Dropping 'Greed'
- One of my friends who is running a successful startup, he was in some trouble last year. All sorts of opportunities were coming to him to grow, to earn. But if you stray away from your vision and mission, you could be all over the place. You could end up losing direction and energy. Which is kind of what was happening to him. He shared his troubles with another businessman. The much-older-to-him businessman had gone through a similar phase and he said, at some point, one just has to drop greed. Hearing this phrase kind of clicked things for him. The word greed became a package as if that contained all those thoughts that weren't in alignment with how he really wanted to see himself. And if the word - the concept - is a package, sure enough it can just be dropped?
I too need to drop the certain other things that come with being a published author. Be it the energy invested in promoting your book on social media, or in visiting reading groups or fests, or reaching out to people from the book business to network. That's just not me. I am very, very reclusive. It's been a year almost since Manan was published, two years since I finished writing it, and I haven't begun on my next book.
Time to drop everything and move on.
- Had a long afternoon nap so I could write later in the night. Thinking that an evening shower would help, I switched on the geyser and waited for its light to turn from green to red. Just then my mom turned the radio on. Mann ki Baat. This was only the second time I heard this program, the first time when Barack Obama (one of the politicians I admire) did an episode with Modi. Good speech to young students on the perception of examination, on preparation.
Two things that stood out:
I too need to drop the certain other things that come with being a published author. Be it the energy invested in promoting your book on social media, or in visiting reading groups or fests, or reaching out to people from the book business to network. That's just not me. I am very, very reclusive. It's been a year almost since Manan was published, two years since I finished writing it, and I haven't begun on my next book.
Time to drop everything and move on.
- Had a long afternoon nap so I could write later in the night. Thinking that an evening shower would help, I switched on the geyser and waited for its light to turn from green to red. Just then my mom turned the radio on. Mann ki Baat. This was only the second time I heard this program, the first time when Barack Obama (one of the politicians I admire) did an episode with Modi. Good speech to young students on the perception of examination, on preparation.
Two things that stood out:
- संकल्प +स्तिर्था =सिद्धि (typical Modi mathematics)
- Schools should have Examination Week where humor, sarcasm, poetry and essay competitions can be organized to bring more lightness to the whole examination thing - which has been a matter of life and death in our culture since too long now.
- Finished reading The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer. 'Lying Low' is its best story. Gave me goosebumps. I disliked the book overall though (despite its beautiful book cover). Too safe. Emotional manipulation is a big turn off for me, and I noticed that in the stories on more than one occasions. But it is a book on Karachi. It is written by a bright young fellow. It says important things even as it wisely skirts the obvious. You can see why it has got such a backing.
Not recommended.
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