I for Innovation, I for India

A few days ago, while chatting with a friend, she told me about an article that she read in a magazine. Till the time that a kid goes to school, s/he is always asking lots of questions about the world. Innocent questions, questions that often force adults to think for an answer. Questions about the world which amazes and stuns the little, curious kid. And then suddenly, the kid goes to school and stops asking the questions. For it is now the teacher who's doing all the asking! And the kid is expected to know the answers, rather than ask questions. And so s/he stops 'bothering' the adults with the questions. Does s/he stop having questions? Does the kid stop observing the amazing world around him? Most definitely not. But somewhere the kid learns - or is made to learn - that his questions are not really appreciated. And gradually, the kid stops having questions altogether! 

A few days ago read this article on Rediff, and that got me thinking. Why does India fall behind on innovation? Why does this nation of one billion plus (and growing!) fall short on ideas? And then while listening to my friend talk about this other article on kids and school, a thought came to my mind. It all starts very early, doesn't it? Very early on in life, at a stage where the child's imagination should develop wings and take off. Instead it is imprisoned in a cage with it's wings clipped. How else do you explain the fact that inspite of the leaps in information technology that India has made, there is little real innovation coming from us? Innovation is like a jigsaw puzzle. You have to figure out where - or what - are the missing pieces before you can put together the puzzle. And that requires constant questioning. What do I see here? How does this work? Why does it work the way it does? And kids often ask the most exciting questions! To their little minds, unbiased by any 'teaching', the world is one fascinating place, to be discovered, and explored and prodded. I remember reading the book The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman. There, Feynman talks about how, as a kid, his father used to take him to outdoor trips and ask him to observe nature. And learn by observing. And on the other hand, how the books in school teach by just stating things, and expecting that kids accept it without questioning! 

Well, let me make it clear, that I'm not writing this to rant about the education system, or teachers. But yes, some things definitely need to be looked at in a new light, if we are to move ahead in this Innovation Age. Indians definitely had the upper hand when it came to the Information Age. But that in itself will not suffice to move ahead. We will need to embrace the Innovation Age, if we are to propel ourselves in the big league, in the New Economy. 

'Tweet'ing News!

After following all the Twitter-related stuff on Techcrunch, I finally took the plunge and signed up for the hugely popular microblogging service. Actually, to call it a 'service' would be a bit wrong! For it's not a service that you'd use, it's actually your life in small, byte-sized chunks! Be it sharing what you're doing right now - dining out at that Italian restaurant, or watching Slumdog bag eight Oscars - or sharing your opinions on the latest music, or just 'tweeting' about nothing in particular, people use Twitter to broadcast to anyone who'd care to follow what's going on in their lives at any given instant of time. I used to wonder why would anyone be interested in what I'm eating, or doing, or watching, but having used the service for just a day or two, I'm hooked! Yes, the service is very addictive, and questions like 'who'd be interested' can only cross the mind of someone who's not 'been-there-done-that' so to say. Within the first few hours of using Twitter, I found myself using the service as a virtual diary of sorts. Yes, a diary to record snippets of your day, week in small chunks. The best part is that I can do it unobtrusively, and the 140-character limitation actually is a blessing in disguise. Often when I sit down to write a post, the so-called 'Writer's Block' takes over, and I don't know what to write and how to write. There're so many thoughts swirling through the mind. No such thing with Twitter. Just a few words, and you're done! Well, I'll stop rambling on about Twitter and what I feel about it. Be sure to check out the site if you haven't yet done so. For those who're active 'Twitter'ers, feel free to write on what you feel about the site in the comments. 

Taking the Bull by the horn(s)

The 'Bull' in question here is the hundreds (if not thousands) that we come across each day on the streets of just about any major city in India - Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi or even Pune or Nagpur. The 'Bull' in question is among the hundreds who charge at whoever - or whatever - in its way as if that 'it' is a matador to be gored with its horn(s). Well, just in case you haven't guessed, I'm talking about one of the hundreds of two/four wheelers, or more appropriately the beast (yes, you read that right - beast) driving them. And the 'horn(s) of the bull are well - the horns. And these bulls just love to use their horns. Even that would be an under-statement. I guess if the government made it mandatory to strip off all horns from all the vehicles on the road, then some of these bulls would even be depressed enough to commit suicide! That is how much they love the horns. Horn OK Please. 

But seriously, I have the vague feeling that many people on the streets of Bangalore (or Mumbai or ...) drive as if they are playing a video-game. That is by honking their horns at whoever is in their way, the person in front of them is just going to vanish into thin air! Poof! Gone... Honnnnkk!! And poof! Another gone! That's how they use the horn, even if they can see that the guy in front of them is blocked by another in front him/her... And he in turn by another... But our video-game character can just make them vanish by blowing his horn! Then there are the people who would be apt to be gunners in the Services. They use their horns in the same way a gunner uses his automatic rifle. Pee-Pee-Pee-Poh-Pee-Pee-Poh... Off they go firing their 60-rounds-a-minute guns - oh, horns. Then there are the ones who sound their horn as if they are a ship navigating through dense fog. The fog-horn is meant to dispel the cars/bikes/people in the vehicle's way, and warn them of the approaching behemoth. And then there are the bulls who use their horns to just show, well, that they have horns! And fancy ones at that! 

The question then is how to take the bull by it's horn(s). The road-traffic is bad enough without having people honking all around. That too when they can see that honking is not going to make things any better. Quite the converse, actually. It just increases road-rage. And then the honking, like a contagious disease spreads to all in the vicinity. And you have one big jamboree going on. Sometimes, I seriously wish the government would just remove all the horn(s) from these bulls on the road. We'd definitely have a quieter life. Or may be not. People would then yell at the top of their lungs the choicest obscenities.