We just got back after a blissful but hot two weeks in India. Trips to India inspire my creativity because there is so much happening. And I don't usually have a plan when I am there, which is the right space for creativity to strike.
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I recently went to India for a four-week-long vacation. Some people might argue it is too long to take time off and not the norm. People's reaction to my holiday was more of a surprise - Oh! Wow, is that even possible. When we lived in London, it wasn't that big of a deal because...
I watched a Netflix Movie - Minnal Murali(https://www.netflix.com/title/81497215), recently. It has got excellent reviews and is a regional Indian film like non-Bollywood. This film is from Kerela - a state known for churning out good quality lifelike movies. However, this movi...
So, Fake News has been in the news for the last few years. What is fake news? The Wikipedia definition of fake news is - _Fake news is_ _false or misleading information presented as news__. It often aims to damage the reputation of a person or entity or make money through adv...
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....
So, I recently came back from spending a month in India. It was my annual trip back home - spend some time with my parents, visit relatives, live in a place where people look like me, speak like me, advertisements are in a language I know, listen to the radio in my native languag...
I did my last Townhall meeting of the year with my department. And I decided a long time ago that I will not organise boring meetings, so I make sure that I enjoy the ones I set up. And in a moment of creative stillness, an idea came to me about doing a Quiz which one of my assoc...
I will continue from my last blog about the inspiring deaf-blind graduate from Harvard Law - Haben Girma(https://www.anumorris.com/2021/10/deaf-and-blind-but-harvard-law-graduate/). Another inspiring female at the conference was Timnit Gebru(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timn...
At work, I was selected to attend a conference called Grace Hopper(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper). It is named after a woman computer professional who went to write the initial code for COBOL.
The main theme that I took away from the conference was 'Diversity and...
I like doing icebreakers at work in all my core meetings. How it works is each meeting, one person gets to ask everybody else a question. And the idea behind it slowly but steadily you get to know the other team members. Also, I have found that the question that people ask says a...
'I am here to serve'. I remember saying that when I went for my first meditation course as a server in London, Hereford. I had been doing Vipassana for the last three years before the desire to serve arose in me. Since then, I have been doing a sit and serve every other year.
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My ancestral home is a tiny village in the south of India, Sevvur. Unless you are from there or know somebody from the village, there is no way you would have heard about it. It is a sleepy 2.5 street village with a population of less than 1000, and at a given time, there may be ...
Would you ever consume a year-old fruit? Or, a bread that somebody sold to you decades ago? No, right. And I am sure some of you are wondering why would anyone even ask these questions.
The reason is that - we are all consuming rotten stuff - not food but thoughts, behaviour pat...
I spent the weekend over in Maine - in the midst of nature. The more time I spend in nature, the more I begin to appreciate the wisdom nature has to impart. For example, every morning, we would go for a kayak ride in the lake. It is so beautiful in the morning, sounds of water la...
Let's look at a few examples from the past.
BP's historic oil spill in the Gulf Coast in 2010—the largest oil spill in U.S. history—could have been prevented, employees warned. An employee who worked on the well warned BP officials that their plan to expand the well increase...
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on ea...
Temperatures in North America have smashed all previous records this year. Death Valley in California, described as the hottest place on earth, was touting 55 degrees Celsius (132 F). \I quote temperatures in C as I still cannot get F\. It was so hot that you could 'supposedly'...
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...
Imagine a bucolic scene and lush green farms surrounding a tiny cluster of villages. This scene is set in a time when horse carriages were the primary mode of transport. And in the villages where most dwellings are made of mud and thatch, there is a concrete building. And the bui...
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I love Winnie The Pooh - there is something about this bear that appeals to the genuine and innocent self in me. I don't remember how I came about this quote from Pooh, but I have had it on my office cubicle wall forever. And like all profound things ...
My parents and I were reminiscing on the old days. We had just moved to Delhi when I was about four years old. And none of us except my dad knew the language Hindi. And my mom mentioned that she had done a correspondence course to learn Hindi. I expressed my shock that I had no i...
I am fascinated by my royal, regal, adorable, handsome five-year-old Shiba Inu pup - Aki(https://www.instagram.com/iamluckyaki/?hl=en). The long list of adjectives with the name of his royal highness only goes to prove how much we love him. There is no doubt that he is of a roy...
Continuing from my last blog(https://www.anumorris.com/2021/05/those-were-the-days/) - a student in the university describes how his lab partner and others got into the university. In India, if you have to get into one of the prestigious engineering schools, you have to 'crack'...
I just watched the Netflix Series - 'Alma Mater - Inside the IIT dream'. It was a trip down memory lane - nostalgic, and I did not want it to end in some ways. So much packed in those days, just like peeling the layers of the onion.
I did my engineering and then did my MBA. Both...
I am my Father's daughter. I have so many of his mannerisms that I can predict with almost 99% accuracy what he is thinking or saying. Growing up, I looked up to my dad, and he was/is my best friend. I would tell him everything and still, to this day, do so. And he never judged m...
Eckhart Tolle tells the story of his dad, who in his older years remarked that the quality of mirrors has deteriorated since his younger days. I am sure most of us have looked at the mirror and wondered what happened? Or, go for reunions and somebody remarks on how young we were?...
Have you ever been in a situation where you did something without remembering you just did that? Take a shower without realizing it or driving home from the office or travelling on a tube and may be missed your stop. Your mind was so engrossed in something that you forget what yo...
A few weeks ago, we saw Mr and Mrs Duck looking for suitable accommodation for producing ducklings. They looked far and wide, from our sidewalk to the pond few blocks away. And our dog Aki was always excited to play with the ducks.
And then we did not see them, so we assumed the...
March 18th, 1990 - St Patrick's day in Boston, 13 priceless art pieces go missing (Robbed) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner's Museum. Fast forward almost thirty-one years later - paintings are still missing. The empty frames are still hung in the museum expecting the art pieces ...
As some of you may know, I took a new role \Read a bit about it in this blog(https://www.anumorris.com/2021/01/trickster-mind/)\. I changed my profession. And being the kind of person I am, I read a book called 'The First 90 Days' as I transitioned into my job. One of the exe...
How many times in your life have your plans gone awry? You wanted something to happen, and it does not happen. You did not want something to happen, and it happens. This is the basic definition of Suffering. So, as per this definition, we all suffer and - we have all suffered a l...
Imagine an intricate tapestry made of a rich fabric of vibrant colours. It is so huge that it covers the entire wall. You have never seen the wall behind the Tapestry. For you, the wall does not exist. You spend all your time admiring the Tapestry - so beautiful, so breathtaking....
'There will always be a$$\0\\$ at work. You have to learn to deal with them.' My first ever mentor told me - and I did not see her as a mentor then, but now I am very grateful. I learnt a lot, A LOT from her.
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I was in my late twenties and my first job...
We might all think we run our lives - and we are all wrong. Time runs this entire world. The little watches we have on our wrists, calendars on the walls, or our electronic devices rule the world. From the time we wake up to the alarm to the time we go to bed - all we do is run a...
I watched a cartoon movie called Rio- about a domesticated macaw named Blu who goes to Rio from Minnesota to mate with a female named Jewel and produce more offsprings of his kind.
Jewel is free-spirited and literally 'wild', and Blu does not even know how to fly. And in the cl...
A young woman lost touch with her dad as a child when her parents divorced. As she grows up, she desires to meet him - she finds out that he is dead. She wishes she had made an effort to reach out to him sooner.
A woman's in-laws shun her because she could not produce a male hei...
I recently watched the movie - 'The White Tiger' on Netflix. It is one of those movies which has more than just a basic storyline. It depicts India, and it's culture - things that probably most Indians don't even think about anymore. But it goes a lot deeper than that. I have not...
For the last eighteen months or so, I had been on the path to get a new role at work in a different profession. I had gotten a couple of interviews but never made it into the second round. Subconsciously, I lived in a world where I want the role but was never going to get it. Thi...
I just watched the latest Pixar animation movie - 'Soul'. It is a must-see even though not at the same level as their other movie - 'Inside Out'. Before we get into the actual blog a word about the creation process for these movies. Pixar movies generally speaking come from a ver...
Make Your Life Easy(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BTF2LLD), and You Can Do It(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086986YFL) are two of the books that I have authored. And they both start with the chapter on Suffering. My preference was to begin them with Grim Reaper, but my husband ma...
Imagine you are in a theatre watching a string of movies. The movies and the actors cater to all the emotions you can think of - fear, sex, violence, love, family, patriotism, terrorism, heist - the whole gamut of life as we know it.
Let's say that the movies are so fascinating ...
I had a dream that I was in a marketing office with my friend. My friend was having issues with her peer, and we were walking down the corridor to the boss's office. All of a sudden fire alarm start - annoying kind, Kiiiiii-Kiiiii Kiiiii. We look at each other and assume it is so...
It is time for my annual Vipassana retreat blog.
Like all things this year, Vipassana retreat centres(http://dhamma.org) have been closed in most places. At the beginning of the year, I thought I might be able to do it in a centre - but as the year progressed that possibility...
I love solitude, the difference between being lonely and alone. Nature and a crowded city both let me be - which is why I find them both very soothing to my soul. I enjoy watching movies alone, eating by myself, going to cafes on my own. Best of all, I like to travel alone becaus...
Let's start with THE NEWS of the day. Biden has won the elections in the United States of America today. Depending on which side you support, you are either relieved or disappointed. For the most part majority of the population is happy that the election rigmarole is all behind u...
One's progress in childhood is marked by how soon you can answer the question, 'What's your name?' And if you are also aware of your parent's names - you are going places.
As a newborn baby, you are utilizing your five senses to the fullest. Your understanding of your mom is thr...
I just finished watching, 'The Queen's Gambit' on Netflix, based on a novel by Walter Tevis. To summarize, it's about an orphan who is a chess prodigy and how she battles the demons of her mother's death and wins at chess - dealing with drugs, addiction, loneliness.
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Yesterday I stumbled upon some old hard drives from my London days and beyond. I ended up watching videos of events/moments/experiences that had a meant a lot to me at some point - and now are only memories.
My friend's hen night, Mine and Adam's dance performances, Dance partie...
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...
I am participating in a hackathon this week - called Give Back Hack(https://givebackhack.com/). In essence, it's about a group of strangers coming together to launch a business by the end of it. The caveat is that the company has to have a social impact.
I chose to work with ...
Meditation, Spiritual, Journey, Self, Isha, Tolle, Yoga, Consciousness, Presence - these have become buzzwords today. Almost everybody I know is aware of these things even if they are not actively practising. There is an aura or mystery around the whole spiritual journey which fe...
Saying YES to the moment is a buzzword these days. Surrender to what is will ring true if you are on a spiritual or self-growth path. And like anything profound and straightforward - we have managed to complicate it because we think with our minds. Our mind is flawed when it come...
"I certainly do not think. Hence, I hear the words that come out of my mouth at the same time as you hear them. This means that there is nobody teaching anybody here."
This is what Eckhart Tolle says to his audience in one of his retreats. It is funny when you hear it the first ...
Imagine you have gone to watch a fantastic play in a lovely theatre. The actors are supposed to be so good that it's almost life-like. It is a very engaging drama with all the trials and tribulations of human life that we all go through in our real lives.
Now, let's suppose that...
How many of us daydream every day to escape from our daily grind? Imagining about writing a novel, buying your dream house, creating a reading nook in your home, your job as a CEO, your successful business, having kids, going to exotic places for vacation.... the list is endless....
I recently saw the movie, 'Stand and Deliver' based on the real-life story of Jamie Escalante, a math professor. He is famous for teaching calculus to high school students in Garfield High School in East LA. Most of the students are of Hispanic origins who passed the test.
There...
I had given a talk to OSU - MBA students last year. And one of them asked me a question, 'I have seen the movie Dangal in which Aamir Khan had to fight with society and sometimes even his daughters to make them into national wrestling champions. I want to know how the experience ...
Have you ever been in a situation in your life where it felt like 'THE End Of The World'? Like, nothing would be ever right in your life again. What will people think of you? How will you ever get out of bed and face life again?
And here you are, reading my blog hale and hearty ...
All of us have been part of at least one of the following scenarios.
SCENARIO 1: Seen a kid, niece or nephew and commented on how much they have grown? - 'Oh My God - she has grown so much.'
SCENARIO 2: An uncle, aunt or somebody older than you comment on how much you have gr...
I just finished watching a movie called 'Is Love Enough? SIR' by Rohan Gera. It is a love story set in Mumbai revolving around a prosperous guy who falls in love with his maid. There is a scene where his friend says, 'You cannot date your maid.' The guy responds with, 'Keep that ...
Adam and I were walking with Aki - our fabulous Shiba Inu pup one day. It was a hot summer day, and Aki was dragging his feet. We ran into another couple with their Shiba Inu pup. We exchanged notes, and they continued walking with their white Shiba Inu pup leading the way, happi...
'Stay hungry, Stay foolish' is a quote from Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford in the year 2005.
As per Quora, it means that one should never be content with what is, nor consider oneself an expert. There is always more to do/gain ("stay hungry" for knowledge) and m...
Before 2020 I was living my regular routine - going to work, getting things done and accomplishing the goals I had set for myself. I also spent a considerable amount of time with Wild Tiger Tees. Wild Tiger Tees is a social enterprise which Adam, I and three of our friends formed...
Do you remember something you wanted as a child? A toy, teddy bear, candy. And what about now? Do you still want it? Do you remember the first time your heart broke over love? Do you still feel the same angst? Do you remember the time when you fell as a child? Do you still have t...