|| Swanta Sukhaya ||

Greetings! I had heard about him from those who attended a great institution where he taught for many years. Well, now I myself got the opportunity to get into a learning program that was conceptualized and driven by him. That is when I experienced his teaching first hand... "Essentially, Liability is nothing but source of funds and Asset is nothing but use of funds.", he spoke in a gentle, measured and soft tone. "Is that all?", I thought... I thought he could read my mind, as he simply said, "That is it!" and paused!   It was a learning program unlike any that I had ever attended... He seemed to know what exactly we didn't know and what false notions we harboured. He seemed to know which insight of his would confuse us and to what degree and therefore at what moment to reveal it (and at what moment not to). It was as if a very complex question-processing engine was running in the background of his great mind. Somehow this engine was se...

Greetings! He had keen, playful and observant eyes. Although our acquaintance was few days old; we were speaking with an ease of old friends who have met after a long time. "Let me tell you the most important learning of my life!", he quipped. I was all ears. "There is someone who has been a Godfather to me and shaped my career entirely for two decades. I have no qualms in saying that he prodded, nudged, cajoled, pushed, intimidated, motivated and gave almost all growth opportunities in my career." I could see the respect in his eyes too. But there was a glint of sadness and a lining of wisdom. I was intrigued. "But, it so happened that the day I grew out of his shadow and into my own was the very same day he started treating me with excruciating vehemence. It went on for months.  Nothing in my life has hurt me so much. This just crushed me to the core.", He took a moment to glance out of the window. I held my breath. "And you know what? When...

Greetings! Let's look for a moment that has both happiness and sadness put together. Where do you find them? All one has to do is to look little bit closely at life turning moments. You will be surprised to find such moments in the points of life that turn a leaf in life... King Ashoka expected a moment of triumph as he overlooked a river turned red with blood of enemy. He sensed it, but he also faced a deep sense of remorse! A dichotomy of triumph! Famous people face this dichotomy of emotions too. While they are adulated by millions, they face the loneliness of not having a true and warm relation! A dichotomy of fame! A mountaineer struggles to reach the summit, he faces treacherous paths, steep slopes and draining exhaustion. The moment of reaching the summit brings exhilarating fulfillment as well as the empty dreadful prospect of not having any goal to reach! A dichotomy of success! A father of bride strives in all ways to get the daughter married. He tries to ens...

Greetings! We all are very good at putting up a face and hiding our emotions behind it. This ability has helped our ancestors survive. It helps in so many situations, right from winning poker to getting favourable international treaties. Look at most of the selfies and group snaps. If we can't put up a face properly, then there are filters to do the rest of job for us. One can put up an excellent show of having fun while the reality might be totally different. (I guess this is usually the case). We are also very good at using euphemisms, great flowery words. Look at most of the videos. The words spoken consciously on videos are also usually made up, politically correct and don't reflect the real intent as well as the content of what is going inside our heads. We all know it and usually take this in stride. But what if we want to go beyond and see what is going on inside someone rather than the facade that has been put up? There are many ways to do it and reams of lit...

Greetings! It is said that when life closes a door, it opens a thousand doors for you. I suppose it is meant to be said to those who feel down due to a lost opportunity.  It is a good way to console the sad, to uplift the lowered spirit. But I think the more accurate analogy is -  When life closes  a door, we should first look at the window of opportunity!  The door is the path trodden by others, which we too are following. If it was an uncharted path, then there wouldn't have been a door there in first place.  The openings and clearing in the jungle of life, are made by those, who ventured through them for the first time.  We merely follow these footsteps, when we too venture through the same. I think when a door is closed, it is the God's way of alerting us about the path that it would have led us to. So even if we do find another door (or nine hundred and ninety nine more doors, for proverb's sake), it may be leading us to the same place. If ...

Greetings! Peacock wields myriad colours, Turquoise, green, blue among many others, Dancing to the life as monsoon ushers, What would I choose - dance of life, or dead feathers? It is really a privilege to watch a peacock dance. The child like little off rhythm steps, the artistic movement of neck and of course the glorious fan of feathers! It is a celebration of life. Both, the life that is full to the brim already and the life that may be coming as next generation. Indian monsoon brings up the life in the jungle. The parched land gets the life sap it has been thirsting for since the onset of Indian summer. The grass seeds, lurking just below the veneer of soil, start germinating with valour. The sky pours, earth breathes out heady fragrance, flora springs up and fauna is looking forward to get food and water to heart's content. But what do we do? Do we assimilate ourselves in this dance of nature? Do we take time to touch and breathe in the fragrant earth? Do we t...

Greetings! After a long time I had dusted off my A R Rahman song playlist, with random setting. The first song itself evoked such emotions that, I could not resist playing it again and again. Ended up playing the song 6 times to get a feeling of being filled up with the meaningful lyrics, simple but heart-touching tune, innovative orchestration  and unique voice blends. This intertwined song seems to resonate with cosmic rhythm! The song is "Rehna Tu" from Delhi 6 movie. You can give an ear to it Here It is by far the deepest song coming from Bollywood about accepting someone, something,  someplace or some situation wholeheartedly.  It talks about the beauty of letting the others as they are and the complimenting nature of it all. No need to change, better, worsen,  beautify the others even a bit. Whatever combination they be, let them be as they are and that is where the "love" lies. I have seen 2 general strands of feelings in humans. One strand makes a p...

Greetings! Is there a very very simple test for evaluating and prioritizing any action, decision by anyone in any situation? I have been thinking about this since some time and came across a statement from a Respected Guru from India. He said, "Your life can be either an example or a warning for others, choice is yours!" I think the best test is asking a question "What would I want my parent to do if I was my own child?" So, if you are getting the urge to fight,  you can ask yourself,  "If I was my own daughter , would I want my mother to fight over this issue, at this time, with this person, in this way?" After this you may or may not fight. But the decision would have passed through the Self-Parenting Test! Or, if you feel like dodging a responsibility,  you can ask yourself, "If I was my own son, would I want my father to dodge this responsibility,  at this time?" After this you may or may not take up that responsibility. Bu...

Greetings! This blog post is my homage to the trilogy of "Back to the Future" movies. This remains one of the most watched (and re-watched) movie trilogy over years. The cast, dialogues and special effects are awesome. But what takes the cake is the beauty of an original concept that intertwines science, human emotions and plain old wisdom. And of course, I cannot think of anyone who would not dream of riding the gorgeous DMC DeLorean What struck me most was how Marty eventually finds out the pattern that has proved to be his Achilles Heel! The villain (Tannen) is shown to be a dumb bully. Sample this dialogue of Tannen that shows the degree of his dumbness - "Now, why don't you make like a tree and get outta here!" Marty the hero, is smart enough to get out of Tannen's way - most of the times. But, whenever anyone calls him a "chicken", the hero takes the bait and gets into trouble.  Tannen uses this pattern of Marty and gets him in tr...

Greetings! Human beings are driven by many cognitive biases, one such being "Recency Bias". The investment bankers and financial advisers have been screaming hoarse about it since long. But I think this has been a force since time immemorial and actually helped our ancestors survive. It is also a force that has made many of us miserable. The reason - our tendency to give too much importance to the recent i.e. "the proximate" rather than the appropriate i.e. "the ultimate". Imagine a lion is chasing a caveman, somehow the man dodges the lion and is sitting near a tree - catching his breath. And suddenly there is a rustling of leaves, movement in the bushes behind! What would be the first interpretation of this sound that would let him survive? Of course with all alarms blaring the mind screams - "LION!" And the man runs away and as he glimpses back, he sees a rabbit jumping out of bushes... If the man was chasing a rabbit, he would have...

Greetings! The little girl was bored in the bus journey...  and seemed little tired... Her brother (about 10 years old) was sitting next to her and the grandmother at the corner of the seat. The girl had played some version of stone paper scissors with; fought with; ate snacks with; sung songs with; complained about; then shared some secrets in the ear of - her elder brother. Grandma was already exhausted and was sleeping. Her brother started reading a book. The girl was now looking forward to put her head onto something... no not something but someone... She was looking forward to a lap or a shoulder to rest her head. But did not find anything and bent and put her head on her own lap... The moving bus made it very awkward and the jerks were making her get up. Still she would not sleep like elders, resting her head on the back of seat. The poor child kept on drifting into and out of sleep, trying to rest her head on her own lap but ending up with head hung between her legs...

Greetings! Mornings always bring on, Gentle caress of early Sun. Cool breeze of new Dawn, Stirring hope in souls around! Mornings have always been gentle and generous.  The pre-dawn movement among trees has always stirred the mind with subtle hope. The early crimson diffused light seems to have borne from the very darkness that it has borne to dispel. Guess that is why even though it surely dispels the darkness but it does so ever so softly. The way Arjuna would fight with Bhishma! Some evenings may turn the pallet of sky into a violent play of colours but I have never seen a morning do that. The mornings stir up life all over but in a non pushy way. Mornings have always been gentle stirrers of hope and they fill me up with it! I hope they do the same to you... I wish a good morning to the "Good Morning" and a morning that stirs hope in you! Sincerely Mine! Anand Kulkarni

Greetings! Most of us know that objects absorb some colours and reflect some other colours. For example, when white light shines on an apple, it absorbs all other colour wavelengths and reflects only red colour wavelength. If it reflected all light it would be a white apple, and if it absorbed all light it would be a black apple. Those who would like to see a beautiful (And colourful) explanation of this phenomenon, can see it Here . But what does this all mean? It means that what we call as a red object is actually absolutely a "non-red" object. Why? Because it has absorbed every colour except red and summarily rejected the red colour. The real colour of that object is a combination of all non-red colours! This means what we "see" is exactly opposite of the real colour of that object! It is funny how we go on grading the colours and commenting on shades while seeing only the rejected reflected light which is exactly opposite of what the object has absor...

Greetings! Have you ever thought how the world would look like from vantage point of a lamp post? Every evening you switch yourself on and see the same patch of land. Till Sunrise. (of course only till electricity is there or till the lamp can emit light). You have to be rooted in one place while others pass you by. Some vehicles, people and stray dog may come into the focus. But this association is quite short lived. Over the night there are a few blurry fleeting moments of life while rest of the time all it sees is just a patch of the road, reflecting nothing but it's own light. In life too, there are phases when our minds turn into lamp posts. In the day such mind is quiet while the hustle of life keeps going all around. But after the sun settles down, the same mind turns down in a gloomy way, illuminating exactly the same old memory patch. Sometimes right till Sunrise. On such evenings, the million shades of human emotions turn crimson dark and get lost in the se...

Greetings! "Do I look like a beggar to you?" bellowed the Sir. The bewildered boy was at a loss of words. He started trembling and I thought he may fall down. "No... Sir..." He managed to mutter while clutching the tuition fee money in his hand. The Sir had an imposing personality and commanding voice. Getting a seat at his tuition was considered to be a one way ticket to get into the "meritorious students club". He used to nudge, cajole, incite and drive students towards fending off and getting victory over those nightmarish adversaries of every middle school child. The deadly trio of Audacious Algebra, Gigantic Geometry and Sneaky Science. It was the first day of this boy in this prestigious tuition class. (And mine too). He was facing the wrath of Sir as he went to pay the fee with currency notes in his hand. The boy looked at the ground as if he desperately wished the earth to swallow him. He felt the glowering gaze of Sir in front and t...

Greetings! Satyajit Ray is a uniquely genius film maker from India. His last movie is also my most favorite of his films. This movie is named "Agantuk" meaning "The Stranger". In this movie a middle class couple is surprised by the visit of an old man, who claims to be a distant uncle of the wife. This man claims to have run away from his family in early years and says that he had been an anthropologist touring world over since then. The movie depicts dilemma of the couple, the joy of their son to find an exciting grand-uncle and the thirst of the stranger to connect with his family even though he is connected with nature more than anyone else! The entire movie is an experience that I recommend everyone to watch (Digital version of the full movie with subtitles can be found  Here ) A scene from this movie where this strange explorer is showing magic trick to children - has been etched forever on my mind. The scene happens when the stranger meets his niec...

Greetings! This post is specially for those who like music (especially the Bollywood melodies). Of course others too can enjoy this post (and music as well). Some Bollywood songs have such an amazing tune, that the मुखडा (The first paragraphs) behooves to be repeated in an infinite loop! I remember the song शोखियों में घोला जाये फुलों का शबाब... that used to be played often on radio. Those were days when radio was the most important electronic device at home. In this song as the singer (The inimitable Kishor Kumar), finishes the मुखडा as... होगा फिर नशा जो तयार,वो प्यार है... And one can't help but start again with ...शोखियों में घोला जाये... and so on and on... Don't believe me? Give a listen to this addictive song for yourself Here In fact, this was one of the songs which looped through my head when I got in 'zone' . I remember going through examinations where I could only remember that this song was playing in my head throughout. In life too, the...

Greetings! On one of my cycling rounds at the edge of city, I was greeted by a huge flock of sheep on the country road. There was another (even bigger) flock at distance. To me it looked like this one had wandered off from (the bigger) flock. There was no shepherd in sight and I stopped my bicycle in tracks and waited for these loitering sheep to make up their mind. This group took few minutes to wander but looked like hesitant to disperse. Perhaps these sheep were waiting for the sound of their shepherd even to explore the lush grass on the side of road. But there was no sound guiding them as the shepherd was not there.  I was curious now as to what would the sheep do? (Didn't have much else to do with sheep all around :-) ) Meanwhile the other flock had moved in a different direction but near enough for this flock to hear the tinkering sound of bells from the bigger flock. My flock... (by now I had formed a great connect, as the sheep were in all directions around my...

Greetings! Everyone knows that they are borne with genes from a father and mother. Every generation you go back this number doubles. 2 parents, 4 grand parents, 8 great-grand parents and 16 great-great-grand parents as shown in the pic below So in these 4 generations 16+8+4+2 = 30 folks have their genes in you in merely last 100 years (assuming 1 generation produces next in 25 years, or at least used to). Where does this lead to if we go say 20 generations (500 years) back, the number goes to approximately million! That is a million people's genes within you! These carry their nature, nurture as well as decisions they made as each of these had some effect on their XY chromosomes that made someone that made you. and each of these million had a million others if we go another 500 years back. That is 1 million X 1 million = 1 trillion people inside you... merely from last 1000 years! If we go further down 500 years it would a million-trillion and from the start of Calendar (A....

Greetings! Question is, "Is all that happens predestined? Or human beings have free will to chose?" A boy throws a stone. Does he chose to throw it or the strong thought to throw germinates due to a program in subconscious driven by nature, nurture and circumstances (including gut bacteria)? Most experiments say that the latter is true. The decision already happens and then the thought comes in to merely justify it. Read a very interesting compilation of such experiments Here . Imagine a magic(?) trick where cards written A, B, C are put in front of a person . They are face up. The person is told that she has free will to pick any. The person choses A. The magician says that your free will was already predetermined - he takes a sealed envelope from his coat pocket. She opens the envelope and it says 'You are predestined to chose option A '.... The person is shocked and awed to see that her free will choice was predestined!!! (Of course, if she chose B then ...

Greetings Mythological stories have always fascinated me. Not only do they shape a culture's world view but also give direction to individual if one looks closely. One such story is that of Sage Dadhichi who sacrificed his bones so that Gods can make weapons with those bones. For those who don't know the brave and kind sage - the short (and sweet version) of story Here  . Those with more curiosity can read the Wikipedia article  Here  .   Looking again at this ultimate sacrifice stirred me to write an ode in marathi त्यागाची ओढ असणारे, कष्टाची-फळाची पर्वा करत नाहित. हाडाचे दधिची , हाडाची पर्वा करत नाहित.  A lose transiliteration in English would be Hearts hooked to serving others, Give no damn to toils and prize. Driven like "Dadhichi" to their bones, They make no bones of ultimate sacrifice.   Sincerely Mine! Anand Kulkarni

Greetings! One Sunday afternoon. As i was just going into the blissful state where one does nothing, expects nothing and expresses only monosyllables... "Baba, tell me... tell me..." my 9 years old was tugging on ... "Huh?" I asked.  "What are negative numbers?" she at once grabbed the opportunity. "Any number less than zero is a negative number", i mustered a hasty answer. "What?" exclaimed the baffled child... "How can there be anything less than zero? If I don't have a chocolate means I have zero chocolate. Yes or No?"  "Yeah... you are right."  I was hoping to drift in nothingness by conceding beforehand "Yes... or... No... ?" She meant business. "Umm... yes i guess" I grudgingly pushed the sweet sleep back "Then what is a negative number?" She persisted. "It is on left side of number line from zero" I attempted, "I know that baba... w...