Books that have affected me

Here's the list of books that have affected me:

1. One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukouka on the subject of primitive ways of farming and simple living
2. Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh, a novel on the partition of India in 1947
3. Small is Beautiful by E F Schumacher on moving towards small , appropriate technologies in our society for a better and sustainable world
4. How to Talk So Kids will Listen & Listen So Kids will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
5. The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler on understanding the evolution of our civilization and looking at all aspects of it and how it is shaping the future
6. The complete works of Vivekananda by Swami Vivekananda on hinduism and its way of life
7. The seven habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey on personal leadership
8. Moral, Immoral, Amoral by Osho or Baba Rajaneesh on philosophy
9. Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel on Java Language

Last updated on Nov 5, 2023

On Reading

Over the past 3 years, I have been spending significant time Reading books on various topics. Although I was always interested in reading : newspapers, magazines, online articles, blog posts, books, but the time I usually spent was quite less. But this has changed in the last 3 years. Since the pandemic started there's more time at my disposal to do some reading and to fill that time, I started borrowing books, buying used books libraries, used-book stores, used online books.  With this change I can certainly say that I am an avid reader now :-) 

I read... but I forget :-) so sometimes I wonder what I am gaining from this reading... but then I realize that there's on idea or a story from each book that remains in my mind .. which enriches me... challenges my assumptions...to re-evaluate my opinions and this is worth the time. 

My underlying goal has always been to understand how the world operates... I will never be able to accomplish that, as that is very complex and a moving target ... but every step in that direction seems worthwhile...a hobby that it is to fill the time that I have.

On understanding our world : From the book The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler

Quote from the book "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler. The book was published in 1980.

No single world view can ever capture the whole truth. Only by applying multiple and temporary metaphors can we gain a rounded (if still incomplete) picture of the world. But to acknowledge this axiom is no the same as saying life is meaningless. Indeed, even if life is meaningless in some cosmic sense, we can and often do construct meaning, drawing it from decent social relations and picturing ourseleves as part of a larger drama - the coherent unfolding of history.

I really like the way the author uses his words to express his ideas with clarity. 

This book has been a great influencer for me, revealing so many of new ideas that I wasn't aware of and also expressing some of the ideas that I have in an eloquent way. 

Akshara's first 10 K

Akshara completed here first 10KM run as part of the San Francisco Marathon on Jul 23, 2023 . I am  happy and proud of her achievement. 

She did this as part of BARFI program and raised 2696 USD to support farmers in India. Since farmers  (in India) are impacted directly because of severe weather events, the funds will help organizations working for farmers to raise the awareness and drawing governments attention towards the need of safety programs. I would like to thank all folks in our circles who made the donations to encourage her as well as to support the cause.

From the time she registered to the event, she was very much interested in it and would get up early in the morning for the weekend runs with the BARFI group. 

She was nervous as well as excited on the day of the run. The fact that she had prepared well ahead of the event helped in reducing the nervousness.

This aspect of being disciplined and thorough in her preparations, I believe she picked up from her mom.