Indians need chicken biriyani, not chicken soup, for the soul. While it is no secret that Indians love chicken biriyani, it became official when chicken biriyani topped the list of most ordered items in India during the pandemic. The biriyani’s origin story is debatable; it either came to North India from Persia with the Mughal […]
Don’t waste your gift of sight for just looking at your phone. At a recent show, a comic’s joke that he liked panhandlers who ask him for money because they are the only ones who “look” at him, and make him feel visible, barely elicited a laugh. But it got me thinking about the statement’s
Death is the only failure-proof event in life. The fear of failure’s success rate in making people lead regretful lives is unmatched. But not all failures are born equal. What is failure? Failure can be tangible or intangible. Tangible failure involves measurable losses, like going bankrupt, losing a home, or failing an exam. On the
FAILURE PROOFING YOUR LIFE Read More »
Choose complex emotions like joy to guide your life. Osho, the late Indian godman, says labeling emotions is dangerous because it makes you only seek out the ones you like. Instead, he suggests we observe emotions like someone sitting atop a hill watching the weather change. Is that sage advice (pun intended)? Mindfulness techniques also
You, too, can learn to wield shame, the double-edged sword. Shame, that universal emotion, is a double-edged sword. Shame overlaps with the law to some extent. For example, being arrested is shameful. But human nature is too complex to be entirely governed by law, and shame is useful in keeping society humming along. The fear
Dealing with shame Read More »
Get yourself an Ivy League education about life. When asked about his film education, famous Malayalam Director Dileesh Pothan, whose films are exemplars of character studies, sheepishly admitted he doesn’t watch too many films. However, he quickly added that he spends hours talking to people from all walks of life, asking them about their life
A Free Ivy League Education Read More »
Live performances are the best reality shows. Today we order entertainment like take-out. My Netflix and Prime accounts are a carnage of half-watched shows, most of them rejected because I am no longer in the mood. Entertainment is becoming a condiment for our meals, like hot sauce. Or a well-paired wine in the best-case scenario.
THE MAGIC OF LIVE PERFORMANCES Read More »
Count to ten before you speak. The phrase blah-blah is now part of our everyday vocabulary after Greta Thunberg used it to admonish world leaders for talking about sustainability without doing anything. As an introvert who rarely speaks until spoken to, seeing the sheer volume of blah blah around reassures me that, it’s better to
Those with abundant water are the real one-percenters in an unequal world. An American comic recently told me he realized how good he had it in America when his Indian friend told him that in India, your shower ends when your bucket of water runs out and not when you turn off the faucet. It
Make not-to-do lists instead of to-do lists. Antonie de Saint Exupery said, “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” But achieving simplicity, or even vouching for it is difficult in our growth-driven society. Economic models encourage more production, social media algorithms promote