shit changes you

Over the weekend I went through two types of life changing events. Ok – too much drama. But they were experiences that would allow me to think through on issue sthat could potential change my thinking for a long time to come.

I took a few of my colleagues to design yatra. I am sure I would have blogged about this crazy amazing conference in the past. This is a place where I am a pretender in a place full of crazy designers and artists, I am a stand out stupid guy. I have no talents in this and I hope at best to at least appreciate the fact that there is beauty in what people do and value in art for art sake in whatever we do.

I am in the middle of being wooed by multiple people to join them. And I am thinking, should I leave, should I join something new, should I build on something I already have. Money is important but only so much. After a point its not about money but a chance to create something new and beautiful. Over the last few years I have come to the conclusion that marketing is a wasted field. What the world needs for now is product supremacy. It’s the product that needs to succeed. Product necessarily flow from great design. In our finance world where we don’t sell anything real or tangible (money is such an abstract concept). We need a serious reason for people to love our product. This is where design comes into place.

I have been thinking that wherever I go, as a next jump or wherever, whenever I am able to create my own little ecosystem, it will definitely be a place where I would want to build my team, have freedom to work, interact, get in amazing talent; fire idiots dragging the system and build a good place to work. If take up one more job at one more place, I would be building more of the same shit. New place, same shit, just a little more money. I want a lot more money but a chance to build something of real value.

Where I go they would want me to start asap, start showing results immideiately, and get cracking. Reality – it would take me a year to understand the product / problem and build a team that would then begin to start delivering. Then it would take me another year before we actually start to show results. Everyone wants an overnight sensation, not knowing how long it took to build it. Most overnight sensations are ten years in the making. Ten years.

So the design festival helped me realize and reinforce in my head my ideas of how great companies are actually built. By building great products that people want in the end. Today most of the big success stories that we see, and what most miss is that the products that were delivered were finger licking good. When they diverge from great design, shit creeps in and then all hell breaks loose. It’s funny that my company, group wide, has a marketing review, business reviews etc but no real product review. No really good well designed, lickable product customer interfaces and reviews. My super boss understands money but I am sure, he doesn’t understand what is meant by good looking and great interface products. The question for me is where do I build this expertise as decide my future course of action.

Cut to Mumbai. I fly in from Goa early morning to attend an AGM for Matunga Gymkhana. It was public lynching at its best. We haven’t learnt from history that democracy can give rise to the worst of dictators. Hitler was a democratically elected despot.  In an AGM the person who can shout the loudest and incite crowds can sway the opinion. In a democracy there is the tyranny of the majority which can be used to suppress a saner but quieter opinion. That is exactly what happened. Logic and anything be damned. Louder voices ruled.

I was wondering what happened. I was quiet throughout, unlike my natural self. I only spoke once and I thought I made sense and I spoke for the greater good. People understood and the stupid conversation and fighting stopped on that one point. But then the asst. secretary opened his mouth, once again and then all hell broke loose. Every time he opened his mouth the meeting would extend by another 40 minutes.

But today after good introspection, I realized that even silence has a role. If I had opened my mouth and be drawn into these issues I wouldn’t have been able to see this game. I wouldn’t have been able to see how the few manipulate the large. It is a well thought of strategy relying on rhetoric and oratory. It is mind numbing how the majority are swayed by this. I too have been guilty of this in the past. I have been swayed without the understanding of consequences.

Real life is difficult, complicated and not without consequences. Most of which are unintended. The process of democracy is slow and painful and we must protect it at all costs.

I wanted to resign, I drafted the mail and sent it to my friend. I haven’t yet sent it to the gymkhana. But I think… should I or should I not be the lone voice of sanity and be there and grind it out or should I get out and focus on new things. The learnings are tremendous but I have to hold in my natural instincts and reign in initial response. I would need to be measured and studied. That is the right way to play the game. Let me think.

Who knew that a weekend in variety would prove to be enough food for thought, my friend.

open your mind - there is a fuit inside

The last weekend was spent at one of the best conferences I have ever attended. It was called designyatra and as the name suggests it was a design conference. They had speakers from all over the world explaining their work and their belief. Crazy creative stuff to innovations for rural India. Here is one image of a guy who decided to invent an electricity free fridge. He made it out of clay. Basically an earthen ware fridge where you put the water on the top and then thanks to the porosity quality of the clay the water seems around the entire fridge and then evaporating causing the fridge to cool down by at least (he claims) ten degrees. Not bad for storing food stuff/ fruits etc.

 

We had speakers who went on and on about fonts and types and explained the nuances of each. What a beautiful feeling. The guy explained how he designed the look for the Kate Moss logo which wis essentially just the name written in the right font. Then he explained how he designed the numbers on the back of the Puma jerseys for the African nations in the football World cup. Then we had characters who designed sanitary napkins at really low costs for women in rural India, creative head from Google, some more font guys, creative, designers  etc etc. It was a mind boggling array of speakers.

One wise HR head once told me – I don’t mind sending you guys for any training program. Just being away from office for a couple of days and meeting people of different companies would open your mind. And if the training is actually good then it is an added benefit. He is right. Hence I have never ever said no to a training program. I would love every training program that comes my way. Be it a conference or a classroom session. Go out and open your mind to possibilities. That is the key thing. You meet people you learn stuff, you interact with ideas and you possibly implement a few – who knows what works. It’s always nice to be exposed to various different things. You are only better from the experience.

One of the things I was exposed to this tie around at the conference was – Goan cuisine. Non-vegetarian Goan cuisine. I went there with four colleagues who were hard core non vegetarians. Every meal was like a dead aquarium on the table – Bombay duck, shrimp, prawns etc. add to that there was other sorts of meat on the table. It’s a good thing that over the years I have learnt not be queasy about this. In fact I get curious about it. I ask questions about the meat, how they eat, what are they eating – the tastes, differences etc. over a period of time I have gained enough knowledge about it. In fact a few friends many times wonder about the knowledge I have on the meats they eat. It’s a curious mind that opens it all. I don’t know why people get all touchy about the subject. A lot of my cousins (the older ones) would not want to eat in a non- veg restaurant and would die rather than step inside a KFC. I have been to KFC to eat veg stuff. It’s a little bit ugly for a vegetarian to see people biting into wings and legs but if you don’t go in you will never ever know.

So to compensate for my restricted palate I have developed a strong curiosity for all things vegetarian. I now on my travels always ask for the local veg special and try it out. Anything goes as long as its veg. this time around also I tried all sorts of veg stuff. Its helped me get introduced to new fruits as well. From my travels to Singapore I have been introduced to this lovely fruit – the dragon fruit. It’s an awesome fruit from the cactus family. Its mildly sweet and mostly bland, but really flashy and juicy. There is no real cutting required. You just peel the skin off easily and cut it if you wish or slice it into two with a knife and eat of the contents with a spoon. The seeds are tiny and scattered through the fruit and there is no spitting or removing the seeds before eating. I love the fruit.

We hardly got in India. Recently over the last couple of years we have been getting it at the super markets at reasonable prices. It’s currently at around 25 bucks a piece. Jispa also absolutely loves the fruit. Jasmine took it for her to eat after swimming. Many mothers had never ever seen the fruit, let alone taste it. They were pretty curious. One of them was asking Jasmine if this fruit any special properties, thinking that it was a special thing for Jispa’s diet. I did look it up later to realize that it is being touted as the next great big thing to eat, nutrition wise.

Here is Jispa reaching out for one piece. as you see i get great pleasure form cutting it into thin slices. its even better that way though you dont really need it like that. It is quite easily our favorite fruit. All from having just a little more curious mind than normal. Go out and open your mind – now.