The Monk Who Sold The Ferrari

How many times does it happens , that a friend highly recommends a book and tells you to buy the book. It happens , its normal. We often go and buy such books , what if recomended book is not what you would want to read .  Something like that did happen to me .I told my friend , will check about it .She was persistent, told me , you must buy it ASAP , its very good . I said, yeah sure. Then a follow up call came , Did you buy the book?  I said , not yet . Then the friend asked  whats stopping you ? go go , buy the book . And yes the friend is dearest to me ,  I promised that I would surely buy the book. 

Thats what happens to people (In this case my friend )  when they read "The Monk who sold the Ferrari "  by Robin Sharma.

I was with my friend when she had bought the book . She has been buying self help books for an year now . I am one of those people who discourage people from buyig "self help/management" books. I think investing in self help books as one of the most boring ideas. I find self help/management  books uninteresting , not a page turner sorts etc . However  these books could give very good insights on varied subjects. I am aware of people , who say books like Alchemist and who moved my cheese have changes their perspective of life . Too heavy to digest . It isn't that I haven't read  any self help books. I have read two books and both had been good..

When I read Rich Dad Poor Dad which encourages you to make investments , I painfully became aware of  the fact I actually have a zero saving till date and since then I  have been seriously working on my savings ; well almost . I have also read "How To Lose Your Weight " by a dietitian Rujuta Divekar the book make not you lose weight , however it gives good insights to curb craving habits , eat when you are hungry and train your stomach. It also advises to read the calorific value and the % of fat while eating/choosing packaged food . I was atnoished to find out one of the leading brands of digestive biscuits which claim to be good  for health and fitness contain 25 % of saturated fat .

However I have failed to complete both the books . After a point I  found Rich Dad Poor Dad complicated and the second one started to bore me.

I do have an option of not buying the book . However , as I mentioned , she is dearest to me so I should respect her view and would not want to disappoint her . Her "persistance" has also generated a certain  amusement to me.

With these mixed feeling I am would buy "The Monk Who Sold The Ferrari " by Robin Sharma , read it and let the world know if this  book is any good..... :) :) ( The way my friend has marketed to buy book , it ought to be good :) ) .

Vanita :)

Sometimes its about life

Two weeks back I got an oppurtunity  to watch Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjana Anjani . Given a choice I may not have seen the movie as neither both of them as cult actors and nor the movie  got any rave reviews.The movie is about two characters , who want to suicide . Apparently they both suffer a setback , Ranbir professionaly  and Priyanka emotionaly .Contrary to my perception of idea I liked the concept and  decided to explore the subject of Suicide.

The suicide rates were quite high in the area where we lived .I have clsoely seen/known people who took suicide as an option to their problems. The most prominent was  15 year old boy , who hung himself  to ceiling. He was my classmate who had dropped and was two classes behind. He was an average kid who was like any other kid. He was loved and wanted in a family . It was year of 1999 ( I remember it because I was in XII std.) , when he died .  The reason to suicide , he wanted to watch DD2 . His small request was ignored, and then what struck him,only god would know . He went in other room ,  hung himself to ceiling fan. When the parents realised  that what had taken place, they tried everybit to save him . But it didn't work . The windows were grilled & door didn't break . The eyewitnesses said the boy didn't want to die . He suffered to live in his last moments. That day  unknowingly I learnt one lesson of life,  "life is god gift and death isn't."

The teachers at our school felt it was necessary to imbibe that suicide is for coward mind. Life will always throw up challenges ,and one should always face them.I am thankful to them , as every time I faced a problem , the teacher's words would come to rescue and I had face the challenge with fulll strength . With time I also learnt its the stress and emotional breakdown due to crisis which leads to suicide .

A survivor of suicide told me, it was a foolish act . Her exact words were "I want to achieve so much in life. There is so much to do . She said I want to be a model, actor and at the same time rule the corporate world. I want to give back to society what I earn and so on. " when I asked her what led her to the act , she replied "impulse" and then I asked "what impulse?" she simply said "feeling of not wanted ." She confessed it was weired thought.

I read in one of the articles in Times , "Crisis" makes or break you . Its up to you , how you handle it . The "down and out " situation tests you strength to endure pain. If you are lucky there are people to support you in the recoveryand if you aren't  , must  fight back to recover.

Its possible sometimes things may not work as we had planned since life plans for us a bit differently .

Suicide is never an option, life is. :) :)

Vanita

A clean Sweep

I had been dying to write about the latest adventures of Indian Cricket. We had a clean sweep at Australia in test match series in India. We won the series by 2-0 yesterday. In last decade India nad Australia have grown to be Arch rivals . Stats will definitely show how much grit Indians have shown while playing Australians. I read in one of the interviews where Ricky Ponting said ,"if you ask them, they're a bit flattered by that result."  Of course we are and the cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar himself said ,"Beating a top side like Australia is a remarkable achievement and it means a lot to all of us."  Well still lot of arrogance in our rival captain whose team slumped to no. 5 ranking  and I guess he still has alot to learn from this old country where every rival is treated with respesct.

In the first match at Mohali the victory was sealed by VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma . VVS played with a sore back . When asked about pain he simply said , "When your mind goes away from pain and towards a goal...it helps" . Truly Inspiring . Ishant Sharma who was injured too stood tall  to play a supporting role. Of course there was lot of chaos , desperation on Australian side who let six by runs in the end for win....

After the first win , we knew the second one is even going to be tougherr......

In the second match at Banglore our dear Tendulkar completed  6th double century & put India in a safer  position. The debutant Chetshwar Pujara who had been playing consistent domestic cricket was out on 4 runs on a wonderful delivery from Mitchell Johnson who also played very well in both matches. Everyone had pity for Pujara , i.e, he may not get a chance again to play International match . However as they say destiny had some other plans . He along with Murali Vijay a put a up good partnership stand and later went onto make 72 runs himself. Murali also hit a debut century while playing along with Tendulkar in fist innings while chasing 476.

Australians played very well beyond doubt. We just out played them .....

30df , I , U - We bring a change

As a kid , me & my sister at age of 11 &12 respectively announced to our family ; When we grow up , we are gonna take up farming in our village. We will turn it green , use tractors & set up schools. There were two reasons why we said that , 1) The agricultural land in our village didn't produce much due to less rains  with poor farming practice and 2) The education we received in our school told us we are the young kids who are to bring prosperity to nation . My father didn't discourage us , his annual annual income was little above 100$ ( Rs. 4000) in 1994 and had to take care of family of 7 people. He said , ofcourse its your land , do whatever you wanna do .

There was a saying in my village ,Ravana kidnapped Sita from Panchvati , his plane (pushpak) went over from my village  and hence as a consequence it doesn't rain .Truth or Myth , it didn't rain much during 1994-2000 .Since there were not much of rains ,we didn't visit  our village during this period which we usually did during summer time. We heard stories of trees being cut to use/sell as fuel , animals dying of thirst , increase abuse ( thanks to desi bar) , and child marriages.

As I grew up ...I knew I would need more money to develop my own village . I needed to work harder .In this race eventually I forgot why was I running. Though the thought of giving back to the society , making it better place  always remained in my mind ....

15 years later , govt. in Centre has changed four times , In Maharashtra once we elected Shiv Sena & twice Congress. Today we can find in my village there are mobile phone &  TV in almost every house.However there is not much  provision for hygiene , the school still has a lower no. of literacy rate , the sale of desi bar has gone up .Ironical it may sound , it is truth of a economy growing at 7% and expected to grow at a higher rate ....

When I visited 30df's website through a status message of a friend on gtalk ,  I realised the story of my village is not unique . There are many more people , who want possibly only few more 1000 bucks to just start on their own and uplift from their current economically backward status .30df is currently working to collect investment for women enterprenurs who live in rural Maharashtra . These women want to do business right from a dairy  farm , opening a grocery store etc...

A few Questions : Why Maharashtra ? Why woman ? & Why me & you ?

Why Maharashtra :  30df has Identified Savitribai Phule Mutual Benefit Trust as microfinance partner.They are instrumental in identifying these woman , train them for a group activity & finance them. 30df is  just beginning its work in India and is yet to grow with manpower & finance .


Why Woman : Its said when a woman learns ; the society learns .Interactions with woman in rural India gives an idea about how much they want gather a decent earning for their family and send  their kids to school. Hence 30df is working  with women from rural area and urban area.

Why am I doing this : Its my way of doing a bit for the society . May be there is still some more time for me to go and open a school in my village.At this moment atleast I can help these women out with small investments.

Why you ? :Its said, donate to a person or organization who could utilize the money to change their life.And an extra  hand to bring a positive change someone's life and society  would be an absolute delight .

Lets come together and join hands  to bring change to rural India.


Visit : www.30df.org
         http://blog.30df.org/

Tere Bin Laden

On a critical  subject like " war on terrorism ", "Osama Bin laden" the movie is simply funny , witty , laughter riot and yet you would  never disagree with the writer . The movie is about a set of "innocent" characters  in a desire to make some quick money for fulfilling their personal ambitions. With their luck, they find "Osama" look alike ..... and then they make money ...and then they want to "undo" things and then they have intelligence chasing them.The audience gets into a joyride right from the begining......

Tere Bin Laden is a "satire" .A satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon. I must say movie does it successfully. Never once you feel that the movie has been shot outside Pakistan. AK -47 at grocery store , US dollars at a "sweets shop" , Osama in Pakistan and war on terror at Afghanistan by "Amreeka" :P ; the list is endless.  .

Check "Noora's" character , he is too cute & to complement him is "Sikandar" simply superb & the "Moorgabangh" competition ,it would just make you smile little more ......


As well said by a critic ,  "Tere Bin Laden promises to unite film-goers...an ingredient terribly dangerous for power-hungry politicians on any side." and I agree with the critic.

Movie : Tere Bin Laden
Website : www.terebinladen.com

Optimism

Well its bit funny .... :).... India lost their first test at Galle Srilanka by 10 wickets last week..... and I was still smiling by the end of the day ...... Being an avid cricket follower and an emotional one too.... I knew on 5th day of the test that we 'may' not win .....but atleast could draw ..... That day while Laxman was putting up a brave front along with Ishant & Pragyan Ojha :), me and my colleague were out for meeting  and from there we went for lunch.......During lunch my colleague suddenly said possibly we will win....SL is 45 for 7 (he was browsing his new trendy messenger mobile ).....suddenly  an emotional "me " tookover my sensibilities ( I thought possibly Ishant or Harbajan had put a dream spell) and I frantically tried to call people who could tell whats happening on the ground  ...... on a working day when India is  on loosing streak.... u won't get to meet people  who would be watching cricket ( I still remember 2003 worldcup :( final ) .....whatever...... Only after I reached office at 1615 hrs at my desk....I got to know SL won by 10  wkts  ..... :( ...I frowned a bit .....on the loss & on the fact I was fooled .......

My colleague said " Indians are optimistic when it comes to cricket" ......however I realised Indians are optimistic about a lot of things.....without having a basis to it.......I am trying  to list few  of my optimisms ...

a) We will play football world cup soon .
b) Sania Mirza will win a grand slam for us.
c)One day we will stop "peace initiatives" and show Pakistan its real place .
d )One day our media will stop giving "breaking news " ( I wonder who coined that term)
e) One day , Indian Television will start showing better quality sitcoms , good quiz shows  etc... and yes finally CID will end .
f) One day every city in India will be like Shanghai , Singapore or just class apart from other cities...

finally

g) One day India will be a super power ....



The list could be endless.......after 60 years of Independence and as a nation with highest population I guess ... Being optimistic & hopeful helps...........


on a signing off note may be every single step and action in that direction would just help bit more :) :) .....

Vanita

just a thought....

I had posted following on Facebook.... people liked it .....

I  could explain ..... if someone says it hear them out ....else they may not be there to explain  again....

:)


Vanita

The Life of Pi ....Contd..

Finally here comes the adventure, Our protagonist "Pi"  has been struck with a tragedy in Pacific ocean. He has lost his family in ship wreck while traveling to Canada in Pacific ." Pi "  has company of tiger , hyena,orangutan and a zebra with broken leg on lifeboat . It also happens , the circumstances have brought these animals & Pi together .
This is being real.... Hyena has ate up zebra &  orangutan . Its only two days later , thirsty  & hungry Pi realises there is a  Tiger overboard.  Two wild animals & Pi on a boat with no ship or a land in vicinity.... The boat carries  everything with respect to disaster management , drinking water , food which would last for days .  He is a teenage boy , the  tiger weighs 450 pounds ..... The greedy hyena has been ate up by tiger .....who put a very pathetic self defense (raising a paw and hiding the face in ground ).....Will Pi survive with a Tiger overboard ?

Well Pi does , as the book has been written on him . How , I guess from here the reader needs to find out himself . I ought to write , this is a real life story of "Piscine Montreal Patel" :).....

The Life of Pi

Starting today I am gonna write about books I read .The posts would be what i think about the book, why am I reading it , will I finish it and hows the book....

Currently am reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel . The book  has been written very well . The book is winner of Man Booker 2002 . The credential is enough to buy a book. However a friend of mine lend me this book. According to her the book was uninteresting ,abstract....and nothing much to connect . The book claims to be an adventure story . She asked me to read and hence the book fell in my hands ......

I have read just little above 10% of  book. I immensely like it , I like the author's view on religion . I may not fully agree with his point why  a zoo is a better place for a "wild animal" , however it seems he has done a thorough research on the subject  . The book is slight opinionated , I feel its a big plus for a reader . Since its opinionated , the reader either agrees or disagrees with views and it compels to read further. I am yet to come across adventure in the book and I don't seem to mind it ... :) :)

The literature content is also good. I like it . The  author's note is also very good , infact it had encouraged me to read the book. Though I have never heard "bamboozle" in India , its seems its the most common word known among froreigners..... :)

All in all a thumbs up to this book .......

Vanita.....

I am disappointed .....

Its really difficult to change people's perception. Its possible one may have acted in crazy and insane way but it surely doesn't give license to others to label that person crazy or insane...... Sometimes people get unlucky ....

I am Disappointed....Very Disappointed..... and  I don't like it.....

Breaking News

Much has been said about  "Breaking News" in our country. Still our news channel do not budge from giving away breaking news in sensational matter. To add to our problems , there are too many news channels covering clone of "Breaking News". The reason that I am grieved so much is , there have been three major pipe burst in the Mumbai city with BMC water supply being cut to 35 % and our news channel are engaged in potraying the power games between the superstar of the country & Ruling party . The news was carried through out the day . How the CM of Maharashtra preponed his schedule of Marathi Sammelan and How Amitabh Bachchan attended it next day . I understand , if a slot of half an hour is provided for this news . The News was carried throughout the day. Inflation &  ever increasing price rise do not seem to worry Media.
The current situation worries me alot . The news channel (which keeps announcing as no.1 channel ) in the morning carried "gossip" in IPL . Badrinath's collision with Dhoni is a bigger news than who played well in the match. Sania's messages on Twitter about her upcoming marriage  with "Pakistani" cricketer Shoaib Malik  is a "breaking news".
Two months back Indian cricket team was touring Bangladesh & we won both the test matches . Nayan Mongia (former cricketer ) was genuinely happy for India's win in second test match , however in the events to follow the journalist/host of the show fed words in  Mongia's mouth about how Amit Mishra's absence had streched the match . Then Amit Mishra's exclusion from team became the "breaking news" . Nothing against Amit Mishra , but the news was creation of Media.

Yesterday's twin bomb blast in Russia was in News. However ,My favourite India TV , amplified the news into how unsafe our Metro in Delhi is. When I first saw the news it almost felt like , the blast were done in Delhi .
Day before yesterday Aaj Tak ran a special episode on "Bhuton ki Bhasha"( Lanaguage of Ghosts) .News channel cover news like Deepika being not able to work with Salman, hence she is upset , or "Shani ka pravesh Guru ke ghar mein " . What rituals should be followed during an eclipse . What the daily soaps are showing . What are the gossips in television in Industry. The list is endless !!! Today being Hanuman Jayanti , the expected news would be what the famous temples are doing on this occasion, how one should perform a Puja.
 The point is , analysis part is missing from News . There is a lot of junk news which possibly can be avoided .  Country like us ,who are growing at 7% and are expected to grow at higher rate need much better partners in form of Media .  What are the current government policies , how the ministry's are performing , what is the infrastructure growth, Is fund allocation proper etc. Why there is hike fuel prices. We need an unbiased media .
The country whose population is 100 billion & 35 % are in the age group of 18 to 40 , needs a media which provides a news which are interesting , informative and triggers the intelligence. Gossip news are part of our life , but its not an important part. There are separate channel which run 24 X 7 on entertainment industry . They cover it much better . .
We may not require to follow BBC or CNN pattern, bcos our needs are possibly different . We need people who analyse & breakdown information in a viewer friendly manner. There are few things which are good on News channel , like Aapki Adalat  in a courtroom fashion, or debates conducted by Barkha Dutt . "Total Recall" on TIMES NOW is very good show related to entertainment industry. Our Media industry needs to evolve as they get attention from all major segments like politics, celebrities . Media creates /changes an opinion in society. We need a better improved version of Media.