Hey folks!

Imagine you’ve got a brilliant idea for an app, but there’s just one problem. You don’t know a thing about coding. Hiring a developer sounds expensive, and suddenly, your excitement crashes before it even takes off.

But what if you could build that app without writing a single line of code? Enter vibe coding, a term that’s taken the internet by storm.

Coined by Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI and former AI lead at Tesla, vibe coding is all about “fully giving in to the vibes” and “forgetting that the code even exists”. In simple terms, it means you tell an AI model like ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot what you want in plain English, and it spits out the code for you. You test it, tweak it and just like that, you’re a programmer!

Sounds like magic, right? Well, that’s why the internet is buzzing about whether mid-level engineers are doomed. It’s kind of like how GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest image generation model, made everyone a designer overnight.

But hold on. Knowing how to code isn’t just about typing lines of code on a screen. It’s about understanding how things work underneath. Think of it like this. Back in the 1990s, turning on a desktop was a process. You had to power up the CPU, switch on the monitor and connect to dial-up internet. You learned how everything fit together. And over time, this basic knowledge helped you navigate everything from defragmenting hard drives to figuring out the difference between WordPad and Microsoft Word.

Now, fast forward to today. Our parents are pros at scrolling social media and forwarding WhatsApp messages. But explain to them that their phone storage is full because of those “Good Morning” or “Good Night” picture messages, and suddenly, you’re met with confusion. “But I didn’t download anything!” they’ll say.

Without understanding the mechanics, even simple fixes become impossible. Just ask my dad. He somehow has five Facebook accounts, none of which he can access (password forgotten, no phone number linked for password recovery), and he wants me to magically delete the extra accounts.

The same logic applies to vibe coding. AI can churn out code, but if something goes wrong, it won’t magically fix itself because it’s the model that made this mistake in the first place. You need to know how to troubleshoot. So, while vibe coding sounds revolutionary, engineers aren’t going anywhere just yet.

Maybe AI’s got the vibes, but human expertise still runs the show for now!

Here’s a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Dekho Na by Raman Sharma

What caught our eye this week 👀

How goli soda became a global hero

Remember goli soda? That local fizzy drink in a quirky glass bottle sealed with a marble? You just had to push the marble down, and “pop” it went!

Drinking it today sure feels like a rush of nostalgia in every sip.

But guess what? It’s gone global!

Rebranded as “Goli Pop Soda”, this iconic Indian beverage has made its way to the US, UK, Europe and the Gulf. A partnership with Fair Exports India even secured its spot in Lulu Hypermarket, where it’s flying off the shelves.

But hey, wasn’t goli soda nearly wiped out by the likes of Coca Cola and Pepsi in the late 1990s? Bottling costs soared, hygiene concerns scared people away and the desi favourite slowly fizzled out.

So how did it stage a comeback, that too on a global scale, you ask?

Well, the answer lies in reinvention.

For context, goli soda (aka goti soda or banta soda) dates back to British India, packaged in codd-neck bottles that were first imported from Britain before being made locally. Street vendors, called “bantawalas”, turned it into a cultural staple, selling flavoured sodas on roadside carts.

But then, multinational soda giants entered the Indian market and shook things up. Their aggressive marketing made survival tough for local goli soda makers. For context, the iconic codd-neck bottles alone made up a whopping 96% of production costs, squeezing profits dry. And eventually, the beloved desi fizz faded away.

Then, in 2017, something unexpected happened — the Jallikattu protests in Tamil Nadu. For the uninitiated, these were youth-led protests pushing to lift the Supreme Court’s ban on Jallikattu, a centuries old Tamil Nadu tradition where participants try to grab and tame a bull as it charges through the crowd. As people rallied to protect their cultural heritage, all things local saw a resurgence. And goli soda was one of them.

Sensing an opportunity, entrepreneurs stepped in. They swapped glass bottles for cost effective plastic ones, improved hygiene with extra protective seals and introduced trendy flavours like passion fruit, blueberry and mojito alongside classics like jeera and lemon. The nostalgic charm, paired with modern upgrades, struck a chord, not just in India but globally too.

Sales have doubled over the last five years, proving that nostalgia actually sells.

But here’s the bittersweet part. While goli soda thrives in its premium avatar, the “bantawalas” who made it an icon have faded into history.

And that makes us think: Premiumisation is in, but at what cost?

Infographic 📊

This Day in Financial History 📜

30th of March, 1867 ― The US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million

On this day, US Secretary of State William H Seward and Russian envoy Baron Edouard de Stoeckl sealed a deal called the Treaty of Cession, that redrew the world map overnight. And just like that, Alaska, once a distant Russian region, became part of the US.

Today, Alaska is literally a goldmine, rich in oil, fish and minerals. Plus, its strategic location gives the US a front row seat to the Arctic while keeping an eye on its old Cold War rival, Russia.

But why did Russia sell it in the first place?

Well, the short answer is Britain.

Confused? Let’s explain.

Back in the 18th century, a Danish explorer, originally sailing for Russia, accidentally reached Alaska. And his crew discovered a treasure trove. No, we’re not talking about gold, but sea otters. Their fur was all the rage in international markets. And soon, this led to Russian traders moving in and dominating both Alaska and the fur trade. By the end of the 18th century, the then Russian emperor granted a Russian-American company a monopoly over Alaska’s fur trade, effectively making it an official Russian territory.

But governing this icy land was no easy feat. It was sparsely populated, far from Moscow and nearly impossible to defend.

Then came the Crimean War, where Russia found itself locked in battle with Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. The war drained Russia’s finances and exposed its military weaknesses. To make matters worse, Britain, which controlled Canada, was an ever-growing threat. Russia feared that if war broke out again, Alaska might fall into British hands, without a single ruble in return.

So, rather than risk losing it for nothing, Russia sold it to a friendly power, one that also happened to be Britain’s rival, the US.

Yup, we know it’s crazy. But back then, Russia and the US were actually allies. And that unlikely friendship is exactly how Alaska ended up on the American map.

P.S.: Fast forward to today, imagine if Trump’s dream of buying Greenland or even absorbing Canada ever came true. Now that would be another one for the history books of the future!

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, our reader Ramakrishna K has a book recommendation for us. The World for Sale by veteran journalists Javier Blas and Jack Farchy.

It’s a deep dive into the world of billionaire commodity traders or the people who quietly control the flow of essential resources like fuel for our cars and metals for our smartphones.

Thanks for the rec, Ramakrishna.

That’s it from us this week. We’ll see you next Sunday!

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