Thinking about designs

 How does a design team come up with a good design?
 How does a design team come up with a good commercial design?

There is a vast difference between these 2 above questions.

Any good designer can do new designs. All it needs is creativity and taste.

But a good designer worth his/her salt should be able to make good commercial designs.

What does this entail? 

2 constraints of Reduced cost and a chance to sell it at a high price.

So, there are 3 parameters for a commercial good design.

Look & Features, Price and Cost

A high Look & Features, high Price and low Cost is the success formula.

The long slowdown

 India is witnessing a long winded slow down in retail.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/retail-chains-restaurants-shut-stores-as-consumption-slows/articleshow/119054679.cms?from=mdr

This has been in the news recently after a year or so of the slowdown which the retailers have been experiencing over a year now.

Many retailers across segments, clothing, shoes, belts, vendors across India have clearly been able to witness it firsthand. A few days or weeks have seen sales as low as during those of the covid lockdowns.

The reasons however, were never clear and many attributed it to the following:

1. Hot weather to shop

2. Lack of cash as the general elections were there in 2024

But the real reason is somewhere else.

1. Saurabh Mukherjea suggests stagnant earnings, automation-driven job losses, and an ongoing economic slowdown after the covid revenge shopping.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/income-down-debt-up-saurabh-mukherjea-gives-three-reasons-why-indias-middle-class-is-facing-a-major-crisis/articleshow/119419834.cms?from=mdr

2. Secret back door rate increases profitting the companies at the cost of the people of India.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHtBQHnyryO/?igsh=am4zeWwzcTd0bDBs

Maybe there are more plausible reasons.

Share yours thoughts in the comments

The future of work

About 8 years or so, I have listened on the "Future of work" from Vivek Wadhwa.

At that age and time, his view was "interesting" at most, and his predictions seemed coming true, but his predicted times looked optimistic to me.

Mainly because we all think linearly, the predictions looked optimistic.

He has mentioned the exact last statement in his 2013 interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3LS4PithoM) where he also goes on to also say that when 2 different technologies converge, entire businesses are wiped out.

Technology has changed rapidly and exponentially from 2023 with the advent of Chat GPT.

In today's news, "Researchers just unveiled an AI model called ECgMLP that identifies endometrial cancer with 99.26% accuracy from microscopic tissue images—drastically outperforming human specialists and current automated methods."

With this, the medical "Radiologist" role is almost wiped out.

The same is happening to Lawyers and other professions.

The future looks like this: Govt. paying everyone to live comfortably with no work and few would work on new technologies and earn like crazy. 

My prediction: The middle class is going to diverge into the rich class or the poor class.

I had a very fruitful discussion last week with a close friend of time who is good in technology and we were sharing our views on the future of work. He shared that if the next generation is only going to use the existing generative AI to learn and produce works, thereby being lazy and reducing their thinking, nothing new is going to be made in the next 5-10 years. With nothing noteworthy of contribution, this means that we have already reached about 98% or so of all that AI can ever learn from in the current AI.

The only people who would have work are the creative people who are deep generalists who can inject their creativity into a new converged field and show value. This is something Dan Koe predicts.

The rest would be forced to sit at home with no work. 

FYI, Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari is a book I plan to read where he attempts to paint an image of the future. I am currently listening to his book Sapiens. I would add to this post, on completion of both these books.

Why some people always make money?

I have come across a few entrepreneurs who always make money in each of their ventures. They are serial entrepreneurs and or multi-tasking entrepreneurs. They may have had failures, but it is less.

It took many years to understand the reason - There are a specific set of knowledge and skills required to make money. If we have that, we make money.

As someone I heard put it nicely, give a Rubik's cube to all the people. Only the person knowing how to solve will solve it. The rest of the people irrespective of any amount of time, will not be able to solve it.

Unfortunately, these skills and knowledge are not thought commercially at one place. Very few places teach that in parts.

New age service professions

In Japan, there are many "Rent a boyfriend" services for quite a long time.

Just before covid, "Professional Cuddling" started as a profession. Now, there are many Professional cuddlers around the world.

In today's world, there is coaching for everything. Including many things we don't even know exist. For any sports, there are coaches, for relationship issues, there are relationship coaches.

But what came to a surprise to me is that there are even "polyamory coaches". I am sure some of you would even look up that word.

I wonder how are these people are trained, how much is their knowledge common or varied. 

Is there any course to become any of these?

Understanding the world in different ways

Where do babies come from?

This hilarious conversation between a smart kid and a doctor is no doubt hilarious.

The key thing to notice here is how both are able to give completely different explanations to the same situation/ reality and all attempts to counter the logic fails.

Sometimes, we are in the kids domain and we perceive the world in a way. Maybe, there is an alternate explanation to things.

We need to be on the lookout and not oppose their logics without understanding keenly and questioning our assumptions.

China is the No.1 Technology King

 This month, China has overtaken USA as the No.1 Technology king with 3 announcements in different fields of Technology:

1. Deepseek outperforming OpenAI alternatives

2. Chinese Quantum Computers beats Google benchmarks

https://www.livescience.com/technology/computing/china-achieves-quantum-supremacy-claim-with-new-chip-1-quadrillion-times-faster-than-the-most-powerful-supercomputers

3. BYD unveils 5 min EV charging

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/byd-unveils-battery-system-that-charges-evs-in-5-minutes

RIP USA! Our condolences!

What to do in Hyderabad?

"What to do in my city?"

This question is in the mind of thousands of any city dweller who wants to go out of office and out of home to relax, enjoy, get out of the daily scene every weekend to enjoy life.

Fortunately, Hyderabad has grown into a cosmopolitan city with multiple cultures imbibed to give you a refreshing taste of multiple ways to perceive, understand and learn things.

Here is a list of things to do:

There is something for everyone to enjoy and learn outside work in Hyderabad.

I have purposely left out food & drinks as there are more than 1 new restaurant/pub opening up in the city every week.

Art workshops

https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/events-hyderabad

Art workshops include Pottery, Resin art, Fridge magnet, Drawing, Moon Lamp, Crotchet, Mandala, Tote bag painting, Djembe, Perfume making, Terrarium, Candle making, Pizza making, Canvas Painting, Gold Foil painting, Theater acting, Neon painting, Fluid art, Texture art, Pottery painting, Mixology, Pichwai painting, Body painting, etc.

Open Mics - Usually unpaid tickets for practice stand up comedy shows

Every Tuesday at Ivy mic

Every Wednesday at Street Mic

Every Friday at Moto Garage, Jubilee Hills at 8.30 pm or 9 pm till 10.30 pm (Only pay for the dinner/ drinks)

Other places at other days of the week.

Stand up comedy shows

https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/events-hyderabad

Events (Music shows and concerts)

https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/events-hyderabad

https://insider.in/all-events-in-hyderabad

Speed dating

https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/events-hyderabad

Speed friending

https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/events-hyderabad

Axe throwing

2 places in Madhapur. Call 9985739573, get location and go.

Rs.300 for 10 throws

Pickle ball

Multiple courts and rates in the city to explore

Rs.1000 per court per hr in Madhapur

La Makaan, Banjara Hills

A cultural center.

Go through https://digital.lamakaan.com, find out what interests you and go there. Mostly free shows.

Board game cafes

AM Musuem, Himayatnagar - Check hourly rate per person

Get on board cafe, Jubilee Hills - Check hourly rate per person

Rock climbing 

Crag Studio, Gachibowli - Rs.750 per session per person

https://www.cragstudio.com/

Gamepoint 100 Ft, Madhapur

Badminton, Table Tennis

Download app and book your slots.

For badminton, rates for court, racquets and shoes separately.

Table tennis all included.

Dance studios

Google and find many in the city

Music academies

Muzigal, Madhapur (15k for 3 month course of 2 classes per week of 1 hr each)

And others

Puzzle Rooms

Mystery rooms, Escape rooms - Multiple locations in the city with multiple games at each location. 

About Rs.1000 per person per game. 2-4 people per game mostly

Trove Experiences

https://troveexperiences.com/collections/upcoming/hyderabad

Cold Plunge

https://icetub.in

Steam Sauna

https://icetub.in

Go Karting

Few places - Call, check and go

Indoor Sky diving

Gravity zip - About Rs.3500 per person

AR / VR games

Multiple locations in the city

Computer games

Multiple locations in the city

Bowling

Multiple bowling alleys in the city

Snooker/ Billiards

Multiple spots in the city

Concerts (from time to time)

Previously Bryan Adams, Badshah, etc.

The Selfie musuem

Google "Hyd Selfie Musuem", next to Alankrita resort for a 3 hr trip of interesting selfies.

The Nehru Zoological Park

A good zoo with a huge variety of animals. Need full day to explore.

Cooking classes

Google "cooking classes in Hyderabad" and discover many

Meetup groups in Hyderabad

https://www.meetup.com/find/in--hyderabad/

Annual Events and Exhibitions

Kite Fest at parade grounds - January during Sankranti

Annual Numaish exhibition - February at Nampally grounds

Hyderbad Literary Fest - https://www.hydlitfest.org

Sunday Soul Sante - Feb at Hitex

Holi events during Holi - March

Hyderabad marathon, half-marathon, 10k - Aug

Navratri events during Navratri - October

National Book fair - December

Lock the box (Book fair) twice a year

Other irregular places to visit (Foreign cultures)

https://hyderabad.german.in/events

https://hyderabad.afindia.org/events/categories/events/

Films

https://www.hyderabadfilmclub.org

Sunset Cinema Club - https://sunsetcinemaclub.in/hyderabad/events

Life's simple pleasures

One of life's simple pleasures is music.

Unfortunately, we do not spend time to discover new types of music which can bring us peace or uplifting spirits or make us curious. Also, when we hear some amazing music, rarely do we find out the song and the artist, store it and go home and add them to our playlist. Even, sharing of good songs has got limited in today's individualistic society.

Over the last 1 year or so, I have discovered and got into 3 music cycles.

These music cycles are "current" list of liked songs which I hear frequently keeps changing every 6 months or some based on some new discoveries and mood.

A year ago, I was in love this this artist and song and kept hearing it again and again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWOrd50HYa4

Here are a few amazing library of songs from Hamidshax on Amazon Music:
Crazy, Lose Control, In my life, With me, Together, Let it be, Wait for me, Dreams and many more

Here are a few uplifting songs with fantastic beats:

https://youtu.be/d4u_N7NU6LA?si=cup4IEZ1vB0ewI_K

https://youtu.be/6r9slZ3wKgI?si=iDxPEjUoLjvcpTAJ

https://youtu.be/tqUdnXaMPI4?si=e5YmtPvNcZBJoIo-

Growth, Order and Chaos

Sometime over the last few months, I heard a podcast which said the following:

If the challenge is greater than the capability, it is demotivating.

If the challenge is less than the capability, it is boring.

To be motivated, the challenge should be slightly more than the capability. This leads to figuring it out, learning and growing.

In the book, 12 rules for life, Jordan Peterson talks about order and chaos in the form of the famous yin and yang Chinese symbol.

One side is order and the other is chaos. 

Too much order and nothing grows. 

Too much chaos and it is overwhelming and no growth.

The middle curved line is the balance between order and chaos which leads to growth.

2 different ways to understand and express how to achieve growth.

We should be planning our goals, tasks, to be on this middle line in multiple aspects of life.

The fall of the US Dollar

Over the last 20 years, there has been multiple disquiets about the de-dollarisation. 

1. It has been stated that USA went to war with Iraq overthrowing Saddam Hussain and Libya overthrowing Gadaffi as these oil producers were exploring selling oil in currencies other than dollars, thereby removing USD hegemony.

2. Wars - The USA didn't do any favours for itself by constantly raising it's debt levels and printing more dollars and starting wars around the world directly like Iraq, Afghanistan or indirectly in Ukraine by expanding NATO countries continuously and then funding Ukraine. Also, funding Israel for it's war in Gaza.

3. BRICS - Over the last 10 years, the formation of the BRICS currency gained ground which would compete with the US dollar globally and almost all nations in the world trade with one or more of the BRICS countries.

The inter trade itself among BRICS countries itself is huge. Plus, the potential of Saudi Arabia, being the world's largest oil producer,  joining this alliance adds weight to the the new currency and more transactions.

4. Crypto currencies - The other counter weight underdog which has been waiting in the wings is crypto currencies. These have certain features of non-manipulation which is necessary to avoid the manipulation of countries and bring accountability to the countries.

The call of the imminent fall of the dollar is increasingly going up. The following are evidences. 

5. Big US based investors/ companies have accumulated crypto currencies. The current US administration of declaring to having a strategic crypto currency reserve. This means that it is moving away from Gold reserves to this.

6. The open talk by the current US administration of auditing fort Knox to check if the US gold is really there. This further highlights that maybe there is no actual gold there and it is a bogus trust. Adding Crypto currencies is a countermeasure to add value and trust.

7. Maybe, this in consonance with the tariff wars will bring down the value of the dollar and make it competitive enough to start manufacturing again. But, can the USA citizens afford the high cost of imports once the dollar goes down?

This would degrade the lifestyles and would become a true developing class nation which got hidden as a developed country just because of printing own money and having it's value just because it was a reserve currency and everyone traded in it.

I have been watching these signs over the years and for the last 2 years came to the conclusion that the USD would fall substantially over the next 5-10 years.

My prediction gets more substantiated when a famous investor like Ray Dalio starts ads on instagram on a book on the fall of nations indirectly or directly talks about the USA.

Update 4 Apr 2025: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has joined the chorus of voices warning that the U.S. dollar's reserve currency status is at risk. Unlike most, however, he has gone one step further to suggest a likely replacement: Bitcoin.