Marcellus: The Courage to be Disliked
Published on: 15 March, 2019 The majority of us spend our lives seeking the approval of others. A few people however have the courage to do things which they know will invite criticism. This rare characteristic – which is often the hallmark of successful investors – seems to be dependent on how we structure our […]
Marcellus: The Heroes we Forget Hold a Mirror to Our Souls
Published on: 8 March, 2019 Our mind sees & remembers the world in stylised & stereotypical terms. If a story doesn’t fit our stereotype, we don’t remember it and hence don’t celebrate it. The lives of three forgotten heroes – Malik Ambar, Dara Shukoh and VO Chidambaram Pillai – exemplify this point. “A nation […]
How data helps deliver your dinner on time—and warm
With Uber deciding to sell Uber Eats India to Swiggy for a stake in the latter, the food delivery space in India is consolidating with Swiggy, Zomato (owned by the publicly listed company, Info Edge) and Food Panda (owned by Ola). But this piece in the WIRED is about the fascinating data science behind the […]
Why living experimentally beats taking bets
A year ago, former Poker world champion, Annie Duke, published a superb book where she warned against the dangers of “resulting” – our habit of seeing the world on the basis of results rather than assessing the underlying process (and the probabilities embedded in the process). For example, if I drive drunk from one end […]
Wealthy, Successful and Miserable
A superb piece from Charles Duhigg about what leads to job satisfaction. Charles, a Pullitzer prize winner and the author of the brilliantly researched book – The Power of Habit, brings out the importance of meaning and purpose when it comes to our professional lives. “…a job is usually more than just a means to […]
Germs in Your Gut Are Talking to Your Brain. Scientists Want to Know What They’re Saying
Microbiomes are the trillions of microbes inside the healthy human body. This arresting New York Times article says that “Research continues to turn up remarkable links between the microbiome and the brain. Scientists are finding evidence that microbiome may play a role not just in Alzheimer’s disease, but Parkinson’s disease, depression, schizophrenia, autism and other conditions… […]
Marcellus: Exit the Kirana Store, Enter the Supermarket
Published on: 1 March, 2019 As local kirana stores start winding up in India, the conditions required for organised retail to operate profitably are coming together nicely. Whilst this does not necessarily mean that all organised sector retailers will be as profitable as a Titan or a Dmart or a Trent, it does mean that […]
Quantifying the futility of timing the market
Many investors try to time their investments basis the perceived impact of external events on either thebroader stock market or on the share prices of specific firms. Analysing the last 30 years of stock marketdata suggests that even if an investor were to perfectly time her investments in indices / good companieseach year, her returns […]
Marcellus: Non-Conformism Underpins Original Thought
Published on: 22 Feb, 2019 The more we get plugged into social & mass media, the harder it becomes to escape the echo chamber of consensus thought. In stark contrast, original thinkers – in Investing and beyond – have wide ranging interests beyond their profession, have a yearning to alter the status quo and a […]
How a Naga tribe is challenging cliched notions of advancement, backwardness
Vrinda Shukla in her beautiful and eye-opening article questions the definition of backwardness. Vrinda shares her experience of visiting one of the remotest parts of India – ‘Mon’, a picturesque district of Nagaland, running along the Myanmar border and considered to be one of the most backward districts in the country. Residents of Mon celebrated […]
Evidence deficit haunts billion-dollar brain trainers
In our quest to become smarter, many of us have to taken to using books, apps and trainers. In this piece, Anjana Ahuja says that there is no evidence that any of this stuff is actually of any use. “Scientists, though, have long been sceptical of the brain-training industry, forecast to be worth more than […]
The two tribes of working life
Office goers, says this column in The Economist, can be split into two groups. The first tribe are called FOMO: people who love meeting other people and who are haunted by the fear of missing out (FOMO) lest they don’t attend a meeting, a networking event or a business trip. The second tribe are called […]
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