R Ashwin opens up about his life; Kota Factory stars reflect on untold stories

Hello,

In the end, it’s all about money.

While India saw a significant surge in deeptech startups in 2023 with 480 new ventures emerging—making India the third-largest deeptech ecosystem, the funding winter poses a significant challenge to their growth, NASSCOM noted. 

“Compared to startups across some other leading deeptech ecosystems, Indian deeptech startups receive a fraction of the median investment at every stage,” the industry body noted in a report.

Meanwhile, the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, took several decisions at the meeting—from roll out of biometric authentication to check fake invoicing, exempting services provided by railways, to recommending a uniform tax rate on carton boxes.

Elsewhere, Ola Electric’s IPO bid for a potential valuation of $7 billion may not be going down well with its investors. A Bloomberg report noted that investors estimated its valuation at $5 billion, and may not sell existing shares  

ICYMI: How a tea stall outside a college became a Rs 4 crore business.

Oh, and did you know elephants were incredible swimmers?

These stunning images show the strength of a majestic herd as it swims across the flowing Brahmaputra river.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• R Ashwin opens up about his life
• Kota Factory stars reflect on untold stories
• How to unplug from work on vacations

Here’s your trivia for today: Which two countries have the longest shared international border?

Sports

R Ashwin opens up about his life

Cricketer R Ashwin’s curiously titled book I Have the Streets, which he penned with Sidharth Monga, is the kind of book one can binge-read. But it’s also the kind of book one would want to savour slowly—from his days as an innocent young boy to his cricketing journey as a batsman and a medium pacer.

“What if I cannot do everything I think of doing in this lifetime? I enjoy the hustle,” says Ashwin, who is often perceived as an ‘overthinker’.

Not an autobiography:

• Ashwin describes his gully cricket days in Ramakrishnapuram as “glorious days”, which gave him a strong rooting and shaped him as a cricketer. 
• He also gives a peek into his struggles to belong initially as he was not conversant with Hindi, what Madras means to him, and the disconnect people from the state of Tamil Nadu have with the rest of the country. 
• Ashwin puts battling opinions down to perception and conditioning: “If you can take what people can tell about you on the face, then you have the right to give it to them on the face.”

Entertainment

Kota Factory stars on untold stories

TVF, or The Viral Fever, has been a trailblazer in the digital entertainment space. After the initial success of its web series Permanent Roommates, TVF Pitchers, and TVF Tripling, the Arunabh Kumar-founded company tasted further success with Kota Factory—a series around the IIT and medical-aspirants, and the popular entrance coaching industry of Kota. 

YS Life caught up with actors Jeetu Bhaiya aka Jitendra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, and TVF debutant Tillotama Shome to understand what makes them so stoked about the show. 

Reality check:

• Shome, known for her intense characters and serious performances (Sir, Lust Stories 2, A Death in the Gunj) plays the role of a chemistry teacher in Kota Factory 3. The actor believes that while there are plenty of successful shows; it was truly meeting the founders of TVF that drew her into the role.
• Once a Kota student and an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Kumar says he brings his experiences to the set.
• Seasoned actor Rajesh Kumar, of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai fame, returns as Gagan Rastogi in Kota Factory 3. Having worked in the television and film industries, Rajesh believes that, unlike the other forms, OTT is not limiting. 

Mindfulness

How to unplug from work on vacations

In a work culture that almost always screams urgency, it’s hard to disconnect from work even when we are on a break. Whether it’s those messages on the office WhatsApp groups or emails from an important client—the itch to respond immediately is palpable.

“When one’s profession becomes a core part of their identity, separating from work becomes difficult. It can cause purposelessness, anxiety, identity crisis, and guilt leading to a downward spiral,” points out Devisha Batra, Senior Psychologist and Manager at IWill, an AI-based mental health and wellness platform. 

Power of boundaries:

• Neelima Chakara, Executive Coach and Founder of PurposeLadder, points out that the ‘always on’ mode could be due to a prevailing culture of disrespect in the organisation, poor management skills of bosses, or the inability to set boundaries by the individual. 
• Purushottam Jangir, Head of HR Operations and CSR, Dana India, an auto components major, believes disconnecting from work while on vacation sounds a lot easier than it is. “No organisation or society can ever operate at two extremes.” 
• The leadership at Encora, a digital engineering services company, believes that uninterrupted vacation time isn’t simply a perk, it is also a strategic investment in their team members. 

News & updates

• Cyber-stall: A cyber outage at a major retail software provider for automobile dealers entered its third consecutive day, delaying car sales throughout North America, the affected companies said. The software provider, CDK, said there was no end in sight. According to its website, CDK works with more than 15,000 retail locations across North America.
• Value of content: Multiple AI companies are circumventing a common web standard used by publishers to block the scraping of their content for use in generative AI systems, content licensing startup TollBit has told publishers. This comes amid Forbes publicly accusing Perplexity of plagiarising its investigative stories in AI-generated summaries without citing Forbes or asking for its permission.
• Enterprise AI: OpenAI has acquired Rockset, an enterprise analytics startup, to “power our retrieval infrastructure across products.” This acquisition is OpenAI’s first where the company will integrate both a company’s technology and its team.

Which two countries have the longest shared international border?

Answer: Canada and the US.

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