Early Indians - Tony Joseph

It is a well-researched and well-written book on who the early Indians were and where they came from. The earliest homo sapiens have come from Africa. Then there are migrations from Iran. Then there is the Harappan civilisation. Tony Joseph also tries to answer questions about who the Harappans were, who the Aryans were and when did the caste system begin.

In the simplest form he compares it to a pizza - the foundation was laid 65000 years ago when Out of Africa migrants reached India. Then came the sauce when Zagrosian herders from Iran reached Balochistan after 7000 BCE, mixed with the first Indians and together built the Harappan civilisation. When the civilisation fell apart pieces of it fell all over the subcontinent. The Aryans came after 2000 BCE. All that came later have little effect on the pizza.

Joseph says genetically there is little or no difference between the castes and they belong to the same gene pool. He has several interesting arguments.

Interesting read. Got me interested to visit Bimbetka, Dholavira. Thanks Krishna Prasad garu. 

Free Solo - Movie

Brilliant. National Geographic's documentary on free soloist Alex Honnold's quest to climb El Capitan. Free solo is a form of mountain climbing with no aid, equipment, harness at all. A mistake and you die. Honnold says he likes the perfection of the situation - anything less than perfection and it's the highest penalty. The picture in the poster is real - Honnold climbing with bare hands.
Thanks Shrinjay.

KGF - Chapter 1 - Movie

Well it's not the greatest. But it's not really boring. However I will skip the next chapters. Tired of superheroes.

John Wooden's 12 Lessons in Leadership

12 Lessons in Leadership

Here are John Wooden’s 12 lessons in leadership:

• Lesson #1: Good Values Attract Good People
• Lesson #2: Love Is The Most Powerful Four-Letter Word
• Lesson #3: Call Yourself A Teacher
• Lesson #4: Emotion Is Your Enemy
• Lesson #5: It Takes 10 Hands To Make A Basket
• Lesson #6: Little Things Make Big Things Happen
• Lesson #7: Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
• Lesson #8: The Carrot Is Mightier Than A Stick
• Lesson #9: Make Greatness Attainable By All
• Lesson #10: Seek Significant Change
• Lesson #11: Don’t Look At The Scoreboard
• Lesson #12: Adversity Is Your Asset

Source: http://sourcesofinsight.com/lessons-learned-from-john-wooden/

Maanagaram - Movie

Tamil movie. Such a well-woven plot that keeps you going from one moment to another. Watch it.

Captain Marvel - Movie

Nice as in any superhero movie is nice. Thanks Shrinjay.

Book Chor - A Book Outing

So Shobhs saw this article somewhere about the Book Chor event near Lakdi ka Pul. It's an interesting concept. There are a whole bunch of books on display - not first hand but did not look used either - probably remainder copies. only condition, the box must close so it can be taped. The venue was Vasavi function hall opposite Sensation theatre (Meera for my vintage people!) at Lakdi ka pul.

You buy boxes for 999, 1499 or 2599 and then you fill them up as much as you can, provided the box closes. Take away any title, as many as the box can carry -

The crowd amazed me. Families, kids, youngsters, old people all sprawled all over the place, carting away loads of books. The focus, the need to get the best books was written on every face. Some just sat down on the floor with their books all around them. Lovely to see.

We split up. The collection was really good, can easily fill up boxes. I got a few Bill Bryson's, a Ben Elton which I later shelved, an autobiography of Sir Alec Ferguson, some funny books, Sophie's World, Shobhs picked up some and Anjali picked up a Pooh, Kipling's short stories, a thesaurus and stuff. Box filled we went and got it taped and off we were.

Nice experience. I am sure we would have got the books for a better price in the second hand market at Abids but this was an experience - it was charged unlike the lazy saunter at Abids where the more seasoned campaigners like Vinod go. They know they will get that title next week if not this week, unlike here.

The title is apt. We got away satisfied with our loot!