Evil of Showrooming

The Time Magazine has an article on 'Evil of Showrooming' (link).  The concern is that people browse a bookstore, and later buy at Amazon (in our case / my case Flipkart.com).



There was a report in Times of India recently the book sales dipped signficantly in the recent times. (link)



Trends are changing. Here are something to take note of:



a) The bookshops like Crossword, Landmark etc in Bangalore do not really have a good collection of books. They sell much hyped and latest 'best sellers'



b) Like Brand Factory, they are also into Buy 1 Get 1,  or throughout the year Sales Festival.



c) I recently searched in 3 or 4 bookshops including Crossword, and Landmark some best books on Brains and Neuroscience.  They had them on their computers listed with zero inventory.



d) These book stores have not done to contain the local piracy



e) These book stores added eateries as additional attraction



f) My contact in Reliance Time Out was concerned that he does not get intentional buyers. People who walk into Reliance's electronic showroom, visit the 2nd floor bookstore to buy some stationery and cosmetics.



g) People have enough access to these books thanks to Just Books and other library formats. 



In my opinion,

- These book stores should sell best of books, rare collections.  They should organize events, strategies to encourage reading more. They should encourage concepts to build home library. You cannot just afford to remain a bookshop. The bookshop owner should build relationship with the buyer. I have not seen any intellectual book seller in any of the bookshops talking passionately to his customers.



Till then, evil of showrooming cannot be contained.



PS: I also would like to add, I regularly buy good books from bookstores despite online offers.

The Dog Trainer

I was in search of how psychology plays role in dog training.  It would be certainly interesting to know that. In the process, I came across this man's details: Ceasa Millan.



About Cesar Millan:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Millan



Cesar's home page:  http://www.cesarsway.com/

 

Things to get better in 2012

Every year that passes by special in some way. And to me 2011 is very satisfactory year. I chose it to be.



For 2012, I see it as a year of getting things better.  Year end is a physical demarcation and provides a mental one to all of us.  But I believe, we should start anywhere anytime if we truly decided without waiting for the next year to come.



What would I get better at in 2012?




Health:  I was telling my friends that everyone plans to fall sick. I feel sad sometimes whether people take conscious steps towards health or not, they take conscious steps towards bad health patterns. What if one day all the doctors tell, we can treat only three times in your lifetime for any kind of ailment?  Wont the world be the craziest place where health is sought after, instead of gold?  



Language:  I recently fell in love with Kannada language for two reasons.  The Jyothiyali song from the movie Geetha.  And another reason is a "Geetha".  Geetha madam, a very senior teacher, whom I met recently in Chikamagalore and she spoke on stage a very beautiful literary Kannada rich in style.  By next year, my library will find me filling Kannada books. or you may end up reading my Kannada blog.



Relationships: I know me very well. I got better at relationships in the past ten years. I know my patterns, strengths and limits when it comes to relationships. Relationships are very subtle things; as human being we relate each others in some way.  Its part of the survival of the human race.  I will still get better at this and be a better person.  A quote that I read "Before you heal others, heal yourself".



Wealth:  I really have a love-hate relationship with wealth. If wealth were a woman, we like each other, we seek each other but we donot seem to get along :-)



Book:  Not of reading but of writing one. 



Neuroscience for you and me:  After NLP for the past ten years, it was the brain science that became my recent obsession. The book Evolve Your Brain, The Buddha's brain and few other titles, find prominent place in my new bookshelf.  I was thinking that I should create something called Neuroscience for Kids and explain the power of Brain to the young generation in a more effective way.





And there are some more!  I am sculpting my life, only to get better.  The Buddha in me, smiles.



 

GCoffee Bookshelf

My new bookshelf is here.  Its very exciting to have all the books under one place.

I have made 3 racks each measuring 2 feet width and 6 inch depth. Made of good quality wood and with Teakwood beading. To make the bookshelf more interesting, the books have been arranged based on the colours.

My Ten Power Values

My ten power values I am committed to are:



* LOVE:  Who do I love, What love means to me, who loves me, how much unconditional love can I show to everyone..

* GRATITUDE:  What am I today is thanks to the several people I met, several events and opportunities I encountered.

* CURIOSITY:  I grow because of my curiosity to understand, learn, and get better.

* PASSION:  Passion is unbridled power for human excellence.  Only through excitement, energy flows unlimited.

* DETERMINATION: If anything that is accomplished in this world, its through determination.

* FLEXIBILITY:  Its only through flexibility, we create several options for making change.

* CONFIDENCE:  Unshakeable confidence removes the fear factors

* CHEERFULNESS: Cheerfulness puts us on state of excitement and possibilties.

* VITALITY:  Physical energy creates nerve energy.

* CONTRIBUTION: Through giving, we make difference.

Independence Day 2011

Today is Independence Day. 



While we give a lot of significance to "celebrating", we forgot that we have really lost our way in the last 65 years. The very meaning of Freedom has been lost.  The year of anti-corruption awareness, we are heading towards another freedom fight.  But India is under developed in several aspects. Men gripped by mental illness like greed, crime, corruption are spoiling the essential spirit of this country.  Some of the villages I have been recently, makes me realize that we are still close to the stone age. Somebody told me that outside Bangalore, several villages have just 3 hours power supply.  We read every day news on child abuse, and violence on human.  Many of the teachers I have interacted still feel the government has not done anything for the teaching community.



We are fiddling with the basics, India.

Incidents and Coincidence

Incident #1 Today morning, before leaving bed, looking at deep sleep Diya, I was telling myself “I should never be tough with Diya for her mischiefs;  because children are not from us, they are through us”.  I read this quote several months back.

Incident #2  Yesterday and day before, I was in Hyderabad and was closely following Swami’s health report in media. I was having few questions in my mind.

This morning, I picked Dr.Wayne Dyer’s book “Change your thoughts; change your Life” which reflects Tao principles. An excellent book.

Coincidence#1   One of the random pages that  I opened talked about the quote “children are not from us; they are through us”.  I was stunned because that was the quote I told myself hardly 10 min back. And I was reading that quote several months back in some other book.

Coincidence #2  In the same book, this has been mentioned:  One of Swami’s devotee Ms.Radhika Kinger had written a letter to Dr.Wayne Dyer on Sai Baba.  That was the time Swami was confined to wheel chair.  She had asked Swami why He could not cure himself.  For which Baba responded “My Life is My Message. Pain is a natural phenomenon. But suffering is a choice. I do not suffer as I am not the body”.     A relevant message coming to me through this book in current Baba’s health context.

Election & Cricket

Captain Vijaykanth

Captain Dhoni

Suddenly I observe some coincidences in Tamilnadu Election and World Cup Cricket this year.



* There are factors that decide who can be part of the team

* If you have not performed recently (in the last opportunity), you get replaced

* Beyond talent, personal contacts at management level, help influence

* Media exposes every move of the members

* There will be some who will get hurt

* Both are serious games, for some

* Both are fun games, for some

* Senior and old try to hold their places beyond performance and age

* Captains will make difference this time

Eyelid Infection

I have my left eye infected now. My friends said, its because of the body heat and every one suggested on what I should be focusing on to keep my body cool.

Happened to meet a family dentist, and she said the medical practitioners do not buy the idea of 'body heat' for eye swelling. She said it could be because of the eye lid infection due to blockage of oil secretion.

Getting better.

பாரதியார் கவிதை

Recently I made this for all my friends. I make this, printed in GK Vale and gifted a few for my friends and displayed few in my house.

My new health rhythms

I am into new health rhythms

• Deep Breathing in the mornings


• Oil Pulling


• Fruit Bowls for lunch


• Acupressure


• Focus on effective food combining


• No to dairy products

Still flexible, try to adopt these most of the times on a weekly basis. I really felt sick of myself when I fell sick recently. Regarding my body as a temple, I vowed not to disregard it anymore with careless treatment. Hope I will have visible results in six months or so.

ஆதிக்கம்

யாரோ யாரையோ ஆதிக்கம் 

செய்துக் கொண்டு தான் 

இருக்கிறார்கள்

பெரியவன் சிறியவனிடமும்

தீயவன் நல்லவனிடமும்

பலசாலி நோன்ஜானிடமும்

இருப்பவன் இல்லாதவனிடமும்

ஆண் பெண்ணிடமும் 

பெண் ஆணிடமும் 

மனம் மனிதனையும் 

மனிதன் எல்லாவற்றையும் 

ஆதிக்கம் 

செய்துக் கொண்டு தான் 

இருக்கிறார்கள்

 

  

Heart to Heart Relationships

For many, ability to cope up with a relationship breakage is painful.  But a relationship breakage is just a result. There is a great binding factor in any relationship - "Understanding of others rules". I guess shared about this already. 

Rules are our own rules on 'what has to happen in order to feel happy'. In the process, we end up creating more rules to be unhappy and few rules to be happy. Most of our rules are dependent on others: "He has to call me everyday...", "She has to serve good food everytime...", "He/she has to smile when I joke..".

When these expectations are not met, it leads to less harmonious relationships.

Everyone would have realized how great it is to survive after seeing the Japan Tsunami videos on the televisions. All it needs to just survive. Nothing else matters. All the cars were on roofs. And the roofs were on the roads. People bodies were on the sea. And the sea was in the city. It was a big mess that God Himself will a lot of time to cleanup things.

Such things happen in our relationships too. We complicate things.



My ideas are simple -

a) Learn to be happy no matter what

b) Have enough rules to be happy and very less rules to be unhappy

c) Forgive the person completely and move on (its good for you too)

d) There are more than enough people on this earth to show your love

e) No matter what, be sincere your life and true to your relationships

Shilparamam @ Hyderabad

Delhi on March

Stuttering is in mind

I had been to a relatives wedding at Chennai. 

One of my young cousins has been suffering from stuttering for a quite long time. I asked him from when he has been going through this. He said since the day he learnt to speak. It was very sad to see him dragging his words to complete a sentence. I helped him with certain neuro association patterns. Looks like a doctor has given him technical explanation that he has been inhaling less air which leads to stuttering. 



At one point, I proved my cousin that he has not stuttered for the past 3 hours continuously. Because, just because, he was joking, pulling somebody's legs, and was on top of the world forgetting himself that he "has" stuttering. When my sister returned to the room, he spoke with severe stuttering which I could not believe! It is like, he has been constantly telling himself mentally he has stuttering. I taught him how to eliminate this completely. That I am away from him, he needs to do this practice frequently and emotionally stronger till his brain gets hold of his new pattern.



I will share the results after reviewing him sometime.

The effect of media on your day

We all have been groomed right from school days on the newspaper reading habits. The intention then was to stay current on the current events, general knowledge. The newspapers of the old good days delivered a holistic news and there were popular columnists.



Times have evolved and there is so much negativity on our media. We are exposed to so much news on terrorism, corruption, violence, abuse and what not. It does not mean those days were golden days that our grand parents enjoyed every single day. Our media has new technology, and more competition. The crime reporting has been dominating and some how we became glued to the news channels and news papers on a daily basis and keeping ourselves 'very current'.  The 'breaking news' are not really declaring any great news for a common man but an interim on the current negative incident.  I recall how Headlines Today channel took Sania Factor as a news theme and analyzed about her personal side. That was crazy!



There were days, I used to look for Times of India by 6 am and insisted the newspaper guy to deliver on time. Then I 'experimented' different newspapers like Deccan Herald, DNA in between. But the newspaper boy comes just before I leave to office - and I am thankful for him. Because I donot get to read a newspaper on the morning, because I do not give myself time in the morning, I am not polluting my mind. If I have to read, I read after coming back from office. Bangalore Mirror which is supposed to expose "the other side of Bangalore" wrote a cover story on Police Commissioner shaving his head on account of his friend's death. There are subject matter experts in the news media, but as they 'Bad News Sells' - most of them are delivering bad news.



The news on the media, the news that the media highlights as effect on our everyday psychology. I do not mean to hide our faces from reality. The emphasis can be on positivity. Positivity breeds positivity.



I tried practising for a week, and got out of my habit of grabbing the newspaper with love.

Rules that rule our mind

I am driven by my own set of rules. You are driven by your own set of rules.  Every one of us have plenty and plenty of rules that drive us crazy, or fun loving, or contributing or caring, or happy throughout our life.  We did not consciously framed those rules and expect everyone to adhere to those rules.



A rule is our own definition of 'what has to happen in order for us to feel good'.  You are expecting your mom to serve the food in certain way. Thats one of your rules. If that is violated, you get annoyed, feel unloved, or feel rejected unconsciously.



You expect someone to smile at you when you say Good Morning.  They dont do always. And you get upset. Your rule is violated. We end up creating too many rules and end up ourselves unhappy.



The ultimate truth is that nothing has to happen in order for you to feel good. We need not any reason to be very happy.

Next time, if you are reacting violently to the situations at home or office, or emotionally disturbed for every event that happens, look at what the rule is.

Change the rule and define it in such a way that you always win.

For example, one great rule is "Any time I could smile, Any time I meet people and have fun, Any time I could contribute, Any time I could speak kind words, Any time I create something new, Any time I eat and sleep well for my health, Any time I could reach out to my old friends, Any time......-  I feel great and happy".



Define more rules that will always put you in an empowering mode. "Anytime I wake up and find myself alive, I find more day to make a difference". "Anytime I read a book, I am learning something new".



What does your rule book say?

மன்மதன் அம்பு

மன்மதன் அம்பு

மன் - மன்னார் (கமல்)

மதன் - மதன கோபால் (மாதவன்)

அம்பு - அம்புசாக்ஷி (த்ரிஷா)





இந்த மூன்றும் சேர்ந்து மன்மதன் அம்பு ஆனது. த்ரிஷா மாதவன் காதலர்கள். அவர்கள் இடையே ஊடல். மாதவன் கமலை உளவானாக நியமித்து த்ரிஷாவை கண்காணிக்க செய்கிறார். முதல் பாதியிலையே படம் முடிந்து விடுகிறது. காமெடி என்ற பெயரில் அறுவை.



நிறை என்று சொன்னால் -



* த்ரிஷாவின் யதார்த்தமான நடிப்பு

* ஐரோப்பா சுற்றுபயணம்

* நீலவானம் பாடல்

* சின்ன சின்ன சுவாரசியங்கள்



குறை என்று சொன்னால் -



* கதை என்று ஒன்று இல்லை

* லாஜிக் இல்லை என்றாலும் பரவாயில்லை. ஒரே நாடகத் தனம்.

* மன்னார், குருப் என்று ஒட்டாத பெயர்கள்

* கழுத்தில் ரத்தம் வராத குறை தான்.



வழக்கம் போல கே எஸ் ரவிக்குமார், ஒரு காட்சியில் தலை காட்டி விடுகிறார். தேவி பிரசாத் தனது பாடலில் பெயரை அறிவித்து கொள்கிறார். கமல் தனக்கு தெரிந்த எல்லாவற்றையும் ஒரே படத்தில் சொல்ல துடிக்கிறார். விஜய் டிவியில் வந்த பேட்டிகள் அத்தனை ஈர்ப்பாக இருந்தன. த்ரிஷா, மாதவன் - திறமையுள்ள நடிகர்கள். வீணடித்து விட்டார்கள். சங்கீதா, குருப் கதாபாத்திரங்கள் ஒரு மாதிரி எரிச்சல் உண்டு பண்ணுகின்றன. த்ரிஷா கவிதை படித்து இருக்க வேண்டாம். படம் நெடுக தண்ணி, பாத்ரூம் என்று நகைச்சுவை (!) அம்சங்கள். எந்த அடிப்படையில் ஆனந்த விகடன் 40 மதிப்பெண் கொடுத்ததென்று தெரியவில்லை. நான் 30 மதிப்பெண் கொடுப்பேன்.



இந்த மாதிரி படம் எடுத்தால் அப்புறம் எப்படி திரை அரங்குக்கு வந்து பார்க்க சொல்கிறார்கள்?



படம் முடித்து விட்டு INOX வளாகத்தில் உள்ள "மயிலை மசாலா"-வில் மதிய உணவு முடித்தோம்.



மயிலை மசாலா-வில் காரம் அதிகம்

மன்மதன் அம்புவில் சாரம் குறைவு

The innocent sales boys

I had been to a mall today; noticed busy sales men and sales women all around - right from car parking through premier stores.



I treat them with utmost regard when they approach me or when I approach them. 



Some are good looking; some look learned;

Some interact well; some bluff;

Some are knowledgeable; some are not.



I used to wonder, for their age, if they had got the right standard of education, they would have been in a reputed job.



Last week, I met a girl in MK Ahmed Stores (Dollars Layout) who was sitting on the floor because she was standing since morning. Other girl was weeping over some internal issue with her other peers.



Their family background is not that great most of the times; we can assume so - they may not be doing this job for name sake. They could be the bread winners of their families.



Happen to watch Angadi Theru movie today in the TV.  Some of the story bits could have been exaggerated, but many things could have been true. But I did not have the courage to watch the movie!



What these workers grow to? What kind of fortune will they make?

I think the very basic thing we can do is respect them and help them where possible

Happy New Year - 2011

Wishes to all my dear ones a happy new year 2011.  The whole world is charged up to enter 2011. Let this new year bring in new, exciting things in everybody's lives.