BRAToSPHERE

Tag: books

  • An Ideal Holiday

    Writing this in the middle of greens, surrounded by the majestic hills, snow-capped mountains and a calm serene sound of the water flowing through the mountains. The birds chirping like they are singing to each other with their melodious voice and the mountains as their audience. The scene is perfect.

    I am in a small Village, Called Naddi, close to Dharamsala, atop a mountain. A small tiny village and a scenic eco-hotel in the middle of the Himalayas is exactly what I was looking forward to.

    I am here on a short weekend holiday escaping from the hustle bustle of the city. The last eight months have been chaotic if anything and in the constant hustle bustle, you miss out on the small moments of life. These short breaks help one rejuvenate for the ensuing time to come.

    What is an ideal holiday? Well, it means different things to different people. It means different kinds of places for different people – beaches, Mountains, Historic places, pilgrimage, etc..

    Irrespective of the kind of place, my ideal holiday is one where I just get to spend time in peace with myself. An idyllic setting – be it a beach or on a hill, in a scenic location – be it in a AirBnb or a star hotel, with a good book for company along with a wonderful companion. Perfect.

    I would spend all day doing nothing or like I call it, “Chill” all day. This feeling of nothingness makes me achieve a lot. I catch up with all my reading and writing and more importantly with all the thinking for which I always yearn for precious little time in day-to-day life.

    Of late, in addition to the nothingness, Airbnb has allowed us to mingle with the local community and understand the local customs and their way of living in a better way. Like our stay in Sri Lanka last December where we met a wonderful young couple – Lankan guy married to an Australian woman and now settled in Galle. Their story was so romantic and inspiring, something the bland sameness of a hotel can never offer. These small nuggets of the local life leaves us enriched post the trip and gives a feeling that we have always belonged here.

    Always, when I return back from a holiday, I am inevitably asked what all did I see and do. “I did nothing. I just chilled!” is my standard answer which baffles many. But that is what I did. Other than maybe hopped a couple of cafes browsing through different leftover books over cups of coffee.

    Well, this is my ideal holiday and I totally enjoy it and look forward to it.

    What is your ideal holiday?

  • >3 idiots

    >one book that i really enjoyed reading is – “Five Point Someone”, by Chetan Bhagat. A very light read, and the perfect timing. I was just into engineering then.

    The news that the book is about to be made into a movie by none other than Munnabhai Hirani had been making rounds. but no real news. VOICE based on chetan’s second book made more news. Now we get some concrete info in that front.

    Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Madhavan and Boman Irani has gone on the floors. The film is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone. The first teaser poster of the film is out and has a huge blackboard with mathematical formulae scribbled on it.

    The cast

    HARI – MADHAVAN

    The first characters of the novel are Hari – who is shy and wants to be handsome like Ryan. Hari is average and is bad at vivas. He falls in love with his professor’s daughter and whenever Hari tries to impress his professor, he brings down his image.

    RYAN – AAMIR KHAN

    The second student is Ryan, he is handsome and adventurous and he always says that he loves his friends more than his parents and he don’t want to mug up things and he gets low grades, in the college exams .He wants to do things in his own way and he tries to do that and he too gets into the five pointers.

    ALOK – SHARMAN JOSHI

    The third is Alok-A simple boy who wants to get good grades and earn money to overcome poverty of his family.

    PROFESSOR KURIEN – BOMAN IRNAI

    NEHA KURIEN (DAUGHTER OF PROFESSO) – KAREENA KAPOOR

    Work in progress

    Sources reveal that Hirani doesn’t want to give away the look of his protagonists soon, which is why the teaser doesn’t have any of the actors in it. However, work on the film is underway and Hirani plans to wrap 3 Idiots by December.

    Begins September

    The source adds, “The shoot of the film with the supporting characters has already begun, Hirani and his team are in Simla and the film is scheduled to be shot in Ladakh, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai as well. Aamir and rest of the cast will begin shooting in early September.”

    Shantanu Moitra has given the music for 3 Idiots while the lyrics are by Swanand Kirkire.

    Class is on

    Apparently, author Chetan Bhagat was the first to see the poster and quite liked the final result. “Since the setting is that of an engineering college campus the poster had to have elements of a classroom.”

    The poster has been designed by Rahul Nanda.

    Source:
    Midday
    oneindia

  • >THE ART OF WAR

    >Confront your soldiers with the deed itself; never let them know your design. When the outlook
    is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy.
    Have been reading The art of war by Sun Tzu. Amazing book. I am left wondering, how did Sun Tzu come up with a book long back which is still so very relevant. (Know there are loads of books like that).

    One more thing to ponder upon is the striking similarity between a war and corporate life. It is not without any reason that Corporate warfare was coined. I have this keen interest in following what are the internal things that happen behind the board room wars that are more visible. It gives so much insight as how a person strategizes and wants to keep secret all his moves, while he would go to any extent to know info about his rival.

    In War, it is as important to know your rival as much as it is to know yourself.

    Moving on, i have laid my hands on Watch Out! We are MBA, by Nishant kaushik, an NMIMS grad. this is one more to the list of campus stories made famous by chetan Bhagat’s Five point someone. A very light read, and going through it gives an idea, how close all the B Schools in the world work (Snapshots from hell also talked about the same kind of rigour).

    Coming to my actual life, have been full with loads of activities and parties in campus. It has been a wonderful academic year till now. the first 4 weeks have been so engrossing and i don’t even realize that it is already time for the mid terms (beginning on 17th july). Don’t remember a single night in the last one month when i have slept before dawn. Well after the sun has risen.

    Hope it continues the same way.

    More later, now off to meet a mentee to review her CV.

    So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.