Aman Soni

IESE MBA Class of 2015| Business-Boy| Wannabe Entrepreneur| Trained Lawyer

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

When men become fathers, they often gain empathy.

But the boost in caring doesn't happen automatically—it comes from caregiving. The more involved men are in raising children, the more their brains change.

Becoming a dad is not a wonder drug. It's an active commitment.

[Sagar Awatade @SagarAwatade]

I don't know who else to tell this to, so I am going to tell my story here.

Every day is a struggle for a young business, but the last few months have been harder than usual.

We are a small Indian company. For more than ten years we have been building a homegrown brand in a product category dominated by big foreign players.

There are almost no Indian names in this space. We set out to be one.

We started in 2014. Over the years we began making parts in India instead of just importing, and we started selling in the US, Dubai, Nepal, Malaysia and South Africa.

We showed up at global trade fairs to represent an Indian brand on the world stage.

In 2023 we changed the import code we use for our product. We did not do this quietly. Every shipment was declared. Nothing was hidden. We didn't invent our approach.

We followed written professional advice and the way this product is treated in markets around the world.

And now we are facing a government demand running into tens of crores in duty recovery and penalties, plus personal penalties on the founders and even on an employee.

For a company our size, this is not a fine we can pay and move on from. This ends us.

We have not run from any of this. I am not built like that. It is not how I was raised. We have written to the authorities, met officials in person, and we have now filed a writ in the High Court.

All we are asking for is a fair treatment.

I set out to build in India and sell to the world. I am asking only that the system back honest founders trying to compete globally, instead of breaking them.

The process is the process, and it exists for a reason. But process should not feel like punishment.

From where I am standing today, it does.
I am not giving up. I have worked too hard for this. If you have read this far, please share it. If you know someone who can help, point them my way. Help me get the word out.

[Santosh Desai @desaisantosh]

Inverters, generators, air purifiers, water filters, storage tanks…so much of what we buy is a compensation for inefficiency. On the Inefficient Economy. Today in the TOI

[signüll @signulll]

envy is like drinking poison & expecting the other person to die.

[Rema Nagarajan @RemaNagarajan]

Caesarean sections are the new ‘normal’ in private hospitals across India with such deliveries accounting for 54% of births in private facilities in 2023-24
In Telangana where 43% births take place in pvt facilities, 84% are thru c-section
Is that normal?
https://t.co/vmITOaQVRw

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

LEGO just dropped its largest set ever: La Sagrada Familia.

It has 12,060 pieces and costs $800. The set comes 100 years after Antoni Gaudi’s death (June 10, 1926).

The details are insane including spires, carvings and interior with light shining through stain-glass windows.

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

Ishan Kishan is a terrific cricketer who has just essayed an amazing international comeback.
He has also made almost a 100 crores just from IPL fees, not counting international duty and endorsements. This cheque is not a 100th of what he has already made and he's not the greedy sort.
So one can only assume this was literally a payout for a photo-op with him to ensure that the others in the picture got into the papers and all over social media.
Obviously, why spend one crore of government money on creating facilities or training centres or bankrolling poor athletes when you can instead use it to create a photo op by paying the one of the few athletes from your state who really does not need the money!
And that's why sport in India is where it is.

[CNBC @CNBC]

Jeff Bezos: "If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving."

[Kpaxs @Kpaxs]

Always choose clean pain over dirty pain.

Clean pain is the pain of telling the truth. The pain of leaving. The pain of disappointing someone. The pain of starting. The pain of being bad at something new. The pain of saving money instead of buying the thing. The pain of going to bed while the party continues. The pain of facing the blank page.

Dirty pain is the pain of avoiding clean pain. The pain of staying too long. The pain of lying. The pain of living above your means. The pain of being known inaccurately. The pain of watching your life shrink around a fear you refuse to face. The pain of managing the consequences of cowardice.

Clean pain is often sharp and brief, dirty pain is dull and chronic.

Self-respect is paying the clean cost early.

[Robert Sterling @RobertMSterling]

I just had the craziest experience at the airport.

We are about to board a flight to Atlanta when the pilot from the incoming plane walks out of the jetway. Guy is probably late 50s, salt and pepper hair, military look. The kind of pilot you instantly feel good about seeing on your flight.

Pilot walks over to the counter, gets on the PA system, and starts addressing everyone. “Folks, I’ve been doing this a long time. Flying one of these jets is easy. The hard part is looking at 130 people and telling them their flight is going to be delayed.”

Audible groans throughout the boarding gate. Most people here are flying to Atlanta as a layover before another flight. 130 people just had their day become a complete mess.

The pilot goes on. “I get it, trust me. But here’s the deal: During our landing, we had a small mechanical issue. I’m not your pilot for the next leg, but I don’t feel confident the jet’s safe to fly until we have a mechanical team look it over, and I don’t feel comfortable asking the next pilots to fly you guys until we get confirmation.”

He points at the agents next to him behind the counter: “Now, none of this is the agents’ fault. Please be kind to them. I’m the one who made this decision, not them, so any inconvenience you experience is my fault. Just please know that I don’t do this lightly, and I’m only doing it because I believe it’s in the best interests of everyone’s safety.”

Now this is where the story gets crazy. The pilot puts the microphone down, grabs his suitcase, and all the people in the gate…

Start clapping.

I’m not joking, everyone starts clapping for the guy. 130 people who just had their travel plans ruined give an ovation to the guy who made the decision and delivered the message.

All because he addressed them with decency and transparency, took ownership of the decision, made it clear that it was necessary, and explained why it was in everyone’s best interest.

It’s honestly one of the best examples of strong communication—of strong leadership, for that matter—that I’ve seen in a long time.

@Delta, whoever your Atlanta to Wichita pilot was this morning, he’s one of the good ones. Please tell him the delayed passengers of flight 1637 appreciate what he did.

[Suman Kumar @sumank]

Reminder. "There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life ~ Frank Zappa"

[Imtiaz Mahmood @ImtiazMadmood]

I was on a train in Tokyo. We stopped between stations. Announcement in Japanese, then in English: "We apologize for the delay. We will resume shortly."

The delay was maybe 3 minutes. Not a big deal.

When the train started moving again, another announcement: "We sincerely apologize for the delay. We were stopped for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This is unacceptable. Thank you for your patience."

Three minutes and twenty seconds. They measured it exactly. And called it unacceptable.

When I got off at my stop, there were station staff on the platform bowing and handing out delay certificates.

I took one out of curiosity. It was an official document stating that the train had been delayed by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, signed and stamped.

The staff member said in English "for your employer. So they know the delay was not your fault."

I said I'm a tourist, I don't need it. He looked confused. "But the delay affected you. You deserve an apology."

Three minutes. They were treating a three-minute delay like a major incident.

Later I mentioned this to a Japanese friend. They said "oh yes, delay certificates are normal. Trains are supposed to be exactly on time. If they are late, they must apologize."

I said three minutes isn't late, it's nothing. My friend said "in Japan, three minutes is late. On time means on time. Not approximately on time."

They said the train company probably investigated why there was a 3-minute delay. "They will find the cause and fix it so it doesn't happen again."

I kept the certificate. It's framed in my apartment now. A reminder that somewhere in the world, people care about three minutes.

© 6IX.

@BSAT_Properties

[Om Patel @om_patel5]

THIS GUY BUILT AN AUTOMATED PIGEON DEFENSE SYSTEM FOR HIS BALCONY

pigeons kept nesting on his balcony so he engineered a full detection and deterrent system

here's how it works:

1\ camera captures video in real time
2\ an AI model identifies the pigeon in real time
3\ a water gun mounted on servo motors turns toward it
4\ sprays the pigeon automatically

the hardware:

> an orange pi 5 running the detection model
> a disassembled electric battery-driven water gun
> USB camera
> 2 servo motors for aiming
> resistors and a transistor to trigger the water gun

the detection runs on an AI vision model (yolo world v2) using the rockchip 3588's built in neural processing unit.

the best part is that it's not limited to pigeons. because it uses open vocabulary detection, you can reprogram the target to any object. squirrels, cats, raccoons, whatever is messing with your balcony

fully automated, runs 24/7, no manual intervention needed

[Aman Soni @amansoni09]

Now I don’t receive any reply from them. When I ask for a senior customer representative, no one is available to assist. @JioCare is more than willing to offer me a Fiber optic connection and I want to go ahead and cancel connection @Airtel_Presence @airtelindia @airtelnews

[Aman Soni @amansoni09]

@Airtel_Presence absolutely pathetic service by airtel broadband. I had requested for shifting my broadband connection (3 different broadband connections) from 1 address to another address in Noida. First they said they can’t offer me fibre optic connection, now I don’t receive

[sid @immasiddx]

Instagram growth gurus are so funny.

He can’t use his laptop because he’s holding a drink.

He can’t drink because he has a cigar in his mouth.

He can’t smoke his cigar because both hands are occupied. 😭

[Pico Iyer @PicoIyer]

"Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded." The Dhammapada echoes Marcus Aurelius, Shakespeare, Thoreau and almost every wise soul who has ever lived.

[Pratap Bhanu Mehta @pbmehta]

War? "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

[शिक्षित बेरोज़गार @kaul_vivek]

Between MAGA and WhatsApp University: The Impossible Triangle of the India–US trade deal

Teri meri love story ka angle… is angle mein hai triangle.
– Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Babul Supriyo, Sameer and Himesh Reshammiya, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya (2005).

The best stories are simply told.

A boy loves a girl. She is rich; he is poor. Her father, defender of family honour and balance sheets, disapproves. Obstacles are manufactured. Tears are shed. Speeches about “status” are delivered. True love fights, suffers and – because this is how these stories go – wins. They live happily ever after.

The best stories are simple – which is precisely why they sell. And when they aren’t simple, they are stripped, flattened and packaged until they are. Complexity doesn’t travel well; nuance doesn’t trend.

So everything is reduced to a neat little duel: Good versus bad. Right versus wrong. Strong versus weak. Big versus small. Us versus them. Hero versus villain. Truth versus lies. Order versus chaos. Victim versus oppressor. David versus Goliath. Reform versus corruption. Growth versus decline. Nationalist versus anti-national. Stay in India versus go to Pakistan. And so on.

But once in a while comes a story that doesn’t fit into the neat descriptions outlined above. Take the case of the India–US trade deal, which sits at one corner of a triangle.

At the other two corners sit the political audiences that must be persuaded: the Make America Great Again (MAGA) base in the US and the sprawling ecosystem one might call WhatsApp University in India.

Dear reader, this is what I like to call the Impossible Triangle.

Let’s summarise the three ends of the Impossible Triangle.

1) The MAGA Base in the US: They must be told that Donald Trump’s “Art of the Deal” worked and that America extracted a great victory from India.

2) The WhatsApp University in India: They must be told that India is a Vishwaguru and that this is a “clean,” triumphant win.

3) The actual India-US trade deal or the economic reality: The cold, hard truth about where India buys its oil – and the tariffs that are stacked against it.

So, what makes this triangle impossible?

The India–US trade deal is trapped in its impossible triangle – where MAGA demands tribute, WhatsApp University demands triumph and a clear explanation demands honesty. Two corners can be satisfied. The third must be managed, massaged, or muted.

Or as someone somewhere once said: “Picture abhi baaki hai.”

My essay @newslaundry

https://t.co/k1lK4hW00v

[Aman Soni @amansoni09]

Thank you so much @apurvnagpal
Feeling extra special today after a #crosspunk game dedicated to my name 🤗

[Apurv Nagpal @apurvnagpal]

We all wish for an elusive state of peace 🕊️

Happy Birthday, Dear Aman 🥳. Hoping your name does show the way forward in our increasingly fractious world 🌍

⏯️ https://t.co/x0hHsFgkXN 🥂