I emerge like a tree from a dirty seed;

Traditionally, the path of enlightenment and remaining in a state of bliss is associated with hibernation or leaving the material world far behind. It is possible to get to that stage without leaving anything behind. Jesus called it 'being in the world but not of the world' When you decide to give your focus on people, you are completely present. Then, you are not. Your emotions are directed to causes because people look too fragile. There is absolutely nothing to prove or clarify. You can easily find rules to exercise anger because it's important to keep the emotional intelligence intact. Your intuition is on over drive. Effectively, you are the architect of your matrix. You see the world as an illusion and you have found a way to rig it. There is no guilt. You enjoy the trappings of life but can also do without it. You make meaningful relationships but when they walk out, you say goodbye with a smile. And, then you shut the door. There comes a time when you feel co...

Major media houses except NDTV chose not to report on Arundhati Roy's press conference. I still cannot find the transcript for this. I loved how she opened with the Police's statement on the 5 (writers/lawyers/professors) arrested over a fudged letter. 'They are part of the anti-fascist front to overthrow the government'. Is that supposed to be a bad thing? Is the government owning the monicker 'fascist' regime with pride. Expect more arrests till the elections. Apparently, all it takes is 'finding' a letter that contains details about a maoist plot, peppered with names. Anyone who talks for the disenfranchised/Dalits/minorities and takes a stand against the government has a new name - 'Urban Naxal' How quiant.

The internet is replete with a number of self-help gurus. Most have a predictable template that cults typically follow for mind-control, albeit with varying degrees. I am super cautious of people I listen to because the most dangerous factor that distracts us from following our path is bias. Bias primes us and can impact our decision making process and actions in every possible way. It's impossible to be free of bias but we can always try to limit its hold on us. 1) What is the 'hook'? What made you notice them? Marketers trade emotions. The easiest way to get someone's attention is working with their fear and guilt. If a self-help guru starts with your fear and build that to evoke guilt for doing something, run fast! Away, NOT towards them!! 2) How much freedom do you have? If they have figured out the finer details of how to live your life, their intention is to control you. Good teachers would only offer broad guidelines that can be broken down to granular ...

There are conflicting theories. That only proves that there is no conclusive answer to this. Individuals respond differently to circumstances and their choices ultimately make them who they are. There is no formula in life that can tell us how exactly things would go down, tying cause and effect. That's the gift or challenge of human life, however we see it. An only child doesn't need to compete at home. This can go either way. The child could get extremely competitive outside to hoard attention to match the attention at home or be content and laid back because there is no need to overcompensate. A child with siblings could learn to fight at home or share and that again depends on the individual in question. There is no way to predetermine behaviors.  An only child could use the same opportunity outside home and appreciate friendships and co-operation more. I am an only child. I never missed siblings while growing up. But I do remember that my friendships were intense.  ...

Most of us have heard of the Monkey, Banana, and Water spray experiment. Is there a chance of a better ending? How can companies transform employee behavior when caught in this vicious cycle? 1) Change the standards A major lesson from history is that no heroes are responsible for their success. Not entirely. The factor that governs what it means to be successful is the prevailing standards. The culture just follows suit. I wrote this poem a few months back. The play of chance, the hand of times Distracts our eyes from what it hides Hunter in an Industrial Age Writer facing the Dinosaur's rage Flip the centuries, the Heroes fall Yet the world is snared by illusion's trawl All we know is the scale of standards Pity what’s different, judge what threatens Fear the outlaws or discredit with slanders Worship the Heroes, scorn the strays And continue till time tilts the scales The crux is, the company is still in charge of introducing the variables into the exper...

Self immolations in Tamil Nadu when ADMK supremo Jayalalitha was arrested raised a lot of questions.  This was certainly not the first instance. A similar account can be found in the Wikipedia page on MGR " His death sparked off a frenzy of looting and rioting all over the state... The police had to resort issuing shoot-at-sight orders. Tamilians from Bangalore rushed to Madras in trains to see the mortal remains of MGR. Government had announced free train facility for this visit. The violence during the funeral alone left 29 people dead and 47 police personnel badly wounded. This state of affairs continued for almost a month across Tamil Nadu. Around one million people followed his remains, around 30 followers committed suicide and people had their heads tonsured" Why emotions carve the political landscape in Tamilnadu? Language plays a major role in the way we think and behave much more than we give it credit for. A few years back, I read a study by Lera Broditsky, P...

These are mine 1) Understand the concept of standards. If you are considered good/bad at something, always remember 'according to these standards'. Success, talent, beauty, intelligence, concept of strength - nothing holds the same standard across cultures or time. There is no point in feeling superior or inferior to anyone. 2) Never waste the power of words on white lies, mocking people or making promises that you don't mean to keep.  3) Be an open book. If you have to hide something, you shouldn't be doing that in the first place. Keep it a secret if it's  not your story to tell, it is a burden for others to know yours or if their life experiences could confuse and end up bringing in unnecessary negativity. You don't owe the world justifications. 4) Never resort to revenge. Let God be the judge. If that person deserves mercy, you would have erred by resorting to revenge. If that person deserves discipline, you are not the right one to discharge that.  ...

I thought of posting why I support gay marriages and better still why I feel the need to talk about it. Sanju subscribes to the Christian church’s ideology though I wanted to list down the 'Christian' reasons here since this has become a major theological teaching. This reasoning is based on the golden rule and how I perceive Jesus Christ.  I wrote about this in a previous post here When slavery was abolished, many Christians were against it because they didn’t consider the revolt Christian. Some even argued that equality was against the nature of humans. I am glad most Christians agree today that the golden rule just doesn’t give any provision for slavery. Did Jesus talk about slavery in general? No. Did he even preach to the gentiles? No. But he did give the golden rule on which Christian ideologies should hinge on. He never spoke against homosexuals. Preachers won't step down from the pulpits on those grounds but are eager to condemn homosexuals to hell.  I s...

We all know about the brutal rape that happened in Delhi. Six men raped a 23 year old in a moving bus, beat her up, inserted an iron rod in her vagina, tortured her and left her naked on the streets. Her male friend was also savagely beaten up. She lost 3 litres of blood, had to undergo an intestine transplant since her's were severely damaged but despite medical intervention succumbed to her injuries and died. This has shaken up the conscience of the general public. What happened to her was heinous. She held a mirror to the nation. Her justice is not in how those rapists would be punished. It's about how such crimes against women could be subverted. Please listen to this TED talk by Dr. Sunitha Krishnan  For those who want to do something about sexual crimes against women - you could donate to Prajwala - co founded by Sunitha Krishnan who was raped by 8 men when she was 15 and has been fighting relentlessly against human trafficking for the past 16 y...

Nets aimed at shooting stars Heart lusting its glitter and spark Naïve for Greatness, Glory and Fame Minions march to make a name Barbaric hunters with a pile of skulls Artists flaunting mastered skills Emperors, Cardinals from different times Modern entrepreneurs hoarding gains The world looks up in need of a purpose Craving a promise of dreams in surplus Like the moon drunk on light it borrows Aspires to be the sun every night and morrows To read more https://www.amazon.com.au/Trees-dirty-seeds-SAJITHRA-K-ebook/dp/B01BF6VL4G

     This is something that has been in my mind lately. More so because of how the fundamentalist and evangelical churches point at Homosexuals as the culprits for any disaster - natural or otherwise. If there is a hurricane, prominent preachers don't waste any time in accusing them as the cause of God's wrath. There is much outcry against Homosexual marriages. As a practising Christian, this disturbs me a lot. If we have to go by the Jesus Christ portrayed in the Bible, I am sure that if he were to walk as a human in this century, he wouldn't refuse a party invitation from them.  All creation is beautiful. If someone is created that way, perhaps there is a reason to it as Christ rightly said in Matt 19  "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" It's funny ...

There are times when we understand the gravity of a situation without letting emotions cloud our judgement. It helps maintain our objectivity to support a friend. Rarely, that someone is you and that moment makes you an observer too. This also showed me what authentic leadership is. I had a presentation to the Global CEO Ben Verwayen. My reporting manager is Vishy Poosala, the CTO of Alcatel-Lucent Messaging and Head of Bell Labs. I asked him to present and he chose to cancel it because he wanted me to take the credit for my work.  We visited Dr. Disha Sridhar at Motherhood, Bangalore with a positive on the urine pregnancy test on 6th Oct. We made plans to manage the pregnancy. Since  the ultrasound slots were full at the hospital, we got the TVS done in the nearby test centre Clumax. The ultrasound couldn’t detect the gestational sac in the uterus yet though the urine pregnancy test was positive. There was nothing to indicate a tubular pregnancy either.  Dr. Dis...

Chetan, Insulted! - Yes, that's what I felt after reading your column ' Don't worry, Be happy ' that has been lapped up with great gusto as an inspirational article. While preaching against the 'regressive attitude' of the Indian society, you conveniently forget that you are peddling the same garbage in a shiny package. You say // It would be a universe full of messy, aggressive and ego-maniacal males running the world, trying to outdo each other for no particular reason. There would be body odour, socks on the floor and nothing in the fridge to eat. The entertainment industry would die. Who wants to watch movies without actresses?//    Touche. Did you actually write that to make women feel indispensable! Should I feel proud with this new found wisdom that the world might collapse without women titillating men on screen, cooking food for men or picking up after men? As a child, I noticed most of the women in the family embracing life as handmaids to thei...

The woman, they say, has come a long way. She is no longer a nameless consort in the harem, a witch hanged in the Middle Ages or a house wife who could not vote because the world after all is a gentleman’s game. The question is ‘Have we done enough? Why take the 'gender' factor seriously when the world is rife with major divisions and classes of discrimination ? I am yet to read a story of infanticide triggered by the infant’s caste, creed or religion. Gender is the quintessential factor that determines an infant’s right to live in most villages in India. It is still the determining factor while choosing an educational path and more times than not, the freedom of 'choice' itself. Financial freedom could help. But that is a tricky road too. Women contribute to more than 50% of the graduates passing out of major Universities but the figures in the corporate world in terms of women leadership is nothing to be proud of. Women in the workforce come from differe...