LSD: Life, Success and Desires

You want tons of things in life, probably everything that you see around or ever dreamed off. But, what you want and what you get is rarely in sync, the happy case would be to get what you want or get more than that; sadly for most of us this does not happen often and even in the happy case we eventually get over it and in a while something else catches attention. Thus, life keeps on moving and we are almost always running after something. Also, all things come in packaged deals, you see benefit in something but overlooked the side-effects of it. So, first you struggle to achieve something and at times after getting what you want, you struggle with the unwanted features you got.

But, do people really attain Nirvana and move out from this rat-race (is it a rat-race??), ofcourse I have heard such people exist but not really met anyone in person, a person who has grown over all his desires, all the beautiful things life has to offer. I have seen many people who have been defeated by the pressures of pursuits and stopped going after what they want or some be afraid of failures, don't strive to achieve their wishes.

This brings me to think how to be happy? Does happiness has a relationship with success? In that case, how do you define success?

Clearly, by abjecting your desires, you leave less complicated life but that is not happy life. The path to happiness goes through fulfilling your desires. But, of-course when I say desires, I find it foolish to include desires that could be anti-social or for that matter which could be harmful to you in the long run, like the habit of excessive alcohol consumption or smoking. Most of us have heard success is a journey and not a destination but few mis-interpret it and think success is all about the fun along the ride without caring for the destination. Those people would be surprised by the destination they reach. But, it also does not mean that you just keep on running from one achievment to other. I intentionally changed the word to achievement in last sentence because success for me is not one journey to some destination, it is the amalgamation of all the desires and journeys along them. So, success for me would be, you dream for something and you put efforts to achieve it, did you enjoy pushing yourself and finally did you end up where you wanted to be? After which, the cycle completes and you move on to the next level in life.

Pelican Brief

Long time back, I had read John Grisham's The Firm and was really impressed by his story telling, then I got to know his books are always centered around law. Mukul recommended me Pelican Brief which is also a thriller on the similar lines but fairly different story. The start might appear a bit slow but it quickly grips a fair pace. There are enough twists and turns to keep one engaged with couple of incidents that stun you in disbelief.
The protoganist is a a twenty four year old female law student who prepares a report charging a powerful individual with the murder of two Supreme Court judges and this report sends jitters in White House and all across America which causes the girl to run for her life while seeing dead bodies falling all around her. Author has also given interesting inside accounts of how things work in power-houses and in press-rooms. The climax is a bit elaborate and though in final 15 odd pages there are no more surprises in this suspense thriller but each paragraph is thoroughly enjoyed and relieves the mind of all the tension built up all along. Certainly, a highly recommended read.
The book has been adapted in a movie with the same name starring Julia Roberts and Danzel Washington but I am not very optimistic with the movie because movies seldom do justice to the original story.

Godfather

Last weekend, I licked up the novel whose story has been one of the most famous stories in our times, re-told over and over again in several languages and via different mediums, well I am talking about The Godfather. Over the years, many of us might have seen its movies adaptations as in The Godfather, Velu Nayankan, Dharmatma, Sarkar or even Rajniti. I haven't yet seen Godfather the film but of all the other's I reckon only Sarkar could exhibit a higher level of terror. But, one should read the original novel to believe me when I say that nobody could match the ferociousness of novel. Mario Puzo has put in few sequences quite explicitly which could be disturbing at times. But, one should not mistake it for some psycho details, the whole of book is high class writing.
The central character of the book is Don Corolene who is king of New York underworld, more respected than feared. His journey from a simple, smart family man to a shrewed, cold-blooded gangster. Equally important is his son, Michale, a college professor who although being miles away from mafia world gets involved with it under extra-ordinary circumstances. There few other characters and their transformation in behaviour and values have been beautifully worded. All in all a must read novel very engaging and a classic.

Dead Poets Society

Starring Robin Williams Dead Poets Society is a story of an un-orthodox teacher trying to revive the consiousness of students which is long crushed under the age old schooling methodology. When the movie started it gave me impressions if it is going to be on the lines of Mohabbatein but with Robin Williams' entry I thought it's going to be like Taare Zameen Par, well that's me trying to look beyond the picture. I immidieatly gathered myself back and continued with the movie, somwhere it felt like Three Idiots and ending in Munnabhai style.
All said and done, the story does not have drastically new to offer but having seen enough movies and world in general somewhere emphasis is less on story than the way it is told and on that account DPS scores full marks.
The crux of the story is about a new teacher on the block trying to challange the established norms, creating a reformed group of followers, consequences of young, restless mind and prejudice of society. The interesting aspect of movie is its theme revolves around poetry. The teacher helps students to come out of own imagined fears and think beyond which is how poetry should be treated. It has to be fantacy, it should make you fly and not be prisoned by the practicality or the physics laws. On the whole a very good movie, a must watch.

Jaane bhi do yaaro

As the curtains are drawn on the year's biggest entertainment extravaganza, the action does not seem to stop any time soon. IPL's growth has been phenomenal not only it has attracted the best talent from all quarters but also conjured the best possible resources. But, a rise which could be any organization's envy has been coupled with some or the other controversy right from the start. In the first year it was dressing up of cheer-leaders, the second IPL being played in foreign country to guard against any untoward incident but could not escape the wrath of a certain self-claimed impersonator. But, third edition of tournament has beaten all the previous records, started with upsetting our beloved neighbour but towards the end brought large chunks of Indian high-flyer to ground.
If there is one person who is to be credited with IPL's success it can only be Lalit Modi, IPL has been in totality is his baby with him making more appearance than even Sachin Tendulkar. In my view, what Steve Jobs is to Apple likewise Modi is to IPL.
It is now amply clear that IPL's behind the scenes deals are as murkier as it could get. The latest controversy which has been on for over three weeks now has engulfed Shashi Tharoor, a decent but naive politician, Lalit Modi, N Shreenivasan, owner of CSK, Prafulla Patel and scores of other businessmen and politicians where each one swearing in the name truth to be on the right side of law but all of us have fair idea about everyone's position.
Seeing all this drama, what immediately comes to my mind is Jaane bhi do Yaaro, a dark comedy about the Indian political scenario. What we are witnessing now must be climax of film where a suitable deal is being worked out that takes care of all the deal-makers interest abjuring to any type of ethics. I wonder among all this falling off how difficult it is to build large organizations without any serious allegations around it. I think it is a herculean of a task of creating something like Tatas anyways that would be a completely separate topic.

To Kill A Mockingbird

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is the best literary work I have read in recent years, not only the writing is of highest quality but also it tells a very moving story of a single father parenting his two young children and standing up to a cause he believes in amongst a very hostile environment.
The story is set in times of Great Depression and told from the perspective of a six year old girl Jean Louise "Scout" Finch who along with her elder brother Jem and Father Atticus Finch are staying in Maycomb, Albama. Jean Louise's mother had passed away early enough for the girl not to have any remembrance of hers. The family is supported by a black governess, Calpurina. Atticus who is a lawyer by profession, is entrusted with responsibility to defend a black man accused of raping a white girl. In the times when racial discrimination is very much prevalent in the society, the family puts up one a very brave and sincere efforts to walk the chosen path. The story very beautifully traces childhood's frank, unabashed and careless attitude through Jean Louise, end of innocence in maturity through Jem while Atticus serves as the righteous hero.
After writing such a master piece, I wonder how could Harper Lee, the author, stayed away from publishing any other novel ever. I was a little dis-appointed with the way story finished because I just could not have enough of Jean Louise and I too have that expectation which wants an all happy ending but real life is not like that nor the novel.

Lose your weight

I don't know how many people are interested in losing weight but I have been longing for it since forever it seems. I recently picked up the book "Don't lose your mind, lose your weight" by Rutuja Diwekar (Kareena's "size zero" is lot to do with her). In this book, she shatters many myths related to weight loss and I found the content quite crisp with adequate information to back it up.

She has very effectively communicated why things like extreme diets, detox diets or any other form of fad things don't work. She advises to eat a balanced meal and couple it with regular exercise.

The crux of her advice comes down to following four principle that one should incorporate it in lifestyle:
1. Eat something in first ten minutes of waking up but strictly avoid tea or coffee as the first thing in the day.
2. Eat every two to three hours in the day in smaller portions.
3. Eating habits should be in proportion to levels of activity.
4. Maintain a gap of at least two hours in your last meal and bed time.

The book has no literary value but it is high on knowledge which is expected from a fitness expert. I must add that the book startled me with some forthright expressions, also time and again she presents some analogies from completely unrelated domains that again surprisingly keep you intrigued. She has written down many of her client interactions which you definitely can relate to people around you and her sharp remarks, leave a chuckle on your face.

There is loads of more information available in the book on different kinds of food, nutrients needed by body. All in all it is a very educative yet fun to read, now I must follow it to see how effective it is :-).