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.
