Sujavna 2:44

It is 1145am on Sunday 28 October 2012.

Do survival instincts in human beings help in them being more innovative or do they make lateral thinking more difficult and far-fetched? Are our brains and cognitive processes wired-up so much that unless we are trained in the art of lateral-thinking, we do not use such faculties even in the worst of emergencies?

The exponents of jugaad innovation would probably argue that the case is otherwise and human beings exposed to a set of challenges will always innovate and come up with the most optimal of solutions, but a cursory glance at the challenges that face us in terms of healthcare, security and economic inclusion tell us another story.

So where does the truth lie? I am most interested in knowing more on how you feel about the questions that I pose today.

Wishing you a great weekend and a great week ahead.

Sujavna 2:43

It is 6am on 26 October 2012

And I apologise for missing out on last Sunday’s post. I was away managing an exhibition of British interior design products and services.

But even as I was caught up with my work, I have been following up on the Indian media’s unrelenting reports of corruption allegations against top politicians as well as the travails of India’s brand-savvy Kingfisher airlines. And I think both provide us with much to introspect. While I am aware that my blogs usually focus on innovation and lateral thinking, I would like to deviate a little bit today.

Take the case of corruption allegations – even as a high-stakes game is being played by all political players, to wash dirty linen in public, I am surprised that none of India’s stalwart leaders even have the basic decency to offer a general apology to the Indian public, for allowing corruption to implode under their watch. Shouldn’t this be the basic starting point for any true political movement in a democracy?

As to the case of Kingfisher Airlines – I hear a lot about the great KF brand and how selling the brand could bring in much-needed cash to the company. It is indeed a shame that brand experts forget basic home-truths about brand values – an important basic truth is that the strength of a brand is in a proposition that customers aspire to derive from it, and the day that aspiration turns insipid, the brand loses its value. And that day for KF came, when its operations became unreliable due to its financial mismanagement! I wonder why simple global laws of bankruptcy are not being applied.

Hope you are having a great week and looking forward to connecting with you again this Sunday.

Sujavna 2:42

It is 11am on 13 October 2012

And another round of festivals are about to begin the next week (the 9-day festival of Navratri and Dasserah as well as Eid) and another round of opportunities for lateral thinking and innovatively-responsible celebrations seems to have been missed. In fact my dear wife remarked the other day that it does not take rocket science to provide contraptions that obviates the need to dig up roads for erecting pandals and decorative light fixtures. She also had a bright spark of an idea that the 9 nights of Navratri could be celebrated keeping in mind nine different segments of a community.

I could see great merit in extrapolating her suggestions to evolve a new concept of the festival itself – that of thanksgiving to (1) security agency personnel, (2) teachers, (3) craftsmen such as masons, carpenters, electricians, tailors, plumbers and garage mechanics, (4) retailers and wholesalers such as grocers, (5) health-workers such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists and paramedics, (6) farmers, hunters and fishermen, (7) media persons such as news reporters, (8) transport agency personnel such as bus drivers and rail motormen, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, cargo handlers, courier agency personnel, and (9) entertainment providers such as musicians, theatre artistes, dancers, story-tellers.

I am sure you may have other wonderful ideas on how to celebrate festivals in an innovatively-responsible and contemporary manner. Please share the same with me.

Wishing you a great week ahead.

Sujavna 2:41

It is 1125am on the 7^th of October 2012.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention (and by extension innovation), but they assume that there is an abundance of patience that accompanies the desire to fulfil the wants. The alternate (and this seems to be the road more often travelled) is the use of brute force.

But, are there other alternates to meet “needs” that go beyond innovation or war? How far have we innovated to reduce or even remove “needs”? Certainly religion and spiritualism seem to have lost their USP to most of us as options that can liberate us from the endless quest for self-gratification. This is in no way an acknowledgement that consumerism and materialism have won. In fact they seem to have reached a stage where their most ardent fans (the big businesses and capitalism as we know today) are struggling to chart pathways that can sustain their success. The universal laws of entropy (read: there is no free lunch!) have started extracting their pound of flesh.

Perhaps we are all at a cusp in our evolution, with a need to innovate on our metaphysical understanding of our existential relationship with this planet and this universe. There may be a need to develop new philosophical institutions that can govern and guide us to survive beyond what our current understanding portends!

Have a great weekend.