'Can you tell us how I get to the PATH?', I asked the nice lady with lovely curls at the travel aid assistance in Union Station in Toronto. We have been to Toronto a gazillion times and never visited the PATH, so this time I was determined, be it Sunday when the shops are closed,...
'Anu, I am bringing my son to Bring Your Kids To Work. Can I swing by to say Hi?'
'I told them that you were an author.'
'Do you see all these people in the room - they all report to her (Me).'
'I am bringing my daughter and son to work - and would love for them to meet you...
It is so heavy - how am I supposed to hold it with both hands, turn pages and snack on the side? Just holding it, my hand is aching. And the worst thing is that I have to turn the pages physically, and to add to the injury, I cannot just tap a word to figure out what the nuanced ...
It's been two weeks since my last blog - one weekend I was not in the mood, and the other I was fighting a cold. One of those colds that make you wish you were home - haven't had one of these in ages. Congested head, no appetite or energy to do anything, body aching - you get it....
I had dinner with fifteen other Indian women last week. It was a women's day dinner organised by a work group, and I was invited. Now, it was a novel experience for me in more ways than one. First, I cannot remember the last time I went out for dinner with people other than my fa...
Like peeling layers of an onion, some lessons also reveal their depths when you are ready. One such lesson for me, which I am unravelling now, is the dismissiveness. I cannot tell you when I started this; probably at a young age. If I am not interested in what the other party is ...
I needed to breathe - what I mean by that is, given the routine at work and need for diverse city life and food scene, we decided to do a weekend getaway to New York. Yes, I am a city girl at heart, and unless I see skyscrapers, hear sirens, and walk amidst people hurrying, I fee...
My friend and I waited two hours outside the Louvre for the discounted ticket holders to be let in. Once inside, we ran to the Mona Lisa section - walked from one end to the other. We confirmed that she was looking at us regardless of where we were in the room; she had no eyebrow...
A secret club that nobody knows about - because it would ruin your reputation.
I completed my first 30 days in my new role and met with the finance partner about expense pressure. She joked, 'Are you having fun yet?' I laughed and said, 'Would you believe me if I said Yes?' It w...
I remember my driving instructor telling me to keep my eyes on the middle of the road so the car wouldn't keep swerving from side to side. When I first started driving, I did not know where to keep my eyes, and the car/hands followed where my eyes went. Once I got the hang of dri...
I have a fascinating habit pattern.
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_dear future worry: I have met your cousins before. they all said I couldn't make it and guess what? They were wrong every single time. Signed - your track record._
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This is a continuation of the last blog(https://www.anumorris.com/2026/01/do-not-pray-for-a-simple-life-true-or-false/), where I said I would explain why I am attracted to Data, unwillingly, because it has qualities I want in my life. What I really want to say is that Software ...
Right, here we are, readers. I quite don't have a charming topic to regale you all with but having just watched a quintessential, terribly British netflix series called Seven dials I am inspired. Seven Dials is a novel by Agatha Christie that features Superintendent Battle and th...
So, the meditation I practice - Vipassana has two modes of participation, generally speaking. One is as a student, taking the course, and the other is as a server, volunteering to serve the students. All the courses are run by volunteers/servers - no money is asked up front. (And...
I have always been in a hurry - not sure why? Even as a kid, I was in a hurry to read books, finish homework, and play. There were times when I was content biking on the sidewalks in the noon sun, much to mom's chagrin, but they had nothing to do with my need for speed. So, one s...
Secret - is an adjective that means 'known about by only a few people; kept hidden from others'.
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_There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you._
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What I am realising ...
I went to the Mall with my parents, and on the way out, I hugged them both close to me - only to realise that their heads are at the same level as mine.
Similarly, I went to visit our neighbours from Delhi, where I grew up, and it's been a while since I had seen them. When they...
Female Voice: Last night, Mom had a stomach upset. She had the mutton gravy for dinner, and it did not sit well with her.
Male Voice: If she takes gas medicine, she will be ok
Male Voice 1: If you drank less, you would remember that you were supposed to pay the bill...
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_Instead of complaining, focus on gratitude when feeling underappreciated._
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Imagine you have had a great insight, an excellent idea, or a brilliant solution to a ...
You know when you hear or see something, and it comes back at you? I have a lot of things like these, quotes, books, shows, etc. And sometimes I don't realise that this was in my backlog until I actually see that item again. So, the Peaky Blinders show was one such thing. I have ...
The most important question to ask yourself in any situation is, 'Who are you being at this moment?' I can hear my professor's voice saying this in the Creativity and Personal Mastery course(https://www.theraoinstitute.com/) (CPM) I took at London Business School. The course is...
One of those days when I show up at the page and have no idea that is coursing through my fingers into words on the blank slate. It's been such a long time - for the past year or so, there has always been a niggling thought or a burning problem that I have been grappling with, on...
I re-watched the Queen's Gambit series on Netflix again. It is about a fictional female chess prodigy who tends to self-destruct despite her genius. It is a well-done series, great actors - one of those series which has integrity, so it hits you where you need it the most. Isn't ...
Even on grey or rainy days, the sun still shines. I was reminded of this while walking in London. A brief break in the clouds made everything light up. Over time, I started to appreciate grey, rainy days, and now I actually prefer them. My husband jokes when it’s sunny, ‘Not a go...
Imagine you are diving into the sea or any water body. After a specific time, you gasp for breath and must break to the surface. Then you take big gulps of air, and your breathing becomes more regular. You take another big breath of air, and down you go to explore, all refreshed....
Do you remember the time when you were young and older people told you, 'You will know when you are old.' And you ignored the statement because even though you knew people get old, you thought it wouldn't happen to you at a subliminal level?
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When You Take Care Of Something - It Lives Longer: Natalie Goldberg's Zen master says when she sees him watering an orchid he got three weeks ago at a wedding.
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_Once I realized the problem was not with you, but within me, I fo...
Integrity is such a powerful word. The dictionary definition is _the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness_. Just like everything in life, integrity has shades of grey.
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_An alligator tel...
Yes, did you know that unicorns eat cupcakes three times a day and poop glitter? When they are happy, rainbows appear magically, which they glide over. What a life! And as far as my cute nieces are concerned, I can even get a unicorn poop glitter-flavoured ice cream from their sh...
I remember that time when I realised that people who drink are not bad. And this realisation came to me quite late in my twenties, when I was in Phoenix sharing a house with two other girls. I remember walking into our living room one Saturday morning, filled with boys and girls ...
I am a paradox. I talk a lot with the people I know and consider in my inner circle, and with others, I keep quiet or talk enough to get the work done. With my inner circle, there is an underlying assumption that they will listen to me - they do not have a choice. It started as a...
I asked one of my female mentees, a manager looking to become a director, 'Why are you asking permission to become a director?' In my conversation with her, she was trying to convince me, or rather herself, that she deserves to be a director, while she needed to talk about what s...
I came back from one of my ten-day Vipassana meditation courses. These courses are run on a donation basis - either money, time, or both. When I sit (as a student) in these courses, I am served by servers who donate their time to the course. Every other year, I also serve the cou...
When I was in London, one of the Harry Potter movies was going to be released in theatres. I was a huge Harry Potter fan—I would drink tea at midnight to stay up and finish the book. So, when I knew the movie would be released, I had to go - now my friend had no interest, and my ...
I recently read Robert Jackson Bennett's fantasy murder novels - Shadow of the Leviathan Series. It is a nicely written series that makes you think. First, two books are out, with the next one supposed to be released in April 2026. As an avid reader, there are many things I love ...
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" This is a philosophical question and can be interpreted in many different ways. The questions that pop into my mind are - does it matter that nobody has heard? Does it matter if the tree is the o...
"If you think you are special, so is everybody else," Eckhart Tolle said in one of his talks. The first time I heard this, it shocked my ego because I thought I was special, and it hurt to know that I wasn't the only one. Don't get me wrong; I know we are all unique, but the feel...
We live near a retirement community, making for a long walking trail. As we were walking, we met an older man who started talking to us. He mentioned that he had to go to funerals, and he did not like them, but they were happening quite a lot.
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Here is a clip of humanoid robots(https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c5ylkyrkjnzo?at_campaign_type=owned&at_medium=emails&at_objective=awareness&at_ptr_type=email&at_ptr_name=salesforce&at_campaign=techdecoded&at_email_send_date=20250707&at_send_id=4401745&at_link_title=https%3a%2...
I read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. It is one of those books that tugs at your heart and has plot twists that keep you wondering. This book is about love, or at least that's what I am taking away from it. Here is a quote from the book: _You mistake love. You think it has to h...
I love Winnie the Pooh. I cannot tell you why, but it was later in my life, too. I ordered my first Winnie the Pooh from Disney in Phoenix, where I realised for the first time I was homesick—my first time away from home. Since then, Pooh and I have always been together. He was th...
So, in a long time, I do not have a topic as I write the blog. You and I will discover what wants to flow through me as I continue typing - Surprise! I will start with a surprise. A few years ago, I decided to surprise my parents by visiting them in Sydney while they were visitin...
I watched a YouTube video of a music maestro in Bollywood - Ilayaraja. He is a music director for films, possessing a natural talent so exceptional that he can guide people in real time. In the video, a violinist played a tune - and within five seconds, with some tweaks from Ilay...
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_We never really grow up_, _we only learn how to act in public._
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I was walking down the streets of Florence, Italy, with my friend. It had been a nice day - we had walked, people-watched, had a lo...
I just watched Department Q on Netflix. As I watched the trailer, I was intrigued by where it was filmed. It was hauntingly nostalgic, so I clicked the unmute button to hear, and I listened to the lovely Scottish accent, and I recognised Edinburgh. One of my criteria for selectin...
Imagine you wake up in a different city where residents do not speak your language, the signs are all in a different language, the people around you look different from what you are used to, the dress they wear is also different from what you are used to, the weather is different...
A long time ago, when I was living with roommates during my MBA at London Business School, I decided to run around Regent's Park. My roommate had told me to check with her the previous night, so I went into her room to check, and she was still sleeping.
Me: Hey, you want to go f...
'Give Me A Hand.' What does that statement mean to you? Usually, it would mean helping somebody get up, right? Now, what if a robot heard this statement - What would the robot make of it? It would be the literal meaning of unscrewing the hand and giving it to the requestor.
And ...
She said, 'I got 99 out of 100 in Maths.'
Her mom said, 'Where did the one mark go?'
That's the life of a typical child in Asia and India. With a population of billions, even one mark counts. There is scarcity everywhere. So, what does this mean for the kids growing up in the ...
I am leading a focus group at work titled 'Make IDS A Great Place To Work'. We were trying to figure out how to do that, and one person on my team said, ' Let's ask them what stops it from being a Great Place. 'My answer was, 'We cannot solve this problem.'
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Have you ever made a decision that did not make any logical or analytical sense? When the rest of society tells you that it has not worked, it is not working and will not work. They will give examples of people who made the decision which did not pan out. But, for you, it is like...
I just watched a nice movie—Rekhachitram, a South Indian Malayalam language movie from Kerela. Malayalam movies are one of my favourites, maybe because one of my first crushes was a Malayalam guy, but the movies are very real. When you watch them, you won't know if you are watchi...
I saw a video interview between a talented writer and actor on YouTube. The actor was telling his story - his first film was a big hit, and then he got a lot of offers. He looked at the script, picked the ones he liked, and made those films. But, four of those films did not do we...
My husband and I sat in one of the new Starbucks Roastery in Chicago, a four-floor building dedicated to coffee, chilling out, and lovely food. We had gone to Chicago over St.Patrick's weekend, oblivious that the river was dyed green, which was a pleasant coincidence as we hadn't...
A few days ago, I attended a week-long intensive leadership training. It was excellent, and I got a lot out of it. One of my takeaways was that leadership is a full-time job. You are always under a lens; what you say and how you say it matters a lot. Nobody wakes up in the mornin...
I was back home in India, talking to a relative on Skype. She looked at me and said, 'Are you going out anywhere?' I told her no—I was just staying in. She responded, "You might as well, as you are dressed for it."
We had a release over the weekend at work, so we had a call on S...
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_Every Woman Is A Rebel._
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I did not get where I am today by saying YES. I have questioned the so-called authority for as long as I can remember. I did what I thought was right, which was ...
I made an appointment at Best Buy today to install Google Chrome on my laptop. I felt so silly telling the technician that I wanted Chrome installed. After all, I am a software engineer who built personal computers during my time. A few weeks ago, after a Windows update, my Chrom...
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...
We had a Diwali Dance Party at our office last year. Diwali is an Indian festival that celebrates the return of a famous king (also a God). For me, it is time to dress up, eat good food, and hang out with friends and family. My friends and I did a Bollywood Dance routine for the ...
I am haunted - by some quotes I heard once, and they remain lodged in me until clarity arises, which frees them to flow through me. Some of those quotes are - 'If Budhha Was A Barber, Getting A Haircut Would Be Enlightenment' or 'You Cannot Travel The Path Until You Become The Pa...
When I moved to London for my MBA at London Business School, I was exposed to swearing a lot more. Up until then, I had led a very sheltered life in which swear words never made their way, I guess. My friend used to swear a lot, and she switched to saying 'Fish' for a while befor...
Chatterbox—that is how people would describe me when I was a kid. Apparently, I drooled a lot as a baby, which was a sign that I would talk a lot—and it is true. As a kid, I never stopped talking to people. As an adult, I learnt to behave in public and be myself in private. This ...
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...
Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of life. This quote came twice in the book I just read - Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. It is a weird book. It has a lot of death and unexpressed feelings as if the characters are trying to find out how they feel about thin...
In October of last year - I wrote this blog - The Importance Of Being Earnest - Did We Lose It Along The Way? - Anu Morris(https://www.anumorris.com/2023/10/the-importance-of-being-earnest-did-we-lose-it-along-the-way/). And almost a year later, my views have changed one hundre...
"It does not matter how well you played. It matters when you stop."
This is the quote from a movie I watched on Netflix: Lucky Bhaskar. It is a fictionalized movie about an actual crime in India by Harshad Mehra, who scammed the banks into giving him loans.
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I love talking nonsense. It's a pity it is not a common practice and is underestimated. Sometimes, I speak so much logic and sense at work that I must be loopy. And I tell people I feel loopy, so they must bear with me. I don't know what they make of it, but I talk nonsense.
It ...
As I sat down to write today, I could not find the right starting words. But the gist of what I wanted to talk about—where I am with my role at work—was clear, so I looked at my old posts. As I perused the posts since July 25th last year(https://www.anumorris.com/2024/02/am-i-r...
It's been quite a week—filled with insights. The writer's retreat(https://awritingroom.com/) last weekend in Hollywood, LA, was the beginning of it all. When a group of people who want to honour their creativity get together for a weekend in a room - it is impossible to come ou...
Why do we create? What is it in me that propels me to write a blog almost every week or work on a book? Writing a book is a massive undertaking - you get an idea, then you get snatches of some scenes, write some chapters, and then scratch most of it and write it again. All becaus...
I thought I would walk up to the bridge, have a couple of people tie the rope around my legs, dive gracefully like a bird from the ledge, land on a boat and emerge victorious from the experience.
What happened was just a tad different. The day we were booked to go, it was rainin...
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_In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you._
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Imagine a room with six or more people in it. The conversation goes like this.
Person 1: So, what else do we need from the Indian g...
I feel like I am sinking into murky waters of stillness. The outside world, with its humdrum routine and daily dredge of activities, is fading away. I am losing the energy to do the activities I thought necessary, like Wordle, log into Two Dots, and go to work. Even though the th...
A few weeks ago, I ran a half marathon. To be honest, the actual run seemed a letdown compared to the training leading up to it. So, this was my first time doing any kind of a run officially- I was a little surprised by how it unfolded. To begin with, there is a line for the loo....
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_Vulnerability is not winning or losing. It's having the courage to show up when you cannot control the outcome._
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For once, I have no topics to start writing this blog about, so it...
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_Photo of the lobby in the former Candlewood Suites_
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I sat in the lobby in the photograph above almost two decades ago and told my manager I was resigning.
I had been working on the project fo...
The past few weeks have been more reflective than usual. Refer to one of my previous blogs about levelling up in life(https://www.anumorris.com/2023/12/how-to-move-to-the-next-level-in-life/). It's like I am peeling back the layers of onion—and the onion is me. This blog explor...
_"There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you'd never be able to let go? Now, you're not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and...
I did not know this about myself—I let go of grudges by making the other party suffer, even if it is mock-suffering. And who else can bring this to light except my husband? Who knows which buttons to push for me to be a better version of myself?
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This blog is another variation of one of the previous blogs(https://www.anumorris.com/2024/07/body-and-mind-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/)—I cannot get enough of this concept. It is really simple—the only place where change can happen is NOW. By NOW, I do not mean this day, this ...
I ran this morning, prepping for my half marathon in four weeks. I use my phone to track my miles, laps, etc. I planned to do twelve miles today but set my target to ten miles on the phone. I wanted to protect myself from disappointment in case I could not make the twelve miles. ...
A few weeks ago, in this blog(https://www.anumorris.com/2023/12/how-to-move-to-the-next-level-in-life/), I spoke about moving to the next level in life. Now, it has been a while since I moved levels, so I have forgotten what I did when I levelled up—in fact, I am not even sure ...
Imagine walking 40 km (sometimes 50 km) every night for five nights on tar roads when the weather is 40C. The heat (104F) is one reason the walking is done at night, among other reasons like traffic, etc. So, this is what I did a few years ago—walk a pilgrimage south of India. It...
Love - so much more than a four-letter word. For some, it's like - what do you mean, Love? I have a life to live. For some, it is that magical feeling that will cure everything. For some, it is an image of what movies and books talk about. For some, it is what runs the world. Eac...
A couple of weeks ago, we were on our way back from Montreal and got stranded in Philadelphia. Three hundred flights were cancelled, and there were no hotel rooms. After being on a tiny flight with three seats per row, circling the airport for hours takes a toll on your tolerance...
We have a close friend who is a musician and a pianist; that was the first time I spent so much time with a musician. Those were my MBA days - so I had time to loiter in one of our residences. And it was on those times when just for a lark - I sang a Bollywood song, and he would ...
I am sure all of us have been in a position where we have been offended by something someone said or did—and even hours, days, or years later, we still get riled up. In some cases, we can remove such people from our lives, and in some cases, we cannot.
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I am watching a Netflix Series called 'Panchayat'. It is based in rural India, a bit like my ancestral village. Imagine mud huts, the Baaing of goats, rooster crowing, water from hand pumps, and people resting under the Banana tree in front of the temple.
Anyways, in this series...
"I am going to Chicago for a city fix..." I told my colleague just before the Memorial Day long weekend kicked in. It took a while for reality to sink in that I do not think of Columbus as a city. My definition of a city is tall buildings with only bits of sky visible, loads of p...
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 ...
My brother and his family are visiting India right now, and I am a little nostalgic because I am not with them. It is the peak of summer in India, which means time for mangoes and 'nongu', or ice apples. When my family was eating them in the village this time, one of our family f...
I have been reading this series of cosy mysteries set in the Cotswolds, UK, with Agatha Raisin, a fifty-year-old prickly woman, as the main character. I recommended this series to my father-in-law, and forty pages in it, he told me, ' She is not a nice person.' I responded that s...
I saw this movie on Netflix called - 'Laapata Ladies' roughly translated into 'Missing Ladies'. It's about rural India in the North where women, after marriage, wear a veil over their heads, cannot utter their husband's name, and follow their husband. Since new brides wear the sa...
I took a break for two weeks. In the weeks leading up to the break, I kept asking the universe how can I take care of myself more. And the universe provided - my husband was travelling for a week, and while I was talking to one of my best friends from London - she said why don't ...
Imagine an elastic thread being pulled at both ends - when the first round of pulling happens, it's okay; after all, that is the purpose, right? The second round of pulling is still good, but with more rounds, there has to be a point where the thread snaps in two.
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!...
I just returned from my Vipassana course, and this time, I was a server. For those of you unfamiliar with Vipassana, it is a meditation technique taught over ten days. I have been doing it for decades, and it continues to change my life. This time, I was serving on the course, as...
I have lived in Ohio for more than a decade now. And I still resist it - it's a love-and-hate relationship. I came to Columbus, Ohio, from London with a bit of resentment about the move. London, for those who don't know, is where people who do not belong anywhere fit. I don't bel...
Not have any expectations or expect them to be met. Yes, it's that simple.
In our heads, we come up with a scenario that should happen - it starts with a thought, and with repeated thinking, it becomes a reality in our heads. And when the universe/outside world does not follow o...
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...
As some of you know, I took on a new role at work and completed six months on Jul 25th with great appreciation for what I accomplished. So, when I found the words 'I am afraid of failing' coming out of my mouth, I had to step back and see what was happening.
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I meditate, journal, and breathe consciously throughout the day as much as I can. I exercise regularly, set my intention for tomorrow, and do a mini retro at the end of the day. I listen to speakers like Tolle and Ram Dass and have regular conversations about how to be a better v...
I Whatsapp-ed with my parents back home. They were at my cousin's wedding, so I got a peek/participated in the celebrations as the phone got passed to all my uncles, aunties and cousins. And, of course, I got to spend a few precious minutes chatting with the lovely bride, admirin...
'If you push something away to get rid of it - you are still in touch with it', says Ram Dass. Ram Dass was a spiritual teacher. But before he became Ram Dass, he was Dr. Richard Alpert, and you can read more about his fascinating journey at this link(https://www.ramdass.org/ab...
So, those of you who know me know I don't use swear words. I don't see the point - if swearing could work, we would have conquered the universe. Imagine when I found these words coming out of my mouth involuntarily - I want your blood NOW, you bloody sucker. And I have taken a pr...
I finished watching a Netflix film titled, 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahan' meaning - Where did we get lost? It seemed apt, as I have recently found myself wondering that, too. Well, I take that back - it has been a recurring theme in my life that surfaces its head now and then.
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Some context for what will come next: In Indian culture, the women (Daughters and Daughters-in-law) are expected to cook and take care of the house even if they are working. This has started to change a bit, but many older generations would frown if the women didn't do that. And ...
So, I am back home in India - in body, soul and spirit, I am complete. There is no other way to describe it - I am not a foreigner in India. Nothing is 'foreign' to me - I am not trying to figure out if this is the right dress, weather or food; I just am.
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_Pic of Chess board with the quote around how life is like a game of chess - you have to make a move to win, which comes with insight._
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I have been practising Vipassana meditation for more than a deca...
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_Picture that depicts 9 ways life has become boring - like being on autopilot, social media etc_
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I don't remember how old I was when I decided I wanted the corner...
I decided to give myself the gift of a five-day weekend instead of a four-day one, as I just needed it.
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_Man jumping off a train_
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I am pretty good at dropping everything when it comes to se...
Somebody at work was talking about rules, etc - and my response to that was - 'I follow the rules if I like them.' Everybody laughed, but I was serious. I do things if they make sense to me - now, don't get me wrong. I have lived in the real world long enough to know that some th...
As some of you know, I am in a new role. Fortunately or unfortunately, four managers have left in the last five years - while that is a problem in itself. An impact of that is that my team was left rudderless to fend for themselves in the corporate jungle. They did the best they ...
Your Joy Is Your Sorrow Unmasked.
The deeper the sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
These are a couple of lines from Khalil Gibran's poem(https://poets.org/poem/joy-and-sorrow) that refuse to leave me. The beauty of that poem and the above lines is t...
As promised last week, here is a snippet of our trip to Costa Rica. We went to a small strip of land surrounded by ocean, canals and forest called Tortuguero. It is named after Turtles which use the black sandy beaches of Tortuguero for the nesting/hatching session.
I chose this...
This blog will be a detour from travelling chronicles - watch this space in the coming days to discover my magical journey through the Costa Rican rainforest. This blog is about my current role at work. Believe me when I say it is super exciting as we will talk about a secret tri...
Right after the Tuscon retreat, I attended a writer's retreat - my first one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. How did I find out about it, you ask? This year, one of my goals was to get serious about writing. I had no clue what it meant, but I knew I had to do something about writing thi...
It's been a while since I blogged. Life got busy - after an eating binge in Toronto, we jetted off to Tuscon, Arizona for a delightful retreat with Alumni from a course I had taken at London Business School - Creativity and Personal Mastery. The retreat was like food for the soul...
Eat, Pray, Love and Eat More!!! That's precisely what we did on our weekend trip to Toronto, apart from hanging out with family. Food and family, what else do you need?
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By nature - for the most part, I am a tidy person. And that means I like to keep things where they are. I arrange things so that they do not look disorderly. I don't remember where it started. But, before studying for exams - everything had to be perfect, like my table, books on ...
I saw the trailer for 'Deepest Breath' a few weeks ago and added it to my list on Netflix. However, it took me a few tries before I could get myself to watch it as it has a lot of peril involved, and I wasn't sure if I could take the tension of watching the divers go so deep that...
Growing up, I would follow my mom or my grandmom to the local vegetable markets in India. And in India, they are street markets where the vendors would sit on the ground or have a small table (with wheels) where they would sell vegetables or fruits. If they had watermelon or some...
Imagine a situation where you are secluded in a remote location with twenty other women. The location is self-sustaining, as in you have your room, your bathroom - food is provided. All the basic amenities are provided. And for nineteen days, you do not speak to each other, keep ...
Bollywood Music was the only kind of music that existed in the world - for me. Or it had until recently. I grew up listening to Indian movie songs - either on the radio, cassette tapes, CDs, and now streaming. For reasons, I cannot explain, Hollywood or English songs never made i...
I had added 'Chimp Empire' - a docuseries about chimps in Ngogo, Africa, to my Netflix list as something that called out to me. And I ended up watching it yesterday. It is a four-part series, each about forty-five minutes long. It is fascinating to watch - given my default inclin...
One of my favourite quotes is - I was born intelligent; Education ruined me. And similar to that, there is another quote which states that - we are our highest self when we are born, and then it's all downhill from there. I am paraphrasing, but you get the gist.
Let's hold the a...
Consider this address
_Anant Apartment,_
_Opposite Asha Mangal Karyalaya,_
_Near Traffic Park,_
_68, Khare Town,_
_Dharampeth,_
_Nagpur, Maharashtra 440010, India_
Consider this address
_No 11, Carlton House,_
_87 - 125 Cleveland St,_
_London W1T 6PJ,_
_United Ki...
As some of you know, I had a love marriage and not an arranged marriage as per the traditional Indian family customs. It was not a well thought or planned decision. As in, I did not grow up thinking - oh! I want a love marriage. If somebody had told me that I would end up marryin...
'Do Or Do Not. There Is No Try.' - the famous words by Yoda have more to them than just dawdling over a decision. Before we peel that layer of onion, let's talk about decisions.
But a small anecdote: I was talking to my Dad about his summer holidays. They were a big joint famil...
I was watching the Indian Matchmaking series on Netflix. It follows an Indian Matchmaker - Seema, who trots around the world setting up people. In some ways, she is arranging marriages by setting up people. How she works is she visits the boy or girl - gets their requirements and...
Some people travel to escape life, and some to experience them. I am the latter kind of traveller. However, it wasn't always the case. At first, I would check everything in the top ten to-do list, so the trips were hectic but satisfying. And at that time, it was all new to me, bo...
_It was a bizarre day. We were in a quaint village about to pop out for a walk. The air was nippy when we stepped out. And the drizzling rain turned into a pi\\ing rain. And we squirrelled away under an awning. I was miserable but still enchanted by my company._
If the above ...
I found this new cafe in Columbus called Joyas - opened by a Bengali-American chef. And today was another one of my favourites - grey, rainy day, so I thought, let's check the cafe out and get something spicy Indian _ishytle_.
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I remember this one time asking my younger brother what he did do that day - and his answer was oh! I was just surfing for a couple of hours. And I was quite baffled at that time - since I had not realized the addictive nature of browsing the web. The word 'Browse' originates in ...
Most of us remember playing hide and seek as a kid, where everybody would hide except the one person who was supposed to find others. Imagine if you were the seeker and had to find others - except they could be anywhere in space. Woah! Right? Let's add another dimension to it and...
Aki - our Shiba Inu pup, and I had one thing in common, among others. Our snobbery when it came to others of our kind. Aki would stand at the side of the dog park and decide which dog he wanted to hang out with - and he would go for a run with them. And if they ran with him, he's...
I watched a video at work discussing the top five trends in 2030. And one of the sections in that video was titled - 'Follow The Babies'. It talked about how the world population has changed and continues to change. A few decades ago, it was necessary to have multiple children as...
There are times in life when it just hums along smoothly, with no significant humps. You wake up, go through your day and go back to bed. And then there are times when it feels like a storm is shaking your life ship. We have all experienced those, right?
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I just finished reading the book, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. And in case you are wondering, the title is not a CTRL C error but the book's actual title.
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'Keep The Drama On The Page.', says Julia Cameron in her book - The Right to Write(https://www.amazon.com/Right-Write-Julia-Cameron/dp/0874779375/ref=asc_df_0874779375/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=266149135190&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17003752409644412540&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hv...
While returning from Vipassana Course, I got stranded at Dallas airport. The usual reasons - were holiday time, the pilot was on a delayed flight, and the flight had maintenance issues, so they put us up in a hotel. Around midnight, they realized that the flight could not take of...
As I mentioned in my last blog(https://www.anumorris.com/2022/12/what-is-the-difference-between-choice-and-a-calling/), I completed a ten-day Vipassana course. This was a special ten-day course. And that means this was only for old students who have done the course before. And ...
I just came back from a 10-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat. I met up with a couple of good friends after almost decades on the way to the retreat. And they asked me why I attend these retreats - as they are more austere than spa retreats. They are silent retreats with no electro...
I had a colleague at work tell me - 'I watched your language's movie.' I was taken aback by the 'Your language' comment because I had to think about what he meant by that.
A bit of context: India is a small country with great variety. Every state has its language, culture, f...
'Your generation cannot boil an egg without going online.' - is a line said by a grandad to his grandson in one of the Slow Horses books I am reading right now. It is a great book series and also streaming on apple.
I read the book, but this sentence stayed with me for some reas...
I talked about Andor - Star Wars Spin-off on Disney with my peers. And being a budding author, I was mesmerized by the storytelling. I told them that Disney knows how to tell a story. Response back was - yeah, when it works, it works. And my instant reply was - that's creativity ...
Let me tell you a story of a young boy bullied as a child in South Africa in the apartheid era. The boy was born into a wealthy family and went to a traditional private boy's school. He does not quite fit in with his sensitive nature and dreams - he likes reading sci-fi books. An...
I recently saw a Tamil movie - PS-1 (Ponniyan Selvan - Part 1)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4qAQYlgZQs). It is historical fiction based on events that took place centuries ago in the south of India. In short, it is about a kingdom and how it retained or lost its empire. One...
Peeling The Layers Of The Onion. Let me state upfront that this blog is like peeling the layers of the onion, and depending on where you are in your journey of knowing yourself - you may see a different layer.
I have a little series of meetings at work titled - The empowered clu...
I had my team do a eulogy as an activity to get to know each other better and also get to know oneself better. And my entry referred to my fascination with morbid things in general. One of my colleagues asked me - what is the reason you are so fascinated by Death?
I thought abou...
Recently, I have been on a spate of watching shows or books about the 60+ in our world. The show I watched was - Green Glove Gang, a polish show on Netflix. It's about three 60+ ladies who are sort of Robin hood and also excellent heist thieves. Well, for one, they are super tech...
COVID-19, a phrase that the entire human population was unaware existed, has become a part of daily life. In our household, we managed to avoid COVID until last week - when my husband tested positive. And at that time, I braced myself for the inevitable of testing positive myself...
So, I just saw an adorable movie about a kindred spirit - Catherine Called Birdie on Amazon Prime(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPiztxYR9sU) (surprisingly). Kindred Spirit means - a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own. She is a fourteen-year-old from ...
'I want to play various roles - I don't want to be typecasted in one mould.' You will hear this statement frequently from actors in interviews etc. Very rarely will you find an actor who wants to play only one kind of role. The audience may love them in that role, but secretly th...
Boston was my port of entry into the US. After spending the first twenty-four years of my life in India - the US was the first foreign country I landed in. I spent about seven-nine months in Boston before moving to Phoenix. And I remember the feeling of never settling in - I neve...
This year one of my cousins got married back home in India. He opted for arranged marriage which means horoscopes had to be checked etc. etc. When the marriage date was finally confirmed, it created a buzz in cousin's WhatsApp chat as we are all spread worldwide. We were so busy ...
In Indian cultures, temples and gods play a significant part - almost sacred. My parents are visiting us. And to play it safe and not incur the wrath of angry gods, we decided to make at least one visit to a temple so that we were covered. We went to the New Vrindavan, Golden Pal...
Throughout my life - I have conquered things—from small ones like climbing a monkey ladder to big ones like marrying a foreigner or acing a test to win a competition. I have written books, choreographed dances etc. The list of accomplishments is never-ending.
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The last two weeks at work have been interesting. Every day there is something new - an important customer threatening to leave, a death in a colleague's family or a spam mail sent to a customer.
I also recently watched the Season 2 of Indian Matchmaking. This time for every epi...
I just finished watching a Netflix Dark Comedy - 'Darlings'. It is an excellent movie - I recommend it. Without giving away too much, the story has a revenge element. One person aggravates the other person so much so that person wants to take revenge. When I watched the movie, I ...
A lot of things have changed in my lifetime. From no computers to smartphones. From dial-up to Wi-fi everywhere. From arranged marriages to live-in relationships.
And some things have come full circle. From reusable glass jars my mom collected to reusable glass jars sold in shop...
I recently watched - The Lost World - Jurassic Park movie. The first movie that released in 1993. And I remember watching it in theatre and being horrified when the scientist leans on an arm to realize it is just an arm of a dead man.
Have you ever wondered how things always com...
I am afraid that my neighbours will find out - that my dog prefers their grass and leaves over mine. Watching my dog devour my neighbour's plants made me wonder if he thinks the foilage tastes better on that side. To be honest, dogs are far superior to humans when looking after t...
I told a couple of colleagues at work that my parents are staying with me. And there is a hesitant pause as they ask with a questioning look - 'Is that a good thing?' And one of my colleagues even gave me a look of sympathy - when I offered that they cook food - she said, 'Well, ...
I was talking with my colleague at work about the point of doing what she does? The conversation was about spending time with family and work. Her point was we do work so that we can do non-work items, but we spend so much time doing work that we don't get time for everything els...
My parents just arrived from India. The flights from India are super long-spanning more than a day with multiple stops. My parent's flight schedule was from Chennai -> Abu Dhabi -> Chicago -> Columbus. I diligently tracked it on the FlightAware app, which gives a real-time visual...
I was listening to a 90's famous Bollywood song - Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctJI7pCbxAo), whose lyrics roughly translate as - 'When we are new, why should our style be old?' And this movie - 'Dil Chahta Hai(https://www.google.com/search?q=dil+chahta+...
It seems to be the wedding season. We just returned from attending my cousin's wedding in India and went straight into an Indian wedding in New York. Now off to another Indian wedding this coming weekend. We may have a couple before the end of the year. It's one of those seasons ...
Adam and I had come back to Chennai early as we had an early flight to catch. And this was the first time in a long time that I was at Chennai home without my mom - and that, in other words, means practically rudderless.
For starters, we decided to do laundry and started the was...
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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As a kid, summer holidays were the highlight of my school year - a super long break where I could play as much as possible. I remember being outside at noon with the sun beating on my head, completely disregarding my mom's warnings about it being too hot. If I had a friend who al...
A few years ago, Adam, my husband, had won first prize in Give Back Hackathon - for social enterprises. And as a part of it, he started Wild Tiger Tees(https://wildtigertees.com/) - work with youth experiencing homelessness in the art of screen printing. We were about five or s...
I send many emails at work. I have to convey information, and some things have to be done by a specific date. I do not do this because I like to write (no pun intended). The primary purpose of sending emails is so that people read them. It is a means of communication.
The statis...
Our understanding of certain long-established rituals like Weddings has evolved as society has evolved. In India - weddings are a big deal. More than the actual event, it is a place to connect and bond with others. The best part about my wedding was time spent with my family and ...
I woke up this Tuesday feeling disoriented - like not sure where I was. And as I continued with my meditation, exercising, that feeling persisted. And when I went to walk Aki, it hit me that I was in Columbus and had just returned from a stimulating three day weekend in New York....
The lesson about mould (fungal growth) is one that we have all had first-hand experience with - right. I remember as a kid we had gone on a trip, and when we returned, we found the entire bread loaf covered in grey/blue/black things. Cheese is another such example. I am sure we h...
I am sure most of us are following the Russia-Ukraine situation. And that probably brings up a range of emotions from fear to outrage, disbelief to despair. For me, I cannot get over the fact that we have humans (like you and me) in this day and age who believe that marching tank...
We are all busy. People have so much going on in their lives that they have no time to stop and stare. You meet people on Monday, and the most common comment is that the weekend went by so quick. It can be personal stuff like kids, groceries, household chores, work stuff, or glob...
As some of you know, I have a daily meditation practice - and I follow the Vipassana(https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index) technique for meditation. When I tell people about meditation, one of the most commonly asked questions is, so can you stop thinking? Do thoughts go away whe...
WYSIWYG - is the acronym for What You See Is What You Get. In the old days of web design, the web page's appearance is precisely the way you see it in your editing tool. Of course, technology has evolved into apps and so on, but the acronym has remained.
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Tinder Swindler is a Netflix series that is based on actual events. Women find this guy on Tinder who charms them, takes them on private jets and later, at some point, asks them for money. And afterwards, they also get threats from him if they expose him.
Inventing Anna is anoth...
When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade - we had words and their meaning as a question in our English Exams. The idea was to write down the meaning of difficult words in English. I was an avid reader at that age, reading books above my grade level. I was able to do so by getting the word'...
Yesterday was one of those days at work. When I planned my day on Thursday evening - my Friday work calendar was a dream come true. I only had a couple of meetings where all I had to do was listen. So I wake up Friday morning, meditate, exercise and get ready for work. And when I...
I need a taste of my own medicine. The old saying that the advice we give others is often the advice we need ourselves is true. All this great wisdom that I spout in my blog is evident proof of that. So, today I decided to make that the purpose of this blog.
The advice that I ne...
'If everybody minded their own business, the world would be a better place to live.' I am paraphrasing a quote from Ramana Maharishi. I came across this quote a few years ago, and like all things with unfinished business, it stayed with me.
When you hear this quote - Mind Your O...
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...
So, I just finished watching the movie - 'The Judge' on Netflix. At a high level, it's a very simple story about a son who returns to a small town from where he ran away but comes back to defend his father, who is the judge. But what stood out to me was the human drama and emotio...
My dad was telling me about his violin teacher's car. Rats managed to get under the hood and chewed off the wires. And this happened so many times that he ended up selling his car. In a tropical country like India, this is a common phenomenon. Our next-door neighbours also have t...
I am re-reading Dune books by Frank Herbert. They are a must for any fantasy fan worth her salt. Like a true work of art - every time you read them, you see a different angle. In the book, there is a group of people called Fremen who thrive in the desert. They have stillsuits tha...
I was reading about this Indian Doctor in Norway. He goes to India, gets married and brings his wife to Norway. They have two kids, and the wife is having a hard time doing everything by herself and adjusting to Norway culture, which is nothing like what she knows. They get repor...
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...
This is the last of the blogs from me attending the Grace Hopper conference. You can read my previous two blogs here - Haben Girma(https://www.anumorris.com/2021/10/deaf-and-blind-but-harvard-law-graduate/) and Timnit Gebru(https://www.anumorris.com/2021/10/omg-what-is-the-wo...
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.
!...
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....
'I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but when I got older, I converted to narcissism' is a famous quote by Woody Allen.
He is more aware of the core belief than most of us, who harbour the belief that we are not in love with ourselves. The truth is we only love ourselves - t...
'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...
In the ten-day Vipassana(http://dhamma.org) retreat, Goenka Ji tells us a story about Kisa Gotami. Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savatthi). Her story is one of the more famous ones in Buddhism(https://en.wikipedia.or...
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...
When you read a book, do you wonder about the blank spaces around the words? Do you wonder about the blank pages on which the letters appear?
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When you enter a room, do you think about the space in the room? When you use the furniture, do you think ...
Have you ever seen a new-born baby? For the first six months or so they have no idea of who they are, they are not aware of their legs and arms. One of my nieces used to pull her hair as a baby and start crying - unable to tear her hand and stop the pain.
Babies live in the NOW ...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
Have you ever wondered why the CEO gets the corner office on the topmost floor? Have you ever wondered why everybody has to rise when Judge enters the room?
There is a distinct hierarchy everywhere - in hospitals, airports even in Restaurants: head chef and a sous chef, Pilot an...
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...
There is a lot of news about the suicide of the Bollywood Actor - Sushant Singh Rajput. It has raised questions on the powerful few who own most of the industry - which movies make it, who is the hero etc. Soon after that, there was another post from a singer stating that it is t...
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...