Unstoppable - Movie Review

The thing with these movies is that they hook you and drag you into it. I was watching something else on television and switched on the Movies channel and hit 'Unstoppable' sometime after it had started. I saw Denzel Washington as a train driver and his conductor in a train. In seconds the story wrapped itself around me. Tough similar to 'Speed' and the 'Runaway Train' and the 'Die Hard' type movies, it still gripped me until the end as two trains...

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An Exciting Cricket Match

In a simulated version of the game that was used on a corporate team in a workshop on team building (for associates of Mars), I witnessed a classic match last week. The rules were modified to a shortened and simulated version (akin to indoor cricket rules) and teams were chosen completely randomly and the process of electing captains left to the teams.After losing 4 matches in a row in two days (all ten over games), the Gladiators which was slightly weaker side altogether, beat the Challengers in a thrilling final. But the match was to watch and...

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Thought for the Day - Just Do What's In Your Control Well

I think I have finally found the mantra to success - in my head I mean. After years and years of trying to figure it out, I have finally come to the conclusion that the secret to doing anything well, the secret to feeling good and happy, the secret to success and health, lies in only one thing - knowing what is in your control and doing it well. That is all.Stop worrying about the rain, keep at itKnow what you need to do. Do all the things that you...

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The Cricket Series - Spin Advise from Shivlal Yadav

While chatting with Shivlal Yadav, an exponent of off spin and one who has done well for India, some gems came up yesterday. I asked him how a spinner who seems to have lost the art of getting wickets gets more penetration.On being more penetrative: 'Slow it down in the air. Then you get more revolutions on the ball. When you get more revolutions on the ball you get more bite, and then you are difficult to play.'On practice.'All spinners need to practice at least three hours a day. For them that is the only way to bowl consistently. And that is...

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V.V.S. Laxman - Indian Cricket's Mr. Rescue

If there is one thing V.V.S.Laxman will be remembered for, it will be for his rising up to the occasion whenever the challenge got tougher. Some people are made that way, they give their best when the going gets tough. And Laxman did it so many times in his long and illustrious career and one always knew that when a rescue act was needed, he would always be there.Very Very Simple Laxman at the book launch of 'The Men Within' in 2007, with Mr. MelkoteThere...

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The Sad Sad North East Story

It is something that we as a nation should hang our heads in shame for. That thousands of our own countrymen have to flee for fear of injury and death thanks to or jingoistic few. We can hold no one responsible but the administration for being so ham handed and slow in its reaction and for not being able to give enough confidence and security to these citizens. Across the country we have seen the administration wring its hands or say empty words after our countrymen from the North East left. Too little too late and too shallow - we can all see...

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Drive to Shivthar Ghal

On our recent visit to Pune Malay and Kalpak landed up at Kothrud and we proceeded to Shivthar Ghal in their Maruti Swift as per plans. Apart from knowing that there was a waterfall and a cave, I had no clue what this place was about. Anjali decided to join us at the last moment and we started the drive of over a 100 kms. Fifty kms were on the Pune-Bangalore highway and we turned at the Bhor phata and hit the state roads which were not too great....

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Osho - The Book of Man

Osho'a 'Book of Man' took me many months to read for various reasons. Too muh has been happening and I was reading it and savoring it like any other Osho book makes me do, always springing something new and always making you laugh with his irreverent jokes. Osho takes on all that is fear and tradition based, cuts religion and priests and politicians to shreds and invites everyone to be one self an to find the truth themselves. He explores the many facets of the man - the father, the warrior, the new man, the Buddha and so many more roles and argues...

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Hugo - Movie Review

Martin Scorsese's Hugo was a disappointment to me. It came highly recommended by a couple of friends but I found the movie too slow and the plot too convoluted. Hugo is a young boy who lives in the railway station in Paris repairing clocks sometime in the early part of the last century. He has lost his father who was a master clock maker and his uncle, a drunk, puts him at the railway station. Hugo lives alone, stealing food and trying to repair...

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Anjali - Lessons from a soccer game

Not really a soccer game, but me and Anjali, kicked one plastic Mickey Mouse ball around yesterday afternoon. Nothing goes by without the deepest involvement with children her age and I watched the intense involvement that Anjali brought into the game - constantly changing rules, improvising her own techniques and most importantly, not forgetting to give me some gyan.When you do something, give it everything you gotTo begin with we had our own goals...

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Raju, the Dog - Learnings at Sorako Soft

Was at Sorako Soft yesterday doing a team building exercise with Amar, when our old friend Prem Chand their MD, showed me Raju, a handsome white mongrel. Apparently Raju had attached itself to the office and stays there with the team. It takes its watch dog role seriously and we could sense it, as it growled when we got close to it.While explaining the concept of knowing our role and assuming our responsibility even if we are not told explicitly, I could think of no better example than Raju to tell the team. I told the gathering of 25 young and...

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Thought of the Day - The Connection between Creativity and Ownership

There is a connection between creativity and complete ownership. To do any job well, to take complete ownership for a job, more or less indicates to me, that some seriously creative work would follow. While dealing with youngsters at work, or team members who are not pulling their weight, I hear their parents, teachers and managers despair about how their wards never push that much more.It is an interesting issue because ownership really is about...

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Day Out at Daksha School - The Olympic Day

These days all Anjali talks of is about the Olympics. Apparently much sporting work is happening at Daksha and they play some game everyday. Yesterday Anita invited me to chat with the children about sports and perhaps explain something about the game of cricket to them. The audience was daunting (really) - 60 kids of 1st class and PP II - the smallest I ever addressed.As the ages of children go lower, it gets even more daunting to me. They find you out quicker than anyone else. You cannot pretend with them and you need to know exactly what you...

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Anajli - And the State of Being

I was talking to Anjali about something and the word 'happiness' cropped up. I asked her how one can be happy?'Smile,' she said simply.Oh, I said, and when we are sad, then how to be happy?'Arre,' she said, rather exasperated with all this convoluted talk. 'Why do you have to learn anything? If you are happy, be happy, if you are sad, be sad. That's all. Why do you need to learn something else.'That ended that particular conversation....

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Durgam Cheruvu Boat Ride - APTDC pull up your socks

I went to Durgam Cheruvu this afternoon with Anjali and she wanted a boat ride. The pedal boats were all taken quickly by youngsters and I had no intention on going on one of them anyway with a four year old, so I waited for the minimum quorum on the motorboat which was eight. There were four of us and we waited patiently as a bunch of enthusiastic and noisy youngsters got on the pedal boats and quickly ran themselves aground. The operators started yelling at them telling them that they were not listening to them and not following their instructions....

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Creative Writing Workshop - Week 1 and 2

Week 1 and 2 of the 6 week Creative Writing workshop at Oakridge (Future Author's workshop) are done and for those who wish to look in and perhaps get a feel of what has happened, here's a snapshot.Week 1The rules were that there were no rules. Participants would write and express themselves without fearing about the correctness of grammar and spelling - one of the main reasons why people don't write or express themselves is because of the ridicule or the feeling of 'being wrong'. Secondly, the workshop would lead them through the process of constructing...

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