brian

Entrepreneur, Founder, HBS, Fellow IDM,

[brian @balmeida]

Mahatma Gandhi - “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” and goes well with the sermon on the mount “when you are slapped on one cheek, turn and offer the other cheek”. Difficult to follow in these times, but then leaders are those who follow the path less trodden

[Bhavin Hirani @bhavin_h]

On 5 July, at approximately 21:09 hours, at Inorbit Mall, the driver of a car bearing registration number MH02BJ9778 was driving at high speed on the wrong side of the road. He hit an elderly man and struck me.The car had tinted windows, and the number plate not HSRP-compliant.

[brian @balmeida]

If only we put in half the engineering effort and quality into our expressways and highways as we put into the bullet train, we would not lose so many lives and vehicles

[brian @balmeida]

The 2 democracies (oldest and largest) need to think about the example to the rest of the democratic countries. But who cares

[Sincere Dibya @TheSincereDude]

Kar liya “Viksit Bharat” ka pehla stress test.

₹12,000 crore. 213 km. Inaugurated by PM Modi himself on 14th April with full pomp.

Not even 3 months in, and the “world-class” Delhi-Dehradun Expressway already has cracked slabs, leaking joints and potholes eating the road, even before monsoon peaked.

This isn’t bad luck. This is what happens when contracts get cleared faster than quality checks.

Where’s NHAI’s defect liability clause? Who signed the completion certificate? And who’s paying to fix a road that just opened?

12,000 crore roads shouldn’t need repairs in 90 days. Ask your MP why this one does.

[brian @balmeida]

@Vtxt21 What happened to their pure for sure campaign

[Gabriele Corno @Gabriele_Corno]

This was tilmed yesterday atternoon at Compassion Animal Shelter in Richmond, Virginia. The woman is Margaret. 82 years old. The dog is Bella. Eleven-year-old Cocker Spaniel. Margaret and Bella have been together for eleven years. Margaret's husband passed away three years ago.
She managed on her own until last month when she had a serious health emergency.
Spent two weeks in the hospital. Came home to find she can't manage stairs anymore. Can't walk Bella. Can't care for herself properly. Her daughter found her an assisted living facility that doesn't allow pets. Margaret stood in our hallway yesterday with the surrender papers on Margaret stood in our hallway yesterday with the surrender papers on a clipboard. Hands shaking so badly she could barely hold the pen. Tears dripping onto the forms. Our intake coordinator was trying to help her through it gently. But Bella knew something was wrong. She pressed herself against Margaret's legs. Trembling. Started pawing at Margaret's skirt. Over and over. Like she was trying to get Margaret's attention. Trying to ask what was happening. Margaret tried to keep signing. Made it through the first page. Then Bella pawed at her again.
Harder. More desperate. Margaret dropped the pen. She collapsed to the floor... and then she gave it all up and went back home with Bella.

[vir sanghvi @virsanghvi]

Sharp Edge : The ongoing controversy over Indian citizenship has combined with the dubious SIR exercise to deny Indians their
rights. A passport is not proof of citizenship we are told. And anyway if they strike you off the electoral rolls because of SIR you can’t even renew your passport
Shouldn’t the Supreme Court take a less passive view of this attempt to subvert Indian citizenship and get more involved?

https://t.co/JIZz6aGyYe via @theprintindia

[Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad @VarshaEGaikwad]

WHO says we should have 9 sqm open space per person. Mumbaikars are surviving on just 0.87 sqm. And now even that tiny bit is under attack.

Bandra’s Neville D’Souza Ground, the ONLY FIFA-standard ground in the whole city, where 10,000 young kids train every year; they want to use it for a convention centre.

They are snatching the last proper ground from our children so builders can make more money. Their dreams of playing proper football? Gone. Just like that.

We’re fighting to save Neville D’Souza Ground. If you’re from Mumbai and you care even a little, share this and join the fight. Before it’s too late. #SaveNevilleDsouzaGround #MumbaiOpenSpaces

[Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad @VarshaEGaikwad]

Wrote to the @mybmc Commissioner @AshwiniBhide registering a strong protest against changing the reservation of Neville D'souza football ground in Bandra. Demanded that this change in reservation be immediately scrapped and that any future change of land reservation across the city, especially if public grounds and lands being currently used for public benefit be not done without public consultations.

[brian @balmeida]

Looks like the @airindia @zomato partnership is no more, no maharaja points for zomato orders anymore? Did i miss the cancellation announcement/notification?

[Anupam Gupta @b50]

The rage in Mumbai is everywhere. It's always been there. It's just that exploding takes much less now. Local trains? Super dense crush load. Since forever. Roads? Chaos. No one follows traffic laws. We traded that, first for half hour pizza then 10 minutes kanda. You can't solve this. You can only say Spirit of Mumbai.

[Tara Deshpande @Tara_Deshpande]

According to residents of the Cuffe Parade slum- “A Madam came and left him. Said she would pay for his food and then vanished.”
The poor boy is very thin

1 year old boy. Urgently in need of a home. Please contact Mumbai 98190 64509 if you would be able to adopt. He's great with children.
Strictly no breeders
Please help please share.

[brian @balmeida]

@SamsungIndia your WA customer service keeps going into a loop and closes the call unilaterally

[brian @balmeida]

@AkasaAir congrats on the 40th fleet, the airline is maturing well. A hope for indian flyers. A good 3rd player will keep the pressure on the leaders

[brian @balmeida]

Mumbai became what it is because of great public transport of the railway lifeline and the Super BEST bus services that no other city in india matched. Hopefully the Metro will supplement the railways, but what will supplement BEST. CITY Flo is not the answer

[Nirupama Menon Rao 🇮🇳 @NMenonRao]

The discussion sparked by a recent statement on Passport Seva Divas has generated more heat than light.

The Ministry of External Affairs stated that a passport is a travel document, not a document of citizenship. Legally, that is correct. A passport is issued under the Passports Act, while citizenship is governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955. One law regulates the document; the other regulates the legal status.

But law and public understanding are not always the same.

For most Indians, the passport is the most authoritative document the Republic issues. It bears the name of the Republic of India, carries the holder’s identity, and is accepted around the world because foreign governments trust that India has verified the bearer’s nationality before issuing it. It is therefore entirely understandable that many people asked: if a passport is not proof of citizenship, then what is?

The answer requires some nuance.

A passport does not create citizenship. Nor is it the legal instrument that finally determines citizenship if that status is challenged before a court. Like many democracies, India distinguishes between citizenship law and passport law. In rare cases involving fraud, disputed parentage or illegal acquisition, citizenship may have to be established through the provisions of the Citizenship Act and supporting evidence. That is why a passport is not regarded in law as conclusive proof in every conceivable circumstance.

But that should not be confused with its practical significance.

A passport is issued only after the Government has satisfied itself that the applicant is entitled to one. In everyday life, and in international travel, it is the strongest evidence of Indian nationality that most citizens will ever possess. Nothing said by the MEA changes that. No immigration officer abroad will suddenly regard an Indian passport with suspicion because of a legal clarification made in New Delhi.

The episode does, however, remind us of a larger challenge.

India’s systems of civil registration developed unevenly over many decades. Millions of older Indians were born when birth registration was incomplete. Names were recorded differently across school certificates, land records and electoral rolls. The painful experience of the Assam NRC showed how documentary inconsistencies can create profound hardship when citizenship itself becomes the subject of legal scrutiny.

The lesson, therefore, is not that passports have somehow lost their value. It is that India needs stronger and more comprehensive civil registration, universal birth registration and reliable archival records so that citizenship can never become hostage to missing or inconsistent paperwork.

Sometimes a legally precise statement can create unnecessary public anxiety if it is not accompanied by explanation. A better way of putting it might have been this:

A passport is issued only after the Government has verified that the applicant is an Indian citizen. While citizenship itself is governed by the Citizenship Act, the passport remains the Republic’s most trusted document for international travel and, in ordinary life, the clearest evidence of Indian nationality.

That is both legally accurate and reassuring. The law need not be diluted, but neither should public confidence in one of the Republic’s most important documents.

To distil the argument:

A passport is issued because the Government has satisfied itself that you are an Indian citizen. It is therefore powerful evidence of citizenship in ordinary life and in international travel. But in a legal dispute over citizenship itself, the governing law remains the Citizenship Act, and a passport is not conclusive proof that overrides all other evidence

[Mahavir Chopra / Beshak.org @themahavir]

Our ratings now power PhonePe.

ILM Research, Beshak's research brand now powers PhonePe Insurance.

It feels like a dream coming full circle.

Being a film buff, I often imagined an
IMDb for insurance plans?

Long before Beshak had a name, I always felt
that if hotels are rated, restaurants are rated, movies are rated, why not Insurance plans.

We built ratings, and imagined licensing them to customer-first insurance platforms.

Platforms who want to help customers make decisions based on real third party data.

We found one in PhonePe.
They probably would be the largest online insurance aggregator after Policybazaar.

PS: This was also a revenue model that would not compromise on our independence as a platform.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

It is okay to

wear old clothes
forgive first
not upgrade your phone
buy second hand items
live in a simple home
read older books
enjoy home cooking
travel to new locations
earn a living doing what you love
be an introvert
want less
laugh loudly

it is okay to live a simple life.

[brian @balmeida]

@airindia This does not address the issue being raised,

[brian @balmeida]

@airindia when booking on your app why do the options show Navi Mumbai when i have selected BOM as airport. Pls correct this. Else pax will make mistakes. If someone needs to fly from Navi Mumbai let them type NMI

[brian @balmeida]

@airindia This shud be a SOP @DGCAIndia for all airlines, pls ensure all airlines and OTAs follow guidelines of ahowing flights only for designated airport