Always drawing equivalency

Heard about Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai trying to draw equivalency during Murshidabad Riots, trying to equate Radical Islam with Political Hindutva. Rightly pointed by Mr. A. Bharti that Radical Islam can't be equated with Political Hindutva, rather Political Islam (don't know what it means) should be compared with Political Hindutva. And still 'Radical Hinduism' needs some level of characterization. It's important that such learned people learn to call a spade a spade. 

Hypothesis of Not Meddling & Hypothesis of Provoking

 Another incident of Jihadi violence came from Murshidabad - a Muslim dominated city - with causalities, a spiral effect of yesterday's so called peaceful protest against Waqf act in Kolkata. The West Bengal capital came to standstill with Palestine flags being flashed along with that of India's. An incident shared showed an unseeming bus driver going about his daily route, stuck in the mayhem of the protest, asked to remove the Ram Navmi flag fixated on the window of the bus (Ram Navmi happened last week). Fact that there was a policeman alongside a rampant group of protesters asking the driver to remove the flag, is a telltale sign of who is dictating the terms here. Few months back the police / TMC cadre had unleashed their force against a peaceful protester by the medical community post the RG Kar case. What is this attitude of "not meddling" in activities of a certain community? Why were Palestine flags flashed for Waqf protest? Why the CM attributed the violence to the WAQF act " which had been passed in parliament" following due process of deliberation in both houses? W

Then there is a "hypothesis" of provoking. These leaders implicitly want to communicate that don't provoke the Jihadist. You should not take a "Ram Navmi" or "Hanuman Jayanti" procession as it may provoke the Jihadist and state machinery is not equipped to handle the recursion or the political narrative which Favours the dispensation hinges on how the Jihadist will react to the so-called religious festivals of the majority. 

What great intellect is required to look at this circus of plain illogic happening in plain sight? Will these leaders realize that the feeding snakes in the backyards will eventually lead to incident where the snake is going to bite you. And to arrest this poison from society and eventually to arrest the poison a part has to be cut off. 

The Squeeze of the foreign powers

Ottoman of the 19th century needed heavy support of the British and the French powers to keep the Russians in check during before and after Crimea. Using this pretext British particularly enforced upon Ottoman to enforce reforms which will make it independent of the Islamic character and more accommodating towards its Christian minority. This can also be one of the reasons as to why Turkey despite being a super majority Islamic country still has modernity akin to the Western countries of Europe and Americas. Eventually Turkey had to relinquish much of its territories after the World War 1 including population exchanges with Greece.

The squeeze can also be used in other ways, by less powerful countries, when you are heavily indebted to the economies of other countries e.g. in case of India and Arab states especially Qatar. This country which has the Anti-India Al Qaeda as its official mouthpiece, had forced the Indian Government to suspend its national spokesperson during the fiasco following a live debate in 2022. Indian government had to relent during that time. It also kept the Indian government on its toes when 8 former naval officers were handed death sentence with charges of spying for Israel. The Indian diplomacy was able to take care of it with some efforts from the Top leaders as well. These countries know that India relies on heavy remittances from the money made in Gulf which can be often used as a leverage to extract certain agendas.

What metrics count in B2B Product Management

From Chat GPT, need to elaborate further based one xperience

Traditional metrics like Daily Active Users (DAU), Monthly Active Users (MAU), and similar user engagement metrics are often used in B2C (Business-to-Consumer) product management to measure user engagement, retention, and growth. However, these metrics may not be as relevant or useful in B2B (Business-to-Business) product management due to several reasons:

1. Different User Behavior:

• B2C Products: Typically, B2C products rely on high-frequency engagement from a large user base. Metrics like DAU and MAU are crucial to understand how often users interact with the product, which directly correlates with revenue (e.g., through ads or in-app purchases).
• B2B Products: B2B products often have fewer users who might interact with the product less frequently but for longer and more significant sessions. The usage pattern is different as it may be more aligned with work schedules and specific tasks rather than daily casual use.

2. Focus on Business Outcomes:

• B2C Metrics: DAU and MAU primarily measure user engagement and stickiness, which are essential for consumer apps to grow their user base and increase revenue.
• B2B Metrics: In B2B, the focus is on business outcomes such as efficiency gains, cost savings, revenue generation, and return on investment (ROI). Metrics like DAU do not directly correlate with these outcomes.

3. Value of Each User:

• B2C Products: The value per user in B2C is relatively low, but the volume of users is high. Therefore, it's essential to track how many users are active daily or monthly.
• B2B Products: Each user or customer in B2B typically represents a significant revenue stream. Instead of tracking DAU, it's more important to measure how effectively the product is delivering value to these users.

4. Customer Relationship and Support:

• B2C Products: Customer support and relationship management are often scaled and automated.
• B2B Products: Customer relationships are more hands-on and involve dedicated account managers, support teams, and long-term contracts. Metrics should focus on customer satisfaction, Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer success, and retention.

5. Complexity of Use Cases:

• B2C Products: Use cases are generally straightforward and designed for the average consumer.
• B2B Products: Use cases can be complex, involving integration with other systems, customization, and specialized features. Metrics should therefore focus on adoption rates of key features, depth of usage, and successful completion of business processes.

Alternative Metrics for B2B Product Management:

1. Adoption Metrics: Measure how quickly and widely the product is adopted within the client organization.

   • Example: Number of active accounts or seats used compared to purchased licenses.

2. Engagement Metrics: Focus on how engaged the users are with the product features that deliver the most value.

   • Example: Depth of usage metrics, such as the number of core features used per user.

3. Customer Success Metrics: Track how successful customers are in achieving their business goals with the product.

   • Example: Time-to-value, reduction in manual processes, increase in efficiency or productivity.

4. Retention and Churn Metrics: Measure the rate at which customers renew or cancel their subscriptions.

   • Example: Customer retention rate, churn rate, renewal rate.

5. Revenue Metrics: Track financial performance and growth.

   • Example: Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

6. Customer Satisfaction Metrics: Measure how satisfied customers are with the product and service.

   • Example: Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).

By focusing on these alternative metrics, B2B product managers can better assess the health and performance of their products in ways that align more closely with the needs and behaviors of their business customers

Thoughts on Kerala Islam

Again, one thing sort of fortified in my mind about how South Indian Muslims particularly in Kerala are different from their Northern counterparts.  The Islamization of Kerala mainly happened through the trade router as Arabs right through the Roman times had been travelling to the coast as part of the Indian ocean spice route. The doctrine to which Keralites would have been exposed would have been an unadulterated form which would have been closest to Prophet's time. The Cheraman Juma masjid "supposedly" to have been built in 629 AD predates even the first Arab conquest which took place of Sindh around AD 712. 

The later Islamic incursions which happened in from of Turkic invasion which heralded the Islamization in North India was far from a doctrinal or missionary conquest. There was various form of resistance put forward right through the time of Suheldev , Bappa Rawal, Prithviraj Chauhan Rajput against the Turkic horde, Vijayanagar against the Bahmans, the Rajput and Marathas again against the Mughals.

The way of Kerala coast getting Islamized through trading relations could also be seen in Indonesia and Malaysia were coastal kings started embracing Islam initially. It was not until Tipu Sultan when things actually changed for the worst. His violent repression and forced conversion in Kodagu and Malabar (North Kerala), altered the demography significantly. This also may have left a bitter taste for the non-converts and the recent converts as well, as the story of violence got engraved in lived memory. Coupled with that the fact Islam proselytizer in Kerala got introduced to a new flavor of spreading the religion i.e. through Violent methods, this got enmeshed with the 8th century association of a "Pure' desert Islam of the 7th Century. 

It is also no wonder that Kerala saw the most violent reactions during the Khilafat agitation of 1919-1921. Masquerading under the Guise of Anti-Zamindar revolt, Ali Musaliyar and his co-religionist wreaked havoc in the region, which resulted in forced conversions and migrations of thousands, until it was put down by the British.

There may be favored sentiments amongst specially the Kerala Muslims with the Arabs due to their over 1 Millenia association which parallels the impact Kerala born Sanatani seers they have had on the evolution of Sanatan Dharma in the subcontinent through Shankaracharya and his school of thought.

Kerala even hosted a live session with Hamas members like Khaled Mashal during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. The majority of recruits to ISIS in the past have been form Kerala, PFI has its roots in Kerala which had its own vision document to conquer India.

But would have things be different if Kerala was not exposed to the violent Islamic conquest of 18th century by Tipu Sultan & it's so called "pure doctrinal" Islamic association would have still instilled the pursuit of integrating with the larger Islamic brother hood ?

Reference : Radicalization in India 

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The Mantra Connections

Again, my thoughts go back the very impactful reason of Mantra's propounded by Aurobindo while I was listening to Rajiv Malhotra's book - Being Different. As per the book, Every Mantra goes through a same process of invention or discovery akin to what it takes for an Einstein's E=Mc2. The latter being a real phenomenon which was given a mathematical formula by Einstein. The same is attributed to Mantra which gives shape and formula to a reality. The Mantra's were invented by different Seers who meditated in isolation over different times in our long civilizational history and experienced reality in those deep moments of observation which effected a process of Involution. The Mantra encapsulates the primordial sound experienced by the seers which is supposed to be the connection with reality which is then processed in the root sound which get converted to a subtler sound and finally the audible sound, which we here in today's day and age. The achieve the primordial sound is the apex goal of a spiritual being and only few great men and women have attained it in our land. But the process should be to chant mantras to chart the path of involution inwards which can be attained by moving backward from the audible to the subtle to the root and then to the primordial sound. 

Some things just seem to make sense once you first listen to them and the same happened when I again and again tried to wrap my head around the above thought. In essence at the crux lies in the fact that experiences are converted to vibration by the mantras which describe the experience. Mantra's either can be uttered or invoked in your thoughts which lead to vibrations which then affect the physiological construct and subsequently the biological form of the human.

A while back I heard again during a listening session about how Biology is nothing but Chemistry, Chemistry being nothing but Physics and Physics being nothing but Mathematics. It's well known that Vedic Mantras follow a Mathematical structure in terms of Gayatri Chandas , Anushtub Chandas, Trishtub Chandas and Jagati Chandas and many other attributes in term on Resonance, frequency, repetitio of Mantra in specific numbers like 108 Gayatri mantras. So, by that rationale it may well be that Mantra's may help unlock the connection with self if not reality or at best make self physiologically strong which may have a positive impact in other aspects of life.

Also, as per Aurobindo/Rajiv M even though Judaism and Islam have also invocation in Hebrew and Arabic, but the system is more developed and evolutionary in Sanskrit Grammar. Also, in the Abrahamic religions it's the god who knows the reality but in case of Santan Dharam and eastern religions the Mastering of Mantra's can itself help attain the truth or the reality itself.

अगर देखी होती वो तस्वीर

देखी पहली बार वो तस्वीर

जो सालों पहले क़ैद हुई थी,

उन हसरतों से भरे माहौल में

जब लगती थी गुस्ताख़ी

एक पल के लिए भी

आँख मिलाने की कोशिश।

और बातें जो हो सकती थीं,

पर नहीं हो पाईं एक,

अजीब सी झनझनाहट में गुम

जिसका उस उम्र को तजुर्बा ना था।

अगर देखी होती वो तस्वीर

कुछ सालों पहले,

और महसूस करते

वो ग़लतियाँ,

और बनाते फिर से वो रिश्ते,

पूरी करते वो रुकी हुई बातें।

तो क्या होता सफर,

क्या होता समा,

और क्या होती ज़िंदगी,

जो अब खोजे हुए हैं

एक अंजान मक़ाम।