Rahul Desai's Blog

History repeats itself. Earlier today, in the evening, I was sitting at home sipping the best coffee in the world (I made it); and it suddenly felt if I was getting back to my good old routine.

Well, talking of ‘repeating’, the only thing in common was the coffee in the evening and The Economic Times – Editorial page. But that too was good enough for me to plunge into the days in Bhopal. I can still remember how I finally grew the habit of reading The ET, thanks to Raghu (CEO, iBranch.in). The better, I am now at this new home (/house/flat/apartment) of mine with absolutely no looking back.

So I landed up at the spiritual column - ‘Cosmic Uplink’. Although the article could've been more interesting compared to regular ones, this one part of it made great sense to me:

“…the pursuit of atmasuddhi involves freedom from all aspects of one’s past and present, which have the effect of sullying his soul, reflected in unnatural developments or situations, obstacles, shallow relationships, fruitless transactions and such irritants, which most persons are heir to.”

Munch the rest of the article at this link.

• Like this Blog? Share it with your followers on Twitter. Tweet
• Would you like to read more? Recieve review updates via Email.
• Like what I write? Tell your friends on Facebook.
  

There was this note from Khushboo on Facebook some time back about listing fifteen books (in really short span of time with some other wacky (whacky?) ‘rules’). One of the rules talked about listing ‘the first fifteen books I’ve read’. One, it was real hard remembering fifteen book titles, let alone having read them. Two, what's the point?

Anyway, so here’s the list of first fifteen book-titles I could recall. I’m afraid I haven’t completed reading them all, but that’s not mentioned as mandatory in the ‘rules’. So I’m good. Here’s the list. (Oh, here are the ‘rules’ for the convention sake.)

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List fifteen books you've read that will always stay with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in less than 15 minutes. Tag friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 15 picks, and tag people in the note - upper right hand side).

1. Bedtime Mailbox - Dr A Bakthavatsalam
2. Being Indian – Pavan K Varma
3. Buddha, His Life and Teachings - Osho
4. Business Lessons for Entrepreneurs - Mark D Csordos
5. Company of Women - Khushwant Singh
6. Death at My Doorsteps - Khushwant Singh
7. Dhirubhaism - A G Krishnamurthy
8. Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat
9. From Sex to Superconsciousness - Osho
10. Gandhi: A Sublime Failure - S. S. Gill
11. Ganghi, Gandhism and the Gandhians - Thomas Weber
12. India Unbound - Gurcharan Das
13. Indian Muslims – Where Have They Gone Wrong? - Dr Rafiq Zakaria
14. Notes to Myself – Hugh Prather
15. Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
16. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin S. Sharma
17. Train to Pakistan – Khushwant Singh
18. Wings of Fire - Dr A P J Kalam

(Oops! That makes it eighteen. Chuck the rules!)

• Like this Blog? Share it with your followers on Twitter. Tweet
• Would you like to read more? Recieve review updates via Email.
• Like what I write? Tell your friends on Facebook.
  

Article title courtesy: Symantec Road to Cutting Edge ’09.

The big difference being, when I write ‘Road’ I actually mean ‘Road’. Lately with my highly conscious efforts to get into some good shape (other than ‘round’ shape), I had to make some serious commitments. One of that happens to be my daily (evening) visit to Air Life Studio (the gym) around 7 PM.

I now know what they mean when they say ‘road to success is not easy’. My 3 km journey from my current residence to the gym is ‘that same road’ they’ve been talking about. While I can be home in less than 5 mins on my way back, reaching the gym during the evening peak-hours takes me at least 25-30 mins. ‘Deadlock’ jams at Parihar Chawk traffic signal (one of the most prominent, busiest, narrowest junctions of Aundh suburb) starts testing my patience and willpower. If waiting at the signal for ages and crawling at less than 10 kmph were not enough, the other day a bicycle-rider gladly slipped through small gaps, bumped onto the pedestrians’ path to ‘cycle-track’ and disappeared. While I was still stuck in the traffic at the same place and envying  thinking how lucky he was, he passed back in the opposite lane – probably done with his work (out).

Pune. Poona. The cultural capital of the state of Maharashtra. IT-hub, Auto-hub, and what not. So where do we stand as citizens of such a significant city? Even after overnight facelift of the city (God bless Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 committee) the situation isn’t that different. With new wider roads, we have wider traffic jams. Honking seems to be a habit, and people seem to get some blissful pleasure in blowing horn even during a normally moving traffic. I was once reading this age-old article in Times of India and I’m afraid the situation is no better.

Stepping out to the city streets is a courageous task. And after all this struggle, you don’t just reach the gym - you practically achieve ‘Nirvana’ every day.

• Like this Blog? Share it with your followers on Twitter. Tweet
• Would you like to read more? Recieve review updates via Email.
• Like what I write? Tell your friends on Facebook.