Dr. Kalam is an exemplary public figure not only in
India but on global platform. Though he came from a very humble
background, his ambition to realize his dreams brought him to
public glare.
He is a voracious reader and wrote more than twenty books. His book"
The Righteous Life : The very Best of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam' is the cream
of his writings.
The youngsters must read this book to get inspiration from a man of profound
wisdom.
Indian tradition says: Don't talk ill of departed people. With that umbrella rule, I like
to speak only the brighter side of Nehru and the posterity needs to know his
contribution in releasing India
from the clutches of British Raj.
Mushirul Hasan, former Vice-Chancellor, Jamia
Millia Islamia, in his scholarly article in a prominent English daily dwelt at
length about the lesser-known facts of Nehru. He says that :
Nehru was a voracious
reader: he read 55 books from May 21, 1922 till January 29, 1923 alone. He
delved into philosophy, and turned the pages of history to illuminate his
understanding of the ideas and movements, which stood apart as the catalyst for
momentous changes. In so doing, he looked through other people’s writings to
understand how simple, ordinary men and women became heroes, and how their
strivings made history stirring and epoch-making. Prison had made a man of him,
he told the Socialist leader, Acharya Narendra Deva (1889-1956), while they
were in jail for the last time in 1942.
Why did he write? Who did
he write for? He had no archives to consult; so he relied on his recollections
and on bits of information that he could conceal. He disliked being called a
writer, and yet, armed with a varied experience of affairs, writing became a
congenial occupation. Sometimes he didn’t write for weeks, now and again he
wrote daily. His letters from jail represented his moods and thoughts at the
time of each event; they were also his escapes from goal.
Nehru has a great love for roses and children. His
famous 'Letters from a Father to His Daughter' teaching about natural history
and the story of civilization to his daughter,
Indira is worth to be read. It speaks a lot about parenting and imbibing
values.
His other two Great Books are :
1. Glimpses of World History :
Written almost entirely in prison in the 1930s.
2. The Discovery of India : The book
is a hymn to the glories of India.
One should not miss to read these two epic books.
If you scan the history of civilization, the stalwarts the world over have writing as one of their core
inclinations. Because it brings out the
innate talents of a person and detoxify by facilitating to share his /her
experiences. Take the case of Mahatma Gandhi whose 'Autobiography - My
Experiments with Truth' has propelled his ideas and it is a timeless classic
for any generation.
A writer would stand alone in the sands of time
much after his life and continues to inspire through his/her books. What one
needs more than this ?
Cricket in India is a religion. A couple of
match-fixing controversies can't dull the enthusiasm of Indians on
cricket. Cricketers still wield
more power and respect than politicians and film stars.
Among the sports fraternity, cricket is simply not
a crowd puller but money mint for organizers.
November, 6, 2014 would be etched in the
memory of Nation ! This Jewel of Bharat (Bharat Ratna) -
Sachin Tendulkar released his book " Playing It My Way : My
Autobiography " . The charisma of this Cricket God helped
a record sale of 2 lakh copies.
The book would give a peep into lesser known facts
of this great cricketer's personal life.
Sachin is completely a family man. His public
gestures always reflect this point deeply when he gifted a copy of the
book to his mother Rajni.
With the release of his autobiography, the public
life of Sachin come to a full circle. He is already in his 40s and no
longer in active public life which means he is bound to go into archive
memory of a nation which has given him every thing he deserved.
The book has so many interesting facts and incidents that grip the reader to
the last. Sachin proved to the world that before talent everything should
climb down !
Most people don't know that she is the mother of
celebrity Indian writer Vikram Seth. Late Leila Seth retired as Chief Justice
of Himachal Pradesh and wrote a book 'Talking of Justice'.
The topic she chose is raging with
controversies especially after Delhi Gang Rape incident in 2012.
The book is a medium volume of two-hundred plus pages giving a convincing argument
for the rights of women, minorities and other weaker sections/ communities.
In her book, she talked about how our laws failed
in dispensing justice to the common man even after the country is freed from
the clutches of British Rule. She brilliantly portrayed the existing judicial
mechanism in the country and what ought to be done in gender-sensitizing
the judiciary, reforming the police and changing the social attitudes of
people.
A must read book to know the ground reality on the judicial front of the world's largest democracy.
He is an essayist, lecturer, and poet who spearheaded the
Transcendentalist movement in the mid-19th century. Being a champion of
individualism, Emerson inspired countless people through his writings
and public lectures.
The other luminary is Henry David Thoreau
when he met Emerson, he was asked 'Do
you keep a journal ? In fact, that question went on to be a
lifelong inspiration for Thoreau who churned out masterly works like 'Walden'
etc.
My favourite quotes of Emerson:
- Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.
- Write it on your heart that every
day is the best day in the year.
- What lies behind you and what lies
in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
- What is a weed ? A plant whose virtues
have never been discovered.
- Though we travel the world over
to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
- Nature and books belong to the eyes
that see them.
I am terribly inspired by reading some
inspiring works of Emerson. The depth of his thought stirs you into
contemplation. His literature is freely available on internet at http://www.rwe.org
A few
years ago, one popular English news magazine in India carried
a story regarding display of royal Indian jewels across the world.
The story further added six royal style
icons and their jewelry that made news.
Top on the list is Maharani Gayatri Devi
who was admired for her charm and beauty and featured in the list of Vogue's Ten Most Beautiful Women of the World.
Natural beauty attracts instantly. When such beauty is from royal
family, the curiosity doubles. Exactly
the same happened in 2004 when I saw a review of the book " Rajmata Gayatri Devi.....
Enduring Grace by Dharmendar Kanwar, published by Roli Books.
Roli Books brought out the book in celebration of their 25 years
in the publishing business. The book is a collector's edition worth
to be read again and again. The author did a fantastic job in
taking the reader to the regal palace life with rare photographs of
queen’s life. The more interesting part
of the book is the twists and turns in Gayatri Devi's personal life
in her marathon journey of 90 years, enduring the personal
tragedies of loss of husband and son in front of her eyes.
Indira Gandhi had once described Gayatri Devi as a 'glass doll'. Being a Maharani of Jaipur in 1940
shortly before turning twenty-one, she played a key role in
emancipating women of erstwhile Jaipur State and bringing them out of the purdah.
The interesting thing is the author of the book, Dharmendar Kanwar is an alumnus of
Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls School which speaks her contribution in empowering women
through education. Reading her biography gives glimpses of history of
India beyond the personal life of one of the most exquisite women
on this planet !
The other day, on a sultry afternoon, I was out to
visit a book-store in the upmarket of South Delhi. The purpose was to spend a couple
of hours to keep myself abreast of
latest books in the town, especially in
my favorite genre - Self Help, Brain Power, Health/ Fitness, Happiness.
When I entered into that basement book-store, I
felt the ambience soul-lifting. The fragrance of fresh -print-books was
elating. The air-conditioned bookshop did not tire my legs when I snaked
through the shelves, sometimes standing to take a glance of couple of
pages of books and some other times bending my back to take a quick look in the
bottom racks. For a bibliophile it is like a pilgrimage in the new town which
I quite enjoyed.
The Book 'The
Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin is # 1 New York Times Bestseller in
2009. It is a reprint of 2011 edition. One interesting fact about the book is
that the author has spent twelve months test-driving the wisdom of the ages to
know first-hand of how to be happier. The cover flap depicts that she found
novelty and challenge as powerful sources of happiness.
Much before I saw the Rubin's book, I have already
embarked my own journey of happiness in April, 2013 with a dedicated note book meant for noting best quotes on happiness
culled out from the sayings of wisdom masters.
The main
aphorisms of happiness are universal across
all cultures.
While reading the book when flipped through the pages, suddenly my
heart-beat stopped for a while when I found pages 125 - 126 of the book
terribly torn . Much to my dismay, the succeeding pages 127 -128 also damaged
partially leaving no words to describe my agony.
I could not exchange the book as I wrote down my
name with date of purchase. The title of the book suggested me not
to react wildly. I stood silently for some time to come to terms. I thought what best I could
do to get over the situation is to subdue my negative emotions. Soon enough, I
pat my shoulder that I should not loose peace for the thing happened.
After a while, the solution was seen round the
corner. The Zen wisdom convinced me that
I should not worry for the things which I could do nothing. But I desperately
felt the need to vent my feelings , but how ? Suddenly I got a flash of
insight. It is my blog where I could pour out my heart.
Writing these lines gave me the much needed relief. It acted like magic pill to sooth my raging
nerves. I find that peace can not be either bought or brought from outside and
it is well within me. What I need is only to give a command to my own self with
love like a ring master does to a roaring lion in the circus !
- Aldous Huxley
In our present day education system, little stress
is laid on honing language skills. As English is the link language in higher
education in a country like India which is a mosaic of diverse cultures, we
must strive hard to build up vocabulary
as a never-ending process beyond academic life.
Nobody can master the vocabulary overnight. Like
Rome was not built in a day, building up vocabulary is an arduous process and
there is no short cut for it.
Some people may take a lame excuse that in routine
life we need not use more high standard words and that’s why there is no need
to refer dictionary. Their contention is that mediocrity meets the job. For
those lethargic souls, this is not the place to go further. But the credence of
vocabulary is realized by people who are avid readers. To write, you need to be
armed with befitting words to express different hues of emotions for different
occasions.
English is the world’s most liberal language and it
adds any local words to its cobweb to become holistic. Personality development
guru Tony Robbins says that ‘with words, we can make our noblest intentions
felt and our deepest desires known.’ Those who are sleepy to get on without
expanding their vocabulary must read these inspiring lines of Robbins “People
with an impoverished vocabulary live an impoverished emotional life; people
with rich vocabularies have a multi-hued palette of colours with which
they paint their experience, not only
for others, but for themselves as well’.
English contains more than a million words. As per
estimate by Global Language Monitor on January 1, 2020, the number of words in
the English language is : 1,057,379.6. Currently
there is a new word created every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words per day.
Experts say that the average person’s working vocabulary consists of only
between 2000 and 10000 words.
We must cultivate the habit of referring dictionary
daily like brushing teeth. It should be one of the non-negotiable activities of
the day. Once this habit sinks into your system, it will enrich your speaking
and writing abilities.
In computers, tablet computers and smartphones,
dictionary apps are replacing the physical voluminous dictionaries. Though this
digital substitute is doing wonders, the flavour of finding a new word in
physical dictionary is enticing for which we must have a reliable dictionary.
Finding difficult words and getting their meanings known should be a daily
ritual. The best way to remember the meaning for new word is to add some
emotional string to that word so that it would embed in permanent memory.
Keeping a notepad exclusively for this purpose would keep not only a
record for the new words we gather but facilitate to come back and forth to use
those learned words in our daily usage. Rich vocabulary is like party
wear which is a visual feast to the
onlooker!
One of the secrets to influence others is through
word-power and once you succeed in this art, the world would lay a red
carpet for you !
He is a lot for amateur writers like me. Perhaps, he is a brand himself in literary circles. His intensity to live a life of all hues inspires anybody. He is one of the prolific writers of our times with subjects as diverse as God to gossip and religion to sex.
Khushwant Singh is the man who could turn anything into his witty story with
eye-catching narration. I became his instant fan after reading his book “Khushwantnama – The Lessons of My Life.
It is a book of par excellence. This simple prose is a minefield of distilled
wisdom and a must read book. I equate this book with
Marcus Aurelius’s classic : Meditations.
When the news of Khushwant Singh’s death broke on March 20, 2014, I felt an
unexplained heaviness in my heart which reflects the bond he made with his
writings. What I liked the most in him is his unadulterated honesty and put to
pen whatever he feels in his heart.
You need to have tremendous guts to
write like Khushwant Singh. Most of his
writings are blended with high dose of humour. Somebody in journalism circles
terms his writings as ‘bullshit in art
form’. He is an excellent conversationalist. Perhaps that won him more
women friends which he equally enjoyed and transpired to the world candidly.
He is not a dirty man the way he accounts himself. He is a man of permeating wisdom.
He lived a fuller life with all his mental faculties in tact till the last
moment. His last wish was also fulfilled : To
die peacefully in sleep.
With utmost humility, I bid adieu to this grand old man who knocked out at 99,
but taught a fitting lesson t : Live the life deliberately !
Dale Carnegie is one of the foremost personality development gurus of 20th
century in America. During his time, Dale was known to conduct famous
courses on self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking
and interpersonal skills.
Now so many leadership courses are on offer at http://www.dalecarnegie.com/ and all the
current courses are based on the ideology of Carnegie whose books are
sold widely throughout India. His
famous books include How to Win
Friends and Influence people and How to stop worrying & start
living.
The above book is in fact not written by Dale Carnegie, but each chapter of the
book starts with Carnegie's famous quote. The chapters dwell at length on
the real life situations underlying the core management principles of Carnegie.
The back flap of the book says that the co-authors Stuart R. Levine and
Michael A. Crom offers Carnegie's time-tested human relationship principles to
demonstrate how anyone can harness creativity and enthusiasm to work more
productively. The book offers very rare insights of authors to
strike a balance between work and leisure. The book also guides you to
achieve your goals and increase your self-confidence and above all, the
book facilitates you to identify your own leadership strengths.
The interesting chapters on subjects such as Listening to Handling Mistakes
bring a total transformation in your life. It injects a positive mental
attitude into your life to achieve the goals set for yourself.
The crux of the book lies in overcoming your worries and tread a path to
success !
The whole paradigm of HRD revolves around one concept : How to improve the productivity of an employee ?
The company delegates this responsibility to Human Resources Department (HRD) whose job is to strive to improve the work atmosphere and mindset of employees through a host of measures to increase their productivity. Before anything worthwhile is injected into their veins, the first thing they have to do is, change their value system.
