Kick off for 2020 with the India book tour

What a way to begin 2020 - full of spice and color and drama! Basically it felt like a year of celebration was starting. I embarked on my book tour in Pune for the India Science Fest which drew a crowd of about 15,000 people! And what a demographic - from kids with their parents to engineering and philosophy students to elderly folks curious about these topics, they managed to truly create a spirit of democratizing science for the public. This was the brainchild and product of Varun Aggarwal of Aspiring Minds . I spoke about designing for the next billion and also was on a panel on the future of science with AI. I headed to Bangalore right after to speak at the IIIT-Bangalore Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy lecture series  and gave a Keynote at the IIM-B for the Software Product Management Summit on re-centering the human in design. Was a fascinating conversation as we delved into how product management as a field is changing dramatically and in recent years is putting the user values at the center to create responsible design. After Bangalore, I went for a week to the legendary Jaipur Literature Festival, the largest such literature festival in the world. Was on multiple panels - Consumer Intelligence, the Art of Innovation and the Next Billion Users. Now this was just an unforgettable experience with the quality of speakers, the energy, the food and color and most importantly the passionate and sizable and young audience that was glued on every word and engaged with the ideas - what a gift for any author! Last but not least, went to Hyderabad to launch the IDRC grant with Usha Raman and meet the superb team to brainstorm on the steps ahead for our 3 year project on feminism, laborers and the future of work in the global south.


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