Reflections

Kalyan Nanda’s The Soft Target Kalyan Nanda’s book under review – The Soft Target – comes across as a simple, lovely though faintly melancholy read, lively throughout, and well paced. The topic {or background theme} is mental illness; and despite this seemingly drab lifeless subject, the book is anything but. And, the theme has also been presented in a very different form, with the entire treatment being almost unique. Overall, I rate the book as 4 stars-   and it narrowly missed the 5 star mark. Superb book indeed! THE   STORY The story is of a kid / boy / man with a debilitating social illness that precludes his conversing normally with anyone; this is balanced with an unusually high intellect, and other capabilities. The book is the slightly melancholy story of how we encounters troubles right from childhood, and manages to overcome them all. Life consistently gives him challenging situations – which have nothing to do with his mental situation … p...

Between You And Me – Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul Khanna Among the many books on society and politics that I have read and reviewed – the current one under review, “ Between You And Me – Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul Khanna ” is easily the hardest to classify, and even harder to rate. In fact, for some days after reading it, I could find no words to even pen a review, as I myself was not clear whether to praise it, or not to praise it! And yet, several days later, I still cannot shake off the contents of the book, that somehow, somewhere touched a deep chord, and a deep seated desire… THE BOOK I would rather not say a single word, and move onto Analysis and Review section of this article – this is a book that should be a discovery, something to be taken up with no idea of its contents and zero expectations; however, given that readers prefer some context, I hereby present a ridiculously short summary of the central concept of this tome. I sincerely advise the...

Death: The Ultimate Reality? A Life Perspective and POV I had closed the previous article in this series on Death with a statement that both beliefs – rebirth and no-birth, are correct; it is just a matter of how you look at it, combined with your self-education attempts, plus your faith. From this perspective, both statement –Death is the ultimate reality, and that Death is only the beginning stand as correct & accurate. For this article, let us examine this seeming contradiction in a little more detail. WHAT IS LIFE? THE 3 POVs We cannot understand Death without first understanding Life; how you define life, how you look upon life determines your outlook towards and meaning of Death. Look into yourself, and try and what life means for you – the answer to this question is the answer, the key to an entire journey . If you don’t get an immediate answer – don’t fret; the fact that you are thinking of this question is itself the start of a journey . Don’t push it –...

BASICS OF BUSINESS : WORTH THE TIME SPENT ON THEM Startups… one of the buzzwords today. This has been said before, and will doubtless be said countless times again; including how they are different from larger entities, and how the startups scene will have an impact on the economy. Well, while the impact on the economy is a matter best left to the vestiges of time – the first two can be examined. I have said earlier- a startup is no different from a large established organisation; at least – not substantially different. After getting exposed to several startups – I can now state that with greater confidence. Sure, there are major differences, but the core of the business basics are the precise same for the most part. Image Source : Pixabay THE   MYTH OF THE RESOURCE CRUNCH Perhaps the biggest single theme startup enthusiasts like to point out is the resource crunch that is present only  in a startup; well, I beg to differ. It is hardly any different in...

UNDERSTANDING THE PATH OF KARMYOG Image Credit : Google Search The 3 Paths, and Looking Deeper at KarmYog There are 3 paths – KarmYog, DnyaanYog, and BhaktiYog… KarmYog in easy words is focus on the action and not on the results. Now this means that whatever action you undertake – the results of that action should not enter into either your conscious or your subconscious or even your deeper mind; from the antahkaran –the focus should be entirely on the task at hand. If you are not concerned, right from your innermost being, with the effect of the action, then it follows that you are also not concerned with the impact it will have on you as an individual. Your Tasks and Your Duties And, if this action arises as a part of your duty, your accountable tasks entrusted to you – be it organizational, or familial   or indeed personal – then it also further follows that all your actions decisions etc will be transparent and fair subject only to your capability...