when scrolling through the social media we come across short films/pocket films. Quite often, these videos range from 4min – 25 min. Most of them are preachy or address a social issue. Some of them are about awareness generation, some about the people and their struggles, some portray the stories of characters from marginalized sections of the society and some are down right emotional. All of them do carry a message.

Though the content or technicality of making these mini-video’s within a shoe – string budget is not so great, the fact remains that it provides employment opportunity – direct and indirect – to a handful of budding artists and technicians. And, the regional pocket films are meant for a certain section of the audience and it reaches them.

Movies- in a mini- sized – are a good form of entertainment, no doubt and an effective way to discover good and new talent.

The unfounded fear of any single mother is ‘what do I do when my young man/woman flies away from the nest?’ They have to one day. They have to – they need their identities, they need to find themselves, establish their values, their ideologies.

The questions that moms are left with is – what am I do to when he flies away? What do I look forward to? How do I fulfil the void he/she will leave behind? There are no answers to this question – no tailor made solutions. I guess, we figure that out when we come to it eventually,

why worry now?

catch-up with our long lost friend, wake up late, laze around, travel solo, visit museums, art galleries, volunteer – with plenty of options these days – slowing down and enjoying the emptiness in our life and in our heads – is definitely a bliss.

I wanted to quit my full time teaching job and switch to travelling. I wanted to travel leisurely, become a travevlogger, make insta reels on my travel – the same dream like the most of us have.

The more I dug into my fantasy – the more I relished it. The fantasies got bigger and bigger – staying in a villa in an isolated place with good amenities, three meals a day, a beach/lake to walk to, lie down listening to the waves, watch the fishermen till the sun goes down. Ah! what a pleasure would it be.

But then life has its own plans. It drew me back where I belong to – teaching. Somewhere, the voice inside me said – See, I have been telling you all along – didn’t I?

Yes, You did and I had to admit, the voice was right. Be a leisure traveller : said the voice. And, it was not wrong. Travel, explore, meet new people and learn during your day offs from school.

So, back to being what I am and being a leisure traveller. Most of us are – travelling when the work is light, checking out new unchartered places, relaxed, lazy lunches on the beach. A leisure travel. That’s something I should just continue doing.

This is the famous Assembly Hall at Rajghat Benaras. This is the place were J Krishnamurti used to share his thoughts with the public.  Benaras is famous for Ganges and for the ghat. Apart from these two, the Assembly Hall of Krishnamurti Foundation of India is a must visit place.

This assembly hall lies nestled close to the Ganges. This imposing hall is warm both inside and outside. The high ceiling, giant windows, multiple doorways – big and wide with spacious and airy halls are a sight to behold.

The moment you step inside peace sets in. Silence envelopes you.

A quiet place to find one’s thoughts.

I sauntered into the lawn and over the fence I saw – a neat seating arrangement with a small table displaying art work with man-made flowers around it. It felt warm on a nice cool evening. The hand-made flowers dancing gently to the tune of the breeze, and the setting sun paying its last graces. The lawn was inviting – to lie and roll.

I stood at the fence wondering – who sat there? Were all the seats occupied? Or some empty? What were they discussing – anything important or something light?

Was the meeting a continuation of a previous unfinished business? Did they pick the discussion from where they left earlier? Or will it continue into the next meeting?

Did they have tea or tea with biscuits? How were they dressed – sweaters or mufflers? Did the Sun shine bright – that they had to remove it?

How long were they there? Where did they all go now? Did they leave together? or one at a time?

Phew! So many questions. I felt like John Keats – the poet who wrote ‘The ode of the Grecian Urn’ and mused at the pictures on the urn – wondering why the citadel was empty?

Certain arrangements are intriguing – the simpler the arrangement is, the intriguing it is. Loud arrangements blind our senses, mundane ones leave us surprised.

I captured them in my camera for keepsake and in my mind for posterity. Why? For, I am wondering and I will always be left wondering: where was I when this meeting happened?

What makes a doorway interesting? The size, the shape, the architecture, the design, the materials that make it?  Probably all! no idea.

I have always felt doorways are a distinct feature of a home or a room. Inside-out, outside – in: it gives us a perspective of what we are getting into or getting out of. It can be viewed at different angles, we can lean on it, look out of it, look through it – from a distance, close by, from a sitting position, lying position. The doorway remains the same – the view it shows us or what we see through it tends to differ.

Doorways has its own personalities, just as a house. The good old houses have doorways that are split into two parts – the upper part and the bottom one. The bottom one is kept latched from the inside and upper door is left open. Such doorways are found in villages of India. That was a unique design, wherein we could sit on a rocky chair on a warm sultry afternoon and look at a few bussing vehicles and sauntering cows and goats.

I was lucky to find one such doorway – doorway of my hotel room which opened to the lake – a magical doorway is how I like to remember. A doorway that told me that beyond my limitations (rather, What I think are my limitations) there exists unchartered territory to be explored. The doorway not to just lounge around it but to cross, to cross and see, explore and decide – decide to take a voyage – irrespective of you succeeding or winning.

We all love ourselves. When it comes to write up, I find it difficult to write about myself inspite of loving myself. So, what’s so difficult about it?

The difficult part is not about beginning – its about the end. We write about our qualifications, interests and achievements or milestones in our work, then do we write about those emotions that led us to achieve that milestones or is it left to the interpretation of the reader.

Like, Mr.X has been conserving water bodies in and around Chennai – should this be enough in a write – up or should it include – this shows that he is …….. (is this mandatory).

I have been doing this for quite sometime now, when I write for my guest lecturers who pay our class a visit – but still not sure if I am doing it right. It is still a challenging task.

I have struggled with planning since my childhood, my teenage and of course, adulthood. Time management or rather the lack of it – was much discussed and thrashed out issue throughout my life.

I never knew how to make a to-do-list. It took me years to realize that it had to be realistic – with reference to the time I had at my hand, my biological needs – in terms of rest and food plus enough time for family.

So, what ‘time’ was ‘enough time’ – should it be set minute-wise or hour-wise. I read a lot about the planning for a week, for a day from books and various internet sources. Some worked, some failed. In most cases, the way I planned kept changing – with every new planning idea that I read I put it to practice – I never succeeded in implementing anything and often, confused myself – that lead to planning anxiety, that made me feel miserable.

I often, discussed time management with people I felt could help – but none worked. I guess, I always went to the wrong people : I had heard more than a hundred lectures about time management and nobody told me how do I go about it. I received colorful time table charts, to- do lists and lot of printed materials, dairies…. I have never succeeded.

Over the years, what I understood about time management is that it can never be a universal format. It has to be customized based on our priorities in my life. I realized that prioritizing is a big challenge, once that is done- planning for a day or a week becomes easy and execution becomes effortless.

One aspect that I prioritize is my : ME time. That is something sacred and I donot compromise on that. I schedule every other work after that. ME time uplifts my mood before I hit work. So, I never miss it.

ME time – anytime of the day where you reflect, engage in a favorite past time/ hobby or just plan a day. Since it is a top priority – I schedule that on the wee hours of the night – when the entire household sleeps.

I make a plan on a daily basis with 3 agendas per day. Two of them is mandatory – one with reference to my profession and the other with reference to my personal life. The last agenda is with reference to leisure – and it is always marked as optional – more because it involved external factors. Like, I may want to eat out with my child – this would be the third agenda- but then it depends his availability, the weather condition.. so even if I miss it – there are no regrets and it can always be clubbed with shopping at a later point of time that week. This 3 point agenda has worked wonders for me till date.

Happy Planning !

I loved the movie Top Gun : Maverick – sequel 2 ; it reflects a lot of HRM concepts I teach in Business Studies : Lessons on Team Spirit, Morale, Motivation and Leadership Skills. Those are for students in my class. Viewing this movie – applying the terms to different parts of the movie and presenting it in class leads to serious discussions from Business related terms to movie making.

An immersive movie – where the sequel was a zillion times better than the first one, taunt narrative, well-trained actors and mind-blowing visuals – one movie with lessons packed for all ages – children to the elders at home. Lessons on minute planning, meticulous execution of the plan, excellent organization of human capital, effective use of technology, casually delivered life changing quotes and one man’s respect and love for the audience.

1. When you love someone/something wholeheartedly, you give your hundred percent to it.
2. Age hardly matters when you are passionate about your work. : a strong lesson I learnt from it.