From IQ to Spiritual Quotient: What the Next Generation Needs; From Climate Extremes to Educational Reinvention

Dear Friends

You may remember the festival of Govardhan Puja, which is celebrated on the day after Diwali. This festival is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana.

The people of Vrindavan traditionally worshipped Indra, believing that he alone brought rain for their crops. Lord Krishna questioned this practice and instead encouraged them to honour Govardhan Hill, their cows, forests, and fertile land, as these directly sustained their lives. Indra, angered by this, immediately released torrential rain upon Vrindavan.

Lord Krishna responded by lifting Govardhan Hill with the little finger of his left hand, sheltering the villagers and their cattle beneath it for seven days and seven nights. Eventually, Indra realised his pride and accepted Lord Krishna’s divine nature.

You might be wondering why I am raising this now. As we speak today, there is absolutely no rain in Visakhapatnam, especially in our area, and many of our borewells are dry. On the other hand, Umargam in Gujarat recorded 1,064 mm of rain in 24 hours, becoming India’s third-highest daily rainfall ever, according to the IMD. According to available records, the highest 24-hour rainfall in India was recorded at Sohra (Cherrapunji), Meghalaya, with 1,563.3 mm on June 16, 1995. The second-highest was recorded at Aminidivi, Lakshadweep, with 1,168.5 mm on May 6, 2004.

This variation teaches multiple life lessons for the next generation. Seasonal timelines are changing. Weather patterns are changing. What we have designed and built over time, including shelter, food systems, education, and lifestyles, may become obsolete or insufficient. What we wear, our water-storage mechanisms, what we eat, what we learn in schools and colleges, the types of jobs we pursue, and our entire way of life may be completely altered.

The lifestyles of the Silent Generation (1928–1945) and Baby Boomers (1946–1964) stand at one extreme. The lifestyles of Gen X (1965–1980) and Millennials or Gen Y (1981–1996) are more moderate. However, the lives of Gen Z (1997–2012), Gen Alpha (2013–2024/25), and Gen Beta (2025–2039) may be at the other extreme. Intelligence is being augmented by technology, while seasonal variations will influence expectations and ways of life.

The IQ presented may not reflect an individual’s actual IQ, as AI plays a prominent role in assessment. The SQ1, or Social Quotient, presented may not truly reflect social interaction, as social media mediates much of that interaction. The EQ presented may not truly reflect individual emotions, as we are influenced by many designated days and celebrations, such as Valentine’s Day, Wife

Appreciation Day, Husband’s Day, and Siblings Day.

Theories developed over time have to change completely. Universities need to be overhauled in response to changing missions, faculty capabilities, divergent student populations, and societal expectations. Traditional educational philosophies may not suit the current generation. Dynamic universities will survive, unlike stereotyped research, teaching, skills-oriented, or civic universities.

Those who understand and adapt to this change will survive longer.

For example, if AI systems can produce a research paper within minutes, with greater accuracy and depth, do we require a faculty member who can write a research paper, or one who can trigger a research idea, conduct research using AI, synthesize the output, convert it into actionable steps, and inspire students to put it into practice? Similarly, assessment, pedagogical methods, and every aspect of educational philosophy will be affected.

The same is true of what we sow and eat under these extreme weather conditions. These too will be affected. Does buying a car, which once served as a symbol of social identity, make sense in a densely populated and crowded city? Should we save for this self-esteem product? These questions will increasingly arise before Gen Z and the generations that follow.

While IQ, EQ, and SQ1 may change across generations, one Q never changes: Spiritual Quotient, or SQ2.

Returning to the beginning of my story, let us pray to God to provide us with a sustainable path.

Ravi Saripalle  

Remembering Dr. A. L. Rao: A Lesson Beyond Leadership;The CXO Who Never Let Power Change Him;The Corporate Lessons We Never Teach.

Dear Friends

In these last 15 years of the Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement, I have written one story every week. Many stories are related to corporate success, entrepreneurs’ success, employability, carbon emission, and many other contemporary technology- and lifestyle-related topics.

But this story is personal, yet definitely a life lesson for many aspirational corporate leaders.

Yesterday, Dr. Sridhar Mitta garu, a founding member of Wipro, wrote an emotional post about Dr. A. L. Rao garu, Founding Member of Wipro, on his LinkedIn wall. (www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7484113269713137664/). Wipro Limited echoed a similar emotional post on their wall (https://www.instagram.com/p/Da7quyMsDSx/). Being the former President of Sri Sri University, they also resounded the same (www.instagram.com/p/Da5PZInjQxZ/).

By God's grace, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time closely with A. L. Rao Garu, both personally and professionally. Rao Garu gave me the liberty to walk into his office as well as his home at any time. I also thank his family for graciously tolerating my barging into their home at almost any time of the day.

Many times, once you become a CXO of a large corporation, you act differently at the office and at home. Status, money, power, and network spoil both the individual and the family. For the first time, I saw someone in whom none of these four spoilers had infiltrated. I saw how a CXO can stay calm and composed in the most tense moments.

For certain issues, I become emotional. Like me, many people cannot tolerate even a small pressure situation. However, Dr. Rao remained a typical example of how one can handle pressure without hurting others.

Though we had a huge age gap, we used to share many personal things. In every piece of advice he gave, I saw impartiality, non-judgment, and fairness. The same ethics he exhibited in his professional life.

I used to say, "Many of your colleagues have started companies and become successful entrepreneurs. Why don't you start one? I will dedicate my life to your company." I used to ask this question countless times over the last 30 years.

I am sure Premji Sir would also echo me. He used to say, "I am from a small village near Vizianagaram (Gajapathinagaram). From there, with a small 10×10 office in IISc and a little-known company in those days named Wipro, I got an opportunity in 1980. I had seen one side of life, and Premji Sir gave me a different opportunity that I had never dreamt of in my life. I am indebted to Wipro forever."
The same he lived throughout his life—for Wipro.

He joined as one of the first few members of Wipro, retired as COO, and finally served as an Independent Director of Premji Invest until recent times. He remained loyal to Wipro.

Yesterday, during his last rites, when many founding members of Wipro visited him, I realized how much he had influenced them and how he had breathed Wipro throughout his life. He became the definition of loyalty to an organization.

Probably this influenced me and helped me stay back at Wipro throughout my corporate career. I joined as a fresher and moved out of Wipro only to change my profession to teaching. I admire a leader like Azim Premji Sir, on how much he influenced Rao garu.

Once you have a lot of money, unfortunately, the word simplicity gets erased from life. He remained so humble and simple in his thought process and never allowed success to influence his lifestyle.

25 years back, One day, early in the morning around 4:30 a.m., he had to go to the airport to catch a flight. The car did not arrive on time. I asked, "Shall I drop you on my two-wheeler?" Without a second thought, he said yes.

I see two elements in this—Work First attitude and staying grounded in the face of uncertainty.

I have seen many leaders shout at the driver or cancel the flight. He did not say a single word and simply moved on.

I cannot write everything in this blog. He remained resilient through many personal instances as well.

Many times, we ignore our family while being busy professionally. However, he was deeply connected to every family member and provided customized support, including special care for extended family members. Many corporate leaders and Gen Z founders should learn this great lesson.The success of an individual lies in helping the people close to them grow along with their own growth.

Dr. A. L. Rao, you showed a path to this life and corporate lesson.
We teach ethics and corporate governance. Maybe I would recommend teaching only the life lessons of great leaders like Azim Premji Sir, Dr. Rao, and others—"the life outside, the life inside, and the life innerside”.

Dr. Rao had that spiritual inner side. He left the body, but his soul reached the right destination.

Thank you for providing all the opportunities that helped me become who I am today, Rao Garu.

Adieu... Forever remembering you.

Ravi Saripalle

The Myth of Self-Made Success and Great Managers Build Systems, Not Stars

Dear Friends,

Forty years ago, I heard about an incident involving one of my relatives. In their village, an envious post office clerk hid a neighbor's offer letter and failed to deliver it to the candidate on time. He delivered it only after the joining date. In those days, the postman used to decide the fate of an individual. Think about it—no SMS, WhatsApp message, email, or any indication of an offer. The final letter would arrive only by mail. Any clerical mistake or personal grudge could decide your fate!

We all think, I can stand on my own, live on my own, and succeed in life without anybody's support. This is the greatest myth.

The strict gate-closing policy for NEET exams mandates that students be denied entry if they arrive even a minute late. Recently, we have seen so much chaos and the tears of children and parents.

The bus is late. The train is late. The road is blocked by a traffic jam. But they are all acceptable in society. Yet, let a student be two minutes late. Suddenly, understanding expires. The gate closes.

What I realize from this is our dependency on support and the ecosystem around us. No matter how great the achievement is, there is always some support behind the scenes.

A couple of days back, I read two news items simultaneously.

News #1: Better India posted this incident. Just months before JEE Advanced, Gunjan Kumar's IIT dream nearly came to a halt. A collapsed lung left him bedridden for almost three months. Attending classes wasn't even an option. So his mother quietly stepped in.

She attended every online lecture, made detailed notes by hand, and sat beside him so that his preparation wouldn't stop. A homemaker with a B.Ed. degree, she returned to her studies after years—not for herself, but for her son's dream. As if that wasn't enough, Gunjan was also living with over 70% vision loss. Yet, he refused to give up. He is now set to pursue Computer Science at IIT Delhi.

Success isn't built by one person's hard work alone. It is built by the people who quietly carry your dream when you can no longer carry it yourself.

News #2: A Class 9 girl brought her 1.5-year-old brother to school because, after her mother passed away and with her father at work, there was no one else to care for him. She chose education anyway—proof that progress comes from moving forward, not from waiting for perfect conditions.

An elephant herd rescues a trapped calf because survival depends on the strength of the herd, not the individual. Buffaloes form a protective circle around their calves, proving that systems protect their weakest members first.

Geese fly in a V-formation, sharing leadership and reducing the effort required for the entire flock. Penguins survive Antarctic winters by rotating positions, showing that shared responsibility sustains the system. Trees in a forest exchange nutrients through underground fungal networks, demonstrating that hidden connections create resilience. A beehive thrives because thousands of bees perform specialized roles toward one common purpose. Wolf packs hunt successfully because each member plays a complementary role in the system.

Our success is not ours alone! Many people silently contribute to our success. If we forget them, it is our loss. God will not spare us!!

That is why great managers don't build stars—they build systems where everyone contributes to collective success.

Ravi Saripalle

AI Is Changing Jobs. Innovation Doesn't Guarantee Jobs. Are We Changing Education? What Is Left for Humans?

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, I was invited by Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) to address educators on Design Thinking for Problem Solving. There were around 80 participants, including Deans (R&D), Professors, Innovation Council members, etc.

One of the interesting questions was, "We were unable to motivate students towards innovation, as we were unable to provide convincing justification that innovation leads to jobs. Students are looking for jobs, and the job selection process is not demanding innovation-driven outcomes. Hence, students are losing interest in this process." Yes, I agree with the participant's view, but we need to be personally convinced that participating in the innovation process helps students sustain employment in the future.

When I started the "Inspire to Innovate (i2i)" storytelling movement in 2011, this question was raised 15 years ago. It was the same situation and the same opinion. When I started the Design Thinking campaign in 2020 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rga2aqobKgs), the question remained the same, as did the opinion.

In 2026, when an AI model can read 750,000 words (≈2,500 pages) in minutes, which usually takes a human 3–5 weeks of full-time effort, who is needed in companies? When 30,000 lines of code can be written in minutes, and refinement after a few prompts takes only a few hours, whereas the same task requires 4–8 developers working for 2–6 months, who is needed in the IT industry? An HR professional generally takes five days to review 1,000 resumes, whereas an AI model can do it in 30 minutes. Who is needed in the HR department?

There are two indispensable skills needed in the industry: the Problem-Solving Mindset and the Art of Storytelling.

Read this story. A couple of days back, TOI published an article on Ford. It has brought back more than 350 retired or laid-off senior technical specialists, affectionately called "Gray Beards," to lead physical quality reviews. It seems AI-driven inspection systems consistently failed to detect critical mechanical and design errors before vehicles rolled off the assembly line.

At the human level, there is another quality we need to develop in our next generation of children. In English, there are four words.

Pity means feeling sorry for someone, but from a distance. You see that they are suffering, but you usually do not do anything to help. Sympathy means you care about someone who is going through a difficult time. You may offer kind words or comfort, but you may not fully understand what they are feeling.Empathy means trying to understand how the other person feels by putting yourself in their place. You connect with their emotions and understand their pain. Compassion goes one step further. It means you understand their suffering and also want to do something to help reduce it.

In simple words: Pity says, "I feel sorry for you." Sympathy says, "I care about you." Empathy says, "I understand how you feel." Compassion says, "I understand your pain, and I want to help you."

The projects we provide to our students should cultivate empathy and compassion. Unfortunately, many students are failing to develop these two qualities nowadays.

In summary, we should promote three aspects—Compassion and/or Empathy, the Problem-Solving Mindset, and finally the Art of Storytelling. These three can define Engineering, Management, and Design Education, and the survival strategy for 2035!!

Do you agree?

Ravi Saripalle 

The Infrastructure That Doesn't Appear on Maps: The Next Billion-Dollar Opportunity in the Age of AI

Dear Friends,

When my father was in a hospital bed in a city during his last days, he insisted that we take him back to our hometown. Though we didn’t have that oxygen infrastructure at home, we managed to arrange it there. I am not a fan of the hometown concept, but I understand that it was his emotional attachment. In some cases, I have observed that owning a house vs. renting a house is an emotional issue in that age group.

Why am I bringing this concept now?

Yesterday, there was news about a 94-year-old US citizen who submitted a request to the Government of India to regain her Indian citizenship. She wants to be in her home village during this last phase of her life. It seems it was her final wish, and her children are working towards the same.

Interestingly, Vani Kola, an Indian venture capitalist, talked about Emotional Infrastructure in her weekly newsletter yesterday. She was writing about how cuteness is a powerful emotional cue and how big businesses were built across the world. She started explaining that big brands like Nemo, Noddy, Hello Kitty, and the Duolingo owl all draw on the same emotional language of innocence and playfulness.

She says, "Japan turned this into a cultural force through kawaii, where cuteness moved across toys, stationery, fashion, food, public signs, mascots, and brands. Hello Kitty turned 50 recently and still reportedly earns billions every year." She was talking about the Kidults market, as they also hold the buying power. It seems adults spend USD 9 billion annually worldwide.

If we delve deeper into this subject and business, emotional infrastructure is not limited to toys, fashion, and stationery. It is much bigger than that. In my view, a ventilator is emotional infrastructure. I have seen many cases where a patient is technically dead but kept on a ventilator as the zodiac stars (religious belief) are not good during that period. Palliative care is a similar subject. Memorial parks are emotional infrastructure. Google Photos is emotional infrastructure.

For that matter, WhatsApp's Last Seen feature is emotional infrastructure. Old fountain pens, watches, and birthday gifts are emotional infrastructure. If we broadly classify this, it is of four types: Memory Infrastructure, Relationship Infrastructure, Hope Infrastructure, and Identity Infrastructure.

Roads connect places. Emotional infrastructure connects people. Sometimes, physical infrastructure helps us live. Emotional infrastructure gives us reasons to live.

In line with this thought, Taarangam Tales recently launched Netra Raksha – Eye Care Tips for the 4–8-year age group. Their maiden character, Ranga, like Spiderman, presents this book. All pictures are drawn, and the content is curated using HI (Human Illustrated for Human Intelligence), without using AI.

You may preview this book at: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/cbf3ba52ec.html

Wishing Ranga becomes part of your emotional infrastructure.

What emotional infrastructure are you holding now?

Ravi Saripalle

From Guru-Shishya to AI Agents: Will AI Replace Teachers?

Dear Friends,

I am a 5th-generation teacher in my family. My great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, and grandfather followed the Guru-Shishya Parampara way of teaching. It was an oral tradition, and the teacher was the sole authority. The thought was that books would destroy memory. However, both my parents were school teachers. By then, books had become the authority. The teacher’s role was to transmit knowledge from books.

When I joined teaching in 2010, MOOCs were starting to pick up. The role of teachers had shifted toward mentoring and inspiring students in the classroom. During the pandemic, I recorded my Design Thinking classes at home for the first time and shared them with students. In 2022, one of my friends started a startup to develop an AI Avatar (skill2030.com) to replace an English teacher. Last year, I taught AI for Business and helped all our MBA students develop one or another AI Agent. In spite of this, as of 2024, 269 million students are enrolled worldwide. Universities survived in 2026 as well.

You might be wondering why I am talking about this journey. Today, I have to deliver a webinar on how careers are going to change, especially for MBA students, in the context of AI disruption. The moot question I need to answer is whether university enrolment will decline, increase, or remain stagnant. This is a hard question. However, teaching patterns and methodologies will change drastically.

1000 AD–1450: Gurus and Monasteries focus

1450–1900: Printing Press focus

1900–1980: Radio, Film, and Television focus

1980–2000: Computer, CD, and Multimedia era

2000–2010: Internet era

2010–2020: MOOCs era

2020–2023: Remote classes during COVID

2023–2026: GenAI era

2026 onwards: Personal AI Tutor / Agentic Era

Every time, the same question popped up: "Is the teacher still relevant?"

In the last 1,000 years, teachers survived every disruption. However, there is a catch. The teachers who changed and transformed during each of these phases survived.

What is the one skill required for a teacher across all these phases?

The mindset to adapt.

I recently read a small case. Two neighbours were fighting over apples supposedly damaging tulips. Law students produced pages of legal arguments. The professor ended the discussion with one observation:

"Apples fall in autumn. Tulips bloom in spring."

The case itself did not make sense.

In the age of AI, judgment matters more than information.

Hence, in my view, we as teachers need to bring that judgment into the classroom. We need to teach human-centeredness, empathy, design thinking, and commensurability rather than merely bringing theories and research into the classroom.

More than producing research papers, teachers have to spend time building simple, inspiring stories and short cases and bringing them to the table for discussion. Today, a good AI agent like Jenni.ai can produce a better research paper than a human teacher spending hours and hours writing one. The teacher's role now is to read such AI-produced information and turn it into meaningful capsules for classroom consumption.

I am seriously considering changing my teaching methodology in this direction rather than spending most of my time on in-depth research and other activities. This, in my view, will be the biggest help to students in the age of AI.

The Mindset That Kept Teachers Relevant for 1,000 Years

Ravi Saripalle

40 Years to Malgudi Days: Still Relevant in the Age of Reels :From Debugging Antennas to Debugging Life

Dear Friends,

We bought a TV in 1986! I remember it was a Dynora TV. It was a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television with a wooden or dark plastic cabinet. It had manual channel tuning knobs and a rooftop antenna connection. It had to be pointed toward the nearest Doordarshan transmission tower. TV signals traveled through the air and were captured by the antenna. When strong winds came, the picture became blurry, or "snow" appeared on the screen. Two people used to operate it. One changed the direction, and the other, at home, shouted about the picture quality!! In IT language, it is called debugging and testing!!

Today, we have transitioned to Cable TV, DTH (Dish TV, Tata Play, Airtel), and Internet streaming (YouTube, Netflix, Hotstar). In those days, the total number of National Hindi serials was around 10–20. A typical household probably knew 80–90% of them. Today, across the world, there are approximately 5,000–10,000 TV serials and 3,000–5,000 OTT originals. The total number of active shows today is around 10,000–15,000. If you include library content, the total would be 100,000–300,000 serials/shows/series available for streaming globally.

Today, I don't think any family member discusses any serial because viewership is completely fragmented. We moved from content scarcity to content abundance, and now the new scarcity is attention.

In those days, the prominent programs were News, Krishi Darshan, Chitrahaar, Hum Log (started in 1984), Sunday movies, and regional programming. However, I still remember a serial named Malgudi Days. Malgudi Days (1986) is one of India's most beloved television series, based on the works of R. K. Narayan and directed primarily by Shankar Nag.

I asked GPT a simple question—what was the title song, to test GPT's performance!! It gave the right answer: Tan-na-na-na... tan-na-na-na...

Why did I get captivated by Malgudi Days? Malgudi Days teaches empathy, observation, moral reasoning, and cultural roots without sounding preachy. Malgudi is a fictional small town. The episode I remember was The Missing Mail/Maa Aur Beta. A mother keeps waiting for her son at the railway station. I don't remember whether the son comes back or not—mostly not. Trains come and go. Passengers come and go. But a mother's hope remains.

Where are such programs today? Where is the time to share such emotions? The other day, I was traveling in a local bus. Two children were simply playing video games and fighting virtually while sitting side by side. The parents were watching their own reels!

"Taarangam Tales" (@taarangam.tales) recently launched Emotions of Ranga, a book that presents various emotions, their importance, and what is good and what is wrong. We need such books now because they are missing from our lives.

Malgudi Days was written by R. K. Narayan in 1943 as a short story collection. Shankar Nag, the director of this serial, lived a short life (35 years), but he became a true legend in Karnataka. Shankar Nag was not just a filmmaker; he was a visionary urban planner and social reformer. In 1989, he invested his own money and conceptualized the Bengaluru Metro blueprint, envisioning a modern public transport system decades before its actual implementation. His brother, Anant Nag, who acted in Malgudi Days, is active in public life.

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (R. K. Narayan), the author of Malgudi Days, and his youngest brother, the famous Indian cartoonist and illustrator R. K. Laxman, are true legends who influenced many families across India.

Do you have any nostalgic moments with Malgudi?

Ravi Saripalle

Layoffs, Mangoes, and the Meaning of Life

Dear Friends,

A couple of days back, I read a LinkedIn post that said: “CTC of ₹80 lakhs. A house in the US. A successful career. And yet, a man died by suicide after losing his job. Recently, a young couple in Bengaluru reportedly died by suicide after the husband was laid off. He had earlier lost a job in the US, rebuilt his career in India, and then faced another layoff in India.”

At the same time, I also read an interesting post about Deba Padhyami from Tamasa village in Malkangiri district, Odisha, who has successfully grown the famous Japanese Miyazaki mango. This fruit is so rare and valuable that premium-quality mangoes have reportedly sold for nearly ₹3 lakh per kilogram in international markets. However, Deba is now facing a completely different problem because he has no idea how to sell them in international markets. He has been spending sleepless nights guarding the tree. Buyers are usually HNIs, luxury fruit stores, premium hotels, and high-end restaurants.

Layoffs are definitely stressful. In my first job after campus, I worked for nine months at a company and tasted what a layoff feels like. Dreams get shattered. We become low and insecure. We get drained. We undersell ourselves in every situation. Even if you are highly talented, a lack of confidence leads you to make multiple mistakes.

Then I realized that when you are at a highly comfortable stage and at the peak of your career, you should quit your job, rank, and earnings and start fresh. It does not mean shifting between multiple companies for a higher package. That is another insecurity process.

In my view, ten years is a decent period to prove yourself in any organization. After that, if you are doing well in that organization, we should move on and start from scratch, as if we were freshers again, in terms of experience, learning, and skills. I attempted two different transitions with different skill requirements. They partly worked and partly failed.

Now I have crossed 50! I do not think God permits me another major transition due to age, skills, health, and many other family parameters. Maybe the next transition will be learning how to lead a retirement life without a proper pension and with fluctuating financial markets that offer no fixed returns!

You might be wondering how these things are connected.

For the last few months, many highly paid executives have been getting laid off. Maybe Japanese Miyazaki mangoes could be part of the solution! If someone with international experience and someone with traditional farming techniques join together, India can become a truly Atmanirbhar Bharat.

We also have different desi varieties. Kesar mango, a GI-tagged variety from Gujarat, sells for $15 to $25 per box in international markets. Alphonso mango from Maharashtra sells for ₹700 to ₹2,000 per dozen. Noorjahan mango from Madhya Pradesh costs between ₹500 and ₹1,500 per piece. Safeda from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu sells for $10 to $15 per kilogram.

If we have enough money for food, healthcare, shelter, and a few basic luxuries, it is more than sufficient to lead a comfortable life.

We should also realize that even if we leave behind a lot of wealth for our children, statistics show that they may not always get along well. Their trajectories, lifestyles, choices, aspirations, and spending patterns will be different. These differences often become reasons for disagreements among siblings.

God has already designed a way for us to live on this earth and has also fixed a time for our departure. Accept the fact, live meaningfully, and move on.

Ravi Saripalle

Are We Heading Towards the Confluence of Climate Crisis, Capability Crisis, and Computational Crisis?

Dear Friends,

In our apartment complex, 7 out of 14 bore pumps are not functioning, despite a depth of 100 ft. One of my relatives’ apartments has had a bore well that has been dry for the last month and has been dependent on a tanker. Of course, we are in the middle of a hot summer now. I understand this is a usual scene for the last 40–50 years. But the context is different now!

In my childhood, when we used to hear the news on the radio, weather reports were more prominent. During summer, we used to hear about a few places, like Ramagundam, in the combined Andhra Pradesh that crossed 40°C. Nowadays, more than 60–70 mandals in the state have registered maximum temperatures above 40°C.

While we are talking about the climate crisis, the IEA says data center electricity consumption reached 415 TWh in 2024 and could more than double to 945 TWh by 2030 in some projections. America today has 4,011 data centers. By 2030? More than 7,000. Power consumption today: 29 gigawatts. By 2030: 134 gigawatts. That is 12% of all U.S. electricity. Are we heading towards a climate crisis?

Electrical Engineering researchers have a significant scope for research to meet this demand; otherwise, it could lead to another energy crisis.

Recently, Uber reportedly exhausted its 2026 AI budget in just 4 months on Claude Code, highlighting how token-based AI pricing can undermine traditional enterprise budgeting. It also appears that Microsoft is reportedly cancelling many internal Claude Code licenses because of rising AI coding costs and shifting users toward GitHub Copilot, though there is no official statement yet.

What does this mean? This may be the beginning of a computational crisis

If an engineering graduate learns coding using these tools, assuming free GPT availability, what happens if these tools suddenly stall? What happens to these students' learning?

On top of this, recently I saw a video of a few workers wearing head-mounted cameras and doing ironing, clothes folding, gardening, cooking, and walking in public places, while donating their experience to machines that could eventually perform the same tasks. Interestingly, they are being paid only 12 cents per hour for this activity. One day, they may be powering their own replacements. This may be the beginning of a capability crisis

Meanwhile, Christopher Olah, Anthropic Co-Founder, was invited by the Vatican as one of the few technology representatives, signaling a rare collaboration between the AI industry and religious institutions. Olah emphasized that AI governance cannot be left only to Big Tech companies.

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII addressed similar concerns during the Industrial Revolution. Again, after 135 years, in 2026, Pope Leo XIV called for protecting human dignity in the age of AI.

In this chaos, while the world debates who will build the biggest AI model, a 16-year-old student from Gujarat built a solar-powered AI rover (Edge Computing without WiFi) that helps farmers save water and improve yields using simple, affordable technology. These prototypes remind us that India's AI future may be shaped not by trillion-dollar models, but by solving real-world problems at scale.

What is your preparation to avoid falling into the trap of the Climate Crisis, Capability Crisis, and Computational Crisis?

Ravi Saripalle

The heart is not damaged only by cholesterol; it is also damaged by unspoken pressure!!

Dear Friends

My father passed away in his late fifties, and at that time, I was in my mid-twenties. It was a bit early for his age; however, the silver lining is that there were no major responsibilities regarding children's education, marriages/their jobs, or financial liability. These 3 factors predominantly determine the cost of death. However, we cannot value or replace the emotional loss.

Since then, I have been doing some research on age, responsibilities, and the cost of death trio patterns. In my view, up to 40, the body behaves like a new machine. 40–55:

Minor warning lights appear. 55–60: The machine still runs, but hidden wear becomes visible. WHO and Lancet-linked studies show: working >55 hours/week increases heart disease risk. On Feb 19, 2026, The Times of India published an interesting article titled “Success stress: Why high performers face greater cardiac risk.” This is absolutely true. High achievers are frequently conditioned to remain composed under pressure. Research has demonstrated an association between unexpressed stress, autonomic imbalance, and increased cardiac risk.

You might be wondering why I am talking about this topic today. Yes, yesterday, when I heard about a known high-profile professional who passed away due to cardiac arrest at the age of 59, I was a bit shocked. He is a veteran at Microsoft. I first heard his name when we worked for Microsoft as a vendor. My spouse used to work as a Project Manager for Windows testing, and I worked for MS IT Systems. This person used to be the head of Windows. He was instrumental in setting up the India MS Office. He was also an active angel and seed investor in startups across the US and internationally. He is considered to be a generous mentor, a visionary leader, and one of the most respected figures in the developer ecosystem.

It is not one isolated case; in recent times, we are witnessing more and more people in this age bracket getting affected. Of course, I do not know the personal background of this case. Generally, when I am trying to analyze similar situations, I find multiple reasons. There is a subtle pressure that builds up after 50. The time we can prove is less. We inch up in the professional ladder to the peak stages and are accountable for certain targets and revenues. Without any symptoms, our body becomes weak unknowingly due to peak usage. Our responsibilities are at the final stage and critical point (esp. children's marriages, their jobs, pension worries, Basic ailments like Sugar, BP, Heart, etc.). Externally, we look healthy, but internally, the pressure gets jacked up.

There was an interesting article in the Times back in 2025. Study finds two turning points at which the body begins aging rapidly. A major study by Stanford Medicine has discovered that our bodies go through two major “speed-up” phases — around mid-40s and again around early 60s — when many biological systems shift dramatically at once. During these ages, organs, tissues, and internal systems start to wear down more quickly than before. Aging might come in waves. More precisely, approximately at ages 44 and 60.

What is the solution for this subtle problem? Can you solve this, since many of the parameters are not in our control? The true answer is NO. We cannot solve this problem, no matter what exercise, medication, or props you create. It is under God’s intervention. At most, what we can do is start planning to resolve these issues from 44 and try to complete them before 60, where these turning points are critical in our lives. If you look at our ancient wisdom, they planned our life accordingly- marriage, kids, retirement dates, etc are designed that way. We should not defy God’s design. Accept them with grace and surrender to HIM.

God designed pain not only to punish, but sometimes to pause us. These are my personal views.

Ravi Saripalle

From Horoscope to Hallucination: How AI Is Quietly Reshaping Personal Decisions!

Dear Friends,

On March 7, 2023, I wrote an article on “The Changing Driving Forces of the Indian Marriage System!” (www.linkedin.com/pulse/changing-driving-forces-indian-marriage-system-saripalle/). Today, on average, any successful matchmaking passes through 15 parameters such as family history, horoscope, star, caste, nature of the job, package, location, appearance, social habits, the boy’s/girl’s previous social background, influences, the financial position of both families, educational background of both families, and many more. I am only taking basic parameters; in some cases, they go up to 32.

15–20 years ago, the conditions were heavily weighted toward the boy’s side, but today they are heavily weighted toward the girl’s side. Thanks to social media, both pains and perspectives are shared openly and publicly. Earlier, due to ego, they were either within the house or inside the heart. They were not publicly shared. Today, Gen Z kids are openly sharing those views and highlighting the flaws in the system.

A few days back, there was an article in the Hindustan Times. A woman lost 1 crore rupees or £100,000 in London, moved to Australia due to family constraints, worked as a product manager, and was fired due to market conditions. She now works as a cleaner and housekeeping manager at Airbnb houses. I appreciate this woman’s confidence and dignity of labor. In fact, many great founders did the same. Jan Koum worked as a grocery store cleaner in California during his youth to support himself and his mother after immigrating to the United States from Ukraine.

A married man or woman can publicly write, but can a prospective (yet to get married) boy or girl who is on the verge of the process confidently write in the current circumstances? I doubt it. Adding to this complexity, AI has now been added to these 15–30 parameters. To date, parents have not resorted much to AI for background verification, but thanks to free GPT tools, they are now asking AI for help as well.

Yesterday, there was an article in Moneycontrol. The summary of the article is: “When a father Googled his daughter's potential match, Google AI confidently declared the CEO already married to a woman named Joya. The problem? She does not exist.” He wrote, “I almost lost a marriage prospect to an AI hallucination. Her father did what every Indian father does before the match—he Googled me.” (https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/google-ai-invented-a-wife-for-me-how-an-ai-hallucination-nearly-ruined-this-ceo-s-marriage-prospect-13912953.html)

This is the result of hallucination. What if this hallucination goes the other way, stating something positive about the prospect? That is also not correct. Where do LLMs get most of their data? Reddit. About 40.1% of references are now from Reddit. This has outpaced Wikipedia (26.3%) and YouTube (23.5%), among others. LLM output is shaped by fast-moving discussions, real user reviews, and the latest opinions. Trust is increasingly crowdsourced.

In this context, if a boy's or a girl's data is widely discussed on social media, their profile can be trained, and LLMs may provide more accurate information about that person. If the data is skewed, the answers will also be skewed.

So far, AI's impact has largely been on jobs. Now, slowly, it is entering personal lives as well. We need to do something for the age group of 1–8. According to the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, the first 8 years can lay the foundation for future learning, health, and life success.

We need to initiate a special project for this age group. Next time, I will write about this project.

Ravi Saripalle

Investor-Founder vs Mother-In-Law (MIL)-Daughter-In-Law (DIL): Are They Similar?

Dear Friends,

Recently, I was invited by Tally Software to speak at the Startup Conclave as a panel speaker. Interestingly, the topic is “Term Sheet to Trouble: Investor-Founder Relationships That Go Wrong”. I was doing a little research in this area and thinking about which social relationship resembles this issue.

I felt that it was the relationship between the mother-in-law (MIL) and daughter-in-law (DIL). If we go into deep social science, the most common issues in this relationship are ideological indifference, economic indifference, control indifference, or psychological indifference. We see this in many serials, movies, and common households.

A few examples could be (I am only quoting a few representative examples; sometimes they are reversed, or they may not exist as well. These are personal views only):

1. Ideological Indifference (Difference in beliefs/values) – MIL believes in traditional roles (family-first, joint decisions); DIL believes in individual autonomy (career-first, personal choice).

2. Economic Indifference (Money & resource decisions) – MIL prefers saving, frugality, and control over expenses; DIL prefers spending on lifestyle, experiences, or independence.

3. Control Indifference (Decision-making power) – MIL feels she has authority in household decisions; DIL wants equal say or independence.

4. Psychological Indifference (Emotional expectations) – MIL expects respect, acknowledgment, and inclusion; DIL expects space, understanding, and trust.

In a similar vein, the investor–founder relationship is subtle but critical. A few examples could be as follows:

1. Vision Alignment – Founder wants to build a long-term, sustainable company; investor wants quick scale and an exit.

2. Financial Alignment (Burn vs Runway) – Founder spends aggressively for growth; investor pushes for cost control and profitability.

3. Control & Governance Alignment – Investor has board seats and veto rights; founder expects operational freedom.

4. Expectation & Communication Alignment – Founder shares selective updates; investor expects full transparency and regular reporting.

We have seen many examples across the globe. Let's do a small quiz.

In the case of OpenAI, Elon Musk was an early co-founder and supporter when it was initially created as a non-profit focused on safe AI for humanity. OpenAI evolved into a capped-profit / commercial model. Musk exited OpenAI (2018) and later became a public critic of its direction. It is an example of Vision misalignment.

In the Byju's vs lenders/investors case, there is a tension between aggressive expansion and acquisitions, and cash flow and debt repayment pressures. Outcome: legal disputes with lenders, restructuring pressure, and valuation concerns. This comes under Financial misalignment.

Steve Jobs had a strong product vision and wanted to control the whole process, while the board pushed for professional management, structure, and stability. What was the outcome? Jobs was forced out of Apple Inc. in 1985. This is a classic case of Control & Governance Misalignment.

Let's evaluate the Indian case: Housing.com founder vs investors—communication style, governance expectations, and leadership differences. What was the outcome? Founder exited despite strong early growth (ET, 2015). This comes under Expectation & Communication misalignment.

Having said that, the world cannot exist without the MIL-DIL relationship. It is most sacred. At the end of the day, they make the family survive. The same applies to Founder and Investor. They make the business survive. These conflicts are given, but conflict resolutions are scientific and well-designed. That is the art of life and the art of business.

Do you see any other alignment issues beyond these four, either between MIL & DIL or between Founder & Investor?

Ravi Saripalle

Wealth Is Inherited. Mindset Is Not.

Dear Friends,

Recently, I was listening to a podcast of GV Keshav Reddy (Raw Talks with VK - www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ52JaOnBp4). This is a bit lengthy but interesting. Keshav is the grandson of GV Krishna Reddy, founder of GVK Industries Limited. It is a conglomerate, including infrastructure projects (e.g., Mumbai Airport). Keshav is the founder of EQUAL (India's largest data-sharing platform). They are also building Equal AI. It will be an AI assistant for you. If you are in a meeting and get a call, it answers on your behalf and thinks like you because it has been trained over time.

The most interesting part of the conversation is about the future of AI and frugality. Interestingly, Keshav does not have a cabin in his office and sits along with other employees. I appreciate his open-mindedness.

He also spoke about how Elon Musk sits in his office. It seems he got an opportunity to travel along with Nikhil Kamath (Zerodha founder), who did a podcast with Elon Musk. Elon Musk worked the whole day on various functions, made his kids sleep at night, came to the podcast at 10:45 PM, and did a continuous podcast till 2:30 AM, non-stop, without any fatigue. Keshav heard from Nikhil that Elon Musk does not have a separate cabin and instead sits in the factory among the machines to supervise the entire operation. This is amazing! I read somewhere how the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $778 billion, lives frugally. He lives in a humble $50,000 ranch-style house in Texas and has sold all his houses in California.

When I joined Wipro, I used to wonder what Premji usually drives. One day, I had the opportunity to observe him as he came out of the lift. No security, no office staff, no signs of any officers, simply walking alone towards his Ford car and checking in. That day, I realized that a car is no longer a status symbol.

I still remember—maybe people from my age group in the 1980s/90s will echo with me. In those days, we used to press the toothpaste tube hard to push out the last bit of Colgate. Prior to this, it was Dabur Red Tooth Powder - Dabur Lal Dant Manjan. Oh my God! It used to be spicy! However, my father insisted on using that. Travel meant going to the nearest city within 60 km. Once in 5 years, we would travel beyond 500 km on a few occasions.

The other day, I was at the airport. Kids were bargaining with parents for an international trip. Parents were negotiating as a return gift for good exam marks. This is a wrong precedent. In fact, the "third-generation curse" was discussed in the above podcast. The third-generation curse recognizes that very few family businesses survive beyond the third generation. There is a statistic frequently cited in wealth management: nearly 90% of family wealth is lost by the third generation. If parents give their children this extravagant taste, the grandchildren suffer.

Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877 as one of the richest men in America. By 1973, among his 120 descendants, none were millionaires. Research shows that heirs inherit money but not the mindset.

Hitarth Dholakia, the youngest son of Ghanshyam Dholakia, one of the founders of Rs 6,000 crore Hare Krishna Diamond Exports, stayed in Hyderabad for a month to understand the pain and struggles of common people. This is a common practice in their family so that they inherit the mindset. This is the real solution before offering wealth. He had to live without the Dholakia tag and without a mobile phone. His father gave him Rs 500 and an envelope with a flight ticket. He did not know where he would land.

What are you doing to avoid a third-generation curse in your family?

Ravi Saripalle

The Life Choices of India’s Brightest Minds

Dear Friends,

Let's assume your son or daughter studied CSE at IIT Bombay. Right after graduation, he/she declares that they would not go after the software or corporate route. They want to explore life and career. They want to build their career on passion rather than on their college degree. Honestly, what is your response? If I am in that position, I would take some time to digest this fact. Maybe after some time, I might accept it, but it will take time to adopt.

Why did this question suddenly come up? I will share the profile of the following person. Can you guess what this wizkid is experimenting with in life? IITB CSE ’21 | JEE 2017 AIR 1 (360/360 scorer). You might be wondering: he might have gone for an MS/PhD, joined a financial company as a Quant Specialist, joined an MNC as a Software Engineer, or become an AI Engineer at an AI model development firm. Yes, right. However, it is not. Please read his recent post:

“9 years ago today (2nd April 2017), I gave my JEE. I got AIR 1 and became the only person ever to score a perfect 360/360 score. This day looked normal back then, but it changed my life. I went from yet another high schooler to national news overnight. The traditional corporate IIT route never appealed to me, and the popularity I enjoyed due to my rank helped me pursue many different careers. Over the years, I’ve been an educator, built businesses, spoken across the country, invested, traveled, and very recently, started releasing my own music as a singer-songwriter. I’ve been focusing a lot more on investing and music lately, and you’ll hear more of my music this year. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in my journey. In more ways than one, it is our story — not just mine.” — Kalpit Veerwal

Interestingly, this post prompted me to think about what 3 batches before the JEE toppers were doing and what 3 batches after the 2017 topper are doing.

2020 – Chirag Falor → From IIT CSE, joined but dropped; moved to MIT (BTech, MS). His final thesis is on quantum cryptography.
2019 – Kartikeya Gupta → BTech CSE, IITB; Samsung internship; no idea after that, as LinkedIn is not updated further.
2018 – Pranav Goyal → IITB CSE; Jane Street quantitative trader in Hong Kong; no LinkedIn updates further.
2016 – Aman Bansal → IITB CSE; Stanford MS (ML focus); now with WisdomAI.
2015 – Satwat Jagwani → IITB for 2 years; moved to MIT (BS, MS); Software Development Engineer at Cadence Design Systems.
2014 – Chitraang Murdia → IITB CSE (dropped); BS MIT in Physics; PhD at University of California, Berkeley; Physics postdoc at UPenn now.

After reading these profiles, I understand: same starting point, different lives. That is not confusion — that is freedom. Who is right and who is stereotyped, we cannot judge. But one common pattern I observed in all is that they use LinkedIn less 🙂. I hardly see posts, except a few. It means they are still focused on the path they have taken and are building on it.

I am not trying to highlight the rank, but I want to study the psychological paths of people in the same bracket in a country like India, which has a population of 1.4 billion.

If I have to summarize based on their profiles:
Kalpit Veerwal (2017) — Explorer
Chirag Falor (2020), Chitraang Murdia (2014) — Seekers
Kartikeya Gupta (2019) — maybe Executor
Pranav Goyal (2018) — maybe Performer
Aman Bansal (2016), Satwat Jagwani (2015) — more of Builders

What I realize is: not all toppers chase stability. Some chase self.

To all my parent friends-Parents seek certainty. Children seek possibility!!

Ravi Saripalle

A Lotus Stem, A Pickpocket, and a Life Lesson: Street Intelligence to Startup Intelligence

Dear Friends

During my childhood, I saw one movie. I was unable to recollect the name. In that, whether hero or villain, is still unable to recall, jumps into a huge pond, goes under the water, and swims across the pond and remains under the water for a long time breathing through a lotus stem. It was a fascinating scene at that time. I was wondering whether that is really possible? Can someone have that kind of skill in an unplanned or accidental moment without practice? This was my question.

I received an answer, maybe after 40 years! A couple of days back, an interesting incident happened near Jabalpur Railway Station, MP. In a chase that resembled a military-style survival drill, a suspect jumped into a moss-covered pond to evade arrest. To avoid detection, he remained submerged underwater for hours. Used a hollow lotus stem as a breathing tube. This man was deboarding a train and trying to flee after attempting to steal a purse from a woman in the train at around 4:15 AM. The RPF team chased him. To avoid arrest, he jumped into the pond. The RPF team called divers, launched a search operation, and finally nabbed him (Times of India).

For discussion’s sake, let's keep aside that he is the thief. Let’s analyze what skills this guy might possess. He has the Presence of Mind (Quick thinking under pressure to choose an unconventional escape route), Situational Awareness (Ability to use the environment (pond, lotus stem) effectively), Survival Skills (Managing breath control and staying underwater for an extended time), Risk-taking Ability, Stress Tolerance, and finally Adaptability (Responding instantly to an unexpected situation without prior planning).

What has been done is absolutely wrong. Had he used all these skills in a positive direction, he could have become a Film Industry Stunt / Survival Consultant, Adventure / Trekking / Water Activity Guide, Lifeguard / Water Rescue Assistant, Security, Forest / Wildlife Tracker, Undercover Field Research Assistant, or, more technically, an Extreme Environment Product Tester (Gear / IoT / Safety Equipment).

Rich and Poor are divided by their attitudes toward learning and earning. 20 Years back, I was traveling on a local bus from Ameerpet to Miyapur, Hyderabad. I was standing on the bus. There was no major crowd as well. As I was nearing Miyapur Jn, someone dashed past me swiftly. By the time I turned back, my back pocket was cut, and the person who had jumped off the bus ran away. In the evening, I received a phone call from an unknown number and was told that a purse containing credit cards, ID cards, etc., was lying at an isolated spot near Miyapur. If you want, you can come and collect from the slum nearby (the community hall nearby). Many of my Wipro friends suggested this is an organized mafia; it's better to keep your car away from the place. Keep a 500 note in a covered envelope. As soon as they give this purse to you, hand over this envelope to them and run from that place before they open the envelope. They expect more money and demand as well. By the time I reached, it was around 8 PM, and a few people had drunk, and exactly the same thing happened. They asked for money. I asked for my purse, handed over the envelope, and literally ran from that place.

This group possesses the entrepreneurial competencies. I teach Entrepreneurship to my students. If I have to decode their competencies, here is the mapping- Opportunity Recognition (Identifies target (victim), timing, and context quickly, Understands where vulnerability exists (crowded transport, distraction points), Execution Speed (Acts swiftly and decisively (cutting pocket, escaping, coordination)), Risk-taking Ability, Resource Utilization (Effectuation Thinking) (Uses available means (crowd, environment, network), Minimal resources → maximum outcome), Networking & Collaboration (Works in organized groups (informal networks), Coordination between picker, carrier, and negotiator ), Customer Psychology Understanding, Negotiation Skills and Resilience.

God gifts us with certain skills. If they are not misused and utilized ethically, the whole world can live peacefully and happily. Many elephants, lions, deer, and birds are happily living. Why? They are simply executing the God-gifted skills without much greed, not worried about tomorrow. They are taken care.

Plan life ethically. Outcomes leave it to God.

Ravi Saripalle

When the Mind Becomes the Battlefield: The Real Crisis Is Within

Dear Friends,

Recently, the Indian Society for Training and Development, VSP Chapter, invited me to speak on “Inner Balance in a Busy World: Living Mindfulness.” I accepted the talk not because I am a subject-matter expert, but because sometimes I am an honest failure. For that matter, many of us have failed at some point in our lives, unless we are spiritually elevated. Yes, it is true — we will not gain enough inner capacity unless we imbibe spirituality.

That said, only two kinds of people can speak at a time: the one who has succeeded, for obvious reasons, and the one who has failed, who can share those experiences so that others need not experiment in that direction.

I am really worried about a few statistics: 1 in 8 people globally lives with a mental disorder. India accounts for approximately 36% of global suicide deaths in the young population segment. Around 77% of employees report stress at work. Mental health issues cause approximately 12 billion lost workdays globally per year. They cost the global economy around $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. What could be the reason? There are many theories; however, let me present one perspective from the spiritual dimension.

In Satya Yuga, it is said that Devas (demigods) and Asuras (demons) lived in different worlds. Good and bad were clearly separated. In the Treta Yuga, the Devas and Asuras were on the same planet but in different countries. Rama lived in India, and Ravana in Lanka. The distance between good and evil reduced, and conflict began. In the Dvapara Yuga, good and bad lived in the same country but in different cities. Krishna and Kamsa lived close to each other. Conflicts became more frequent, and tension became part of life. And today, in Kali Yuga, there is no distance left. Good and bad do not live in different worlds, countries, or cities — they live within the same mind. The mind becomes confused.

Let me share an example of how our minds are confused and immersed in conflict today. Let us take the scenario of world wars. World War I was fought between “Britain, France, Russia, and later the USA” versus “Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria,” etc. In World War II, it was again clear: the “USA, the UK, the Soviet Union, China, France” versus “Germany, Italy, Japan,” etc. Today’s wars are confusing. There are no clear sides, no clear visibility. Determining who is on whose side is difficult.

For example (using these examples only for explanation, not in a real scenario), if my sister or brother is living in one of the countries on the initiating side of the war, I would support them. If my gas cylinder had been empty yesterday and our country’s tanker was allowed through the Strait today, I might take the opposite view. If a tweet about war wipes out my stock portfolio, I might blame one side again. If a non-friendly country is on one side, I might support the other side, regardless of my actual preference. In this way, the mind continuously generates conflicting signals. Obviously, this results in the numbers mentioned earlier.

Yesterday, I heard a talk where someone gave a beautiful definition of “rich” and “middle class.” If you are earning 50 lakh per year but, due to all the EMIs you carry, you cannot quit your job next month, you may be considered poor. If you have a basic house to live in, your monthly expenses are less than 50,000, and your earnings are 60,000 with 10,000 savings per month, you may be considered rich. If you are earning 1 crore per year but at the cost of your health, you may still be poor. In this way, definitions are being reinterpreted.

What is the solution to this? The answer lies in the topic I was asked to speak about. Of course, it is difficult to practice, but we should try. A new perspective could be this: the rich understand the difficulty of understanding and practicing this, while the poor do not even recognize the need.

Maybe I am still struggling in the middle class — both materially and spiritually!

Ravi Saripalle

What I Thought Was Joy… Was Actually Survival: Stories We Don’t See

Dear Friends,

A couple of my uncles used to work as linemen/line supervisors in the Indian Railways. They were responsible for track quality and maintenance planning. However, it was not an easy job. One of my uncles used to be a supervisor on the Araku (AP)–Kirandul (Chhattisgarh) track. Once, I visited that place as a child. I used to be fascinated by his job, watching him sit on a trolley as the gangmen pushed it. I thought it was a royal joy trip.

After many years, I heard that another uncle lost his life during this process. Then I realized how difficult this job is.

It works like this: a manual trolley (hand-pushed cart) is placed on the track. The supervisor sits on the trolley. 5–6 gangmen sit on the trolley. The wheels fit perfectly on the rails. One of them holds a handle attached to the trolley. He pushes and runs on the narrow rail at the same time. This helps to gain speed quickly. Once enough speed is built, the worker jumps onto the trolley and sits or stands with others. The trolley continues moving due to momentum. No pushing is needed for some distance. When the speed drops, another lineman jumps down, pushes again, and jumps back on. In fact, one of my uncles lost his life in the process due to an imbalance.

They used to work daily along assigned track sections (usually 5–10 km). They had to work in scorching heat (40°C+), sometimes in heavy rains, and sometimes in cold evenings. The responsibility was very high. Any small mistake could lead to major accidents. They needed to observe tiny cracks, loose fittings, and alignment issues. They followed hammer-sound testing and visual inspection. Indian Railways employs around 2.5 to 3 lakh track maintainers.

You may be wondering why I am raising this work now. An Indo-Russian consortium has bagged an Indian Railways contract worth ₹1,100 crore for track upkeep. The contract covers the supply of 18 self-propelled ultrasonic testing vehicles. These systems will use AI and machine learning tools to enhance diagnostic accuracy. These vehicles are equipped with sensors to detect microscopic fractures in rails before they become hazardous. Russia has one of the largest and harshest rail environments in the world. Their engineers are experts at maintaining tracks that can withstand extreme temperature fluctuations and heavy freight loads. As India targets the 160–200 km/h speed range for its premium trains, this is necessary.

Sometimes, I was unable to handle project pressures when I was working in software. Way back in 2006, I was the project manager for the Nokia website. During the Thanksgiving period, one of the modules was hanging. It was peak business season. If we did not get it up and running, we might have lost the contract. It took a big toll on me at that time. I really felt the pressure. Having said that, if I compare that with my uncle’s job, it was nothing.

A soldier in Siachen guarding our nation in -30°C to -40°C, a firefighter risking his/her life to rescue others, a honey collector climbing hills to bring sweetness to your home, a Swachh Sramik working in the mud to keep the world clean, a miner going deep into the dark to provide light for you, or a forest guard without protection safeguarding our green cover — these are real tough jobs.

Do you agree?

Ravi Saripalle

Multi-Calendar Living: India’s Hidden Superpower

Dear Friends,

Way back in 2004, I met one of my customers in San Francisco. I was the first person to land in this particular account at SFO to transition the work to India. It was a huge responsibility for me, as account growth depended on the success of the transition to India. However, it was a phase when Offshore Development Centres began (now they are called or have transitioned into GCCs - Global Capability Centres). It was also an early recovery stage from the dot-com bust. By the end of the 2002 stock market downturn, stocks had lost $5 trillion in market capitalization since the peak. At its trough on October 9, 2002, the NASDAQ-100 had dropped to 1,114, down 78% from its peak. Hence, customers were cautious about every move.

I was tasked with building a relationship with this specific customer and ensuring a seamless transition to India. During the process, my customer raised an important concern: the team was not in a good mood to transition. There were different applications, different teams, different domains, different managers, different organizations, and many such differences in this transition process. “We are highly methodological. How will you ensure this?” he asked.

At that time, I responded with one important cultural aspect. I said, “Culturally, we are designed to handle these differences. We can manage this without much worry.” Having said that, I did not have the maturity to fully answer that question at that age. I was hardly 29 at that time.

Yesterday, we all celebrated Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. I was reminded of this question again. If we think deeply, it is true — we are well equipped to handle complexity.

We all use the Gregorian calendar (January to December) to align with global business and official work. We file taxes based on the financial year (April to March) from an Indian business perspective. Our children attend schools and colleges based on the academic calendar (June to April). We also follow the regional Hindu calendar — in our case, Ugadi — which marks the beginning of the lunisolar month of Chaitra. This typically falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar, and the date changes every year.

On this day, we begin by eating Ugadi pachadi, a unique dish that combines six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter, and astringent. It symbolically reminds us of the different phases of life that we must be prepared to experience in the coming year. In a way, it prepares us for life itself.

Diwali, especially the day of Lakshmi Puja, typically falls in October or November. It is considered auspicious and, in some traditions, even treated as a financial beginning. On this day, Indian stock exchanges conduct a special Muhurat Trading session. Interestingly, the market is often bullish during that hour. That reflects the trust people place in that muhurtham.

We also observe the solar movement calendar — Uttarayanam and Dakshinayanam — which influences agriculture and rituals. It is not just about farming or rituals; traditionally, even the timing of death is associated with these phases, with Uttarayana considered more auspicious. This reflects the deep belief systems embedded in these cycles.

It is not limited to the Hindu calendar. Muslim communities observe Ramzan fasting based on moon sighting, following their own lunar calendar.

In the midst of all this, the corporate world runs on Q1-Q4 fiscal calendars to track performance. At the same time, children follow multiple exam calendars — sometimes four in a year, sometimes two, sometimes even more — along with competitive exam schedules across different timelines.

And above all, nature follows its own calendar — the monsoon, which is seasonal and beyond human control.

If I have to summarize, we as Indians simultaneously manage multiple layers: the Global Layer, Economic Layer, Learning Layer, Cultural Layer, Spiritual Layer, Cosmic Layer, Survival Layer, and finally, the Personal Layer.

When we are prepared for such complexity in our lives, we can survive and adapt anywhere in the world.

Do you agree?

Ravi Saripalle

Not Even One Minute Is in Our Hands:The Illusion of Control in Our Carefully Planned Lives

Dear Friends,

Ten years back, we were heading to Shamshabad Airport. We were almost at the airport when our taxi rammed into a suddenly stopped lorry. The impact was huge. The bones in my right hand were shattered and I suffered multiple fractures. Having said that, miraculously, neither the driver nor my wife, who was sitting to my left, had a single scratch.

The driver had a seatbelt on. The seat in front of my wife bent down due to the heavy impact. It bent because of a seat malfunction, which surprisingly helped absorb the shock. I was admitted to the nearest hospital, but I requested the doctor to provide temporary support for my hand and give me a letter allowing me to board the flight. I did not want to remain stranded in a hospital in an unknown place without any support system. Despite the pain, I managed to return to my hometown and got admitted to a hospital there.

The point I am trying to make is that we never know how miracles happen in our lives, or how certain malfunctions may actually help us. We make big plans in our lives, but a simple mistake or moment can wipe out our money, position, status, relationships, health, or even our lives.

Let me share another interesting incident that was reported in The Times of India. Usually, a pothole on the road causes accidents or even deaths. However, a miracle happened in Uttar Pradesh. A pothole on the Bareilly-Haridwar National Highway turned out to be a blessing for a 50-year-old woman. She had been declared brain dead and discharged from the hospital with no hope of survival. While being taken home, the ambulance struck a pothole, causing a sudden violent jerk. Immediately, the patient started breathing normally. The family members were asked to stop the funeral preparations. They rushed her back to the hospital, and she is now able to talk as well. Is this not a miracle?

Similarly, Viswashkumar Ramesh walked away from the wreckage of the London-bound flight in Ahmedabad in extraordinary scenes that amazed the world. The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash, which killed 241 people on board, is being called the “luckiest man alive”. Many consider this a miracle.

Can we really plan everything in this world? Perhaps the best we can do is believe in God and make our best effort.

In life, sometimes we receive appreciation for things we may not fully deserve. At other times, we get blamed or even victimized for someone else’s mistake or for completely unrelated events. We often believe that we can control everything in this world, but that is an absolute myth.

Let me share another example. There was a case where an accident occurred at 2:15 PM on April 11, 2017. The insurance policy was officially issued at 3:54 PM on the same day, although the premium had been paid earlier. Initially, the insurer rejected the claim. However, after a long legal battle, the court directed the insurer to honor the claim. We often say casually that “not even a minute is in our hands.” This case proved exactly that.

Having said that, simply sitting idle is absolutely wrong. We must continue to make our best effort, but without becoming overly attached to the results.

Ten-minute deliveries may increase our comfort in life, but some of the deepest lessons of life are learned by spending ten minutes in a burial ground.

Do you agree?

Ravi Saripalle