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Jottings - Slice of life - 119 ( “Dear Zindagi” - Alia’s brilliance )

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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)

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..)

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)

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 )

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 )

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)

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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