Saturday, August 2, 2014

Shelley, Greek Mythology and a breathtaking iPhone app

A few weeks and some ago, 3 people met to plot the launch of an app. An app, we believe, is breathtaking in its beauty and imagination. We treaded down that usual path of listing all things we could do to launch our app as quickly as possible. It became evident soon that we had to match the impact of our launch with the audacity of the app. We all agreed that we needed to go for broke, in the shortest span of time with meager resources. The shift from the left side of the brain to the right side was palpable. Creativity and poetry were cool again.

The tag line of “Love at first swipe”, I am told, has an instinctive appeal and stickiness. I cannot help but feel a tinge of pride when I hear that. But my favorite is the other phrase and second theme of our launch- “Productivity Unbound”.



Let me describe why that is the case. If I look at our market from a poet’s eyes, I see that productivity has been oppressed and punished under the rule of the imperfect monopolies. The parallels to the Greek story of Prometheus are quite stark. Prometheus was bound and tortured by the “Monarch of Gods and Daemons” – Zeus. But according to Aeschylus’ version of the myth, release of Prometheus happens by reconciliation with the oppressor, Zeus. On the other hand if you prefer Shelley’s lyrical classic, Prometheus Unbound, his release is an outcome of mysterious weakening of Zeus’ position. Now that is more analogous to what I see happening in our market. The weakening forces of monopoly (monarchy) are what are causing freeing of productivity, much like Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound. Hence as a tribute to the creative genius of Shelley and his lyrical brilliance I picked the theme of “Productivity Unbound”.The similarity of abstract ideas is only bolstered by further similarity of prefixes.

An ode to a lyrical genius is incomplete though without an attempt at poetry, no matter how feeble. This was the genesis of the quintet that lacks in rhyme scheme, but fares well in symmetry of ideas

 It looks small to the eyes 
 To some that bounds what it can do 
 But some imagine away the boundaries 
 And then the possibilities are limitless 
 To the mind’s eye it's not small anymore

See the outcome above. (a couple of lines were added as post script)

I am humbled by the ambition and audacity of these giants (Shelley and Aeschylus) in the vastness of ideas they capture and ensuing beauty it generates. But I am not shy of getting inspired by them to achieve every bit of my potential, no matter how small it may be relative to theirs.  This opportunity to draw abstract linkages that bridge eras on a blank canvas is plain good fortune.