chaotic order

Jottings - Slice of life - 119 ( “Dear Zindagi” - Alia’s brilliance ) In one of the most arresting observations in metaphysical literature Friedrich Hegel, german philosopher and author of the “Phenomenology of spirit “ writes “..The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through, and we might say that the former is refuted by the latter; in the same way when the fruit comes, the blossom may be explained to be a false form of the plant’s existence…” Somehow, I was reminded of this statement when I watched Alia Bhatt’s brilliant performance in her 2016 film “Dear Zindagi” yesterday night. For an young actor, whose career began just few years ago, her transformation into one of the most accomplished and complete performers is incredible. To be honest, I stopped watching “Student of the year” midway ( Her first full length movie in 2012) because the movie was a calamity worth forgetting. Even in that wasted effort, I did notice Alia's freshness, vivacity and strikingly originality

Jottings - Slice of life - 118 ( World Book day - April 23rd) In 1995, UNESCO declared 23rd of April as “World book day”, a day to commemorate the simple yet powerful act of reading, a day to glorify and acknowledge the miracle of the written word, a day to remember with awe the tremendous debt we owe to codified knowledge and culture in books that have appeared in various sizes, shapes and forms over thousands of years across civilizations; enriching, creating and maintaining an unbroken continuity, making us unique species with the ability to document, interpret and develop a life of mind and consciousness. What and where would we be without the written word? Its hard to imagine. There was a time, when books were rare to find, print and distribute. But the thirst to read was there. Common man desperately wished to possess the written word. He wanted to hold the deep mysterious meanings words could invoke in his bare hands , read it with reverential awe in the flickering lamps o

Jottings - slice of life - 117 ( The marathon in Boston..) A typical Greek legend mentions how in 490 BC, the Greek soldier Pheidippides ran the entire distance between battle field of Marathon to Athens to report the momentous victory of Greeks over long standing enemy - the Persians. It is also recorded in breathless prose by Herodotus in his history of Greco-Persian wars that Pheidippides not only ran without pausing for breath, but dramatically and tragically dropped dead in sheer exhaustion after conveying his one-word message of victory to stunned Athenian senate. It is in his honor Marathon was instituted as an event during the 1896 Olympic games. In 1897, an year after the first marathon, the city of Boston organized their own run on Patriots day, the third Monday of April. Today, 17th of April was the 121st run of this glorious American event of physical endurance, communal participation and unity. Yesterday night, when I checked into my Hotel in Westborough, the lobby w

Jottings - Slice of life- 116 ( Virginia Woolf - a biography by Quentin bell) I just finished reading Quentin bell’s beautiful and intimate portrait of his Aunt Virginia Woolf. Its a two volume work. Each covers a specific period of Virginia’s growth into intelligent, good looking girl with increasing signs of spasmodic madness - which was to haunt and consume Virginia throughout her life - and concomitantly her emerging genius as a novelist, thinker and writer of sublime prose with keen eye for human frailty, vulnerability and inner strength. These two irreconcilable conditions - difficult childhood and overflowing genius - often find their intersection in few chosen artists in all ages, and the task of any committed biographer is to capture these shifting landscapes of hell and heaven and present to their readers the intense personal agony, pulsating creativity, demonic energy which possesses such lives. A biography is not a matter of simply documenting facts. It is something w

Jottings - Slice of Life - 115 ( “Disagree and Commit” - Jeff Bezos’ mantra ) Every year Successful CEO’s and Business investors have the practice of writing a letter to their employees, shareholders and to the public at large on the business philosophy which helps them innovate, transform and be successful at the market place. Bill Gates does it in measured management style, Warren Buffet’s epistles are touchstones of practical wisdom in making money; but my personal favorite, which I look forward to reading each year is the one Jeff Bezos - CEO of Amazon pens in rustic, down to earth nuts and bolts philosophy of life and business. In the corridors of Business power, Jeff’s name is taken with little caution, apprehension but definitely with Jaw-opening awe. Amazon is not merely the most transformatory and successful consumer business model ever - a revolution on the lines of agricultural and Industrial and technological innovations - it is also a company that constantly innovat

Jottings - Slice of life - 110 ( Karma yoga in action ) In 1967, On a beautiful April day in Cleveland, Dr Martin Luther king addressed High school students in Glenville. Towards the end of that memorable oration, Dr King exalted the quality of workmanship one should carry into any field of work that life chooses to lead us into. He said , in his own inimitable, passionate and measured style “Set out to do a good job and do that job so well that nobody can do it any better. If it falls your lot to be a street-sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say here lived a great street-sweeper who swept his job well..” In this single utterance, Dr King summarized the entire philosophy of work ethic so hotly debated across boardrooms, governments and societies all around the globe. It is a

Jottings - Slice of life - 111 ( The girl on the train - Book, Movie and Emily Blunt) During my flights to Seattle and back this week, I watched two films : “The girl on the train” and “Devil wears Prada”. Both of them are based on books with same names, and both of them are wonderful adaptions - true to the intent of the author. I chanced to read Paula Hawkins book in 2015, just because I had nothing to read on a particular flight. I picked it from an airport book store, and was half hoping to fall asleep midway. But surprisingly, it was powerfully written. The story and characterization of a depressive, alcoholic; her perception of life that flits between imagination and reality at regular intervals, kept me reading till the end. It was a murder mystery, and Paula had enough command over the medium to keep the story at the edge and not revealing the true killer till the last few pages. It was a four hour flight, and I had almost finished the book before we landed. I remember fe

Jottings - Slice of life - 112 ( Rajan, yet another milestone..) Loyalty is a quaint word in an organization. On one hand, it shows tremendous sense of discipline, contentment, innovation, finding ones right footing in your field of work, climbing up a specific ladder with unwavering sense of purpose; and on the other hand, loyalty can also means inefficiency, incompetency, comprising to the lure of mediocrity and staying where you are and living out a professional life without pushing the bars of excellence for oneself and others. When you tell somebody, you have worked for a single organization for twenty five odd years, without a break or sabbatical, your listeners will involuntarily interpret your stay there in either of these ways. They can perceive you have grown and excelled into something better each year, with increasing responsibilities, elevated positions and carving out new opportunities for yourself and the organization , or they can easily surmise you have stagnated,

Jottings - Slice of life - 113 ( Anna, congratulations!!!) It is not often that one gets to write congratulatory notes on the growth, evolution and promotion of two individuals close to you. I wrote a short piece on Rajan’s remarkable journey today morning, and in the evening, as I was sitting in the sauna basking in its intense heat and sweat listening to the sonorous voice of Abida Parveen singing rapturous poetry of Kabir , my brother called to inform his elevation to a very senior position in the oil industry and will now move to Mumbai - the heart of India’s business. I felt twice blessed with good news today. Driving back home, My thoughts went back to the mid eighties, when my brother had just finished four years of bachelors education in Chemical engineering at coimbatore, and was with us in Hyderabad applying for jobs. It is always a pivotal point in a Man’s life - the pregnant waiting, the undetermined transition from secure student life when no questions are asked to a

Jottings - Slice of life ( A remarkable professional journey) RV college of Engineering, Bangalore may not be in the same league as IIT’s. At least, not in general public perception, but for those who have lived in Bangalore, interacted with the college, met its professors or head of departments, mingled closely with its alma mater - it quickly becomes quite clear, those who have studied and graduated there possess an ambition, charisma, grace, leadership and an ability to continuously learn which have often propelled them to highest echelons of success in many organization across the globe. This is not to say it is the atmosphere of the college alone which contributed to their success; we must give equal or more credit to the quality and calibre of students it has managed to attract from all parts of Asia. Over the last half a century, it has produced stalwarts in virtually every walk of life without too much fuss or propaganda. Sapnesh Lalla, our new CEO- designate ( announced

Jottings - Slice of life - 114 ( frequent flyer - eccentricities and uncertainties) Every seasoned flyer will have at least one; most likely many personal stories to share about flight delays, interminable waits at airports, missed flights and bags, bad seats, re-routing, long layovers, unexpected upgrades, bad food, ineptitude of flight personnel , so on and so forth. In fact, in most airport bars this is the most common subject matter of conversation - whose and which flight stories are more entertaining or excruciating than the other? But I believe the true sign of a frequent flyer lies in the composure and presence of mind they display during abnormal travel conditions. How well and how quickly can we accept the fact that running this complex network of air travel , including a zillion variables - both man-made and natural - can break down in so many different perceptible and imperceptible ways. While, as travelers, our focus is to reach our destination as painlessly as possibl