#57 - Notes on Elements, Flipkart and Olympics
Education Coffee is a 2xWeekly Newsletter on People, Ideas and Culture.
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share some inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts. Please subscribe to this newsletter if you enjoyed reading this edition. We are now 92 subscribers strong!
1. Learning from People
Rahul Sharad Dravid is a former player, ex-captain and ex-coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his tenacious defensive technique as a Test and ODI batsman. He would often tire bowlers out on the field and then score runs when things got easier for the batsperson. Here is an interview he recently with Kunal Shah from CRED about his life on and off the field.
2. Learning from Ideas and Questions
The Periodic Table is my favourite scientific discovery. The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of chemical elements arranged by increasing atomic number. Here is a video from TED - Ed that talks about the 6 most dangerous elements on the periodic table
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
I read the Big Billion Startup by Mihir Dalal last year. I was hooked from page one because of the quality of the writing and the way the story unfolded. This is the story of the Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart founded in India in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. This is an Indian e-commerce company that was initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and lifestyle products. This company revolutionized and changed the perception of internet entrepreneurship in India and I wanted to uncover and understand its story. Today it is one India’s biggest e-commerce websites. Here is a book description from the Goodreads page:
IIT graduates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded out of a Bangalore apartment what would become India’s biggest e-commerce startup. Established in October 2007, Flipkart began as an online bookstore and soon came to be known for its ‘customer obsession’. As the startup’s reputation grew, so did its value, with venture capitalists in India and abroad lining up to invest heavily in the company that stood for bold ambition, unabashed consumerism and the virtues of technology.
But it is also a story of big money, power and hubris, as both business and interpersonal complexities weakened the founders’ control over their creation and forced them to sell out to a retailer whose dominance they had once dreamt of emulating. Based on extraordinary research, extensive interviews and deep access to key characters in the Flipkart story, Big Billion Startup is the riveting and revealing account of how Sachin and Binny Bansal built and sold India’s largest internet company.
I published a short review of the book on my Youtube channel linked below
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
Chandu Champions is an Indian movie released in 2024. It is inspired by the life of Murlikant Petkar, who is India's first Paralympic gold medalist. He won an individual gold medal in the 1972 Summer Paralympics, in Heidelberg, Germany. He set a world record in the 50 m freestyle swimming event, at 37.33 seconds. In the same games he participated in javelin, precision javelin throw and slalom. He was a finalist in all three events. Petkar showed me that you have to be resilient and persistent in the face of challenges that life will throw your way. You must continue to dream big even if some things do not go as planned in your life. Special credit to the actor, Kartik Aryan for bringing this challenging role to life.
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
I would like to recommend a song in this edition of the newsletter. Anuv Jain is an Indian singer songwriter and composer. He is known for his baritone voice and simple chorded songs with lyrics that deal with love and heartbreak. Alag Aasman was a single he released in 2020 about long distance relationships and the varying emotions associated with it. I love the metaphors and simplicity of the song. The illustration accompanying the original video by Sachin Bhatt is beautiful. The chorus is my favourite part of the song
[Chorus in Hindi]
Abh alag aasmaan hai
Aur hai zameen bhi kuch alag si
Par miloge jab kabhi, toh dekhna tabhi
Main kuch alag nahi
[Chorus in English]
Now we are under seperate skies
And seems like we are standing on seperate grounds
But one day when we will meet again, you will see
That I've not changed
Here is a soothing video rendition of the song with the artist from his Youtube channel.
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (56 past newsletters). You can subscribe to this newsletter for more such recommendations on people, ideas and culture.
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below. I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty