random ramblings

She is sitting on the kitchen countertop, watching me cut some green chillies. “Can we make something with just chilly? We will call it Chilly Chilly!” I have been accused of teaching too much, now have to pay the price. “What are you listening to?” “ Recipe ” “You can’t cook even curd rice without listening to Veena?” Inspiration hits her suddenly. “Ok, I will write down the recipe as you make it. Amma said I can do it myself sometime.” She brings a notebook. There are few recipes in it already, copied from her various grandmas. Is this how recipes are handed down through generations? She wrote down the account of what happened so far and caught up.   “Put cheenachatti on stove, turn on stove, pour oil. What next?” “ Mustard. Hing. Red chillies.” “How much mustard? 1 pinch, 2 pinch, 3 pinch.. are you trying to confuse me?” “ No, it is just manodharmam ” “I just have to go and come back. Will something happen meanwhile?” “ No” Now I have to wait for he...

Someone told me today that he wanted to work in a team of high intelligence people. While we should not suffer fools, I think there might have been narrow thinking or understanding behind this. While we have always heard of the role of heart and gut, I recently learned that it is legitimate to consider heart and gut as other two kinds of minds – with neurons, even though vastly less in number compared to brain. When my friend said intelligent, it was one dimensional – he meant logical / mathematical intelligence. But there are others – linguistic, emotional, kinesthetic etc. We all know people who are musically gifted, superlative athletes or who can speak seven languages. Netflix (poster boy of the times) CEO was quoted as saying his team should be like a sports team rather than a family, that they should ultimately win. While intention of a business is to make money at the end of the day, can it be done in an environment that is like a family that has strong bonds, where each one h...

What’s next? Is that question bothering more people these days? Does the pandemic and lockdown have anything to do with it? Traditional office work provided social connection, shared goals of a community and friendships. Since the lockdown, social connection moved online and the work was reduced to its bare essentials - accomplishing well defined goals. When stripped to bare bones, are we now seeing work for what it was? Are we searching for more meaning and purpose now? I think we all have lot of time on our hands to explore this question,  in isolation and without distractions. I feel not finding satisfactory answers could lead people to take more chances, atleast to break out and see what else is possible. Beyond questioning the fundamental meaning of work, there are other side effects too. With no chance to just bump into someone, unless we express multi fold compared to earlier, it might be difficult to understand others and to be understood. “Serendipitous conversations” an...

I have been thinking for some time that most stories are extreme approximations of actual lives lived. Details glossed over, unpleasant and embarrassing parts left out and moments of doubts and anxiety omitted. I heard an accomplished film script writer saying no one wants to know about the boring life of a protagonist -  if they show him waking up, going through the motions and getting ready, audience will lose patience. But who will ever see the hero waking up, just having dreamt a bad dream, lie awake thinking about the day ahead and pointlessness of the job he has to do, but still make the effort to get up and put himself through the paces. That itself should be heroic enough. Sometimes we come across an ordinary moment from daily life written up in a book and think that is the first time someone else had expressed that exact thought which you always had and never told anyone. I heard someone say that we should tell our stories so that for someone somewhere it might beco...

It is her birthday, as per the birth star. She is a teenager now.  To celebrate, she is baking an egg less cake with her grand mother, from a youtube recipe.  She is making whipping cream from some powder and milk.  After she and her mother tried with the mixer where the crank wheel needs to be turned as fast as you can, they turned to me. I was grumbling that this is enough after a minute. Then she showed me a video of someone mixing the cream - it was a hand mixer which was automatic, battery operated maybe. I said see, we should have had that than this much effort.  She says she has "a energy efficient, climate friendly, low cost - free mixer" - me! That too came with buy one get one free.  I said I had enough, get it done with your mother.  She says - should have expected only this much from the free one. And gives it to her mother saying - the one bought with money will work better!