Wednesday, February 02, 2011

The rise of Indian entrepreneurship: An outsider's perspective

Well to begin with, I do not want to be an outsider on this for long. But be that as it may, I am not involved and hence the topic...

I am excited to see that the bumbling energy in India about entrepreneurship is shining bright.  Bright enough to be visible to me sitting in the US. I think if there has to be a healthy way of life in India, it has to come from the society and not the government. Especially when people are so cynical about what the government does. Anyways its beyond the competence of a few minds to think up the growth strategy for the entire country! Lets the collective wisdom do the evolution of thought. The government should just sit back and create an environment where the society is able to do that.

What makes me this excited is that I can see this simple process in action now:

  1. Common people, with all the humility in the word common, face issues in their daily lives.
  2. Common people hence know what problems irk them more
  3. Common people think of solutions 
  4. Common people come up with enterprises to solve the issue
  5. Other common people consume the service and compensate the service/good provider
And hence the circle of an issue and its solution was completed, with no visible sign of a government intervention. No matter how big/small the issue is, someone might want to earn a living out of fixing a problem. A win-win, where someone gets to earn money while reducing one issue in the society and everyone moves ahead!

I have begun to see an entrepreneurship fervor in India, which I see here in the US. Anyone who wants to open a startup/enteprise can work hard and open one! and thats a biig change from the erstwhile India. what is more exciting is the nature of startups. Many of these are about things which at best can be thought of as unusual, at least for India...

Here are 3 such startups I think are interesting. This list is in no way complete or exhaustive.

  1. http://www.tulliho.com : This is an awesome idea for people who wanna get Tulli! (drunk) a yelp-esque website catering to people in Indian cities, helping them find good bars and pubs.
  2. http://saleraja.com : Another site catering to the shopping needs of people, where you can get to know about sales going on in different places. 
  3. http://www.babyoye.com : this site helps you buy stuff for your new kids. Sort of reinventing the buying experience with the web
  4. http://windchimes.co.in : A social media company for Indian companies to use socail media advertising

None of these companies are using the 'outsourcing' model. Its democracy at its best: for the people by the people. They are interesting because what they offer would have been laughed at some years ago. I can just imagine friends, parent just yelling 'are you out of your mind' etc etc..

I guess not anymore :)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

puraani photos

कुछ तो बात है इन पुरानी photos में
की दिल में कहीं एक चोट कर जाती हैं 
किसी गुज़रे हुए ज़माने की कोई बात याद दिला जाती हैं

वक़्त के हाथों जब उनका रंग फीका पड़ जाता है
तो वक़्त के ही बुने हुए sweater में अपने आप सी जाती हैं

कैसा था वो पल जो हमने इस फोटो में कैद कर लिया
एक हसीन वाकया जिसको हमने इतने सालो बाद फिर से जी लिया

गौर से देखें तो सिलवटें भी दिखेंगी उस फोटो पर
जो उसे संभाल के रखने के बाद भी उसपर पड़ गयीं
शायद तबसे आज तक की जी हुई ज़िन्दगी की दूरियां भी उसी तरह बढ़ गयीं

खैर, चलो एक बार औए कोई याद तो संजोये
और कल शायद उसो भी देख के मिल कर हसें, मिल कर रोयें...