PANKAJ

Why anger? How does it come into being? Is it always bad and is it only bad? What role does it play in our lives? Anger surely is a curious case in more ways than one could think of. My curiosity to understand anger and an attempted response to one of my friends' poems made me write this poem on anger (https://vaishnaavi.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/anger/) Anger It deprives you of oxygen like poison..... It burns you like fire !! Maybe....it's the weapon of destiny For......it may make you do what you never desire! Or maybe it is a litmus test of your character... For......a moment of rage can destroy what all you acquire Only the finest of men can withstand and justify.... While a lot of them might still acquire! Control and composure is what it simply demands.... For......a word ill spoken may invite undue ire! Most potent it is.... just a moment of it can materialise.... What takes fate......eons to conspire!! Even Gods aren't immune to it... It's as fundamental as lov...

Why do I post blogs with the title “curious” when it could very well be “obvious” for many readers? :) Here’s the heart-felt answer From curious to obvious, And from obvious to curious.. Learning and unlearning is a journey, Beautiful but arduous! To share the same with you all, An experience rewarding and joyous! Finding answers, and at times finding questions A cyclic process from time immemorial, To the zero ubiquitous... Trespassing my mind daily, thoughts a million Trying to capture them, an attempt very audacious Few caught, many forgotten Left behind, a trail very gorgeous!

               With great power comes great responsibility. Same goes for privileges! Freedom definitely is enjoyed by all but the interesting question is, is freedom genuinely understood and valued by all? More importantly, is it well interpreted by all in the first place? Welcome to another blog in curious case series. All of us need freedom right….it’s after all a basic human right. History has many unsettling incidents of how tormentors did atrocities to people often defying them their freedom. Many countries including India have won its freedom after enormous bloodshed over very long period of time which makes freedom a huge privilege and also a matter of great responsibility. We are highly privileged to be living not only in the era of freedom, but also in the era of technology. Internet, which once was a luxury is now in everyone’s pocket. Freedom + Internet in today’s world is pretty much any one might ask for to break free the shack...

Where there is a will there's a way...So all one should worry is about having will in place and will will find its way! Social media these days is more than flooded with material on realization, philosophy, psychology, brain hacks, productivity hacks, life hacks and what not. Not just books, blogs, articles, courses etc, there is also a galore of coaching professions - leadership coach, life coach, spiritual coach and so on. And then another category of management lessons from ancient texts - management lessons from Lord Hanumana, modern day Chanakya etc. Many researchers/authors have done phenomenal jobs in studying ancient texts and drawing parallels with the modern world. The internet has certainly changed many things and pushed many limits but has the proportion of highly successful people changed? Motivation for example, does it always work and work for all? Lawyer and world famous speaker Mel Robbins says - "Motivation is garbage"!. So what's the role all ...

Is selflessness highest of all virtues and is it that simple to understand as it sounds? I call it a curious case because it's actually not. Its much convoluted to understand and implement than it sounds. I would like to start with something which once made me ponder over it for a very long time. I still do at times. Naval Ravikant mentions to Joe Rogan in latter's podcast - Celebrities are the most miserable people in the world, right? Because they're this strong self image that gets built up, it gets built up by compliments. Every time somebody pays you or me a compliment and we're like, "Oh, well, thank you." Right? Then that builds up an image of who we are. And then one idiot comes along, one out of ten, one out of 100, and they can easily tear it down. Because it doesn't take many insults to cancel out a lot of compliments. And now you're carrying around this big weighty self image, and it's just very easy to be attacked. And because you...

Why do we tend to find entertainment in ridiculing? The question prompted me to write this blog in curious case series Shark Tank India came as a welcome change to the Indian television landscape flooded with daily soaps and reality talent shows. One peculiar observation I want to share is when I saw people relishing and rejoicing over humiliating feedback given to some contestants. People are watching in loop those sections of episodes wherein some participants were badly rebuked to the point of them becoming butt of jokes. One of the sharks particularly has been quite blunt in giving critical feedback which often makes feedback look like humiliation of the aspirant when seen on TV. Not sure how much editing has been involved in this but the least broadcasters could have done is to appropriately trim the negative feedback cases.   Coming to the audience, what looks unfathomable to me is people going crazy over it. People are feasting over it like they do on "masala" cont...

In modern day politics and governance, we come across one term too often - "Ram Rajya".  But what is Ram-Rajya and how does the rule look like? Does Ram Rajya refer to some utopian rule where there is no crime, despair, corruption etc and there is heaven on earth itself? This question and my thoughts around it made me write another blog in the curious case series. Here’s a quick glance on the series of events around vanvaas which is the epicenter of this blog.  Dashrath is forced to ask Rama to go to vanvass as per promise given to Kaikeyi But Dashrath volunteers to sacrifice his promise  Ram volunteers to go to vanvass to keep his father’s word  Sita volunteers to go with Ram  Lakshmana volunteers to go with Ram  Urmila voluntarily stays back….to not put Lakshaman in any "dharm-sankat" Bharat volunteers to bring everyone back and leave no stone unturned. My Observation What are these people longing for? Materialistic vs non materialistic is something wh...

Real Humility is unaware of itself - Naval Ravikant Dear Ego,  Please accept my obeisance. I completely acknowledge your might and appreciate your role in the larger scheme of things.  I bow in front of you, not asking you for anything but to admire how nothing can beat you  in making a fool out of wise and making a paradox out of solution.  Realizing that you can beat anyone in this world and beyond, I submit not out of fear but out of attempted wisdom.  I feel a conviction that the battle with you is not the one to be fought. To me, you seem like an illusive and tempting opponent who should neither be challenged nor cursed.  Dear Ego, I have no intention whatsoever to challenge you out of my "ego" that you can't beat me.  I surrender knowing the fact that you can make even the best of the world to dance to your tunes and make a ridicule out of them. Icing on the cake, you do all this with clinical  precision of keeping your desired victims ...