Slingshotting the Goliaths of Indian Politics

We have all read that overly exaggerated biblical tale in which a young man named David kills a giant named Goliath using but a slingshot. 

(pic credit: Marcantonio Raimondi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

What we are witnessing these days in Indian Politics after the historic Delhi elections results forces one to think, ‘Are we witnessing the David-Goliath story of our times’?

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Carnatic Music and Beyond

Tuesday, Week 1:

A request by a reader for a post on Carnatic music makes me jump up. How do you write a good, comprehensive article that does justice to this, an art which actually becomes a way of life, and introduce it to someone? Especially when you have been learning for more than a decade now and yet, feel absolutely like an amateur! Needless to say, the entire morning was lost racking my brain than being an attentive student in class.

Raja Ravi Varma’s Oil Painting of Saraswati, the Goddess of Vidya

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The dazed twenty-something.

This ordinarily mundane age has been so widely celebrated and exploited through its fulsome usage by the internet media , that there is a certain subconscious whisper constantly ringing a cacophony in the mind- “You’re in your twenties. What have you achieved?” This is followed by a balletic nerve-wrecking activity in the tummy, a quiet moment of deep introspection, and ends with me facing back to the computer screen, leaving the mind-fuck plaque to gradually decay the mental peace.

Meg Jay in her TED Talk, ‘Why 30 is NOT the new 20’ quite calmly puts forth a statement that ‘the human brain has its second and final growth spurt in a person's twenties, as it re-wires itself for adulthood.’

Coming from a psychologist [I don’t know why, but I have this inexplicable reverence for them], it scared the shit out of me. My decade had arrived. Now was the time. I had to change my life.

 Convinced me? Yes. Motivated me? Yes. Entirely? No. 

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aS –featured: Why should the Microsoft-Nokia deal worry Samsung?

One who reads, writes. As promised, We keep bringing to you 'aS featured' where we publish select ‘arbit speculations’ submitted by our readers to us. The article featured below has been written by Mr. Sushil Malani, a product marketing professional, currently working with one of the leading telecom companies of India. This article will be followed by some more from the same author on connected topics in future aS-features.

Disclaimer: The Views expressed here are personal and do not represent the POV of any particular company or team arbitSpecs.

One more giant fell in the quest to shape future of digitized, connected and mobile world. Nokia respectfully succumbed to the vortex of power struggle for operating system dominance.

It’s Interesting to witness 3 players left to lead the future. And this F1 race is entering into the last lap. Who has taken pole position and has an advantage? Over whom? Who will win? Would there be any other player, ready to emerge from the dark? What are the side effects? What is the future going to look like?

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Atop Karnala fort in Rains: Drenched Bliss.

So how do know whether you have entered a travelling hiatus? Why, do a trend analysis on your daily routine for the last month. If there IS a month long unchanging daily routine, then sadly, you have entered one.

I was pretty confident that after joining the corporate world, my personal lust (yes, lust) for travelling and trekking and all things related would be taking a back seat. One such uneventful Thursday, I was sipping my second cup of coffee in my Mumbai office when one of my colleagues forwarded an itinerary e-mail for Friday. It said something about trekking around Karnala. Few google searches down, I was already wondering where had I kept my cam’s charger!

That's what was up for grabs! 

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Are airplanes lightning proof?

This is what I remember from my first flight ride: I had pressed the ‘Help’ button so many times while my mom was asleep beside me that the air-hostess came and disconnected it. Those days, the button came in what looked like a telephone that was connected with a cord to the seat and was not integrated to the dashboard on top of your head. Even though I was just two, I knew that what I had done was cause enough to be embarrassed and have always chosen the window seat ever since to occupy my mind with the beauty of the skies.

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And the Mountains Echoed

I believe I'm late with the review, but I want to recommend this to those who have not tasted the magical recipe of Hosseini's writing concoctions.
You cannot deny the fact that Khaled Hosseini is a brilliant author who knows how to mould the emotions of the reader as the story demands it.
Although his books always do have a recurring pattern involving minors, pre and post turmoil Afghanistan, and an ending that leaves you neither smiling, nor crying- you never get tired of that. His sentences are interlaced with emotions; paragraphs brimming with the potency of bringing shivers down your spine, and pages encouraging you to turn to the next, even though its late at night and you've cried enough for the day.

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