weekly notes - wk 17 / 2024

 

1.

I took a break from work (mostly) for a week. I had felt exhausted, out of energy and was wound up so much that I was easily triggered. I feel this past week quieted the mental chatter, helped reduce the anxiety and somehow feels like the inner waves have settled on a more peaceful rhythm. I had let 12 earned leaves lapse by the end of the March, had to work on India holidays since I was on travel and might have worked myself to the point of burn out. Hope to change that this year. 

2.

I am encountering more and more “hints” or “signs” like this one which says wisdom is gained through “weathering storms in tumultuous arenas of life”. In extreme versions, it is stop reading / listening, start doing. But I hope to have a balance to apply the learnings in life and work and curate my reading / learning to match the problems I am facing at the time or to fill the known gaps. 

3. 

I am continuing to make an effort to find and read good long form articles. Few that I liked a lot this week. 

India Uncut is Amit Verma’s newsletter (host of the podcast, The Seen and the Unseen, which is probably the only regular India based podcast that I am listening to now). He is one other person that I have been following for more than a decade and who gave me the language to understand why right wing populism is on the rise across the world. His article on playing to play - “how we live our days is how we live our life” or “how we do small things is how we do big things” is a good reminder. 

Another one I am realizing more and more now - Amit’s article on male friendships, on normalizing telling male friends about loving them or missing them. I read somewhere recently about male friendships going on pause if friends move away, but when they talk again, it is as if they are starting from where they left off. But women keep track of their best friends even if they move countries, texting, calling, to maintain the context. I was talking to my daughter yesterday - she collects funny instances of her friends (even the ones who moved schools) through the year to make the next birthday collage for them (some even voluntarily sending their funny poses for her collection). 

Another rabbit hole I fell into was on Improv - this amazing skill of people who make up stuff on the fly. It started from here - someone making a freestyle rap based on a story line given to him. Read this article afterwards on brain study conducted on such artists - it seems with practice, they switch off the conscious part of the brain and let free association happen. Bookmarked a book - Impro: Improvisation and the theatre. I had found it hard to do extempore talks, unless it is on a topic that I am intimately familiar with. Over time, I am getting a little comfortable with a few quick ones, congratulating someone on their anniversary, farewell anecdotes, welcoming someone and such, but a long way to go. Something to learn. 

4. 

Watched a few movies this past week - I wrote about Perfect Days. 

The Teachers Lounge (German) - it was a social parody, staged in the setting of a school. How a society intent on vilifying and rooting out bad behaviour, ends up targeting and damaging reputations and gets on the psyche of everyone around. Another one where who and what is right and wrong is left to interpretation of the audience. Well acted by all around and gives food for thought.   

Laapata Ladies (Hindi) - another one which I was waiting for. I had watched director Kiran Rao’s earlier film, Dhobi Ghat and many of the films she had produced. This one did not disappoint - a story of two dulhans (newly married, veiled brides), getting switched in a long train journey by mistake and diverging further journeys of both. Liked the earthy story unlike the unreal glitz of typical bollywood movies, accents and good acting. 

5.

I didn’t listen to as many podcasts in April as previous months - many breaks in the daily walks, phone calls replacing podcasts, due to daylight savings time change, during commute to office. 

Listened to a Tim Ferris podcast this week - Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety (#732). Amazing energy. I was wondering if this is how new age, western gurus speak - she talked about seeing the light, out of body experiences. But the range of experiences people have, adventures, people they meet and the perspectives were interesting. Her experience after deciding not to lie in any form seems to have alienated her from many relationships. I took away that every small lie that we say to get out of social situations harms us in some way, due to the stress and tension of it. It is easier to say the truth, but I need to be better at saying it with kindness and concern for the one in the receiving end.

Listened to another - Infinite Loops podcast by Jim O’Shaughnessy, interviewing Visakan Veerasamy. It is peaceful to listen to such philosophical conversations during an evening walk/run, with the sun setting, with no rush in empty roads. Host of this podcast also is high energy, eternal optimist and as they say in this episode, somewhere intersects the frequency that I tune into.  

6.

A quote that I came across this week. Reminds me to be more intentional in relationships to be able to mirror and magnify each other’s light. 

"The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light."

 James Baldwin