I am reading The Arabian Nights after having bought the book more than 10 years ago. And it is a completely different point of view to the modern view of equality of the sexes and in particular, the stories that we see in romantic movies – both Bollywood and Hollywood. I will not address the […]
Category Archives: Self Help
India’s Test Series win in Australia
This has nothing to do with the main topics I write about in this blog but I can’t resist writing about our test series victory in Australia. The reasons why this victory is special are threefold: firstly, it was an overseas win; next it was against a full-strength Australian team which is one of the […]
The Self Immolation of Thich Quang Duc
I had written an article last in April last year on why there is suffering in this world. Here is a link to that article Responding to that my niece sent me a WA message. Here is the message and my response to it My Niece: I would argue that suffering is a human construct. […]
Another Hodgepodge of Thoughts
I am sitting in front of the computer screen not knowing what I should write. Normally I have a good idea about what I want to say but today being a bit busy I have not been able to organise my thoughts to write a coherent blog post. But I need to maintain my goal […]
More on Envy
Why is there so much envy in India? According to Gurcharan Das, the well known author, the cause of envy in India is socialism. According to him in his book, The Difficulty of Being Good, If greed is the sin of capitalism then envy is the vice of socialism. When I was young Indira Gandhi […]
Guarding against Envy
I want in this article to summarize a few points that Francis Bacon makes in his essay on Envy. There is a link to the full essay at the end of this article. Please read the original essay. It is heavy going but it is less than 5 pages and Francis Bacon understood human nature. […]
Why you should not read Self Help books
Now I am writing a Self Help article and telling you not to read Self Help books. There is a contradiction right there. But bear with me and I will make my point. What I would like to say is that all youngsters would be better advised to read novels – preferably but not necessarily […]
How to guard against Envy
I want to write two maybe three articles on the subject of envy. I have suffered as a result of envy – when I was young I was (definitely because of my genes) something of a potential genius. But I was also a troubled youngster who behaved in eccentric ways. I have every wish to […]
Vital Secrets for a Successful Career
Read earlier article that I published on this topic earlier. Better yet get hold of the book from which the concepts of the article were taken. The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell is a classic of self help. I first read the book when I was around 20 and I still keep a copy […]
The Best Maker of Men I Know
Thomas Carlyle is not one of my favourite authors. He is not somebody I read over and over repeatedly but he has exercised a dominant and beneficial influence over my life. I remember when I was I my mid-twenties I was searching for a direction in my life. Or rather I was searching for strength […]