Article on water lady- Kalpana Ramesh

https://www.thebetterindia.com/122564/water-conservation-hyderabad/

Beauiful story- I have a message for you

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/auschwitz-israel-holocaust.html

Attitude of Gratitude.

The time I introspected myself about being grateful is when my friends claimed that they feel grateful every day for whatever they got. I was honest. I sometimes ignored what all I'm privileged of. That's when I became conscious of being grateful. 

After that incident, there were many situations, chances that hinted me to be grateful in life. Be it a conversation or ride or little things that were given to me by others. I had the sense of gratitude to be at the receiving end.


After a series of incidents, when my friend was complaining all the time, I felt more grateful for what all I have. I kept sharing with my friend about how I'm grateful for what all I have.

Just being conscious let me see what all I was receiving in life. Be it in hitchhiking or conversations or little help, everywhere I was at the receiving end. And I felt grateful. 

After sharing a few experiences with Harimohan, I became little more conscious whenever possible to feel grateful and say thanks. 

After a few weeks, I was given a gift by Harimohan. The gratitude circle. He introduced me to this gratitude circle, where we follow the practice of writing a gratitude journal and a few more exercises to be more grateful. 

Sahiti's blog on A.R.Rahman encore concert.

https://amysteriousmess.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/ar-rahman-encore/

Quote of the hour

Aaqa by Abida Parveen & Ali Sethi, Coke Studo Season 9

That one hour!

Waking up early is helping me to write morning pages. It's also helping me to reflect and write my gratitude journal. 

From past few days, I've decided to stay away from the phone for the 1st hour after I wake up. And also to stay away from the phone for one hour before I retire to sleep. This habit is helping me to regain my peace. 

All my random thoughts float at this time. I'm letting them swirl in my mind without disturbing the flow of my thoughts. One hour after I wake up, I'm sorted with my work and daily activities. And I get on to my phone then, to see what's waiting for me. 

With a good start, I don't gouge on phone unless and until I'm asked to perform some tasks. 

With little input of trivial stuff into my attention, my concentration is turning towards my work and words. 

That one hour at morning and night is helping me. The phone free hours are setting my whole day tempo and I'm loving it. Peace out.

Siddartha by Herman Hesse

Finished reading "SIDDHARTHA" by Herman Hesse. 

Thanks to @poor_bjorns_notes_to_self. His review pushed me to pick this book. And also thanks to Harimohan for suggesting me this!

There are few books which can be enjoyed depending upon the knowledge of reader rather than the content of the book.

This book is a classic. It can be enlightening as well as misleading. It all depends upon what you wish to take. 

Nothing can be stated as better as Gary's words on this book "This books is a scripture posing as literature and is a best read after getting what you thought you wanted." Herman Hesse was brilliant in weaving a story along the stuff he wanted to say. Brilliant writing indeed!

Do not try to read if you don't like contemplating or not prepared for lot of contemplation.

My favourite quotes are,

📝"I see value and meaning in each of it's fine markings and cavities"

📝"The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish"

Sharayu's new ARR Mashup.

If I'm right, It's her first ARR full Tamil Mashup. This is the first thing I've heard today and I love it. I feel terribly disappointed for not keeping up my promise with her. I promised to buy her the stand for the new mike and couldn't buy it in time. 

Quote of the hour

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses."

- Alphonse Karr

Attitude of Gratitude

For once and all, unlike all my birthdays, I've decided to be receptive and be more conscious of all the wishes, gifts and blessings I receive from everyone.

Generally, I don't celebrate birthdays. Since, I've been practicing to be grateful, I've decided to be more conscious of all the wishes I receive. 

Being grateful is helping me to be more conscious in life. Consciousness is helping me to live a better happy life. Let's try it.  

Invisible Guest- Movie

Contratiempo- A Spanish movie.

A rich, young business man, Adrian is caught by the police on charges of a murdering his mistress.  He is visited by the famous lawyer before time, telling about the new witness that would change the case.

He narrates the story of how he got into the crime scene. Months back, he tried to end the relation with his mistress and was returning from a trip. They get involved in an accident and another whole story evolves out of it. 

It's an edge of the seat stuff. I loved the plot of the movie. It's quite interesting. 

November buy

November Buy

After a long time I’ve visited the D-Mart place again. This time, I tried to pick up whatever seemed interesting. I didn’t go as per any genre. Here’s the list I bought.


The Face You Were Afraid To See: Essays On The Indian Economy by Amit Bhaduri

Merchants of Tamilakam: Pioneers of International Trade

by Kanakalatha Mukund, Gurcharan Das (Editor)

The Spirit of the Game. by Mihir Bose

Five Queens Road by Sorayya Khan

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

Curses In Ivory by Anjana Basu

Breath by Tim Winton

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris

What Becomes by A.L. Kennedy

Of a certain age by Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Backwords Forword: My Journey Through Dyslexia by Catherine A. Hirschman

Raga 'n Josh: Stories from a Musical Life by Sheila Dhar

It's Not About You: A Little Story About What Matters Most in Business by Bob Burg, John David Mann

Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger by Fintan O'Toole

The Swallow and the Dark by Andrew Matthews

Forget the Elephants, Watch Out for the Fleas by Justin Herald

U and I by Nicholson Baker

Effective Teambuilding by Donald H. Weiss

Effective Meetings in 7 simple steps by Barry Tomalin

The Girl At The Farmhouse Gate (The Land Girls #2) by Julia Stoneham

The 7 Triggers to Yes: The New Science Behind Influencing People's Decisions: What Drives People to Make Decisions by Russell H. Granger (

The Stuarts: A Study in English Kingship by J.P. Kenyon

Anybody Out There? (Walsh Family #4) by Marian Keyes

Sound of water by A. Sherlal

Centurion The Father The Son and The Journey of Cricket by Pramesh Ratnakar

The Power of Ethical Management by Norman V. Peale

Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly by John Kay

Forever Healthy: Preventing and Treating Disease Through Timeless Natural Medicine by Kumuda Reddy, Stan Kendz

The Power of Positive Thinking in Business: 10 Traits for Maximum Results by Scott W. Ventrella

Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive by Joan Borysenko

February by Lisa Moore

Walled City by Esther David

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Bridget Jones #2) by Helen Fielding

Tales from the Puffugees by Jaspar Utley

A Catalan Dream: Football Artistry and Political Intrigue by Tim Hanlon

Emotion Marketing: The Hallmark Way of Winning Customers for Life

by Scott Robinette, Vicki Lenz, Claire Brand

Karthik's Birthday

November 16

Life is great when one can find joy in simple things. Karthikeya a.k.a Kiddo is joyous kid who finds happiness in music, painting, workouts and little bit of memes. Called as Data base for the kind of knowledge he has on people who are in college. Called as Kiddo for the unblemished smile he has and also for the child like curiosity he has. 

I remember the random walks with him. I remember his burdening budget plans. His words assure a support. His smile assures happiness.  I love to spend time with him. Indeed, everyone in the gang loves to.

This gift says it all about him. 

God bless Kiddo.

Rahmaniac Moments of One Heart: The A.R.Rahman Concert Film (2017)

Stories on wheels

It’s funny how people perceive Hyderabad.  While I was hitchhiking in Karnataka,  one person gave a ride on his two wheeler. Sharing about my whereabouts, he asked me, “Where do you stay? Banjara Hills or Purana Hyderabad?”

Clueless about what was running in his head, I told my place and then we talked about how Hyderabad is well connected to all other places. It’s funny how this person classified dense populated Hyderabad into Banjara Hills and Purana Hyderabad.

Lipstick under Burkha

Though movie has 4 lead characters and 4 stories, It’s a story of every woman.

Be it a college going girl, be it a girl in love exploring her career, be it a wife fighting for freedom or be it a old woman trying to uphold her respect.

Everyone in the society is depicted through these stories. No one is wrong, no one is right. They have their choices and they accept the repercussions. Though hard to believe, it’s a story of  every person. One can easily relate if they acknowledge character's choice.

I’m glad director made this movie. These kind of movies need to be produced to shatter the stereotypes. Though a lot of prejudice is shown, it wasn’t hard hitting.  This movie left a question to me, “why not? Why not it can’t be their choice.”

This movie is not for everyone but, adults.

Book Expo- TEDx Diaries

TEDx Stories

I believed that books can be the best gifts.

Meghana came up with the idea of gifting books as gifts. Vineeth voted for it.

It was during december 2016, at the Akshara bookstore, Meghana decided to continue gifting books. Besides gifting, she came up with an idea of Book Expo.

It seemed an interesting idea. No sooner, she shared the idea, we discussed on how to execute the idea. As time went by, we looked at every possible opportunity.

As time passed by, the idea was put at bay, focusing on many important things. We thought of an idea where people can pick up the book and gift others. With the high chances of people missing the gift, we discarded the idea.

The team came up with lot of plans and finally decided to pick up the book whichever they like. We wanted to put the best in the expo.

Now, the best of all can be the worst of someone. We decided to go with the near and dear’s favorite and asked everyone to make their favorite list of books. I asked a few of my friends including Harimohan.  We pooled all the favorites and the team picked up 100 books that have to be bought.

It included fiction, non- fiction, poetry, biographies, auto biographies and many more.  We also picked the 100 keeping the budget constraints in mind.

Amazon.in was considered to be the best place to buy the books but, still, we tried our luck at Abids and Koti, the famous place to scout for books. One night, Ved and I successfully failed in buying books at Abids after visiting many bookstores.

After a few attempts, it was the team’s decision to buy books at amazon.  It was heartening to see the books placed as beautiful monuments. Every book seemed special in its own way.

Shreya announced to pick a book for themselves. People were shocked, surprised. They didn’t understand what she meant.

Attendees started enquiring volunteers about the announcement.

“Is it for sale?”

“No!”

“Is it an exchange?”

“No!”

“It’s for you! Take a book and have a good time.”

People loved the expo. And we received an immense response to this idea. I remember CK sir doubting if the books were for a sale or a giveaway.

Many people couldn’t believe that we were giving away new books to the audience. They have a choice. They can pick it up and take it. Very simple.

People didn’t expect brand new books for give aways. Everyone loved it.

Prashant Dhawan picked up, “Inner Engineering” by Sadhguru. Carolyn picked up, “Eat. Pray. Love” Amulya picked up, “Krishna's key”

Book expo turned out to be the best thing at the event. Cheers to Meghana for the fabulous idea. And cheers to the team for executing it in a brilliant way.

Blogging on movies.

After I started blogging on movies, I'm more conscious while watching movies. I watch movies for  fun but, now I can't passively binge watch.  I watch movies to enjoy and have fun. Being more conscious about watching movies is letting me view them in different perspective all together. 

Hoping to watch some amazing movies this year.

In dialogue with Shashaa Tirupati

Shashaa Tirupati in her own thoughts. P.C Myself.

She strived in darkness

To see the light, 

To shine bright.

There's sense of intense curiosity and innocence. She's lost being conscious of herself. She's attentive being herself. She's a diamond reflecting what we want to see. She is  nothing but, love.

The post master by Rabindranath tagore

This is one of the story from book, "Collected Stories" by Rabindranath Tagore.

It's a story of a postmaster who stays away from his home town, the place he loves a lot. He is assigned to that new particular post office and he doesn't have other way. Accompanied by a maid, a small girl named, "Ratan,"  he stayed in a small house spending time leisurely all the way in village.  Ratan cooked for him and was working as a maid in home. Postmaster didn't like the new place and was always dreaming about his hometown. As time strikes day and night, postmaster taught, Ratan, 'how to read'

Amid blue days they let the time pass while they did their daily chores. One fine day, with lot of deteremination, post master leaves a place leaving Ratan.  Ratan couldn't accept her master's decision and cries to take her with him. Both hope for good and author narrates about the vain hope one does have in life. 

Hope is in vain, if there's only hope but, not action. 

Writing is  more poetic and I'm always delighted to read his works as there's vivid description of nature along story. 

Memories make a reminder- His absence

Memories make a reminder- His absence.

Every picture. Every moment. As I start sharing my college memories, basketball memories, I end up with an awkward pause being reminded of his absence.

He was always there. Be it in a practice. Be it in a tournament. Be it in a casual conversation. Madhu was always there with a cheering smile and a brave attitude in life, with us.

His forever absence brings me a regret and a wish.

I wish he’d be with us in person, being part of our happiness, sadness, confusion in which, he was always there. I met him last on May 3rd over a lunch. We went out for a stroll and both of us were concerned about each other's happiness in life. Conversation were always honest and heartfelt.

Me, Vikas and Uday

This picture was taken in my 2nd year, 2014. Jaya didn’t join then. Three of us took as mechanical, mechanical fellas. I remember him standing aside and cheering us then.

Every memory I recollect reminds me of his absence. Miss your words and presence madhu.

God bless you!

L to R Madhu, Myself, Vikas, Uday, Jaya