harimohan paruvu: December 2024

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

2024 - The Things I Would Like to Leave Behind and Those I would Like to Add

I would like to leave behind some of these things as the year ends

Anger
Resentment
Expectations
Getting upset at having to explain
Getting defensive
Fear of trying new things
Not being vulnerable
Being closed
Getting real
My self-image

I would like to add in a few of these things

Peace
More focus on myself
More time and energy on myself
More clarity and conviction in what I do
More indulging myself
Solo trips
More writing
More coaching and mentoring
Being vulnerable
Being more open to life
Being open to no image
Being more spontaneous

Can hear the crackers go off. Happy New Year all!

2024 - The Year That Was

Sitting in my hotel room at 1030 pm by myself, no friends, no drink, no partying, just listening to some 80s soft music on my phone and writing my blog, I realise its a fitting end to a year that might have changed me more than I know. What better way to end the year in solitude and in sobriety especially in the land of Gandhiji.

The year did start with a New Year's Party at Naresh's house which was fun. Almost immediately I left for Nagaland and Meghalaya which was a 15 day trip full of exploration and cricket. Then a trip to Pondicherry and Thiruvanmalai. In the meanwhile I completed the Arts Management course at the University of Hyderabad.

The summer vacation and trips to Goa, Pune and Mumbai.

Back to Hyderabad and the trip to Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Madurai where we won the Buchi Babu Tournament. Then came trips to Jaipur, Rajkot, Baroda, Ahmedabad.

The end of the year - sitting alone in the hotel room.

2024 - Things I Did

Some things I did this year.

1) The cricket selection work that really kept me busy all year

2) The Arts Management course I taught in the University of Hyderabad which was as rewarding as it is always

3) Moderating a session at the Hyderabad Literary Festival 'Gods of Willow' by Amrish Kumar

4) Moderated book launch of 'Unbreakable Spirit' by Farida Raj

5) Doing the walk around Arunachala barefoot

6) Received a gift of a phone by Abhishek

7) Received good feedback from the Arts Management students

8) Helped Michaeline Singh with the book event of 'All in the Mix'

9) Started the Letter Writing Project - wrote some 10 letters

10) Started the Indulge Yourself Series - Indulging Myself - Shoes, Food, Experiences etc

11) Attended Taher's drama with the kids he trained

12) Launched the Tempest SuperCats website

2024 - The Year in Travel

This has been my best year in terms of travel thanks to my cricketing assignment. Funnily I travelled to the easternmost (Kohima), Southernmost (Kanyakumari) and westernmost (Dwarka, Okha). That leaves out the Northern most which I can do this coming year. Also the number of temples I have been to is crazy. A list of the places as I remember.

1) Dimapur

2) Kohima

3) Shillong

4) Guwahati

5) Pondicherry

6) Goa

7) Pune

8) Mumbai

9) Thiruvanmalai

10) Tuticorin

11) Rameshwaram

12) Dhanushkodi

13) Tirunelveli

14) Kanyakumari

15) Suchendram

16) Madurai

17) Jaipur

18) Rajkot

19) Somnath

20) Dwarka

21) Okha, Bet Dwarka

22) Baroda

23) Champaner, Pavagadh

24) Ahmedabad

25) Modhera

26) Patan

2024 - The Year in Books

An interesting array of books this year, 71 by this count. Some really good ones are Pinjar, Around India in 80 Trains. Anatomy of Peace, A Search in Secret India, Fire Bird, Leading Teams, Dare to Lead, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, A Man's Place, The Island of the Missing Trees, Kanyasulkam among others. Satisfied with the count.

1) Pinjar - Amrita Pritam

2) Amrita and Imroze - Uma Trilok

3) Gods of Willow - Amrish Kumar

4) Uncommon Wisdom - Fritz Capra

5) Hot Stage - Anita Nair

6) Whispering Death - Michael Holding

7) A Search in Secret India -Paul Brunton

8) Fire Bird - Perumal Murugan

9) Best Loved Indian Stories - Indira Srinivasan

10) The Power of Presence - David Godman

11) A Farewell to Arm - Ernest Hemmingway

12) Games indians Play - V Raghunathan

13) Secrets and Lies - Jaishree Mishra

14) Once More with Feelings - Jayanthi Jaisimha

15) Looking from Within - Aurobindo and Mother

16) Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne - Upendrakishore Roy Choudhury

17) The Anatomy of Peace - The Arbinger Institute

18) Last Resort - Abhinav Ramnarayan

19) Bombay Balchao - Jane Borges

20) Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt

21) My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Otessa Mosfegh

22) Half Love Half Arranged - Itisha Peerbhoy

23) Case of the Missing Servant - Tarquin Hall

24) The Surrender Experiment - Micheal Singer

25) The Algebra of Happiness - Scott Galloway

26) Made in America - Bill Bryson

27) Coming Out as Dalit - Yashica Dutt

28) Way of the Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman

29) The Women - Kristin Hannah

30) Manasu Oosulu - D Satyavani

31) Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

32) A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle

33) Belly Dancing - Gouri Dange

34) Tess of the Dubervilles - Thomas Hardy

35) Normal People - Sally Rooney

36) Man, Woman and Child - Eric Segal

37) Beach Read - Emily Henry

38) The Bangalore Detectives Club - Harini Nagendra

39) The Book of Tomorrow - Cecelia Ahern

40) The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

41) Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging -Louise Remson

42) The Trial - Franz Kafka

43) The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

44) Flight 814, The Inside Story - Anil Jaggia and Aniruddha Bahal

45) Around India in 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh

46) Dave Barry Turns 40 - Dave Barry

47) Actually I Met Them - Gulzar

48) The Island of the Missing Trees - Elif Shifak

49) Before the Coffee Gets Cold -Toshikazu Kawaguchu

50) A Man's Place - Annie Ernaux

51) Trust me I am Lying - Ryan Holiday

52) Leading Teams - Richard Hackman

53) Coming Back - Swami Prabhupada

54) Nudge - Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein

55) India's Most Fearless 1 - Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh

56) India's Most Fearless 2 - Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh

57) Valli - Sheela Tomy

58) Why We Kneel, Why we Rise - Michael Holding

59) Shodh -Taslima Nasreen

60) Ritwik Ghatak Stories - Translated by

61) Kansyasulkam - Gurjada Apparao

62) Dare to Lead - Brene Brown

63) Illusion's Game - Chonyam Trungpa

64) The Almanac of Naval Ravikant - Eric Jogenson

65) The Merchants of Death - Neelima Dalmia

66) Your Soul's Plan - Richard Schwartz

67) Shahrukh Khan - Legend Icon Star - Mohar Basu

68) Tailwind Tales - Lalita Anand

69) The Mountain is the Way - Brianna Wiest

70) Father Dearest - Neelima Dalmia Adhar

71) The Long View - Richard Fisher

2024 - The Year in Movies

120. That is more than I expected. Glad to have checked off many classics in Telugu and other languages.

1) Three of Us

2) Little Ms Rawther

3) Sukhee

4) Kaathal

5) Neru

6) Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Diya

7) A Fish Called Wanda

8) The Talented Mr Ripley

9) Blackmail

10) The French Lieutenant's Woman

11) Le Femme Nikita

12) Manjummel Boys

13) Premalu

14) Laapata Ladies

15) Merry Christmas

16) Anshwippin Kaadethum

17) Aattam

18) American Fiction

19) Up in the Air

20) Bhakshak

21) Murder Mubarak

22) To kill a Tiger - Docu

23) Madgaon Express

24) Satte pe Satta

25) The BeautifulGame

26) DJ Tillu

27) The Kannur Squad

28) Sesham Mikill Fathima

29) Maidaan

30) Minus 31- Nagpur Files

31) Elvis

32) DJ Tillu Square

33) Immanuel

34) The Teachers Lounge

35) Shaitaan

36) Alibaba aur Chalishthale Chor

37) The Godfather

38) Thank you for coming

39) Sagara Sangamam

40) Chupke Chupke

41) The Dictator

42) The Mexican

43) Shaakahari

44) May December

45) Hitman

46) The Attack of 26/11

47) Raanjhana

48) Old Dads

49) Nee Dharey Nee Katha

50) Inside Out 2

51) Gotya

52) Ground

53) Charlie Wilson's War

54) Malice

55) King Richard

56) Nocturnal Animals

57) Capernaum

58) Happy Go Lucky

59) Larry Crowne

60) To Olivia

61) Tumse Ha Ho Payega

62) Here Today

63) Black Dahlia

64) Where Did you go Bernadette

65) The Unforgiveble

66) Society of the Snow

67) Moving On

68) Mamma Mia 3

69) Maharaja

70) Nahir

71) Kill

72) Life of Crime

73) Man Up

74) What Men Want

75) The Wedding Ringer

76) Kalki

77) Bad newz

78) Srikanth

79) Barah Anna

80) Paradise

81) Ullozhukku

82) Odd Couple

83) Lalitha Sundaram

84) Chandu Champion

85) True Grit

86) Mooga Manasulu

87) Aadujeevitham

88) Firaaq

89) Awakenings

90) Trouble

91) Nauker

92) Namak Haraam

93) Sankarabharanam

94) Patala Bhairavi

95) Gundamma Katha

96) The Pink Panther

97) The Magnificent 7

98) Red Wine

99) Missamma

100) 6 Degrees of Separation

101) The Pink Panther Strikes Again

102) Adi Shankaracharya

103) A Shot in the Dark

104) Return of the Pink Panther

105) Meiyazaghan

106) Lucky Bhasker

107) In the heat of the night

108) Witness for Prosecution

109) Padosan

110) Thalavan

111 Maya Bazaar

112) PS I Love You

113) Kishkindha Kaanda

114) Hamraaz

115) Achanak

116) Pyaar Kiye Ja

117) Bougainvillea

118) Dogs of War

119) Gulaaabi

120) Traffic

Thought for the Day - Feedback Is Best Without Judgement

Feedback is always tough to give because it can be misinterpreted. Most times our feedback is also clouded or colored by our judgements. We may have rigid ideas about a person or the way they are doing things which can bring 'charge' into the feedback.

This charge can mess up the message.

I struggled with the prospect a few days ago and finally sat myself down and listed all my judgements about that person and got over them. Only after I could clear my judgements to a large extent did I feel ready to give my feedback.

I have no idea how you will resolve or become aware of your judgements but if they are full of 'charge' I suggest you work on them until you are free of that charge. Then it will be easier to give feedback which will also make it easier for the other person to receive feedback.

The Long View - Richard Fisher

Abhinay gifted me this book and I am glad I finished reading it today simply because it gives me a greater purpose as I embark on the New Year in 2025 - or rather what I do from now on. Simply put, Fisher says that we must be 'good ancestors' and look at the long view or be long termists. All we do must be something we do to carry forward this chain that our ancestors have bequeathed to us with much sacrifice and effort and we must do the same going forward for the future generations.

In so many ways Richard explains how short termism which has now crept into our lives does not really work for us as mankind and we are better off having a long term perspective of time. To not seek instant or short term gratification and to be able to hold ourselves in return for long term good, not just for us, but for those who we leave this earth, this legacy for. In teams, companies, work, we can do what we can with a long term view which may not have immediate benefits for us, but will give us immense satisfaction of having done really good work.

Fisher gives many examples, of art, the hidden horse in a Welsh forest, how Japanese companies work long term, Unilever's boss who thought long term and pulled off good results - but most of all the story that impressed me most was his daughter Grace's - how she overcame an early infection and her current world view. We owe it to our Graces.

Thanks Richard. This was very timely. I will now reorient my work with a long view.

And thanks Abhinay. Thoughtful and timely gift once again.

Definitely recommend reading.