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Archive for 2012|Yearly archive page

Reviewed: Yoga Sutras discourses – Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama

In book reviews, Reviews on May 24, 2012 at 2:45 pm

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Review of the Book

There is no book which can be as Indian as “Living with the Himalayan Masters” by Swami Rama. I had never heard about Swami Rama and discovered this book quite serendipitously. The journey of Swami Rama right from his birth to the hard lessons he learnt from some of the greatest sages in the himalaya’s is narrated in this book, Some of which are quite un-believable and It takes a little faith in him, do go through this book as a factual narrative, otherwise you are in to metaphysical fiction this can be entertaining read opening up your imagination to human potential.

Review of the You-tube discourse on Yoga Sutras by Patajani.

I have explored Yoga very superfluously in my youth. Reading the book, made me search for more on Swami Rama, and I stumbled on this humongous 13 hour discourse on the Yoga Sutras by Swami Rama in one of his camps. These discourses are indeed a treasure trove of well intended and ancient wisdom. There are total 86 video’s, it teaches the yogic way of living. Thanks to this, I have started doing pranayama regularly about 2/3 times a day. I highly recommend you to check this out, here is the link to the first video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RiT7IJ617g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The subtle act of pitching to an Angel investor

In finance, Start ups on May 18, 2012 at 2:29 pm

This morning as I entered my neighbourhood coffee shop for breakfast. I saw a rich looking guy with a Ipad 2 and leather bag sitting with this pretty girl and taking notes. I seated myself behind them, which is my favourite place as it has a great view of some trees outside.

I didn’t pay much attention to them, though the lady was quite pretty with a great figure and slender legs, I also noticed she had missed her weekly or monthly waxing.

After about 30 mins, A tall guy in a IIT Bombay Tshirt walked in, shaking hands with the man with the Ipad 2, the guy nonchalantly apologised for being late. ( I loved the attitude, the late arrival was done on purpose so that pretty girl could get pally with the fund manager)

Now the IIT Bombay T-shirt had caught my interest and this guy had a audible voice! He was a cool tech Entrepreneur who had successfully lured this angel fund manager (as he was carrying a BB) into his mouse trap. The tech Entreprunuer was coolness personified, at no point of time while discussing E-comm, media planning. funding and PR did he show any emotion or fear. Everthing was under his absoulte control. The fund manager by this time was salivating, thinking about all the $$$ he would add to the portfolio.

The pretty lady in the meanwhile groomed to be just that, at no point of time did she take her eyes off the fund manager, except a couple of times she looked back at me, and appreciated my glances. Also the pretty lady who was an employee and at no point of time locked eyes with the geek Entrepreneur Boss. (which is important as it indicates there is no conspiracy and she adores the fund manager).

After talking for an hour, the tab was picked up by the tech Entreprunuer, they bid bye, and this was the only time the tech entreprunuer showed his human side. He complimented the fund manager by jokingly enquiring about what he was doing as exercise as he looked very fit. (which he was not). It also indicated that they knew each other and it was not the first time they were meeting.

So my take on this act of pitching? What worked and what didnt?

Ofcourse I will never know if these guys actually sign on the dotted lines and get a cheque.

What i liked about the act was

1) The techie Entreprunuer looked confident (though he was shitting in his pants)
2) The pretty girl had played her part well, only thing she should wax her arms and legs.

What i didn’t like

1) The whole talk there was no food ordered, and they were almost sitting there for about 1.5 hours.
2) And of-course they need to careful about story tellers like me, who have nothing better than to observe people.
3) I don’t like emotionless cool acts!