@rgumental @dvisor

So we were at this island two weeks before the 'Rinjani' explosion & Chotta Rajan's arrest here made news. Uluwatu - One of the best Views in Bali       Indonesian Rupiah or IDR is one of the most depreciated currencies that I've come across. People discount the last three zeros in the currency :) .. Despite not being a net exporter of fuel, Indonesia seems to have kept the fuel rates at very low levels ( Actually comparable to middle east levels ) , thereby resulting in huge pressure on currency . Most of the fuel consumed here apparently comes from Brunei. Rice cultivation / Rice Garden     On the demand side, the tourism industry is booming.  The Island seems to have emerged from the downturn that came along with the bomb blasts of 2005. Even though the currency is very weak, nothing from food to souvenirs is cheap for tourists. Essentially, as the demand is there, the prices are also marked-up  . Government seems to be investing w...

Seldom has people's ignorance surprised me so much than last month when this entire episode of Digital India & Internet.org played out in the mainstream & social media   .  Regardless of whether or not you are supporting digital India , its absolutely ridiculous to even think that changing your profile pic will "register you as a supporter" of internet.org  .  Facebook or any other corporation does not work on any form of democratic decision making in such initiatives ( and they should never )  .  So, whether you change your profile pic or not has got nothing to do with internet.org It also made me think about a point that I emphasized in my last post on this subject  .  People tend to be taken in when you put a liberal dose of words like 'liberal' , 'neutral' , 'equal' , 'democratic'  - so on and so forth. The central point in trying to understand this entire proposition is accepting the fact the internet connectivity that you...

Hanseatic city of Hamburg, as they address themselves is quite interesting. The word Hanseatic comes from the German word Hanse / Hansa signifying the league of cities or merchant association formed to align the policies to maritime trade. If the Southern German cities like Stuttgart & Munich are known for their automobile expertise, Hamburg is about shipping & transportation. A huge container port with a beautiful harbour, Hamburg embodies the shipping culture into itself.  The maritime museum dedicated to various aspects of shipping from history to engineering ,  the infamous Reeperbahn ( Hamburg's red-light district ) ,  Hafencity - A modern city formed out of old harbor area & reclaimed land,   a la-Venetian style canal system ,  the city is quite engaging in itself.   The star-attraction in this city was undoubtedly a place called 'Miniature Wunderland' . See the pics & Video .. This is a place where you should take your kid...

Berlin lives & breathes history. No other city in the world would have gone through these many transitions in the last 100 years. From the rule of Kaiser William II, Weimar Republic, Nazi rule , war destruction, cold-war divide, re-unification, I wonder what all a 100 year old Berliner would have gone through. A 5 KM radius from Brandenburg Gate bears a number of sights relating to these times and much earlier as well. The most remarkable thing about Germany that I've felt is the openness to admit mistakes. That is in-built into their culture. And Berlin has beautifully combined this openness & its apology to humanity with symbolism so that it is ingrained in every child who grows up in this city. Every historical memorial has an interesting twist or the other. Holocaust Memorial - Berlin Perhaps the most poignant one is the holocaust memorial next to Brandenburg gate.  Built at a staggering cost of about 25 Million Euros by Peter Eisenman , anyone's first reac...

"None of us remember how or when we reached back. But all of us reached back hostel at some point in time"     - Overheard from a group of students who were discussing about last night's party. That signifies Prague for the youth .  Perhaps one of the cheapest partying capitals of the world. Prague @ Night The first impression that you get once you land in Prague is just like any other modern European city - impressive duty free shops, modern cars, you would find it difficult to spot any of those remnants of socialism or communism.  City is very well connected by a tram, metro & bus service . Astronomical Clock What Not To Do in Prague We took an unplanned cruise through river Vltava which flows through the Czech capital. Perhaps, I'm drawn a lot more into these cruises after the magnificent Bosphorous cruise in Istanbul  . Prague has nothing much to offer in this cruise other than Czech Music & good food - and perhaps a few ...

John Nash died last week. Someone asked me about the significance of his work and the so-called Nash Equilibrium & Game Theory which won him the Nobel Prize. It made me think a while.  Lot of economic theories are just theories with very little practical applications. Is this game theory like that ?  Much of the geo-political situations , competitive decisions in many industries can be modeled by applying game theory principles. If you model the problem correctly, this can give you pretty good insights into your competitor's strategy & give a lot of structure & logic to your decision making . I could think of no better example than the looming possibility of Greek default & subsequent exit that media has labelled as the Grexit question But before that, how do you translate / model a problem into a Game Theory situation where we can apply the Nash Equilibrium principles . I stumbled upon a structured approach  illustrated very well here   ...

 I'm a great fan of Carrefour Loyalty programs scheme here in UAE. I think Indian retailers ought to learn a thing or two from the way they have designed it, purely from a perspective of maximizing long term profit .. I haven't seen anything close-by to the way this operates - may be its there in the developed markets of West. Carrefour operates this loyalty points scheme - for every purchase, you accumulate varying number of points depending on the items that you buy. Once you reach 500 points, you get a 50 AED voucher.  There are two kinds of underlying point boosting schemes -  on certain days there are things like extra points / double points thats available to anyone who buys certain products  . These are presumably linked to Inventory clearing items.  So, sometimes, you get extra points for buying washing liquid , sometimes for biscuits etc.  Why I feel this is linked to inventory clearing  -  These items are usually set at the start of t...

The chorus of 'open' , 'neutral' and 'free'  tend to capture the imagination of social media quite quickly. Back during my school and college days, there was this enormous campaign for 'free software' , without realizing what was 'free' in that context. Likewise , over the last month, the Net-Neutrality campaign has caught up the attention everyone . Much of this is misunderstood  & misinterpreted by the media. The basic underlying question in this whole debate is - 'Can an internet service provider prioritize / de-prioritize certain content over the rest' ?  It is not easy to answer that unless you understand the underlying realities & implications. There is this concept called price discrimination in Economics. It is all about pricing different consumers differently for the same service. In airline world, there are a number of different fare classes for the same sector. So, it is quite likely that the passenger sitting ne...

Hardly did the aircraft touchdown, people started standing up and pulling down luggage from the overhead lockers, started ringing up their friends & relatives. ..Wow - I'm finally travelling in a sector just like my hometown Calicut where this happens on a regular basis. Welcome to Africa !!! . Finally I set my foot on the erstwhile dark continent & the  'untapped economic potential' of 21st century. The one hour taxi drive from Airport to Novotel hotel in central Cairo was so convincing that I don't think I'll ever dare to drive a car here . Driving here needs a different set of skills altogether. You zig-zag, you maneuver, yet you maintain the speed . The chaos in Cairo just reminded me of Mumbai. A city with an ever increasing influx of people, Everyone struggling to make ends meet .  The drive next morning to Giza was just like driving through a Mumbai suburb. The imposing pyramids took our breath away. The important thing about Egypt & Cai...

“You can get a car of any make done here. Half of the city drives a BMW”  - remarked our guide Ahmed, as he wriggled us through the narrow lanes outside Alexandria railway station. It was an exaggeration.. However, for those who wonder where the second-hand / third-hand vehicles of the developed world end-up, the answer is Africa.  An average car-workshop guy here should be much more skilled than a car-mechanic in the West. Here to succeed he needs to mix and match. Body of a Benz, engine of a Chevy, I guess you can find any combination here. We reached Alexandria after a three-hour train ride from Cairo. Though I did harbor expectations of capturing at-least fleeting images of the Nile Delta, those were quashed quickly. The feeling that you get while the train approaches ‘Misr’ station is exactly the same as that of train approaches to Mumbai or Delhi. Cramped & incomplete houses, people struggling to make ends meet, it is as good as any metro city in developing ...