Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Author: Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter

The main focus is to provide financial intelligence to people. It has some unconventional teachings. The byline of the book is that if you like something and you can’t afford it, always ask yourself how you can afford it. Similarly he says that from your monthly salary you should take out your pocket money first and they pay the bills. Not because he doesn’t think paying bills is important but so that if you’re short on money and still have to pay bills  you’ll exercise your mind to earn more money. The book is filled with examples of how he used every opportunity to his benefit.

I think it’s an excellent book to read! On the financial aspect it was too aggressive for me to absorb but I felt that those teachings could be applied to any dimension of your life. And of course if you were keen on getting some financial gyan then  this is the book for you. Apart from hard work, the only other thing that I’ve found common in the advice given by all successful people.

Divine or Demonic?

All human beings on this earth are furnished with either divine disposition or a fiendish one.

Described here are the symptoms of a man who’s disposed towards the demonic.

They have no knowledge of their duties; they do what they like, without caring about what they must and must not do.

They do not believe in the existence of the Supreme one – the one who’s the creator, generator and destroyer of the earth. To them the world was created by the union of man and woman and that is what will keep it going.

All their decisions are driven by desires and sensual satiation. They harbor desires for indulgence and vow to fulfill them however impossible it might be. Thus manifesting their ignorance.

They take refuge in worldly anxieties which have no end and will exist even on their deathbed. In their opinion, the only happiness that they can get is from worldly objects and they spend their life aggregating those.

They are trapped in hundreds of gallows of worldly desires and have thus becomes subjects to the vices of anger and sexual desires.

Their goals and achievements are marked by “I have gained object X” and “I need to gain object Y”; their thoughts are mired by “I’ve so much wealth and I need so much more”.

They think they’re supreme and have all the required powers. The world is because of them, they can do whatever they want to anybody in the entire world. Even when they give, they do so to establish their reputation and not as a deed offered to God.

Great minds speak!

No it’s not me this time :).

Sometime back I saw one of the best interviews that I’ve seen till now – that of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates at Columbia. I especially liked the answers given by Buffet, they were crisp and so insightful! That is not say any less about Bill Gates but Gates answers were more appealing on a technical side. It’s a very inspiring interview and I’ve recommended it to one and all. So I decided to post it here. Here’s the video:

There are statements by Warren Buffet which impart important teachings of life. Some of them which have stuck to the inner lining of my brain are:

• “I will guarantee, you will do well at whatever turns you on.”
• “It’s enormously important who you marry. It will make more difference in your life. It will change your aspirations, all kinds of things”.
• “If possible, go for an institution/organization that you admire.” Buffet took up his first job under Ben Graham as he admired him the most and didn’t even know his salary till he got his first paycheck!
• “Don’t pass up something that is attractive today because you think you will find something way more attractive tomorrow.” This may not be blindly applicable to all aspects of life but is a statement worthy of some deliberation. Buffet said this in context of picking the right stocks at the right time.
• “If the reason for doing something is everybody else is doing it, its not good enough. Forget it.”
• “Well, that’s 50 years of preparation and 5 minutes of decision making” – when asked about how he makes some rapid decisions sometimes in less than 5 minutes.

Hope you too enjoy this interview!

Love the one you’re with

Author: Emily Giffin

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it’s a nice light read and it falls into that category of books which I felt like reading at one go!

It starts with the heroine of the story, Ellen – who’s a successful photographer and happily married to a wonderful husband, bumping into her ex-boyfriend. He is not just an “ex” for her – they were so passionate together; all her memories of their time together come flooding back to her when she sees him and keeps her mind pre-occupied for days to come. She has a cup of coffee with him but never tells her husband about it. One lie leads to another and soon she’s trapped into a web of lies. She starts comparing her husband to her “ex” even though she doesn’t want to. Soon they move from New York to Atlanta and unhappy with her life, she tries to compensate that unhappiness by giving freedom to her feelings. It is interesting to read what happens thereafter; whether lust wins over love.

What is intriguing about the story is that when she runs into her ex, she has everything that she wanted in her life – a great career, a caring, rich and smart husband and the package. Still on meeting him, she’s aflame with all the feelings she had for him. So there’s a point in the novel when you almost want to scream at her and tell her that she’s lost her brains and I think that’s what kept me going to see if she got them back (the brains I mean) or not :).

As my DH calls some movies “chick flicks”, I think this book may fall into a similar class of books but I’m sure it’ll be a fun read for all women at least.

Bottom line: Liked it.

Why do we get angry?

This is an excerpt from Naradapurana. It is absolutely lovely and so meaningful.

One possesses a body because of his actions

Body binds him to desires

Desires entrap him into greed

Greed enslaves him to anger

Anger destroys his virtues

Loss of virtues destructs the mind

A destructed mind commits sin.

Gita also preaches the same and it is the truth. I especially found the correlation with anger so easy to understand. If and when you get angry, spend 5 minutes trying to analyze why you got angry and you can trace it to a desire of yours that was not fulfilled. If you didn’t have a desire in the first place, you would never get angry. We get angry with our family because we expect from them. We get angry with drivers on the road because we expect them to be good drivers.

The first step towards reducing anger in your life is to absolve yourself from desires. As a normal human being, it’s hard to completely free yourself from desires but the less you have them, the more peaceful your life is. You would think that when you’ve done your duties you’ve the right to have desires/expectations from this world. Your desires/expectations will give you nothing but pain. My answer to you is – trust in God. He’s right there for you, looking at you. You will get what you deserve. If you’ve done what you were required to do, you will get what is good for you. Many a times, we say “Life is not fair”. It can only be said in jest because God is fair.

A thousand splendid suns

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini,  in my opinion, is a brilliant writer! This is the second book of his that I read, the first being Kite Runner, and I enjoyed it thoroughly! It was one of the few books that I just couldn’t resist finishing. However, I do have one negative to say about it and that is the excessive  torture portrayed against wives. I just can’t bear to see women being tortured, there’s something unbearable about it – maybe because I share the gender I can feel the pain. Some people would argue that it’s the reality but my argument is: maybe, not always you would like to hear the reality – stark naked! All I can say is that though it upset me at times, it didn’t deter me from reading it fully.

Coming to the story, it’s set in the background of troubled Afghanistan with political unrest and centers around Mariam. Mariam was born an illegitimate child and lived with her mother. Her mother, who had endured a lot, was bitter in life and that was often manifested in her behavior towards her daughter – that is not to underestimate her love for her. Kids being kids, Mariam was more fond of her father who would visit her once a week, never accept her in public and try to get rid of his guilt by sweet-talking her and getting her gifts. When Mariam left her Mother to stay with her father, she neither gained her father nor got her mother back. Forced by circumstances, she was married at the age of 15 to a 40-year old and sent off to Afghanistan from Iran. Her mother’s statement “a woman endures” stuck with her for life and her journey all alone in a new land is complete with crests and troughs.

The characters in this book are very well-sketched and I think that’s what makes a great writer! I felt bad for Mariam that she was sad with her mother and after leaving her too and that got me wondering: would we say she was destined to misfortune? Or is it that the misfortune that befell her was of her own doing – had she not left her mother none of it would’ve happened? Food for thought…

Bottomline: 4.5 stars

Letter to my daughter

Author: Maya Angelou

As Maya Angelou says, this is a letter to thousands of her daughters all around the world. The book consists of anecdotes from her life each of which taught her something about life. It almost feels like the moral studies class I had in my school, just a little more interesting!

Its a pleasure to read each of the chapters. Her most important lesson “never whine”. Love it! Absolutely love it! I think that sums up the means to a happy life. I also liked her poems that were in the book – though I’m not much of a person who can appreciate poetry – but hers were simple to understand and beautiful!

Here are some sentences that I loved from the book:

1. I can be a giver by simply bringing a smile to another person.
2. Was that event an accident, coincident or answered prayers? I believe my prayers were answered. This simply shows that depending on a person’s belief/gratefulness one event can be viewed so differently by different people.
3. This one is not something close to my heart but something I found good food for thought: Lets tell the truth to people. Sometimes when people ask you “How are you” and things are not well with you, Maya suggests that you tell them the truth. According to her, it’ll probably drive people away and maybe you can use the time you gained to solve what’s troubling you. A very interesting perspective. I’m unable to make up my mind either way: is it good or bad?
4. Obesity is not funny and vulgarity is not amusing. By far the best statement I’ve read from a celebrity. She scorns those entertainers who use profanity and vulgarity as a means to entertain. I’m right there with her on that! There are so many entertainer out there today who do not care a cent about what language they’re using or what topics are on their tongue but today’s audience seems to lap it up!
5. If I insist on being pessimistic, there’s always a tomorrow. Today, I’m blessed.
6. A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.
7. The epitome of utter sophistication is simplicity.

Bottomline: 5 stars – absolutely fabulous!