Emergic: Rajesh Jain's Blog

I watch very little TV on my own — though inadvertently, I end up with quite some TV “inhaling” given that my wife loves watching many of the serials in the evening. I watch cricket occasionally and some of the news channels. And then there is the rare movie. Very little overall. One of my [...]

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It has been a very interesting week. We did Friends of BJP events in Bangalore (Mar 21), Delhi (Mar 26) and Ahmedabad (Mar 28). I was there for all of the events. Travelling and interacting with different people gives a closer glimpse of the unfolding political scenario in India (which is fast-changing). All our events [...]

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This is the time when Political Party Manifestos and IT Vision documents are getting published. It reminded me of the time five years ago when I wrote a letter to the then Minister of IT and Telecom. India stands on the cusp of a revolution. There is optimism all-round and in certain quarters, even fear [...]

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This week’s links: How About Free? The Price Point That Is Turning Industries on Their Heads: From Knowledge@Wharton Sprint Looks to Power Gadgets Beyond Cellphones: From Wall Street Journal. “As Core Business Slumps, Wireless Carrier Aims to Use Its Network for Dashboard Computers, GPS Devices.” Social Media is Here to Stay…Now What? By Danah Boyd. [...]

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Wednesday’s Mint had a front-page story on low-cost computing which discussed Novatium and quoted me: Novatium says its services are primarily targeted at 45-50 million first-time computer users or cybercafe goers who don’t have a computer at home and can use this with the ease of an appliance. … Countering the arguments that netPC is [...]

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I had two journalists call me on Wednesday wanting to talk about the role of the Internet and mobile in the Elections. Here is a summary of the points I made: Internet reaches about 50 million of 700 million (7%) voters; so overall impact is small. Question is how much influence does this group have [...]

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I used to love the variety of magazines I’d see in US bookshops and magazine stands. Now, the same diversity can be seen in India. More and more niche magazines are coming out, and each one seems to be different from the others of their ilk. This is happening even as the newspaper coverage has [...]

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Change is always hard. We all like the status quo. For me, the past couple months have been a different sort of ride — working on various activities as part of the Friends of BJP team. I had not given it much thought when I started off on it — it just seemed an interesting [...]

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It is amazing to see the daily dueling between various political parties. The only thing that seems to matter is their desire to maximise seats in the Lok Sabha (especially for the smaller, regional parties) so that the ‘bargaining’ power is higher after the results are declared. As someone put it, the real elections will [...]

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Three years ago that I did a presentation at PC Forum which taught me a lot about public speaking from Jezra Kay, a professional speaker coach I had to do a 2-minute pitch for Novatium. Easy, right? Think again! Jezra started off by quoting Winston Churchill who said something like: “If you want me to [...]

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This week’s links: The Anatomy of Cloud Computing: by Niall Kennedy Social Networks are new Email: from BBC News. ” The growth in such services is being heralded as the start of the real-time, pervasive web.” The Emergence of MVNO 2.0: by Mark Lowenstein [via Sunil M]. The Commercial Republic: by David Brooks [New York [...]

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I had a choice in 1984 – between going to Carnegie Mellon or IIT. I spoke to a friend who had gone to CMU and he recommended IIT. I stayed back in India.My first night in IIT was a long one. I found myself making noodles for a senior at 3 am in the morning. [...]

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During my years in IIT, I tried to learn to do things I hadn’t done before. Like going on Himankan, a trek in the Himalayas. I did it because I thought I couldn’t do it. It was tough during those 12 days, but the memories are still so vivid as I tell four-year-old Abhishek about [...]

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As part of my efforts to grow my involvement in cultural activities in IIT, I contested for Hostel Literary Secretary in my second semester, going up against a senior. My “infectious enthusiasm” carried the day and I won by 2 votes out of 200. As I campaigned, the only thing I had to show were [...]

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All it takes is one Test at IIT to bring us all down to Earth and accept failure as part of life. I still remember getting 3/20 in my first Physics Test. Having been used to topping all through school and college, this was a rude shock. But not the end of life. After my [...]

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As I was preparing for the “My Story” talk as part of the IIT-B Alumni Association’s “Kal, Aaj aur Kal” event in Bangalore on Saturday, a lot of memories came back about my four years from IIT (1984-88). While I could not describe many of these since the talk became a panel conversation, I thought [...]

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In this series written in May 2004, I look at the institution we all belong to, The Company. If there is one thing common to most of us, it is that we are part of a Company. Be it a startup or an established one, be it small or big, be it a local one [...]

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This week’s links: Entrepreneurship Special Report: from The Economist. “Despite the downturn, entrepreneurs are enjoying a renaissance the world over.” How to be a (Software) Program Manager: by Joel Spolsky. “A good program manager combines an engineer’s approach to designing technology with a politician’s ability to build consensus and bring people together.” The Rise of [...]

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I finally got around to updating my Facebook profile! A few years late, I guess. Here’s me on Facebook. Would love some tips on what to do next, and how to make the best use of Facebook. Any suggestions?

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There doesn’t seem to any sign of the 3G auction taking place in the near future. That is a big disappointment, but not entirely unexpected. This is what I had written in early Jan: My feeling on what will happen is that the 3G auction will probably not happen in Jan. And if its gets [...]

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