Of Problems and Improvements

"The first man to hurl an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization"

- Sigmund Freud

We live in an imperfect world. There's a lot of disease, poverty, apathy, desperation,blah blah blah. Each moment is a challenge, full of both opportunities and threats. It's easy to get overwhelmed, its really easy to just 'give up', to sit and crib about the system, to cultivate the feeling of despair and to adopt the "Chalta hai" attitude. This is what Stephen R Covey calls being 'reactive'. You see the circumstances around you and decide that things can't change. You look at the enormity of the task and give up, not realizing that smaller victories eventually lead to bigger ones.

A big country like India has innumerous problems. There is widespread corruption, lack of education, acute poverty, poor infrastructure etc. Caste, creed and religion, we are divided along all these lines. Its very frustrating to get anything done. Running around government offices, trying to find the person who can "do something" is a daunting task. It can break even the most resolute of spirits.

Even today, with the advent of modern technology and the widespread dissemination of information, people are hesitant to take up the war cry. They may share your statuses on facebook and '+1' them on google, but in the end, the people standing outside the CM's office will be those directly affected. Of course the opposition party might join them but often, this does more harm than good. Issues are politicized and taken out of context. The poor protesters find themselves not only fighting the government but also their so called supporters. Harassed and confused the protesters give up and join the already long list of cribbers.

Martin Niemoller  once wrote :

"

First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

"

Internet activism has been a boon to all of us, but it has its limitations. People have to get out of their homes in order for things to really happen. So much can happen if all of us band together! This ad perfectly explains it :

Just being born in India doesn't make you an Indian. We need to earn this title and learn to be proud of it.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please post them below.

On a side note : I have reached the final round for TOI's I lead India campaign. Check out my profile here and vote for me if you think I am capable enough. You have to select 5 people and click on submit vote.
Thank you. Sudhanshu.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris.

 

The quest to find love makes people do crazy things. Madame Bovary is the story of one such dreamer who spends her life searching for the passion, excitement and adventure she hears about in stories but which seems to be missing from her mundane everyday life.

Charles Bovary is a simple and unambitious doctor who prefers to live a peaceful domestic life. After the death of his first wife, Charles marries Emma Roualt. Emma spent her youth reading romantic novels and imagining herself to be the protagonist of all the great adventures in them. She dreams of living a rich, luxurious life in Paris. A simple, unambitious and average man like Charles doesn't satisfy Emma, who becomes disenchated with her marriage and sees it as constrictive and suffocating. Easy going charles doesn't realize his wife's unhappiness and assumes that a change of air could do her good. So he takes Emma and settles down in the larger town of Yonville. But the change of scenery doesn't do Emma much good and she continuous to feel unhappy and disappointed. When Rodolphe, a rich young man tries to seduce her, Emma falls pray to his charms. She begins an illicit affair with Rodolphe, believing herself to have found love at last. Unsuspecting Charles continues to pay for his wife's expenses , not realizing that Emma's using his money to cheat him. Things move fast and .... well, I will let you find that out for yourself.

This heady cocktail of love, lust and emotions is the basic plot of this classic novel. Madame Bovary is a book that will tug at your heart strings from all sides. Whether it be the desperate for love Emma, the clever Rodolphe or the simple doctor, every character manages to make an impression. The novel can be classified as a romantic tragedy that explores the relation between dreams and reality. I would highly recommend this to people who are unsatisfied with their stations in life or even worse, their life partners (look before you leap as they say :D).

 

Reasons to read:

• The novel makes a strong case for the need to be practical in life. Every character manages to destroy himself in trying to attain an unattainable goal.
• The detailed character description and the intricate plots keep you engrossed.
• One of the best romantic tragedy's, its a must read for fans of the genre.

Memorable Quotes:

“You forget everything. The hours slip by. You travel in your chair through centuries you seem seem to see before you, your thoughts are caught up in the story, dallying with the details or following the course of the plot, you enter into characters, so that it seems as if it were your own heart beating beneath their costumes.” 

"Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers."

"An infinity of passion can be contained in one minute, like a crowd in a small space"

"Of all the icy blasts that blow on love, a request for money is the most chilling"

Why to Read?

In this age of movies and social networking, few people (if any) bother to read books/articles. Who has the time, they say. Who has the concentration and patience, I ask.

With the advent of Internet and the information overdose we all are faced with, most of us have developed techniques to skim through text and not 'waste time' reading worthless shit. However, this habit of skimming has reduced our attention span (so has our habit of messaging). When we read an entire article in a few seconds or we text multiple people at the same time, we believe we are saving time. Unfortunately, we are reducing our capacity for joy. How many of us can really understand Shakespeare any longer? How many can appreciate Wordsworth, Keats and Shelly?
The answer is few, if any. The reason is that a Keats cannot be skimmed through in one go, neither can Shakespeare be understood in one reading (except by another Shakespeare of course). Like jealous lovers, they demand your complete attention before they open up to you. Fickle minded us, can never get these pearls.

Schools and colleges are resembling factories more and more. Each pass out is only marginally different from the rest of his batchmates. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

So the next time you get yourself an A in class, think of the thousands of others classes in the millions of other districts , where people studying the same course as you, got an A. Would you still be proud? What makes you any different from all those other A's? If 17 problems of algebra are good enough to make you a master, what's the point of being one?

"That's all cool ya, but dafuq can I do about it? Kill the other A's? "

Umm, not really. There are ways to distinguish yourself without adopting such drastic measures. The easiest one of course is , read. Not by skimming hundreds of B grade articles on the net, but the good ones that you just CANNOT skim. Yeah, there are plenty of articles out there which will make you think. Yeah, you heard me. Think.

These are the kind of articles which are not often shared, which aren't posted on social networks because they are not 'easy reads'. They can belong to any category, to any niche. You need to find them and you need to read them. Why? Because you wish to distinguish yourself. Because they will change you, they will challenge you and they will make you grow.

Reading is an art that sharpens the mind. It gives you knowledge and knowledge gives you power,money, fame, life etc etc. It gives you a new way to look at things, it expands your horizons. Who knows, the next book you read might change the person you are, it might lead to a startup, an enterprise, an idea that might change the world? It might lead to an idea that changes your life. It might contain the answer to your problems.

Ps : Please do share any worthwhile articles you find as knowledge grows by sharing.

How to choose a good book

“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” 

-George R.R Martin

There are literally hundreds of books out there and thousands of authors eager to express their views. It can be intimidating for a first timer to choose that 'perfect book', a book that hooks them to reading, a book that expands their horizons and is comprehensible. 

Today, I will write about the art of choosing a book. There are literally hundreds of articles on this and every other person will tell you something else about it, here's my two cents.

1) Friends & Acquaintances - Ask the people around you who read a lot (hint : they are the ones 'hanging out 'in libraries and book stores). They will suggest you exactly the right book, keeping in mind you level and your aim for reading.

2) Your interests -  Why do you want to read a book? Is it for fun or to learn? If you want to learn, then why a book instead of a blog/website? These questions, while simple, will greatly help you in narrowing down your search. Not all books talk about what you want. Many would talk about similar ideas, but only a few will deal with the exact topic.

3) Reviews - Book reviews and user ratings are a great way to find out more about any book. Also, while reading a review keep in mind the kind of person who wrote the review. A teenager might not highly rate a book which retirees would love. Search around a bit and you will find a good review by a person with similar thoughts as you. Heed this guy's advice.

Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

“A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything.”

Some books teach you how to think , others show you how its done. Freakonomics belongs to the second category,

Economics is a field long associated with money and its applications in the modern financial system. However, in this book Levitt proves how it's more than just crunching numbers. Levitt arrives at mind-boggling conclusions simply by analyzing data using established economical methods. I mean how can one quantify the role of parents in a child's life? How do you predict something about a person just knowing their name. There are dozens of books on this topic, but few (if any) support their hypothesis and conclusions in the way Freakonomics does.

The book has become a well deserved best-seller. For me this is more a book about greatness than about statistics or conclusions. Dr. Levitt proves that adage, “Winners don't do different things, they do things differently.” Applying an abstract field ( at least that's what I thought before reading this book) like economics to real life situations and coming up with mind blowing hypothesis's shows how greatness isn't limited by conventional boundaries. A great economist is as much a philosopher and a scientist as a number cruncher.