Diwali – The economics of oil lamps

I was curious to know how much a family used to pay before the invention of electricity in the late 19th century.

A few data points which will help you connect the economics of light that we have been enjoying in the last 125 years.

1. One oil lamp consumes 15 ML of oil per hour.
2. One oil lamp lumen is around 10 lumens.
20 oil lamps for 4 hours per day for lighting a basic house requires 1.2 litre of oil every day or 36 litres of oil per month.
3. Cost of lamp oil per litre is around 180 rupees.
4. Thus the oil bill per month with just 200 lumens of light at home for a month will cost 6000 rupees.
5. Oil was not cheap in the olden days thus it used to form a substantial part of the family expenses.
6. The design of chandeliers was to increase the total lumen in a hall by aggregating 30-100 oil lamps.

Some more data:
1. A 20 watt LED has 1600 lumens equivalent to 160 oil lamps.
2. 160 oil lamps will consume 2.4 litres of oil per hour at 180 rupees which equals to 432 rupees per hour.
3. A 1000 watts per hour (1kwh) of electricity costs less than 10 rupees and 20 watts will cost 20 paisa.

Now you connect the dots and get your imagination to work. 

#economicsinnovation #data #electricity

October 12, 2021

Wishing all of you and your families a Happy Diwali!

For our global friends, we celebrate Diwali in all Indian states, but for different reasons. In North India, Diwali symbolises Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya, while in some other parts of the North, it celebrates Mahaveer’s achievement of Nirvana. In this way, Diwali means something different to each member of our community.

In the 30 days leading up to Diwali and the 3 days following the same, India is met with an unmatched festive spirit. During this period, Navratri, Dussehra, Ayudha Pooja and Durga Pooja are celebrated for 8 to 10 days all across India.

We celebrate our three powers through three goddesses:
1. Physical Power represented by Kali or Durga
2. Knowledge Power represented by Saraswati
3. Economic Power represented by Lakshmi.

With the festival of Diwali, we celebrate Goddess Lakshmi who represents economic power, by decorating and lighting up our houses to invite her into them. We invite Lakshmi into our homes, to fill them with prosperity and knowledge, and to monetise all our knowledge power.

#diwali2021

October 12, 2021

Today is World Environmental Health Day.

Today is World Environmental Health Day.

While the world celebrates this day, I was thinking about the connection between nature and humans.

Nature designed humans. Humans subordinated every resource and species of nature.

The human body is a marvel of nature. The design of the human body is optimally right.

It is not the strongest.
It is not the tallest.
It is not the fastest.
It is not the longest living.
It is not the fastest learner – actually slowest – a child takes over 12-16 years to become a fully grown adult.

But still the human body rules the animal kingdom.

Is good design all about right proportions and measured steps of growth?

#environmental #design #health #nature #wellbeing #designthinking

September 12, 2021
August 12, 2021
August 12, 2021

Third podcast on Das Lakshan Parva

Virtue 2 – Uttam Mardava (Supreme Humility) – Reverse of Arrogance/Ego. I know it all vs. I need to know.

Das Lakshan Parva is a Jain festival that marks the celebration of 10 Virtues over a period of 10 days.

#leadership #inspiration #daslakshanparva #learning

August 12, 2021

My second podcast on Das Lakshan Parva

Virtue 1 – Uttam Kshama (Supreme Forgiveness). Forgive and Forget.

Das Lakshan Parva is a Jain festival that marks the celebration of 10 Virtues over a period of 10 days.

#leadership #inspiration #daslakshanparva #learning #jainism

 

August 12, 2021

True LeadershipFirst podcast about Das Lakshan ParvaTrue Leadership

10th September 2021 is the beginning of a Jain festival called Das Lakshan Parva – a festival that marks 10 Virtues over a period of 10 days.

I used to visit the temple during these 10 days with my father and listen to a few lectures at the temple. The lectures would make me feel good but I could not draw any connection between them and my daily life. A few years ago, I was searching for a framework from Indian scriptures in relation to where deep knowledge has been made repeatable. I found the answer in Paryushan Parva, where Jains celebrate 10 principles of a high-performance life over 10 days when they are completely committed to learning.

In this series of audio podcasts, I will try to cover the 10 virtues similar to habits of effective leadership on a daily basis for the next 10 days.

Here is the first podcast about Das Lakshan Parva – https://lnkd.in/gWh7Xykk

#leadership #inspiration #personaldevelopment #learning #designthinking

August 12, 2021

My understanding of Thoughts – SLOW IS FAST

1. Thoughts is starting piece which helps drive towards choosing the direction or dream or goals.

2. The thoughts are continuously coming to all of us at very high speed.

3. When I wake up in the morning, I don’t control the origin of particular thought.

4. The speed of thought varies during the days, week and various situations. Say it varies from 30 KM per hour to 100 KM per hour based on situation.

5. The more the speed of thought, more energy is required thus faster blood flow and more glucose consumption. Continuous fast speed of thought can put a strain on human organs from blood pumping wear and tears to sugar management lines.

6. The Meditation is the process TO WATCH SPEEDOMETER OF SPEED OF THOUGHTS. Once you start watching the speed, the speed starts slowing down.

7. When we walk slow then we can observe lot of things around us while driving in car very few items are observable. Slowness of thought speed thus makes us better listener, observer and thus brings better empathy. These are the prerequisites of good design thinking and better outcome.

May 12, 2021

India Handmade Collective (IHMC) and its fascinating story of ‘connecting’ people

India Handmade Collective (IHMC) has a fascinating story of ‘connecting’ people. During a 2-hour virtual Design Thinking workshop session conducted recently, we had the opportunity to listen to 50 like-minded people who were involved in organic and handmade fabric. We were awed by the fact that they provide employment opportunities to farmers, spinners and weavers in the villages, connecting them with the right contacts and guiding them to upskill their talents.

For this process, they created a WhatsApp group and arrived at a common name for the collective by a pure consensus building process over a time of two weeks. They together decided the logo, the guidelines for working together in the group and then chose the right products for sale and the design for the online sales store.

I saw the power of purpose, driving the power of collectives.
It is just the beginning of the coming together of an institution. Let us wish them good luck!

#IndiaHandMadeCollective #ruralindia #ruralartisans

May 12, 2021