Stop thrashing Mark !!

I write when I am happy and inspired and I write when I am angry and want to express my personal opinion, I am writing this on a sunday morning as all the Mark thrashing going around on social media and news is getting to me and making me truly angry.......

On Dec 1, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he will give away 99% Facebook shares on the birth of his daughter Max, accompanied by a beautiful letter written to his daughter.

What I thought about this ---what a great gesture, I hope more celebrities do more of this to inspire others…..

But I am amazed and shocked by how cynical our society has become. Last few days all I am reading about is

--he is giving shares and not cash, this is a tax saving measure (so what ?!!)

---why is his foundation structured as an LLC and not an NGO

--there is a Zuck Sucks club thrashing him online

---supposedly shareholders are also not happy

----this is a publicity move to distract from the evils of Facebook (really ??)

is this what the world has come to?

Chennai is flooded, Delhites cant hardly breathe due to smog, this morning Pune Newsline had an article about 8500 disabled demanding disability aids (wheelchairs, scooters and others), have not got it for months and given up

Not to mention heart-wrenching poverty staring us in the face every day

So many problems and all we can do is thrash Zuckerberg ??

Separate topic – so many spent hours watching Amir Khan being thrashed a few days back, I can guarantee these very people didn’t watch even 5 min of his beautiful show “Satyamev Jayate” but oh yeah, they found the time to watch him being hounded for hours on national television.

Come on guys, cant we focus on “doing something productive” and not spending hours  “judging”??

Some role models abroad whose work we should follow

·      Warren Buffet has pledged 99% of his wealth

·      Bill Gates has pledged 95% of his wealth

·      Richard Branson has pledged 50%

·      George Soros has given away $11.4 billion

Role models back home whose work we should follow (data as per Hurun report 2014)

·      Azim Premji has donated Rs 12,316 crores (first indian to sign up for the Giving Pledge started by Gates and Buffet)

·      Shiv Nadar, Ashish Dawan, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala, our very own Any Aga at home

My favorite quote was and will always remain Spidys “with great power comes great responsibility”

Sad reality is we know more details and spend more time discussing the multi million dollar destination weddings or the specifics of a billionaires new yatch or jet rather than giving our time and intellect to reading and working on some good causes. I am no saint, I like glamour and the good life but surely we can balance the two a bit more ???

And most certainly we can as a society stop judging people like Mark Zuckerberg who for gods sake are trying to do something good ???

Juvenile Diabetes

We all know that India is the Diabetes capital of the world!

What is sad is to see this disease impact children.

I recently attended a diabetes awareness program in Pune by reputed diabetologist Dr Abhay Mutha. It is one of the largest awareness movements in India and was truly an eye opener for me.Some facts I learned -  Treatment for Type 1 diabetes that can cost 1.5 to 4 lakhs a month (how can a middle class family afford this?) Awareness and detection is very low in a country like india. Type 1 diabetes cause can be genetic or due to environment factors such as viral infection. If a child is not treated well, it can result in a coma. Not to mention the lifestyle issues like the child being denied chocolates and not allowed to play cricket with his friends due to ignorance (beautifully highlighted by a play by Delhi Public School at Dr Mutha’s event). Even these kids can lead a normal and happy life IF this is detected and managed well.

But in a country that spends 4.1% GDP on healthcare compared to 18% in the US and in a country where health insurance is a luxury, it is truly a curse for a low income family to get such an expensive lifestyle disease!

It was wonderful to see a doctor who is one of the busiest and most sought after names in this field, take out the time, supported by his entire family to help needy diabetic patients by providing free treatment and even free education. Every year he conducts a walkathon with over 1000 students and also gives an award to a diabetic child who has achieved something significant inspite of this disease. This year the award was given to Maitree from Ahmedabad who completed her trek to the highest peak in Greece with her sheer will power! Dr Mutha gets sports and bollywood celebrities to attend and encourage the attendees.A very well organized and sincere effort from a man who passionately believes that every one must do their bit to help these children!

If you are a mom like me and want to help these children, do 2 things, contact and contribute to his foundation at dcrfpune.com and next time you feel like indulging your kid by making him eat some junk food or by allowing him to skip his sports class, think of what harm you are doing by giving such bad habits and STOP yourself.

Corporate Approach to Indian Tribal Art

Gond, Madhubani, Chamba Roomal, Pattachitra, Kantha…….art forms I barely knew about…..what states are they from ? what is unique about them? more importantly what are the statistics -  the number of artists,  their financial condition and their marketing reach ? I had several questions…… I looked up google but didn’t find much data, why not? Its Diwali and my home is flooded by beautiful expensive gifts, very few Diwali gifts or decorations have any form of tribal/ indian art, why not?

Till we don’t have a corporate approach to tribal art, we cannot do justice to this important part of our economy and culture.  Think of how a corporate plans a new brand launch, there is 1) buzz and awareness created around it 2) who is the target audience 3) what is the packaging, colors that will sell most 4) business plan supported by adequate market research 5) brainstorming sessions around price points and then the final launch with all the fanfare with the target audience.

This is the kind of organized effort needed for tribal art if we want it to be “scalable and sustainable” part of India, below are some thoughts

1.     Business Development and Marketing to promote exports

a.     Neiman Marcus, Bloomigdales, Saks all have an organized procurement section. Can a central agency connect with these and figure out what are the “handmade” items that can be stocked & sold? Pashmina shawls have done well abroad, what about kantha or madhubani scarves? Kolhapuri chappals with heels that my US cousins buy by the dozen when they visit? Copper/ Tambat water jugs that can be marketed for their medicinal values? Penholders with warli? Lovely wooden candy boxes with hand carving? What are the items we can supply and what are the price points these stores need? 

b.     Many jewellery brands from India have done so well gloabally like my friends who started Isharya (Gauri & Radhika Tandon) and En Inde (Sonal Sood). Very often they are featured in Vogue and Hello in india and also abroad with celebrities wearing their jewellery, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have these celebrities and magazines do a photo shoot with scarves, jackets, home décor items with our Indian art. Can we market and create more buzz globally?

2.     Marketing in India -These artists typically have stalls at government organized trade fairs which are not advertised well, have very low footfall and the few that buy bargain and pay 20- 30% of the original prices quoted by the artists. Aren’t the government funds and efforts better utilized towards creating & funding an online store for this and then promoting and marketing it? There are chains like Good Earth and Either Or (Pune by my friend Ritika Tickoo) doing a great job of promoting these arts, but can we have more such chains and wider range of items?

3.     How are we leveraging Indian tourism and integrating Indian art into the “Incredible India” experience. When I travelled to Jaipur, my hotel store did not do justice to the Rajasthani art forms, I was taken by my taxi driver to a store where I was ripped off as a tourist and realized that I paid 3 times the real price. How can this be promoted and sold in an organized and credible manner to the tourists who are eager to learn more about our culture?

4.     Has a focussed effort been made by the art ngos to tap into the 2% CSR mandate that corporates have? Delhi Crafts Council that my friend Radhika Bharat Ram so passionately works with, has done an incredible job in reviving the Chamba Roomal, how many of us know about this ngo and support it through our 2% CSR?

Finally, I never studied or learned all these art forms in school, cant we teach this to our children?  instil awareness and pride in their hearts about our rich indian heritage? Even if 1% of the youth gets inspired and takes this up as a career option or as a social responsibility, maybe this industry will get the place of pride it truly deserves!!

Avasara Academy

Childhood in New Jersey, under graduation in Yale, masters from London School of Economics, first job at Goldman Sachs, instant success as co – author of BRIC report, Head of Research at Everstone Capital (a reputed Private equity player), member of Prime Ministers advisory committee JNNURM…..a dream resume for a 38 year old, a dream most aspire for but only the rarest of rare achieve !!

So what’s the next step after you have achieved so much at 38…..the next big deal, more media coverage, board seats ??….. for most yes but for Roopa Purushothaman the yardstick of success is different, her dreams unique !

At 38 this incredible young woman has set out to do what most wrote off as too larger than life, too difficult to implement. …..She has dedicated her life to start in Pune a residential school, Avasara Academy for the brightest young women, to give them the best possible education ….to give them an opportunity (meaning of Avasara in Sanskrit) to reach for the stars …..

I am a big fan and supporter of inspiring women, but we must never forget the “wind beneath their wings” their supportive and rock steady husbands. Roopa is married to Joseph, a wonderful human being who is supporting Roopa and Avasara with his hard work, sincerity and valuable domain expertise (he has studied and worked in the field of education with several schools in New York and the American School in Bombay)

Both Roopa & Joseph do not speak Hindi or any local language but they connect with the girls instantly with their sincerity and compassion. I visited Avasara with my husband Vik  & son Vir and we were blown away by what they have started!

1.     Nestled in picturesque and beautiful landscape near Oxford Golf Course, this place has the serenity and peace needed for such a noble venture

2.     123 extraordinary girls with exceptional talent were identified and assessed to finally pick 50 (25 in 7^th grade and 25 in 8^th grade)

3.     Best in class teachers such as Tamara and Stephen Philip, Megan McCrindle with prior experience in world-class educational institutes.

4.     Board of Advisors like Anand Mahindra, Kiran Shaw, Vinita Bali, Kalpana Morparia. Nandan Nilekani.

5.     Internationally recognized Cambridge A level Curriculum. Teaching is through discussion-based courses, guest speakers and mentors. Community service is a big part of their objective.

6.     Special focus on LEI – Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Indian Studies (when we visited they were learning about Satavahana dynasty and expressing their interpretation of it through clay!)

7.     Unique collaboration with Yale University offers a chance to interact with their faculty, alumni and access to cutting edge research

8.     Avasara will help each student identify and gain entrance to leading Indian and international universities. They will provide extensive guidance in navigating the university application process and identifying sources of financial aid and scholarships. After beginning university studies, Avasara career counselors will help its graduates find exciting internship and career opportunities through the Avasara network. They will continue to work well after graduation from Avasara to help their students succeed in academic and career pursuits.

9.     Avasara Young Talent program gives scholarship to girls at risk of dropout from school, Avasara Leadership Fellowship program is an after school program for motivated girls from low-income families. These 2 programs have been running in Mumbai successfully for the past 4 years.

A story that touched my heart is how ALF took the initiative to start a community library in Dharavi (http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/a-library-by-little-leaders/)

Roopa and Josephs faces light up as they talk about their student Mitali who got the opportunity last week to talk along with Frieda Pinto at the Girl Rising event at GW University, hung out with US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and got a tour of the White House !!

In a country that is rampant with malnutrition, female foeticide, and dowry cases, here is a couple that is out to make a difference and empower Indian women.

Hats off to them!

Please visit their academy in Pune and please do follow and support them at

http://avasaraleadershipfellows.org - blog

www.avasara.in - website

like their facebook page – Avasara Academy