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Art is such a personal topic, but somehow it takes us long to realise that. I always felt I didn't have an eye to appreciate it, to identify great art. And it took me many years to figure out that there is no absolute thing as good or bad art. Good art is just what in your own view appeals to you. For me, that is what speaks to me, what I connect with. Something that makes me stop and turn back for a few moments, to admire it. It doesn't matter whether it is 'considered' to be good art in the world or not. If it works for me, it is. For me. Of course there is a correlation between the two. Often enough, what is considered good art in the world will appeal to you. But not always, and it doesn't matter. You don't need to be constrained by what the world thinks. And this knowledge gave me freedom. To appreciate. To like or dislike art. As I felt it. Once armed with this realisation, I started forming my own opinions. And stopped being bothered with whether I wa...

There are a lot of non-fiction books which pick up a psychological or social topic and delve deeper into it. But a lot of such books end up repeating the same idea, from multiple angles, all through the book. And that is one aspect in which I found Rebel Ideas quite different. The author did have an idea to start with, but he moves much beyond the original idea along the book, which made it a lot more interesting to read (and easier to finish) than a lot of the other books I have read in this genre. And thats why I would recommend reading Rebel Ideas. Its written well and you definitely won't get bored 😊. The overall theme of the book is a case for diversity. In life, in organisations, in thought and so on. And the author gives reasons why diversity matters, why it is important, and also shares examples to show why it works better than not having diversity. I am sharing below a few thoughts in the book which struck with me... The biggest reason why it makes sense to have m...

Most people will agree with me if I say that today’s political world is highly polarised. We can see it across the largest world democracies, most notable for me being US and India, given my background. In US, this has taken the form of Trump vs an anti-Trump stand. And in India, it’s the Modi vs anti-Modi stance. What we are increasingly seeing are people picking, or made to pick one of two sides. And both sides then decide to stick to their ground of what is right and what is wrong. Come what may. It’s led to an impasse, as both sides refuse to even acknowledge the other point of view. And there is no way out of it, really. Honestly, both sides are to be blamed for this. Both sides feel like they are absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong. And this arrogance prevents open and humble dialogues between the two. You can see it when you have discussions with your friends. We continue discussions if the others agree with our viewpoints, but stop listening when they h...

If I have to sum up the movie in one line, its this line from this review  : 'Thappad' is not just a film aimlessly ranting about borderline domestic violence; it brings to light the years of conditioning that a woman is subjected to by her own family and the society that she lives in. The story of the movie is very simple. It starts with showing the life of a woman, Ammu (Tapsee Pannu) who is a housewife, married to a loving husband and living with her mom-in-law. She seems to have a  comfortable and contented life. Then one day at a party, when her husband is angry and drunk, he slaps here. It makes her think, and she decides to end her marriage. She faces the typical response you would expect to such a step, from her husband, from her in-laws, her mother, her brother and even her lawyer. Only her father and brother's girlfriend understand her initially. That it was not 'just a slap'. And it is not the right (even if convenient) way to forget it and move on. S...

Its the time to stop being silent and say something... What is happening in the country today is scary, at more levels than one. And it has forced more and more people to get out and speak up. Leading them of course are the students across the country. But things have to be really messed up for South Delhites, Bombayites, IITians, WIMWIans to protest (I know them all 😋). And things really are... Here are my thoughts why I think what is happening in the country is very scary, and does not bode well for the future: Polarisation of society: We've heard this for a long time, that Modi and his government has polarised society. I did not really get this for a long time, but now I am starting to understand what it means on the ground. Our society is split, into the ones who are pro-BJP and the ones who are anti- BJP. A lot of people are no more capable of looking at an act on its merit anymore. So either you support the govt, whatever they do. Or you don't, whatever they do. ...

Upheaval is a non-fiction book, which uses a 12 factor framework for understanding how nations react to and cope with crisis. It includes factors like acceptance, national identity, historical experience, national core values, getting support from others and so on. The framework is quite similar to how humans react to crisis, but with modifications given how nations may be different from humans. And the author uses this framework to analyse some huge historical as well as future crises faced by or being faced by some major countries in the world. To be honest, I am not a a fan of the framework, as I found it was being force fit to each of the situations. And it got a bit repetitive too, when every situation was being discussed within the same structure. But I loved reading about how all these different countries dealt with these crisis, based on their own unique experiences, Reading about these events also enhanced my knowledge of global history, but from a different perspect...

The first time I had come across something real from the India-China War of 1962 was around 1997 when I spent a considerable amount of time in Arunachal Pradesh. I heard stories from people around, how terrible the war had been for India, how bravely the soldiers had fought for India but lost their lives and so on. Even till the 90s, there were times people would find bunkers with skeletons of soldiers with guns still in their hands. And I also knew we had lost the war badly and it had been an utter defeat. I had also heard anecdotally that India had kept poking unilaterally at China with small border skirmishes and China had attacked India just to teach her a lesson. And so after the war, they had retreated unilaterally, giving back all the land they had taken during the war. But I never believed it. India has always been a peace-loving nation, we could have done nothing wrong?! Of course it was China which was the aggressor and bully. And so I thought (or preferred to think!). Bu...