Blown away

I finally finished reading Ashok Banker’s Ramayana series. There’s only one word to describe the books.

WOW.

What a story. What a rollicking adventure and what a storyteller!! Fantasy, adventure, mythology all rolled into one, a story to rival any story ever told.

Really. Full respect.

He made the Ramayana so interesting, so gripping that I was turning pages at every possible opportunity - in the metro, in the loo, shutting myself off from the kids, battling sleep for a few more minutes to finish this one chapter, one page....

Yes it’s an imaginative retelling of the great epic, so no space for the purists here. There’s a lot of creative license at play, but if this is the end result, bring it on, I say!

I won’t say any more. Just go read it, people. For folks who have read it, I’d like to know if you were as powerfully affected by it as I was.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading the Mahabharata series now. It gives me goose bumps to think what he can do with that story! I hope it does not disappoint!

Learning by not doing

It's been the case in the last couple of years that I have learnt some valuable life-lessons by watching other people make mistakes. It's taught me a lot about how NOT to live my life. How NOT to build trust and manage relationships. How NOT to be a lousy people manager. How NOT to be a lousy boss, co-worker, daughter-in-law, friend or son.

I've learnt (and yes, we all know these things, but seeing other people know them and still make mistakes...that provides a lot food for thought and makes it's application in your own life a lot easier)

Life is too short for regrets. Any kind, big or small. Regret can blight your present and the future and strip every enjoyment from it. Let it go.

As a corollary - Enjoy the here and the now. Don't hanker after anticipated future bounties, nor look back on the past (even if it was glorious).

Be nice. But never be a doormat. Accomodate, just don't allow people to take you for granted.

Building a great team or company is all about building trust and relationships. It's got very little to do with how brainy or competent you are. Beyond a certain point, a leader's personal competence is irrelevant; what is relevant is only her ability to create and nurture a team that can do great things. 

Unfortunately one of the things they don't teach you at b-school (Harvard or lesser) is how to be a good leader, someone who inspires and nurtures, whom people look up to, someone who is secure enough to create the people who will replace him.

Yes, there is a lot to learn from the people around you! Hopefully, NOT doing all the wrong things will mean that I DO get some things right!!