The Little Price: Audio Book Review

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"Öne runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed..."

 

Never ever did a  mere 100 paged book moved me so much like the way this book did. The little Prince makes several profound and idealistic observations about life and human nature. This book describes the perception of a small kid about the way adults take things in life. Short discoveries like the king who can control the stars but only by ordering them to do what they would do anyway. Businessman who is stuck in an vicious circle of counting stars he thinks he owns to own more  stars , the geographer who spends all of his time making maps, but never leaves his desk reflects the dichotomy humans/or so called adults  strive to feel while differentiating between the so called  consequential and inconsequential  matters of life  they pursue.   Suddenly while reading you will bump into phrases which can exemplify the “Less is more” theory and you will wonder why till date you never realised you were just feeding yourself with garrulous banter, instead you should be just focussing on things that matters. Lovely read, don’t go by the cover and think its a book for kids ‘coz as it is said “What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness “

Art Gallery Visit!

One good thing that contextual advertising do to you is to feed you with fodder, you have shown interest in at some point of time. Though the success of this strategy cannot be undermined but it comfortably manages to eliminate diversity from your interest bucket. Everywhere you tend to see like, read about the same kind of stuff, may be because the search, browsing etc.. Are so slick these days that you tend to lose your appetite to discover new things that falls beyond your current interest funnels. Recently I have had such an experience while visiting an art gallery. The occasion was an art exhibition by a friend, after postponing the visit till the last day of the event I finally chose to go at the closing time of the gallery, so as to avoid any communication with all the art connoisseurs there. Not because I have anything against them but because I am still quite ignorant about their area of operations. My Facebook newsfeed also fails to offer any help for the same.

So anyways I did go and visited the gallery. Though the gallery was as quiet and stranded as I wanted it to be, the silence haunted me. It was just 7 in the evening and there was no one to hide from except the caretaker who was also the owner of the gallery, a short old man. It was quite disturbing considering the hoopla and huge fan following we see these days for all the music, dance events happening around. I blamed it on the weird timing I chose to visit the exhibition. So it was a two story building and after the casual exchange of greetings with the owner I started browsing through the lovely paintings around. Just when I got done looking at the paintings at the ground floor I realized the exhibition is at the first floor and all this while I was just staring at some leftover stuff. So anyways I gathered myself again and climbed up to the first floor. The owner was diligently following me and I every part of my creative mind pleaded for some space in this otherwise silent gallery. It was an exhibition by three artists. I finally managed to spot my friend’s name on one of the canvas and believe me I was so happy to see it, atleast there is something I know about. The good thing about abstract art is it gives you enough space to create an imagery of your choice but sometimes you miss the molds which are so implicit in  your otherwise outlined life, which can help you streamline the thought process or atleast save you from the one. So coming back to the exhibition, for first few paintings I did try to think about the possible motivation/ideation  the artist must have gone through while drawing it but trust me it gets all the more unnerving when there is someone right behind you expecting to hear some feedback. After the tenth painting my interest changed from the concept to just the color combination the artist had used. After appreciating the synchronization of different colors and themes the artist had played with my focus shifted to the possible monetary value of this piece of art. Mind you I was just done with the 20^th one now. I broke the silence between me and the owner by asking if people are buying paintings. After 2o minutes of our meeting and curiously examining so many paintings I broke my silence with this question and I didn’t know who to blame, I am sure neither did he.  Just when I was done with the first floor and was preparing for a safe exit the owner asked me if I would like to see his paintings as well. I was so exhausted with the probable visualization of the featured paintings in my living room, dining area, work place etc.. I had no energy left to survey more of them but the sheer excitement in the owner’s eyes to showcase his work left me with no other choice. So now I climbed the second floor and was taken aback by huge canvases all painted with bright, dull and gleaming colors. I could see human figures, portraits sketched all over and I was so happy to finally see recognizable figures and patterns just to realize the last bulb was switched on suddenly and there again I saw huge abstract paintings. I was so worried about the huge expectation mismatch that I decided to give each painting 20 seconds of my life. I stood there counted 20 19 18 17….and so on, ofcourse I wanted the owner to believe I understand all of it. Suddenly in midst of all this I managed to recognize one pattern in one of the huge abstract painting and thrilled over my discovery I checked.

Here goes the dialogue

“Me: This painting is amazing, is it Lord Ganesha?

Owner: ummmmmm, hmmmmmmm, ya you could say that as well!!”

Really and I thought I cracked the puzzle. But nevertheless I really enjoyed the paintings and hope to see more of it. One of the painitng I liked a lot!

PS: Ritu just for you :-)

Untitled

One good thing that contextual advertising do to you is to feed you with fodder, you have shown interest in at some point of time. Though the success of this strategy cannot be undermined but it comfortably manages to eliminate diversity from your interest bucket. Everywhere you tend to see like, read about the same kind of stuff, may be because the search, browsing etc.. Are so slick these days that you tend to lose your appetite to discover new things that falls beyond your current interest funnels. Recently I have had such an experience while visiting an art gallery. The occasion was an art exhibition by a friend, after postponing the visit till the last day of the event I finally chose to go at the closing time of the gallery, so as to avoid any communication with all the art connoisseurs there. Not because I have anything against them but because I am still quite ignorant about their area of operations. My Facebook newsfeed also fails to offer any help for the same.

So anyways I did go and visited the gallery. Though the gallery was as quiet and stranded as I wanted it to be, the silence haunted me. It was just 7 in the evening and there was no one to hide from except the caretaker who was also the owner of the gallery, a short old man. It was quite disturbing considering the hoopla and huge fan following we see these days for all the music, dance events happening around. I blamed it on the weird timing I chose to visit the exhibition. So it was a two story building and after the casual exchange of greetings with the owner I started browsing through the lovely paintings around. Just when I got done looking at the paintings at the ground floor I realized the exhibition is at the first floor and all this while I was just staring at some leftover stuff. So anyways I gathered myself again and climbed up to the first floor. The owner was diligently following me and I every part of my creative mind pleaded for some space in this otherwise silent gallery. It was an exhibition by three artists. I finally managed to spot my friend’s name on one of the canvas and believe me I was so happy to see it, atleast there is something I know about. The good thing about abstract art is it gives you enough space to create an imagery of your choice but sometimes you miss the molds which are so implicit in your otherwise outlined life, which can help you streamline the thought process or atleast save you from the one. So coming back to the exhibition, for first few paintings I did try to think about the possible motivation/ideation the artist must have gone through while drawing it but trust me it gets all the more unnerving when there is someone right behind you expecting to hear some feedback. After the tenth painting my interest changed from the concept to just the color combination the artist had used. After appreciating the synchronization of different colors and themes the artist had played with my focus shifted to the possible monetary value of this piece of art. Mind you I was just done with the 20th one now. I broke the silence between me and the owner by asking if people are buying paintings. After 2o minutes of our meeting and curiously examining so many paintings I broke my silence with this question and I didn’t know who to blame, I am sure neither did he. Just when I was done with the first floor and was preparing for a safe exit the owner asked me if I would like to see his paintings as well. I was so exhausted with the probable visualization of the featured paintings in my living room, dining area, work place etc.. I had no energy left to survey more of them but the sheer excitement in the owner’s eyes to showcase his work left me with no other choice. So now I climbed the second floor and was taken aback by huge canvases all painted with bright, dull and gleaming colors. I could see human figures, portraits sketched all over and I was so happy to finally see recognizable figures and patterns just to realize the last bulb was switched on suddenly and there again I saw huge abstract paintings. I was so worried about the huge expectation mismatch that I decided to give each painting 20 seconds of my life. I stood there counted 20 19 18 17….and so on, ofcourse I wanted the owner to believe I understand all of it. Suddenly in midst of all this I managed to recognize one pattern in one of the huge abstract painting hunged there and thrilled over my discovery I checked with the owner.

Here goes the dialogue “ Me: This painting is amazing, is it Lord Ganesha? Owner: ummmmmm, hmmmmmmm, ya you could say that as well!!” Really and I thought I cracked the puzzle. But nevertheless I really enjoyed the paintings and hope to see more of it. Posting one of the painting I like da lot!

PS: Ritu just for you :-)

There is a mad world out there!

Disclaimer: Its a long post, read only when you think have some time in hand :P

Yea I know you must have heard a lot about it. Whenever I hear or experience it, it reminds me of my Mom, worried for me all the time, for the amount of pain this experience could give me considering the assumption of an idealistic, unpretentious world I live with.

In my little experience of working with a large IT company, a product based small startup, association with various entrepreneurship based workshops as an organizer, volunteer or participant I managed to meet great mix of people. People with varied interests and perspectives, people who have read about great things, people who are learning great things and most importantly people who practice great things.  Nothing managed to awe me more than the humility of the person and nothing troubled me more than the pretence of a person. The lightheartedness and triviality of pretence clogs my mind to further process the feasibility of any association with the person.  One such excruciating experience I had recently was with a startup I had shown interest in to work with. After the customary process of exchanging couple of mails conveying my story so far and the interests ahead, I was invited for a telephonic interview which was quite subjective in terms of the things discussed (my take on goals, entrepreneurship, challenges, communication skills etc…) I was finally called over to their office for a face to face meeting with an assignment in hand given to me over the call.  Considering I was unemployed at that time I had a lot of time in hand to pull up a hard bounded thick copy of the theory I was suppose to present there, but the three months of sabbatical had rusted my documentation skill and I finally ended up with a four slide presentation. Yes thats it!!

Before I run you through my experience of the meeting I would like to share the expectations and assumption I had before the meeting, since this was a 20+ team startup

1.       I was expecting an office of atleast 3 bhk or a double storey bungalow (they are fundedJ)

2.      A personal interview implies a direct meeting with the founder and the team if we click.

3.      That’s it!

So, as I reached the office I was taken aback by the big conference room/head office (I assume founders’ office) and in my attempt to look for the founder I peeked inside what looked like a big hall adjacent to the office! And OMG it was like a human factory, people cluttered together around multiple tables in front of their computer screen, coding, chatting I don’t know what! AS I peeked in for a second I thought the entire herd was staring at me with an air of contempt, curiosity etc…  I shuddered and stayed outside and decided to sit on the couch outside the fancy conference room. Thousand things running through my mind OMG! they were too many, OMG! Y the heck I didn’t wash my hair today and came with oil stricken hair (did I look bearable) OMG! Were they all coding (techie, geeks)…grhhh. Just when I was going nuts about everything there came a young girl may be in her early twenties (I am trying hard here to make at least someone happy). She was the HR of the company. And I said HR really!!! Just when I thought joining a startup will save me from this HR crap here I was in front of that HR trying to face the volley of questions she was throwing at me. My long term goals, my short term goals, my learning and realizations so far, my priorities in life, hobbies, time I spent pursuing them, salary expectation blah blah…! I realized why am I going through this, I didn’t even knew this female before coming here and she didn’t inspire me to hijack vehicle from my friend and travel 20 odd kms just to see the possibilities of working with this company. How would she know if I am lying when she can’t even make out how disinterested I am to talk to her, nevertheless the first impression was so torturous I quoted double the salary I had in mind (safe escape). But nevertheless the moment came when I got to meet the founder finally (after 45 min..(HR) + 20 mins waiting). He was all suited up (unfortunately that’s not I generally envision founders of a startup to be, I always expect them to be shabby in their appearance, but I agree here that could be too much to ask for J), so as I continued my conversation with the founder, by this time I was already too tired to articulate my story again, after that introspecting HR round that I gave it a miss and DIDN’T answer! I just didn’t care too much but yea I was excited to present the assignment (ppt), wanted some feedback.

I presented it and got a standing ovation…just kidding, I presented and was praised by the founder not because he was impressed by my understanding of the theory/concept but because everything that I explained was crap (It was half baked and was anything but awesome).  I was so disappointed with my performance that now I wanted this job all the more (may be to prove myself that I am good :P) so the discussion lasted for another 1.5 hrs with the founder explaining me the theory, how they practice it in the projects they undertake, how they engage with their clients, how  processed and neat their work is etc..By the end of the meeting I was so exhausted by the explanations given that all I wanted was to run away. But alas once again I was handed with one more assignment (like a pseudo project) to submit as a last protocol to pass through before I hear a YES or a NO from them.

I came back home and as expected a ultra formal mail from the pretty lady with the assignment attached and the deadline mentioned was lying in my mail box. This time I put in a little more effort to at least make it little bearable. I submitted it before time and never heard back from them for almost four days of long impending wait. In the meantime I appeared for one more interview, where I did speak first to the founders for three consecutive hours and then the HR (who instead of grilling me with her questions engaged me with a light conversation, asking almost everything the pretty lady asked about).

I joined the latter company on the second day of my interview and rejected the first one after they finally called me (20+45+90 +6*24*60 minutes) for another round of personal interview with another founder. May God bless the perfectionists there who seem to have a huge respect for a candidate’s time.

 

Audio Book Review- Alchemy of Desire

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Unlike many books I have read where I tend to develop a consistent sense of liking or disliking for the book and the protagonist/subject it talks about, I have had a surreal love hate relationship with this book. When I started of, the first three pages made me feel disgusted with the selfishness and unreasoned honesty of the character.  The cursory transition from an incestuous relationship he shared with his girlfriend, seeking peace and pleasure in her body in times of extreme disgust or exhilarating achievements, to just a perfunctory act made me question his sensibilities and existence of anything real in life. I got harrowed with the justification given for such acts. Though the book discussed the alchemy with utmost honesty and elaborative/seductive/erotic plots, the uncertainty in behavior, attitude, feelings, acts it uncovered at times made me feel helpless and announced the act of controlling things/situations futile.  Just when I summoned the theory it advocated, the youthful and crude description by which he weaved the vivid heuristic assumptions we make for ourselves and world around us took me by an awe, I wanted to critique each one of it but I just couldn’t. I would like to share couple of notes I made from this book

“Each one thought his self-worth was directly proportional to the number of people who read him. It had little to do how much you knew or how good you really were- things outside of yourself determining your sense of yourself.”

”The universal law of men, you are not what you see reflected in the mirror you are who you see shining in other men’s eye.”

“Petty success is a disaster.”

“My life was a lie and I couldn’t suspend disbelief forever”.

 “When lovers bare their bodies they have sex, When lovers bare their souls they taste Godhead’

 “It [Mahabharata] understands the world is powered by desire, and that desire is an unknowable thing. Desire conjures death, destruction, distress. But also creates love, beauty, art. It is our greatest undoing and the only reason for all doing. And doing is life, doing is karma.”

“Desire is a wonderfully promiscuous thing, but when it is trapped in monogamy it cannot survive without love”

I can go on forever here but I would rather let you read this book to understand it better. My takeaway would be “Immortality is farce, the sooner we understand it the better it will be for us to calm down our ever rattling mind.”

Audio Book Review- Alchemy of Desire

VR0001[1].WAV Listen on Posterous

Unlike many books I have read where I tend to develop a consistent sense of liking or disliking for the book and the protagonist/subject it talks about, I have had a surreal love hate relationship with this book. When I started of, the first three pages made me feel disgusted with the selfishness and unreasoned honesty of the character.  The cursory transition from an incestuous relationship he shared with his girlfriend, seeking peace and pleasure in her body in times of extreme disgust or exhilarating achievements, to just a perfunctory act made me question his sensibilities and existence of anything real in life. I got harrowed downwith the justification given for such acts. Though the book discussed the alchemy with utmost honesty and elaborative/seductive/erotic plots, the uncertainty in behavior, attitude, feelings, acts it uncovered at times made me feel helpless and announced the act of controlling things/situations futile.  Just when I summoned the theory it advocated, the youthful and crude description of the vivid heuristic assumptions we make for ourselves and world around us took me by awe, I wanted to critique each one of it but I just couldn’t. I would like to share couple of notes I made from this book

“Each one thought his self-worth was directly proportional to the number of people who read him. It had little to do how much you knew or how good you really were- things outside of yourself determining your sense of yourself.”

”The universal law of men, you are not what you see reflected in the mirror you are who you see shining in other men’s eye.”

“Petty success is a disaster.”

“My life was a lie and I couldn’t suspend disbelief forever”. 

“When lovers bare their bodies they have sex,When lovers bare their souls they taste Godhead’

 “It [Mahabharata] understands the world is powered by desire, and that desire is an unknowable thing. Desire conjures death, destruction, distress. But also creates love, beauty, art. It is our greatest undoing and the only reason for all doing. And doing is life, doing is karma.”

“Desire is a wonderfully promiscuous thing, but when it is trapped in monogamy it cannot survive without love”

I can go on forever here but I would rather let you read this book to understand it better. My takeaway would be “Immortality is farce, the sooner we understand it the better it will be for us to calm down our ever rattling mind.”

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Book Review-Six Thinking Hats, Edward D Bono.

I recently read this book and quite liked it.

Here is the book review

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I was amazed by the simplicity of Edward’s theory and the difference it could bring to our day to day life, though leveraging from the theory would require a lot of practice on our behalf.  I was very happy reading about such a singular and channelized framework for thinking, though I was just getting the information about the same but somehow it felt right. My next task was to find out how I can practice it in my daily life what sort of exercises can be built in and around the concept. Here is what I came out with:

 

Every color has its own mantra or one word definition, every time you try to come out with an appropriate approach to start thinking about it! STOP

1.       Go blank for some time and just imagine the color bands we use to see in good old days on Doordarshan when it used to go blank.

2.      THINK of this jumbled word ‘Framework Facts Emotion Problems Opportunities Action Items’  (FFEPOA), I tried coming out with a word for this but could only come out with this “Filthy Freaks Espouse Problems  for Others All the time”, ok I know it sucks but I just came out with it. You can come out with your version of definition.

Here each letter gives the mantra of each hat described in the book:

Framework- Blue Hat

Facts- White Hat

Emotion- Red Hat

Problems- Black Hat

Opportunities- Yellow Hat

Action Item- Green Hat

Once you are done with this exercise start thinking again, and you will notice how naturally you tend to start filtering your thoughts under various hats.  Now consciously try to segregate them. The motive is to streamline the process and make it simpler and not always postpone it for better times or be miserable/impulsive/indecisive with whatever you decide to pursue. You don’t need to be an expert in any of the hats but you should know about all of them while you are consciously investing your time to think about a situation.

It’s a good/effective practice to indulge in sometimes. J