Diwali is just weeks away.
Remember lighting up those thousand walas and running away before it resounded in your ears?
The zameen chakkars that rotated as spinning orbs of fire until they slowed into weak flames on the ground.
And the anaars, the cones that spit fire like little exploding volcanoes.
Everyone has their favourite Diwali memories because it is an individual pursuit in India unlike countries abroad.
The fireworks spectacle is standard fare for major events.
But the mood has shifted on the ground. From the rising costs to environmental impact, the industry is fighting to survive
They've tried to rally around by introducing 'less polluting' materials but that drives costs up even further.
For an industry that bets on a single day of celebration, the lights are dimming.
Rammaxx is rethinking fireworks from the ground up. You can set up multiple effects and importantly, make it predictable.
And they can be reused. Because they are sets of programmable LED lights.
No pollution. Only sound and excitement without the risk of fire.
Question is, will they be as much fun? And do you think it's worth the shift?
Thumbs up? Or down?
Here’s the link to Rammaxx
Have you ever thought of yourself as a startup?
It's about building Brand You. And it's a lifelong calling.
You can define who you are in several ways. Your designation. Your expertise. Your ability.
So what does it mean to think like a startup?
First question. What value do you deliver to the world?
It's not what you know. It's what you do.
You may have qualified as an engineer. Or a management graduate.
Startups have a business model. What is yours?
A salary? Fine. That's one place to start.
Does the thought of losing you terrify your manager?
Then you're adding value. If not, you're replaceable.
What knowledge do you have that your colleagues don't?
What are you doing to get better at what you do?
Reading more? Writing more? Networking more?
If you spend all your leisure watching movies, discussing cricket and binge drinking, that's what you'll get better at.
But no one else is going to pay you to do it.
Are you comfortable taking risks?
Do you say you want to do something new but never get around to it?
That's a dead end because you aren't getting better.
Start with something in a small way.
Change your life before you change the world. That's where it begins.
English is spoken by just 5 people in the world
English has an outsize influence in both commerce and learning.
But when you represent it as a percentage of the world's population, only 5 people out of 100 speak the language.
Hindi is spoken by 4. And Bengali by 3.
This is from a project to map the people of the world. Not places.
On a map, you have to scale down any place to navigate or make sense of it. Large cities become dots.
Drill down to the cities and important locations become dots.
Now when you do the same thing on a people scale, unexpected things happen.
Only 40 out of 100 people have an internet connection.
And 7 out of 100 have a college education
What use are these statistics?
Over 25% of the internet is in English.
That's five times the number of people who speak the language.
But Chinese is 19%. And Chinese is spoken by 12% of the world's population.
Pretty good, right?
On the internet, it looks like Chinese users get their due.
The developed world largely transacts in English.
No Indian language features in the top 10.
Hard problems to solve.
But great opportunities. And that's where the future is.
Links to the 100 people project and the statistics about languages on the internet
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