Ekta | wisdomekta

  All the light we cannot see (pic internet) This book was introduced to me by the-then American President Barack Obama through his tweet in 2015 wherein he spoke of it as the book on realism. The book is from the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning author Anthony Doerr. This historical fiction story occurs in Europe — in three locations, mainly — Hitler's Germany, Paris, and the walled seaside town of Saint-Malo in Brittany, from the mid-1930s to the roaring and murderous years of World War II. It is an anecdote about a blind French girl, Marie-Laure who is the daughter of a master locksmith at the Natural History Museum in Paris, and a German boy, Werner Pfenning from the mining town of Zollverein, and how their paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Their lives are drawn against the brewing conflict, which will soon engulf not only France and Germany but most of the world - the second World War. Both Marie and Werner are s...

Motivation is Rubbish A fanatic motivation solicitor... i.e. I, me, and myself... found an intriguing topic - MOTIVATION IS RUBBISH . This is exactly in contrast to my basic insight of the topic and thus became a theme of interest. The two delightful incidents happened which led to the writing of this particular blog post. The first was listening to a podcast by Ankur Warikoo. And the second one, reading the thoughts of Melanie Robbins. Before revealing the mysterious content, a little introduction of these motivational speakers is a must. Ankur Warikoo is an entrepreneur, angel investor, mentor, and public speaker, based out of India. Melanie Robbins is an American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker. Robbins is prominently known for covering the George Zimmerman trial for CNN; her TEDx talk- How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over; and her book, The 5 Second Rule. Ankur Warikoo in his podcast illustrated a definitive example of how measuring motivation is of utter si...

  A Dog's Tale (image from internet) A short but bitter-sweet book!! "A Dog’s Tale" is a classic story by the champion of words , Mark Twain. This sad story nonetheless is very beautiful. The reader is on a ' dog-ly ' journey with this tiny read. The first sentence of the story is " My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. ” The book is told from the outlook of a poor household pet, a dog named Aileen Mavourneen. A Dog’s Tale depicts the life of a family (human) beheld through its canine companion ( aka heroine of the novel). It's a unique view of how family members react to a disaster and their treatment of each member is emphasized by contrasting the dark and inconsiderate nature of humans with the benign and loyal nature of dogs. To me, the onset of the story was engaging, funny and full of life. But as the end proceeds, it was like a heavy hammer hitting one on the head. I sobbed at the brutality of innocence and...

  Little Madness is Essential Each small idea that is a bit off from general norms of normality is deemed mad. This choice may not be miraculous…but a definite creator of a little discomfort in the normalcy of everyday life. It may be a destination to dive into the ocean or a modest thought of waking up early in the morning - any slight change is madness in an occurrence at first sight. The conceiver and doer of that shifting idea are labeled mad and her/his act as madness. Aristotle once said, No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness . When this young Indian girl, Arunima Sinha announced to the world her plans to climb Mount Everest with her artificial prosthetic leg, people called her crazy. They told her it is crazy to even have this dream. She was crazy and that craze of hers made her achieve the impossible. Anything which is the first attempt in one’s family or society is madness. Still, the path of heroism invariably crosses the arena of madness… several ti...