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01 October 2023

"A Prodigious Pachyderm's Paradoxical Predicament"

(I asked ChatGPT to write a funny story in Tharoor style using pompous words. Suggest a pompous title. This is what it came up with.)

In the annals of zoological chronicles, there existed a most prodigious pachyderm by the name of Percival, resplendent in his unparalleled ponderosity. His colossal countenance commanded attention from all corners of the verdant veldt, and his elongated proboscis, which seemed a veritable marvel of nature, was a source of endless amusement among the savannah's flora and fauna.

One fine morning, as the equatorial sun bestowed its iridescent benediction upon the wilderness, Percival, in all his elephantine grandeur, embarked upon his daily constitutional, ambling forthwith through the heart of the savannah. It was a regal procession, befitting the stature of an elephant of his exquisite eminence.

Now, dear reader, it must be elucidated that Percival harbored a peculiar penchant for papyrus, and he was known far and wide as the most erudite elephant to have ever graced the savannah's sylvan halls. His bibliophilic proclivities, however, proved to be a paradoxical predicament, for his hulking heft often led to cataclysmic calamities in his quixotic quest for knowledge.

On this fateful day, Percival, in his unquenchable thirst for the written word, happened upon a diminutive library ensconced within the recesses of the savannah. It was a hushed alcove, an oasis of erudition amidst the sprawling serenity of the wild, and it contained a plethora of precious tomes, the provenance of which could be traced to the most venerable scribes of the animal kingdom.

With an air of lofty sagacity, Percival, ascertaining that no other creature was within the vicinity, decided to partake in this bibliophilic banquet. He extended his proboscis with a finesse that can only be described as biblio-dexterity and gingerly plucked a volume from the dusty shelves.

Alas, dear reader, the inherent irony of this situation was that while Percival possessed unparalleled acumen in the realm of literature, his physical prowess often eluded his intellectual endeavors. As he perused the pages of an antiquated treatise on the "Epistemological Implications of Territorial Marking in the Ailuropoda melanoleuca," a resounding crash reverberated through the library's sylvan sanctuary.

Percival, in his zealous pursuit of enlightenment, had inadvertently brushed his monumental posterior against a rickety bookshelf. A cascade of esoteric encyclopedias tumbled in a cacophonous crescendo, burying the erudite elephant beneath a mound of learned literature.

The denizens of the savannah, both great and small, converged upon the scene, their laughter resounding like the chorus of a comedic opera. Percival, his pride injured more than his ponderous body, emerged from the literary landslide, his majestic mien now somewhat comically askew.

And so, dear reader, it was that the prodigious pachyderm's pursuit of profound wisdom resulted in an inadvertent spectacle of scholarly slapstick, a paradoxical predicament indeed. As Percival lumbered away from the bibliophilic battlefield, his regal countenance remained unshaken, for he had learned a most valuable lesson: that in the grand tapestry of life, even the most erudite among us must sometimes revel in the absurdity of our own pomposity.

23 September 2022

Learning to say 'Yes'

"Will you marry me?"

"Mr.Ram, our client has an opportunity that will catapult your career. However, it will involve you relocating to another country for four years at least. We will provide everything you require. Are you interested?

"I know that I hurt your feelings. Can you forgive me?"

"You need a risky surgery immediately. Can you sign this no indemnity certificate?"

"Do you want to learn French?"

What are common with all these questions?

One, they are all difficult decisions with far reaching implications. Two, best answer is 'Yes'

Traditional wisdom advises you to 'Learn to say No'. But as the above questions show, saying 'Yes' is very difficult.

Saying 'Yes' is far more difficult than saying 'No'.

Why?

Saying 'No' maintains status quo. It doesn't have any other ramifications.

Saying 'Yes' is fraught with risk, uncertainty, long-term impact, potential happiness, potential regret, change...

Given a situation where 'Yes' is expected, we try to delay and buy time to read up more, to discuss with family ....

We stall. We hesitate to say 'Yes'.

Sometimes desperation forces us to say 'Yes'. I have a friend who lost his job in the middle of the nineties. He was desperately looking for a job. As luck would have it, an acquaintance was starting the dealership of a car polishing solution. He was given a chance to become a franchisee.  In his desperation he said 'Yes' to to this opportunity.

He had zero experience in running a company. But he soldiered on. in his first year, the company had two employees including himself. In the first year his business had a revenue of 2000 Dollars

Today his business employs over 140 people and clocks 2 Million dollars a year.

"I was very scared of starting a business. Had I got a job offer, I would never have got into the business", he tells me.

Why wait till we are desperate before saying 'Yes'? Why we wait to say 'Yes' till it is the only option available? 

Another friend, an accountant by profession, took a year of unpaid sabbatical to produce and direct a movie. He invested his own money. 

"I wanted to follow my passion", he told me.

Today he heads the India Consulting arm of a Fortune 50 US Multinational. 

Despite his achievements, he is proud of his coveted membership in the IMPPA (Indian Motion Picture Producers Association) and get invites for all the glitzy Bollywood award programs. 

He decided to say 'Yes' to a risky opportunity. 

Then there are cases of people were scared to say 'Yes'.

Back in 2003, when I was working for an IT Company in Bangalore, I met Suresh in the Office. He was my colleague in my previous company which was a major steel maker in India. I had said 'Yes' to a major career change in the year 2000 to move from Manufacturing Industry to IT Industry and from the security of a government job to the risks of a job in the private sector. 

Suresh told me that he left our previous organization and has joined my current company. I was very happy for him. I assured him that it was the right decision.

Three months later I met him again. He told me that he is going back to his previous employer.

"My family is pressurizing me to move back to a government job", he told me.

I implored him to stay back. I tried to show him the long view where he would have relocated to US and be earning salary that the government company could never match.

He left anyway. He said 'No' to an awesome opportunity. 

I felt very sad. We were very close. 

Unfortunately most of the people I know opted for 'No' when offered new opportunities. Some of them never even looked around for opportunities. 

Decades later, they are doing the same job, experiencing the same experience day after day, year after year.

In the movie 'Yes Man', Jim Carey character decide to say 'Yes' to any opportunity for the next one year.
One year later, he is a changed man, more experienced, wiser...

Author John Maxwell says that most people spend time 'Running away from what they fear". That is saying 'NO'.

He suggests that "Instead people should run towards what they are afraid of". In other words say 'Yes'.

Mark the number of times you say 'No' in a day as against 'Yes'. I bet that former is a predominant response.

In 2016, I decided to follow Jim Carey and say 'Yes' to any new opportunity that came my way. Almost immediately I got an opportunity to work in an area that was evolving and about which I had no idea. This involved IFRS15 (hearing it for the first time) and Oracle Revenue Management. I was supposed to learn the concepts and the product in just two weeks and deliver a corporate training.

In my previous avatar my responses would have been filled with Ifs and Buts and Risk Mitigation Strategies and I don't haves (experience, knowledge, not my area etc)...

I said 'Yes' since I was the 'Yes Man'. I decided that I will make it work.

Fast forward two years, I became one of the few experts in that area. I did multiple corporate trainings to leading companies, did one implementation and traveled abroad and had a lot of fun.

That is the power of Saying 'Yes'.

Decide to start saying 'Yes' from today. Studies show that people are more happier 6 months after they say 'Yes' to change.

Will you start saying 'Yes' from today?

If this post inspires you to take action, let all of us know.

18 September 2022

Passing away of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

There was a sad news on Sunday 14th of August. In the morning Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (RJ) called the 'big bull of Sensex' or the 'doyen of Indian stock market' passed away at Mumbai Breach Candy Hospital. He was obese and was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes for a long time.

RJ Started investing in the market in the mid-80s came off on his own in the early 90. Either individually or through his company Rare Enterprises, he was an early investor in many of the current blue chips like Titan, Karur Vysya bank and others.

Millions of retail investors follow him and make buy-sell decisions based on whether he bought or sold stakes in a company.

This article is not about stocks or Investments even though you cannot separate them from RJ as a person. It is about personal change.

Change can be of two types; minor change is like changing the route you normally take to the office or ordering something different in restaurant that you go regularly (that's a big one for me)

Major changes affect the direction and flow of your normal life. They could include changing your job or relocating to a new city, marriage, divorce, birth of your child etc.

Or, starting a new airline, if you were RJ

RJ has always been an investor who invested in shares of company and grew his wealth as the company moved from start-up to small cap to Midcap to large cap and finally to becoming a blue chip.

In his book ‘The cashflow quadrant’, author Robert Kiyosaki, discusses four sources of wealth. He calls them EBSI. E stands for Employee, who earns income through salary. S stands for self-employed Professional, like doctor, freelancer etc. B stands for business owner, and I stand for investor. The investor (I) creates wealth investing in businesses created by business owner (B).

All these days RJ remained an investor. In the meantime, his colleagues who started investing almost at the same time as RJ, had gone on to establish highly successful business enterprises. For example, his compatriot Radhakrishnan Damani created a highly successful retail chain DMart, that he launched in the market recently. The share price of the company has grown five-fold since launch (IPO).

RJ must have felt an emptiness somewhere. He decided to start a business.

I don't know what it is with these Indian Businessmen, whenever they have cash the first business that day think of is Airlines. Vijay Mallya did it, owner of a successful company wanted to do it (investors brutally punished this move by almost halving the market price of the shares of his company. It is yet to touch its earlier high) ...

Globally Airlines have been a loss-making industry since Inception. The high level of competition, government oversight, price conscious passengers, high employee acquisition and retention costs, all of which makes it a perennial loss-making industry.

But Indian Businessman can't have enough of it.

Maybe it is Katrina Kaif modelling for Kingfisher that did it. Who knows?

RJ decided to start his airline company, he named it Akasa - Sanskrit word for Sky - airlines. The airline completed its Maiden flight on 7th of August. Many newspapers published pictures of a jubilant Rakesh ji travelling in the maiden flight. Flight was from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. On 14th August, airline had its first flight from Bangalore to Kochi.

By then RJ had left for his heavenly Abode.

As I said before, he passed away early morning on the 14th.

I was sitting in my hotel room in Ahmedabad when I read the news on twitter.

Starting a new airline was a major change for RJ.

Culturally Indians are wary of major changes. They strive for the security of the predictable. The belief is that major changes almost never come alone, they come in threes. In Malayalam they say 'onnu thottal moonnu', meaning 'if it happens once, then it will happen thrice'. They know that the first major change is under their control,but unpredictability of the remaining two makes them wary of changing anything.

There is this story of an Indian businessman who continued construction of his house because an Astrologer told him that as soon as he finishes construction he will pass away. His house was an eternal work in progress.

He passed away anyway.

Now we come to the end of the story.

Launching an airline was the first change for RJ. This was followed by unfortunate event.

I guess the third change is for his family not to have him at  the breakfast table.

One final unrelated thought.

RJ passed away on the 14th. 15th August was a holiday.

On Tuesday 16th of August, the market closed up by 200 points.

Was it a mark of respect for RJ or was market showing who is the boss? 

24 August 2022

The one hour thought experiment...

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone"
-- French Philosopher Blaise Pascal

 I have been sick and bedridden for the last five days with the illness showing no signs of abating. 

My typical day goes like this.

  1. Getup
  2. Check Twitter, play wordle, do two lessons on Duolingo
  3. Put the mobile down, watch TV
  4. Close TV after binge watching for 2 hours.
  5. Pick mobile, check Twitter, tweet on politics, retweet some random tweets, check Facebook, post my thoughts (usually nonsense), play spider solitare. Put the phone down in disgust
  6. Pick the phone, check WA, my stock portfolio, read some random articles, watch multiple youtube videos. Put the phone down in disgust
  7. Watch TV for another hour
  8. Pick phone, check battery, keep it for charging
  9. Try to sleep. See a dream. Wake up, pick the phone, google to check what the dream meant. Google says 'Dude go back to sleep'. Put the phone down in disgust. 

 After five days, one wakes up the reality. One is addicted to mobile phone.

That wasn't good. I should do something about it.

I decided to do an experiment. I will not touch any device - mobile, laptop, kindle, TV Remote, nothing, any book or pen for one hour. I will just lie down and try to be as 'thoughtless' as possible. I will observe my mind and my thoughts. If any outside thoughts interrupt my meditative flow, I will be aware of it, make a mental note of it to pursue later, gently push it aside and move back to my 'thoughtless' state. 

No input or output devices for the next hour. That is it. 

So it begins. 

I lie down and close my eyes preparatory to moving into a relaxed meditative state. Then I start coughing. 

I am worried. Why is this cough not subsiding even after 5 days? Should I do some checkup? Is it COVID variant? Doctor says it is allergic cough. What am I allergic to? How do I find out. Let me check webMD.com...

Wait.

What will I have for dinner? Gosh, I am famished. I will have bread toast and dry subzi. Not sandwich, though. Subzi should have that delicious aroma that will make you want to eat despite my illness. How do I get that flavor. Let me check tarladalal.com

Wait

I want my bread toasted golden brown. Our cook burns the edges and I don't like that. Let me search Google Images for 'White bread toasted to Golden Brown' and show it to her. Let me download the image now. It will take a minute.

Wait.

A couple of days ago, I dreamt that I was on Baby Gomati bus to Njaliakuzhi. Is it the right name? Let me check google.

Wait.

News is that Adani it taking over NDTV. Apparently he got hold of Ambani's 29 percent stake through backdoor. The strategy should be fascinating. I saw and article link on this subject on Twitter. Let me check this out. 

Wait.  

The Canon printer is not working. Let me raise a service request on Canon.com.

Wait

Adani's business is completely dependent on Modi. What will happen to him when Modi is gone? He will have to build bridges with many new leaders. That will be interesting. Let me post a Facebook post about that. 

Wait.

Why is my mind wandering too much? Let me check google to see how I can control my mind.

Wait.

There was a meditative technique propounded by Leo Babuata of  Zenhabits.com. You keep your eyes open and look at a distance and gradually start looking at the space in between till you gradually come closest to your face. 

I try that. 

Man, this is good. Why am I seeing two images of the same thing when I concentrate? I read that it is because both right and left eyes send the images to brain and brain syncs them and present you will one image. When you concentrate, you brake that sync process. 

Fascinating. What is the scientific term for the Sync process. Stereovision? Let me check google.

Wait. 

Have you noticed that the hindi letter for Ya as in Yaar and the English letter for y look the same? This is too much. I have been using both these language all these days and never saw this. 

Are there other similar letters? Let me google.

Wait. 

I want to listen to the song 'Karunasagara Kai Thozhunnen'. I want to listen to the part Matsya - Koorma - Varaha - Narasimha - Vamana. Let me see if it is available on Wynk app on my mobile. 

Wait

Lying on my bed, I listen to 'Never have I ever' playing on TV. Last I watched, Devi and Paxton had got into a big fight. Did he apologize and patchup? Let me check the episode on Netflix app on my mobile.

Wait

I think the dress that Maitrayee's wore for her interview with Fallon is Fabulous. I read that it has become a rage. Let me check Insta.

Wait.

Why do men have to always apologize? They are always wrong, that is why. Or, are they?  Let me check Quora to see if someone has asked that question. Answers will be interesting.

Wait.

Today the afternoon tea tasted better. Am I improving? 

Today I sent feedback to ITC Narmada. Hope they improve their performance.

We had Roti and Panneer Butter Masala in Peshwari restaurant of ITC Narmada. Like all other north Indian restaurant, they also give raw onion as complement accompaniment. Did you know that if you sprinkle a little chhat masala on the onion and then eat it with PBM, the flavour explodes inside your mouth. I have been eating this stuff for thirty years and I did not know this. 

How does this taste change paradigm shift happen with a sprinkle of Chhat masala? Let me check google. 

Wait

What are the other similar culinary secrets I did not know? Let me check google.

Wait

Chef Ranveer explains these well. Let me check his video of Panneer Butter Masala on Youtube. 

Wait

Why do I have this compulsive desire for instant answers? Let me check Google.

Wait

I look at wall clock. It is now one hour and fifteen minutes since I started this experiment. 

I never once touched the cell phone. I am not addicted to my phone.

Yeyyyy.....

Mats Wilander in Durgapur - A story in Twitter thread.

 Let me tell you a cute little story.

Today I was watching a short video of Mats Wilander of Sweden defeating Pat Cash of Australia to win the 1988 Australian Open. 1/n

The name Wilander triggered this memory 2/n

It was way back in 1989. I had joined Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) as a 'Junior Manager'. DSP was one of the five big steel plants under the conglomerate Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). 3/n

In addition to Durgapur, the plants were located in Bokaro in Bihar, Bhilai in Chathisgarh, Rourkela in Odisha and Salem Steel Plant in Salem, Tamil Nadu. 4/n

In addition to the five biggies, SAIL also owned some smaller steel plants and iron ore mines. One of those smaller steel plants was Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), which as the no-nonsense name suggest produced Alloy Steel, which is a special steel (Think of Fortified Wheat, if you will. Same concept) 5/n

SAIL provided hostels for Bachelors to stay. For those working in DSP we had the 'Durgapur House' and for those working in ASP, they had the ASP Hostel. We shared a common mess. 6/n

Layout clear? Two hostels, one mess. 6/n

Now we come to that day in 1989. 7/n

I came to the mess at around 7.30 AM. As I entered I could see one ornary looking bloke sitting there quietly chewing his poories. He was so into eating that he did not look up to acknowledge my presence. 8/n

When he looked up I saw that the it was a face that will never write a thousand letters. May be a staff memo. Well no. 9/n

An unremarkable proletariat cog in the wheel of the giant steel machine. 10/n

I switched on the TV. The first news item to hit me was 'India's Ramesh Krishnan beats World Number One and Reigning Australian Open Champion Mats Wilander" 11/n

Stunning, right? I was stunned, and thrilled and excited. 12/n

I had to share my excitement with someone, anyone. There was only one person in the vicinity. 13/n

This cha chomping chupandale. I will have to do with him. I can't carry this orgasmic ecstasy for too long.  14/n

So I take ma plate (see that subtle change in tense from past to present, don't be tense) of Poories and walk up to him. 15/n

I sit opposite to him. His lips twitch to show his unhappiness with me selecting that one seat among 20 available in the room. 'Why', his eyes asked.

(Relax ma bro, I bring thee good tidings). 16/n

"Ramesh Krishnan defeated Mats Wilander in Australian Open. Big win for India", I set the ball rolling. 17/n

I would have expected an ecstatic response. At least as much enthusiasm as possible on a working day. A bit of enthusiasm? No? 18/n

"What?" he asked.

Thank god, he didn't hear what I said in the din of his tea chugging. I repeated my previous observ. 19/n

This time he heard. For sure he heard. I waited with bated breath (what is that anyway) for his ecstatic response. 20/n

He replied finally. With a different question.

"Who?" 21/n

"Ramesh Krishnan from India. He defeated Mats Wilander of Sweden, who is the current world champion", only thing I omitted was the name of the game. Should I have mentioned it? Was it too late. 22/n

After all who didn't know that Open was in progress? 23/n

He got up to leave. "I am sorry that I don't know anyone by that name. I work in ASP, may be this Ramesh works in DSP" 24/n

Do you hear that hissing sound. It is my ego deflating. 25/n

02 March 2022

How should Organizations handle 'The Great Resignation'

This article was first posted in LinkedIn. 
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6904301546314571776/

There has been a recent focus on the 'Great Resignation'. People are quitting their jobs and leaving.

As an employee of a company, people sign three contracts. The first one is an economic contract. Company pays employee for her time. Everyone signs this contract.

The second one is the social contract. The employee becomes a part of a team. They go out to team lunches and team dinners, they laugh and have fun at the workplace. They celebrate together. Going to office becomes fun.

13 August 2021

Two types of leadership

 These days I occasionally go cycling around South Bangalore. In these dawning peregrinations I come across many different things.

There are two groups of stray dogs that I see occasionally. I am always impressed by their difference.

One group is always calm and composed. It is led by a big male dog, visibly passive and most of the times silent. It ignores most of the 'noise' around it. Passing vehicles, honking horns, cyclists, cows.. nothing impacts its composure.

It never barks but commands a kind of allegiance from the other dogs in the group. All of them are calm and well in control.

But if they perceive real danger or intrusion, the leader is first off the pack, leading it from the front and ensuring that the pack is protected.
 
Looking at the leader, I am always reminded of Dr.MMS. He too was calm and composed almost to the point of perceived as being passive. He learned to ignore the 'noise', all the dirt that his opponents and even those in his party threw at him.
 
He looked pliable but when it really mattered. like during the Indo US Nuclear Deal or handling of the Global Recession, he was aggressive and on top of things. 

The other pack is lead by a noisy and jumpy leader. He is always agitated, always barking and always nervous and neurotic. He seems to believe that noise is the same as action. A car passing by, the entire pack will run after it all barking and yelping, a passing cow is enough to excite the leader.

They invariably bark at passing bikers. But if any biker stops and get off his bike, he and the pack will run helter skelter.

Just like the leader, the pack is also jumpy and neurotic. They seem to perceive that everyone is their enemy and they believe that noise substitutes action.

And one more thing. Since the first pack is stable, they are also healthy. Since the second pack is nervous and jumpy, they are always running around looking for food and get into fights as they encroach the territory of other packs.

The groups are almost identical in every respect. Only difference is the temperament and priorities of the leader of the pack.

27 July 2021

Seven Games People Should Play

In the book 'Games people play', author Dr.Eric Berne talks about the various emotional games people play in their transactions. All the games are harmful to the relationship and weakens it over time. 

This article is the reverse, here I am talking about the various games that people should play to get the best outcome for themselves in the long-term. People take years to learn these and by the time they do, they find that they have already missed the bus.

This article is for everyone who are struggling in their life and their career. It covers almost all of us. These are the advises that I would have loved to get at a young age.

The main benefit of these games is that you can start on these games any time. The results will almost immediately start showing. 

06 May 2021

Phase out of Calibri....

Microsoft is phasing out Calibri Font, I am not liking it one bit.

https://www.wired.com/story/calibri-default-font-microsoft-moving-on/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-intl-en 

I remember that for a long time I was a fan of Arial font. It had heft. Much like a Eiffel Tower, Arial font towered over fonts like Times New Roman and Book Antiqua of the same font size. It had heft and a kind of grandfatherly friendliness.

Arial had another advantage that it filled pages. So a normal five pager went to seven pages giving me that illusion of achievement. I liked it.

Microsoft default was Times New Roman. My first task after opening a document was to change from Times New Roman to Arial. I did not like Times New Roman. I did not feel that the font gelled with my liberal philosophy. With its sharp edges and a formal, authoritarian look and feel, it felt like something out of Hitler's Germany.

I had brief flings with other fonts like Lucida, Comic Sans and Tahoma, but I always returned to Arial.

Then came Calibri.

My first exposure to Calibri was while reviewing a proposal when I was working with Oracle. I immediately liked the font.

It was cute and small and rounded and pretty and had rounded edges and a flow that Arial lacked. In front of Calibri, Arial looked tired and boring. Calibri had zest and chutzpah and joie de vivre. Working on Calibri meant that my mind did not have to feel the cognitive dissonance of a great idea covered in a bad font (oh mi gosh, I called you a bad font, sorry Arial). I could focus on making my article 'really' good rather than making it 'look' good. I could add my personality even to formal documents.

Calibri nurtured my soul and lifted my spirits and boosted my creativity. With Calibri, I felt like a new man.

Calibri has been my default font for the last ten years. I have written reams of documents, blog posts, articles, proposals and reports in that font. I have gotten used to Calibri.

That is why the news that Microsoft is switching its default font came as a jolt. It was like a part of me was being phased out.

I have seen the replacement options, they look good.

But they are not Calibri.

28 February 2021

Naive Super By Erlend Loe

Naïve. SuperNaïve. Super by Erlend Loe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book over a couple of days. This coming of age book is simple and easy to read. The author is the protagonist and as a 25 year old, he is trying to understand the meaning and purpose of life. The author Erlend Loe is a Norvegian and this book was touted as Norway's 'Catcher in the Rye'.
 
Most of the book is self-observation, observation of the world around and developing a perspective towards life.
 
The author is highly influenced by the writings of scientist Paul Davies. He seems to have taken a liking to the concept of time. As per scientific principles, time is affected by gravitational pull. The more the gravity, the faster the time moves.
 
This has two implications. One, as you go higher, time moves slower and you age slower. The second aspect is even more profound, there is nothing called time. I mean if the time is different at the bottom of Empire State Building and on top of it, which time is right? Since you can't answer it properly, I mean every meter you move higher the time moves slower, it implies that there is nothing called time.
 
This is a great philosophical question. The author do not discusses this in detail, but it is obvious that this puzzle is something that he spends a lot of time thinking about.
 
Towards the end of the book author visits America and as is wont, that country provides him with some answers that he was looking for.
 
A good coming of age book. (even though the protagonist is 25).

There are two things that impressed me about this book. One is a list of items that the protagonist admires and appreciates. These are definitely the items that he is grateful for. The list is very exhaustive. Some of the items in the list are hammering, sitting on the loo, having someone rub his back, music, friendship, water etc.
 
I have read it a number of times that you must start and end your day by being grateful for your blessings. I never understood this. Till I read this book, that is. I am healthy in general. When I see very unhealthy and sick people around me, I guess I must be grateful for my health. Likewise, I live in my own home, I have a great family, my mother is healthy and stays near where I stay, I have some work to do and something to look forward to when I wake up in the morning, I have clean bowels every morning (I remember the time when I struggled over three years with extreme constipation), have food to eat and water to drink....
 
I mean there are a number of things I must be grateful about.
 
Another list that the protagonist makes impressed me. That is the list of things that he saw each day. He observes and sees a lot of things. Love and pain in the eyes of people, nasty behaviours, kindness, politeness, rudeness, even simple things like a man sitting on the side of the road drinking water from a bottle. When I look back at my day, I can't remember a single thing I saw. Which is equivalent to not seeing anything right. What the author is doing is what is known as mindfulness. Just observing without any judgement. 
 
That is Zen.
 
By the way, I loved the first paragraph. Great start to the book.

View all my reviews
 
Highlighted Quotes
  • Something is going to have to happen.
  • I thought time was time and gravity was gravity. Evidently that’s not the way it is
  • It’s been a long time since I worked up a real sweat.
  • I speculate about making a list of things that excite me today. I find pen and paper, but notice that I am hesitating.
  • I should never have stopped running.
  • For some reason I suspect that I know too much about things it’s stupid to know a whole lot about.
  • An animal is an animal, he reckons. You can’t blame the dog for being ordinary.
  • He is a human being living in disharmony with almost everything.
  • If it’s already nothing, there’s no reason to say it in a more complicated way
  • (The universe) has about a hundred billion stars the size of the sun. These numbers are so absurd that I strangely enough find myself in a good mood. It’s all so immense. I think Paul feels a bit like this as well. There is so little I can do to make a difference. It is liberating.
  • I sit there thinking that I’m a really good guy and never mind space and time and all the rest of it.
  • When the universe is ephemeral, one can easily feel that human existence is meaningless. Why should I do anything at all?On the other hand it is tempting to try and make the best of it. I’m here, anyway.
  • many people are in a position similar to mine. That they know a helluva lot, but don’t quite know what to do with it.
  • They’re strange things, girls. One can’t avoid them. They’re so pretty. And they’re everywhere. There’s something very strange about girls. First they’re not there and everything is a little difficult. But then they’re there, and things become nicer.
  • Americans seem to live according to the simple theory that two is better than one, three is better than two, etc. For example, they believe two hundred dollars is better than one hundred. It’s a cute theory.
  • (He is walking someone else's dog in the park, he says that people will mistake him for a dog owner) Seeing as I’m not a dog owner in New York, that also means everybody else could be something other than what they seem to be. That means it’s impossible to know anything at all. 
  • Everybody is good at something.
  • Presents are important. Little presents are often better than big ones.

23 February 2021

The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

The Woman in the White Kimono

The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished reading the book 'The Woman in White Kimono' written by Ana Johns. What a brilliant book!!! Undoubtedly the best book I have ever read (I have read many). The book is crafted with perfection, with each word like an iridescent Pearl connected by glowing golden thread to form an exquisite Pearl necklace of ethereal beauty.

22 February 2021

Book Review: The Guest List By Lucy Foley

I bought this book because it was Number One in the Goodreads reader's choice. I guess the book was okay.
 
The book toggles between points of view and chronological sequence like a teenager surfing the web on his laptop with some fifteen tabs open. While I could understand the points of view, they are not actually points of view, but more like description of experiences narrated by different characters, the mixing of chronological future, past and present in dizzying frequency, left me dizzy.

18 February 2021

Book Review: The Joys of Compounding: Author: Gautam Baid

I spent a lot of time reading this book (from January 8th when I started to February 17th when I
finished). There is a lot of curated work - mostly quotes from Munger and Buffett and a lot of advises and suggestions, unfortunately original ideas are few and far between. I wish Mr.Baid had focused more on detailing his experiences, him being an accomplished investor. The book sparkles in the few areas where he addresses his experiences in investing in Indian market.

Mr.Baid had a great opportunity - a confluence of knowledge, experience and communication skills, where he could have written a book on investing in India. The country has evolved significantly over the last twenty years, and Mr.Baid was in the market in almost 15 of them. The last twenty years has seen a mega crash and multiple mini bull markets. There is a lot of human interest stories out here many of which he will be privy to.

That would have been a heck of a book.

Mr.Baid read and referred a number of books and articles while researching this book. The bibliography is impressive. I have read some of the books that he refers in the book, most of them over the last two years. So the only areas that added value to me are his personal experiences. I found the section on 'being an empathetic investor' very useful.

There is no doubt that Mr.Baid writes well. I hope he writes the next book from his heart rather than from his head....

12 February 2021

The Midnight Library: Author: Matt Haig

The Midnight LibraryThe Midnight Library by Matt Haig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book after seeing the recommendations on Goodreads. This book was selected as the best book on Fiction Category in 2020. The book starts off with negativity and despair. Nora Reed is a champion swimmer and a philosophy major. Due to various choices she made in life, at the age of 35 she finds herself in despair and depression. As her cat (named Voltaire, after the French Philosopher) dies, she goes into deep depression and takes sleeping pills to commit suicide.

In the interim stage between life and death, Nora finds herself in the midnight library. There she meets her librarian and mentor Mrs.Elm who tells her that this is her 'personal library'. Each book is a story of a different life that Nora could have lived in the 'multi-verse'. She is given an offer that she can experience her different lives. Every time she gets disenchanted with one life, she will come back to the library. As long as she is living her life the clock will remain at 00:00:00 hours. The moment she finds that she doesn't have any more life to live, the clock will start moving and she will die when the clock strikes 00:01:00.

Nora explores different lives In one, she is an Olympic Swimming Champion who became a world leading motivational speaker. In another she is a scientist doing Climate Change Research in the Arctics. While she is a musician in another, she is a philosophy professor in Cambridge or a Brewer in Latin America in others.

In some of her lives, her parents and her brother are alive.They are dead in others.

The book uses concepts from the quantum physics like quantum superposition and multiverse to tell Nora's story. These advanced concepts are explained in very simple language in this book. The book also uses advanced philosophy of Thoreau and Aristotle to describe Nora's life. Despite the liberal usage of these advanced ideas, the reader never feels overwhelmed or bored. 

As an Engineering Student who has studied physics during the graduation, I found the relationship between advanced physics and human experiences very fascinating. In quantum physics there is a concept of 'Quantum Superposition', explained lucidly in the idea of 'Shrodinger's Cat'. In simple terms, it states that tiny particles like atoms and it components remain in multiple states at the same time. They take a specific state when they are measured.

The story says that when a person is in a state of confusion, it is equivalent to an atom existing in multiple states. Every time the person makes a decision (activity is measured), he goes into a specific state. Human life consists of many possibilities. The story of life is written at every minute. Since the story is ever changing and evolving, the only thing you can do well is to use the current moment to the best of your ability and try to take decisions that could take you to your ultimate destination.

It is important to remember that each decision we take has an opportunity cost of choosing one life and leaving many potential lives on the sides.

In the penultimate chapter, Nora pens her learning from this experience. She realizes that the only thing she has in her control is the present moment. It is important to use it well.

I was also fascinated by how quantum physics closely allies with the Indian philosophy of Maya which states that there is no absolute truth. Everything is perspective. At the start of this book, Nora feels that there is no meaning to her life and she is depressed. After spending her time in the library, she comes back to the same life all happy, positive and charged up.

Life is the same, only change is her perspective.

Great book. Learned a lot about my life as well.

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