A Beginner's Mind

Anton chekhov is considered one of the greatest novelists of all times.  Here's an excerpt from a letter to his 28 year old brother - who had turned alcoholic. Anton was 26 , 2 years younger than his brother.  You can read the full letter here( http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/07/every-hour-is-precious.html ), I found this excerpt fascinating. It made me realize how shallow is our perspective of our lives - this is the reason for our distraction & boredom. I think distraction & boredom are the greatest curse in a person's life and boredom especially should be controlled at war footing.   So without boring you further -- To my mind, civilized people ought to satisfy the following conditions: 1. They respect the individual and are therefore always indulgent, gentle, polite and compliant. They do not throw a tantrum over a hammer or a lost eraser. When they move in with somebody, they do not act as if they were doing him a favor, and when they move out,

those who are never on time but always in a hurry to close the elevator, even when they see someone sprinting towards them. These elevator nazis could’ve started early but they didn’t and now this 5 minute delay is sure to have an everlasting impact on their productivity and who knows even on their career those who judge a movie’s worth by it’s box office collection in the first week - hey you know what Krrish 3 made 77 crores in first 3 days isn’t that awesome! I’m surely going this weekend. those who think “Times of India” is a newspaper - wake up guys it’s a classified. BTW Times of India Student edition is a newspaper. Sadly students are the only ones reading it. those who like their own status on facebook - WTF! Isnt that why you posted it! those who abbreviate & hash their slangs - I don't see how “fuck you” is in any way less offensive (or less cute) than "f@#$ you" those who overtake from left even when the driver’s side is traffic fre

Read a brilliant article   GROUPTHINK -  The brainstorming myth by Jonah Lehrer  Here's what I learnt: If you need people to be innovative and solve big problems they need to be close to each other. Limit work from homes. They need to be critical of each others work. Old understanding of brainstorming where quantity of ideas is more important than quality is incorrect. It's also wrong to politely receive all ideas without debate. When people debate their ideas, they undergo natural selection and only the best ones make through the discussion room.  Contrary to the popular belief creativity isn't driven by office spaces that have an (artificially) stimulating environment, all it needs is for people from varied disciplines to cross each other's paths. This encourages "knowledge spillovers" And most important - Innovation is unpredictable. Serendipity is liberating. 

I don’t understand what’s this fuss about privacy and government surveillance. After all, we are willingly compromising our privacy when we use services like Google now, Siri and Social networking. The only difference between tech companies and the government is that the companies are invading your privacy to show you targeted ads and the government to save your ass! And neither of them has a choice – why should companies spend billions in providing free services if they aren’t getting anything in return? The government has no choice because the enemy is hiding  among  us. It’s running with us in the marathons, dining with us at the hotels, praying and shopping with us.   Privacy is overrated. If you can save me from the pain of watching cola ads and instead show me ads for something I want to buy - I am happy. I don’t see how to get this information other than tracking our online  behavior . If you can save even one life by preventing the next terror attack eaves

I remember watching X Files every Sunday evening on Star TV. I relish the goosebumps accompanying the opening theme of Star Trek - TNG. I took comfort in the hope that the followup will be just as good, after-all CGI was evolving. Voyager & Enterprise both disappointed me and I realized that CGI, no matter how advanced, will never substitute a good story. *  I always thought that my teenage fascination with a few of these will mellow down & finally disappear with time - I am glad that I was wrong. I have included only those shows that I revisit occasionally, there are several new shows that are remarkably original, still working on this list. For each series, I’ve also included the aspect - a lesson, an emotion or a memory -  that inspires me re-watch . 10. Lost  - Leadership & yes they f$%^ up the end 9. The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest  - adventure, action, geekdom 8. Planet Earth - our home, our place in our home, our irrelevance & if

Read a  brilliant post  -  The Art of Conversation on Brain Pickings – very relevant in our hypersocial  world. Sadly I realized that depending on my company, I fall into a combination of several of these categories. Gladly the full post  gives simple tips to avoid the "talking" trap.  8 Kinds of Talkers The loud talker , who “silences a whole party by his sole power of lungs”: All subjects are alike to him; he speaks on every topic with equal fluency, is never at a loss, quotes high authority for every assertion, and allows no one else to utter a word; he silences, without the least ceremony, every attempt at interruption, however cleverly managed. … Great, and especially loud and positive talkers, have been denounced by all writers on manners as shallow and superficial persons. 2.              The excessive life-sharer , whom you no doubt know well from your Facebook timeline: [This is] the man who gives an account of his dogs, horses, lands

It's not happening, because: you are not doing it you are not doing enough you are at the wrong table you don't really want to

The elevator stops at the second level of basement. Her black Tahari suit was just an extension of her tall & slender frame. Her Velias tapped a curious harmony on the marbled floor and her Mulberry swayed to the rhythm of her swinging hips as she walked confidently towards the darkest corner of the car park.  “You are late Riya” “I’m so sorry Roy, it took me a while to deflect Parul. We swiped in together; she was curious why I was going to the second level leaving my car at -1.” “Ohh don’t get paranoid, not tonight.” Her deep black eyes tempted the ensnared boy inside this 40-year-old man who only wished for her enchanting company. She kissed him. “Happy Birthday Roy” “Thanks love - for that, I can wait forever.” The black A8 swooshes away from the dimly lit car park into the illuminated cosmopolis. The night was still full of strange possibilities. “Even after all the time we’ve spent together, I still can’t believe your choice of music. Sade? S