The Optimist's Telescope - Bina Venkataraman

'Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age' is the byline of Bina's book. Bina has worked at the Boston Globe, NYT, taught at MIT, Harvard. She primarily warns us against reckless behaviors (not heeding to symptoms) and urges us to behave with some foresight in our own interest. Examples like buying lotteries, eating chocolate which are primarily impulsive decisions and give us instant gratification set us back from our goals. To act on behalf of our future is hard she says. Decisions involve both information and judgment, Many decisions are made in the presence of information about future consequences but in the absence of good judgement.

I liked this part of the book where she says we must imagine our futures. Most people get paralysing anxiety when imagining the future. Instead she says we can see ourselves reacting to what happens in the future with success. When we successfully imagine the future, it can come alive in our senses in the present and can motivate our current choices. it can help us endure, persevere. I loved this - I have already put it into practice and am reengineering my future scenarios. We can have specific imagined futures. She gives examples of how people write 'Dear Tomorrow' letters - 30 years ahead, writing to hypothetical grand children. What do we want our legacy to be. 

To make it possible to think ahead in situations, we have to look beyond the individual.

Organisations can orient people to the future by investigating and communicating how decisions play over time, by telling stories of how past decisions turned out and can help people imagine the future. Another way is to explain a future event as if it had already happened - prospective hindsight. It shifts focus from mere prediction toward evaluating consequences of current choices.

The five lessons to learn
1) Look beyond near term targets (don't get distracted by short term noise - create multiple metrics)
2) Stoke the imagination (boost our ability to envision the range of possibilities that lie ahead (create anchors in the future)
3) Create immediate rewards of the future to overcome obstacles (find ways to make what's good for us over time pay off in the present - reward for progress to future goals)
4) Direct attention away from immediate urges (reengineer cues against urgency and instant gratification)
5) Demand and design better institutions (create practices, laws and institutions that foster foresight)    

Overall, its what we must do to have better futures - how we behave as individuals, as part of society, as part of organisations. Think long term, think greater good. It works. Enjoyed reading. Some wonderful examples. 

I think I am definitely more optimistic going forward. Thanks mate for the book.

    

Hyderabad by Walk - Wall Street Walk

This one sounded interesting and I was all game - in fact anything to do with the old city interests me. Vasu was game too so we caught up and headed to Darul Shifa, the 16th century Qutb Shahi times hospital (House of Health), when we were told by Safwan that the walk would start closer to 830. Vasu and I stopped at Cafe Nayaab and found the place packed to the gills - not a place to sit - not on the ground floor, not on the first floor, not in the a/c section - finally found one. Even as we sat down to order stuff Safwan called and said the wal would start in 10. So we headed down, got ourselves a lukmi and an egg bun, and downed some chai and went to join the walk.

Darul Shifa Mosque and football ground

Darul Shifa Ashurkhana

The walk started at the Ashurkhana right next to the Darul Shifa structure. In the buildings behind the Ashurkhana is a school. I had been here on the Ashurkhana walks during Muharram so interested myself in other things. Ajay and Anirudh were there as well.

Interesting

Chatta Bazaar Gate

We walked down Chatta Bazaar road and stopped at the Chatta Bazaar over bridge which looks magnificent. It primarily led from the residence of Prime Minister Salar Jung to his famous Lakkad Kot which was a wooden house next to the Musi, a casualty of the 1908 floods.

Mahboob Radio Service

Diwan Devdi Gate

Right there was also the interesting Mahboob Radio House which was apparently where the radio announcements of the Nizam's time would happen from - the Nizam had his own railway, airways, Mint, bank, currency, radio. Now the store sells old gramophone players and stuff. A little further down I saw one of the gates to Diwan Devdi, now fully occupied by all kinds of mechanics, and stores and stuff. 

Badshahi Ashurkhana

Dilapidated Naqqar Khan

Ornate Ashurkhana

Next stop was at the Badshahi Ashurkhana, a Qutb Shahi Ashurkhana where the royals would come to mourn, next to Shadab where we were joined by Ms. Anuradha Reddy and she regaled everyone with her tales. 

Madina Hotel - Wahaj and Mrs Anuradha Reddy

The HFL mark in the background - to the right

From there we headed down the road, stopping once to see a High Flood Level mark of the 1908 Musi Flood (September 28, 1908).

The High Court

Muralidhar Mandir

The Musallam Jung Bridge - the old granite one

The High Court of Telangana

Onwards to the High Court and then the City College. We stopped at the Musallam Jung Bridge which is adjacent to the City College and crosses the Musi. Being a rather longish walk we ended it there - a little further and we would have been at the Purana Pul bridge.

The Osmania General Hospital

OGH - Scale

A nice long walk back along the Musi right to the Darul Shifa and we bid our byes and headed back. Good work Wahaj and Safwan - and like Vasu said - as always.  

Hyderabad by Walk - Sufi Walk

Deccan Archives announced a Sufi walk so Vasu and I joined up. It was at 830 in the morning and the meeting place was Shah Khamosh dargah near Nampally. Being a little early we stopped at the interesting Diamond Cafe in front of Ek Minar and ate a khajur and drank chai.

Diamond Cafe

Ek Minar Masjid, Nampally

Shah Khamosh Dargah

Onward to Shah Khamosh dargah where we met Wahaj, Safwan from Deccan Archives and Ajay from the walks. And young Anirudh, who seemed to follow cricket a  lot more actively than most (and my blog he said). It was nice to know that he knew I played in the 1986-87 season when we won the Ranji Trophy, that his Dad was at the Secunderabad Railway station when the winning Hyderabad team arrived after defeating Delhi in the finals etc. And the current scores of the team!

Shah Khamosh Dargah

Another view

The degh in front of the dargah

Shah Khamosh was a Sufi saint who was born in Bidar as Syed Shah Moinuddin Hussaini  more than 200 years ago in a family of Sadats (Prophet's Descendants). Legend goes that he had a spat with his peer and was asked to be silent and so he was - for two decades. And only when he was asked to speak did he speak again.

The saint's tomb

Another view of the dargah

The dargah is beautiful and very well maintained. We went in to see the tomb of the saint, the the Anglo Islamic architecture, the chandeliers, the interesting floors, the jannat ka darwaza. Its a place where one can sit in peace for a long time.

Amjad Hyderabadi's tomb in the enclosure

Outside the dargah we visited a graveyard where the famous Hyderabadi poet Amjad Hyderabadi aka Syed Ahmed Hussaini lies. He saved his life from the devastating 1908 Musi flood by climbing the tamarind tree in the Osmania Medical Hospital which saved 150 lives (though he could not save his wife and daughter who got washed away in the flood). He wrote a poem about his experience - 'Qayamat-e-Soghra'.

The naqquar khana where they play the music everyday - only place in Hyderabad that plays

While there we heard the naubat being played in the pavilion near the dargah which was played twice a day in the olden days - morning and evening. 

Bargah Hazrath Syed Shah Nooruddin Qumair Quadri dargah

The entrance to the dargah

We went down the road and went to the Bargah Hazrath Syed Shah Nooruddin Qumair Quadri dargah. There was the tomb of a saint outside - someone who had apparently cured alcoholism in the people somehow. 

The inside entrance

The marble enclosure for the tomb

Another view

Serene

The tomb is in a marble structure which was originally open to sky apparently - like 4 pillars of a four poster bed - in the fashion of those days. Its a peaceful place too and houses the tombs of the VIIth Nizam's grand daughter and the tombs of three generations of saints.

Dargah Khittee Saliheen Hazra Habeeb Aidroos Al Aidroos

Entrance to the dargah

Something very natural about this place

The dargah

From there we walked to the Dargah Khittee Saliheen Hazra Habeeb Aidroos Al Aidroos. This was a beautiful old fashioned structure, lots of greenery around, so much peace all around in the middle of the city. 

Wooden enclosures for the tombs - with a pankah

Tombs 

Another view

Vasu in front of the dargah

There is a connection to Major Idroos who was the Chief of Nizam's army when the Indian army took over the Nizam's state. during Operation Polo.

Darus Salam

Entrance of Darus Salam - from the inside

The office - in the foreground

Another impressive dargah - encroached and not maintained 

A short walk to Darus Salam, the head quarters of the AIMIM and the place where the infamous Kasim Razvi held office during his time. Huge grounds, a couple of colleges, a newspaper office to one side. End of walk and Vasu and me headed back to our car. Good job by Wahaj and Safwan and co as usual.           

 

A Nice Article by VV Subramanyam in Telangana Today

One of the things about watching Ranji matches is meeting friends from the Press and some old friends who we played with. 

Our friends from the Press - Jagannath Das (erstwhile Express)and VV Subramanyam (erstwhile Hindu)

Many of the old players have either retired or have cricket related jobs - coaches, match referees, selectors, trainers and so on. VVS caught on to one such moment and wrote a nice piece about the old players getting together.

https://telanganatoday.com/former-hyderabad-cricketers-relive-memories-while-watching-ranji-trophy-opener

Ahmad Quadri (hidden), Pragyan Ojha, Riaz and me (pic VVS)

At the ground were Pragyan Ojha, R. Sridhar, N P Singh, Sainath, Jyothi Shetty, Inder Shekhar Reddy, Riazuddin, Akash Bhandari, Ahmad Quadri and so on apart from the players and coaches on the field. Nice angle.

Day Out at NP's Farm House

 The Ranji match was conducted at NextGen ground which is a stone's throw from NP's farmhouse - its in the middle of lush fields - and we decided to catch up there. I decided to spend a couple of nights out there and we had NP, Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, my old team mate from MCC in the early 1980s and Joachim, NP's quiet and sensitive friend.

Sunrise at the farmhouse - NP and Bachi

Road to nowhere

On day one after the match we headed down there and Joachim made us some fabulous coffee. He somehow has this mothering instinct and looks out for you. Then he played some fine 80s English music which really set the mood, cooked some fine dinner. Bhaskar, NP and me caught up on cricket and old stories. 

Fields

Rustic views

Exercise stuff in the village

The next day we went for a walk and did breakfast at this place called Katha which NP discovered recently. Then the match.

Fields

Village temple

The second evening we went out for dinner at Celebrity Club. Another long walk the next morning. Loved the two day break. Thanks NP, Bachi and Joachim for some lovely company and memories.