Destination Infinity's Blog, page 64

In my Next Birth, I want to be born as . . .

A Little Brown Bat!

Actually, I wanted to be born as a Buffalo in my next birth cos I love it’s attitude towards life (lazy, uncaring, et. all) but once I got familiar with the little brown bat, I immediately changed my mind.

The little brown bat can sleep for 19.9 hours a day, and hibernate for 6+ months in a year. (Source: Wiki)

Did you read that? Go back and read the previous line carefully once again.

WHAT MORE WOULD ANYONE WANT IN THEIR LIFE??????

So, what creature would you want to be born as, in your next life (if there is one)? Let me know in the comments

Destination Infinity

Photo credit: By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Happy Man (Short Story)

Word count: 1106.

I am going to die in one hour. But this one hour is my most important hour as I attempt to reverse two biggest mistakes of my life: I fought with the man I ought to have supported; and supported the man I ought to have fought with. 

There is only one last hurdle I need to cross: My grandson. Ah, here he comes. With his white suit, he looks more like 25 than 19!

“Hi Gramps. You wanted to talk to me?” he says, pulls the heavy chair on the other side of my large wooden table, and sits down to face me.

“Yes,” I say and put my laptop in the stand-by mode. 

“Your retirement party yesterday was very grand, Gramps. It was the most lavish party I have been to. Are you enjoying your retired life?” he asks, rather innocently.

I wonder if his father wanted him to ask this. Anyway, I dismiss the question and come directly to the point. “I called you to get your opinion on my will, which I am preparing now.”

“What’s the hurry Gramps?” he asks.

“Just a precaution. At my age, it’s better to be prepared,” I say.

“So what have you decided?” he asks. 

“I have converted all my property to cash. I want to give 40% of my wealth to you,” I say.

He considers it for a moment and asks, “And you will give the remaining 60% to my father?”

“No. Your father has enough already. I am planning to donate the remaining 60% to Health India, founded by my childhood friend,” I say.

“Health India?” he is startled. “The NGO that has been creating many problems for our company all these months – do you want to give money to them?”

Not bad. Even though he is still in college, he knows what’s happening in the company too. I nod in affirmation.

He smiles, perhaps not knowing how to react.

I open my laptop, press the power button, log in to my bank account, and complete the saved transaction. I look at him and say, “Thanks. I have transferred the amount to the NGO just now.”

“You’ve done what?’ he says and looks at me with utter disbelief. “But you said you were only preparing the will.”

“This is the Internet age. Things ought to be faster now,” I say.

“Did . . . did you talk to father about this?” he asks.

I don’t answer.

“How can you just throw away 60% of your wealth just like that? Don’t we mean anything to you?” he says. His disbelief slowly turns into anger. “Would . . . would you have done the same had Mishti been alive?”

Mishti, his younger sister, my grand daughter.

“If Mishti had been alive, she would have got 100% of my wealth. She was the only person who had imbibed our family values,” I saw and look at the portrait of my Grandfather, who set up the company initially, hung above the door.

Right from my Grandfather’s times, our company had been manufacturing generic drugs for common ailments. My son introduced a new anti-depression drug after licensing the formula from a US-based multi-national company, much against my wishes. This drug was not only untested, but it was facing multiple lawsuits in US due to the unwanted side effects, that ranged from allergies to even death.

“Do you think Mishti died due to depression?” I ask him. His eyes widens with curiosity. “No, she died due to the side effects caused by the the anti-depressant drug administered to her, incidentally manufactured by our company.”

His lips split open and he was watching me intensely.

“Your father introduced this drug in India against my wishes. After Mishti died because of it, I tried to terminate the licensing and stop its production. But your father was adamant, and convinced the board members to continue with it. They sided with him and forced me to retire,” I say.

“But why did he want to continue? Why did the board members support him?” he asks.

“He got some verbal assurance from the company in US that they will “look into the issue”. The board members and shareholders did not want to part with the 300% increase in the company revenue, primarily due to the sales of this drug,” I say.

“If the revenue increased by 300%, it maybe worth continuing with the drug?” he asks.

It is my turn to get startled. “In many cases, the drug shows positive results initially. But in a few cases, it is lethal. The issue is, we are yet to determine who’ll get affected or why,” I say.

“But why are you giving the money to Health India? They are fighting against our company – aren’t they?,” he says.

“They are fighting against this particular drug, not the entire company,” I say. He turns his head sidewards in disapproval.

I want to tell him how the NGO, with the help of a few passionate volunteers, did a brilliant Online campaign against this drug, how they almost made us stop the production long before Mishti died, how I used my connections at high places and money power to stop them and circumvent legal processes, how they continued fighting valiantly with only a little money, but I am not sure how appreciative my grandson was . . .

“Maybe you can call the bank manager and see if we can reverse the transaction,” he says, his tone is urgent.

I am right. There is not much to talk with him anymore. “I have already informed the bank manager not to reverse this transaction. It’s over,” I say in a firm voice.

He stands up, turns back and walks out of the room briskly. He will probably call his father and inform him about the happenings. It will take sometime for his father to come home, though.

That’ll give me just the time I need to complete one more important work. I open my bank account web-page, transfer the remaining 40% of my wealth to Health India.

By doing that, I ensure Health India gets the money to continue their activities. By sending me out, my son already ensured he lost most of the connections at high places. I hope the NGO will do what I wasn’t able to. They will, I know.

Now I don’t have any regrets in life.

Now I am a happy man.

Destination Infinity

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#Song of the Week: Pookale Sattru Ooivedungal (I)

Pookale Satru Ooivedungal is a wonderful song from the Tamil movie ‘I‘. This song has been composed by A. R. Rehman and the singers are Haricharan and Shreya Ghosal. While the song itself is above-average, the visuals make it STUNNING. I guess credit for that should go to cameraman P. C. Sreeram, Shankar and others. The song is catchy but the visuals will leave you breathless

Destination Infinity

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Why Read? Listen to eBooks, Webpages, Docs & PDF!

If you have an Android phone (who doesn’t), you can use the built-in Text To Speech feature to listen to eBooks, Webpages, Word/PDF Documents. That means, you can listen to almost anything you can read on your computer, today!

But Why?

I’ll tell you why I prefer listening over reading nowadays:

Since I look at the computer monitor for a long time daily, my eyes get strained/I get a headache. So to reduce the eyestrain, I listen.
Generally, I take a break after every half- or one-hour of reading/writing on the Computer. I can listen during that time, and hence I can finish reading (listening) to much more now.
I need to read and review short stories as I am a part of a peer-review Facebook Writers’ Group. I copy all stories into a single document, convert into ePub using Calibre, and listen to them.
When I travel (train, bus, or car), I find it easier to listen than read. Most of the apps allow me to save and read/listen offline.

You may have more reasons like,

Listening while commuting to the office and back.
Listening while walking.
Listening while working out.
Listening while cooking, etc.

These are the Android apps that help me Listen using Text To Speech: (Most are Free of Cost)

Pocket: I can save any webpage/blog/article that I want to read on my computer to Pocket via browser, and open it via the app on my Tablet to listen.
Google Play Books: I can buy any book from Google Play and start listening to it using the Google Play Books app.
FBReader: If I download a classic from Gutenberg or if I buy an ePub eBook, I can load it to FBReader and listen to it.
@Voice Aloud Reader: This app reads PDF, Doc, txt documents aloud. I tried loading even two-column formatted PDFs and it reads without a problem.

Except the Google Play Books app, other apps allow us to adjust the speed, pitch, and volume.

You can use the Voice Engine/Voice that comes built into your Android device, but it’s somewhat robotic. Better, I suggest you to download IVONA voice: Amy, English – UK – this is good.

So do you plan use Text To Speech technology to listen to books, documents, or articles sometime? Try it: it’s a cool/useful feature, and a different experience  

Destination Infinity

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Lilac Handmade and Organic Soaps – Review

Lilac Handmade and Organic soaps is an e-commerce venture floated by my friend and fellow blogger Rahul Agarwal. So when he offered to send me two soaps made by them for review on my blog, I agreed immediately.

You all know I am a fan of anything organic (doesn’t use chemicals) and healthy. In addition to that, these soaps are handmade. Some benefits of these soaps (as sent to me by Rahul) include:

Our Handmade soaps contains glycerin which acts as a skin softener.
We scent our soaps with essential oils, fragrance oils & natural herbs.
We use:

– Coconut oil to create fluffy lather & Cocoa and Shea butter for its superior moisturizing abilities and Castor oil for creamy lather formation.

– Olive Oil which is rich in vitamins, minerals and fatty acids.
We go the old way of making soaps as it was done thousands of years ago.
We avoid adding any chemicals as used in the making of commercial soaps. Our handmade soaps do not contain any synthetic preservatives or artificial hardeners.
Commercial soaps are produced in large amounts thus making them inexpensive. We make our handmade soaps in small batches to maintain the integrity of oils, fats & butters. 

 

I used one of these soaps for more than a week and here are my observations:

The soap was quite large, but that size maybe required as it dissolves faster than normal soaps. It lasted as long as any normal soap would, maybe slightly longer.
Initially, my soap box had some water and some stuck on to the soap. But once I drained the water, the soap was fine – so make sure there is no water in the soap box you keep it in.
Because of the larger size, it doesn’t fit into normal soap boxes, but that’s not a big deal as I kept it in a slanting position with a small bit outside the box.
The feel of the soap on the skin is good, and we can feel the cleansing. The skin doesn’t feel dry, like ordinary soaps.
The lather is not too less, not too much – just the right amount. So is the smell. Both good!
The color is lively and the soap sorta encourages me to bathe better with more concentration.
The only real minus point of this soap is the higher cost. But no harmful chemicals are used and each soap is handmade with care. Nowadays, I don’t mind paying a premium for organic stuff.

I would love to switch over to organic soaps but the higher cost is the only thing that is stopping me. I use Medimix, Hamam, and Margo, all of which are cheaper and within my budget. Once I start earning more, I will definitely switch.

I hope more people will consider starting a business in the organic/sustainable living space. I think it’s important if we want a better future.

Destination Infinity

PS: If you know any good product/service in the organic/sustainable-living domain, let me know. I’d love to use it and spread the word through my blog.

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#Song of the Week: Tu Har Lamha (Khamoshiyan)

‘Tu har Lamha’ from Khamoshiyan is my latest find. This song has been composed by Bobby-Imran and sung by Arjit Singh.  This melodious song has the right beats to set the tone. At places it goes very slow, but the variation creates a good effect. I have listened to another song that is very similar, not sure which! I also like another song from this movie – Baatein ye kabhi na…

Destination Infinity

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13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck (Book Review)

When a popular fiction author writes non fiction, one is  intrigued. So when one of my favorite Indian author Ashwin Sanghi — who has already shown his extensive research capabilities in his fiction books — published this book, ’13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck’ via Westland Publishers, I had to read it. 

Is there luck, or is luck simply a result of hard work and perseverance? In this book, Ashwin Sanghi says that luck can be engineered, and people share qualities like: Networking, listening to their intuition, taking calculated risks, alertness, conquering fear, goodness, etc. are, no wonder, luckier.

Though most of this is common sense and we know that intuitively, sometimes we forget. Reading a book like this is a good reminder to apply/follow these qualities in our day to day life. Even if the book results in us adapting one positive quality that improves our life, it’s an excellent return on investment!

The best thing about the book is the number of examples the author provides from his own life, from the lives of people whom he knows, from the lives of great (lucky) personalities who have lived before us (or) continue to live. There many previously unknown inspirational people/incidents I learned via this book.

Though I liked this book and would recommend it to everyone, there are a few things to note.

First, when an author is writing a self help book, it’s better they not consider their opinion as supreme. They should acknowledge that there could be a different opinion/truth, that they themselves might change their mind later, and their tone should reflect that maturity. This book doesn’t. But since it’s the author’s first book, I think it’s OK.

Second, the examples, though appropriate and good, were on a superficial level – there is no in-depth research in any of them. Being familiar with the kind of research Ashwin is capable of in books like Chanakya’s Chant and Krishna Key, I was a little surprised. But maybe the objective of the book was to present a short glimpse into incidences only, and not delve into details. So I think this is also fine.

Altogether a short, excellent, and inexpensive book to pickup when you find yourself a little depressed, or when you want a reminder of what qualities you should imbibe into your life if you want to be successful, and of course – Lucky!

You can buy ’13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck’ by Ashwin Sanghi from  Amazon.in or Flipkart in India. (Disclaimer: These are affiliate links. If you buy the product after clicking on these links, I may get a small commission. Your price will not change.)

Destination Infinity

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Are you Listening to Radio Channels?

It’s been a long time since I listened to radio channels. So I thought why not try it now, especially as I have bought a cell phone with decent front speakers, recently.

Here are my observations just after one hour of listening to various Radio Channels in Chennai:

Songs are played only for 50% of the time.
Remaining 50% of the time is taken up by ads, RJ chatter, interviews, theme music of the radio channel, etc.
Some channels are clearer than others: Not sure if this is location/device specific. But since they don’t consume my 3G bandwidth, so I am happy!
Talking about 3G, if you live outside Chennai and want to listen to radio channels in Chennai, there are a few radio channels that stream via the Internet, it seems.
In one channel, a movie was playing in audio format!
Two interesting ads I noticed: One ad advertised an apartment saying it’s not as expensive as 3 crores, but costs just 1.3 crores!! My, I don’t think I can buy a house Another ad was an ad for a mega serial for TV. Talk about radio-TV collaboration!
One channel played an interview with a movie star which was actually a plug for his latest movie. But another channel played an interview with four artists who came on a cultural exchange to paint the walls of Chennai.
There were a couple of radio channels that played English songs. But not even one channel played Hindi songs!! Why??
Good to listen to old/familiar/forgotten songs once again.
One person who ‘called-in’ started singing in a pathetic voice. Too funny!!
One channel (AIR?) was broadcasting news in short.
Actually, I was flipping through the radio channels to discover at least one new/good song. I did find this song from Billa 2. It was good, not great. But I am inspired to listen more.
Also, just one hour of listening resulted in so much adventures!

So have you been listening to radio channels in your place recently? What are your observations? If you’ve not been listening, you should try – at least occasionally

Destination Infinity

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Baby – Hindi Movie Review

Baby Hindi Movie Trailer:



Though Baby is one of the better Bollywood/Hindi movies I saw in the recent times, I feel it has been over-rated/hyped by many friends in my Facebook timeline. The movie makers have created good suspense throughout the movie.

One thing I found odd was: the protagonists just don’t get into any serious trouble – for the magnitude of their international operations – even once! They succeed in all their missions during the movie, not to forget the many missions before the movie started, as informed by the narrator in the beginning!

But, it’s good to see the movie sticking to one theme and not distract with unnecessary songs, comedy, romance, etc. Good attempt – you can watch it once. Bollywood movies are getting better

Destination Infinity

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Touch of Mist (Book Review)

Touch of Mist is the first book written by Deepika Muthusamy. It’s about love, marriage, separation, and reunion(?). Frankly, I have not read many relationship-based books, and I was glad to read this one: it was like cool breeze in a perpetually hot Chennai!

What makes two people fall in love with each other? Why do they find each other so interesting during the relationship phase, and why does the equation change (sometimes immediately) after marriage? What is the reason for this change – are they internal or external factors?

These are the topics dealt with in book. Not directly – through a story. The story is good, and I loved the first 85% of the book. But the climax, and the scenes leading to it, could have been shorter. When you know what’s going to happen, a surprise might have made the story more memorable, or it could have been kept shorter.

The writing style of the author is good and there is continuity. I was able to create a picture of the story in my mind, as it happened – to the credit of the author. But certain scenes where the protagonists meet accidentally (on the way) could have been avoided as it felt like they were deliberately inserted to take the story forward.

Also, the scenes where someone talks to prevent people who have just attempted suicide to refrain from it, and they accept it immediately, was not convincing. Just when I thought undue  importance was being given to suicides in the story, the author makes one of the protagonist open a suicide helpline, and that was an impressive thought.

The author has brought out the relationship between the two protagonists very well. The conflicts have also been brought out well and I guess modern youth could easily identify with the protagonists. The Adam and Eve dialogues, giving out the differences in thinking between men and women, is very good.

Overall, this is a good read. I think it helps to read books in multiple genres as it broadens our perspective.

You can buy this book from Amazon in India. [Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link. If you click on it and buy the product, I may get a small commission.]

Destination Infinity

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