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Have you ever begun something with the belief that you were going to enjoy it? Like a dance class, a movie or a part-time gig. Maybe you tried it at a friend's recommendation or because a small detail struck a chord. Either way, you experienced a feeling of positive expectation. How did it turn out? Your answer to this question depends on the gap between the experience you had and the expectations you went in with. In other words, for you to have to enjoyed it, your experience needed to either have matched your high expectations or exceeded your moderate ones. A couple of years ago, I watched a Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The novel, one of my favourites, is a quietly moving love story tinged with the heartache of lost chances. I was excited about the film. What followed was a massive letdown that had me writing a rant masquerading as a blog post to express my disappointment. While Netflix’s Persuasion was a certifiably bad adaptation, I’m partially responsible for my own disappointment. I was simply expecting too much. Research confirms that expectations have a profound impact on happiness. Unrealistic expectations are among the most effective killjoys. So, while being unrealistically excited only to be terribly disappointed by a movie isn’t exactly high stakes, there are other things like careers, relationships, financial decisions where a bitter disappointment can take a toll on one’s sense of well-being. TEMPERING EXPECTATIONS One way to have reasonable expectations from stuff weightier than a concert or film is to differentiate between necessities, preferences, goals and expectations. Only necessities are a must-have. Everything else is something that may or may not work out in your favour without it being the end of the world. The Stoic philosophers   have an excellent expression for the things we want that are only slightly different from what we don’t – ‘preferred indifferents’. The word ‘indifferents’ is used here in the same sense as insignificant because it makes very little difference. I might prefer a Volkswagen Beetle to a Hyundai and that’s okay. I’m entitled to my preferences. But it’s more important to note that these differences are ultimately unrelated to my long-term happiness. After all, any car gets me to where I want to go. MUST GOALS BE PRACTICAL? Even with goals, it’s great to have them as long as they are at least a couple of milestones short of the one marked “Never gonna happen”! I’m not recommending pessimism here. Just realism. Many of us set goals that are unrealistic. The reason they’re unrealistic is not because they’ve never been achieved by anyone but because given our current skill set, position or circumstances, they’re simply not feasible for us. In which case, it makes sense to break up this ambition into smaller goals that will act as building blocks towards the grander objective. Let’s say, my goal is to write the greatest novel of the century. That’s quite a dream for a someone who has never been published. So, someone as wise as you, my reader, may recommend I write and publish a few short stories before pursuing my ambition of blazing literary glory! THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REFERENCE POINTS Expectations aren’t always positive. One could be anticipating a loss or a disadvantage. As someone who trades in stocks, I’m familiar with the concept of loss. Though I must admit that it has yet to cure me of my chronic optimism , at least in the long run. Now, let’s talk about what is a loss. A loss, according to Risk-Value Theory, is when a person winds up worse than their “reference point.” What was a reference point? Put simply, your reference point is the point from where you started. A loss, therefore, is when you end up worse than your status quo. That’s the theory. But things are usually a bit more complicated in the real world. Let me illustrate this with an example from The Undoing Project  by Michael Lewis. It takes us into the minds of people as far from being content as is humanly possible – Wall Street traders! If a Wall Street trader expects to be paid a bonus of one million dollars and he’s given only half a million, he considers this a loss even though he’s richer than he was yesterday. This is because his reference point is an expectation of what he would receive. As hard as it is to sympathise with stock traders, let’s try. He was expecting a million and received only half that. That is disappointing. What if I tell you that there is a way in which he would be unhappy even if he did receive what he expected? Here’s how – a trader who expects to receive a million-dollar bonus, and who further expects everyone on his trading desk to be given the same, will not maintain the same reference point if he learns that everyone else just received two million dollars. In his mind, he would be back in the domain of losses.   Expectations, even our own, shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The same holds true for reference points which are the hooks on which we hang the hats of our expectations. They are often put there to manipulate us. Let me paint you a picture. There is an air of anticipation, tidbits of gossip being whispered and meaningful glances being exchanged between colleagues. It’s appraisal season. Like clockwork, the stench of ‘job cuts’ wafts through the corridors of the organisation. Many employees fear losing their jobs. This fear of being jobless and without a monthly paycheque becomes their ‘reference point’. Appraisals eventually come along with phrases like ‘poor quarterly earnings’ and ‘sluggish market’ garnishing the paltry serving of peanuts also known as a raise. But you accept it, consoling yourself with the thought that, at least, you have a job. That’s how expectations are moulded by reference points. At the end of the day, expectation is a psychological state – best controlled by yourself. GREAT EXPECTATIONS It’s not all bad though. Expectations can also lead to some really great stuff. In 1965, the American psychologist Robert Rosenthal conducted an experiment in schools. Teachers were told of a new test that could identify students who were on the verge of an intellectual spurt. They were referred to as ‘bloomers.’ In truth, there was no such test. 20% of students were randomly selected and classified as ‘bloomers.’ Their teachers didn’t know that. They remained under the impression that the ‘bloomers’ were indeed high-potential students. After a year, Rosenthal discovered that these students had developed much higher IQs than other children in the control group. The teachers’ actions were subconscious. Unknowingly, they probably devoted more time to the bloomers, and consequently, the group learned more. This is known as the Rosenthal effect or Pygmalion effect . CONCLUSION Expectations are intangible, but their effects are real. They have the power to change reality but also, disappoint despite no real loss. Luckily, you get to choose your expectations.

Tuesdays with Morrie  is a memoir about an old professor, his former student and the lesson of a lifetime. The professor is diagnosed with a terminal disease at the beginning of the book but that’s not what Tuesdays with Morrie  is about. It’s about how Morrie lived and what each of us can learn from it. Let’s start at the beginning. The author of this book, Mitch Albom was a student of Morrie Schwartz’s in the late 70s at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA. Theirs was a bond of mentorship instead of the usual teacher-student equation. But then, Morrie wasn’t the usual kind of teacher. Less concerned with grades and assignments, he cared more about sharing ideas and celebrating his community. At his graduation, Mitch promised his professor, or ‘Coach’ as he called him, to keep in touch. He didn’t. Life and the usual rat race got in the way. Fifteen years pass before Morrie is diagnosed with ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—a degenerative disease which results in the patient slowly losing control of their organs and limbs as the disease progresses, leading eventually to death. There is no cure. “Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip.” Upon finding out about Morrie’s condition, Mitch, by then a thriving sports journalist, visits his professor. He finds their bond unchanged, but realises that his former teacher needs him more than ever. Thus, begin Mitch’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Morrie is the sort of teacher we all want in our lives – one who believes in our gifts, helps us navigate the paths of life and face life’s eternal questions. One can’t help but envy Mitch for his beautiful relationship with such a generous and wise teacher. Albom’s words about his good fortune in finding a teacher like Morrie encapsulates their whole relationship, "Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find a way back. Sometimes it is only in your head. Sometimes it is right alongside their beds." Sadly, in Mitch’s share also fell the regret of missing so many years with Morrie and the grief of his loss. Tuesdays with Morrie has short chapters dealing with specific life lessons about aging, love, and death. These are interspersed with Mitch’s memories of his college days and other exchanges with his teacher. Tuesdays with Morrie is narrated by Mitch but Morrie is the hero—one whose courage and grace shine through its pages. To be honest, large portions of the book that are too simplistic to be pithy, running the risk of being condemned as trite. However, the fact that it is based on the life of a real person dying of a terribly debilitating disease gives it a gravitas that a piece of fiction wouldn’t have had.  Morrie remains, till his last breath, a positive and generous teacher, keen to discuss other people’s problems and help in whatever way he could. It’s what makes Tuesdays with Morrie  both uplifting and touching. Spouting some spiel about living a simple life and appreciating others is neither novel nor challenging. We have WhatsApp forwards for that! But living each day in that spirit, especially during tough times, is a rarity. My favourite chapters were conversations about how to deal with self-pity and the importance of community and creating one’s own culture instead of blindly following what society tells us is valuable or worth pursuing. In Morrie’s words, “Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Tuesdays with Morrie was published in 1997, spending more than four years on bestseller lists. It remains a much-beloved book for many people across the world perhaps because it makes you pause. It makes you want to reassess your priorities in life, be more present, and take less for granted. It makes you wish everyone had a teacher like Morrie. And it makes you grateful his wisdom was immortalised in this book.

If you and I share similar algorithms on social media then you’ve probably come across the term ‘Old Money Aesthetic’. It refers mainly to a style of dressing that calls for high quality, natural fibres, muted colours, tailored looks and almost no prints apart from stripes and the odd polka dot. And most importantly, no loud brand logos. It’s a great look if it works for you, even if it's a bit too formulaic. However, like all good things, it needs a dash of individuality to be truly stylish. The same holds for other things as well. Somehow, following what everyone else is doing may be trendy but it’s never memorable – be it in the jewellery you wear, how you entertain, your interests or even the things you value. I consider a bunch of different attributes and abilities as quiet luxuries. Here are a few that come to mind – people who still write with fountain pens, send out invitation cards for their get-togethers, know the names of flowers, birds and trees, pursue hobbies like woodworking, embroidery or pottery, and people who can sit in silence for at least five minutes without diving for their phones. Then, there are those who know how to have a great chat – listening and speaking in turns, or people who still wear beautiful analog watches instead of smartwatches that are just short of being able to launch a rocket into space! But all these attributes are only chic when they also effortless and not looking to be noticed or applauded. They just are the way they are, because they wish to be. In the words of Giorgio Armani, “Elegance is not about being noticed. It’s about being remembered.” Cramming every last corner of our lives with noise, content and a false sense of urgency only serves to suck out the joy of everyday life. People who enjoy the passage of time mindfully even as they go about the routines of daily life as we all do, have an underrated elegance about them. Unsurprisingly, they appear more relaxed because they allow for leisure, pleasure and boredom. In my opinion, privacy and the leisure to be bored are the last true luxuries. Frankly, if they were stocks in trade, I would buy in, based purely on their diminishing availability. If you think about it, there’s something so calming and effortlessly cool about being unrushed and getting off the hamster wheel of mindless busyness. So many of us spend so much of our time recording and measuring every aspect of our lives, that we may well be bypassing the living part. Choosing to take your time when you can is about taking ownership of your time, and using it for what you consider important and valuable, rather than scurrying around chasing prizes or goals defined by someone else. So, that’s that regarding leisure and pleasure, but what’s so chic about boredom, you ask? Well, what may look like boredom to an outsider is down-time for our overloaded brains. Also, being okay with getting bored is the sign of a person comfortable enough to sit with their thoughts without looking for a way out. You may think I’m overstating the issue, but let me tell you about an experiment conducted in 2014 . Harvard psychology professor Dan Gilbert asked his subjects to sit in a room for 15 minutes with nothing to do. Their belongings including cellphones, books and writing implements were taken from them. The only thing in the room was a button they could press to give themselves a painful electric shock. Rather than just sitting there with their thoughts, the majority of participants chose to jolt themselves by pressing the button. The duration they were supposed to just sit in silence was 15 minutes and the majority struggled with it. Think about that. Preferably without giving yourself a shock! It is important to understand that boredom is not a bad thing . It is merely the feeling we experience as we transition into a lower level of stimulation. These transitions or breaks between activities are founts of creativity, lateral thinking and problem-solving. Our devices and constant distractions don’t just derail our focus in the moment . Over a period of years, they reduce our ability to think deeply about anything without reaching for a distraction. Equally important, however, is how feeling a sense of boredom is essential for our brains to unwind and relax. What a person gains, when they choose to sit in peace at a traffic light or just observe things around them while waiting for a train set to arrive in 4 minutes, is a calmer mind. And that’s always chic!

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was a rude awakening for me to the ways of the world. At the time, I had been working for about five years and it had been a time of growth and progress, for me personally, the media industry and India’s economy. Good times are seldom fertile grounds for introspection. 2008’s Global Financial Crisis and the Recession that followed got me thinking about work, my personal life and money. Here are some of the life lessons I learnt from it all. 1. EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED The Global Financial Crisis was triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States. It impacted banks and insurance companies based mostly in the United States but the tremors were felt in every country that did business with the US – which is, practically everyone. I saw people lose their jobs in a media organisation that had nothing to do with any of it. The economic slowdown that followed in India (though thankfully, India avoided a full-fledged recession) saw job cuts running into the millions and a great deal of unemployment and diminished growth. This taught me that globalisation isn’t just a buzzword for investment summits. It’s real and, like everything else, it has its negatives as well as positives. 2. DON’T LET JARGON SCARE YOU It’s important to be aware of the big stories in the business and financial worlds. The stuff you don’t know could still upend your life. It’s best to know what’s going on. Don’t let the acronyms and numbers scare you away. Try and understand the story and the direction in which it is headed. The direction matters more than the numbers and jargon. 3. FOLLOW THE MONEY Figuring out the direction in which the money flows can tell you a lot about the lay of the land - the real motivations behind what people do, where their loyalties lie and as a consequence, how seriously you should take them. For instance, don’t take a financial influencer too seriously when they start recommending a company’s stock as the greatest thing since the steam engine, if they'd interviewed the chairman of the company a few weeks. Whether they received payment in cash, kind or views is immaterial. You need to remind yourself that it is sponsored content even if doesn’t say so. And that you need to treat it as such. This is as true for TV shows promoting cryptocurrency, as it was and is for the rating agencies who gave AAA ratings to junk bonds because they are paid by the banks selling the junk. 4. POLITICS AFFECTS EVERYTHING So, you think that just because one political party fighting an election against another or which Bills they table in Parliament doesn’t interest you, it won’t affect you. Let me put it plainly. Are you interested in how much money you are able to spend or save from what you make at your job? Or who you can marry? Or what your kids are taught in school? Or whether or not you can afford that vacation to Croatia next year? Everything you care about is affected by politics. And yet, you delude yourself into believing that it doesn’t matter. When you choose to stay ignorant and apathetic, the only thing that doesn’t matter is you and your concerns. 5. GETTING A PINK SLIP ISN’T A REFLECTION OF YOUR WORTH There are a lot of factors involved, most of which have nothing to do with your work. You could be the one getting the sack due to any old reason like: Your department is being downsized or eliminated. New technology has made your field of expertise less relevant. You earn a little more than others doing the same work as you. Your boss doesn’t like you. If you do get fired from your job, try not to weigh yourself down with feelings of unworthiness. Learn what you can from it (there is usually a lesson or two), dust yourself off and make your move. 6. DON’T SPEND MORE THAN YOU EARN An ever-increasing number of businesses want us to buy their wares. They hire advertisers and influencers to sell us the idea that life is somehow incomplete or at the very least, a tad paler without the latest threads, cellphone or car. However, at the end of the day, money is numbers. In a literal sense, there isn’t much difference between someone who makes 30,000 bucks a month and another who earns a lakh if both end up saving only 5,000 every month. Or worse, if they're both in debt. If it happens once in a blue moon and due to unforeseeable circumstances, it’s understandable. But if expenses exceeding your income is your standard operating procedure, you’re tempting fate. 7. CAREFUL WHAT YOU TAKE ON DEBT FOR Speaking of debt, you might say that sometimes one needs to live beyond one’s means. In truth, yes. Except that it pays to remember that a loan is about borrowing from the future . In which case, it is best that whatever you'll be paying for in the future also be of use to you in the coming years. Please be warned, over-sized blazers in fuchsia do not fall into that category! I must confess that I’m terribly averse to taking out loans but I do concede that they are necessary at times. All of us aren't sitting on a nest egg to buy a home or invest in a business venture. However, before you sign on the dotted line, I suggest you ask yourself whether you’ll be building an asset whose value is likely to appreciate like the price of gold or depreciate like a car or an air conditioner. For instance, if it’s a home you’re buying, let it be one you can move into with an EMI that isn’t more than double your monthly rent. There’s a reason why it’s called a starter home. It doesn’t have to be the castle of your dreams! 8. YOUR JOB ISN’T YOUR LIFE While we're talking about homes, how about you spend some time there? Have a life beyond your work. I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you but if you work in the private sector, you never know when you could be handed the pink slip. I've known a fair number of folks who acted like their organisation would crumble to dust if they took more than a week off work. If only they had. They would know that things went on just fine without them. Sometimes, even better! Let’s get real. When you leave or are escorted out, there isn’t a job or boss in the world who wouldn’t replace you before you can even exit the building. So, make sure that work isn’t your sole contribution to the world. Spend time with people you like and doing things you enjoy. It makes for a happier and healthier you. It’s the kind of investment that never fails to pay dividends. Also, when you go through tough times (whether due to work or otherwise) it helps to have friends and family that you haven’t ignored while chasing the hustle train . 9. DON'T EXPECT HELP FROM POLITICAL LEADERS Believing that a politician will fight for what is due to you even if you take your foot off the pedal is fantasy. Even the cool ones, like Barack Obama, who claimed to stand for the average person and pretended to need crowd-funding, will disappoint. Don’t expect them to do you any favours. When push comes to shove, they’ll stand by the guys who helped pave their way to the office they hold. Just in case, you believe you're one of those ‘guys’ because you voted for them or argue with random strangers on social media in support of their policies, let me tell you a secret. You aren’t. The guys who bankrolled their campaigns and the ones who are in the position to do so again are the ones they’ll stand by. And you’ll be left holding a banner proclaiming, ‘Yes, we can’. Don’t fall for poll promises. Keep up the pressure and vote for action, not dramatics. 10. DIVERSIFY YOUR INVESTMENTS Don’t park all your earthly belongings in one basket. Split them up into high risk, high return and low risk, low return based on your requirements. Distribute your investments over different sectors – real estate, mutual funds, stock markets if you like, gold bonds, fixed deposits, etc. Make common sense investments in different baskets. And if something sounds too good to be true, it’s usually a scam or worse, a pyramid scheme! 11. MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS I’m usually an optimist but not to such a degree so as to ignore what stares me in the face. And so, I would recommend not trusting individuals or institutions to do the right thing if doing the wrong thing brings them a lot more money or power, with little or no risk of retribution. Barring a few noble and notable exceptions, that’s just human nature. 12. HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL Yes, I know the title said 11 lessons. But Life surprises us and I thought, so should this post. The greatest lesson I learnt from the Recession is to not give up hope and wake up to all the wonderful stuff in my life that I may have ignored and wasn’t grateful for. And to remember that disappointments aren’t always dead-ends. Often, they’re a fork in the road that forces us to make a choice. The path we choose can make all the difference.

The Universe is a perpetual recycler. We see it in action at every turn. The freshly sprouted, bright green leaf of a tree darkens with time, eventually turning a shade of yellow or reddish brown until, one day, it falls off. This leaf is subsumed by the earth or consumed by a worm. Next spring, there may appear a delicate sprig of grass. Who’s to say it didn’t emerge from the energy released by the autumnal leaf? A MATTER OF TIME The Universe has existed for 13 billion years, give or take a few hundred million. Imagine an expanse of time so vast, one can treat millions of years as an approximation. Now compare that to the average life span of a human being. 80 years. 90 or a 100 if you’ve been good, or lucky. Do our lives have any meaning? I ask because regardless of how hard we work at building our sand castles, the unrelenting tide of time washes them away. Or so it appears. If everything in the Universe is a form of energy, and energy can only be transformed and never destroyed, is that also true of all the effort we plough into our passions? Does it live on too, in another form or on another plane? Does it show up in other lives as a sort of interest accrued on an investment made long ago? I hope for such poetic justice on a transcendental scale. Perhaps, that's one way to explain the talent of a veritable child prodigy like Mozart who was composing music at an age when most kids are learning to tie their shoelaces. Or the incredibly gifted Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the greatest self-taught mathematicians of all time, who worked out complex theorems with barely any formal education beyond high school mathematics. Is it possible that the invisible hand of synchronicity connects the labour of one lifetime with its reward in another? I’ll get back to the reward but first, let’s talk about a famous musician. THE RIGHT NOTE There’s a video of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran from his appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show a few years ago. During the show, Sheeran played an old recording of himself, singing. It’s not just awful, it’s painful. That was the point of it. Ed played it to prove how little of his success is down to pure god-gifted talent. It’s not my contention that natural talent doesn't exist. Of course, it does. However, very few people have such immense reserves of innate ability that they can go out onto the world stage, without putting in some serious work. Most people, celebrated for their talent, have worked very hard to polish their gifts. There’s a theory about how it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become really good at something. For every successful musician, sportsperson or entrepreneur, there are tens who may have been more talented but didn’t work as hard, and eventually remained relatively unknown. Many years ago, there lived a man, talented but careless about completing his projects. His saving grace, however, was that he was willing to outwork his contemporaries in unimaginable ways, dedicating years to polishing his knowledge and technique. He said, “God sells us all things at the price of labour.” The man’s name was Leonardo da Vinci. THE ILLUSORY TALE OF NATURAL TALENT Yet, the idea of ‘innate talent’ has such a stranglehold on popular perception. Why is that? I reckon it soothes our egos to believe that another’s achievements are a result of being born with natural ability instead of discipline, determination and labour. This idea keeps us safe from the damning knowledge that while we pretend to lack natural talent, we’re really just avoiding putting in the work and shying away from the awkwardness of failed attempts. Now, I don’t mean to say that all of us are capable of great things in every field. Not at all. One look at my early attempts at water colour painting wiped out any artistic illusions I may have harboured! Your nemesis may be gymnastics or singing. That’s fine. Not everything is for everyone. But I’m willing to bet you could be good at something you enjoy, if you only practise. KEEP AT IT That brings us to motivation. That motivation is fleeting hardly needs to be stated. What makes many of us persevere when we rather give up, is either discipline or fear of punishment. There is also the glimmer of a reward in the future that can keep us going. However, I recommend something better. Follow your passion, interest or calling. Put in the effort without obsessing over any potential reward. Just know that your reward is on its way, and will arrive when it is due . That may be next year, twenty years later or even in another lifetime. What is yours will come to you because it is owed, and because the Universe is an excellent accountant.

He Who Drowned the World is the culmination of battles fuelled by a desire for survival, power and revenge. Published in 2023, this is Shelley Parker-Chan’s second book in The Radiant Emperor duology. It opens a few months after the close of She who Became the Sun and carries forward the stories of the major characters from the first volume . The book’s first chapter has Zhu Chongba—having ‘stolen’ her brother’s destiny and fought first, for survival and then, glory— attempting to strike an alliance with her southern neighbour, Madam Zhang as part of her larger strategy to replace the Great Yuan as the next emperor. Her insatiable ambition for greatness and penchant for excavating opportunity out of every obstacle remains unchanged. “I spent the first part of my life being told I was nothing. The world, never seeing my value, would have thrown me away without regret… nobody would lift a finger to change the world for us. To make a place for us. What choice did we ever have, but to do it ourselves?” Viewing herself as a force for positive change, standing up for the oppressed and ignored, Zhu has adopted a name of imperial ambition, Zhu Yuanzhang, styling herself as the Radiant King; and proclaiming her possession of the Mandate of Heaven. But she is far from being the only one with the divine mandate. There’s Wang Baoxiang, a surging ocean of spiteful darkness roiling at being disparaged his whole life. Starved of love and humiliated for falling short of the Mongol masculine ideal, Wang, the new Prince of Henan, seeks to wreak havoc at the Great Yuan’s court. Wang’s opening move on the chessboard of courtly cunning is to risk humiliation at the hands of his enemies merely to plead for the lowly position of a vice-minister. With a strategy so serpentine and manipulative of others’ deepest desires and insecurities, nobody sees him coming until it’s too late. “The most dangerous person in a game is the one nobody knows is playing.” Shelley Parker-Chan’s primary characters all have more or less the same aim – the downfall throne of the Great Yuan. Yet, each of them pursues this goal in ways and for reasons peculiar to them. Wang uses his bookishness and effeminacy going against the tenets of Mongol masculinity while Zhu Yuanzhang is inventive and flies by the seat of her pants. On the other hand, Madam Zhang is an ice-cold puppet-master, manipulating the minds and hearts of the men she uses. “They were all pieces for her to use at the right time, to serve her own purpose. And when they’d reached the end of their usefulness, she would discard them… She was a courtesan and a queen, and one day she would be an empress.” The other contenders for the throne, given their possession of the Mandate of Heaven are Madam Zhang’s brother-in-law, General Zhang and Chen Youliang, the former leader of the Red Turbans who has old scores to settle with Zhu. Both Chen and General are skilled military tacticians with the former being more politically astute. Another prime mover on this battlefield is General Ouyang, the self-loathing and tortured eunuch warrior. He burns in a constant fire of self-recrimination for betraying his lifelong friend, Esen even as the embers of his father’s killing and his own humiliation continue to scorch his soul. Unlike the other characters who hope to usurp power by killing the Great Yuan, Ouyang seeks to “…have his revenge upon the one who had written his and Esen’s fates into the pattern of the world and stolen from them their choices in how they lived and died. With the murder of the Great Khan, that one final act of Ouyang’s life, every awful thing he had done—everything he had suffered—would be worth it.” Parker-Chan uses multiple perspectives to portray not just the viewpoints, emotional stakes and motivations of the primary characters but also illustrate the story’s sweeping scale as a historical fantasy. Switching between perspectives also builds suspense and pace. The core of He who Drowned the World,  similar to its prequel, are its characters whose arcs are integral to the plot. Furthermore, almost all the primary characters in the books are foils to each other. Zhu and Ouyang mirror each other with their complicated gender identities and overlapping experiences of being considered worthless. They share the ambition of deposing the current monarch but their view of what lies beyond it, is as different as could be. Being master manipulators is what links Wang Baoxiang and Madam Zhang even if their internal monologues result in the reader having greater sympathy for one than the other. Compared to its prequel, He who Drowned the World  is more expansive in its world-building with characters moving through varied locations and settings including the court of the Great Yuan in Khanbaliq. Shelley Parker-Chan uses the metaphor of a lantern to depict the dangers of opulent echo chambers for a dynasty in decline—engaged in petty squabbles and too myopic to see the uprising of the rejected and shunned. “Inside the Great Khan’s sheltered world of the Palace City was like the interior of a lantern: light so endlessly reflected from its own surfaces that it was impossible to see what was happening outside. The court of the Great Yuan sat feasting, without any idea of their own coming destruction.” Power, identity and gender are recurrent themes in He who Drowned the World  and manifest in kaleidoscopic forms in the characters’ lives, impacting many destinies. Even though I enjoyed this book, I felt a bit let down by its protagonist. Even if one ignores Zhu Yuanzhang’s unbelievable propensity to routinely overcome armies larger and more skilled than her own, it’s hard not to view her trouncing the forces of nature and paranormal activity as a case of plot armour. There’s author-backed and then there’s plot-protected. This is the latter. Furthermore, Zhu’s weakness as a character is her lack of weakness. It makes it hard to root for her. Even the losses she faces don’t really have a lasting impact, making her one of the most static characters in the series. Her internal conflict never feels real, like that of General Ouyang or Wang Baoxiang. And while she often harps about wanting to create a fairer and radiant world, there’s not a single instance of her elaborating on how she plans to do so. The climax too was a bit disappointing, in my opinion, both in terms of the plot details as well as the mood it evokes. It left me feeling more invested in the vanquished than the victorious. All in all, He who Drowned the World  is an intricately woven tale that has you holding your breath in suspense and sympathising with some of its broken characters even as you’re horrified by the extent of their Machiavellian ruthlessness. A lot darker and more violent than its predecessor, He who Drowned the World is a gripping read with characters that leave an imprint.

She who became the Sun is a historical fantasy novel about desire, destiny and the desire to alter one’s destiny. Published in 2021, this is Shelley Parker-Chan’s debut novel and the first book of The Radiant Emperor series. She who became the Sun is a reimagining of the rise to power of the Hongwu emperor, better known as the founding ruler of the famed Ming dynasty. The twist in this reimagined tale is that it is the story of a girl who is foretold a life that will amount to nothing while a glorious future is predicted for her brother. This girl, who remains unnamed (in a deft touch by the author), so little does she matter, goes on to survive, then thrive and eventually conquer. All this, while she fears the wrath of Heaven for stealing her brother’s destiny. I surmise that Parker-Chan was influenced by elements of the legend of Mulan which is the story of a girl who disguises herself as a man to serve as a soldier during the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th Century CE) of Chinese history. Though the similarities end there, the plot of a woman literally fighting her way through a man’s world lends itself well to talking about identity and gender roles which is something that She who became the Sun does well without being preachy or unmindful of the time period depicted. As in any work of historical fantasy, world building plays an important role in She who became the Sun . It helps readers get a better understanding of the characters and their circumstances as well the rules and laws under which they operate. Though this is not the kind of fantasy which has flying dragons and other mythical creatures, we still need to be able to imagine a world far removed from anything we’ve seen. The descriptions are immersive without being excessive and precise while being fresh. “The feasting and drinking had begun several hours ago, and the air was greased with the aroma of stone-roasted lamb.” An image like that is evocative with the kind of sensory specificity that makes all one’s senses come alive to conjure up the scene. She who became the Sun is a very engaging tale spun expertly. Shelley Parker-Chan’s novel is spread over decades and varied locations and is narrated through the perspectives of multiple characters. Add to this some pithy lines and you’ve got a historical saga on your hands. “To win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the pinnacle of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the pinnacle of skill.” To me, these lines sound like they just stepped off the pages of Sun Tzu’s military treatise, The Art of War , bringing with them the atmosphere of that era as well as establishing She who became the Sun as a tale about the battles of life and empire. One of the primary perspectives in the novel is that of Zhu Chongba (the unnamed protagonist who adopts her brother’s name). Incidentally, Zhu means ‘red’ in Chinese which is the colour of good luck while Chongba refers to ‘double eight’, another good luck charm. Zhu is resourceful and a quick learner with the good sense to hide her searing ambition under a shroud of detachment and humility befitting a monk. Her journey takes her from a starving child to a monk to a soldier and eventually, a commander in the rebel army of the Red Turbans fighting against the Yuan emperor’s rule. The other POV characters in She who became the Sun are Yuchun, a common thief-turned-soldier and Ma Xinying, a woman whose future appears to hold not much more than being the wife of a commander even though she is a natural diplomat and tactician herself. The perspective, however, that holds a sway equalling that of Zhu Chongba, is that of General Ouyang, the eunuch general in the army of the Prince of Henan who fights for the Yuan emperor. The character of General Ouyang is a fascinating one – a man with the beauty of a woman who fights alongside Esen, the heir of the Prince of Henan. Esen's father had massacred Ouyang's family and left only him alive but castrated, to serve as his son, Esen’s slave. In terms of backstory, General Ouyang is reminiscent of Shakuni, the conniving uncle of the Kauravas in the transcendent Indian epic, The Mahabharat . The characters of General Ouyang and Zhu Chongba act as foils to each other with the threads of destiny pulling them ever closer, both to each other as well as to the ends that each of them believe is their predestined fate. One of the strongest elements of She who became the Sun is the dialogue. Parker-Chan uses it exquisitely to reveal character, especially of those who hold their cards particularly close to their chests. Sample this exchange between Lord Wang, the Prince of Henan’s adopted but barely tolerated son, and General Ouyang. “Lord Wang, who relished his own pain, had always known how to wound others. When Ouyang didn’t respond, Lord Wang said with a bitter kind of understanding, ‘My brother’s an easy person to love. The world loves him, and he loves the world, because everything in it has always gone right for him.’ Ouyang thought of Esen, generous and pure-hearted and fearless, and knew what Lord Wang said was true. Esen had never been betrayed or hurt or shamed for what he was – and that was why they loved him. He and Lord Wang, both in their own different ways. They understood each other through that connection, two low and broken people looking up to someone they could never be or have: noble, perfect Esen. ‘He was born at the right time. A warrior in a warrior’s world,’ Lord Wang said. “You and I, General, we were born too late. Three hundred years before now, perhaps we would have been respected for what we are. You as a Manji. Myself as someone who thinks that civilization is something to be cherished, not just fodder for conquest and destruction. But in our own society’s eyes, we’re nothing.’ …But Ouyang and Lord Wang were alike. For a moment they stood there in bitter acknowledgement of it, feeling that likeness ringing through the space between them. The one reviled for not being a man, the other for not acting like one.” In this exchange that takes up little more than a page, Shelley Parker-Chan fillets two characters to reveal their innermost desires and regrets while alluding to the strengths of a third. All this, while each character stays consistent to their nature. In some books, but more often movies, one gets the feeling that certain bits of dialogue are being spoken only for the reader/viewer’s benefit. A sort of artless dumping of information to get the reader/viewer up to speed. In contrast, the dialogue in She who became the Sun is a fine blend of characterization, exposition, cultural attitudes and genuine conflict between characters, making the exchanges feel real rather than performative. Likewise, the themes of identity, gender roles and destiny are woven in seamlessly as the warp along the weft of the plot in the fabric of She who became the Sun. There are quite a few strong female characters who manage to outmanoeuvre the strait-laced paths set for women, thereby creating their own spheres of influence. And of course, there are the obvious parallels of the dual identities of Zhu Chongba, a woman disguised as a man and General Ouyang, a man who has been robbed of his masculine identity. I thoroughly enjoyed She who became the Sun and do recommend that you get your hands on a copy. I’d like to end with a morsel of information that caught my eye. Parker-Chan worked as a diplomat in South-East Asia, where she became addicted to epic East-Asian historical TV dramas. To feed that obsession, she searched for English-language book versions of these stories. She didn’t find any and so, decided to write her own. Thus, emerged She who became the Sun . Gentle Reader, let it never be said that watching shows or movies won’t get you anywhere. The webs of one interest can often tangle with those of another to form a third. And some may call that destiny .

This morning I read an article on a website called The Marginalian about the difference between fixed and growth mindsets which I would recommend to all of you. It makes the point that believing intelligence, character and personality to be static and unchangeable as opposed to attributes that can be developed through effort and learning is an attitudinal difference that colours our lives to an extent beyond what we commonly believe. Naturally, I applied these ideas to myself. I believe I have a growth mindset in terms of intelligence now but less so in terms of character and personality. That wasn’t always the case. Earlier when it came to decisions of education and career, I often took the easier path where I could just coast along. For instance, my idea was to saunter my way to the top five in my class rather than putting in an extra effort to make it to the top. “ Can do better ” was a staple remark in my report cards. At the time, my fixed mindset felt like a good gig because it made me feel intelligent without swotting for exams. Over the years, my outlook in this regard has changed. I now actively pursue learning about things I don’t know or understand. The process of learning gives me satisfaction whether it is reading a short post about the Bootstrap Paradox (check it out if you find time travel intriguing), the art of Hygge, a video about spacetime or an article about extended metaphors in literature. Don’t get me wrong, I don't understand most of what spacetime means. Very few do. But that’s okay, I tell myself, because today I comprehend more than I did yesterday. That ability to be okay with failure or not understanding is, to me, the crux of the Growth Mindset. As Winston Churchill said famously, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” He may as well have been talking about the growth mindset. No matter how gradual the incline, I’m happy to be climbing. Not because it proves how smart I am though I must say that, when the opportunity presents itself, I do flex a wee bit! However, the fixed mindset that I inhabited in other spheres of my life made me risk-averse to a degree that I stayed in a job that I stopped enjoying about six years ago. While the independence afforded by a monthly pay cheque cannot be discounted, it would be dishonest to pretend that it was a matter of urgent concern for me, given my savings over the years. It was more the trepidation of whether or not I could do something else well enough to get paid for it, that gave me pause. That doubt was enough to stop me in my tracks every time I thought I’d had enough of working for a media house where the only real challenge was to stomach the depths to which we were sinking, in terms of both content and standard operating practices. The fixed mindset made me settle for the dregs of what was instead of daring to leap for what may be. This, when I had no debt, no major expenses and enough savings to see me through at least a few years, if not more. Basically, I have no excuses to offer for my lack of courage. Serendipitously , near the end of 2020, a friend of mine, Smriti sent me a PDF version of a book on agriculture. It's a subject that doesn't interest me. However, she urged me to read this 146-page book. I tried to avoid it because reading on my laptop felt too annoying. But she persisted. Eventually, to indulge her and with the gentle support of the growth-oriented side of myself, I decided to read One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. For those who have read it, everything I say about it will pale in comparison to the praise this book deserves and also, fail to encompass the entirety of what it is about. I submit to their criticism in advance, mostly because I agree with them. To those who have not yet read One Straw Revolution and hence, may be more forgiving, let me just say that it is a book about how farming can yield the greatest rewards if we would just yield to Nature and her ways – those of no tilling, no weeding, no insecticides amongst others. Needless to say, this kind of farming requires less effort even as it carries the risk of a few years of blighted crops and the scorn of naysayers. Fukuoka is something of a legend of the field (no pun intended) and his many years of learning are distilled into his philosophy of ‘do-nothing’ farming. As you can imagine, the ‘do-nothing’ bit appealed to my fixed mindset and lazy self! How did this book affect me? Well, I haven’t turned to farming and nor do I intend to. However, Fukuoka’s book is one of great subtlety or at least that is how I perceived it. To quote Edmund Wilson, “ No two persons ever read the same book.” I believe that to be true even for people who read the same book twice . And the person I was when I read One Straw Revolution saw it as a spur to release control over my instinct to break away from what no longer satisfied me. To stop subjugating myself to an artificial idea of security which sheaths a fear of losing relevance and identity. And so, I resigned from a job I had held for more than fifteen years in the hope that I would be brave enough to try something new, fail, learn and slowly and eventually, succeed. Here’s hoping…

Comfort TV can be a series, show, sport, or anything you like watching after a long day, looking to unwind before bed. I’ll go first. I like watching Nigella Lawson ’s cooking shows, adaptations of Agatha Christie’s short stories and documentaries about the Universe. Even in ancient times—that is before streaming services like Netflix and Amazon docked on Indian shores—I would record Nigella’s cookery shows and documentaries about the Universe on the DVR so I could play one when I got home after a work day which was sometimes chaotic, usually hectic and always noisy. Sitting back in your favourite chair, feet up on a footstool with something to eat while the sights and sounds of a relaxing show lull you into a state of restfulness is sometimes just the thing one needs. This was especially true for me when I worked in news media since I would often get back home after work around midnight. My brother would be fast asleep, given his early mornings and I would be too alert to fall asleep. COMFORT FOOD FOR THE EYES I don’t know if you’ve seen any of Nigella’s cooking shows (I recommend it, even if you don’t cook to impress).  She’s not the greatest chef (in fact, she isn’t even a trained cook by her own admission) but she cooks delicious food without turning up her nose at store-bought pastry, canned goods or poor knife skills. In other words, she’s like us—home cooks. Only with a gorgeous house, a walk-in pantry stocked with decadent goodies from around the world and a garden with twinkly lights that feels both lived-in and ever ready for an impromptu get-together. Photo Courtesy: Instagram The charm of Nigella Lawson’s shows lies not so much in what she cooks (yummy though it is) but the way she talks about food and her obvious delight in sumptuous meals. For the most part, the star of the show is her lifestyle and joie de vivre. With most other cookery shows, one wants to either be able to cook as well as the chef does or better still, eat what they cook. With Nigella, it’s the relaxed but decadent vibes of her lifestyle that one wants to emulate. Nigella World is a place where it is possible to entertain friends on work days without suffering a mental breakdown, eat home-made pancakes for breakfast while solving a crossword and look like a million bucks while making it all look effortless. That’s the magic of television but also, Nigella makes cooking seem like fun. COSY MYSTERIES BEFORE BED Photo Courtesy: ITV Speaking of great recipes, Agatha Christie’s mysteries are another favourite of mine. There is something to be said about murders committed by genteel folk who are kind enough to stick around for Hercule Poirot to solve the case! I love Poirot despite his pomposity, obsessive idiosyncrasies and penchant for keeping his partners in partial darkness. To be honest, I like his affectations. Agatha Christie is a master of weaving in enough clues to encourage you to make guesses as to the murderer’s identity but often, they’re best understood in hindsight. Watching Poirot solve a case with help from his 'little grey cells' leaves me with a soothing sense of resolution. Like all’s well with the world. That’s a good thing for an insomniac. It’s the mental equivalent of a warm bath, fresh bed linen and a cup of hot chocolate before retiring for the night. Nothing tops it! COSMIC COMFORT Did I just say nothing tops Christie’s mysteries and creature comforts like hot chocolate? Well, nothing on Earth, that is. Outer space is a different matter. Which brings me to the other constant on my Tata Sky DVR - documentaries about outer space and the evolution of the Universe . Watching stars form in star nurseries billions of years ago with the same elements we have in our own bodies and pondering the mysteries of blackholes, pulsars and dark matter, all narrated in dulcet tones, is akin to a meditative experience for me. These documentaries let me revel in the awe-inspiring expanse and beauty of the Universe, reminding me that the immediate is only momentary and will soon be irrelevant, even to me. And before I know it, the knot of the day’s troubles lies loosened by a calmness that extends beyond petty office politics, trivial annoyances, minor car accidents and the hustle-bustle of daily life. YOUR TURN Well, you know my favourites now. What are yours? Maybe it’s weekend viewing or the occasional indulgence instead of late-night staples. Be what it may, drop a comment and let me know.

Let’s say you’re looking for book recommendations and head to Goodreads.com to see what’s good (even though you could as easily go to my site!). Sidestepping the ones with the one-star ratings and bad reviews, you find a few books by new authors that have good reviews. You order them on Amazon, Kindle or Audible. Well done! You’re just the kind of reader Amazon’s looking for. After all, they own each of these platforms (from Goodreads which deals in reviews, to Amazon, Kindle and Audible which deliver books to you in your preferred form. What’s more, they own the means of production as well - Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon Publishing). So, you’ve paid for a book and provided them with vital market research data on what sells, so that they can tailor their future publications to those parameters. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Let’s put a pin in that and return to it later. THE BEGINNING OF AMAZON Amazon started selling books online in 1994. Jeff Bezos picked books as his product of choice because in comparison to all the things one could sell online, books offer a unique advantage. In an interview recorded in June 1997, Bezos said,   “There are more items in the book category than there are items in any other category, by far.” Think about it. Nobody who buys books (except those who buy three aesthetically pleasing ones to place on their coffee table) ever thinks that since they have 20 books, they don’t need any more. Setting aside consumables, only a miniscule number of products possess this quality. Bezos went on to name the other product that shared this quality, “Music is No. 2 — there are about 200,000 active music CDs at any given time. But in the book space, there are over 3 million different books worldwide active in print at any given time across all languages, [and] more than 1.5 million in English alone.” As with anything, where there is a positive, there is a downside too. The book business is a business with a long tail . Which is another way of saying that there are significant profits to be made by selling books that are relatively hard to find because they aren’t bestsellers. Most brick-and-mortar bookstores don’t find it feasible to stock them since they don’t sell as much as the latest thriller and as such, are a waste of precious space. THE LONG TAIL OF THE BOOK BUSINESS The term long tail was coined by Chris Anderson. He argued that products in less demand and with low sales volume, provided they were numerous enough (as is the case with books and music), can collectively make up a market share which rivals or exceeds the individual sales of a relatively small number of bestsellers. The fly in this particular ointment is that an inventory of millions of titles requires lots of storage space. And real estate costs money. That’s where the internet comes in as the ideal distribution channel. It allows a seller to have a gigantic warehouse on the outskirts of a small town, instead of a tiny bookstore in a high-traffic area in the city, with a monthly rent that has them considering selling their organs on the black market. It’s the perfect mix - a vast inventory with a storefront convenient for customers. After all, it's right there on your phone. That’s why Amazon is online. A BUYER’S MARKET The focus of this post is not Amazon’s online presence. Instead, it seeks to figure out what it means to any sector of business when one company takes over almost all aspects of the industry and uses that omnipresence to becomes a monopsony. The word monopsony is a recent addition to my vocabulary. It is a mirror image of the word monopoly with one key difference. While in a monopoly, there is only one seller who can charge as they see fit, a monopsony is a market with only one buyer, who can purchase at whatever price they like. Which is why the dwindling numbers of publishers is a concern for writers and eventually, readers. THE DIMINISHING RETURNS OF THE SELF-PUBLISHING BOOM You could say the decline of traditional publishers isn’t really a problem since so many authors are choosing to self-publish. You’re partially correct. Let's see how this plays out. At the moment, most authors who choose to self-publish are getting a bigger slice of the revenue pie than they would if they went with a traditional publisher (with the exception of some bestselling authors). However, that may not always be the case. Especially when all other publishers are pushed out of the game. In fact, you don’t have to wait that long to see the direction in which things are headed. As of July 2022, the Kindle Direct Publishing payout per page read in the United States was $0.0043. In July 2015, the payout per page was $0.0058. That’s a 25% drop over a 7-year period.   WILL BOOKS BECOME JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT? What creative freedom and quality of writing can we expect when editors are replaced by managers who are guided solely by spreadsheets and the prospect of profit? I am not imagining this authorial dystopia. Authors commissioned by Amazon’s imprints like Thomas and Mercer and Kindle Press who choose to put their books on Kindle Unlimited are compensated per page read. That, per se, is not the problem. However, since these e-readers collect every possible data point, it is safe to conclude that there is an end use in mind for all that data. It doesn’t take much imagination to think that authors and editors may tailor their works to get more page views instead of honing the story, theme or characterisation. I am reminded of a scene from the Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks film, You’ve Got Mail  where Tom Hanks' character sarcastically compares books to a “ten-gallon vat of olive oil”. Let’s hope it won’t come to that. You could argue that market demand has always played a role in which genre or writer is promoted over another. You’re right. The difference now is the amount of pinpointed data that is available to publishers. It is, honestly, unprecedented. When in history have the publishers of any book known at which page did a reader close the book never to open it again? CONCLUSION There have always been folks who write solely for money and some who write as an expression of their creativity, and good writing is not the sole domain of either. It is one thing for the earnings of a Wuthering Heights to be eclipsed by the royalties of a Fifty Shades of Grey . That’s fine and has probably already happened. However, what a loss it would be for us all if the next Animal Farm or  Fahrenheit 451  are not published because they’re deemed ‘unviable’ by a manager or worse, a software looking solely for the next blockbuster mediocrity. Good luck finding something good to read then. Especially on Goodreads.

As I write this, it is almost four months since Anna Sebastian Perayil’s tragic death, caused by a cardiac arrest. That’s almost as long as her tenure at Ernst & Young. It was her first job and her death at the age of 26 is shocking but sadly, not singular. Chronic stress, mental health issues and other indicators of ill-health have become too common amongst corporate employees to warrant comment nowadays and yet, the ruinous effects of work stress multiply silently, till a case like Anna’s hits the headlines, rousing us all. TOXIC CORPORATE CULTURE Anna’s mother, Anita Augustine’s letter to the CEO of E&Y India, Rajiv Memani is both poignant and explosive. Anita’s letter spoke of how many corporate organisations are ‘glorifying overworking’. I couldn’t agree more. Working long hours has become a norm in the corporate sector, creating a toxic work culture focussed almost solely on profits, treating employees as an endlessly expendable resource. In cases that make the headlines, the public relations machinery of the corporate organisation usually swings into action, slyly shifting the blame onto the victim or spouting vague platitudes about ‘introspection’. Most of the time, their only intention is to weather the media storm which eventually dies down. The same holds true for government ministers. In the case of E&Y India, investigations have been ordered. With regard to what will come of all these probes, your guess is as good as mine. But the realist in me isn’t optimistic. When money speaks, ethics and human rights are seldom allowed to interrupt. CRUX OF THE MATTER So, what’s the solution? Well, the answer lies within the person reading this post – you. You need to make the choice about how you want to work and live. I don’t subscribe to the rose-tinted view that you can have it all. No one can. That’s only happens in the movies. The rest of us must stand up for ourselves and make choices that benefit our long-term well-being. While such measures aren’t usually practical for a rookie, they are certainly a viable option a few years down the line. To do so, we must start valuing our well-being over a pay hike , fancy job titles or bragging rights about business trips. None of it matters that much when you’re unwell or dead. WORKPLACE TIPS The following are the workplace tips I've picked up along the way. Having followed most of these pointers, I can attest to their value. The rest are what I wish I had done earlier and I hope you will benefit from them. IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL LIFE Visualise what you want from your life – all aspects of it, not just work. Work is a part of your life but influences your routine and lifestyle more than almost any other life choice. Let’s say you live in India and work as a head-hunter for a company looking to hire and place candidates in Canada. To interview people living in Canada, you need to work their hours. As a result, expecting to maintain a healthy sleep cycle with that job is a pipe dream and is bound to impact your health in the long-run. KEEP UPSKILLING Learn new skills in areas related to your work but also engage with stuff, outside the professional realm, that interests you. You never know what may spark a new work/business opportunity. And even if it doesn’t lead you to new pastures on the professional front, upskilling makes life interesting. LOAN EMIs KEEP YOU CHAINED Live within your means. You might think this isn’t strictly work-related advice but hear me out. Debt is often the difference between sticking it out at a job you hate and taking on an assignment that pays a little lesser but is a lot more enjoyable. Avoid taking loans as much as you can because they will keep you plastered to jobs you don’t like. Don’t let your expenses rise just because you’ve got a raise especially once you already have a comfortable standard of living. NOT LOVING YOUR JOB IS OKAY Don’t expect your job to fulfil you always. Sometimes, a job is just a job. It pays the bills. Don’t expect it to lead you to new heights in self-actualization! CORPORATE COST-CUTTING IS CRUEL Never make the mistake of believing that your company will hold your hand when the going gets tough. They won’t. Job cuts can be brutal. Don’t expect any favours or kindness. FIRED DOESN’T MEAN INCOMPETENT Pink slips aren’t a referendum on your capability. Just because you got sacked doesn’t mean you’re not good at what you do.   WORK IS NOT GREATER THAN LIFE Maintain a work-life balance. Please don’t be one of those losers who consider being perpetually overworked a badge of honour. It’s bad enough being a corporate hostage, don’t sign up for Stockholm syndrome too! Let Anna’s case be a wake-up call. Invest in your health, friends and family. They will stand by you when your company doesn’t. KEEP UP WITH INDUSTRY TRENDS Technological advances can completely upend your industry. Be aware of what’s happening and which way the trends are headed. And if you can, upskill in that direction. CULTURE IS KEY Company culture is a living organism, evolving with time. Be cognizant to how your workplace makes you feel. If the culture in your office leans towards micro-management, top-down decision-making and cliques, you can bet a million bucks that the focus is not on doing or encouraging good work. Introspect whether or not you want to be part of such an organisation. PRIORITISE THE POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH Choose companies that focus on employee growth and have opportunities for professional development and advancement. Not where stagnation is the name of the game. MIX IT UP Make a conscious effort to meet people from different walks of life. This will keep you out of echo chambers. The world is a big place and sometimes, the industry we work in makes us myopic. I know this to be especially true of the media industry which is why I made a conscious effort to meet people outside of it. BE PATIENT Be willing to earn your stripes. Don’t expect to become CEO in five years. That’s not going to happen unless you or your parents founded the company! The path to success is quick only in the movies where it can be traversed in a 30-second montage. CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT Be willing to take the highs with the lows. Don’t expect to be on a perpetual high. Things change even if you’re very good at your work. Bosses change, requirements change, as do team dynamics. This is one of those lessons that can’t really be explained, only experienced. HAVE THE COURAGE OF CONVICTION Stand up for what you believe in and do the right thing whenever you can. And you usually can. It boosts your self-esteem and earns you the respect of those who value character. Be warned though. Doing the right thing may make you a target for those who like to tread easier (if that’s the word for it) paths. CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES Understand and accept that almost every major choice you make will have consequences. Make the choice you are willing to live with. CLICHÉS ARE BORING Don’t become a cliché of your profession. For instance, many journalists smoke. It surprised many of my colleagues that I didn’t. And their surprise surprised me. A lot of people do many things to fit in and ‘look the part’. I don’t buy into that logic. Do your job well – that’s the part that matters and gives you a confidence that’s hard to miss. Plus, why be a facsimile when you can be an original? TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK It’s not enough to be good at your job. When you grasp how your individual responsibilities fit into the larger process , it helps everyone, including you. Acquire a basic understanding of what other departments do, so that you can do your bit in the most seamless way possible. Let me give you an example. As a news producer, I produced shows. One small aspect of it was to send promo lines to the person who promotes the shows on the ticker (the band with news headlines and other information that scrolls at the bottom of the screen). The feedback he gave me was that the character limit for the promo lines was 25 characters. Up until that point, I had not given it any thought. After that day, I made sure I didn’t send the ticker team any promotional lines longer than 25 characters. As a result, I never had to watch the promo lines of my show being mangled into something I didn’t like. And the members of the Ticker team appreciated their job being made easier and were much more helpful even if there was a mistake, delay or special request from our end. Being open to feedback greases wheels in a way nothing else can. KEEP IT CONSTRUCTIVE Be willing to give and receive constructive feedback graciously. One of the best things you can do for a new employee (especially if it’s their first job) is to take them through what is expected of them, answer their questions and praise a job well done. Be the senior you wish you had. It makes a huge difference. CYA Learn to cover your ass (forgive my French). This means putting assignment requests or any other instructions on e-mail or text messages which can back up your story, if and when the need arises. And the need arises more often than you can imagine, especially in toxic work environments. It's better to have it and not need it than the other way around.   SNAKES AND LADDERS Office politics is the dragon that cannot be slayed. Here’s what you can do even if you don’t want to participate. Be aware of the camps. You don’t need to be a part of them, but the awareness helps you figure out what to expect. It’s either that or learning tarot! THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE Speak up for yourself without being obnoxious or putting other people down. Playing the long-suffering martyr may fetch you some dull praise from self-serving managers, but it will also result in endless work being dumped on your never-complaining shoulders or well-deserved holiday plans going down the drain, leading to a sense of resentment and exhaustion. Take your pick. PRIVACY PAYS Keep your personal life private. Discussing it at work usually backfires. And yes, even posting details of your personal trials on Instagram constitutes oversharing if your colleagues follow you on social media. BE BRAVE And if all else fails and you find yourself stuck in a job you don’t like, move. You’re not a tree! Analyse with a cool head the source of the problem - a particular manager, job, department or line of work. Once you have that clarity, you can look to make changes.   And if you, like me, want a complete change, be brave. Sometimes, it takes years to build up the courage but it’s easier if you did all of the above. Wishing you the very best!

As the year draws to a close, I look back to see which blog posts received the most views from you, my readers. I hope you enjoyed and found value in what you read. And, in case you haven’t had a chance to read a few of these posts, here’s a list. And for everything else, there’s our All page. LITTLE LEGACIES The past is a strange thing. It can never be relived even though we often carry it with us. We’ve all been down paths of nostalgia remembering with fondness even that which had, in the past, felt like tough times. And then, there are pieces of the past we visit every day without giving them much thought. For instance, you may tie the laces of your left shoe before the right because a kindergarten classmate told you that it was lucky. Now, decades later, you continue to do so subconsciously. WHY RATAN TATA'S PASSING FEELS LIKE A PERSONAL LOSS I never met Mr Ratan Tata. Nor have I ever worked for a Tata-owned organisation. Yet, his passing left me in tears. It felt like we’ve been robbed of something very precious. I spoke to a longtime friend, Smriti last night. She said that she’d been poring over videos of Mr Tata’s funeral and articles chronicling his life since she heard the news. She wondered if being so affected by the death of someone who is technically a stranger made her a ‘freak’. I told her I felt the same way. To this she said, “I’m so glad I’m not a freak. Or that we are freaks together.” SEEKING SYNCHRONICITY In January 2013, I visited Chennai on a professional assignment with a few team members. One day, we had the morning to ourselves. A colleague asked me to accompany him to buy a saree for his wife. Amongst the ones we saw was a muted gold silk saree with a rhomboid weave of golden and silver thread. My colleague considered purchasing it but eventually preferred another. That night, I spoke to a friend who told me about a dream he had the preceding night. He lived in the US and so his night was my day. He’d dreamt of walls covered in wallpaper made of silk. And it was the colour of muted gold, covered in rhombi. Taken aback, I told him about having seen a saree that morning, very similar to what he described. We laughed it off but the incident has stayed with me. Over the years, I wondered if it had been a synchronicit y BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS TO OVERCOME A READING SLUMP From my extensive experience of such slumps, I know that one of the important elements of achieving the requisite momentum to get out of a reading slump is to pick the right book . Something that is fast-paced or soothing (depending on what you need) but mostly, something that reads like a letter from an old friend… easy-going, fun and with bits that make you chuckle or sit up in surprise. THE MYTH OF MULTI-TASKING It costs us our ability to focus, our concentration and perhaps most importantly, our time. Time is irreplaceable even if you were willing to pay for it. Think about it. Something you think is practically free i.e. internet access, robs you of a thing so valuable that, once lost, even the richest person on the planet can’t buy back—Time. Add to that, another precious commodity, Focus. And yet, you think it costs you nothing. This is perhaps the greatest mind trick of our times – a kind of mass hypnosis.   Confession: I’m guilty of unlocking and scrolling through some or the other app even when I can see that I have no notifications whatsoever. Not even the non-urgent kind. This is pathetic behaviour but I know I’m not alone in this dome of dopamine-addiction.   ON FRIENDSHIP Who is a friend? Most of us refer to all manner of people as our ‘friends’. Everyone, from a long-lost schoolmate to a colleague you get coffee with and the guy at the local squash court, is a ‘friend’. And of course, there is that ubiquitous and odd breed called the Facebook friend.   Distinguishing between relationships takes time and effort, and could result in a most unsettling finding - that one does not have many friends and worse still, that one is not a true friend, even to a few. ALL QUIET ON THE WAR FRONT: QUIET QUITTING, QUIET FIRING & QUIET HIRING This is a story about a great plague and how it brought the battle between workers and employers to a head. Every few months, a fresh salvo is fired. And because we live in the times of the mighty hashtag, each of these barrages has a catchy caption. It all began with a little virus in early 2020.   Thousands of people realised that they were working jobs that weren’t doing anything for them, and they would much rather use the pandemic to study and change tracks. Or at least, resign from jobs that they’d been at for years just because they were stuck in a toxic comfort zone. I suppose you could say the pandemic jolted them out of their inertia. That’s what led to the Great Resignation which became something of a movement in 2021. COMFORT TV SHOWS THAT HELP ME UNWIND A long day calls for some couch therapy! This is my list of Comfort TV shows which never fail to soothe.   Comfort TV can be a series, show, sport, or anything you like watching after a long day, looking to unwind before bed. I’ll go first. ONE COFFEE, PLEASE. AND A PORTION OF PEOPLE-WATCHING The barista called out the name scrawled on the venti cup, “Cappuccino for Aditya.” I smiled, a gentle wave of satisfaction washing over me. That was close enough, I thought to myself. My guess had been Abhishek, Abhimanyu or some other common male name starting with the letter A. Sorry for the abrupt   opening. Let me start at the beginning. THE ALLURE OF SIMPLICITY Simplicity has a ring of truth about it, an elegance and resilience that beats trends and momentary peaks and troughs. If you’ve ever seen a belt of sand dunes, you know what I mean. Functionally, it’s just piles of sand shaped into crescents by the wind and yet, one can keep looking at them, mesmerised.   Perhaps, this applies to our lives as well. Yes, we live in consumerist times and there are unending mounds of stuff everywhere we look. And yet, the call of the classic and understated is eternal and cuts through the clutter. WORKPLACE TIPS: WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH IN SCHOOL Chronic stress, mental health issues  and other indicators of ill-health have become too common amongst corporate employees to warrant comment nowadays and yet, the ruinous effects of work stress multiply silently, till a case like Anna Sebastian Perayil’s hits the headlines, rousing us all.   So, what’s the solution? Well, the answer lies within the person reading this post – you. You need to make the choice about how you want to work and live. THE CHARM OF WHIMSY Every now and then, burrowed into the prosaic paths of the commonplace is nestled something whimsical. Amazing and amusing in its quaintness and imagination, it makes us smile and adds a sparkle to the humdrumness of everyday life. I’m very easily charmed by whimsy – a quaint café, an interesting bookmark or a delightful hobby or trait is all it takes. And thus, we conclude the list of the most popular blog posts of the year on Tamed by the Fox. Do leave us a comment on which one was your favourite. Have a great 2025!