Saturday, April 29, 2017

Nice article to read.

A must read, to know what makes the world a better place doing the work what one can do.

http://harimohanparuvu.blogspot.in/2017/04/thought-for-day-love-is-treating-humans.html?m=1

Veerappan-Book by K.Vijay Kumar


Anecdotes in the book thrilled and surprised me as I kept turning the pages. Vijay Kumar wrote in a great detail and also in gripping way.
Veerappan is an outlaw who troubled governments for years. His power and intelligence intrigued me. His stories shared among elders etched an image in my mind. Back then, in 2004 Veerappan's death triggered me with many questions. What kind of person he is? How is he so intelligent? What kind of life he wished living in jungle for years.
To all my questions, this book answered the most. RGV movie, 'Veerappan' is of same content which was showed in appealing way. Even though movie was great. 2.5 hour movie excited me rather than informing me more about Veerappan's life.
This book also shared about people who lost their lives in search of Veerappan. Friendly fires shocked me for the way lives were lost in a fraction of seconds due to fear. This book has more about Veerappan and the men who were in search of him.
Vijay revealed very little in the book, regarding their general training and operations. Training at Alps amused me. Never I imagined the training to be so fancy and cool.
It's a great feeling to read about Veerappan. And also, it's a great feeling to read about men who braved to death in the journey of searching Veerappan.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Friends who correct me when I'm wrong.

Talking to Elizabeth for hours and hours on books, life and happiness, I make many grammar mistakes while I speak to her.
She gently corrects me every time, every time!!. whenever I use words in a wrong way, whenever I frame sentences in a wrong way, she simply points out and corrects me. Never in our conversations she made fun out of me being a writer and making grammar mistakes.
Being a writer, I face the problem where people always come up with alien words, asking for meanings. Well and good till then. I search for the words which I don't know and tell them.
Then people comment, "Writer! and doesn't know the meanings!"
Sometimes I blather committing few mistakes in making proper sentences. Then people quickly says, "writer! and doesn't know the difference."
I'm sure most of the writers would be facing this problem now and then.



Thankfully I have friends who correct me when I do mistakes while speaking.

Elizabeth knows that I write and she doesn't assume that I have to know all the words which generally people think of. She never even discouraged me pointing out my mistakes being writer who write in English.
It's good to have people who correct you. Harimohan sir was the person who kept correcting me whenever I do mistakes. The way he teaches me small minor things makes me feel grateful for the friends who correct me wishing me to be better.
I'm glad I'm having people who are helping me in every possible way to be a good writer and to be a good speaker.
(Right people on the bus again!! :D)

Right people on the bus.

Talking to Elizabeth about what's all happening in life, it was inevitable to talk about my friend, mentor Harimohan Paruvu.

I told her, "I have a friend who tells me very subtle, little things which makes me think and act."

Once, I was told by Harry that, "You are average of the 5 people you move along with."

She was doubtful to believe that I have 50 year old friend with whom I share everything and learn from.

After I shared the story of our meet and the conversations we made, she found it surprising.

I think it's high time I make all our conversations into writing to keep a record of everything. Once, I was told by him about "Right people in the bus."

Right people on the bus are the people who helps you to be a better person in life. I'm glad I have right people on the bus.

To have right people on the bus doesn't meant to deny other friends. It's important to have  various circles of friends from various walks of life who can bring the best out of you, who can share everything with you.

I'm glad I have right people on the bus who are always there supporting me to be a better person.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

GURU- Movie

Dubbed film of 'Saala Kadoos,'  'GURU' starring Venkatesh and Rishika Singh.

Elli proposed for a movie and we were at PVR looking out for movies. GURU seemed to be promising film as it was sports drama. We watched it and had a good time.


Got to know about boxer, rishika singh through this film. Rishika Singh was amazing, she was natural and loud which was needed for the character.

The movie is about a coach who makes girl to realize her potential of being boxer champion. In most of the movies, I don't understand why coaches always have to be there till end, to make the team/ player win. Coach is meant to build the team and players who can play being themselves in the field. His role is must needed every time but, not even during the match where player is clueless about what to do and what not to do. This is something which I even  discussed with Harimohan, he shared same views on movies where coaches be the centre of  focus rather than players. Coach can't be there every time. Active participation of coach  in the movie disappointed me. 

I loved the background score. Santosh Narayan did an amazing work. Every song has his signature style on it. The selection of singers also clearly stated the act of  Santosh Narayan work. He has his own style and it's lovely.

The first three books I read.

Today, reading the thoughts of Anjali about gifts, talking to Swathi about gifts, I realized how my life changed because of a good act by my friend, Swathi.

As I was speaking to Swathi today after 6 weeks, she recollected the dialogue which I posed to her ages back, "How can you read books. How can you spend time, reading for long time. Have a life!!"


I burst out laughing.

It was me who said it 7 years back, and now, I can read books for days and talk about books for days.

All thanks to Swathi and Susmitha for their conversations  at school about books.

It was Swathi who further gifted me books to read and made me an avid reader, the way I am right now. 











Recalling whole experience over phone, she reminded me of our act of gifting.

She's the first person to gift me books and encourage me to read. I can't be thankful enough for the small deed she did.


The first gift she  gave me was, 'The Spirit of Music.'  She gifted me on my birthday and I was so excited by the gift that, I was wishing her in return saying, 'Happy Birthday Swathi!'


On my other birthday, she gifted me 'MY LIFE IN MY WORDS' by Rabindranath Tagore and 'THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY' by Robert Kanigel


Started with these books and I never regretted the hobby I took back then :)


MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Victor E Frankl


This is the book I've been suggested many times by many people. A must read.

The book is about how one finds hope and how one has a choice in life no matter at what situation we're in. It's about experiences at Holocaust and about a therapy called, 'Logotherapy.'

In the first part the author described the experience at a concentration camp. He shared what he learned from that place. He described how fear crawled into their life without a hint of when they'll  enter gas chambers. The gruesome experience by Victor reminds me of how often we complain about petty things in life when the suffering seems to be unimaginable in few people's life.

He writes, "Everything can be taken from a man, but one thing:  the last of the human freedom to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one's way."

He keeps quoting Nietzsche, describing his therapy.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

This line is so powerful! Victor keeps quoting this line emphasizing to concentrate on 'why' to live.

These lines by him  strengthened my belief that It's us who should keep creating our life rather than letting life created kk

Precisely, to say,  one of the important things in Logotherapy, is about 'S/he who has a why to live'


Talking about the suffering, he said,
"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity- even under the most difficult circumstances- to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self- preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him.  And this decides whether he is worthy of his suffferings or not."

I couldn't put in better way!

There were many things to take from this book. I'm glad I finally read this book.



Surprise of the day- Meet of an old friend

Studying in different schools left me with a privilege of having many friends at many places.

I always wished to study with an old friend of mine at another place. It never happened but, I met a friend of mine whom I never saw, never spoke to, but I know her well!. So well that, I used to ask about her every now and then to my friend whenever I speak to her. 

Elizabeth, a colleague at my workplace seemed to be a nice person. She was courteous and nice. It's been a month since I joined the workplace, It's been a month since I met Elizabeth. Never in my thoughts, had I imagined Elizabeth to be the 'friend' of Swathi(10th class friend) who always used to talk about her intermediate friends, 'Celine, Elizabeth.'


A month passed and I never questioned Elizabeth about her whereabouts.  I used to talk to her casually. 


Out of blue, I thought she could be the person who Swathi always talk about. May be the vibes of her gave me an intuition of her relation with Swathi.
 

Time of being in doubt about her whereabouts took me to toll of sense and surprise, I asked  Elizabeth about her relation with Celine, she was bit sceptic to answer my questions and in return questioned me how I know all her friends and cousins. As I kept on asking her about her friends, she suddenly realized that I was the person who Swathi always talked about. 

Elizabeth's expression made my day. The surprise she had couldn't be brought by any other conversation. To witness the surprise and shock brought me sense of joy to see how small the world is.  It's a good feeling to meet a friend whom I never saw. 

Thinking about her, I penned words. As it goes,                                    

                                   Image of her is whatever I draw
                                     Voice of her is however I listen
                                     She is present in a way I see
                                     She is present in a way I think.
                                       Elizabeth erstwhile friend!


                                Elizabeth, elegance is her charm
                             Surreal art can be found in her smile
                                  So enchanting, so enlivening
                                     Elizabeth, erstwhile friend!
                              Good to see you. Good to meet you.



Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Nice link to read

Change your questions- What do you do after school?

I got a chance to meet children, and the questions I posed seemed the same which I was asked by elders at my childhood. To my questions, I got the same response which I used to give without any excitement. I didn't want to answer those questions when I asked. Now, I don't want other children to feel the same.

Which class are you?
What school do you go to?

Instead of the question series which I have nothing to do, I changed the questions.

What do you love to do after school?
And asked the questions related to the work s/he's interested in.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The Diary of a Nobody- Book

Suggested by Ruskin Bond in his book, 'Lamp is Lit,' I picked up this book, 'The Diary of Nobody,' written by George Grossmith. The book was published in 1800s and the humour is subtle. As I read it, I could imagine narrator being funny, sarcastic. He didn't had anything extra ordinary in life. He wrote about what happens daily in his life. He wrote how his friends Gowings, Cummings are dumb at times, how he struggled to discipline his son Lupin.

It's funny to see people searching extra ordinary stuff to write, running behind fantasies. But here, the author wrote  ordinary things in extra ordinary way. Human emotions are universal and this reminds me of many conversations on writing with Harimohan sir(Another post for another day)

Pooter is neither funny to the extremes nor, dumb to the core, He's just another family man with problems to solve with family and friends. Had a good time revisiting vintage life style and life stories.


Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Hanuman's Ramayan- Storytelling session.

It's not that I'm unfamiliar with ramayan story but, wanted to listen to Hanuman's version also.

Stories lives on for generations.

As I slowly settled and started a conversation with a stranger named Suresh the session just started.

Deepa, the stoyteller along with Krishna and Soujanya arrived on the stage. Deepa started out by calling everyone to listen to stories.


They had few props and musical instruments on stage to use.  They took a saffron cloth to indicate the person as Hanuman who was the narrator for the session.  It was an tandem storytelling session.

I loved the way she narrated. She was engaging, relating and then narrating. Her mesmerising voice and those modulations she did for those situations were so good that I was recording the sound for whole time.

L to R Deepa, Soujanya and Krishna performing a tandom storytelling.
Soujanya and Krishna tried to be good. They could do better. They couldn't be as confident and as expressive as Deepa was.



They were singing  keerthanas  very nicely. I wonder what stopped them to do a telugu version.
This session reminded me of our old storytelling sessions, 'Burra Kathalu, Hari Kathalu.'



I had my time to get surprised when Deepa started singing, 'Chale chalo,' song from movie Lagaan to express the moment f vanaras constructing a bridge. Her performance brought me a wide smile on my face.








On a request from audience to sing Ram Bhajans, Deepa in return invited kids to come and sing those songs.


Kids are kids. One little kid sang Hanuman Chalisa, one kid said, 'Jai SriRam' and started palying on stage with props.  A kid walked on to the stage and sang, 'Janaganamana.'

I could observe painful expressions and everyone stoofd as it's respectful but it seems to be that, kid was singing a song he knew so well as he sing everyday at school.


After all those surprising singing performances, I took a leave wishing stranger, Suresh best in his life.

I enjoyed and looking forward for more sessions from Deepa.

Check the below links to follow her.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Mounika- A good friend to talk and share.

Mounika makes me talk and share happiness whenever I meet her.  I do not meet her often but we share the excitement to talk to each other forgetting about the surroundings.

She is a calm person, who experiences the emotions that comes in her way.  She feels okay to have happy smiles a day and also feels okay to spend a gloomy day if it happens in that way. She loves to experience the emotions rather than denying the reality.

She loves reading and writing letters to friends. She's one of my friends who has the habit of writing letters to friends. I'm so glad to have a friend who shares the same excitement as I have in letter writing to friends.

We worked together for TEDxVNRVJIET 1st edition. She's a good person to talk to.  I remember her asking my thoughts on the books I've read. She makes meaningful conversations and I love her trait of observing and learning things from people.

We rarely talk and it gives me a good feeling whenever I run into her making long conversations.

Books and writing make us talk for hours and hours. She's the person who's social at times and also asocial at many times. I relate to her very easily as I could see myself in her shoes at times.

Mounika and me at TEDxVNRVJIET 2nd edition

A talk with her brings back all the optimism in my life.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Prisoner of Conscience.


Prisoner of conscience. It's a 1978 documentary directed by Anand Patwardhan.

Looking at it, I could get a glimpse of  how prisoners were treated in India. I could also  look at few effects of emergency. It's spine chilling to know how atrocious police and government were during those times.

Holidays with Harry - Leadership traits

As I spent another holiday with Harimohan sir, this time at annual meet of a product based company, I had great time observing how these meets work.

I listened to few great stories. I also learnt few lessons on trust and team working.
Harimohan sir was sharing thoughts on how the selection process is done of a cricketer when he was in senior selecting committee for 1st Class cricket.
Five traits which will be looked upon.
1.Does he know his role? How far does he know about his role in the team?
2. Can he help others to work together as a team?
3. Can he step up as leader when situation arises?
4. Can he lead the team effectively and get the best out of everyone5. Can he make leaders?

Source: Google images

Beauty and the Beast

Knowing about the story of 'Beauty and the Beast,' I am amused in the way stories travel from time to time.

Beauty and the Beast is a musical movie. The dialogues in style of songs were not boring as every dialogue sounded poetical.  Emma Watson did her best. The story which has intense ideas is shown in subtle way. Bill Condon brought back the feel of  fairy tale through his music.

A walk in the park

As I was jogging along the path outside KBR Park, I noticed many people being  busy perspiring. As I was turning a curve, I watched group of people standing at a tree and discussing about leaves, fruits and climate.
Conversations seemed interesting and I stuck to the mob listening to what they were talking. Kobitha, a gardener was heading the group, telling about the trees which were around park.
Like I believe everyone has a story, even trees seemed to have stories.

I observed wings shaped fruits, camel foot shaped fruits, I observed trees being infected, I also observed beautiful flowers I felt the barks, smelled the leaves and touched the fruits. It was a lovely experience.
I got to know why silver oaks is called in the way it's called. I also heard lot of botanical names and the tree enthusiasts among us were so curious to ask questions on various trees.

While we were on our way, we ran into forest commissioner who tried to give a lot of information on trees. Though it looked like the mob was bit apprehensive about his words, they were impressed with the passion he has on trees.
We shared our contacts to keep gathering on such trails. Hope to see them soon.

Well known strangers we are - poem

"Well known strangers we are
Wiggling with the ideas
Wonderful people we are
Working on mafia

TEDx'ers we are

Wading through the night
Working against the sleep

Just to see the sun again
Just to meet everyone again."

Art- Empty Spaces-Flow

The abstract of the exhibition is out.  https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/events/empty-spaces-flow-art-exhibition-abhinay-renny