Entrepreneurship is the "in thing" in India

The Entrepreneurial spirit is very high in India these days with tons of very good companies and products coming jostling for attention. Many of the ideas are adaptations / localization of successful ones across other parts of the globe and some are very unique to the unique needs/demographics of the country. Here are a few that I cam across - not necessarily listed in any order of relevance or importance but more for my own future reference.

• Revu - a twitter style instant review from via SMS
• Paytm - instant recharge of your phone, data or tv card and get free coupons
• freecharge.in - instant recharge of your phone, data or tv card and get free coupons
• roopit - localized craigslist / sulekha for Bangalore only
• mobisy - consulting to create apps for mobile platforms
• Kreeo - platform to manage content, knowledge and social networking inside enterprises
• CraftsVilla - online market for Indian handicrafts (on the lines of Etsy except that artisan cannot interact directly?)
• Craftila - another online market for Indian handicrafts (on the lines of Etsy except that artisan cannot interact directly?)
• goibibo - domestic flight, hotel, holiday & travel booking
• kidloo - online toy store carrying all major brands
• firstcry - online store for branded infant and baby products
• timtara - fast growing online store
• buyTHEprice - online electronics store
• pluggd.in - Indian version of TechCrunch?
• flipkart - India's very own version of Amazon?
• mime360 - secure digital media distribution platform
• mYusic - streaming legal bollywood music

Let me know if you see any more sites....

Wearable Computers to have a "Sixth Sense"!

Wearable computers have a Sixth Sense - imagination or reality? Pranav Mistry of MIT Media Lab has created a device to exactly fit this bill!


Pranav Mistry is a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab. He has invented a wearable system made out of off-the-shelf components that augment the way the wearer interacts with his environment. It consists of a web-cam, a small projector with a mirror, a connection to the cell phone (for internet connectivity) and four different colored finger caps for the gestures. He has named it SixthSense. According to him, it costs about $350 to build the hardware. The source code for the software has been put in the open by him releasing it under GPL.

This brings up a few technical questions:

• What is the hardware platform that is doing all the intensive computation?
• What language(s) have been used to create the software platform?
• How about the battery - all the devices require a lot of juice. Is it feasible to get good battery life over extended periods?
• What happens in cases where connectivity to internet is lost?
• Does it have ample local storage & intelligence built in, to work in offline mode and go online only when necessary?
• Does it sync up it's knowledge (stored locally) to & from the base computer?

And a few questions which are not so technical:

• Will this device ever be commercially available since the software has been GPL-ed?
• Will we become so dependant on such devices for our interaction with our immediate environment that we loose our human touch & OUR sixth sense?
• Would he have been able to create something as good had he continued his education in India?
• What else lies in future - will we become Humanoids?

It's very difficult to correctly & satisfactorily answer these questions. But while we ponder on the possible answers, check out this video that demonstrates the Sixth Sense Device at TEDIndia held at Mysore, India in November 2009.

The demo is just awesome - imagine what the final device/system will be when it is fully mature!

Albania wants Mother's remains

In a very strange turn of events, Albania wants India to hand over the remains of Mother Teresa stating that she was born in Skopje which was then a part of Albania. However, it is important to note that she was born to immigrant parents in Skopje which is now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. So there is a bitter dispute going on between Albania and Macedonia as well regarding the citizenship of Mother Teresa.


Mother Teresa once said: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world.". So this three-sided tussle over her remains does not make much sense - she should just be left alone in peace in the land which she took as her own.

It seems that this is being done by Albania as it is on the hunt for other national icons as it struggles (since 1992) to heal the scars of four decades of communism. Albania wants to reclaim her remains before the 100th anniversary of her birth in August next year so that it can promote tourism as people will throng to visit her grave. The fact that Vatican is in the process of canonizing her, adds to the lucrativeness.

Here is a short timeline of important events in her lifetime:

• August 26, 1910: Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, in Skopje
• 1928: Moved to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland, to learn English
• 1929: Arrived in India as a novitiate in Darjeeling
• May 24, 1931: Took religious vows as a Nun
• May 14, 1937: Took her solemn vows while serving as a Teacher at Loreto Convent School, Calcutta
• 1948: Left Sisters to teach slum children and care for the homeless
• 1950: Started Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta
• 1951: Given Indian Citizenship
• 1952: Opens the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of Calcutta
• 1962: Awarded the Padma Shri - an award given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity
• 1962: Awarded the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia
• 1971: Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace
• 1979: Awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding
• 1979: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1980: India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna for her humanitarian work
• November 16, 1996: Proclaimed directly by Act of Congress an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
• September 5, 1997: Died of heart attack
• 2002: Beatified by Pope John Paul II given the title "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta"