When I was growing up in India I remember being gifted an odd piece of cloth by an older relative. That oft came with instructions to use it as a input for what would become a shirt or trouser. Thus the onus to convert raw material to finished good was left on the giftee. The giftor merely showed up with a certain rectangle of their choosing in terms of color or fabric and divined that the gifted gleefully accept this gesture of generosity.
I found this proces retarded and somehow arbitrary. What if I needed was a good bicycle or a pair of socks instead? The idea of gift cards for generic stores was yet to reach Indian shores. Today one could get a gift card to appear politically correct and hand it to the giftee and let the have free rein on whether to buy tobacco, guns or a shirt with the funds.
Of course certin smart elders just handed me cash. I respect that. For one they believed that I knew what cash was and how it could be used. Also it left me to choose the outcome of the cash to suit my desire as a rceipient of the gift rather than their old age whim.
Going back to the idea of getting a cloth stitched cracks me up to this day. Who in their right mind allows a strange man to touch you in all the wrong parts of your anatomy outside of a TSA agent? This with the suspect hope that his skills will produce a garment for your wearing pleasure. That is what I never understood about my favorite hero 007. For one who wears a suit to the bedroom containing an exotic and mesmerizing female? Now you have to come up with witty dialog to bed the gal and also get rid of all that excessive Saville Row clothing. Talk about inefficient style from someone that has to be quick on their feet and mind.
Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
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