How a working professional in her med-twenties continues to remain a 14 year old school girl in social media

November 5, 2014November 5, 20142 Comments

Yesterday (November 4, 2014) as I was going through my LinkedIn page looking for updates from my connections, I came across a post that was liked by one of my connections. It read “Remya Jose a 14 year old girl from India invented this pedal operated washing machine. It requires no electricity and using it also gives you exercise. She won a national award for this.” Without even thinking further, I too pressed the like button (The post had around 1900 likes at that time). But the update did not have any working link to take me to a website/ newspaper article featuring Remya’s story. So I went to Google to look for newspaper coverage of Remya’s innovation. I got a list of links featuring Remya’s story; the one that interested me was Google Book’s link to “India: Land of a Billion Entrepreneurs by Upendra Kachru.’ I checked the details of the book to figure out that the book has been published in 2011. On seeing this publication year I get the natural suspicion that Remya’s story is 3 years old. Or is it just three years old story?

I started reading through the page that featured Remya’s story. Almost the entire page 46 chronicles Remya’s innovation. But one sentence towards the end of the page caught my attention: “Her innovation was featured in Oulook magazine in 2005.” Oh My God! This story is nine years old. Remya, who is by now in her mid-twenties still continues to remain a 14 year old school girl in our social media. I was curious about what happened to Remya and what happened to her innovation. I was also curious to figure out why a story which is probably nine years old is currently making rounds in LinkedIn and other social media sites. As I could not remember seeing any pedal operated washing machines in stores, I decided look on the World Wide Web to figure out what had actually happened.

A little bit of background on Remya and her story: Remya’s family hails from Keezhattur Village in Malappuram district of Kerala, India. In 2002/ 2003 timeframe when Remya was a fourteen year old school student she developed the ‘pedal operated washing machine.’ The tough family circumstances under which Remya designed and developed the pedal operated washing machine (with the help of her father and other well-wishers) is truly inspiring. The benefits of the washing machine are it does not require electricity and cycling would help the person to stay fit. Remya’s innovation was found out by SRISTI (Honey Bee Network), a non-governmental organization set up to strengthen the creativity of grassroots inventors, innovators and ecopreneurs. Eventually through National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Remya’s work got coverage in Outlook magazine, Discovery channel and NDTV. In 2003, with support from NIF, she acquired the national patent for her machine. In 2005 she won the award for the best innovation among 25,000 entries at the NIF’s Third National Grassroots Technological Innovations and Traditional Knowledge competition. The 2005 article in Outlook goes on to state that, “if the washing machine patent is accepted, she hopes she will have enough funds to pursue an electronics engineering degree in a reputed college.”

So far so good. I was still not coming across articles about whether Remya was able to successfully commercialize her innovation. As I kept searching, I ran into a blog post by Rahul Brown on ‘India’s National Innovation Foundation and Honeybee Network’, dated May 23 2008. Rahul Brown states that though NIF helped Remya patent her intellectual property, the redesigned washing machine by NIF went on to cost Rs. 3,000 compared to the original Rs. 1,500 for Remya’s initial design thus making it unattractive against low end electric washing machines available in India at that time. Also NIF’s licensing agreement with Remya introduced another layer of cost into the final price of the washing machine. Rahul goes on to argue that NIF’s processes might in a way be detrimental to the wide spread commercialization of the very grass-root innovations that they are trying to promote. By Rahul’s account, looks like the ‘Pedal Operated Washing Machine’ did not have huge commercial success.

So what happened to the young innovator Remya Jose? Remya eventually went on to be an engineering graduate. An April 16, 2010 article from India Today provides a very grim picture. Quoted from India Today, ‘Though she received much acclaim for her invention, there weren’t many takers for it as it wasn’t considered commercially viable. She has gone to the UAE now with her uncle to look for a job. Showing the bundle of certificates and prizes Jose has won during her student days for various innovations, her father Joseph laments; “What’s the use of all this if she cannot find a decent job in her country?” India needs to answer this disappointed father.’ I felt very sad on reading this: Is this a story of a teenage innovator whose hopes were dashed?

I continued my search on the web to find out what Remya is currently doing. I landed on Remya Jose’s page on INKtalks where she is listed as a fellow and serial innovator (hurray!!!). The page stated that, ‘Remya works at National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad, and is responsible for many other innovations.’ I checked NIF’s site but could not find Remya’s profile as an employee, though I was able to see details of her innovation. I once again started searching on the internet on where Remya is currently working and landed on this LinkedIn profile of Remya Jose. Remya works in UAE as a project coordinator with Petrofac. The profile does not list her roots from Kerala, India (School or College). So, is this Remya Jose of that I was looking for? I could not figure out from the photograph. I am assuming this is our teenage innovator based on these three facts from the LinkedIn profile page: 1. Remya is working in UAE (her father said she went to UAE to look for jobs), 2. Between 2010 and 2012, a stint with National Innovation Foundation (NIF) as research engineer (INKtalks profile stated that she worked with NIF) and 3. Most important of all, a mention about her ‘Washing Cum Exercise Machine’ on the profile page.

I am not sure whether to be happy that Remya is working in a reputed company abroad or be sad about the fact that a young innovator from India who could have gone on to become a successful entrepreneur in India itself, is working in another country. So much has happened in Remya’s life and to her innovation (listen to what she wants to become and what her father wanted to do with the money from commercializing this product) since 2005 when her story stated appearing in Indian media and yet only in November 2014, a lot of Urban Indians (through social media) are feeling happy about a 14 year old girl who invented a pedal operated washing machine and won a national award for it. Incidentally the washing machine on this Facebook page is slightly different from the one featured on NIF Page. And so, the young innovator from Kerala who is currently working as Project Coordinator in UAE still continues to remain (in our social media) a 14 year old girl who invented this pedal operated washing machine.

Why do people send their kids to school? (Part 2)

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014Leave a comment

This is a follow-up post to one of my earlier posts “Why do people send their kids to school? (Part 1).”

Why do people send their kids to school? To me the most important reason why people send their kids to school is to understand the dynamics of the society and learn to survive/ thrive in them. Whether one realizes this fact or not, whether one accepts it or not, schools are the closest possible and the safest simulator of societies available to kids.

One might ask, ‘Wouldn’t a family serve as simulator of the society?’ The answer is no. One’s family might be the biggest influence in his/her life. But it does a poor job of simulating a society. A society consists of vast number of individuals with infinite shades of multiple characteristics interacting billions of times in a day in real time. Most of these interactions happen between people on equal terms and most of the rules of these interactions are set by the interacting people themselves. In a society we are influenced by the actions of people whom we might not even know.

Number of Individuals: A family at best consists of few individuals. In the case of a nuclear family with just one kid, there is no one in the kid’s age group with whom the kid can interact on a day to day basis. Even a decent sized school would have a fair bunch of kids in every age group in the neighborhood of the kid’s age group.

Infinite shades of Characteristics: Most families are homogenous groups (Ethnicity, Language, Religion, Economic Strata, etc.). Most kids for the first time in their lives, would interact with kids from different ethnic and religious background in their schools. If we were to include other intrinsic characteristics like (extroversion vs. introversion, assertiveness vs. timidity, aggression vs. compassion, multiple intelligences, etc.), it’s virtually impossible to meet people across the entire spectrum of these characteristics in one’s own family.

Number of Interactions: With only a few members in the family, the number of interactions will be fairly limited. Add to this the fact that we are dealing only with people with whom we are related or whom we like (at a broad level). But in a society we will have to interact with people whom we like/ don’t like, know/ don’t know, with whom we don’t share the same ideology, with whom we agree on a few things but don’t agree on a lot of issues, our neighbors whom we don’t like, etc. Only a school will provide such a variety of situations and variety of interactions for kid.

Rules of the Transactions/ Interactions: In a family setting except for a few rules all others are pretty much relaxed. But in a society rules are rigid and there are consequences for breaking rules. In school just like in a society every child will have to abide by a broad set of rules set by the school authorities. Similar to the society in schools there are groups of people in charge of enforcing these rules (teachers). In interactions with their own classmates/ friends the rules are set by the interacting kids themselves.

Influence of Others’ Actions: In a society we are often influenced by the consequence of other people’s actions (sometimes we might not even be aware of what those actions are or who that person is). E.g. a few days back just before Diwali when tropical storm was in full swing in Chennai, a group of six boys from my neighborhood ventured into Marina Beach to take bath in the sea. Unfortunately three of them drowned. As a result there is an increased police patrol in the beaches in Chennai and in some cases people are prevented from entering the waters. Most people who head to these beaches would not even know who these boys were, but will face the consequence of the bad judgment of these six boys. In a family setting such kind of anonymity is impossible. We can easily trace back the consequences to actions of individual members in the family. Only schools replicate this aspect of the society very well.

Dynamics of the Society: In a society not everyone is equal; some people are more equal than others. There are some sources of power/ visibility (wealth, connections, knowledge, etc.). Only in schools kids will come to terms with this aspect of the society. In schools certain kids will have higher visibility due to the fact that they are studious, athletic, able win awards for the class/ school, good looking, kids of influential people, know the teacher or the principal at a personal level. The existence of such dynamics in schools might not be desirable but their mere existence ensures that the kids grow up into adults with an understanding of this aspect of the society.

Also in schools kids experience firsthand something similar to social progression: Kids who meet the requirements of the current class (standard) will qualify to move to the next class (standard). In addition they also get to know the concept of people’s representative through the class representatives and school people leader (however the process followed to choose people’s representatives in a real society is completely different).

The reason why we choose a particular school is because we expect the school to train our kids to gain entry into the best colleges and subsequently into best workplaces (A school is the first step in a lengthy ladder that would eventually lead to financial independence). But we completely lose sight of the fact that schools serve as simulators of the society and help to inculcate the habits and skillsets required by kids (to thrive in the society) when they grow up into adults. Put simply the role that schools play in teaching skills related to curricular and co-curricular activities is broadly appreciated, but the role that schools play or should play in teaching life skills is not properly understood (especially by parents) much less appreciated. Understanding this contribution of schools would help the government and school authorities to redesign the school curriculum/ school experience for the better and will help the parents to choose schools that are better suited to teach life skills to their kids.

Mind is like a Parachute

November 3, 2014November 3, 20141 Comment

I did my MBA from Department of Management Studies (DMS), IIT Delhi from 2002 to 2004. It’s been ten years since I graduated from B-School….One whole decade. When I try to remember what I had learned in B-School, a lot which was taught there but was not reinforced at my workplace (through work) have all long been forgotten. I was then trying to recollect what would be the number one quote or comment that I had heard at B-School. I didn’t have to think too long as I quickly recollected the quote given below made by one of our Assistant Professors during our Operations Management Class:

“Mind is like a Parachute. It works only when it is Open”

It is strange that I am recollecting this quote as my number one quote from my B-School days because this saying was ‘ridiculed/ made fun of’ a lot in our hostels in the days following the session in which our Assistant Professor made this comment. Strange life though, what gets ridiculed in one stage of our life gets praised in a subsequent stage. When I read this quote again and again it strikes me that these few words sound simple and generic at first but then it dawns on me that this quote is profound, almost magical. If the wisdom contained in these few words are understood and implemented by every single human being through every one of their actions then this world would be safer and better place.

As I was planning to write this blog, I searched in Google for the origin of this quote. This quote is attributed to Author Anthony J. D’Angelo and is taken from his book The College Blue Book: A Few Thoughts, Reflections & Reminders on How to Get the Most Out of College & Life published by Arkad Press in 1995. There is slight variation of this quote attributed to American musician Frank Zappa:

“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.”

Based on the timeline (Frank Zappa was born in 1940 and died in 1993 whereas Anthnoy J. D’Angelo was a graduate student in the early nineties and published the ‘The College Blue Book’ in 1995), I am assuming that Anthnoy J. D’Angelo was inspired by Frank Zappa’s ‘A mind is like a parachute’ quote and came up with his own modified version of the quote for his book. A collection of Frank Zappa’s quotes can be found at Good Reads. A collection of quotes by Anthnoy J. D’Angelo can be found here.

Note: The photo (by BANZ’ART) for this blog post is used under the creative commons license and was downloaded from Flickr.

The Two Best Insurance Products

November 2, 2014November 2, 2014Leave a comment

The two best insurance products in this world are not sold by insurance companies. No, they are not sold by multinational banks either. The government is in no way related to these insurance products. Some of the best minds in economics or finance have got nothing to do with these insurance products.

These two insurance products give the best possible protection in the long term, not only for ourselves but also for our families. So, where can we buy these insurance products? None of us can buy these insurance products anywhere. But we can invest in them. We can invest in these two insurance products at our very own home.

The Two Best Insurance Products are:

Our own (life-long) education
Our Children with the right outlook towards life and right skillsets required for life

So, how much money do we need to invest in them? When it comes to these two insurance products, the primary investment required is not money but our time and effort. We need to invest our time and effort in our continuing education as well as in bringing up our children the right way. Keep in mind these are not one time investment plans but systematic involvement plans (SIP).

Are you investing enough in these two?

True Alchemist

November 1, 2014November 1, 2014Leave a comment

I came across the following quote given under ‘Inspiration Point’ from the blog ‘A Writer’s Path’ attributed to William H. Gass:

“The True Alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words”

I guess William H. Gates was referring to writers when he made this comment. As I was reflecting on this sentence it struck me that it would have been better had the comment been:

“True Alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world with their words”

And this comment would also be applicable to Writers.

Advice is like Pollution

October 29, 2014October 29, 2014Leave a comment

I just came across a post on the Leadership Freak Blog (by Dan Rockwell) on Advice titled “Seven Ways to Spot Wise Advice You Should Follow”. No offense to Mr. Rockwell, but I think Advice is like Pollution. People are neither interested in accepting Advice nor Pollution from others, but they are always willing to offload them (Advice as well as Pollution) on others with ease. There is a saying in my native language (Tamil) which roughly translates to “No one has ever changed for good by listening to/ implementing others’ advice”. I think that saying is correct. For irreversible and right kind of change to happen, the decision has to come from within and not from outside (in the form advice). What people are in need of is not advice but contextual information based on which they can make their own decision.

Why do people send their kids to school? (Part 1)

October 28, 2014October 28, 20143 Comments

Why do people send their kids to school? That might sound like a stupid question to you. Or you might think that I am not serious when I am posing this question. I am one hundred percent serious about this question. When I look back at my own experience of my school-going days (oops… sorry Professor Daniel Kahneman. Wrong usage). When I recollect memories of my school-going days as well as think about that of millions of other people, the question ‘Why do people send their kids to school?’ keeps popping up in my head again and again. Why do people send their kids to school?

Let’s list down the most important reasons:

To get the kids educated
To teach them discipline
To ensure that the kids go to good universities/ colleges. No, that’s not correct… To ensure that the kids go to one of the best universities/colleges
Parents need someone to take care of their kids in their absence
Parents don’t have the expertise in bringing up their kids. They need help from experts. Schools provide these experts.
Parents don’t have the time or patience to watch their kids the entire day (and day after day)
To ensure that the kids grow up as well rounded individuals

Let’s take a closer look at the above responses.

The first three look pretty straight forward. These three are the ones that every parent would agree in public too. People want their kids to get educated. After all education is the best bet to ensure in social progression. Discipline might sound a little harsh, the better one would be social etiquette. People want schools to teach social etiquette to their kids, at least parents that are not good at social etiquette themselves or parents who are not able to impart them in their kids in their family set-up. To ensure that the kids go the best universities/ colleges…. This too is obvious. The skills that the kids learn at school as a part of their curricular and co-curricular activities would help the kids to clear the screening tests conducted by the best universities and colleges and gain entry into these prestigious institutions.

The next three might not be the ones that parents might agree in public and not even in a one to one confidential conversation. But we can’t brush these aside. With the increase in the number of nuclear families, increasing proportion of families in which both the parents work and families living in cities where they do not have any of their close relatives living, parents definitely need a safe place to leave their kids when they are not in a position to take care of them. Lacking expertise in all matters related to bringing up kids could also be an issue, especially with people who have had their first kid. The emotional tantrums by kids might test the patience of the parents from time to time. Lack of time to take care of the kids could also be a problem in households where both the parents have jobs that themselves demand a lot of their time. The education that kids receive at school, the process of receiving the education and experiences associated with school days definitely help in ensuring that the kids grow up into well rounded individuals.

But according to me the most important reason why people send their kids to school is not given in the list. Chances are that most parents do not think about it when they send their kids to school. I am not sure if the professionals who work in these schools and the authorities who design the curriculum and govern these schools realize the importance of this factor in the life of kids at school. So what is this most important reason for which people send their kids to school? Before getting to it lets revisit the seven reasons once again and deliberate a little bit.

To get the kids educated.

Most people can self-tutor their kids at least till the kids are in 8^th/9^th standard (if the parents themselves are educated). Beyond these classes, it might be difficult for the parents to teach some of subjects especially mathematics and science. Let’s assume for a moment that you have required background and you can teach your kids yourselves without sending them to schools. Will you still send your kids to a school?

To teach them discipline

The family is the biggest influence on a kid and if they are not able to impart social etiquette in their kids, schools will have a tough time too. In any case whatever the school teaches, if the kids don’t get an environment at home to put them into practice, it’s as good as the kids not learning them at all. Assume that your family is better equipped to teach social etiquette to your kids than any school. Will you still send your kids to a school?

To ensure that the kids go to good universities/ colleges. No. That’s not correct… To ensure that the kids go to one of the best universities/colleges.

This is slightly a dicey one. Well, the parents might be able to teach all the subjects taught in school better than schools themselves. But without help from university regulations, home-schooled students might not be able to get into the best universities. Assume that in your country home-schooled kids can take a reputed examination and if they clear this exam, they can apply for the best universities. Will you still send your kids to a school?

Parents need someone to take care of their kids in their absence.

Assume that you live in a joint family or your parents live close by and are willing to take care your kids in your absence. Will you still send your kids to a school?

Parents don’t have the expertise in bringing up their kids. They need help from experts. Schools provide these experts.

Same as ‘point one’ as above. Assume that you do have the expertise. Will you still send your kids to a school?

Parents don’t have the time or patience to watch their kids the entire day (and day after day)

Assume that you have the time and the patience and/or your kids are very well behaved and obedient. Will you still send your kids to a school?

To ensure that the kids grow up as well rounded individuals

Assume that you figure out that sending your kids to school is not the most cost-effective way in ensuring on this one. There are better ways. Will you still send your kids to a school?

The answer to all these question is an emphatic yes as schools provide the one factor that is very essential for a growing kid which you or I cannot provide in our family setting. And that will be the subject for my next blog post.