Warpaint of the Gods - Nila Sagadevan

Man has progressed miles technologically and even knowledge wise but in the matters of wisdom, has slipped below par. Why is it that we are killing one another over religion, over god, is what the author is anguished about and he offers a path to move to a rational world ad towards peace using the essence of what religion has to offer. The premise of the book is that non-institutional and non-dogmatic spirituality brings peace.

In the 20th century alone its said 110 million were killed in 250 wars - 6 times more than in the previous century. Sagadevan questions the mindless hatred, the loss of perspective and sanity, blind faith which is based on the concept of superiority, missing the commonality of all religions and instead interpreting to find differences, the sheer evidence that we are not the only lives on this planet just because we are so small in this universe, the journey of the soul and reincarnation, the concept of unity in the god we seek, the going back to a child like state where religion has no meaning and the way to freedom from this thought by adopting a new way of thinking.

The book is full of interesting quotes - in fact one half of the book is only quotes. Starting with Carlos Santana who when asked what his religion was famously replied - If you'll tell me God's religion that is my religion. And then the quote from the Bible - The Kingdom of God is within you. And the Mahabharata - Seek truth within yourself. Or Sufism - I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God.

More quotes that I liked. These about universal brotherhood or  loving one another.

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men do to you, do ye even so to them." - Jesus

"What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." - Confucius

"No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." - Qur'an

"And thou shalt love thy neighbours as thyself." - Judaism

"Good people proceed while considering that what is best for others is best for themselves." - Hitopadesa

Another one I liked - Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. - Confucius

Nila Sagadevan is from Sri Lanka. He studied in Britain to be an aeronautical engineer, turned into a pilot, and left Scotland for America in 1972. A life altering experience led him on his quest to understand the religions of the world and extra terrestrial phenomena.

Sagadevan's effort is pure and honest and his intent noble and almost idealistic. The madness that we see humanity perpetrate upon itself in the name of religion is nothing but a manifestation of greed. It has nothing to do with religion except that it wishes to use religion to get to its end. To try and explain the same through religion is perhaps futile because the perpetrators are well aware of what they are doing. To control, to divide, to set upon, to breed and feed upon ignorance, to wilfully mislead, to misinterpret and to bully, these are but the traits of those who seek to gain control through religion. They are not rational, not scientific and not spiritual. But the vast majority that follows them can open their eyes and see the anguish that flows from Sagadevan's pen. Good and noble effort and I do hope its message reaches out to many across the world, and certainly to those who head various religious outfits. Thanks Junie Aunty for lending me this wonderful book.

Thought For The Day - The Link Between Giving, Leadership and Creativity

We can be a giver. Or we can be a taker.

The givers are ones who are the leaders, the creative ones and those whose lives are full, happy and vibrant. The takers are on the opposite side.

Giving - The Key To Ownership, Leadership and Creativity

The givers are usually the ones who have taken the initiative, the risk and want to give. Once they make up their mind, they look for ways to give, to contribute. This looking for new ways to give and contribute makes them creative. Taking the initiative, being action oriented and taking decisions come easily to them once they decide to be a 'giver'. Giving essentially is about adding life to a process, adding excitement and the you to every job, and getting far more in return.

Taking - The Key to Low Productivity, Resentment and Low Self-Esteem
The takers are the ones who are waiting. They ask sometimes and sometimes, do not even ask. They hope someone understands and gives them something. They remain in their place, waiting with their arms stretched out. There is no initiative, they are powerless, they are victimized, they cannot take any decision because they are scared about the consequences of upsetting the giver. There is also no creativity really. Just a feeling of helplessness. Of resentment. Taking essentially is about giving your power to someone else, feeling powerless about life and becoming smaller.

The question we need to ask ourselves in every walk of life, as long as we are alive is this - are we giving? Or are we taking? A small change in mindset can open up a new world. 

Life Is Beautiful - Movie Review

I watched this movie in the theatres several years ago. But that was a time when movies were fun and there was much more to life than stories, history and characters. Now when I see the movies I see the way its been crafted and the story told, the background, the challenge and I wonder at the grand intentions behind them that the director is trying to get across. Life is beautiful is certainly one of those movies that has grown several notches in the recent viewing.

An exuberant, intelligent, impulsive, funny and energetic Italian Jew Guido, who goes to work with his indulgent and wise uncle falls in love with a young lady, marries her and has a lovely young boy. But then comes the World War and the Germans take all the Jews away to concentration camps - the waiter turned bookseller Guido and his son included. His wife follows them to the concentration camp though she is not required to being a non-Jew. How the funny man keeps the spirits of his son up by making up stories, taking audacious risks and somehow saving him from the gas chambers until they find relief makes up the story.

The character is brilliant and is elevated by Roberto Benigni's stunning performance as the father who has to use all his creativity and energy to save his son by creating an illusory game. The danger is now all the more larger to me since I have seen and read stuff about the concentration camps. Somehow you want Guido to survive, to escape and bring more light and joy to this world and pray hard for the happy ending. But despite the comedy, the drama and the tragedy, its is to me a love story. Love is shown in a form that is so beautiful, passion so pure - turning the stereo so his dear Dora can hear some of her beloved classical music, using an unmanned mike to declare his love for his Princess over the concentration camps public address system, bringing the one piece of bread for his young son after breaking his back at work all day, indulging the young kid in a situation so hopeless that all one can do is shake one's head in despair, running off impatiently even as the others indicate that perhaps the war has come to an end, the arrival of the real tank at the end - oh, its beautiful and seriously like nothing I have seen.

Who thought up this character? (I read somewhere that the story is inspired by Benigni's real life - his father spent three years in a concentration camp before Benigni was born.)
Brilliant. Even if you watched it once, watch it again.

Letters from Iwo Jima - Movie Review

Another World War II movie, sensitively portraying the futility of war. The background is the valiant effort by Japanese soldiers to hold back the vastly superior American forces in a doomed battle from occupying the critical island of Iwo Jima. Clint Eastwood's movie was a combination movie - the other being 'Flags of Our Fathers' which shows the American viewpoint in this battle.

The battle of Iwo Jima was fought between Feb - March 1945. The US Army would get a base to launch their attack on Japan from the island which had 3 airfields. But Japan had already lost heavily - and had no air and naval cover. Instead they send General Kuribayashi who brings a different kind of a strategy to build 18 kms of tunnels and underground bunkers to hold back the Americans on the first ever American attack on Japanese territory - instead of fortifying the beaches as is normally done. The battle is considered the bloodiest and fiercest battle in the Pacific. Japan, in the only time in the war, inflicted more casualties on the US army in this battle than ever. Japan had 22000 soldiers of which only 216 were taken prisoners. The rest died defending their island. But what is most interesting about this battle is the intensity with which the Japanese defended their territory - what was considered a 4-5 day operation to take over what with the air force and naval powers of the US Army took 5 weeks or 40 days!

Shown from the perspective of Saigo, a reluctant private who has left behind a young wife expecting a child, the war and specially the hopelessness of the abandoned Japanese troops gets under your skin. They know they are doomed to die and they are told that they must fight until the last man dies and take at least 10 enemies before they die. There is no surrender and no escape, only sure death. As the battle intensifies some choose honorable exit by blowing themselves with grenades or shooting themselves but Kuribayashi insists that all soldiers fight and extend it as long as they can to help Japan's cause. Fight they do, with no water, no food, no ammunition an sheer belief. Kuribayashi's order to Saigo before leading the rest into battle for a final general charge to burn the letters that the soldiers wrote is not followed - Saigo buries them in a cave which are later found by a team archeologists.

The opening up of their eyes that American soldiers are also just like them, that American mothers also write as their own mothers do (do what is right, because that is right), the hopelessness and madness of seeing their friends die, the fight between fear of death and honour, the nobility and bravery of the soldiers and even the stupidity and cowardice of some others, comes through. The death of the boy who was sent to war because of his inability to shoot a dog is a scene that stays just as the death of the noble Olympian Lt. Col. Nishi remains. The movie was almost entirely in Japanese and I was dead without subtitles. Fine performances specially by Ken Watanabe, great work and an interesting, poignant film.

The Orientation Of New Employees - Gap Miners

It is always a challenge to orient new employees. I tried other methods before but this time I had the luxury of time so I decided to adopt a different route.

1) I asked the employees to list all the reasons 'why they were there'?
or "Why are you here?"

The idea was to understand the purpose.

2) Then I asked them what they 'brought to the company"?
or "What do you bring with you?"

The idea was to know what they thought they came with.

3) Then we looked at "what they will take from the company?"
or "What will you take from your work here?"

"Why are you here?" brought these answers.
1) To earn
2) To learn
3) To express ourselves
4) To grow
5) To meet new people
6) To experience new things
7) To help organization grow/fulfill its goals
8) To help society
9) To build a career
10) To help people
11) To make a difference to this world

"What do you bring here?" brought forth these answers.
1) Skills
2) Knowledge
3) Experiences
4) Attitude
5) Energy
6) Time
7) Potential
8) Hope
9) Humour /Happiness
10) Ideas
11) Work / Effort
12) Style
13) Ethics
14) Values
15) Opportunities

"What do you take from here?" brought forth these answers.
1) Salary
2) Experience
3) Growth
4) Skills
5) Leadership experience
6) Expertise
7) Team work - knowledge of
8) Human nature - understanding of
9) New relationships
10) Opportunities
11) Ideas
12) Exposure
13) Chance to serve others
14) Domain Knowledge
15) Sense of purpose
16) Satisfaction

The main reason why "we were there" was of course the fact that Gap Miners thought them best fit to achieve its goals and has given them the opportunity.

An analysis of where one ranks on each of the above - especially what one brings - can make a huge difference to the performance. They have been asked to observe, analyse the list and come with some action plan to best their effort. More on this next week.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

Having heard from many of my students in the creative writing workshop about their favorite writer Rick Riordan and also having got a glowing reco from Vardha, who also graciously lent the book to me, I got down to reading the book after many months of having it in my possession. It flows through easy and is a fun read about gods, half bloods and so on. Now the series has been turned into some major movies.

So we have the Gods and the half-bloods, who are born to Gods. They have mortal lives but also god like qualities. And the gods are Greek gods and they have a snazzy office on the 600th floor of the Empire State building and Mt. Olympus is someplace near New York. Rick Riordan brings the gods down to the earth and at the same time elevates the reader from a humdrum existence with the promise of a super power to a most ordinary person. Percy has no father and has an evil and smelly step father (his real father is a god, which is what all of us want in our childhood I guess) and a wonderful mother Sally Jackson. Kicked out of school for some misdemeanour and guided to the Olympus hill by his best friend and his master, both who are looking out for the young hero in the making, Percy discovers he is Perseus, and is the son of sea god Poseidon, who had an affair with his mortal mother. Ha, we have had enough of those in the Mahabharata! Anyway the god son now is accused by the god of gods of stealing his thunderbolt (how easily we can do this in the Indian context with Indra) and he has to return it to Zeus to prevent a war between the gods. Of course someone is playing the mischief. Percy he has lost his mother too who is now in the underworld (someplace near Los Angeles) so he decides to go and get this lightning bolt and hopefully his mother. Annabeth, daughter of Goddess Athena accompanies him and provides possible future love interest and Grover Underwood, faithful goat becomes a satyr and best friend. Onwards then!

Fun, quick and interesting. Lovely characters and I loved the way he played around with this gods business and made them normal. Apart from being a good read, it also got me thinking of the Greek gods. Some research there is in order for my own sake. Good fun and thanks Don for sharing.

Mere Dad Ki Maruti - Movie Review

Ever since Sreeni gave me rave reviews of this movie I have been searching high and low for its CDs or DVDs and finally, after almost a year, I found the CD. I played it with all the anticipation of someone who has been waiting for a whole year for his first biryani and well, it was like being served cold biryani reheated. Did Sreeni overhype or oversell? I watched with a hope that something will make me laugh, but it did not. It was also a strange deja vu kind of feeling. Have I seen this somewhere? That Dude wheres my car movie was it?

Anyway wedding day at a Punjabi home in Chandigarh. Bride's father buys a Maruti as a gift for his daughter. His son, our hero, a bit of a loser somehow gets a date with the hottest babe in college. He picks her up in the Dad's new Ertiga (21 kms per litre!) and takes her to the party, impresses her with his moves and even drops her off to the hostel where she promises to meet again next day. On his return to pub, hero gives Maruti keys to someone he confuses with the valet and the car goes missing.

By next morning he has to get the car back so what does he do? Get a  test drive from the local Maruti dealer, go to some car financier or rental chap and rents one and makes a deal with a chap who makes over stolen cars and resells. his good friend and now the girl friend help in this. Will he get his car back in time for the wedding is the question and how will he face up to Dad when he eventually finds out is the hook. All in good time folks - watch the movie.

You know, its not a bad movie. In fact, other than not making me laugh (which is an excusable offence), it has a fair amount of entertainment going with the bungling ways of the youngsters. So young Saquib Saleem, the hero, turns out to be actor Huma Qureshi's younger brother who is also the son of Saleem Qureshi a Delhi based restaurateur who owns 10 restaurants called Saleem's, and is also a cricketer who represented J&K before modelling and now acting. The heroine Rhea is a model and VJ and has acted in a Telugu movie Tuneega Tuneega. Both turned in good, convincing performances.

It's a decent, good, fun movie with good performances. But you've seen it all before but it's not something at the level that Sreeni pitched it. I will watch out for Sreeni's recommendations from now on. Or perhaps just discount the same by 50%!