iReview: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Rich Dad Poor Dad is built around a premise that none could possibly disagree with - that it is highly essential to build financial intelligence early in life. The author, Robert Kiyosaki is pretty much convincing in his explanations mostly by comparing the financial dealings of his rich dad & poor dad.  Large part of his recommendations are fundamental financial principles; learn to define assets / liabilities, Increase assets, keep expenses to the minimum, have an alternative source of income, spend on luxuries last and only after  accumulating good amount of assets, and maintain financial discipline. He actively encourages his readers to take actions involving money and investments, also warning that there would be failures along the way, while assuring that it is also how we are programmed to learn. These universal tenants of finance draw little controversy.  However, the methods he suggests adopting in order to amass wealth, is what I am not exactly sure about and that's where the agreement ends. My first problem with the book is that it's way too repetitive & doesn't move on or conclude when the point is already made. It could very well have been wrapped in half the number of pages.  Secondly, the over emphasis on the taxes. Though I do not subscribe to the philosophy of very high tax regimes, I am also not as against it as the author seems to be, recognizing well that as a contributor to social costs it is only right that each individual owns a part of it. Then  comes the idea on real estate as an investment vs mortgage as a liability needing a more elaborate explanation as categorizing 'owning a house' in the liability column is too generic and thereby might not be relevant across the board. Aside from the security it offers the owners,  it is also the same sentimental value that in some cases pushes the prices up for the so-called investors to bank on! Finally, owning corporations is not an idea that seems practical for everyone or even the majority to follow. It is an idea that completely ignores the entrepreneurial gene and individual interest.It is like expecting everyone to do well at Maths because it is supposed to be beneficial.  However, in spite of the disagreements, the book can be considered a primer in emphasizing the importance of acquiring financial knowledge in the least. Choosing methods is anyways up to the individual circumstances, appetite for risk, strengths and so on. 

iReview: eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Just as Elizabeth Gilbert suggests that there is usually a word for every place and person in this world, "witty" is the word i choose for this autobiographical story, eat pray, love. Despite the intense emotions this book sets to deal with, it is the refreshing style of narration and tone that is mostly witty even though appearing to be slightly influenced by the Wodehousian humor, is precisely the sole vehicle that deports the reader through the three parts of the book.  Aside from a few short yet oh-so real and familiar characters Liz etches out and her description of the factual, spiritual and cultural dimensions of the three countries, Italy, India and Indonesia that she sets to travel in the span of one year, there is little else to this much hyped book. In contrast to my initial curiosity to understand a foreigner's perspective of spirituality based on the Indian philosophy, this is the part that I liked the least as it was quite concise and dwelled no further than the basic karma principles.  Unexpectedly though, this disappointment was more than made up by the mysticism surrounded in the third part although the turn of events and the fairy tale ending only let the book become all the more predictable, and enjoyable only in parts yet leaving it worthy of a read. 

iReview: My Learnings from the book 'India unbound' by Gurcharan Das

I couldn't have timed finishing this book better than now, with the ongoing tussle on the matter of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in Retail, for economic policy forms a substantial part of Gurcharan Das' 'Unbounding' of India. Even as I write this, the matter is "suspended" or at least put "on hold" by the government and situations similar to this form more or less the plot of the book unleashing the economic reality of the post-independent India. Without ever sounding pedagogical, the book echos the anguish and reasoning of the many growth oriented Indians.

Unlike this note, Gurcharan Das, the author, follows chronologically, the story of India since her democratic birth through the stages of economic incubation, stagnation and turtle movement each representing the eras of socialism, license raj and pre-liberalization respectively. The mood of the book shifts from 'hopeless' to 'hopeful' as it reaches it's destination, the post-liberalization phase, consuming over three decades of history and a third of the book just to describe the struggle undergone by the business power houses including the likes of the tatas, the birlas & the new entrants, the Ambanies and Subhash Chandra - with everything right from entrepreneurs to raw materials being sparse commodities back then - in attaining licenses, setting up industries, expanding them and so on, while opening the harsh realities of a closed economy. However, the number of success stories & growth, multiplies just under a decade of liberalization, accelerating the pace of narration. In fact, the last section reminds one of Thomas Freidman's 'World is Flat' despite it being differently themed and published much later, as for once, India appears to be on the global road map running  alongside the rest of the world in terms of economic growth. 

As one would agree, India represents the extreme ends of a spectrum, whether it's the urban-rural divide or that of the haves & have nots, educated & illiterate, upper vs lower castes. Gurcharan Das resonates both voices mainly of the rural-urban with authority due to his urban upbringing and exposure to the hinterland early in his career. Das, maintains an easy to understand tone throughout and shares anecdotes  being a theory-Y manager himself. It therefore sounds as much a story of the author as it is of his motherland, brilliantly syncing his personal experiences and the historical milestones of the nation. 

Given his academic and professional background, I am not amused by the language of economics, business and  common sense that he speaks but it is his ability to string together several pieces of political, economic and industrial  developments or sometimes even absence of the latter and in connecting them with India's unique cultural, social and philosophical background that appeals to me the most. For instance, he hypothesizes on why Indians in general and those belonging to the higher castes in particular are good in IT, pointing out that because of their philosophical roots are known to understand and internalize abstract concepts. Also, the upper castes had better access to education and were the first to grab opportunities in education. This he argues, also explains why there were no significant achievements in product development, since the upper castes were never into doing or creating anything on their own and that they were always used to getting things done. 

While the theme of the book could have easily made it sound quite factual it's his analysis and style of narration that guarantee a steady flow of ideas, some of them borrowed from elite researchers. The book therefore also doubles up as a tablet sort of compilation of research findings of several sociologists on India.

Maneuvering with the language just as the industrialists did during the license raj, the author neatly packages the book in line with what is deemed to be politically correct also ignoring for a  large part the irregularities committed by the business classes as if such cases never formed  a scope of this book.

In conclusion, as Das declares, it's individuals that create history without ever realizing and he himself creates some by writing this book and making it a single point of reference on India's business environment after her independence. 

LateReal thinking

Thus goes a scene from the movie Rocket Singh, salesman of the year - Interviewer for a sales position: 'sell this eraser ripped pencil', to test the candidate's ability to think out-of-the-box. The Interviewee played by Ranbir Kapoor, a wanna-be sales guy, tries desperately  to hard-sell by enlisting the ways in which the pencil could be used only to come up with mere 'order qualifiers'. However, i feel that he would have fared superlatively in his little test had the character been a parent. Now, at this point you (especially those that have never been even remotely involved in raising children) might stop reading further thinking that I have totally lost the plot as you can't quite find any correlation between parenthood and management skills. Well, then, let me tell you, there is and here's how (hoping that the already initiated will rally around in legoing my case).

That we get inspired a bit from children is a fact many acknowledge & hence let me start off from this common ground. While their innocence, joyous state of mind, carefree attitude & ability to live in the present & short memory might sound like 2g material for the not so-philosophical minds (moreover, with the duration of this phase shortening with each generation, does anyone really seem to bother?), their ability to think laterally can be highly motivating for the worldly 'we'. For instance, my toddler son finds multiple uses  for simple everyday things such as an Umbrella, his current favorite showcasing his wide power of imagination just like an open umbrella held up high; It's his tag along toy, aside from something to swing & swirl or play peekaboo with, in addition to being his instantly fixable tent or even a house, an extended arm, a bat and a stick amongst many others. 

Before long  he will learn its primary use, and there is a chance that he might be tripped into conventionality with his thinking getting narrowed and finally tied down - just like a closed umbrella. 

However, as we get inspired by children & their oblivious  teachings to us, we know better to help them keep their minds open - a challenge to be geared up for!

iRelationships are here to stay!

Here goes a list of my constant companions off late - ipod, iphone, ipad, kindle, macbook. I guess it is common for many of us. Although we might replace apples with the soon to follow Mango from Microsoft or Icecreams from Android, the central idea is that we all definitely share a deep relation (however one-way) with smart phones, tablets and notebooks more so than with our fellow humans.  I know we are in for a consensus on this statement & I will not need to prove it, but just for the record let me settle it for once and for all.

The smart thingies are so smart that they could just sort our lives, entertain, educate and guide us, all at once. I am sure everyone knows how. Simple, just by beeping - one beep and we are up, the next reminds us of the tasks we have set for the day, another buzz when a departmental stores is around to shop for items on our shopping lists and one more to enter the corresponding expense, if one uses a tracking tool. Personally, the only task my gadgetry doesn't perform for me is to help me locate my reading glasses of which I have a habit of misplacing way too often (wish the iGods incorporate some feature to track such personal objects as well, the way for instance, an iPhone's location can be pointed out exactly).  I certainly do not have to get into elaborating on how they entertain us - music, videos, books, or a peek into the lives of friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues without ever talking to them directly, and if boredom strikes us still, an update on the general bufoonery (what else can we term Rs.32 being the upper limit for Below Poverty Line in India or the sandal throwing incidents) that usually passes off as news is all that we might need to further spice us up. Moreover, they also provide us with various alternatives - hungry? little short of cooking a meal and eating it on our behalf, we are offered help in every possible way. They could surely search for a recipe or at least recommend a good eat-out place based on our personal preferences, on-going promotions, distance and so on and even direct us to it. Their usage at work is so much for granted that I have almost missed pointing it out. Thus fulfilling the roles of personal assistant, friend and mentor much effectively.

No wonder then that we spend almost all our spare time with these gizmos than with people. How could people ever match up to the skills that these smart thingies are booted with? Also, people could get boring after a period of time because of bugs in the internal coding and also because of the difficulty in re-programming with new interests, experiences and conversations. To top it all, the gadgetary is not built to question us or expect anything from us beyond some electricity. Where else could one find such unconditional relationship these days and why wonder that today we are a generation of gadget/gizmo loving people. In fact, I would even like to nominate them for the Nobel peace prize, reason being that, when each one of us gets so involved with the machinery, there is absolutely no chance of direct interaction with people and therefore zero incidence of disagreements, fights or other such unruly behaviors. So what if we have to trade-in some silly inter-personal relations for lack of spare time,  we at least, have perfect iRelationships. 

An ode to IT

A parallel post to the one on Social Media, this is an ode of sorts to the Information Technology Industry in India. Without dwelling on the so called other side of the coin, I want to conveniently look at one of the many & perhaps the most important positives that this burgeoning, nothing short of a phenomenon has brought about not just to the youth of this country but to their families - confidence. 

While a majority of the previous generation's thinking class, as I prefer to call it or the middle class, as more commonly termed, was mired with their own set of financial burdens aside from the numerous non value adding & highly time consuming transactions, including something as basic as paying bills. IT has played a significant part both in clearing mind space by reducing routine transactions just to a click of the mouse and more recently to that of a tab in applications & providing much needed & relatively better economic sufficiency thus aiding this class to move one level up in the Maslow's needs hierarchy and thereby clearing the way for social causes to adorn at least our walls.

Although, a lot of this can be considered just an arm-chair movement, (a genuine wink if the term looks borrowed or may be not,  for all I care or remember) we now have a tool to not only air individual views for the consumption of larger audience and to connect to similar minded people but are also able to walk the talk although giving due weightage to the interplay between people's values, principles and circumstances. For instance, the anti corruption campaign is just one of the many social issues that has gained mind space in many of us. Courtesy the IT jobs, the confidence and the monetary benefits such jobs offer are aiding at least some of us to pay up legally for the government wherever required instead of looking for self gains by resorting to malpractices.

Seriously hoping that this trend trends!

What draws me to social media?

Off late I seem to be spending a lot of my spare time on social media - not just me but a lot of my friends as well, I would think. No, not just for being current with the lives of my family, friends and acquaintances, but for something more than just that. As the divide between social networking and social media reduces and one engulfs the other, I would rather bring them under one umbrella and call it 'social media'. Thanks to this revolution, I do not have to rely on the news channels with apprehensions on their very content. As a lot of traditional news channels take seemingly one sided stance on various issues, finally there seems to be an alternative for knowing the pulse of the people that truly matter. Therefore, with a customary glance to the headlines, I straightaway head to the blogs section of any news channel or to the tweets that not only provide me with the updates but also complement me with individual opinions.

Not only that, with 'group-think' at play, we get to see 'collectivism' as is evident from the on-going Telangana movement or the still in news Anna Hazare campaign. For a routine individual like me, there are more attractions to this system than the one off incidents of mis-use at least till the time even this gets completely corrupted like what has happened in the case of print revolution. Till then, happy tweaking - sorry tweeting!

Grow up Sud!

Seeing my almost 18 month to-be son grow takes me back to my own childhood. While I naturally  did not expect both the experiences to be similar, I was also not prepared to see such stark distinctions as well.

Children today are no longer just that, but are prince & princesses! Not only are they called so but am afraid are also treated such and are led into believing and behaving as one. A small evidence can be found in the growing number of couples celebrating their angels' birthdays every month by cutting a cake! Not meaning any offense to the parents indulging in monthly celebrations & realizing fully well that it is purely a personal choice, it still bothers me to think whether the child would experience the joy of waiting eagerly for the yearly birthday celebration. Coming back to my stance on how we raise them, I always wonder What right do we then have to sneer at their  reactions however unreasonable when faced with a "no" after having set such high standards and upping their expectations to match that of someone whose every wish needs to be heeded. Also to be seen is their collective behavior at school when each is raised as a prince and princess coming to terms with other kids that are all raised as specially.  The love of the parents from the previous generations' had towards their children was perhaps not as overtly exhibited as it is by this generation parents. Therefore, it was perhaps easier for us as kids to be one amongst many.

While today's parents treat kids in a very special way, they do not seem to be adopting the same attitude when it comes to letting them achieve their milestones at their own pace. Competing with other parents on their kids reaching milestones starting from infancy even with respect to when they roll over, crawl, walk, talk and the list just continues. These 'helicopter parents' then assemble their wards' with strict daily time tables while on the other hand are those parents showing extreme leniency. Just the way it is difficult for kids to understand the significance of education at such a tender age it is also equally tough for them to align to a 'can't miss a day at school, can't miss a mark, can't make a mistake & should never fail' kind of set rules'.In spite of completely being aware of the cut throat competition the kids would later face in their lives once they hit the big bad world, the parents from the previous generations seem to have let their children to be. In such discussions we should of course allow for generous leeway for exceptions in each generation.

To be fair with both the set of parents, the environment or the backdrop in which the kids are raised has also significantly altered. Aspects such as greater access to information as a double edged sword cutting across better awareness vying with higher levels of confusion see-saw with the concept of 'follow the ancestral path laid down by the grandparents'. Adding further to this chaos is the factor of raising kids in a multi-cultural context for the present day parents tussling with decisions on whether to adopt, adapt or ignore becoming more frequent. Something as common as children co-sleeping with the parents to vegetarianism in a specific cutture might completely be alien to another. Decisions in such instances tend to become ambiguous. Significantly different also are the support mechanisms both generation parents had and have, with physical support being more common for our parents, technological strength is our asset: how many of us might not have thanked profusely the disposable nappies to say the least at some point?

It's not just the parenting styles that has changed over the generations (I only talk about my generation & the current one), the attitude of children themselves seem to have changed. While a single or at max a couple of toys would have kept us excited for a long time then, any number of toys, technology, outside exposure doesn't seem to satiate the need to explore & understand the world for the current kids resulting in their early initiation into playschools. Reciting nursery rhymes, ABC's, 123s even prior to entering their third year seems to be the order of the day while I  remember struggling with learning alphabets in the lower case often confusing between 'f' & 'b' & 'g' & many more at double that age!

Balancing between these two extreme spectrums then becomes quite essential, a task that is perhaps easier said than done!

Work Life Balance

Not someone to write a travel blog, I am still forced into posting this entry because of the ripples of thought a recent visit to a great eastern country stirred in me.

A short visit to this vast country made me realize that God has been very equitable in distributing the nature's beauty. This country has fantastic beaches, mountains, desert & snow!

While we marveled at the god created & man made attractions, a lot of friendly people around offered to take photographs of our family for us, something I had not experienced before. Though these incidents, faces will go a long way down the memory lane & bring a smile on my face whenever I think of them, this post is about something else, something more profound - at least for me. So without drifting further, I will make my point.

Having come from a background that focussed on consumerism, the early closing hours of the shops in this country had me wondering if it made economic sense to limit the shopping time. Though never very strong in academics, the only thing I was sure was that governments & corporates mostly benefitted when people spent - for fulfilling a need or no, by impulse or otherwise, with cash or credit, on local made goods or imported products, and longer the hours, more the spending, my not so fast processor told me. Unable to keep my confusion to myself, I had confided my thoughts to a close friend, a local in that country. Her reply not just offered me enlightenment but also had me floored. It was quite simple (for her), she said that the people spent their evenings not in busy malls where they sold zillions of things, but at homes - with their families & that the government encouraged a work-life balance, a term quite familiar to the 'HR' by profession me. When an advanced country could imbibe this concept, I appall at why corporates that probably give birth to such lip service jargons find it challenging to practice it in letter & in spirit.

Cook right to eat right - the Ayurvedic way

As someone who has not cooked until hitting the quarter century mark in terms of age and without a formal initiation into this art, I sometimes depend on the cooking shows both online and off it. Thanks to my little experiments, mom's on-call help and the ubiquitous cooking shows I have turned out to be a decent cook in a little under five years. While in the beginning my focus had been to produce something edible I learnt along the way, the real art or science (depending on the way one views it) of food per se.

With such tremendous scope for experimentation and cultural variations there is no wonder that there can be as many styles of cooking as there are people living on this planet. "Delicious, exotic and presentable"  besides the hep "low-cal" phenomenon seem to be the most trending objectives for cooking, whereas "wholesome, nutritious and well balanced" seem to have lost their race somewhere along the line by simply remaining as sale-able propositions as has the linkage between eating right and staying better. Amidst this increased importance to eating tastier food we seem to have deleted  simple and less processed foods from our menus such as, "rasam", a south Indian soup cooked with great digestives including cumin, asafetida and pepper.

Earlier the art of cooking greatly used the principles from the science of Ayurveda (I only speak of Indian vegetarian cooking as I know of no other) but now I notice that this has completely been lost and forgotten at least in our generation. While as a self declared foodie, I enjoy good food, but in parallel I am also conscious of the damage that can be done to humanity by forgetting the authentic style of cooking - using the correct combination of ingredients (which is probably more important than knowing the right proportions) and the exact procedure - that I am confident was laid on foundations of health and fitness. By right procedure, I mean for instance simple things such as  cutting leafy vegetables and pumpkins into large chunks to retain their nutrients. 

Authentic cooking - as per my definition is something that maximizes the nutritional gains while still being tasty. Also, the more processed the food, the lesser the benefit will it provide in terms of nutrition. 

While food needs to be palatable I am against the rants most chefs seem to be making on popular shows on combining and multiplying ingredients that simply should not be used together for wrong reasons such as for increasing food appeal. For instance, combining spinach and tomato for the color it brings out when actually these two should not be mixed together but Okra or ladies fingers should always be cooked together with tomato and onions. Yes, cooking has a great scope for personalization but this I believe should not go against the principles of cooking healthy food.  

While cooking shows and recipe books can teach us to cook exotic dishes only our mothers' and grandmothers' kitchens have secrets to a healthier cooking. Now, lets go and figure!

The Age of Excesses

The recent inflated prices of vegetables in India made me feel strongly about the way our lifestyle has changed since my childhood. For the better? I am not too sure.

Call me old fashioned but I still prefer getting new clothes only for festive occasions and for birthdays, than just going on a purchasing spree whenever there is a sale which is forever in places like Singapore. And of course this trend is soon catching up in India as well.

Rich food was again only limited to special occasions like festivals, weddings & so on. Now a days I am sure a lot of households' must haves in the grocery shopping list would include sweetmeats, chocolates, ice creams, cakes & the like. That brings me to another interesting observation - we do not mind spending for these so called special treats but complain, crib for buying veggies not before thinking for umpteen times & finally deciding to call off when their prices get inflated. The health factor anyways gets affected and along with it goes down the feeling of exclusivity that comes from treating ourselves occasionally to a cake, for instance. May be we live in the times when eating rich food is the daily norm and nutritious food on special occasions.

Anyways, reverting to my nostalgia - going out used to be again a once in a while occasion either for eating out or rarely for the cinemas. These days there are lot more options available for hanging out. While i agree that these outings give one a much required exposure I certainly wish we gave things such as catching up with relatives, attending social gatherings the importance they deserved. Mingling with people still betters our social skills than window shopping in a mall or making friends with gizmos do, or so I reckon!

With my son's birthday just around the corner and with all those I consider as fond childhood memories turning into routine daily activities I wonder the kind of special memories he will have. Let's see!

The digestive fire of life

Agni or the “digestive fire,” is one of the most important principles in the ancient science of ayurveda. It refers broadly to our ability to process all aspects of life, including food, experiences, memories, and sensory impressions. Agni is responsible for absorbing the nutrients and essential elements the body needs while burning off waste products (agni is the root of the English word “ignite”).

If our agni is strong, we’re able to digest food efficiently and easily assimilate our daily experiences. On the other hand, if agni is weak, our body won’t digest well, creating toxic residue or ama that lodges deep in our cells.


According to ayurvedic teaching, strong agni leads to excellent health and well-being, while the accumulation of ama results in the slow deterioration of the body and—ultimately—disease. The inability to metabolize emotions produces just as much toxic residue as undigested food. In fact, pent-up anger, long-held sadness, and lingering guilt are more debilitating for most people than problems with physical digestion.
Ojas: The Vital Nectar of Life

If we desire perfect health, it’s crucial to eliminate the ama stored in our body and focus on producing ojas, which is the essential life energy. A Sanskrit term meaning “vigor,” ojas is the pure and subtle substance that’s extracted from food that has been completely digested. Ojas circulates throughout the bodily tissues and heart, sustaining the physical self, bringing clarity to the mind and balancing the emotions. In short, when the body produces ojas, the vital nectar of life, we feel blissful. The cells sing with happiness because both the mind and the body are receiving the nourishment they need.

To promote the creation and flow of ojas, we need a good diet focused on pure foods, referred to as “sattvic” in ayurveda. The body can easily digest sattvic food and extract its ojas or prime energy. The most sattvic foods include organic milk, almonds, sesame, honey, rice, and fruits. It’s not necessary to eat these foods exclusively — just focus on having them on a regular basis.

Some foods are difficult if not impossible for the body to convert into ojas, including meat, poultry, fish, oily foods, cheese, leftovers, processed food, and items with an excess of sour or salty tastes. Food that has been canned, frozen, or reheated won’t produce as much ojas as freshly prepared meals. In addition, consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes destroys ojas.

The following chart will help you determine whether you have healthy ojas or an accumulation of ama in your body. If you’ve been storing toxicity, you can choose now to begin to nourish yourself and enjoy increasing levels of joy and well-being in your life.

Signs of Ojas
You feel rested upon awakening
Your skin has a healthy glow
Your tongue is clear and pink
Your body feels light, regardless of the number on the scale
You feel centered throughout the day
Your digestion is strong without bloating Generalized pain
You feel energized & enthusiastic
Your mind is clear
Your body has a pleasant smell
You rarely get sick


Signs of Ama
Bad breath
Coated tongue
Dull appetite
Delicate digestion
Sluggish or irritable elimination
Fatigue
Depression
Susceptibility to infections
Difficulty manifesting intentions

Creating Nurturing Mealtimes

Our experience while we’re eating is just as important as the kinds of foods we’re consuming. If we’re having a fight with our spouse over the dinner table, our stomach cells are aware of the upset and send distressed chemical messages throughout the body. As a result, we’re not able to create ojas because of the indigestible emotions coursing throughout our cells and organs.

Since ojas is the by-product of all the signals our body receives, we need to create a nurturing atmosphere for our meals, paying attention to all of the senses — taste, sound, sight, touch, and smell. Here are a few tips for making your body happy while you eat:
Eat in a settled atmosphere
Don’t eat when you’re upset.
Always sit down to eat (don’t eat in front of your computer or TV or while you’re driving).
Only eat when you’re hungry.
Dine at a moderate pace. Don’t gulp down your food or eat too slowly.
Minimize raw foods, which are much harder to digest than cooked ones.
Include all six tastes (sweet, sour, astringent, bitter, salty, and pungent) at each meal.

Source: www.chopra.com/agni

To donate or not to

To part with money or not in the first place.
If the decision is in the affirmative, then on whom-self or significant others (spouse, children, parents, numerous relatives, friends) or the needy.

For the needy, ok, some small portion atleast.
Then what kind of need-Those that require food, clothing or shelter, education, medical aid?
Well, say education - then to which needy - boy or girl, Indian or foreigner, Telugu or not, from telangana, rayalaseema or andhra, same caste or different & then the district, village..,,,,

Instead of having to deal with so many choices & making some of the most difficult decisions in life - just follow the tried & tested method and end up buying the nth item for the nth time!

Why can't a needy just remain that without being categorised forever?

Disclaimer : this post is in no way a reflection of how I think or identify a needy.

Standard disclaimer

My blog postings might at best be considered as random thoughts or rather ramblings and are anything but profound. They are not meant to be consequential in the least and therefore, might not lead to conclusions of any sort.

For a change I was watching the live telecast of the Commonwealth games one evening. It was a diving event now, I for one know nothing technical about games of this sort, so was closely following the commentary and relying on it. Soon a 17 year old Australian appeared on screen and apparently did very well with the commentator adding that he stood a good chance of winning at the upcoming Olympics. Now this seriously left me thinking. This guy would have started preparing at a very young age probably at the same age as our kids are geared up to appear for IITs/EAMCETs and what nots. While focus of an average Indian remains on getting their kids educated in professional streams, we still expect India to perform well in sports and bring in golds with meticulous calculations taking into consideration our one billion plus people. But what percentage of this population actually sends its kids to a full fledged sports coaching vis-a-vis education related one is a question we need to ask ourselves let alone answering it. Till then let us at least bask in on producing those who are educated enough to do such mathematics.

Achyutashtakam / Achyutam Kesavam Lyrics

Here is a beautiful gem written by Sri Adi Sankaracharya on Lord Sri Krishna. Thanks to this song, my infant baby calms down in no time when I start singing it. I learnt the lyrics by listening to Jesudas' melodious and incredibly flawless rendition.

Achyutham Kesavam Rama-Narayanam
Krishna-Damodaram Vasudevam Harim;
Sreedharam Madhavam Gopikavallabham
Janakee-Nayakam Ramachandram Bhaje

Achyutham Keshavam Satyabhamadhavam
Madhavam Sreedharam Radhikaradhikam;
Indiramandiram Chetasa Sundaram
Devakee-Nandanam Nandajam Sandadhe

Vishnave Jishnave Sankhine Chakrine
Rukmineeragine Janakeejanaye;
Vallaveevallabha Yarchitayatmane
Kamsavidhvamsine Vamsine Te Namah

Krishna Govinda he Rama Narayana
Sreepate Vasudevajite Sreenidhe;
Achyutananta he Madhavadhokshaja
Dvarakanayaka Draupadee-Rakshakaa

Rakshasakshobhitah Seetayah Shobhito
Dandakaranya Bhoopunyata Karanah;
Lakshmanenanvito Vanariah Sevito
Agastyasampoojito Raghavah Patumam

Dhenukarishtaka Nishtakriddveshinam
Keshiha Kamsahridvamshiko vadakah;
Poothanakopakah Soorajakhelano
Bala-Gopalakah Patu mam Sarvada

Vidyududyotavan Prasphuradvasasam
Pravridambhodavat Prollasavigraham;
Vanyaya Malaya Shobitorasthalam
Lohitanghridvayam Varijaksham Bhaje

Kunchitaih Kuntalairbhrajamananam
Ratnamaulim Lasatkundalam Gandayoh;
Harakeyoorakam Kankanaprojjvalam
Kinkineemanjulam Shyamalam Tam Bhaje

Achyuta syastakam Yah Pathedistadam
Prematah Pratyaham Purushah Saspruham
Vrittatah Sundaram Kartrivisvambharas
Tasya Vasyo Harirjayate Satvaram

Ayurveda & Post natal care

My quest to understand the logic behind the do's and don'ts during my post natal period led me into researching about Ayurveda and here is what I found:

Most women these days are able to trace thier illnesses back to their post natal period. If the mother develops any disease during the post partum phase, the new born gets affected directly. Hence post natal care is specifically important for both the mother and the baby.

According to Ayurveda, vata, Agni and kapha elements are present in human body. So long as these three elements are in balance our body remains healthy. Post delivery this balance typically tends to get disturbed warranting additional care to the new mother as in most cases, vata is vitiated, Agni is at low ebb and kapha needs to be maintained.

While vata (air) increases in the body during the delivery and more so for ceaserean sections (when the abdomen is opened a lot of air goes into the body) it has to get back to it's natural state of balance postpartum so the mother can recover fully from
the birth and regain her health.

New mothers are therefore advised to keep their ears covered so the air outside doesn't get into the body. This is specifically important in cold climates as it also helps in preventing colds.
Maintaining the body on heat by avoiding cold food/ drinks, wearing footwear even while walking indoors helps prevent colds. Also bacteria is more likely to breed on cold food. Warm food and drinks are therefore recommended. During the confinement period, Malays are not allowed to use fans/air conditioning reason being cold temperature throws kapha off its balance resulting in colds and coughs.

Light foods make a better choice because digestion gets affected in most women. Boiled watery vegetables such as ridge gourd, snake gourd, bottle gourd with cumin seed, coriander powder, turmeric seasoning are not only light on the stomach but are also nutritous and aid in increasing milk supply because of the high water content in them. Such foods are also low on calorie counts. Seasoning not only makes the food tasty but also builds immunity which would be at an all time low post delivery.
Eating light yet nutritous foods also goes a long way in devoiding babies of colic.

The advantages of having only warm water are manifold. It not only prevents water borne diseases but also aids the elimination process by relieving constipation, a problem most common in many women postnatally. Warm water supposedly burns excess fat and hence can be considered as an added advantage.

Ghee and dry Ginger (sonth, sonthi) are highly recommended for reigniting the Agni (fire) in the body. The Chinese also use a lot of Ginger in their post natal diet.

Traditional post natal massages including Malay and Ayurvedic massages / abhyangana are excellent ways to not only relax the body but to also help the body release excess vata. Such massages typically increase blood circulation, relieve pains and aches post delivery, break celluloid and eliminate stale blood.

The tummy binder/girdle tied post massage helps prevent air from forming in the hollow space left in the abdomen after birth. It also helps in breaking slimming the body.

Disclaimer: do I need to give any for my own blog! Anyways, most of the blog reflects my experience, findings from secondary research and my reasonings. I am in no way related to Ayurveda otherwise even remotely.

Life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it

Learn from the past, live in the present and work for the future

The Changing Indian Parivar Legacy - IPL

After a long time got inspired to blog bcos of cricket strangely enough. Once a decent cricket enthusiast, have stopped following cricket post the match fixing scandal many years ago. Even ipl or the T20 couldn't lure me back to the gentlemen's (?) game. Alas, one insignificant subtraction from a cricket crazy nation does not alter equations which I know! However, with 2 ardent followers of the game at home I can see the kinda mindspace it gets besides the time investment.

Having followed the ipl saga closely I thought if consolidating my take as well.
Simply put it is a betrayal for me in more ways than one. Even letting aside the extreme commercialisation, improper deal allotments and money minting it is the corrupt practices and the indiscriminate spending of tax payers money that bothers me most. When the Mumbai blasts happened most of us were charged up enough to act against corruption of any sort but all that zeal seems to have fizzled out. Despite the hullaballo the TRPs of ipl doesn't seem
to dwindle. Are we then so apathetic or self centered enough to be only concerned of getting entertained or resistant to scams and scandals of any magnitude? Are we to believe the ipl provides pristine entertainment amidst the rumours of match fixing!

Even ignoring the above two aspects considering the common man cannot be bothered about issues larger and complicated with an insignificant role in resolving them.

Hopefully v can atleast be concerned about the impact ipl in generalnor cricket in particular is making to the legacy of the Indian parivar. An average indian parivar during the ipl season spends an average of 6 hours a day for about a month watching it. It is the time of the day when

Of "holy" cows and goats

Shashi Tharoor's recent tweet on traveling in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows created quite a flutter amongst Indian politicians.

I guess an average literate Indian (I thought it was a pretty smart tweet) would have enjoyed the wit in the tweet as he is either used to being classified under this very class a lot of times prior or considered it a repetition from the question posed. Moreover the ruckus has been more from the political class than from the so called class themselves. This leads me to the other (and the main) controversy point, the usage of "holy cows". Even a naiveté could understand who Mr.Tharoor might be referring to. Alas despite his justification in a subsequent tweet he had to apologize publicly.

Now Mr.Scapegoat, you might use all your diplomatic skills at an international platform, and that is where they might work too but on domestic level and at personal front "Hail Holy cows" is the strategy to adopt. Now try following that without a tweet!