BRAToSPHERE

Category: TIMEPASS

  • What purpose does a Blog serve?

     

    After long. Like after really really long, I today stumbled upon my site. My Blog. Bharatjhurani.com !

    Yes, I actually stumbled upon it, when I was searching for something else, and then realized that I actually pay a small fee every quarter to continue hosting this, and I have not even looked at it. No point checking if anyone has been looking at it! There is no new content on it for more than a year now for someone to be even redirected or check for anything here.

    This brings me to the thought – Are personal blogs relevant anymore? In this age of Instagram, and snapchat, where people can be connected with the “interesting stuff” happening in your life literally LIVE, why would anyone take the effort of going to a blog and reading stuff? More importantly, why would someone take the effort of writing down the whole episode, thoughts, beliefs, comments knowing very well that it is too late, and people have moved on.

    Taking one step back, why did I start the blog? To pen down my thoughts. I faintly remember that afternoon in the computer lab in engineering college when I stumbled (back then too!) upon this new toy called “blog” and immediately started penning down some random ramblings. Looking at the stuff that I had written back then, I clearly did not care who is reading it and what could be the repercussions. Did I not know that there could be a privacy filter, and I could make this blog a read only? I am sure I did. I just did not care. Call it youth!

    From when I can remember, I have always loved writing and storing my thoughts for perpetuity. I have maintained a personal journal (in the physical form) since the late nineties right since my early teen years. (Go calculate my age backward!) I have always enjoyed writing, and it is kind of therapeutic.

    I guess, with the years, I have become more mature and thus more careful. I have come to realize that my innocent ramblings could have a deep impact, and thus am careful on what is private , and what can go public.

    In such a quest, I don’t see a reason why should anyone be interested in my private life – what am I upto, what am I doing on weekends, which movie did I watch, which book did I read, etc..

    There was a brief time when I had started using this blog as a review site, but then I realized that it was tending to be more of a reminder for myself of which movies I have watched, and what books I had read, and I am no expert to be reviewing these works of art. I stopped my reviews in public, and rather penned down my small notes privately.

    In this day and age, I guess we have all graduated to instant gratification (in the “insta” age), and thus these social media platforms serve their purpose well. Though, I still don’t see a reason for people to flash their entire vacation album, but well,  I believe it is just easier that way to share some pictures with your friends and family. To each his own!

    In such circumstances, this blog needs to serve a different purpose.

    I think this would turn into a chronicler of all that I would want the world to know. There is stuff that I would like to share with you, hoping that it would help someone develop a better perspective on things that I have been doing, and thus help gain some knowledge. It would also serve the place where i make my point of view clear – to myself, and to whoever cares!

    With this renewed purpose, I am hoping to be more regular on this platform, and would love to hear from you.

  • A beautiful Sunday Morning

    A beautiful sunday morning. The clouds have agreed to descend in the middle of hot May summer. A balcony revamped with greens just very recently. And, a mug of hot black coffee. Things cant get better, can they?

    This is a wonderful moment with the perfect setting in this otherwise barren concrete island called Gurgaon. The hot humid weather was killing and this respite is very much welcome. 

    This is the weather i was looking for to write here! 

    Have been caught up in the daily vagaries of life amidst a whole lot o things that the writing took a hit.

    I have been doing a lot of reading of late and have been on varied topics with varied writing styles. Will have a complete post to cover up all of that.

    There are also “strategies” that i had made two years back that are now seeing initial light of the day. My days and night have been consumed with them. All towards the prosperity of humanity!

    This and a lot more has been going on. But well, weather permitting, i would be back here. Sooner than you can tell.

  • A month that just flew by

    One month of the new year done. Am i like a time keeper here? No. That is not my objective. Am just trying to reflect on the fact that time flies. Time waits for none, and little do we all realise that time is the most precious thing that we have in our lives, more than anything else.

    January has been a hectic month with work travels all around.

    The resolutions are all still in tact and i am making slow progress in each. Was reading this somewhere, a little progress even if it is like a 1% improvement over the previous day takes you far. Compounding kicks in and before you know it, your returns are multiplying.

    Finance jargon eh! Well, this is what a brief evening coffee with a banker friend does to you. Finance, investments, money rotation and we spoke about them all in that little cafe next to the sea. One important realisation there, no matter what the profession, we are al in the business of selling.

    Be it the selling of ideas, selling of thoughts, selling of a proposition or the good old traditional selling of goods and services. We are all salesmen in our life where we need to give something to get something.

    Sipping on Oolong tea here, on a cold delhi winter morning, thoughts wander everywhere and the fact that i am up since early morning helps. I now have all the time to myself to pursue my pursuits (pun intended!) and get going. Looking forward to a wonderful february ahead.

    How was your January like?

  • Happy new year 2018

    Have always penned down my ramblings here and I observe it has been about 12 years that I have been maintaining this online journal. There have been many things that have changed and transformed in these so many years and yet there are so many things that have remained absolutely the same.

    12 years sure is a lot of time.

    With 2017 behind us, we are now ushering in a new year with new goals, renewed promises and hopefully recharged batteries to make this a truly phenomenal year to each one of us. (I have been bombarded by a lot of Robin Sharma on my insta feed of late!)

    This gets me to wonder – what exactly changed with the new year? You are still your old self on Jan 1st like you were on Dec 31st. For most, Jan 1st is probably the wasted version of theirs from the previous evenings binge. If I have to look at it in a complete rational manner, it is just a date change, so why attach so much importance to it, and assume that life is now about to change?

    I realize that these new year resolutions are not something new, and have remained since times immemorial across cultures. This piece in The Economist – The origin of new year’s resolutions explains with alacrity the existence of such phenomena from four millennia ago.

    So what is this?

    It probably is the human brain and the dreams that we keep feeding it with that tomorrow is going to be good. The basic tenet of Human life, hope is at full play here.

    How many times have we heard someone say – “Monday, I am going to start dieting..”, “I will start going to the gym starting 1st of the next month”, we always try rationalizing our procrastination behavior by setting a distant date as a target. And to avoid complex maths in the brain, and for ease of remembrance we set the easiest one possible – beginning of month, beginning of week, birthday, or beginning of the year.

    Well, this year gives no excuses. Jan 1st in 2018 is the beginning of the year, beginning of the month and beginning of the week. It probably is also your birthday!

    And well, if you have not started yet, no stress. Today is as good as any other day!

    A very Happy New year 2018 to you!

  • Writing in a cafe

    There is something about writing at home that makes it plain jane boring and the creative juices just do not flow to get the thoughts out of my mind into this digital odyssey. So what do i do?

    Jump into the coffee shop close to my home to get the creative juices flowing and the fingers tapping away to glory. Coffee Shops, or cafes, are the best place to write.

    Coffee sure is a wonderful stimulant for the brain cells, but it is about the cafe and not so much about the coffee. The vibe there is what i personally find more stimulating.

    If you have to write stuff that people would eventually read, you better be in the midst of people. Not that i eavesdrop into others conversation but the whole feel of a coffee shop is that much more livelier and happening, filled with energy. There are a gamut of emotions around to observe and learn from and set our minds free. You just need to look up to find your muse. It is sitting right across your table weeping away into her boyfriends shoulders. Keep guessing. Be innovative.

    Coffee and writing sure have a strong connection. how else would one explain the phenomena of a cafe in a book store that is all the rage across cities globally. The oxford bookstore in CP, Delhi is brimming with people all the times of the day. All kinds of people chatting, browsing books, sipping coffee with tidbits and exploring away. That place is one of the most happening places in Delhi to experience a wide array of diverse people engaged in different moods.

    In the end, it all Probably is a marketing genius (Horward Schultz anyone?) at work, and in the pursuit of being cool we end up patronising writing in a cafe culture. But what the heck! it works!

    p.s.: Writing this sipping on my favourite Kenya estate blend pour over in my neighbourhood starbucks. Writing in a cafe indeed!