A good link to know Kerala's Matriarchy system

https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3569

TEDxBangaloreWomen. A beautiful experience.

TEDWomen is the most celebrated event during the end of the year. I was all ready to attend TEDxBangaloreWomen to get the TED experience.

It's great to meet people and get to know many perspectives which boggles your mind.

How world champion of public speaking prepares for presentation.

Interesting and informative video.

https://youtu.be/PelPKrrVwgU

Quote for a thought.

                         "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one."
                                                                                                                        -John Berger

Belief.Behaviour.Business

Devdutt Patnaik comes with relatable tales and narrates with so much of conviction.

In this talk, he described  the promise land and his business model '3B'

Believe.Behaviour.Business.

Recommended talk for all the people who are interested in business.

Article to read about pioneer in optogenetics.

https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/01/optogenetics/



Interesting article about how the research came to  the light lately.

“It’s funny to think about how science regards when something is proven,” he added, noting that scientists build on each others’ work, sometimes working together while at other times working in parallel, scrambling onto one another’s shoulders. “There’s both intentional and unintentional teamwork,”

Beautiful talk by Sinu Joseph on Menstruation

https://youtu.be/5EH1d-2aQVg

Till now I thought we are only screwing the nature which is around us but no sooner I watched this talk, I realised that we are even screwing the human nature not mentally but also physically.

Do watch it. Sinu Joseph you are doing great work.

Quote for a thought.

"Never again will a single story be told as thought it's the only one."
                                             -John Berger

Quote for a thought.

"Charity is measured by a good will"
                                                    -Seneca

Thought of the hour - Conversation.

Conversations are catlaysts to the dreams.

There are few conversations which turn your life upside down. There are conversations which can make you have butterflies in stomach. Conversations are the cart wheels of your thoughts. Conversations atlast will boost you to do what you want to do.

By the way, I'm not talking about cynical conversations. I'm talking about conversations which either will lighten you up or lift you up.

To have  good friends around you to talk about stuff which provoke you to have perspective is something which no one want to miss.

Thinking about conversation, I quote William Temple line.

"The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child's home."
            -William Temple

Conversations are very influential. That's the power of a conversation.

Make a conversation. Make a perspective.

A good story to read.

http://www.littlethings.com/taylor-smith-secret-letter/?utm_source=whc&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shock

Thought of the hour. Believe in your identity.

Believe in your identity. Believe in the inner voice rather than changing your identity to please the crowd. Believe is what you ought to do.

'Leaf by Niggle' by J.R.R. Tolkien

Leaf by Niggle is written by celebrated author J.R.R.Tolkien. This book is at its best having a deep yet a simple story.

This story is about creation, sub-creation. People say this story is allegory of J.R.R.Tolkien's life. I don't know about it. But this story is very relatable to everyone if they can think of  themselves.

Once if we relate the Niggle's life to our's. We can see the reflections. How do we procrastinate. How do we manage our lives.  I can't speak for others but, I could relate it. If one gives an easy read, it's a simple story. If one gives a good read it's an intense story.

It's about a painter named Niggle who craves for the perfection.  He strives for perfection in his paintings. One such painting which wanted much time of Niggle was a painting of tree. He starts painting a tree and, get obsessed with the leaves. He wants to paint every leave to it's perfection.

Imagining leaves, he starts imagining about  tree, and then it's shadows.And then, the mountains behind the tree.

Imagining a perfect painting, he never finishes it. He never finds time to finish it. You ask for a reason? His neighbour is the reason. Niggle has a dull neighbour named 'Parish' who is always in a need of help. Niggle helps all the time procrastinating his work. But he never receives help from Parish when needed. Being altruist, Niggle never complains.

Later, due to few incidents he'd be punished and when he comes out on a parole, he notices that his painting is turned into trash leaving a leaf on canvas untorn. Without a complaint, he visits a place . In that place, he finds that his imagination seems to be real. The place where the tree with leaves and mountains entices the surroundings. The painting which he imagined is  what he could see in that place. He neither sulks for the lost painting but enjoys the place. 

The ending of the book would be about how that place was named after Niggle.

It's a good book. One should read at their own pace.

'OPEN' by Andre Agassi and J.R.Moehringer

Trust me, I never knew Andre Agassi till I picked up this book. Not even once in my life, I heard about Andre when I was around my friends talking about tennis. (Blame my tennis friends.)

My good friend (Not from my tennis friend's circle :p) suggested me this autobiography when asked for few  book suggestions. I read the blurb. I got to know he is one of the legends in Tennis sport.  I was surprised when I read, 'Agassi hated the game since childhood.' This line intrigued me to find more about him. And I bought the book.


Before I talk about Andre's life, I should mention about the ghost writer, J.R.Moehringer. He did the work outstandingly. Every thought is crafted into a beautifully written piece. Andre covered everything in his life I guess. The pace with which the author takes you in this ride is overwhelming. He makes you laugh when Andre laughs. He makes you empathise when Andre stumbles in life. He makes you feel joyful when Andre enjoys. Great work, J.R.Moehringer!



The first chapter of the book is named as, 'THE END.'  That's my chapter name in my first novel'In between the bridge'. Interesting!!

Immediately, a smile shone on my face. No sooner I started reading, I was taken  back to his final game. The start was so dramatic with the description of his state of mind. I could immediately connect to it through his words. The description was filled with feelings, thoughts, and introspection.

Characters were introduced in the nick of the time for, Gil was the one, I found interesting. Everything was at a slow pace  until he entered the court to play his last game. Andre enters the game and as the ball paces up in the court, so is the writing.

The end of  'THE END'

I saw legends who loved what they did. I saw legends who did what they loved. Andre Agassi is the one who did what he hated. Playing tennis. Reading about his childhood, I was scared to witness his father's pressure on him. His father was so rigid on him.

Severe contradictions were running in my mind, judging his father while Agassi was struggling, playing against Dragon, which was built by his father, a ball machine.

Who on the earth would force a kid and scares him to the death, ordering him to play tennis all the day?

Mike Agassi does. Andre's father. Before we come up with judgements for his behaviour, we were given a perspective of why Mike forces him. Because Mike knows nothing, except tennis.  Andre's childhood was taken away by his ambitious father, Mike Agassi.

Having a rough childhood, tennis filled up his whole teen life. He used to hit the roads with his brother playing tournaments. It was only his brother, Philly and friend Perry who solaced Andre with conversations. 

Andre grew up and wanted to know who he was.

He wanted to identify himself. And in the process of identifying himself, he took few paths and left few paths (He's a school dropout.) he was totally bruised by the media misinterpreting him all the time. Media never bothered to know Andre's intentions. They named him as punk, rebel, careless celebrity. We could witness the confusion, sadness of Andre's when he was cornered by the world misinterpreting him. Andre's introspection was beautifully depicted in the book.

In the course of pursuing his hated work, tennis, he made a team, a beautiful team which stood up with him all the time.  Trust me! Having the best team to support you through rough and tought times is something which all look for. (I have my best basketball team. I know the feeling ;) )


Few conversations were jotted down in my journal, just to keep rereading them. One of the conversation  with his close friend J.P was about his identity.


"It's bizarre to have strangers think they know me, and love me beyond reason, while others think they know me and resent me beyond reason - all while I'm a relative stranger to myself."

These lines tell us how he struggled to put up with the world. Fans on one side, media on the other side and himself being a stranger to himself."

His introspection taught me a lot.

Be it about life, or fame or game, those were thought provoking and left me relating few incidents in my life. It was not an easy life. He struggled hard swayed by confusion on his identity. 

Mean while he talks about the women he loved.

I can't resist myself, appreciating J.R.Moehringer again for  making the writing so compelling and heart touching. His dull relationship with Brooke Shields was limpidly put on the book. And also, nothing made me laugh as I laughed reading Andre's first futile attempts to date Stephie Graph. I could read in between the lines to know his fervor love on Stephie Graph.

Coming to tennis, he talks about his rivals, his games. He talks about wins and losses. He talks how badly sometimes he wants to win  and sometimes how he want to move out of the court. He talks about Pete who is archrival of his times. He also talks about Federer mentioning him as a man with no weaknesses. He also talks about Nadal, amusing his speed on the court. I loved reading the game experiences. The writing is so gripping while it was about games or his running on Gil hill.

I have a lot to say about this book, few are his experiences with Mandela, Gil, his coach, his drug  usage, his discovery of value of education. I'd go all day describing each and everything but I'll better wind it up stating his school unofficial motto. BELIEVE.

It was not an easy ride for Andre  travelling with his fellows in life. He lived, he laughed, he loved and he believed.

A memoir which should be read by all!! God bless my friend Carolyn for suggesting me, "Andre Agassi," Thanks Carolyn! Kudos Agassi!



To buy this book, check out

http://www.amazon.in/Open-Autobiography-Andre-Agassi/dp/0007416792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476037818&sr=8-1&keywords=open+by+andre

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

I haven't read her 'Gone girl,' but, watched the movie. The movie was great.

Expecting a dark subject, I picked up her book, 'The Grownup.'  The blurb was

A deep, haunting description right? It is!

At one point in the story, I loved the moment of  excitement and anticipation in my mind, reading the lines to know what happened next.

It's a story about a female who  earns money  by manipulating the manipulatable.

On a fine day, she starts reading people's 'aura's' and end up walking into Susan's home. She thinks she'd solve a problem leaving a trap but, the funny part is a reader can never know who fell in whose trap.

I have to mention about the writing style. I loved the writing for the brevity. It's a short story and characters are portrayed well. There was a lot of sardonic and sarcastic writing, people had tough time witnessing my gasps and laughs.

The purpose of writing or reading a book is served when it can evoke an emotion within.

I laughed at times, got afraid at times. Over all I loved it.