If you've had a conversation with me anytime during the last 1.5 years, then I'm sure I have mentioned SmartStart to you. I may have also mentioned how much fun I'm having building multiple flavours of this product with my team at Adeptic Creative Labs and Clearly Blue Digital.
Monday, December 26, 2022
Savoury Bits: Just in Time & Just Enough Learning
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Learning with Games
I remember the day I was kidnapped. I endured a terrible bike journey in a basket. Then I found myself in the place I call ‘home’ today.
Are you thinking of ‘Stockholm syndrome’?
Stop. Focus. Ha, I’m using her cues now!
No, I’m not a hostage. I am adopted.
I was separated from my mother, my siblings and the dingy room with the stinky, damp floor. Now I live it up with my doting family. I adore them. Can’t let them out of my sight for a moment!
She got me started on games no one had ever taught me before. I enjoy her games. They make me think, explore and try new things while having fun. Plus, I earn treats every time I get it right.
Most importantly, I have her undivided attention during our games. No mobile phone, TV, conversation or book to distract her. Well, the mobile still comes out at times and it’s typically directed at me. Then I get annoyed and try to break the flow by doing something unexpected to make her put it away. In between, I discreetly check on her with furtive glances. Disappointing—she’s usually giggling behind that mobile. Sigh! I’m yet to get this down pat.
Initially, I didn’t have to do much to earn treats. The games were simple.
Meet her gaze—get a treat.
Meet her gaze, hold for a few seconds—get the treat.
Look at her when she says my name—treat.
Take a step towards her when she says my name.
After a few days, the games changed. I earned treats for slightly more complicated actions.
Run to her when she calls my name.
Follow her when she says “Let’s go”.
As I grew up, the actions became easier. I would do them happily anyway. But I realized she loved these games. So I played along, to please her. Also, who says no to treats!
Our games are still evolving. I’ve mastered the older ones. Once I master something, I get bored if I’m asked to do it repeatedly. But she keeps changing it up, keeps me guessing and on my feet. I like it!
I don’t want to sit still. I can’t! What do I do with my energy?! She knows. She understands.
She ensures our games have variety. There’s some running around, climbing up and down stairs, stretching, sniffing things out, vigorous activities likes jumping or tug, not-vigorous-yet-exciting stuff like watching people, animals and things move past our gate, impulse control and rest periods built into each play session. I sleep well after this.
Typically, our games involve a lot of food. Meal times are fun! Unless she’s busy with work. Then she sits at her desk with her laptop and I can’t get her attention. I’ve given up now. It must be important. I let her work in peace and quietly eat by myself. No matter what’s on my plate then, it doesn’t taste good.
I am Bheema Nadig. I love playing games with Madhavi Nadig.
Bheema, chilling with his current favourite toy |
Monday, December 30, 2019
Bengaluru's oldest inscription stone
Interesting to how the same place can make you feel proud and disappointed at the same time!
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Swalpa adjust maadkoLi
It's about having systems talking to each other
through wireless connectivity,
in the land of cheap smart phones,
where data is the cheapest in the world,
accessible to all and sundry,
where decision making is automated,
based on input from sensors,
leading to smart cities and smart operations
with increased efficiency and
jobs are Bangalored to bots this time!
Let your imagination run wild and
add your own happy (and sad) thoughts here...
Newspapers are already killing it with articles about how this will lead to massive unemployment in the near future.
Ground reality however is grounded knee-deep, unable to take off on such wild imaginative excursions. Feel free to blame the BBMP for potholes in network connectivity as well, in the midst of a bustling neighborhood in South Bangalore. Realized this when I visited ICICI Bank along with my mother. We came with a simple request - please remove my deceased father's name from a joint account where my mother was the primary account holder.
The Govt. of India claimed 80% of Indian citizens had bank accounts in Mar 2017, with 157.1 crore accounts in different banks. That year, the death rate was 0.73%. Let's assume each deceased person held an account. Then 1,15,00,000 (i.e. 1.15 crore) bank accounts needed to be updated. One moment... let's digest that number. Given this large number it's but natural if you assume this is a common for banks, with standardized procedures for handling such cases in 2019.
Ummmm ... no! Apparently, a deceased account holder isn't something this branch is used to dealing with. None less than an assistant bank manager was worthy of the task! That's even more surprising since the branch is located in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, of late a pensioner's paradise, home of many rich (maybe?) and retired (definitely!) seniors and super-seniors.
Turns out even if you have a sole or survivor type of joint account, ICICI wants you to close the joint account held with the deceased person and open a new account for yourself. Sure, en tondre illa! Just didn't think it'd take 1.5 hours and involve filling out lengthy forms, signing 15 autographs and waiting eagerly & endlessly for the staff to process it, amidst their loud, desperate cries for help to assistants who scrambled around the bank pointlessly, disappeared indefinitely, reappearing surreptiously by the time their name was called out a sixth time. The icing on the cake ... the bank asked for a cheque from another bank for KYC (Know Your Customer), after my mother had maintained a twenty year long relationship with them.
In the age of self-driving cars, when ISRO is simultaneously reconciling with Chandrayaan-2's just-miss of an autonomous soft moon-landing while planning to send humans on a Gaganyaan, ICICI is struggling to transform its staff's 90's era paper-pushing style of working since it's unable to keep it's intranet alive and accessible. Someone, somewhere must have been meditating in a Himalayan cave all this while!
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Insights from a Podcast Convention
Interacted with some Bangalore based podcasters and listened to several panel discussions.
Topics touched upon included
- podcasting is a nascent industry in India today
- radio stations repackage their shows as podcasts to increase the shelf life of their content
- lack of effective monetization models
- tools commonly used by creators
- new capabilities introduced in new tools
- creators' aspirations, influences and issues
- engaging with audiences using other online formats
- driving offline conversations via meetups and interactive listening sessions
- difficulty of reaching audience, since they are spread across too many platforms
- audiences dominantly from urban areas
- difficulty of engaging folks in T2 cities
- podcasts in regional languages are a miniscule minority
- back catalog contributes up to 40% of consumption share vs new episodes
- fake streams and downloads from bots
- differences in approaches of content creators in different mediums like blogs, podcasts, radio, videos, Twitter, Instagram/Snapchat and other social media.
The number of female content creators on stage and seated in the audience caught my attention. If today's crowd is truly representative of the podcast space, then India is ahead of the US in terms of representation of multiple voices and diversity in podcasts.