I attended an online writing retreat over the weekend. I was one of the few non-members who attended and also one of the younger attendees, even though I do not consider myself young anymore. One of the speakers actually read to us from the book(s), which was unusual for me - I f...
I am reading 'Wind And Truth', Book Five of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203578847-wind-and-truth). It is an epic fantasy series. This book is three hundred and forty-four pages long and, with my reading speed, will take me t...
I binge-watched a Netflix series last night: Bodkin, a murder mystery set in an Irish town/village. A group of podcasters goes there to solve three disappearances from decades ago. I just wanted to let go, so I chose this as it called out to me, and it was also in the top ten on ...
I was a born rebel—one of those rebelling without a cause. Do not ask me why, but if you ask me to do something, my first instinct is not to do it, even though I will do it eventually. I have always been making my own rules - rules are meant to be broken sort of mentality. Undern...
The last blog of the year is about nostalgia. It stems from my growing old blog, my trip to India and honestly, it is a culmination of the underlying theme in the COVID years.
The India I grew up in is no longer there. And I cannot alter the reality as it is how much I want it....
I had just joined British Telecom after my London Business School MBA. MBA was a lesson in humility for me, but there are levels in that too - so, when the time came to lead my first ever workshop to identify root cause issues of incidents, I was super elated. It was a three-day ...
The last year taught us all that change is natural and inevitable. Who would have thought that the entire world would be working from home? I remember I was not very happy about working from home all the time - but some weeks in, I loved it and then earlier this year, I was ready...
I just finished a week of an exciting event called - Give Back Hack. It is an event where strangers come together and form teams around something they are passionate about - and then turn it into a working idea by the end of the weekend. And due to COVID this year it was a week-l...
The dictionary meaning of normal is 'conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.'
Like, as an Asian child growing up - to be 'normal' was to work super hard, get excellent grades and a get a good job. Continuing further, it also meant that you married a nice boy that ...
Adam and I were discussing cartoon movies we have watched in the past like Cars, Toy Story, How to train your dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Up. The storyline for these movies except Up is primarily based on personification. Up is truly an outlier - 'a little out of this world', espec...
We recently played a game - Dayam, it is popular in the villages of South India. I had played it as a child growing up and recalled fond memories of playing it with cousins and other friends to pass the time in the long hot summer holidays. I had got the board and the dice years ...
In the ten-day Vipassana(http://dhamma.org) course, Goenka Ji tells us lots of stories. My mind wandered over to the following story today.
Goenka Ji asks that the light bulbs we have in our houses - they appear to remain the same for a long time, if they do not change then w...
Scenario 1: Do you brush your teeth every day? Do you floss every day? Do you take care of your teeth religiously, making sure that they are healthy?
Scenario 2: Do you skip brushing your upper teeth because you can do it the next day? Who cares whether you brush your teeth or ...
Have you ever said to yourself - "If only, I had done it this way - it would have worked out." or "Why did this have to happen?" Have you ever been able to get things executed precisely the way you planned?
Neither have I - best-laid plans gone awry, right. I am a project manage...
An elephant and its rider are trying to get somewhere 1. The Rider has no clue where he wants to go - he and the elephant meander needlessly. 2. The rider knows his destination, but cannot decide which route to take - he and the elephant stay in the same place. 3. The Rider knows...
I have a hard time listening to others. I am very good at listening... to myself - I am beginning to realize that I love the sound of my own voice. And recently with the change in my role as a people leader I find myself coming back to the listening more and more. Maybe, its beca...
I recently attended a CPM(https://theraoinstitute.com/) alumni retreat in London. And it has been a decade since I took the course first at London Business School. In the first class Prof. Rao invited us speak about what we want from the class. And at that time I was at crossro...
In my current role I have to manage a team of people - mostly project managers. And every month we have a strategic meeting and some kind of a fun activity either within ourselves or with other teams we work with. If I chair a meeting it has to be fun at least for me - otherwise ...