random ramblings

ഇന്ന്  എന്റെ സ്കൂൾ ബാച്ചിന്റെ രജതജൂബിലി യോഗത്തിനു പോയി. മുൻപൊരു പോസ്റ്റിൽ പറഞ്ഞ ഭാസിയും, കോൺഗ്രസ് നേതാവും, ബിജെപി സ്ഥാനാർത്ഥിയും ഒക്കെ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. എന്റെ കുറച്ചു ടീച്ചർമാർ ഇപ്പോൾ ജീവചിച്ചിരിപ്പില്ല, എന്റെ ഫേവറിറ്റ് ടീച്ചർ ആയിരുന്ന ഓമനക്കുട്ടി ടീച്ചറും, ക്ലാസ് ടീച്ചർ ആയിരുന്ന അഹമ്മദ് കണ്ണ് സാറും ഒക്കെ. മൂന്നു നാലു പേരെ കണ്ടു - എനിക്കവരെ മനസിലായില്ലെങ്കിലോ എന്ന് വച്ച് അനിയത്തിയെ ഒരു ധൈര്യത്തിന് കൊണ്ട് പോയി. ആരെങ്കിലും എന്നോട് അറിയുമോ എന്ന് ചോദിച്ചാൽ, ഞാൻ ചിലപ്പോ ഇല്ല എന്ന് മുഖത്ത് നോക്കി പറഞ്ഞു കളയും എന്നാ അവളുടെ പരാതി. അത് കൊണ്ട് അങ്ങനത്തെ ചോദ്യങ്ങളെ "പിന്നെ മനസ്സിലാവാതിരിക്കുമോ?" എന്ന മറു ചോദ്യം കൊണ്ട്  നേരിടണമെന്നും,ഇനി എങ്ങാനും "എന്നാൽ  പറ, എന്റെ പേരെന്താ?" എന്ന് ചോദിച്ചാൽ, "മുഖം മറക്കാൻ പറ്റില്ല, പക്ഷെ പേര് ഓർമയിൽ വരുന്നില്ല" എന്നും പറയണം എന്ന് പഠിപ്പിച്ചിട്ടാ  പോയത്. ആ സാഹചര്യങ്ങളൊക്കെ അങ്ങനെ തന്നെ വന്നു ഭവിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. അവരെ ദൂരെ നിന്ന് തന്നെ കണ്ട് അനിയത്തി പറഞ്ഞു തന്നു ആര് ആരാണെന്നു. എല്ലാവർക്കും വളരെ സന്തോഷമായി.  വിജയലക്ഷ്മി ടീച്ചർ യോഗത്...

Recent clips to Evernote From Rilke on the Lonely Patience of Creative Work Leave to your opinions their own quiet undisturbed development, which, like all progress, must come from deep within and cannot be pressed or hurried by anything.  Everything  is gestation and then bringing forth. To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the inexpressible, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own intelligence, and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity: that alone is living the artist’s life: in understanding as in creating From Henry Miller on Turning Eighty If you can fall in love again and again, if you can forgive as well as forget, if you can keep from growing sour, surly, bitter and cynical… you’ve got it half licked. From Bertrand Russell on how to grow old Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, an...

How do we continue to work with people with whom we have differences? We see politicians berating each other in worst possible language one day, we cannot even imagine them seeing eye to eye, but then do an about turn, join hands and fight the next election together or form a government together. I had written off working with someone earlier this year because both of us did not see value in that relationship – but both of us are working towards the common goal and could have made things better if we collaborated. There are differences in communication, values, personalities, ways of working, culture etc. I mentioned earlier where Naval Ravikant (Farnam street podcast – the Knowledge project) talking about deciding not to work with people without integrity, who are angry, people with whom one cannot have an open conversation or those who cannot work in a peer relationship. Also that some of us in Services kind of business not having the option of choosing our customers. Treating...

Most of the books we read have strategies assuming people are rational. What if there was a book on "How to work in a group of people who are common sense challenged". It might have chapters like below (tongue in cheek):-  1.    What to use when logic fails? 2.   How to react when you try to help someone and they think you are attacking them?  3.   How to explain when they think the problem is actually you?  4.   How to protect your own intelligence while trying to argue nonsensical points?  5.   How to sense when someone changed the subject away from actual problem that had to be solved?  6.   10 tips for keeping calm, poker face and even tone while dealing with dead ends  7.    How to deal with not one, but a group of such people all at the same time arguing different things except the actual issue?  8. How to avoid the situation of victim becoming accused?  9.   Tips ...

When I meet a new person, my operating assumption is that they are good, that no one is evil. There are rare people who make me uncomfortable, but no instant revulsion as a evil person. It may be naive and it may hurt later to find out they did not turn out to be what I thought them to be, not as genuine as I thought. I think also that everyone is dragging their dirty bag of troubles, issues, complexes and deficiencies and need to be kind in dealing with people. I probably haven't been cheated by someone truly evil, haven't met the meanest or have tolerated too much, forgot and forgave a lot. I was discussing what makes people mean with a friend. I feel it is their context and threshold. In their context, they may not think they are being mean, there would be a watertight rationalization in their mind. I listened to a podcast where someone was talking about a killer who has convinced herself that she is being kind and helping people by killing them. Their threshold of dishones...

Today morning read the Malayalam translation of this poem - I want to die before you by Nazim Hikmet . I thought it was incredibly beautiful - of a lover thinking to stay near the loved one even as ash, mixing together even after death, sprouting together as flowers and yet not wanting to die and wanting to live longer together. The feeling of being in love, the flood of emotions as if the chest is going to burst and the silly promises lovers make to each other is (bitter)sweetly captured. I read that Nazim Hikmet was a Turkish poet, was in and out of jail and exile for most of his life for his political beliefs. Incidentally two days back my friends were talking about Erdogan turning Turkey less democratic, imprisoning thousands of artists, writers, free thinkers and were speculating if India could go that way if the ruling party gets two-thirds majority in both houses and can change constitution. Further back, this year, I read a novel, Snow, written by Turkish Nobel prize winner O...

I started reading the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It is a good read so far. This post is not about the book as such, but some digressions. I was reading the book on a laptop while waiting somewhere and even though I take some effort to charge up the battery before such outings, I didn't get time to charge today and knew I had limited time before it runs out. I got to a good rhythm and was starting to enjoy when the battery warnings came up. I have this rule that once I choose a book, I must read atleast 50 pages before deciding to continue or abandon. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to adjust to new topics or authors or style of writing or get a grip on the story, so this works most of the time. With Sapiens, I was hooked early on, but couldn't continue further. So the laptop died, I picked up the phone and I see a message from someone with a link to  Yuval Harari's talk about his next topic - Home Deus , about the future. Nice coincidence.  He makes the point i...