Experiences

Title: Those Pricey Thakur Girls Author: Anuja Chauhan Genre: Fiction Source : Self-purchased Copy Synopsis: The story revolves around the residents of 16, Hailey Road. Retired Judge Lakshmi Narayan Thakur -the man of the house, his wife Mamta Thakur and their five beautiful daughters named alphabetically from A to E. The protagonist is D- Debjani Thakur, who lands up a job as a newsreader in the national channel DD .Dylan Singh Shekhawat- her father's kot-piece partner cum friend's son - unaware of her whereabouts, bashes her thoroughly through his article in the newspaper India Post he is working for. As fate has it, they happen to meet - the twists and turns of events following their meeting is something to be found out on reading the book. Discovery: I had read the first novel from Anuja Chauhan "The Zoya Factor" and had loved it thoroughly. So, recently when I came across this title in one of the book selling sites, I picked it up just because th...

  Title: Tuesdays With Morrie Author: Mitch Albom Genre: Biography Source: Self-purchased copy Synopsis: Tuesdays With Morrie is a short account of the discussions between a 78 year old Professor Morrie Schwartz and his student Mitch Albom during the last 14 weeks of his life. Morrie was Mitch's favourite professor and on the day of his graduation, he had promised Morrie that he would be in touch with him. He could not keep his promise and it was only after 16 years of his graduation that he met Morrie, that too after he saw him on a television show and came to know of his medical condition. The union strike at the newspaper he used to work in as sports writer gave him ample time to meet Morrie every Tuesday and thereon started the lessons on life. Life as viewed by a person on the bridge between life and death. Discovery: In the year 2007, heard about it from a colleague who was also a book-lover. Even got a copy of the e-book from him, somehow...

Title: Chanakya’s Chant Author: Ashwin Sanghi Genre: Historical Fiction Source: Self-purchased copy Synopsis: The novel has two stories running in parallel. On one side is the story of the well known strategist in ancient India - Chanakya, determined to take revenge of his father's murder and nurturing the dream of a united India under the rule of an able king. He saw the qualities he desired for a king in Chandragupta Maurya and trains him. The duo finally with Chanakya's wisdom are able to defeat the Macedonians and lay the foundation of an undivided India. On the other side, is the story of a strategist in modern India -Pandit Gangasagar, who saw the qualities of an able leader in a poor slum girl-Chandini Gupta and wants to make her the Prime Minister of India. Whether he succeeds in doing that or not is something to find out after reading the book. Discovery: I discovered this book around three years back, when happened to see many commuters in ...

I was on a self development spree for past few months, it came out really well.I was able to diminish my stress (teeth grinding) to a great extent. I have done a lot of damage to myself, I can see and feel that. But slowly trying to recuperate and gain back whatever is reversible. A lot learned in the process, most significant is loving myself. It took time to actually get the meaning of loving myself, as I was under the impression that I already love myself and there isn't more to it. Thanks to the self help books I have been reading, it changed my perspective and I could realize that I have not been loving to myself. This realization was a big thing in itself and induced some nice changes. Still a long way to go. Besides the self-help literature, the 5 minute journal that I wrote just for a few days had a profound effect on my life. The Law of Attraction by Michael Losier that I read and loved a lot also contributed to some wishes fulfilled by the Universe. A lot is yet to b...

Recently had been reading Steve Pavlina's blog "Personal Development for Smart People" and came across the post " 30 Days To Success ". Quite interesting and motivating. It inspired me to undertake one new challenge every month and form some good habits in the process. What should be the first challenge ? I have been trying for a long time to wake up early, but haven't been successful yet. So , I started giving thoughts to what is it that makes me lazy in the mornings(sometimes I would just keep lying even if I wake up). Finally I came to the conclusion that may be it is the caffeine that is not giving me good sleep at night leading to all the grogginess in the mornings. So, this became my first 30 day challenge- giving up my morning and afternoon tea. How far am I in the challenge now? I am now near to completion (23/30) of the challenge, I had started on 3rd April and the finishing line is 3rd May.I am very happy that I could achieve this challe...

I had decided to make meditation my habit of the month for the month of February. But I couldn't keep up. Similarly I had tried to keep waking up early as my habit of month January, but struggling with it until now. Feel sad about it, but the good part is I didn't give up. I am still trying everyday. I am keeping my alarm set and everyday try to wake up early. Am sure ,soon I will succeed and one day, I will have this habit hardwired in me. However, another good thing is I have been keeping up with my meditation practice once at home (in morning- whatever little time I have) and once in office (guided meditation). I read few chapters of the book 8 minute meditation and came to know of different things to focus on. One thing which I found quite interesting was this- as every thought comes to your mind, classify it as past/future. I thought of trying this method not at the meditation time, but throughout my day. And the thing that amused me most was that 90% of my time either I ...