MAD gatherings

Drink – Kingfisher strong, alcoholic content between 5.25% and 8%.
Music – Verve remixed albums 1 and 2
Proud declaration – two different meals cooked, with sprouted mung beans, garam masala, and lots of garlic
Not proud declaration – what looked like a sandal tan was just dust. Lots and lots of dust.

It’s finally the season when we can turn off the fans at night, and the rickshaw drivers are wearing scarves in the morning. Some parts of the city spell suspiciously good, and some smell suspiciously like Froot Loops. I’ll take that any day over the eau de nala that normally accompanies my morning. The bread in the bakery has been replaced by gifts for Diwali; raisins from Afghanistan and almonds from California vying for shelf space with Kurkure octagons and pallets of Schweppes tonic water labelled in Arabic.

This past weekend I helped organized a conference for the McKinsey alumni in Development. The hotel staff asked us whether we really were the MAD group, and we assured them it was correct. We talked about climate change and financial inclusion, business models for social impact and the future of India. We drank spring water and ate buffet everything. The McKinsey cost curve for climate change was shocking, as it demonstrated that carbon emissions could be emitted with almost zero net cost to society, if only we could incent and distribute the benefits from those of us insulating our windows and those of us replanting trees.

At the last minute, I was asked to present Ashoka’s Hybrid Value Chain work. It was the first time I’ve ever presented with a radio mike, shadowed by a 15 ft powerpoint of my creation. When I arrived at my office at 11 pm on Saturday night to retrieve the presentation and the computer I had blithely left at my desk, there was a gapping hole in the wall where the wireless router should be. Not heeding the signs from the universe that I wasn’t supposed to talk, I plugged in directly and put down the most specific words I could find.

I’m excited to be here these days despite my confusion about what I’m supposed to do, exactly. The weekend offered so many moments of nerdy excitement. Maybe we could finance cow dung biogas with carbon credits! Maybe we could put returning NRIs to work for rural companies! Maybe I could do this forever.