The site advertises itself as the 4 am friend.

And during the pandemic that stretched on for more than two years, managing mental health has become a challenge.

There are taboos around seeking professional help.

And for counseling to work, a bond of trust has to be built.

Wysa is an Indian startup looking to solve truly difficult problems.

But loneliness and depression tackled by talking to a program?

In some ways, it's dystopian. Have we come to this that people have to seek out a chatbot?

Don't they have friends or family to turn to?

The issues are complex and layered.

The fact that they have signed up over 3 million users from 65 countries is telling.

Maybe people think they will be judged and seen differently when they speak to who they know.

On the other hand, the founder says there's research to show that people open up to bots 3 times faster than they would to humans.

They knew they were on the right track when a 13-year-old wrote in to say that the program had saved her life.

That's both reassuring and scary.

We thought that the human-to-human connection was supreme.

What if it isn't?

We'll never learn

We got hooked to AirbnB and Uber.

Now, are we ready to pay the price?

To switch people from existing habits, deep discounting of current market prices seems the only sure-fire formula.

In the initial years, Airbnb offered a subsidized alternative to hotels that cost twice or thrice as much.

Uber cost a fraction of cab travel.

All that is set to change with rates going through the roof and not just because of surge pricing.

Now that valuations have been built, existing market dynamics are forcing companies to set charges compared to what cabs and hotels cost anyway.

Pay Pal had to do the same to get people to move to digital payments. They paid people to do transactions to begin with.

And as they got comfortable with the convenience, the prices inched steadily higher.

Google let us upload tons of photographs for a whole decade. Now, there's a monthly or yearly charge going forward once the storage limit is crossed.

Take a look at any new entrant into a business and it's the same story over and over again.

We can't resist the lure of free or low prices.

As we mint a steady stream of billionaires.

Paul and Mike make edible sin

The brand name is far from exciting.

It's as if they decided that people's names are far easier to remember than concocted brand exotica.

The unusual part is that the chocolate is made in Kerala.

Yes, God's own country produces a highly delectable version of edible sin.

It's not assembled from imported cocoa but grown in local plantations.

Wet cocoa beans are sourced from farmers in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Farm-to-bar, as they call it is all managed locally. And backed by Synthite – a USD 200 million natural food ingredients company.

So, why is a Made in India chocolate news?

They won a silver for the 64% Dark Sichuan Pepper and Orange Peel Vegan chocolate at the International Chocolate awards.

That's winning over true competition from Swiss and Belgian chocolatiers who have decades of experience.

As always, Indians wait for international validation.

Now that it has arrived, the surge of orders on the site has led to delays in delivery.

Expect Paul and Mike to suddenly ascend the status sweepstakes.

They've beaten the biggies on their home turf. What if it was a Silver?

Next time, it could be Gold.

Honeycomb Toffee or Gin Cocktail Bee's Knees, anyone?

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