Useful, no doubt, for sham weddings... Karve Road, Pune

I was a BIG environmentalist as a kid. When I was twelve or thirteen years old, I decided that the society I was living in had too few trees and an open ground, and hence set about planting a few of the former on the latter. My parents gently reminded me that the ground was also used for other purposes, such as playing games and parking cars, and so my original grand plans of planting about twenty trees on the expanse got trimmed down to just two, on the boundary just inside the fence. Now with just two to plant, I could not afford to be indiscriminate in my choice of tree. After some searching in the library (the internet was non-existent in those days), I went to the local branch of the WWF , of which I was a member. There I asked Mr Samuel - a mustachioed gentle guy with a booming voice - which two trees I should plant, that would be the most beneficial to the birds, the environment and the world in general. Mr Samuel immediately brightened to the idea, and asked me to return in a c...

Outside ATM, Aundh

Flyer on tree in Aundh

Last week I was in NOIDA , on a rushed business daytrip. After much wheeling and dealing, our partner company took us to show off their new office. It was quite impressive - a three-storied building exclusively for their business. However, I was more curious about the building coming up next door: I took this snap with my cellphone camera, so the photo is not as clear as I would have wished. But note in particular the scaffolding to the right of the structure. Since I did not have the time to go closer to this phenomenon, I shall enlarge the above photo On each of the "steps" of the scaffolding, there is a man, possibly a daily wage earner. There are about 25 steps, which would increase as the building grows. Together they are hauling up steel reinforcing bars to the top, one after the other. They were apparently involved in this activity for many days on end. I wonder if this practice is followed anywhere else?

It's four and a half years now since I started an enterprise with a close friend and classmate, and it has been one rollercoaster ride all the while! I've been thinking a lot lately about what I've learnt from the experience, and decided to write down my thoughts in a series of intermittent blogs. Today's topic - The importance of working capital I'm writing from the perspective of running an unfunded services business in India (the laws and practices might be different in other countries). Requirement of working capital is obvious in a product-development environment but more insidious, and harder to justify, for us services guys. Let me build up the perfect storm pointwise: 1. Accrual accounting: I had no idea what this term meant before I started out. It means simply that the incomes and expenses for a time period are calculated based on the invoices issued during that period, and not the actual cash flows. So, in a year if I have done work and invoiced projects ...