All Entries Tagged With: "The Martian Take"

A very old Chinese Taoist story describes a farmer in a poor country village. He owned a horse which he used for plowing and for transportation.

Creativity has long been looked upon as an activity behind the closet. No wonder many myths have developed around the creative process. Not to be left behind, there are many myth busters out there as well!

Myths have a way of perpetuating themselves. There are quite a few related to training and learning too. Everyone seems to believe in them. So much so that they have become sacrosanct and no one even bothers to question them.

You’ve probably heard this left/right brain dichotomy before. It goes something like this: the left hemisphere of the brain is logical, deductive, mathematical, etc., while the right hemisphere is artistic, visual and imaginative.

So here are 10 points about why you should stay up late and still not feel bad when you come across another article by the self-help gurus who preach getting up early in the morning!

We have a persistent feeling of events receding into a past of non-existence. The future is a nebulous void. The present moment is all that we experience and therefore grant it a higher level of existence.

I have observed people from all fields across cultures, genders and education levels. The lag does exist, only the degree varies. It can be wide or narrow but I have not been fortunate enough to meet people whose talk and walk are without a lag.

My own experience of life is that we are most of the time playing chess within our lives for no reason. For example when I was 10 or so, some boys wanted to steal mangoes. In the very first try we got caught. I decided then and there that there was no value in this cat-and-mouse game. The next time I wanted a mango, I just went and asked the owner and he gave me one!

One of the most brilliant displays of paradoxical thinking is by scientist Faraday in the 1830’s. He had observed that a current of electricity passingthrough a wire could have the effect of causing the magnetized needle of a compass to deflect, that is, move in a rotational direction when a compass was located close to the wire. This was the basis of his invention of the electric motor.

The paradox is at the heart of all things. The opposites necessarily coexist. The back of the hand and the front of the hand are dependent on each other for their existence. You can’t have one without the other.

Some time ago, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani broke up and the Reliance group was split between the two of them.

There is a tendency to criticize the two brothers for their inability to work together. The general perception is that they were not being good brothers and they did injustice to their deceased father who had built the industrial conglomerate from scratch.

I was talking to my cabbie in New York who happened to be an emigrant from Hungary. I asked him how life was these days in his home country. I was taken aback when he stated rather casually that the ‘oligarchs’ were enjoying themselves while the public suffered privation.

In any age, there are moralists, crusaders and reformers who take upon themselves the task of weeding out the evils of the world. They condemn evil and propagate goodness. This line of thought gives rise to all sorts of values, rules and laws in the society.

Meta decision should take place before you frame the issue. ‘Plunging’ into
the various stages of decision making can lead to disastrous consequences.
Not devoting sufficient time and effort to this phase may lead to you solving
the wrong problem thereby exacerbating the actual problem.

There is one issue never dies out in India. Just when I thought that it was settled — not by any serious thinking by our netas — but by the collective wisdom of our people, the controversy has resurfaced. By sheer coincidence events have indicated the solution that no policy maker can devise in his head. I refer to the language issue.

An incident took place recently when the US President Barack Obama addressed Congress that needs to be discussed seriously in India for its many ramifications. It occurred when President Obama was addressing both the Houses — Representatives and Senators — the Indian equivalent of which is a joint session of Parliament. This is where the [...]

For generations great thinkers have been asking us to take the road less traveled. Any and every successful biography will tell us not to be afraid to take a stand, not to walk among the masses, to stick out our heads without the fear of being hit by rotten tomatoes. At the same time, this [...]

Unlike Archimedes it is unlikely that I will be remembered even minutes after I have my tryst with my Maker. That kind of destiny is reserved for the best among us and I cannot certify that I belong to that elite group. But I had my Eureka moment when I discovered answers to two questions [...]

“May those who have eyes, see; and those who have ears, hear.” Jesus may have forgotten to include, “May those who can reason, have the courage to accept their wrongs.” Being seen and heard as ‘different’ became the reason for Jesus of Nazareth’s execution. It is a travesty of justice that malevolent criminals stroll free [...]

My friend Asha works at the National Institute of Health in Washington, DC. Her boss had asked her to find out why India’s most powerful people had not been affected by swine flu, known here as H1N1. She asked me for my views on this interesting subject. I said that the reasons are obvious. She [...]

One tends to see people rushing around either being busy or trying to be busy. Nowhere is it more evident than in an aircraft which has just landed and everyone jumps up, pulls out their bags and switches on the mobiles. They impatiently wait for the ladder or aero bridge and rush out. I would [...]

New recruits or executives kicked upstairs are usually in a tearing hurry. They want to bring in sweeping changes: change SOPs, unveil new pyramids or Venn diagrams and what not. All even before the first circular about them is mailed. Let me admit, it’s a trait that should be encouraged, a spirit to be applauded [...]

This is Part One of a two part exercise. Repeat: this is not a philosophical declaration to carry around in your heart. Rather, it’s a soul-teaser to wind through your bean and shake up some thought forms. The world will go on if : you don’t show up at work. : you don’t post to [...]

I am often accosted by NRI’s in the US who ask me why is India unable to solve its myriad problems. I usually ask them to name one specific problem and tell me how India could solve that problem. It becomes obvious in most cases that the NRI has not thought through any problem with [...]

A fool is known by six things: anger without cause; speech without profit; change without progress; inquiry without object; putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends. Arabian Proverb I think a foolish person (fool) is the one who knows, does and views things differently from wise men, as well as other fools. [...]

I like walking in the rain, because nobody can see me crying. Charlie Chaplin. I recently participated in a ‘heated’ dinner debate about which is the best season of them all. One person said “winter” for all the cosy comforts it provides. Another said “summer”, firstly because of school holidays and secondly for its importance [...]

Most of us, if not all of us, would like a  casteless Indian society. An egalitarian society is our  dream. There are some who assert that our forms for admission to educational institutions, our job application blanks etc should not ask for ‘caste’. Right ? Wrong if you were to think against the grain. There [...]

The Art of Shirking Mostly people are brought up to be up and doing; you do, you get. In this environment where everyone is up and about it requires a specific state of mind to flow against the river. I used to be one of those who would take a request personally. Later I often [...]

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman Soon after we met, my man and I were getting ready for a party. “I’m not good at parties,” I warned him. “What?! You’re like the public-speaking power chicklet.” “Noooo. I’m the girl in the kitchen [...]

I decided to test my favourite food-related hypothesis. My hypothesis is based on my own behaviour as well as my family and friends. My hypothesis is as follows. We tend to eat more of a food item – say dosas – when we eat at home and less when we eat the same item in [...]

A guy told me once that there was a perfect person out there somewhere for him: a soulmate. And I said, you’re probably right. There probably is someone out there who is perfect. But what would they want to do with the imperfect you. What makes you think that the person you think would be [...]

The editor of a Delhi based newspaper wrote an article bemoaning the fall in standards of the Indian Foreign Service. It was but natural that this article would be followed by a barrage of letters from readers, some agreeing with him and some not amused. Some of the letters were truly insightful and gave glimpses [...]

I had occasion to discuss the ongoing Wall Street crisis with two of my friends. One of them lives in Singapore and the other works for a nationalised bank in Chennai. My Singapore friend remarked that with capitalism having capitulated his executive friends are reading Karl Marx with great respect! My Chennai friend who dreaded [...]

In an article in The Hindustan Times, television star Barkha Dutt contrasts presidential debates in the US with poll campaigns in India. I notice that, on most occasions, when Indians (including yours truly till I moved to the US) compare India to the US, they go misty eyed, gushing with total admiration for the US [...]