As I saw it

The list isn’t long but still I’m happy.  Especially in the context of what’s been reported in the last few days with cricketer Prithvi Shaw, singer Sonu Nigam and his Guru’s son. Last Saturday I had shared on Facebook that while one may respect the space and privacy of revered celebrities, one does get affected while being around in their space. Having said so, I can say that there are only four celebrities that I requested for a selfie with and that too after making sure that they were not bombarded by other people; after initiating a conversation with them; making sure that they were happy to have a conversation and were fine with my request for a selfie. I also assured three of them that it’s for my personal collection and that I will never share them on social media even as they didn’t prohibit me from doing so as a precondition to granting the selfie. Of these four, I shared only one of them with the Magsaysay award winner Mr. Bezwada Wilson on FB years ago and I didn’t share...

Many people consider 13 to be an unlucky number. Thankfully not me. Nor have I ever stopped or changed my route on seeing a cat cross my path. So it makes sense for me to buy the first book you see on the left besides of course the fact that I have been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and learnt a lot from his observational skills and have also been a huge admirer of Einstein for his simple and profound curiosity. Now what about the second one? I’m not someone who has bothered much about personal branding but this book caught my attention for one simple reason: the author. I have been a fan of Ambi Parameswaran Sir since 2021 when I attended the session organised by my senior friend Arun Vishwanath on Ambi Sir’s book on resilience and bouncing back: Spring. Well while that’s what caught my attention; what really made me buy it was Chapter 13! It’s about a person who is increasingly vilified these days by people with shallow character and feet of clay but has been one of my tallest role mode...

What all comes to your mind as you allow this to integrate inside your being? Do share. What comes to my mind is that most of the cosmetics industry comes from the traditional western notions of beauty arising from a sense of perfection, symmetry and flawlessness. Somehow thankfully I was never obsessed with my looks and never tried fixing them. I was always comfortable with my two broken teeth, slightly tilted nose, twisting lips, protruding forehead bones over the eye brows, bulging left cheek bone and the ever growing number of black spots on my face. At best I use a moisturiser during winters to prevent my skin from drying and cracking up. Not that this passage from the book I am reading is going to wipe out people’s obsession with the so called beauty products anytime soon. The conditioning has long crossed the critical mass of acceptance to now become deeply entrenched in the masses. As I was typing this something came up: what should we nourish and moisten: our skin beauty or ou...

I was supposed to do a session yesterday on business modelling. And then there were some last minute challenges and restrictions from the client side due to which some on the spot improvisation had to be made in the way the session had to be conducted. What helped me was some of the outstanding stories I had recently read in the book - The Learning Factory by Mr. Arun Maira as well this TEDx talk by Mr. Mark Morin ( https://youtu.be/Hp0Q8Z5Isz4 ) that I watched while shaving yesterday morning and this brief interview with Ms. Falguni Nayar of Nykaa in the Hindustan Times newspaper yesterday that I happened to come across purely by chance while having my breakfast. All the three resources really helped me facilitate that session very well for the participants and they could connect to stories and case studies that are closer home in terms of reality as well as timelines. Thank you Mr. Maira, Mr. Morin and Ms. Nayar. While I have always been an avid learner and do put in lot of work and ...

Going to practice all these 7 types of rest from today till next Sunday evening. I know of so many people in and around my life who need this so badly and yet are struggling or feeling stuck. I wish them all well with lots of prayers for their well-being, love, hugs, healing and an opportunity at the earliest for them to get all these 7 types of rest and recuperation. I remember fondly and with gratitude the wise words of the founder of the financial services company that I was part of in London back in 2006-07: Your first priority in life has to be you. Unless you are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually fit and balanced, you are not an asset; you are a liability for yourself and others around you. It wasn’t always easy for me to prioritise and practice this as one feels guilty given all the responsibilities we have in our lives which have also given us happy feelings but prioritising one’s inner needs are as important a responsibility as others.

Framing makes all the difference in our lives - be it ups and downs. Let’s frame and reframe things the right way. NLP: Neurolinguistic programming.

-1. Nothing is perfect -2. Nothing is finished -3. Nothing lasts forever These were the lines I remembered when I read this article today in The Hindu newspaper. Though I disagree with the point on China’s remarkable results, rest of the article is quite interesting, informative and insightful. The 3 lines above are from the Prologue of the book Wabi Sabi by Nobuo Suzuki that I am reading currently.