There is an element of excitement, wonder and a lightness of life which comes through the art of research and writing. Structures in academia drain the very essence of research into a rat race for citations that converts into trauma as toxic critique dominates. Free research and writing to an extent where problem solving, and solutions are the key and not the h-index temple run.

We write and express ourselves at each moment as text dominates in the realm of the hyperconnected digital. We read more than ever and write more than ever before.

#research#writing

ESG as a domain needs to be powered by clarity that needs to dawn in with research that has financial numbers and a better sense of meaning making about integrated risk rather than viewing it as three separate blocks, as risk is unitary for an organization. ESG can be gauged as a combination of esg and ESG with the small letter and the capitalized letter interacting with each other in an environment that shapes the risk, the context and the nature of the sector and the industry.

The role of the evaluation and who does it also matters in the interpretive domain of ESG rankings, ratings, and impact assessments. The mental model of the evaluator will be different and dependent on the place, power dynamics and experience.

ESG impact ratings are not a monolith, it is important to read the offer details before investing. The methodology and the epistemics of it will lead to the tangible nature of risk. A decolonial or a non-Eurocentric approach is an opening into a global south understanding of ESG risk as diverse cultures frame risk differently.

#ESG

Yesterday evening at ResCon22 at Narsee Monjee’s Mukesh Parel School of Technology Management & Engineering there was a climate panel among sessions on Quantum Computing and Data Science, which is on par for a computing school. I was honored to share premium intellectual real estate with Prof Arnab Dutta of IITB who spoke on Carbon Storage and Dr Ashish Rana from Reliance who presented on Energy Innovation. I shared my two cents on ESG as the bridge between climate change and the energy transition.

It was a packed audience of computing students listening to an engaged panel on waste management, green cover and CSS.

Thank you to Virati and Roushan from the organising team for the invitation and the excellent hospitality.

#ESG#climatechange

Wicked problems such as Climate Change are multi scalar and multidisciplinary where context is paramount. The problem solving needs to be transdisciplinary, but the research community is tied by metrics that are narrow. Hence think tanks and consultants become the platform there as connectors and translators.

Start Ups have their own vocabulary regarding space, time and velocity as it is indeed a space time continuum of its own making.

A week in a startup and an established enterprise are different metrics as the measure of risk and capital are operating on differing trajectories.

#Startup

After my usual evening run, I usually decompress by sipping chai. The Chai and Sandwich upgraded tapri which I have been frequenting for the past couple of months has been a window into the slice of life moments. The soundscape is chirpy, located next to a jogging area and a prominent hospital. It is a melting pot of people from various backgrounds from paramedics to families.

The tapri is run by an industrious local micro businessperson, employing staff to support his chai business. Today he quipped during our chat, he did not understand whether his sales are making sense after selling three hundred cups at INR 10 per cup. So, I asked him a few questions.

What are your input costs daily?

He said,

Milk -1280 for a 20-liter pack, Chai Masala- 45, Tea- 200, Paper Cups Packet for cups: 200

This is about 1800 per day

And other costs:

Electricity: 10, 000/month, Gas: 2000/month,

Average: 400/Day

Manpower costs: 300/Day

Total costs per day then are approximately 2500 per day only from three hundred cups a day at 10 rupees. The margin for the owner is five hundred rupees only from cutting chai revenues.

He makes coffee, and other snacks which are his main income then.

He also sells cutting chai in a bigger cup at 20 rupees, which I partake. As a good Samaritan I suggested that he should increase the 20-rupee cup sale, as input costs remain the same, doubling the margins referencing a case study that I had read on increasing the toothpaste opening leading to more purchases, and greater daily use.

A ten-minute chat was an insight into bottom-up businesses that focus on cash in the pocket rather than valuations.

#cuttingchai

The community lifeline of the city with an eclectic soundscape and a truly slice of life moment.

An accessible democratic urban space where everyone blends in over INR 10 cutting.

Learning for growth is about challenging yourself to explore the uncomfortable, the unknown in ways of seeing and ways of thinking, which is the spirit of the journey itself. Instead, assessment anxiety and optics demolish the fun in learning mostly.

As an embodied lifelong learner and training junkie, the incline itself trains one to think. The resume was always the last aspect on the agenda.

From Cutting Chai to Chai Karak in the Khaleej to Teh Masala in the Nusantara, chai is an index of connectivity across migration corridors of the Indian Ocean Region.

Biryani is another variant of an edible index from Mandi in Mukalla to Biryani Malabar to Nasi Briani in Melaka la.

The Net Zero or Net Positive Transition is a Human Transition. We are again at the grave risk of another top-down policy and market design where vulnerable voices are not included in these decarbonization dialogues.

The European Heat Wave and the Pakistan Floods should be a case in point