Book Review: Unposted Letter by Mahatria

This month’s book review is claimed by ‘Unposted Letter’ – a collection of insights to life by Mahatria. Let me warn beforehand that you will take a long time to finish this book. Not because it is a hard read. But for the sole reason that you will want to understand what is being said, introspect to see how well it relates to your life and take time to incorporate it immediately. This book does not unravel the mysteries of life or preach philosophy and religion. There is a high probability of you already knowing most of its content. What this book actually does is act as a refresher for all that we learnt as we grew up.

Daily life is a struggle, for everybody. Be it rich or poor, young or old. Each one has his own set of challenges. And in trying to cope with the responsibilities, we often find ourselves getting angry, stressed or depressed. But, there are times when we feel happy and contented too. In this state of buoyancy, we often rise above the mundane and wonder why human beings can’t be at peace with what they have. Why is there a constant greed for more? This brief period of enlightenment tells us not to want more but to do more. And we do try to act on it. For the whole of that day, we try to be a bit more patient, a bit more understanding and a bit more selfless. Unfortunately, the next morning we relapse into our usual state of neglect.

This is where the book helps us. It acts as a medium to reach the neutral state of mind, in a faster way. Each of the simple chapters tells us how we can lead a better life just by trying to be a better person ourselves rather than waiting for the whole world to change. Tolerance prevails as the main theme. An old song from the Hindi movie ‘Guddi’ beautifully summarizes the entire book in these few lines -

Humko man ki shakti dena, man vijay karein
Doosron ki jai se pehle khud ko jai karein

(Give us the maturity to gain control of our mind
Let us triumph over our evils before correcting the mistakes of others)

The general attitude when reading self-improvement books is to question and argue with the beliefs of the author. I am not condoning it. In fact, I have almost never accepted any philosophy without question. It is not arrogance. It is genuine curiosity to know the pros and cons of a subject in order to understand it completely. Some of the teachings in the book may seem contradictory. For example, one of the chapters says that “love is not love that pampers”. Love will constantly provide feedback so that you can improve on your shortcomings and become a better person. But another chapter says “Do not benchmark expectations”. Everybody has their positives and negatives. We must stop focusing on isolated qualities and start relating to the whole being. So, should you help others overcome their negatives or cut them some slack and choose to see their positives instead? Of course, mull over it a bit and you will understand that the teacher is asking us not to obsess over the flaws of your loved ones. What I am trying to say is do not take a cynical approach. Read the book with an open mind. You will have questions, which is a good sign, because you are taking the content seriously. However, do not stop there. Discuss it with family and friends, anyone you deem fit. Arrive at your own beliefs. You are fully allowed to develop your own opinion as long as you have arrived at it in a holistic manner.

I won’t dwell on why we should read this book because the reason for picking up a self-improvement book is self-explanatory. This particular book appealed to me because it is not heavy duty like most other books of this genre. It suggests making simple changes to everyday life which can be followed by anybody willing to make the change. I don’t recommend it as a must read. I recommend it as a daily read. Stay in touch with it until it becomes a part of you. Let your heart rejoice in its new found peace.

Buy n Save

I had been thinking of buying some clothes online. There was a BOGO offer going on in an online clothing store yesterday. I selected two tops each costing Rs.795. They had free shipping on orders above Rs.995. Since there was nothing reasonable for 200 bucks, I did not add any more items. The total amount with delivery charges and VAT came up to Rs.874. When I went to check-out, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the store had credited me with Rs.200 :D Happily, I decided to pay my bill of Rs.674 using my online wallet. The best part is that I had Rs.150 in this wallet as cashback from some other transaction. I paid Rs.524 like a boss and could hear some reward points falling in my credit card kitty :P As you understand, I had to brag about my great achievement to somebody and my parents were selected for the honor. I saw them suppressing smiles, though they pretended to listen to my tales of kanjoosi with absolute awe. But I chose to be smug about it :P As I walked back contented, I received a message. It was from my online wallet company and said I had received a 10% cashback for my recent transaction!! I went running to my parents to announce the message and all of us rolled in laughter :D If we were to do some quick math, the actual bill amount with revised VAT is Rs.1709. I paid just Rs.524. So I got a whopping discount of Rs.1185 which is almost 70%!! Now, that is a very very satisfying shopping experience! ;)

Up in the Loft

Yesterday, we went to this amazing place called Loft 38 in Indiranagar. Although we have been having a slew of parties recently, this was a proper night out with the dirty dozen. The lounge bar looks exquisite with a high roof and purple lights creating an electric atmosphere. The dance floor is the focal point on the ground floor with tables placed on different levels at the sides. Perfectly suitable for those moods when you want mehfil mein tanhai, privacy amidst chaos :) We got our private space on the second floor with our very own drinks counter. The dance floor has a bar nearby and was beginning to get crowded by 10 P.M. Towards midnight the place was jam packed!

For starters, we had Crispy Avocado Pastry, Nachos, Peri Peri Basa, Go Chu Jang Chicken and Chicken wings. All of them were yum especially the Avocado Pastry. I skipped main course which looked reasonable. However, the walnut brownies and vanilla pannacotta with strawberry coulee were deeliiiccious!! My heavily watered Virgin Mojito was a let down. The fruit punch kind of made up for it but I heard the cocktails were better. All the same, I stuck to orange juice for the better part of the night because you need vitamin C for non-stop dancing! We had DJ Answer churning out music. It wasn’t exactly dhik-chik dhik-chik but we were more than glad that it wasn’t like the trance we got to experience at Blue Frog. There was one particular guy who caught my attention. It looked like he had come alone but that did not keep him away from the dance floor. He was unstoppable going from hip hop to Bollywood like a man under spell. When I wasn’t dancing, I was busy admiring his moves :D

An evening of fun was about to end with a long-lost tradition - being thrown out by bouncers :P We were amongst the last ones to leave. As we sat waiting in our cab for the traffic to clear out, I was mindlessly staring at the cab ahead of us on the next lane. Out of nowhere, a bike sped straight ahead and hit the cab! Bam!! Fortunately, there was no bloodshed, just a dent on the car. As the rider got back on his feet, I noticed that he was the same guy who waited on us in Tipsy Bull last week. Such a small world. It also made me wish we had gone home sooner. I am terribly scared of accidents and watching one at close quarters does not help.

Although, I was initially reluctant to attend the party yesterday, I am glad I did. Bangalore is my birth place and I am totally in love with it. Being alien to its happening night life, which has become a distinctive feature of this beautiful city, does not go down well with me. And thanks to my cousins, lazy-ass me gets to be a part of it :P More than that, there was this really special moment when one of my brothers called me aside and said “You are my sweet sister. We will always be by your side no matter what. You don’t have to worry at all. We will stay together”. Ignoring the fact that he was terribly high :P and that I have no brother of my own, this rare display of affection caught me off-guard. I looked around and realized that despite all my cribbing, I love each and every one of them. I am so happy and grateful to have this mad, crazy family with me. We do have our share of squabbling and back-biting. But I also know that we will always be there for each other. And that, my friends, is the best feeling of all :)