Jainendra Jain (Wolf Prize winner and co-discoverer of composite fermions) is building the new Lodha Theoretical Physics Institute around simple themes
-Just 10β12 faculty. No institutional sprawl.
-No committees, minimal administration, no travel caps, no teaching load.
-Assemble exceptional minds, remove bureaucracy and give them uninterrupted time to think, breakthroughs will follow.
-No PhD programme initially
-Success to be measured by by fundamental discoveries made in India, not citations or paper counts.
$100 million over a decade, funded entirely by the Lodha family.
Modeled on the Institute for Advanced Study and Perimeter Institute via @the_hindu
What Iβm sharing is very basic information for better clarity.
The following eight cities in India are the only ones officially recognized as Tier 1 cities:
Mumbai
Delhi
Bengaluru
Hyderabad
Chennai
Kolkata
Pune
Ahmedabad
Based on current growth trends, the following five cities are likely to be recognized as Tier 1 in the near future, probably after the census:
Surat
Indore
Jaipur
Lucknow
Coimbatore
Other fast growing cities such as Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, and Vadodara are expected to take more time to be classified as Tier 1 cities.
About AI stocks -
Much of the froth has gone out of the system.
If you believe that AI is a multi-year growth story and the AI capex will continue for many years,
then it is a good time to look at some of the companies
where valuations look decent.. not cheap yet but at least not crazy !!
Manoj Madhusudhanan took a βΉ1.86 crore home loan from ICICI Bank.
As collateral, he handed over his original property documents. Every homebuyer does this. You have no choice.
ICICI Bank sent those documents to their storage facility in Hyderabad via courier. Somewhere on that journey β Bangalore to Hyderabad β the documents vanished.
Gone. Originals. Irreplaceable.
When Manoj found out, ICICI Bank had one answer: it was the courier company's fault. Not ours.
He went to the Banking Ombudsman. They told ICICI to publish a public notice about the loss and pay him βΉ25,000 for the trouble.
Twenty-five thousand rupees. For losing the original documents to a βΉ1.86 crore property.
Manoj sent a legal notice. ICICI denied any mistake.
He went to the NCDRC.
The apex consumer court looked at the facts. The bank had taken custody of the documents. The bank had chosen the courier. The bank could not hand that liability to a third party and walk away.
ICICI Bank β India's second-largest private bank, βΉ9 lakh crore in assets β was held liable. Ordered to obtain reconstructed certified copies, issue an indemnity bond, and pay βΉ25 lakh in compensation.
One loan. One lost file. One bank that blamed the courier.
Save this β if your bank loses your original property documents, they cannot blame their courier agent. The documents were in their custody. The liability is theirs. File at your district consumer forum. The law is on your side.
(Source: Manoj Madhusudhanan vs. ICICI Bank Ltd. | NCDRC | LiveLaw, September 2023)
Pharma Cheat Sheet
As you all know, I am heavily invested in Pharma - it is by far my highest allocation, around 35-40%
For someone like me, with no background of pharma, it is extremely difficult to understand the basics and all the jargons related to different types of molecules, regulatory approvals etc.
So, I created this sheet sheet working with GPT, keeping an investor perspective in mind.
Hope it helps.. you can keep it as a reference.
I don't claim any accuracy, as I am not an expert.
Let's keep learning and sharing ππ
The internet was busy debating jantar Mantar & a quiet facility in India witnessed something straight out of science fiction. An engine fired up. But it did not hum & it did not roar like a normal jet.
It detonated. Continuous supersonic shockwaves raced around a circular chamber 1000s of times/sec, harnessing controlled explosions to generate thrust.
The startup D-Propulse just gave the world a sneak peek of their air-breathing Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) with an integrated aerospike nozzle.
Every jet engine on a commercial airliner, every fighter jet & every rocket we have ever seen operates on deflagration. We mix fuel with air/oxygen, ignite it & it burns relatively slowly at subsonic speeds. It is effective, but humanity has pushed this tech to its absolute physical limits.
RDEs throw that century-old playbook into the fire. Instead of burning fuel smoothly, an RDE explodes it intentionally. A continuous detonation wave sweeps around an annular (ring-shaped) channel at supersonic speeds, reaching over 2000 m/s. This is called Pressure-Gain Combustion.
It extracts 15-25% more thermal efficiency out of the exact same amount of fuel. In the world of high-speed flight, a 25% jump in efficiency is a completely different league.
Why this Matters for India?
For decades, the narrative surrounding Indian engineering was tied to catching up on legacy systems, spending billions trying to replicate 1970s turbofan engine metallurgy/importing critical defense tech.
D-Propulse is proving that India does not need to play catch-up anymore.
By leapfrogging straight to Pressure-Gain Combustion, an Indian deep-tech startup, guided by veteran scientists & built by young engineers is standing on the frontlines alongside research labs in the US, Japan & China.
Imagine hypersonic cruise missiles, ultra-long-range combat drones & spaceplanes that do not need heavy, complex moving turbopumps to break speed records. That is the realm this technology unlocks.
The future does not belong to those who build better versions of old machines. It belongs to those who rewrite the physics of how machines work.
As everything slowly begins to sink-in, and after finally getting some sleep last night, I wanted to share a small personal noteβ¦βοΈ
The first call I made after Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit was to my Dad.
He is the man who made my journey possibleβwith dreams for me far bigger than the ones I had for myself, and by simply never giving up on me.
Until my 8th standard, I was a bad student. I scored 51 marks in Maths and even failed another subject. Back then, I could never have imagined that I would one day make it to an IITβor have the privilege of contributing to Indiaβs first privately developed rocket reaching orbit, making India only the third country in the world to achieve this.
When I called him after the launch, he just cried.
And cried.
He couldnβt speak a single word.
But I understood every word he couldnβt say.
I managed to hold back my tears when Vikram-1 reached orbit. But somehow, writing this, I canβt.
Thank you, Dad. β€οΈ
And a big shout-out to every dad who dreams big for their childrenβand never gives up on them. π
P.S. A picture with Dad from one of my birthdays after starting @SkyrootA.
I think I just see India more clearly than other Westerns, because they don't stay here, whereas I do. Some of them have an agenda to talk badly about India also - many journalists and content creator are financially incentivised to frame India in an exclusively negative light.
Meanwhile, I am visiting tech companies, I know the progress they're making, I also see the dysfunction they're fighting against (eg this is the train station I'm tweeting this from). So my optimistic perspective is shaped by 1. The progress I've seen since 2017, 2. The harsh realities of India that founders want to fix/improve, and 3. The impressive accomplishments of the founders around me who I spend time with.
A goal becomes powerful when it starts threatening the habits that keep you small. If nothing in your day has to die, the goal is not real yet. Real ambition changes your food, your room, your sleep, your friends, your calendar, and your excuses. The future always asks for a sacrifice.
He's Tukaram Mundhe, a 2005-batch IAS from Maharashtra.
Over the last few weeks, you might have heard his name. That is because he was recently appointed Commissioner of Stateβs Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since taking charge, the FDA has been on an absolute warpath, raiding illegal, fake, synthetic, and adulterated products. From synthetic milk networks and adulterated paneer to illegal gutkha and unhygienic eateries, nothing has escaped his radar.
Mundhe has made it clear that even the most famous names will not get a free pass. His department shocked Mumbai by suspending the food licenses of iconic establishments, such as the 73-year-old Marine Drive ice cream parlor K. Rustom & Co., alongside famous eateries like Shalimar Hospitality, Noor Mohammadi Hotel, and Rahmaniya Restaurant, after surprise inspections uncovered severe hygiene violations, including live pests and expired ingredients.
Such is the fear of his crackdowns that, just two days ago, dairy farmers were caught on video spilling hundreds of liters of synthetic milk after rumors of an impending FDA raid spread.
This is his 25th transfer in a 21-year career, a testament to his refusal to bend to political pressure. It makes you wonder: if just one IAS officer can bring about so much change, where would our country be if every bureaucrat were as uncompromising and proactive as him?
π¨ INDIA TIGHTENS RESIGNATION RULES FOR ISRO MISSION SCIENTISTS.
β’ More than 100 scientists have left ISRO in the past few years.
β’ The government has now made it harder for senior ISRO scientists to quit.
β’ Scientists working on major missions like Gaganyaan will need Department of Space approval before resigning or taking voluntary retirement.
β’ ISRO says the new rule will help keep experienced scientists, while it also hires 1,000+ new employees and creates 460 senior-level posts.
Strong suggestion:
Do watch Nadal's documentary on Netflix. Suffering is necessary in order to achieve big things in life. Nothing comes easily.
Human brain is wired to seek comfort, but the real development happens in solitude and ability to put in the reps again & again.
Follow the DCP framework to achieve your goals
Discipline
Consistency
Patience