Books can come knocking at your soul. Listen.

Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up, heart and soul. -Joanne Harris

We go looking for books from our list, but some books come knocking at our soul. We only need to be aware of the knock.

I was listening to the Tim Ferris Podcast with Matthew McConaughey, where he narrates a story about how a book found him. The book The Greatest Salesman In the World by Og Mandino changed the course of his life. He had never read a book before and once he found this, he kept at it.

Oprah Winfrey did a show with Eckhart Tolle with millions of viewers to discuss the book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. …

A flow state can come to the rescue

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”-Eckhart Tolle

I read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle and I wish I didn’t have. His book makes you think too much and I found that ironic.

One quick search on Medium itself and you will come across a bunch of people who have expressed their learnings from this masterpiece of a book.

I could not resist either. Because this book blows your mind.

Everyone gets something out of this.

The Power of Now

The book explains what it means to be conscious and to be present. …

A list

1. Rape Culture
2. Eve Teasing
3. Catcalling
4. Victim Abuse
5. Heels
6. Corsets
7. Wage Gap
8. Female Genital Mutilation
9. Dowry System
10. Inequal Distribution of House Work
11. Sexualization of Female Body
12. Objectification of a woman
13. Lack of Education
14. Carrying the male Last Name -Patriarchial lineage
15. Family honor associated with a woman’s body
16. Female Foeticide
17. Abortion Rights
18. Family Planning Rights
19. Primary breadwinning responsibility on a man
20. Primary caregiving of family depends on a woman
21. Men don't cry
22. Cool girl syndrome
23. The bride leaves her parents to live with the groom’s parents (many cultures)
24. Child Marriage
25. Slut-Shaming
26. Lack of women in decision-making positions
27. A man needs to protect a woman from a…

We should be able to more than wing it in life

I grew up a privileged Indian kid whose only responsibility was to get straight A’s. I aced that responsibility. The cherry on the top was apparent smartness and a love for reading.

I could have gotten away with murder, maybe.

My working parents kept their expectations of me to my academics. They were and are extremely proud of me. I was the poster child of my family and extended family.

All my cousins love me but had to fight the shadow of my so-called smartness.

We are all doing good and we all have our individual struggles and challenges. …

Kids have an innate problem-solving ability

I enrolled my daughter in a free programming session. She loved it and begged me to enroll her. In my humble opinion, the classes are crazy expensive.

Our love for her won over our financial sensibilities and we enrolled her. She continues to enjoy the classes.

Being a programmer myself, I was as excited and curious to see what she was learning. Her enthusiasm was infectious. It got me thinking that kids will enjoy programming and love seeing their solutions come to life on screen.

I was right.

I reached out to parents on my LinkedIn network to check if their kids would be interested in virtual programming sessions. I was overwhelmed with the response from parents. …

Conversation Starters

Movies are part of our everyday lives. The amazing year which is 2020 and the streaming platforms have made these stories more accessible than ever.

My daughter and husband can spend hours, munching junk food watching movies. I can only partake in the munching junk food bit. The lockdown in Melbourne has exponentially upped the number of movies we watch. I believe that to be true for almost everyone safe at home.

I used to be a movie buff as a kid. Now, I find it taxing to sit through genres that I don’t enjoy. It does not mean I have great taste in movies, but like everyone, I have “my kinda” stories I enjoy watching. …

Adults will benefit too

I grew up reading amazing books. Enid Blyton, Tinkle Books, Chacha Chaudhary Comics, Matilda, and the fiction kept coming. I used to devour all the stories with much fervor. However, I can’t remember reading real-life stories much.

Now I have a little girl whom I love reading to and I fervently pray that she finds love and solace in books as well.

I am jealous of her, though. The range of books that she has access to and what I am ready to splurge on is preposterous. We dabble in all genres of books -Roald Dahl’s, Harry Potter, comics, mythology.

The world of imagination that fiction weaves expands horizons, pushes one into different realms, and makes one sit up in wonder and awe. …

Get your daily dose of mental and physical health

Melbourne is beautiful, decorated with its cafes, pubs, and runners. Runners are hard to miss in Melbourne.

I fell in love with Melbourne cafes and turned into a runner after I immigrated here.

A knee injury later kept making a special appearance in my life but never again did it take the lead role. I signed up for weight training and got into group classes.

COVID struck and I have been safe at home for the past 6 months — in complete lockdown.

I stuck to home workouts and virtual classes. Strength training is amazing and a necessity but running kept calling me. …