Billy the Kid

Thanks to the lockdown, to break monotony Ved, Vaishali and I decided to celebrate Diwali and Christmas. This not only gave us a much needed reprieve but also helped us learn more about the festivals. Being the LMS* that I am, it wasn't until December 23rd that I brought the Christmas Tree and some decorations. The advantage of being an LMS is that you spend less time than needed on " aur dikhaoo, aur dikhaoo " (show me more).  LMS = Last Minute Shopper 😅 Beaming with pride on my achievement, I walked into a barrage of questions. " Where is the Candy Cane? Where is the Angel? Where is the Mistletoe? " " What are you talking about? I got the tree and the ornaments " I blurted. It was then that I realised that there are so many elements that goes into decorating the Christmas Tree. Sheepishly I had to concede defeat and promise to take them shopping for the many missing items. After the second run at shopping (this time at leisure), it was good to see t

When was the last time someone nudged you? When was the last time you nudged someone? For me it happened by accident. A friend happened to chance upon the blog and asked me a pointed question " why did you stop writing? " ... as expected I had no answer. While contemplating this, the same evening I was a Judge at a school debating contest and was asked to motivate the students with a 3 minute talk. I decided to have fun and share my experiences which could help the kids become better as speakers, debaters and human beings. I thought I did a fairly good job of attempting to motivate them within 3 minutes. (My instant noodles were ready by then 😜) After the session as I was relaxing, the door bell rang, and a young lad in school uniform was asking for me. As I went out, he said " Sir, you spoke about CLKK & KKDS, it was really nice and I liked it. I came to thank you for that it is really true sir ". I blanked out completely and stood holding the door not knowing

Does  SIZE  matter? I am sure if we undertake a survey many of us would say  BIG  is good, a  BIG MEAL  or a  BIG HUG  or a BIG EGO . Before I let your imagination run wild on what else could be  BIG , I wish to share with u a recent incident. I was busy typing to glory on my laptop – when I heard a meek ladylike voice  “I am doing my diploma in FS, yes sir it is the in thing now, many organizations’ including police are utilizing our services, I have cleared my first year. Sir FS means Forensic Science -  another show off I thought and continued with my work. The conversation must have gone on for about a minute or two after which a manly voice claimed “ meri ladki hai saab ” - she is my daughter. The voice seemed familiar and I stretched to get a glimpse. I could not identify the man as I could not see his face. The girl then thanked and said “ ok sir, have a great week ahead ”. As they walked towards me, I could see this young girl clutching the hands of the man and whisp

All characters in this write-up are real; any resemblance to any person living or dead is 100% intentional. “ Marriage is an institution ” people say – so is an Asylum . I happened to study mathematics and loved the congruence theorem! Need I say more? Spending time with your wife, you have so many opportunities to share and listen. Typically the wife shares and you the poor husband get to listen - all the time! I t was good that Columbus was not married – else he would never have discovered America…every time he would make plans for travel, the wife would start “Where are you going? When will you come back? What will you bring for me? And so on… in fact he would have never ventured out of his house. Worst, he set out to discover India and discovered America… Imagine all the questions his wife would have asked him on reaching home! Most of the men have been taken care of and pampered by Mothers, would suddenly find themselves surfing unknown territories after

Alexander - the great 336 BC a young Macedonian Prince slept with a dagger under his pillow, constantly in fear of assassins. 334 BC leading his men aboard boats, as he neared Asian shore, seized a javelin hurled it onto the beach and jumped out, the first on land. Alexander the Great at the young age of 22 undertook a journey... that created HISTORY and almost conquered the whole world, only because he believed in himself. Overcoming fears and fighting for what he truly believed in, he redefined norms. Each one of us would have, at least once in our life arrived at a crossroad and chosen something which made the difference . It was mid January 1999 and I was all geared to take on the challenge of being the first elected President of a local Rotaract Club, an organisation for youth. I had quit my monotonous job as it lacked challenge. I was clueless where I was heading, shouldering the responsibilities of my family, my new post and my quest for a new career. Those days I loved

I love speaking as much as I love listening to speeches and learning from other speakers. This interest of mine has triggered a never ending thirst for seeking new knowledge . As a direct result of the habit, I end up buying a lot of books (it’s a different story – I don’t get to complete most of them). The recent one that I laid my hands on “ Speak like Churchill, Stand like Lincoln ” seems to be the black book for mastering Public Speaking. It's the title that enticed me to buy this book from flipkart.com – at an impressive 21% discount . After reading the initial introductions, forewords, afterwards, etc… the first chapter began! Hold your breath; it speaks about the importance and relevance of PAUSES . Drawing inspirations from Napoleon, Hitler, Churchill and many more – the chapter shares the relevance of the pause before beginning a speech! This ensures that the audience is all ears and you get to relax! It also has a mention of a great leader who had to pause for one fu