The Punching Bag

If you toucha my leader,  I will breaka your face!!!

Here is the story

Lesson learnt: Think twice before slapping someone, especially the politicians - or else turn yourself into a punching bag! If you are still pissed off, join Anna's team.

Enchanting Nepal

There was no lengthy planning involved- we just made up our minds one day to go to Nepal. A decision we will never regret. The trip was organized by a recognized travel agent in Qatar and they did a splendid job - pick up at the airport, stay at 5 star hotels at Kathmandu and Pokhara and a guided sightseeing tour. The only additional item not included in the package was our decision to fly to Mt. Everest. And that turned out to be the best part!

The trip from Kathmandu to Mt. Everest was on a Beechcraft serviced by
Guna Airlines. It was a sunny day (we were lucky, a hint of fog and the flight would be cancelled!) . We were amused ( and nervous too) after seeing the pilot himself doing the maintenance check before take-off! The Beechcraft had only 16 seats  with a window seat guaranteed for each passenger- no wonder, the aircraft was so small that we had to stoop to enter. The real bonus was when the pilots invited us into the cockpit one by one to show us the mountain range, especially Mt. Everest and Mt. Gowrishanker- it is not every day that we get a chance to be in a flight's cockpit with the pilot and the co-pilot giving a running commentary! Anyways the kids loved it.

A view of the flight's interior.










The view of Mt. Everest from my window was nothing short of a feast for the eyes!

 I would definitely urge everyone reading this post to make a trip to Nepal. It is cheap and Indians do not require a visa! Bon Voyage! Scroll down to see a few more pictures.








Kumari, the living Goddess of Nepal will make her scheduled entrance from the middle window

At the palace in Bhaktapur 

 The serene Phewa lake

Where the Nepali kings bathed once upon a time!

Davi's Falls

Stopping to pick up a few souvenirs..

                                                    The thunderbolt!

                                                     
                                                    View from the hotel at Pokhara

Are we truly educated?

We all go around in a mad rush to acquire degrees and certificates to prove our knowledge. But have we become truly knowledgable with these acquisitions? What is the use of education if that does not help you to develop yourself as a good human being? As Mark Twain puts it "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". What do you think?

Key to change

It is said that change is the only constant in life. And no one could have said it better than Heraclitus.

As part of a training programme for managers while the company (Almarai in Saudi Arabia, my former employer) was going through a process of re-engineering, I was introduced to a book on change management "Who moved my cheese?" written by Dr. Spencer Johnson which made a profound impact on the way I worked and allowed me to embrace change with a lot more enthusiasm than I did before. As part of the training programme, we were split into groups of six each and made to make a presentation on how we perceived Sniff and Scurry, the central characters in the book. It was a memorable day for me when I got up to address an audience in excess of a 100 company employees and made my case. If you have not read this book it is high time that you grabbed your copy now as I feel that it is one of the best motivational books I have ever read. Another author who made a similar impression is Robin Sharma (sign up to get a free copy of his "Stunning Success" here)

But when we come to the basics, the key to change is to just let go of our fear. Hope you agree.

Watercolors

I have been fascinated, for quite some time now, by the magic which can be created by watercolors and oils. I was amazed by the art works of Indian artists like Milind Mulick, Girish Chaudhary etc to name a few. After having a look at their paintings I thought I will take a shot at it just for the fun of it. Here is one of my first paintings - it has its limitations but it is a humble beginning - like the Chinese proverb goes, every journey starts with a single step - I am posting this here so that I can compare it with my future attempts and guage my evolution as an artist - if at all I become one! The reference photo can be found on flickr, courtesy Bahman Farzad. Your comments are welcome and have a nice day ahead!

Refining our judgements

Today's post is on charity and whether the consequences of making no judgments are worse than the consequences of sometimes making the wrong ones. Theodore Dalrymple makes a clear case and I would urge you to read the article here. It definitely made me look at charity and the institutionlisation of charitable acts in a different light. The original post was made by Ramana in his blog which I read on a daily basis. What do you think? Please post your comments and views.

The 20p rice

How many of us (I refer to those who are in white collar jobs now) have actually gone hungry at some stage in life? Do we still keep grudges and resent the people who did not help us in a crisis? Do those feelings restrict us from doing good to others? I just happened to come across an article by the famous writer/director Sreekumaran Thampi on Manarama Online (you can read it here). It sheds light on the teachings of the great master Jesus Christ. To me he does not seem to belong to any particular religion, his teachings are for all. The Bible, Bhagvad Gita and the Koran teaches us all one thing: love.....

I think we all need to revisit the teachings of the great masters like Jesus, Mohammed, Vivekananda etc..

Read the article and let me know what you think!