On Identity, via Kwame Appiah

Issues of identity are front and center in our time. Old certainties are, for some, antique; and for others, they represent the one thing to hold on to for dear life as essences become contingent or fragmented. Reading Kwame Appiah’s “Lies that Bind”, earlier this week, served as a catalyst to reflect on how my own sense of identity has evolved.

SocietyRamanan RaghavendranSeptember 19, 2019Comment

Bags Revisited: #Onebag For The Business Traveller

Most things in the public domain about onebagging are not geared at the business traveller. There’s reams of prose about strapping on a big honking 50L backpack and wandering through Southeast Asia on foot. Hence this essay — if you’re someone who routinely gets off a flight and goes to a meeting rather than following a Lonely Planet itinerary.

OddmentsRamanan RaghavendranAugust 13, 2019Comment

The Deeply Flawed "Giving Pledge"

It is very difficult, upon reading news such as this, to not nod vigorously about the points Anand Giridharadas makes in his recent book. Points that both left and right should find agreeable. It is the mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy, going-to-Davos nonsense that just gets my goat.

SocietyRamanan RaghavendranJune 19, 2019 Comments

Iain M. Banks and Technology: An Homage

Iain M. Banks died in 2013 and with that came an end to his series of Culture novels. Every few years, I end up destroying many days and weeks of sleep by re-reading a selection of these books (life is full, so any reading occurs after 9 pm).

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranMay 26, 2019BooksComment

My Ten Best Books of 2018

Here's the best of what I read in 2018. I set myself an arbitrary count of ten this year. This really forced me to think about which books had a meaningful impact on me, i.e. not just “great books I can unhesitatingly recommend”.

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranDecember 26, 2018Lists, BooksComment

My Best Books of 2017

Here's the best of what I read in 2017. It was as good a year as 2016, if not better. My original shortlist was twice the length and it was very difficult to figure out which ones to drop.

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranDecember 25, 2017Lists, BooksComment

Impact Investing -- Three Lessons

In 2000, I joined hands with Deval Sanghavi and formed Impact Partners, at the time the first venture philanthropy firm focused on India.

OddmentsRamanan RaghavendranOctober 10, 2017 Comments

On Ishiguro

I'd just graduated college when I read The Remains Of The Day. At the time I thought it was the best novel I'd ever read, and while that ranking may have changed, it's still in the top five.

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranOctober 6, 2017Books Comments

“Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”

It's been an extraordinary few days in Silicon Valley — a high-profile VC firm has been “blasted off the earth” and the industry is reacting in unusually visible ways.

The reactions have varied from the half-assed apology to the pre-emptive apology to the we-took-care-of-it apology to the high-minded-appeal-to-principles apology to the apology-of-the-day apology, from prominent VC firms (Lightspeed, Lowercase, 500Startups, Greylock and Binary respectively). Sadly all immediately put one in mind of Captain Renault in *Casablanca*.

Tech and VCRamanan RaghavendranJune 30, 2017Comment