The Alchemist Effect

I do not recall how or when I first read Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist".

However, in true tribute to the motto of the book, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.", it did land into my hand many years ago and I did read it. Just like I find myself typing out this blog.

A few years ago, the universe did conspire again and I had the opportunity to see Santigo on stage thanks to the wonderful adaptation by Ashvin Gidwani.

These brief encounters with Santiago and the Alchemist remind me how lucky i am to be able to follow my heart and find what I seek. And even though many a times I drift aimlessly without direction , I must learn to read the omens of my environment as the wise Alchemist taught Santiago once and I should always remember that the universe never stops conspiring. 

Lest I Forget!

"Lest We Forget a phrase  from  "Recessional", a poem  by Rudyard Kipling, which was later passed into common usage after WW I  across the British Commonwealth,especially becoming linked with Rememberence Day observations.

The phrase became a plea not to forget past sacrifices made and is often found as the only wording on many war memorials and epitaphs.

Over the last week, during India's Independence Day Celebrations, we saw a great amount of media coverage on our brave men and women in uniform, bringing out their stories of great scarifies and bravery.

I am glad that the media does cover these stories albeit only as seasonal as the winter in Mumbai. I wish that we as individuals would remember this phrase and the feeling behind it more often even in our personal units.

On one hand I remember the brave men and women in uniform who guard my sense of safety and on the other, as the phases of my life change, easy it becomes for me to forget the so many others, out of uniform, without whose sacrifices my today would not be possible.....so, "Lest I Forget".

Two Choices

Am sure that almost all of us receive a lot of worldly wisdom in our email  inbox everyday.

I, usually having gone through them ,either instantly hit delete or the ones that are spared of my keyboard guillotine get neatly  filed and labeled under some folder, only to be forgotten among the terabytes of data I tend to collect.

However, the filing routine of my better half is a bit more complex, her email inbox is a sea of information from all corners of the world.

This habit of hers, to keep emails all in one place (part thanks to Larry & Sergey @ Google and part to our planning foresight of subcribing to almost umlimited space for our personal email account), has kept me baffled to say the least. More so, as she is able to sift through them and get the one she wants in an instant.

However one fine day,  me being me, I suggested that she needed to clean up her inbox and if she was having trouble clearing up, I could offer her the services of my experienced keyboard guillotine along with my algorithm for filing and labeling.

As we got to work mail by mail , we happened to open one and read it aloud. It was an email relating to positive attitude titled "TWO CHOICES" ( am sure most of my readers would have got this in thier inbox as well).

The email narrated the story of a man named Jerry and his optimism/postitive attitude which enabled him to make the better of the two choices he had in any situation day after day. Right from the moment when he woke up, and could choose either to be in a good mood or in a bad mood, to the more critical situations he came across.

Having read the email and being done with the task on hand, we got to our routines as usual.

Though simple, the email left its mark in my grey matter and even though at times I still end up reacting to situations in life instead of making a choice like Jerry, I've learned that life will give me another chance to make a choice....soon enough after i have reacted.

Operation:Dinner Out!

Operation Dinner Out is a GO!! This classic line used by Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) to activate a rouge Plan B to rescue Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) from a prison in China in the movie Spy Game (2001) has been used by my friends and me many times for its utter 'suavity'. 

The term, however, has taken up a completely realistic meaning in my immediate surrounding over the last few years where my veteran mother literally has to execute any outing more like a commando style operation due to circumstances thrust upon her and which are beyond her control.

She faces the challenges of the operation with guts and courage along with my dad, a great "buddy" to have by her side.

Keeping in mind the ground realities of such military operations, the pair are rarely able to rely on support from any other units and have only each other to cover all angles of the operation.

And as if it were not enough to have survived through the many battles in life, most of which remain unimaginable to a rookie like me, the already distinguished veterans continue to face challenge after challenge keeping their heads held up high and understanding that life unlike an army, is not offering them a retirement age. 

For me as a rookie, I can only salute them, while I try to prepare myself along with my own buddy to face such missions in the future..with both fright and prayer.

A Day @ The Book Store

21st June 2011

It had been a while since I had read a book, apart from the volumes of virtual reading on the net and the Garfield Strip paperbacks which had me in splits for a couple of weeks while I kept going back to them again and again.

Wanting to get down to some reading and having narrowed down to make my next read on management or business, I glanced down the rows of books lining the section.  


My eyes immediately went on one of my all time favorites "The Goal" by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, I thought of who had borrowed it from me last as I could not place it in my current set of possessions. 


I picked it up for a glance and immediately thought that I might as well get myself a new copy of it anyway and probably also coax my better half in life and business to read it.

Having done that, my eyes went on a book sitting right next to it, "LOOSE" ...The Future of Business is Letting Go: How to Break the Rules of Business.

A glance through the book and I was convinced that it was the one I was going to restart my reading habit with.

Am almost through with the book and content with my choice, am looking forward to my next visit to the bookstore for some more reads.

Wildernest! A Silent Holiday with Dad.

February 2011

The Adventure Never Stops..Dad at the edge of the infinity pool

Wildernest is a tranquil eco-resort which we knew for a while now but was explored by me and a couple of close friends only a few months ago over New Year.

The rustic resort nestled in the Swapnagandha valley, amidst thick expanse of forest tracts at 800 meters above sea level, overlooking the  Vazra falls and the entire panoramic view of Goa.


The resort naturally and spontaneously became an ideal choice for an impromptu getaway for my dad and me again this  February.

Cloud 9...The Sun Set Bar

My dad, an avid lover of nature, was sure to appreciate the wild beauty of this resort. As for me, it is always great to be able to take such frequent breaks and explore things off the beaten track.

The chilled fresh water of the infinity pool made for a challenging but refreshing plunge.

Not too much was said in words during our stay there, we just absorbed and soaked in the serenity and tranquility that was around us.

Not much was needed to be said. The silence spoke….and still speaks.

Gurus In Our Lives.

Nuggests of wisdom come to us from the most unexpected of sources writes Jasjit Mansingh 



"Mansingh Aunty is a dear family friend and her writings have been inspiring from time to time. She was aslo kind enough to let me use a PC with wordstar on it more than 2 decades ago... my first clicks on a keyboard..."


In the 11th Canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam, three chapters are devoted to the gurus in our lives. In all, 24 are listed and from each there is learning, if we are open to it. Let the world be your teacher. From the earth, learn patience and forbearance. The earth does not retaliate nor get angry — and we constantly abuse her. The mountains and trees serve others. 


Learn that working for the welfare of the larger community is a path far superior to garnering benefits purely for self-interest; or worse, for hoarding such benefits. Be generous. Share your good fortune. Be like the wind, move freely, but do not get attached to any specific nor be tainted by any association. Be free. Just flow.


Python Wisdom
My personal favourite is the ajgar, the python, low on the ladder of evolution. It tackles the vicissitudes of life with a kind of evolved detachment: it accepts what comes its way and is content. 

Contentment, incidentally, is accepted as an important virtue in the scriptures in the search for happiness. The python has the staying power to remain hungry without giving in to a frenzy of activity to satisfy its appetite. 

I see the ajgar as a wise conservationist who demands little from the earth and conserves maximum energy because, ultimately, the Universe does provide. 

It may not be what you desire and expect but rather what you deserve dictated by your own actions and governed by its own inscrutable laws. This is an important lesson for the I-want-more and I-want-it-now generation driven by many kinds of appetites. 

Gateways To Hell
The three gateways to Hell (read: a state of unhappiness) are Anger, Lust and Greed, the last being the ruling deity of our times. Looking back over the last ten years of my life I become aware of the many pitfalls I have avoided even without the advantage of studying the scriptures. An innate wisdom exists. 

Let me quote an extract from my enquiry into life and death, which was published then. I pick the bit where Ilya, my granddaughter, taught me about anger. She was three years old, and her mother, my daughter, Oona, was 33 when they both died in 1996. 

“How much Ilya taught me. ‘Ham ko vilyu na bolna.’ It puzzled me for a long time. Was Vilyu a character we had met in a story and she didn’t want to hear about him again? No. There was no Vilyu in any of the Winnie the Pooh stories we read, certainly none in the Jungle Book. 

I broke it up into syllable: vil yu. Of course! She meant ‘Will you’, the imperative I tended to use when I was impatient. “Will you hurry up, please!” Or, “Will you open your mouth!” when she was taking forever to finish her food. “Don’t say ‘Will you…’ to me” is what she meant.” Impatience, the second cousin of Anger! It ranks on par with Greed, both fuelled by insatiable desire, stoked by frustration. 

My mother, who could not see any ‘reason’ why the young ones had to go, also read anger in me in the years when she had to come to terms with the fact that she could no longer live alone, independently, any more. I quote again: “She realised that as an early octogenarian but didn’t quite accept it. I tended to be impatient with her too. I have become much more patient now. I am, in fact, learning a measure of equanimity.” 

Love Others Too
The Universe does, indeed, provide. The household seemed depleted but there was another mother-and-daughter in place — my maid from Jharkhand and Raveena, her young daughter, Ilya’s in-house sibling. I quote again from what I wrote ten years ago: “And Raveena, too, is teaching me. If I am peremptory, she will put on her most winning smile, and say, ‘Ham ko pyar se bolo na.’ I have then to repeat it appropriately, lovingly, and I get immediate compliance.” Why should love be limited only to kin?

In the Guru Granth Sahib it is said there is no ‘anhoni’: that whatever happens, however dreadful and unfortunate it may seem, is meant to happen — at the time and in the circumstance of its happening in accordance with the larger scheme of the cosmic plan. 

Ten years down, I have ceased questioning and my understanding grows. I have learned to live in the present and every moment is perfect. 


(The Speaking Tree July 25 2010) www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/Gurus-In-Our-Lives 

My First.

Its been some time since I have been thinking of writing a blog, 2 months and 21 days to be exact. 

The thought sprung when I was handed an article,"Gurus In Our Lives", by a close family friend. Quite an apt one for that moment in my life, and one which I thought I could share with some others on the net. Result: The birth of my blog.

Strange that though being tech savvy it's taken me so long... well probably was not the technical setting up of the blog but the fear of the content being churned out by a blog novice like myself.

Anyway...21st July 2011 and my first blog... I hope this will not die out as fast as some of my other personal resolution style undertakings...