Thought for the Day - Finding the Guru

From Alexander who went to Aristotle, to Karna who sought Parasurama, Arjuna who sought Mahadev - it is a well known and commonly understood practice that the genuine student seeks out his guru wherever he is. I have seen some great cricketers like Rahul Dravid come all the way to Hyderabad to meet a coach like Rehmat Baig even at the peak of his career. The genuine student is never too big or too old to go back to his or her coach.Light at the end...

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Thought for the Day - Why Positive Emotions Have More Power

Looks pretty simple to me. All positive emotions more or less come to the same thing finally. Honesty, courage, patience, joy, hope, love and other such emotions deal primarily with being true to that one single emotion. It is clear and honest. It flows out as simply as that. It enriches you from the inside.Abundance - Pic by SatishNegative emotions however are caught in doubt. They are the ones that are always dealing with doubt and fear. Most times...

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Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

I had been searching high and low for this book and found it on one of the online stores. Its a slim book, 154 pages in all, but packed with the kind of content that makes you think, chew on it and come back. Being that, it was a rather slow read but a highly impactful one for me. Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor from the World War II, was a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School and was considered...

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In Conversation with Anita Nair

Novelist Anita Nair was in town for a TED Talk on Sunday at the Taj Krishna and she also launched her new book 'Cut Like Wound' at Hyderabad at Oxford Bookstore last evening. After the release of the book by author Dilip D'Souza, who is also in town to deliver a TED talk, Anita and I discussed the book and a few other things.To begin with I asked her how a new genre came about for her, she who is always experimenting with her writing anyway (she...

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Thought for the Day - Why Are There Irresponsible People Around You?

I have often found myself wondering how irresponsible certain team members, family members, public figures and others can be. 'How can they be so irresponsible?' - is the indignant, self-righteous question.Pic courtesy: SatishI was talking to a CEO friend of mine and he said the same thing. I spoke to a cricket captain and he was distressed by the same thing. Why can't they be more responsible?The unsaid part of this question really is - how can...

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Cut Like Wound - Anita Nair

'Cut Like Wound', Anita Nair's latest novel, is listed under the not-too-deeply-explored category of detective fiction in India. Anita Nair has written in all genres already - literary fiction, poetry, children's fiction, historical fiction, translation and some more - so its not surprising that she chose to experiment with yet another genre, and a difficult one at that. (I am seriously waiting for the day when she turns to comedy - she will be a...

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Student of the Year - Movie Review

Karan Johar's 'Student of the Year' was a huge let down. Not that I expected more but it was a bigger let down than I thought because he had some fine raw material in his actors, to work with. The three young actors did a good job and could have carried off a better story and made it much better - if Johar had more faith in them and not stuck to his comic-book fantasies, his gay themes, his wink-wink private jokes and an obsession with superfluous...

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And let there be light - Great pic by Satish

Just found this pic while rummaging through some old pics. Great shot Satish.Pic courtesy SatishThe pot is on the wall and the morning sunlight is streaming through a small gap on the first floor balcony....

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Cocktail - Movie Review

I watched this movie by Homi Adjania sometime ago on video. Since the story is by Imtiaz Ali (and Sajid Ali) it added some more interest to the movie. But what I saw fell short of my expectations and 'Cocktail' ended up being another movie that half-tried an interesting theme. Imtiaz Ali did the same with 'Rockstar' and I do wish he'd go all the way with his themes instead of pulling back and playing it safe. The theme for Cocktail - what if 'real'...

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Taken 2 - Movie Review

Watched 'Taken 2', the sequel to Liam Neeson's action packed thriller 'Taken', at Prasad's today and it certainly was worth it for me. Kony is a great fan of 'Taken' and it was at his insistence that we quickly made it to the movie and settled down, popcorn and all.Simply put, the relatives of the sordid chaps that Neeson kills in the first movie while saving his daughter from a prostitution ring in Europe that kidnapped her, vow to take revenge...

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Thought for the Day - Am I fully here?

It was while walking in the park (a place where I get most of these thoughts) that I caught myself asking this question - how much of me is in the walk? I was not fully there obviously, as my thoughts kept flitting here and there, and only with great difficulty was I able to get my focus on the act I was in. (I was at best 20% in the walk and had no awareness of my breath, my body until I drew my focus on it.) The question then is this - if we engage...

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Zorba The Greek - Movie Review

Saw the movie adaptation of the classic book by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was apparently made in 1964. One remembers the many stories that one has read about the way Anthony Quinn portrayed the role of Zorba the Greek over all these ears and finally I got to see that performance. He fully deserves all accolades and if there was someone perfectly made to play Zorba, it was Anthony Quinn.The movie made me appreciate the book so much more - it's a classic...

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The Art of Captaincy - Mike Brearley

I searched high and low for this book for a long time and finally found it on Infibeam. 'The Art of Captaincy' (Channel 4 Books, 279 pages, Rs. 399) comes with high recommendations and from one of the players who was acknowledged by one and all as a great captain. In fact they say that Brearley, a practising psychoanalyst, did not really find a place in the English XI at times on his batting alone but played for England because of his captaincy skills....

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Mental Toughness - Some Attitudinal Pointers That May Help

Much of what sportsmen or professionals do, revolves around three aspects - the skill aspect, the physical fitness aspect required to perform that skill well and the mental toughness aspect to sustain high performance in ups and downs.Much of so called 'talent' ends with skill - a slightly higher level of skill takes you some distance initially.  A moderate level of physical fitness can push you some more. But what really separates the boys from the men, the champions from the also-rans is the mental toughness part of it. As the going gets...

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Faltu - Movie Review

Watched Faltu on video and was wondering how this movie became a hit. Its about a bunch of college kids who have low scores in colleges and who find no admission in any college. They are joined by many more students who have not got enough marks and find no admission.This continues almost till half time when the college kids find Google, Arshad Warsi, who can fix anything. Google finds them a fake college and a fake college Principal (Riteish Deshmukh)...

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Blazing Saddles - Movie Review

Another Mel Brooks movie with Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks himself. This one is a take off on the Wild West stories and other take offs on racism, Hollywood and others. A black sheriff in a racist white town which is falling on the course of a new rail road makes things complicated enough but unfortunately for the villains, the town's new black sheriff finds unlikely support and spoils their plans. Waco the Kid (Gene Wilder) the fastest draw in the...

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Anupama Raghavan - On Being a Kidney Donor, Loving Daughter and the Contentment of Doing What is Right

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} I first met Anu, or Anupama, almost 27 years ago. Between the first time I met her, as a pretty young girl who carried this wonderfully human side to her (something...

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