Pooja and Ardra Begin Teaching Dance Classes

 Two students of mine from the Department of Dance, have announced their dance classes. As part of the 'Arts Management' course that I teach, we discuss in detail how to market their dancing and teaching skills. We design resumes, brochures and other marketing collateral. So its always a pleasure to see them take off.

Here's the material they shared with me.

Ardra's Online Kuchipudi Classes

Pooja's Online Classes for Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi 

All the best Pooja and Ardra. 

Photo Prem - Movie

 It's a movie about an elderly woman who is photo-phobic and who doesn't have a single good picture of hers and how she worries about getting the right picture for when she dies. The rest of the film is about how she goes about trying to get a picture clicked without letting others know the reason why - that she looks good on the wall.

Slow and pretty thin plot line. Not much we can do with that. Nice twist in the end though.

   

Priyatama - Movie

Basu Chatterjee's 1970s movie with Jeetendra and Neetu Singh, Rakesh Roshan and Asha Sachdev, most famous for its song 'Koi Roko Na...' is a bit of a damp squib. The premise is fine, the characters and the plot right, but somehow it never achieves that tension. Neetu Singh looks lovely.

Anjali - The Amazing Ways of the World

 I was wondering why this new dog had turned up at our house and decided to spend its last few hours (or so I thought) there. The poor little dog was suffering from some infection, so bad, that it could not get up, or even move a bit on its own. Clearly it was in its last hours.

That's when Shobha called the People For Animals people and they came to take it away and treat it etc - though they did not have much hope considering its condition. They also saw the pups and promised to come the next day and give them some deworming syrups and rabies vaccinations. 

And they came yesterday and amidst much protesting by Akela who suspected some foul play though she was reassured by Anjali's presence - the three pups got their shots. Sona went first, held by Anjali as they gave it the syrup and injection and it bore it soundlessly. Zindagi went next and despite its naughty demeanour it yelped quite a bit when she got the jab. Zor is always the one who cries at the smallest provocation so she yelped away to glory. They all got some good food as a reward from their mistress after the vaccination.

Later in the day we got a call from the PFA people conveying the sad news that the dog with the infection had died. It was a sombre moment for this unknown dog that chose to come to our house and die. And thn it struck me, that if it had not been for that dog, we would not ave got the PFA people, and in turn they would not have vaccinated the pups. Its almost as if that dog came to give life to these pups.

It's amazing really - the ways of the world. I think I will never cease to be amazed by it.  

Moonwalking with Einstein - Joshua Foer

 Joshua Foer was a journalist covering memory championships in New York when he met a young British Memory Grandmaster Ed Cooke. Ed tells Joshua that it is all technique and they all have average memories. He tells him that with some coaching and practicing the right technique Joshua could be competing in the USA Memory Championships the coming year. Joshua finds it interesting and during the course of the year meets many interesting people - Ben Pridmore, Anders Ericsson of the expertise fame, some savants, people who have no memory, people who cannot forget anything, and over a year trains to participate in the US Memory Championships. It's a tale worth reading about.

Joshua starts with how the Greek poet Simonides, who was inside a banquet hall speaking steps out for a few minutes when it comes crashing down. Simonides recollects the exact place where the diners sat and helps their relatives find them in the debris. This is where the art of memory was born he says. He talks of Plato and Aristotle, the Greek book on memory and how they would try and memorise a lot through techniques. He talks of something called a Memory Palace which is a fundamental technique to memorise where you take a list, imagine a place you are very familiar with, create a telling image of whatever is on the list (the lewder, shockinger the better to recolelct) and once the image is formed, assign a place to it. So if I have a list of 10 items long, I conjure up and image for the first item, let's say Amul cheese (image of Raveena Tandon singing 'Tu Cheez badi hai mast mast..' clad in cheese - powerful enough) and place it atthe gate as I enter my house. Similarly I conjure up an image for bread,  corn flakes etc and assign them positions as I go along. Longer the list, bigger the palace you must conjure up. I tried this and it works. The other memory techniques need more practice and some coaching.

But the tales of people like S, who cannot forget anything he has heard or read because he instantly sees everything in some image and can remember word to word, or another gentleman who has lost all memory, save the present moment thanks to a virus that ate away the current memory part of the brain, the tales of savants with special gifts like Kim and Daniel, makes for fascinating reading.

For the record Joshua make it to the finals, sets a US record in card memory, goes to the World Memory Championships and secures 13th place and gets admitted to the KL7 an elite club of mental athletes (entry needs them to drink two beers, memorise 49 random numbers and kiss three women in 5 minutes). Joshua figured enough was enough, came back and wrote this brilliant book. Wonderful read. 

Oh, and as for the title, its an image he conjured up for memorising a card - Miachel Jackson moonwalking was one part and Einstein was another so they naturally combined to become the title.              

Canteen Fundas - Separate Blog

 I have posted all my Canteen Fundas original articles on this link for those who wish to access them all at one go.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/2684244476808984208

eCanteen Fundas - Your Self-Esteem Can Make or Break You

Your self-esteem can make or break you. Change your story before it changes your life!

https://www.edexlive.com/opinion/2021/jun/12/e-canteen-fundas-21634.html

E-Canteen Fundas: What you are worth is what you weigh in on

Rahul,’ began Rinku, ‘We discussed self-confidence last week, but what’s self-esteem?’

‘They’re the same, right?’ asked Rahul.

‘There’s a difference,’ said Rakesh. ‘Self-confidence is your belief in your abilities. Whereas self-esteem is how you regard yourself, your rating of yourself vis--vis others. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with your ability.’

‘You mean we could have all the ability and still rate ourselves low?’ asked Rahul.

‘Yes,’ said Rakesh. ‘That’s why our self-esteem can make or break us. Unhealthy self-esteem leads to under-utilisation of our potential while healthy self-esteem can make us feel worthy.’

‘What’s unhealthy self-esteem, bhaiyya?’ asked Rahul.

‘Low self-esteem makes people feel inadequate,’ said Rakesh. ‘They’re overly sensitive to criticism, afraid of making mistakes and trying anything new. They withdraw socially, have difficulty prioritising their needs and following through on their actions. They constantly try to please others, even abuse themselves because they feel incompetent. At the other extreme is narcissism, where people feel excessive admiration for themselves. Both are unhealthy in equal measure.’

‘And those with healthy self-esteem?’ asked Rinku.

‘People with healthy self-esteem accept themselves as they are,’ said Rakesh. ‘They’re aware of their strengths, take initiative and learn from mistakes. They are at ease socially and communicate assertively. They are not dependent on others’ opinions to feel good. They’ve got their own back.’

‘Wow,’ said Rahul. ‘I’d like a healthy self-esteem, bhaiyya.’

‘Change your story then,’ smiled Rakesh. ‘Stop feeding yourself negative self-talk and disempowering stories first. Instead, focus on the positives — your strengths, positive stories and grand visions — and reinforce them. Secondly, protect yourself from people who damage your self-esteem. When you nourish your self-esteem with a healthy diet of thoughts, affirmations, emotions and actions, you’ll soon be topping your rating chart.’

‘But bhaiyya, can a healthy self-esteem really help us fulfil our potential?’ asked Rahul.

‘When we start regarding ourselves as important, we focus our energy on ourselves,’ said Rakesh. ‘We stop comparing and criticising ourselves. This results in using all our resources towards fulfilling our potential.’

‘Thanks, bhaiyya,’ said Rinku. ‘I now understand the need for a healthy self-esteem.’

Pro Tip: To do justice to your talents and potential, build healthy self-esteem.