Dhaval Desai

Social Impact Investing | Investments at Somerset Indus Capital Partners | Patient Listener | Space Enthusiast | Proud Mumbaikar | Movie Buff | Adventurer

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

Hi,

This is a very thought provoking and existential line of thought I have been having and I believe it kind of happens with most of us millennials at some time or the other.

I know I have gone through this too and very recently.

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@kierangill_DM Such a refreshing read from all the agenda driven drivel served up on other platforms!! Thanks Kieran

[Aravind @aravind]

This is not a "real story". This is just a story.

Indians earn, save, and spend in INR. This sort of misrepresentation, coming from a professor, seems purposefully creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

The USD itself has lost ~32% of its purchasing power in the last 15 years. This is because of inflation.

Controlled inflation (under 5-6%) is considered normal and even healthy for a growing economy. A fast growing economy like India tends to have higher inflation naturally.

In fact, central bankers and finance ministers get worried if inflation drops too low. Focusing only on the nominal USD rate without this context is purposefully misleading.

So while INR has lost its purchasing power, it is natural just like the USD has lost its purchasing power. Someone's savings in India, to be used in India, suddenly doesn't become 50% less due to USD/INR rate increase.

One day in the coming time, INR will suddenly start appreciating against the USD quickly. Then what will they say? They will change the attack to "inflation" then. These are the same people talking about de-dollarization and USD "crashing soon" as well.

So assuming they are right, if suddenly we wake up to 1 USD = 50 INR, did every Indian become twice as rich in the night? Because its GDP and GDP per capita is suddenly 2x now in USD terms? No.

The real story is, for those who can understand these things and see the pattern, there's an orchestrated attempt from a large network of anti-establishment types to fear monger and incite Indians to try cause political and economic instability in India.

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

You can't make this shit up!!

[Giorgia Meloni @GiorgiaMeloni]

Thank you for the gift

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@jatinsapru What is the point when the team gets disbanded in a couple of years' time!!

It's frustrating, really, to lose a team you grow to support with the exception of 4-5 players every 3-4 years.

[Ajoje⚽⚖️ @israel_ajoje]

India has 1.4 billion people. They are ranked 136th in the world by FIFA. They are not very great at football.

There was a time when it was rumored that they are bad at football cos they dont have athletic genes. But that's not true. At least I don't believe it cos they are great at cricket. There has to be another explanation.

To understand why football does not thrive in India, you have to understand what actually builds a nation that is great at a particular sport. It has very little to do with population, geography or even money alone.

It is a combination of cultural obsession, grassroots infrastructure, youth development, good governance, investment, and a clear pathway for a talented kid to go from a street in a poor neighbourhood to a professional contract. India is missing most of those things simultaneously.

Take a look at Cricket for example. The 1983 World Cup victory did something irreversible to the Indian sporting psyche. Cricket became the national religion and the IPL turned it into an industrial complex.

Every sponsor, every athletic kid with ambition, every parent dreaming of social mobility for their child, they all look in one direction. In India, football cannot compete with that. You see where cultural obsession contributes to the success of a sport in a country.

In India, grassroots football exists in pockets. According to reports, it is predominant in Kerala, the North-East, Kolkata.

Outside those communities it is patchy at best. The Indian Super League has grown but it remains modest, underfunded relative to cricket, and unable to generate the kind of role models that make a generation of children pick up a football instead of a bat.

Then there is governance. The lack of political will, weak scouting systems, and underfunding mean talented players are rarely identified early enough or developed properly when they are.

Now you may try to disprove my point with Nigeria and Ghana as a counterargument. Both nations deal with poverty, corruption, and weak domestic leagues.

Nigeria sit 26th in the world. Ghana are 74th. And both have produced superstars in times past. The difference is not in resources. It is cultural in priority. Football is non-negotiable in West Africa. It is played on every street, embedded by colonial history, and fed by European scouts who have built pipelines producing the likes Osimhen, Ndidi and Kudus.

In places like that, passion overrides federation failures when the obsession runs deep enough.

In India that obsession runs elsewhere- Cricket. And until football becomes a genuine cultural priority with investment following behind it, the ranking will not move.

Generally speaking, population is not destiny. Culture is.

My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.

[The Cinéprism @TheCineprism]

Dhurandhar 2 is saved entirely by its epilogue. After a 3rd act that gets way too loud and messy, where everything feels overdone and a bit exhausting, the film finally calms down in its last few minutes. And that shift makes all the difference.

Instead of trying to go bigger, Aditya Dhar pulls things back. The noise fades, the pace slows, and suddenly you’re able to feel what the film was trying to say all along. The characters get a moment to breathe, to process everything that just happened, and that quietness hits harder than all the chaos before it.

What’s interesting is how the epilogue almost reframes the entire climax. Things that felt random or over-the-top start to make more sense emotionally. It’s less about action now and more about what’s left behind; loss, consequences, and that lingering emptiness that comes after revenge (mission) is done.

It doesn’t completely fix the flaws of the third act, but it softens them enough to leave you with something meaningful. Instead of walking away thinking about how messy it got, you’re left thinking about how it made you feel in the end.

And honestly,that’s what sticks!

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@KelsTheAnalyst No Kels, this is exactly what happens when you appoint 5 SCOUTS as your Sporting Directors. I am not surprised

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@rajuidesai @aaravj2406 Use Extensions like Duck Duck Go on Google Chrome which do not track your internet footprint, which means no chance for Ads to track you, alternatively use Comet Browser by Perplexity, which imo is the best out there

[Pritesh Lakhani @priteshlakhani]

Medical services in India is the fastest across all major countries. Quality of the service is debatable wrt to location & medical conditions.

I have friends outside India and when they say they have to wait weeks for getting an Xray / MRI i reply back saying i can just go have one in a moment and can get a dr to review that in another moment.

We don’t count our blessings.

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

There are Sunsets and then there is Marine Drive Sunset!!

[Aravind @aravind]

Please do go to my profile @aravind and check last three posts. Since my post about Russian ambassador criticizing the US, the reach has been cut 1/10th. But whenever I say the US is already winning this war, the reach is in hundreds of thousands.

This is clearly being seen by a lot of people in India and elsewhere now. I am not blaming X. They are after all an American platform. Every serious country uses their companies for their interests. But I definitely think this is why India needs its own social media platform.

It need not become the main platform. Or mean other platforms get banned. But it must be a simple alternative that can take in 1 billion daily active users if needed in a day. Other platforms must operate knowing India can switch anytime.

Do share this post, if you think it is right, so it doesn't get buried. And read my post one day before Trump was elected👇

[SANYA | Corporate Athlete Method @sanyayyyy]

The most dangerous age in India is 28-35.

Rich enough to order everything on Swiggy.
Busy enough to never cook.
Tired enough to skip the gym.
Young enough to think it doesn't matter yet.

And honestly? It makes sense.
You're finally making money. You're finally being taken seriously at work. You're finally building something.

Why would you slow down? You wouldn't. Nobody does.
Smart people. Ambitious people. People doing everything right on paper.
Who just quietly stopped being a priority in their own life.

[shraddha @shraddhahahaha]

Mumbai today. @mybmc with all the budget you have, why don’t you give better cleaning tools to your workers? The broom does not do anything, it’s adding more dust and the garbage stays piled on corners of roads.

Have a constant throat pain since the last 1 month and been traveling with a mask. This is what you get after paying lakhs in taxes.

All the under construction sites are flashing wrong AQI levels.

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

Putting this out once again! This is Arsenals year.. They really can win it all

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

A few things that are glaringly clear to me:

1) Arsenals time to be PL Champs this year - well deserved
2) ManCity & Liv are up there too, but will fall short
3) Civil War brewing at CFC & Clearlake milking PR accounts to spread narratives around the Club
4) Harry Kane BD'or

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@RashBookNerd @RoyceCFC2 On what basis??
The way he is going, he's been the best Goalkeeper in the PL this year?
And compared to Petrovic, he's lightyears ahead!

But yes, Penders may trump Sanchez soon hopefully

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@whoisthismommy Nitrofuran in eggs 😭

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@tavishi_jatrele Running Point on Netflix, very similar to Ted Lasso

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@tavishi_jatrele This is less of a conversation and more of a pure love! 💯

[Dhaval Desai @_mr_enigmatic]

@NewsJeffJ1 Guiu is cup tied, cannot play tomorrow! Reckon Tosin plays too and Gusto could be rested.