Jo’burg
I saw this article today: Welcome to Johannesburg. This is what it looks like when a city gives up. It’s painful to read about this beautiful city which I had visited about a decade ago.
The city has given up.
Every city has its problems, and struggles to fix them. But it’s rare to see a large city which has given up on its problems. I can’t quite explain the feeling of gradual, creeping decay this article portrays, you have to read it.
Every citizen of every major Indian city will jump at it, and say this is the story of Bombay, of Delhi, of Bangalore, and every other city. Look at the pollution of Delhi, the traffic insanity of Bangalore, the 10 deaths a day from Bombay’s local trains. (Yes, literally, about 3,500 fatal accidents are reported per year from Bombay’s train system.) But the story of Johannesburg is different. Our cities are fighting, and we can debate whether we are winning or losing. Johannesburg does not seem to be fighting.
Nepal on fire
We have all read about the recent riots in Nepal which forced a change of government. The headlines screamed, “Social media ban sparks outrage in Gen Z!” One example of many is this one: A deadly ‘Gen Z’ protest in Nepal was sparked by a social media ban. But the anger goes beyond blocked apps. The theory was that Nepal was chugging along peacefully, with some sporadic protests here and there. The government tried quelling the protests by temporarily shutting down social media services, and that drove the youth berserk.
These headlines are utter nonsense. A spark cannot light a fire alone. If you’ve lit a fire, you know: you need kindling. A spark may come in an instant, but the kindling takes a long time to gather. A social media ban may have been the spark, but it’s not an overnight fire — the kindling must have been collecting in Nepal for years and years. No one repaired the tears in their government or their social fabric. No one felt the need to bring together their “nepo babies” and their common men and women. The kindling kept collecting.
Del Monte
This is a 138-year-old brand which was valued at about USD 1.7 billion eleven years ago. Their sales are in billions of dollars. They filed for bankruptcy in July 2025. Why?? They did not take risky bets, gamble in the stock market, put all their money in crypto, or try to shutter their old business and get into AI. They were a trusted brand with a worldwide reputation. Why did they fail? One article gives some perspective, there are many others. It did not happen overnight.
Life as a repair journey
I have begun to perceive most things in life as an endless cycle of repair. I used to believe in tremendous creativity, in newness, in dynamism, and what not. Today I am not sure about the newness of what we all do; I believe we are improving things, building on our yesterdays. We are constantly fixing things. Some fixes work, some don’t. Of the ones which work, some last, some don’t. And that, in my view, is okay. C’est la vie.
A few months after I wrote this article, I saw another post on LinkedIn which resonated well, so I am linking it here.
As an entrepreneur, I am convinced that we pay too little attention to repair. Our ventures stay strong and can weather headwinds only if we pay attention to continuous repair. All the good things we are trying to do are built on a foundation of repair. Repair is not sexy, and no VC funds it. (Neither should they.) But all the sexy things we are aiming for are built only on a relentless commitment to plugging leaks, on a foundation of continuous repair.
I don’t see repair as a negative. I feel some of the biggest things humans have built have been built by continuous improvement. (There, now “continuous improvement” doesn’t sound so negative, does it?) Engineers know that most of the cool stuff of today has come by standing on the shoulders of giants of yesterday. You call it chipping away at the stone with your chisel. You call it continuous improvement. You may even call it nurturing. I feel that all of that comes only when you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and repair.
What about the new?
The moment I talk about repair, some will ask, when will we ever build anything new if we keep focusing on repairing the old?
Very rarely does one build anything new of any value by lying back on a grassy knoll and staring at clouds. One understands new things which must be built by working on the old. One understands what is missing, what is broken, what is unfixable in the old systems, and these insights form the foundation of the new stuff one builds.
Without a deep engagement with what exists, I do not believe anything new of value can be built. One can, and must, dream of the new, but the details in those dreams come from deep understanding of what exists today.
Too much repair?
Some people also ask, isn’t there such a thing as too much time being spent in repair?
Yes, there is. Repair for repair’s sake becomes a pointless obsession. One must work on repair only to the extent needed to bridge the gap between today and the past. If something needs to be extended or repaired, the purpose for the repair must not come from an obsession to repair what was working yesterday. It must come from a need today. That which has a purpose to exist and function today needs to be repaired today. That whose purpose is exhausted may be allowed to decay.
Would I repair a film camera? Yes, I would, if I loved using it or if it served a purpose today. (Yes, film photography is not just a retro obsession, it does certain things very well today, specially to teach students the basics.) I do not advocate repairing purely for the preservation of history.
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