Cat Father

Building @hachisafety | Formerly @WPP @Publicis | Posts on Media, Marketing, Trivia and Low Impact Travel | In General Pursuit of Hedonism

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

BREAKING: Agency’s 120 slide presentation is 80% build up and 20% actual strategy. @adweak

[hussain indorewala @hussaindorewala]

When public money flows upwards, it is called ‘wealth creation’; when it flows downwards, it becomes ‘freebies’.

My column in today's Mumbai Mirror

[Carl @HistoryBoomer]

The first one of these I’ve actually liked. Stephen Hawking is hilarious. “Ha ha ha ha ha ha”

[Ethan Levins 🇺🇸 @EthanLevins2]

Apple has removed Lebanese village names in Southern Lebanon.

As Israel invades, they are already setting the state to justify occupation.

I’ve never seen something like this.

[Turkish Archives @TurkishArc]

Col. Waibhav Anil Kale. Indian Army veteran. UN peacekeeper. Riding in a CLEARLY MARKED UN vehicle to a hospital. Shot by the IDF. Killed in cold blood. His children lost their father. India lost a hero. The world lost a conscience. 🇮🇳🕯️

[Pravar @bengawalk]

In a big new update, the city officials website now includes data for Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune 🕵🏻‍♂️

There's also many small new features like a share button, satellite view and more

Enjoy responsibly - https://t.co/c8IBXDoG5E

[Vintage Maps @vintagemapstore]

What countries people google in Asia (2004-2023)

[𝚅𝚊𝚛𝚞𝚗¹⁸ @varunx18]

What a shame man.
A foreign coach has to teach us basic civic sense. You guys are cricketers, at least have the basic sense of where to throw garbage. Will the coach have to teach that too now?

[Google Maps @googlemaps]

Ask Maps is now available to everyone in the U.S. and India.

Here are six prompts to get you started. 🧵

[Vinodsrinivasan @vinodsrinivasan]

Update on the RBI rupee story. New data just in that changes the scale of what RBI is actually up against.

Thread 2.

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

Read a @guardian piece by @SaeedShah on Pak "dalali" that looked like a hand out from Paki army. Is there absolutely no one from that country with the slightest of IQ? Also, how do these chaps even get a job at @guardian ?

[mirwais @miirwais]

Pakistani politicians and the military junta aren’t just corrupt; they’re con artists. Every crisis, every conflict, they turn into a scam.

Their latest scam: “peacemaking” between the US and Iran.

The leaks started flying.

- Iranian speaker lands in Islamabad. Fake.
- Kushner and Witkoff in Islamabad. Fake.
- Iranian delegation arrives. Fake.
- JD Vance coming for talks. Fake.

Every single lie.

Then Pakistan’s foreign minister scrambled; dragging Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia into a photo op to cover the humiliation in Islamabad. They didn't even release a joint statement.

Same script as the Afghan peace talks.

Pakistan paraded stand-in Afg Taliban figures to US officials for years until Khalilzad called their bluff, twisted their arm through Trump, and forced them to release Mullah Baradar; one of the founding members of the Taliban movement, rotting in a Pakistani prison for years.
Once he was freed, Pakistan got booted. The real talks moved on without them.

Now they’re trying the same con with Iran.

If Tehran wants serious dialogue with Washington, they’d be wise to steer clear of Islamabad and its endless, embarrassing scams.

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

Having worked with core industries for last few years, I can vouch that first two problems of capital and strategy can be solved if owners set vision and backed them wholeheartedly. For companies at this size, capital is easily there. Strategy - hire good and hire from abroad.

[Vishnu Agarwal @vishnuagarwal64]

But the Six Sigma demand exposes a deeper institutional gap.

Six Sigma targets 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

Indian MSMEs, contributing 45%+ of manufacturing output, face three walls to get there.

- Foundational: No capital for sensors and precision testing equipment.

- Strategic: Hierarchical, fact-deprived decision-making. Not data-driven.

- Operational: Shortage of qualified Lean Six Sigma trainers across the country.

15 days to fix this? The ultimatum is partly theatre. The structural problem is a reality.

10/15

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

IPL is @BCCI 's revenge on world cricket for decades of racist, dishonest behaviour. May India continue to run world cricket the way it wants @MichaelVaughan @cricketcomau

[Cricketopia @CricketopiaCom]

He is right, it was daylight robbery.

[Normal Guy @Normal_2610]

India pays a premium for the privilege of not learning anything :)

Every Indian car Tata, Mahindra, Maruti, all of them has a tiny computer inside called an ECU (Engine Control Unit)

This computer decides everything - how much fuel to inject, when to shift gears, how brakes work, how the battery behaves in an EV. Think of it as the car's brain.

India makes zero of these brains for passenger cars. All of them come from foreign companies, mainly Bosch (Germany).

If you don't control the brain, you don't really control the car. Indian OEMs can't even add a simple valve to their own engine without asking Bosch for permission.

They can't change a single line of code. They are selling cars with someone else engineering inside.

This isn't really about technology being too hard. It's a business model designed to keep you dependent.

Three layers lock you in :)

First, every new car programme needs Bosch to do setup work (Rs 10-30 crore). Second, you pay full price for software Bosch already developed for Volkswagen so Bosch gets paid twice for the same work.

Third and this is the killer every time you want to change anything in the software, even something tiny, it costs around $500,000. So Indian OEMs simply stop trying to innovate. They accept whatever Bosch gives them.

The calibration trap means tuning the car's brain for Indian conditions, how should the engine behave in Ladakh cold vs Chennai heat?

Indian OEMs outsource even this to AVL in Austria. AVL reuses work they already did for European cars, charges India full price, and transfers zero knowledge. So Indian engineers never even learn how their own cars work from the inside.

What Korea did is Hyundai faced the exact same situation in 1987. They set up Kefico as a joint venture with Bosch, learned everything from the inside, and by 2015 they owned the full technology themselves.

The sequence was simple - first learn calibration (tuning) → then write your own software → then build your own hardware. It's a ladder. India never climbed the first rung.

Why India didn't do this - It's not a talent problem Indian engineers design ECUs at Bosch offices worldwide.

It's a combination of things like Indian OEMs won't fund Indian startups to develop alternatives. They demand that Indian suppliers first prove themselves in Europe before getting a chance at home (while European companies protect their own).

Middle managers won't risk their careers backing a Pune startup when they can safely pick Bosch. India spends 0.64% of GDP on R&D vs Korea's 4.9%. Private sector funds only 36% of India's R&D, in Korea it's 79%.

SEDEMAC - the one exception - One Indian company (IIT Bombay founders, Pune-based) actually makes ECUs for two-wheelers and generators. They have real IP, real patents, millions of units shipped.

But even they couldn't break into passenger cars. Tata Motors is literally in the same city and doesn't use them.

EVs are simpler to control than petrol/diesel engines. This should have been India's fresh start. Instead, Mahindra's new EV platform has Bosch (Germany), Valeo (France), BYD (China), Mobileye (Israel), Continental (Germany) - zero Indian ECUs.

The dependency just migrated from ICE to EV with different foreign names.

https://t.co/WWAQF0P5uR

[Raghav Chadha @raghav_chadha]

In Parliament today I proposed optional Joint filing of Income Tax Returns for married couples.

Family A
Both spouses earn ₹10 lakh each.
Total household income is ₹20 lakh.
Tax: zero

Family B
One spouse earns ₹20 lakh. The other stays home to raise their child.
Total household income is ₹20 lakh.
Tax: ₹1.92 lakh

The only difference is how the salary is split between the two spouses.

One roof. One kitchen. One household budget. But when tax time comes, the family disappears.

The tax system sees two individuals. A husband and wife become strangers. No clubbing of income or rebates.

In Parliament today I proposed optional joint filing of Income Tax Returns for married couples, so families with uneven incomes are not unfairly penalised. If implemented, then Family A and Family B both will pay Zero Tax.

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

@BLRAirport has taken offence to this tweet. Why should Atul in Mumbai alone must have fun. @BLRAirport is now directly competing with Mumbai to make passenger lives hell by implementing similar rules.

[atul kasbekar @atulkasbekar]

At any airport round the world, u can come out to the kerb at arrivals and can be picked up by your car
It is of course a quick 5’, ‘load bags n jump in’ pit stop

At @CSMIA_Official (Mumbai Airport) you have no such choice.
You HAVE to go into the parking to collect the passengers. Then wait in line to exit and get slammed for some ₹300 (P6 rates).
A 3-4’ pick up results in a 20-25’ headache

This is such a waste of time and a rip off. The math of this extortion fleecing patrons runs into a massive number for the airport
Should be illegal or poorly planned intentionally

[Vikas Bardia @vikasbardia]

I've so far stayed away from commenting on @BLRAirport's sudden decision to charge all commercial taxi operators ₹285 to enter T1 and pick-up passengers within 10 mins - every additional 5 mins is another ₹150. And even this spot is a 5 min walk from arrivals gate. The free P4/P3 is a 10-15 min walk and there's a free bus shuttle - but it's super inconvenient with luggage or for aged parents, and there's no cover (so good luck during rains).

For 3+ months now, this has become highly inconvenient for all our guests & it's been hurting our business. I myself wouldn't book a @shoffr_in from P3/P4, and last time when I paid for premium parking realised that it's not really that premium. Still, I didn't feel like I should create an issue out of this - after all, every busines including BIAL wants to increase their revenue.

But recently someone close to me reminded me that we have a voice, and we should use it - not just for our benefit, but also for that of thousands of other individual taxi drivers and small fleet owners. And most importantly, for all the travellers who are now either forced to walk or select expensive-and-not-worth-it options that are in front of them.

I'm not saying don't charge us - but going from 0 to ₹285 is a steep increase and gives no time for businesses to adjust and account for this cost. Instead I propose charging ₹100 per entry for 2026, and then increasing it to ₹200 next year. It's a fair trade-off between adding a revenue stream (which was non-existent for years) and not inconveniencing the very passengers who use and bring revenue to your airport. And it gives time for businesses to adapt.

The current situation is unfair to commercial taxi operators, inconvenient for travellers - and so reflective of the monopolistic position of BIAL and airports in general. I kindly request the relevant authorities to use this position in a manner that improves the ecosystem for everyone, rather than disbalance it.

To those reading this - if you've been impacted and agree with my views, please repost this in the hope that it's picked by media and Govt. authorities so that BIAL is forced to rethink it's current approach. They might be a monopoly we can't escape using, but we all have a voice too. Let's make them hear us 🙏🏼

https://t.co/LfMqbeIvRP

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

@GBAChiefComm Lifting sand from 1344km of arterial roads will cost approx 12-15cr over 30 days (20 trucks/65 pax/5km pd). Where did 421cr go to tackle air pollution?

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

Have worked with Nike. They started moving almost all India teams to SG, 2016-17 onwards. Reason was low revenue (China was $2bn+ then). APLA cost covers insignificant markets like PH/ID. VN-SG hub covers ASEAN. 10 yrs hence and nobody at @Nike revisited this strat obviously.

[Cyrus Dhabhar @CyrusDhabhar]

How stupid must a big international brand be to completely alienate one of the biggest retail markets in the world! That is exactly what @Nike has done with India. Whoever is in charge of that decision needs to be fired. Period.

[Cat Father @Ashutoshsamal]

I too want a job where I get paid crores. And have zero accountability. And never get fired.

[Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear]

Aaj Tak and its anchor @anjanaomkashyap were caught sharing misleading claims once again.
This time, she was fact-checked by the one of panelist she was speaking to. Her facial expression changed the moment she realised that this clip would likely circulate on X and she could be called out again for spreading misinformation. She later apologised and asked her team to remove the misleading ticker running on the TV screen.

[Assaad Razzouk @AssaadRazzouk]

India is smashing it: 42.5GW of new solar in 2026 ALONE. Think about that scale - it’s more than the entire installed capacity of most developed nations

At this exponential rate, solar capacity is on track to CRUSH coal in India by 2028

THREAD