The most enjoyable course I took during my MBA at Wharton was taught not by a professor, but by a librarian. In the final semester of the MBA, no more under any pressure, I took a course outside the business school with the University of Pennsylvania's music...

The glass is not half empty. Nor is it half full. The glass is 95% full -- just that we don't look around hard enough. When we move into a new house or buy a new car, in probably two weeks' time, we start taking it for granted. We discover the value of anything when...

How would you feel sitting in a really, really hot room without even a fan? When we call it sauna, we would pay a good amount of money to experience it in a luxury hotel. But when it is a power cut in the summer, we would curse the heavens for the misery. In both...

When I see ads saying "Learn to build a website in 5 minutes" or "Learn XYZ in 10 minutes", I often wonder, what is the big rush? Do we have only that long to live? For sure, time is valuable. But so is the thing you are trying to build or the skill you are trying to...

Whether or not you have that MBA from Harvard, ISB, or IIMA, you have to train yourself to think clearly. To create thought clarity, train yourself to write well. To write well, write every day. To do anything every day, train yourself to do things even when you don't...

In the 8 odd years I spent in the Indian Police Service, I hardly saw anyone saying 'No, sir.' The 'Yes, sir' behavior went all the way to the top. In fact, a junior IPS officer might still occasionally say 'no.' But often, the top brass would not only say 'yes' but...

Digital distraction is the new diabetes. And it is no less deadly. Let me explain. Diabetes, obesity, and hypertension happen for a simple reason: A million years ago, in the forests, sugar, fat, and high-calorie food were life-savers for our ancestors. Hence,...

Two decades ago, along with a small group of policemen, I was chasing an elephant that had run amok. At that time, I was posted as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in south Kerala. Traditionally, in Kerala, elephants are extensively used for local festivals, and...

There is no hack to become rich or fit or well-read. There is no viral hack for your marketing. There is no easy way to master any subject or become an accomplished musician or a standout athlete. In short, there are no shortcuts. Of course, some people may get lucky....

A bag is heavy only if we carry it on our shoulders. If we put it down, it has no weight at all. Most of our mental worries are baggage our mind can't put down. That is also why we become so busy and overwhelmed. It is not the length of our to-do list but the mental...

A decade ago, while running on Marine Drive in Mumbai, I saw a somewhat familiar face. But because of his sunglasses, I couldn't place him. I then saw that the guy running next to him was a cop (the bulge of a pistol in his jacket gave it away). Since he was probably...

If you visit the Trivandrum Zoo, you will see a name on a granite stone in front of each enclosure. And no, it is not what you think - it is the name of the politician who inaugurated the enclosure. This means each enclosure was inaugurated with fanfare and the names...

During my training with the Indian Police Service, we were taught how to hit with a club/lathi during lathicharge, in a step by step, almost comical manner. Interestingly, this training answered a question I always had: Why do humans keep doing stupid and outdated...

During my stint with the Kerala police, we once faced a massive protest in which the opposition parties vowed to blockade the State Assembly to prevent the budget presentation. This has never happened anywhere in India. Naturally, we could not allow this and made a...

Bollywood produces mediocre movies not because we don't have the cameras, or the technology. We just don't care - period. In an upcoming movie, Anil Kapoor dons the uniform of an Air Force officer (Air Commodore) but wears it with the finesse of a headload worker. He...