Thoughts that I come across

In this post I will be updating some great thoughts and quotes that I have come across online and everywhere else. My dad is one of the best people I know who can remember old sayings/ quotes/ thoughts at will - and it would be the most apt. If only I could get 10% of his magic ability, I would be satisfied. So here goes:

• “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” — Voltaire
• “The greatest punishment for being unwilling to rule is being ruled by someone worse than oneself.” — Socrates
• "Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." — Michael Jordan

Books

Hello there!

Yes, I have been away and away. Trying a new book reading schedule where every few months I'm trying to get some books read. I'll try to list them here and post some bits of which I loved personally. Inspired to do this from Derek Sivers (@sivers) - his is an extensive list which I'm positively jealous of.

So, here we go:

1. Moonwalking with Einstein - Joshua Foer

This book deals with the author's journey to compete in a memory championship in the US. Pretty much drags in the first half of the book but gains speed with his attempts at practice and preparation for the competition. Few interesting topics discussed in the book:

• Memory Palace System - An elaborate setup to store your memories/ something you want to remember
• P-A-O System - Person - Action - Object. Remembering long strings of numbers. Each number from 00 to 99 can be remembered by a certain PAO and any combinations thereafter can be mixed and merged with the same imagery.
• Skill Acquisition Phases:
• Cognitive Stage
• Associative Stage
• Autonomous Stage - this leads to an OK plateau with no further growth
• Deliberate Practice - leads to mastery - By nature, must be hard (Based on research by Anders Ericcson)

    2. Benjamin Franklin - A Biography by Walter Isaacson

This was a monster of a book. Took me ages to complete. Walter Isaacson is renowned for his biographies of Steve Jobs, Henry Kissinger, Leonardo Da Vinci amongst others. This book came highly recommended from Tim Ferriss.

As a Biography usually goes, it starts from his humble origins in 17th Century America when the British still held power in the different states. Isaacson describes the biography by saying that Franklin had 'an American Life'. He goes on to describe the different phases of his life where he is described as an inventor, negotiator, businessman, printer, author, father, postmaster and many more such roles. Frankly (no pun intended) for me, what seemed a stretch was the American history portions which I am pretty much clueless about. This made me lose interest for a bit but was reignited when Isaacson focused again on Franklin's abilities and the way he was able to negotiate and navigate through difficult situations.

Franklin is a fascinating character and I was really impressed with his story of deep thought and work ethic in such early times whereas his philosophy of work still hold true even today.

Good book overall - needs some previous knowledge of American history to put it in context.

  3. How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie

Pretty short read on tips and tricks that can be used to communicate better with other people. Light read and has many small actionable items that can be used on a daily basis to improve your connect with others.

Will probably reread it some time soon.

Books being read currently:

• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru

Life...Again!

Life

Life is a bed of roses they say,

The softness of the petals,

The strength of vermillion,

The warmth of affection,

The barbs of betrayal,

Discarded after an upheaval.

Life is like a deserted highway road they say,

sometimes never-ending,

With twists and turns,

Leading you to unknown destinations,

You pass by many milestones,

Yet think of the many left untouched.

Life is like an empty canvas,

Only the Artist knows the master plan,

Which dots to connect,

And which colour suits the palette,

The beauty becomes evident only at the end,

When it all comes together and makes HIM content.

I strive for better things every single day,

Looking for meaning in my own ways,

The dawn awakens with great promise in my eyes,

By night the shoulders are bent with the weight of expectations and hope,

Give us the purpose of this precious life, O LORD!

So that I serve you to earn my reward.

The Massacre at Dawn

The signs were ominous,
She had been eying them for a long time now,
Friends and relatives were talking about it,
The neighbours had undergone a similar treatment a few days ago,
Time stood painfully still,
Days and nights seemed inconsequential,
Food supplies and water levels were aplenty,
But death seemed an imminent threat,
During the harsh summers and the chilly winters,
They stood strong,
Not asking much,
But disciplining themselves and growing in number,
It was as if they weren't even there,
The world seems to push them over,
They, who don't seem pretentious,
They, who don't act brash,
They didn't smell like a rose,
Or look like the Birds of Paradise,
But they were an industrious lot,
Providing essentials for others' vanity,
One fine morning,
The Cacti lay uprooted from their sleepy abode,
And that's when I saw,
The massacre at dawn.

A Summer Melody

There is a splash of amber everywhere,
A cloudless rhapsody,
Winds carry times of change
And the Earth splits open,
Moisture seems scared to venture outside,
Cacti curse their fate even more.

The mornings give you hope and belief,
Of a day of pleasantness and relief,
The heat wrinkles the urchins torso,
It wilts adolescent plants
And tests the fortitude of trees,
A Breeze flows from the hills
And proceeds to envelope the plains.

We live in times when
Shade is in paucity
And sun block is a necessity.
Gulmohar is the flavour of the season,
Fiery saffron to blind away the summer woes,
Afternoons are a reminder to one and all,
That hell is not an option at all!

Throats are parched,
Bodies dehydrated,
Brows are drenched,
Handkerchiefs are wet,
Muscles are strained
And the mind is drained.

But in spite of this ,
Men toil on,
Because there is the promise of better times ahead,
Of rain and foggy winter mornings,
As life moves on,
With the belief of a better tomorrow.

When Will I Walk Alone?

Lately Everything begets responsibility,
Where's the time where we could roam aimlessly,
Like a vagabond,
When the mind is fluid
And borders do seem irrelevant.
Do I pick up my bags and walk?
Do I depart from wonderland and arrive at reality?
Alone have I come here,
But solitude is what I don't seek.
Give me purpose, O GOD,
Because I don't know where I tread.
Doors seem shut now,
Closed for eternity.
I pry open a few
And they lead me to infinity.
The place where I hop out of my soul
And see myself do things 'I' would never do!
Who is this person?
Am I on Auto Control?
Where is that remote gone?
Is this the person you want to be?
No, its just the person you're going to be.
Your soul cries out fowl,
But the mind, ever powerful,
Believes everything is status quo.
Listen to that cry,
Inside, beside and outside you
You promised so much,
Dreams of making it big.
Someday, you thought,
you would build character,
But the horizon is miles apart
And the distance between potential and reality does seem far.
Fret not, I'm going to sleep,
I've much to achieve in my dreams.

Life

My purpose of naming the blog 'Defining Life' was because I'm constantly trying to look for my purpose, like Mother Teresa found her calling in serving the destitute's of Kolkata. The following poem was one of the first I ever wrote. Like the previous poem, the language might be crude or childish, but the intention: true. Don't know when I would finally understand how to define life. Until then I persist:

I ponder and ponder over what is life

I often wonder what it is like

Worrying about tomorrow drains our whole life

Life is to live each moment on its own merit.

A casket of mysteries is life,

A mystery that should always remain unsolved.

On seeing a great man dead

‘Why hast Thou lifted his soul?’ I asked God.

I ask God when I look into the mirror,

‘Why hast Thou given him this life?’

He never answers me

I never know the reason why?

Maybe its this what makes life what it is.

‘Life is what you make of it’ said somebody,

‘Life is what destiny’s chosen for you,’ said another.

For a new born

The effort to survive is what is life

And for the aged it is the enduring sleep that is life.

So friends,

Whatever be the definition of life

Live it by your own rules,

‘Cause life comes once not twice.’