’re still enjoying the move from not having to having.

I found this really interesting series of relevant posts called “Consumerism in India – a Faustian Bargain” by Professor Z penned in 2006 at his blog, The Curious Stall!!!  I quote here from the Epilogue to the series – it’s a fair warning to us!

An article (login may be required) in today’s New York Times provides the perfect epilogue to the now-concluded five-part series “Consumerism in India: A Faustian Bargain?” (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) In the series, I focused more on the psychological and social consequences of life in a consumer society. I also touched on the impacts on the lives of people implicated in the global chain of production and consumption. What I did not mention were diseases of affluence. Adult onset diabetes, now more widely known as Type 2 diabetes, is a perfect example:

In its hushed but unrelenting manner, Type 2 diabetes is engulfing India, swallowing up the legs and jewels of those comfortable enough to put on weight in a country better known for famine. Here, juxtaposed alongside the stick-thin poverty, the malaria and the AIDS, the number of diabetics now totals around 35 million, and counting.

The future looks only more ominous as India hurtles into the present, modernizing and urbanizing at blinding speed. Even more of its 1.1 billion people seem destined to become heavier and more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, a disease of high blood sugar brought on by obesity, inactivity and genes, often culminating in blindness, amputations and heart failure. In 20 years, projections are that there may be a staggering 75 million Indian diabetics.

I took this picture of Dhanaji Dongre, the farmer we visited during our Nokia Life Tools immersions, on my test N97 (which has a pretty cool camera but a lousy touch-screen esp. when compared to the iPhone). He is taking a picture of the crew on his own little camera phone, who in turn, are taking pictures and videos of him using really hi-tech cameras!! We had professional “filming” on by the Lonely Planet crew during our visits – to the right are Jere Hietala an immensely talented young Finnish photographer, and Brad from Australia, who was directing the film being made. Still, it must be remembered that photography is really a relatively new behaviour in India, encouraged by easy access to cameras on mobile phones!

An interesting juxtaposition of low tech (note the manual plough worked by bullocks too) and hi-tech in several ways – almost as if several eras coexist side-by-side.

Alan gets this super shot:

And it happens again during our Nokia Tej visit to Kolhapur  which I will be writing up shortly – we’re meeting the sales Agent at a small tea shop in the crowded market, and other customers decide we’re interesting enough to capture on their phone cameras!

Another example of this co-existence that struck me on my trip. In the picture below, on the right, you will see traditional accountants sitting on the floor, doing their manual accounting under the blessings of the Gods. It’s a huge open room, and to the left are desks with computers and the manager’s cabin which is equipped with the latest gadgets. This is an old tradition of accounting, and the owner of Arvind Textiles in Icchalkaranji, Kolhapur told Frances Linzee Gordon and me that although most of his systems are now computerized, he would never let go of these employees who have been a part of the family business for many decades, and are like family members. The practice of manual accounting, according to him, will perish only when these people are no more!

Rob Paterson asks “What is the Great Disruption” in response to Thomas Friedman’s editorial.

Let’s today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis and ask a radical question: What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession? What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall – when Mother Nature and the market both said: “No more.”

Tom Friedman’s editorial this weekend may be an historic on. He suggest that the financial crash of 2008 is more than a correction in the market – that it may be the end of the consumer – corporate – market society.

That nature is catching up with our mad idea that we could have infinite growth and that we could find “happiness” in stuff. Most importantly that we could have a business model based on only one thing – shareholder value where all the main costs are externalized to society.

If he is right, then all our business models based on scarcity, centralization and scale are wrong. For they serve only the elite and not the larger pool of people and the planet. This is not a moral issue. Nature does not care about moral issues. But she does punish those that break her laws. If we allow them to persist, they will take us all down.

Although things could get worse, they will get better. They HAVE to. I have faith in human resilience and in our ability to tack and re-tack within the chaotic conditions we are in. In some ways I see all this as a correction in what was an artificial inflated economy fueled by greed. Greed not just among the ‘producers’ but equally among the ‘consumers’ constantly desiring bigger better more.   The networked economy might have shifted some of the power and balance away from the ‘producers’, but it has not made us much happier given the mess we are in today.

Perhaps we need to redefine how we measure success and happiness. It’s a good starting point. We have been taught and have learned to  make a direct correlation between financial success and happiness.  And between financial success and growth. We don’t like to admit this upfront, and we often use “I will have greater options” as the explanation for desiring more money.  I do it too.

This is faulty. My hope is that one of the fall-outs of this terrible crisis is that we learn not to measure success by networth of an individual. We need to stop giving away our own power by deifying those we perceive as successful, because they have x million dollars. Nature has a much more multi-dimensional model of growth, unlike our one-dimensional artificially constructed model of bigger better more.

All this might sound a bit rhetorical, then maybe I am naive. Still, my hope is that after the immediate damage-control, wealth gets more equitably distributed as a result of wresting away the power that we have for so many years imbued in our present construct of financial success, and that we can embrace different ways of growing.

Are we brave enough to learn afresh and make a new pledge?

Interesting thought from Euan and all the folks who’ve left comments at his post. Quoting, almost in full:

One of the challenges for those of us who believe that we are at the beginning of a very significant period of change in how we see ourselves, our societies and our businesses is how to imagine what the future will be like. Having grand schemes and megalomaniac designs seems out of place with something that is in essence personal and intimate.

Part of me believes that we will get somewhere worthwhile if each of us takes the small steps that seem to make sense to us and that in aggregate these small steps will achieve something significant. The other part of me believes that this will confine us to thinking small and achieving less than we could and that without some inspiring, grander and more comprehensive vision we won’t make much difference at all.

This ties in with concerns I have about making things happen in a world where making things happen is associated with old values and ways of thinking. How do you bring about significant change using conversations, influence and sticky ideas rather than command and control and grand plans?

This is something many of us are struggling with especially as we head into an uncertain future.  Many many I know and love are facing real and immediate problems with the recession. I’m more fortunate but I do find I’m having to re-think how to get more clients doing research and ethnographies, as work is slow, for the first time in over 10 years of running my own company.  It’s also making me re-negotiate my next 10 years especially after meeting the most extraordinary folks from all over the world that I met at the Info-Activism camp and I feel such strong tugs to go in that direction.

As with Euan, I’m conflicted about how to go about all of this. I’m a firm believer in small steps but without imagination and intuition, I fear they may just be limited.  Just thinking aloud … can imagination help us frame our grand visions, and perhaps intuition drive us into taking the small steps required to get there? Will each step then provide the momentum for the next one? How does the rational mind cope with these when we are facing the barrel?

Maybe it’s good to just Keep Walking as Manu suggests.  And talking, as I did with an ex-colleague and fellow qualitative researcher just last evening. I feel secure enough to do this within the safety of the several networked communities I live in. As does Ken Camp when he says, in the context of Unified communications:

So which is more powerful?

• A network of some major players representing potentially large single points of failure?
• A mesh of small players all connected and intelligently routing around failures?

For me the answer is crystal clear. The power is in the mesh.

Which ties back beautifully into the thought Euan leaves us with:

How do you bring about significant change using conversations, influence and sticky ideas rather than command and control and grand plans?