Loud Thinking

Self-renewal, the secret of continued excellence - IV

 By Vijay Phanshikar : ARGENTINA produced two of football’s greatest superstars whose personalities present very interesting case-studies of the protagonism and antagonism of the process of self-renewal. One of them, most naturally, was Di..

Self-renewal, the secret of continuedexcellence - II

   By Vijay Phanshikar : l “In my humble opinion, renewal isn’t a single act but discipline. A burst of inspiration is easy; metabolising it into a different way of living, day after day, when no one’s watching and t..

Of “A Book of Books” to invite people to read books

 By Vijay Phanshikar: “EVERY time we read a book, we experience personal growth, expand our knowledge, and see cognitive development”. With this assertive statement, actress Sonali Bendre Behl launched her new book titled “A Bo..

Of spending moneyon things we really do not require

   By Vijay Phanshikar : THE issue is really serious -- of moderate (or even lesser) income and the family’s spending habit or culture. The complaint, too, is almost universal -- about not having enough resources to live a good l..

Of “doing nothing”to bust stress instressful times

 THERE,ofcourse,areseveral formulae available in the market for busting stress -- including physical exercise, playing sports, reading, listening to music,talkingtofriends,cooking, gardening, knitting ...!But “doingnothing”forsometime on..

No generalisation, please, about Gen Z(ee) !

 By Vijay Phanshikar : OF COURSE, accusations float around that members of Gen Z(ee) are irresponsible and superficial and indisciplined. What hurts most is the sense of generalisation in those accusation -- that every Gen Z(ee) member is irresp..

Of unforgiving commitment ofhigh achievers

SPORTS are not all play -- or only playing a game. Sports involve much more. To some, sports become a lifetime of commitment beyond comfort zones. And that is a no-nonsense activity. That activity claims so much from the person who is directly engaged in playing, and also from the person or persons acting in support, that everything else has to take a back-seat. Unfortunately, the larger society does not see that behind-the-scene activity. But if we take a close look at that activity, we will realise ..

Women’s Day referral:Two memoirs, same message

 By Vijay Phanshikar : IN HER well-scripted memoir “My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future” (2021 - Portfolio/ Penguin), Indra Nooyi, the iconic Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, off and on touches upon issues that wome..

Of the reason whyfamily dialoguemay be missing

 By Vijay Phanshikar : “We switch off television at mealtime -- for decades now. No TV, no mobiles. Each mobile set is consciously kept away as all of us sit down for both meals. We are fortunate that even in morning, we are able to have..

Of continuedromance with books

A visit to the book store to mark the beginning of the year proved to be a great time. Thanks to professional commitments claiming a lot of time, such a rendezvous had become a rarefied activity -- and one longed to take a deep and endearing look at book shelves seeking new titles of authors well known and not so well known. Of course, buying new books is always a pleasure, no matter the cost, but even looking at the books and books and books and soaking in the faint fragrance of fresh books has its ..

Gen Z(ee) minds:Waiting to be ignited,to be inspired

 By Vijay Phanshikar : IN YEAR 2026, multiple questions and challenges confront Gen Z(ee). Multiple opportunities, too, would waltz into their lives -- ready to be grabbed and utilised. How do members of Gen Z(ee) look at such a scenario? A litt..

Of the difference between ‘liberty’ and ‘liberties’

 By Vijay Phanshikar : IN THE dictionary, the difference between ‘liberty’ and ‘liberties’ may be stated that one is singular and the other is its plural expression. In social and cultural terms, the two words express alt..

The unfortunate social game of buck-passing

  By Vijay Phanshikar : SOMETHING is seriously wrong with our society. For, multiple sections of the society are engaged in an unfortunate game of buck-passing -- which we appear to refuse to notice because that suits us well, since that s..

How the worldchanges witha book in hand !

AN EXTENDED conversation with those 5-6 young men and women -- appearing for national-level civil services examinations -- was a truly uplifting experience. None of them was sure if he/she would really crack the prestigious exam. But each of them was sure that those preparations, those months of hard work, would stand them in good stead in meeting life’s challenges. And in those preparations, book -- physical book on paper -- was a critical component. “Books made us whatever we are”, all of them said ..

Of the local heroeswe have chosento forget and ignore

THE last week brought a new conversation -- with another group of 10-12 youngsters, mostly in colleges. And the questions posed to them were about heroes of India’s freedom struggle, or in Indian science, or in Indian arts. And the overall low level of general knowledge was saddening, to say the least. For, most queries went unanswered, though some youngsters did try to browse the internet only to be able to reply to a small percentage of questions. The youngsters came from different regions of India ..

‘The Coronation’:A great metaphor of our history

  By Vijay Phanshikar :  THOSE 10-12 boys and girls -- all in their teens -- knew very little about that great moment of history -- Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that took place 350-plus years ago. Today, as the nation orga..

Dear Lord, may the tribe of book-lovers grow

 By Vijay Phanshikar : IT WAS possibly the most joyous encounter to come across in the bookstore. There was a family -- father, mother, two boys and one girl and a grandmother in tow. All six of them were there in the book store to spend the eve..

Do we really know what our children read ? - II

THE trouble with ‘we the people’ of today is that we really, really don’t have any control on what our children -- of all ages -- do or read. Or, in other words, we also do not wish to expend our thought and energies on knowing what our NextGen people do or read. For, if we really try to take control of these areas of our young people’s lives, we will only ‘buy’ trouble for ourselves in the short and long terms. So, why worry at all ? -- as many of us tend to think (though many may never want to verbalise ..

New normals, new definitions, new thinking

THIS ‘new’ pandemic is threatening to devastate our society today. New normals are in place, new definitions are being written. New thinking is declaring old thought-process as obsolete. Its dimensions can be disturbing, of course, on many counts. One of the new normals is that young people get up late in the morning. They also go to bed after the rest of the world has finished more than half its night. Because they go to bed late in the night, they feel they have earned a right to get up late in ..