Save the Olive Ridley Turtles

Support Greenpeace in its campaign to save Olive Ridley turtles.

Tata is building a port in Dhamra, Orissa which if completed will result in endangering the Olive Ridley turtles there.

Mr. Ratan Tata is not paying attention to Greenpeace's demands of stopping the ongoing construction that will affect the turtles badly nor is he ready to move the port elsewhere.

I just hope Mr. Tata starts paying attention to the planet that we all are obliged to protect and conserve and just for one time keep aside our businesses and think about the how the earth will profit from our actions. Moreover he will be setting an eco-friendly example for other Indian industrialists.


Here is how the media is helping out Greenpeace:


Here is an advertisement that Greenpeace had published in ET and The Herald Tribune, papers that Mr. Tata reads,

The details of this campaign can be seen HERE

Please expect more blogposts from me supporting this issue.

Pranjal Wagh

The Power of Ideas

Encouraging and empowering young entrepreneurs...


Wednesday , 8 April, 2009

We at, A Rational Mind, were surprised and overjoyed when we received an invitation from The Economic Times to cover the second phase of their event, The Power of Ideas as a part of Online Social Media. We jumped at the opportunity and were present at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra for this event.


The Initiative

The Power of Ideas is a joint initiative by Economic Times (ET) and Indian Angel Networks (IAN) for inviting new entrepreneurial ideas from young minds, testing them and providing them the necessary financial support.

This program is divided into four phases.
Phase 1 called for business ideas and received an overwhelming response with the panel receiving a massive 12000+ ideas. Over 1000 ideas were shortlisted for Phase 2 – Group mentoring and Elevator Pitch where the participants will present their detailed business plans to the investor panel.

Phase 3 involves One-on-One mentoring with senior mentors via phone/email and candidates selected hereafter will be presenting their mentored ideas in Phase 4 to a gathering of investors wherein suitable participants will get the required funds.


The evening begins

The evening began with Mr. Vinod Mahanta, Corporate Dossier for ET delivering the welcome address. He emphasized that in times like today when most CEOs have lost hope it is the hopeful young minds with good ideas who will make a difference.

He then introduced the panel which consisted of established entrepreneurs who were members of Indian Angel Network (IAN) and invest in potential business ideas. Mr. Mahanta then invited some of the members of the panel to share their experiences with the entrepreneurs-to-be.


Entrepreneurial journey shared

Mr. Harish Mehta, one of the founder members of NASSCOM and owner of Onward Novell (I) Pvt. Ltd., shared with us the highlights of his entrepreneurial journey and emphasized that entrepreneurship is the way to get paid for brains and not sweat. He expressed his opinion that not large companies but entrepreneurs will be the agent of change in the society.

Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan then took the stage and guided us through his journey in the floral retail business which ultimately led to the foundation of Flora2000.com which delivers flowers worldwide. He shared with us the mantra that team building is an important and lengthy process but once the team is built it is then that things start happening. He stressed that whatever your product may be it is the cool marketing idea that you implement that will appeal to the investors and the customers.

The evening was a very good learning experience for the entire audience. Mr. Krishna Jha, co-founder of ITfinity, a member of the panel and an IAN investor, kept the audience smiling by doling out funny but wise statements. When he was asked whether “It was the right time to start” he replied “ The right time to start is NOW”, quickly adding “irrespective of when the question is asked!”. The importance of having a partner in a business was also stressed upon. However, one of the most wisest things from him for the evening was “ One has to face rejection often in business. It is the ability to overcome rejection and succeed that makes the difference. The money made from this success pays off the trauma of rejection!”

A new entrepreneur’s tale

Mr. Krishnan Madhabushi, co- founder of Kwench, an online library for Corporates, was recently granted funds by IAN. He was invited to share his thoughts with the audience. He said that the inputs from the investors helps in the evolution of the company and looking at the business model from a different perspective is made possible only due to investor interest. These tips were really very helpful to the future entrepreneurs in the audience.

The format of submission

The panel was then engaged in a brief Q&A session by Mr. Mahanta. Ms. Padmaja Ruparel of IAN then explained the format of submission for the Elevator Pitch phase. The slides would cover important aspects of a business plan like Product & Services, Market Analysis, Sales Strategy, Team, Financials. The panel also expressed their own views about what the investors would expect from the participants in their presentations.

The Q&A

Ms. Ruparel then opened the floor for an interactive Q&A session between the panel and the audience. This was a very fruitful session where the audience aired their queries and got good explanatory replies from the panel. There was even a funny situation wherein a man had submitted many ideas and was shortlisted but could not find out for which idea he was selected.

One of the questions discussed the reasons for failure of new startups. It was said that “ Startups die not because of starvation but due to indigestion!”. Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan emphasized that high expenditure often kills startups and savings should be done till it hurts.


All-in-all, this was a very educative session both for us and the audience. It just showed the gold mine of talent that is Young India and the bright examples set by the entrepreneur-investors for us to follow.

We would like to thank Ms. Priya Kapadia, Asst. General Manager-Brand Team, ET for showing faith in us and inviting us over to cover this fabulous initiative. This was not only a learning experience for us in covering an event but it taught us much about what the investors & customers expect from new entrepreneurs. We learnt from her that one individual had submitted six different ideas and all of them were shortlisted for Phase 2.

These shortlisted candidates will now be undergoing the Elevator Pitch session after which they will be shortlisted for Phase 3.

We wish them all the best of luck for their bright futures!

The photos for this event were clicked by members of GeekOnNet team. Our sincere and full thanks to them for sharing them with us and allowing us to publish them! Click to see the slideshow!

Pranjal Wagh


This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

पॉलिटिक्स मिक्स - १

आमचा 'सोन्या' हाय नव्ह,
अमरिकेचा,
त्यो येनार हुता हित, कायमचा!
म्हनून त्येला आणाया गेल्तो इमान्तळावर.

त्यो आला तवा त्येला ओळख्लाच न्हाय!
एकदम खादी मध्येच अस्सा समुर आला,
म्या म्हटला " देवा, सोन्याचा असा काय झाला?"

सोन्याला विंग्रजीत म्हटला
" काय सोनोपंत, ह्यो काय केलय ध्यान?
कुठली तुमी तलवार आणि कसली घातलीया तुमी म्यान?"

त्यावर सोन्याने घेतला लाम्बलचक पॉज़,
खिष्यात हात घातला, नि काढला एक कागुद.
कागुद वाचीत म्हन्तो कसा?
" मी ठुम्च्या गावात निव्हाड्न्युक लॅडनार आहे"

सौरव गांगूली बॉल लागल्यावर उडतो
तसा मी बी उडालो!
लेका तुला न्हाय इथला काय माहीत
ना भाषा, ना काही, तू फॉरिनर,
आन् तू कसा काय उभा राहणार
इंडियाच्या विलेक्शन मधी?

विंग्रजीत सोन्या म्हन्तो कसा
(आता सगळाच कागुदवर असता व्हय, मराठीत बोलाया?)
"काळजी नसावी. आपल्याच गावचा 'मोहन' हाये,
त्येच 'मन' तयार केलय,
मी जित्लो तर त्यो र्‍हाईल माझ्या जागी
मी फकस्त पाठिंब्याचा 'हात' द्येतो,
हुबा राहतो मागी मागी!
सत्ता आल्यावर हाती,
काय बरा-वाईट झालाच
तर फोडू खापर मोहनच्या माथी!"

म्या चक्रावलो, म्हनला,
"असा कधी व्हतय काय?"
सोन्या दात दाखवित म्हनला
" गोष्ट न्हाई ही पूर्वीची फार,
तुमच्याच कंट्री मधी
हुतय हे सिन्स दोन हजार च्यार!"

-प्रांजल वाघ



This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

For all Voters...

The polls are nearing.
I do not think I have a chance to vote because the voter's card hasn't come yet.
But for all those who get to vote I have one suggestion (or advice if you may call it that!)

Think only about the candidate in your constituency.

Do not vote for a particular party just because you like their prime ministerial candidate.
After all who you vote in your constituency will ultimately matter to you. Not the head dude/dudette in the PM's chair.
Check the records of the candidates running for the LS polls. Make sure they have good records, that they are not criminals and that they keep the promises they have made.

www.mumbaivotes.com is an excellent site to check on your candidates credibility (although limited to Mumbai). I would like to thank Mr. Satish VijayKumar of Bombaylives! for this great information.

Start thinking from the grass root levels. Remember one thing " Drops make an ocean"

When you select good candidates at constituency level, in my opinion, the whole nation will be benefited.

Pranjal Wagh




This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License