Ekta | wisdomekta

  “...It is fashionable these days to ignore history to preserve the peace between faiths. And I am all for peace and interfaith understanding. But, that process must start with recognizing what happened. Forced conversions did happen, and destruction of Zoroastrian places of worship did happen. Redeployment of fire temples as mosques did happen. Identification of Zoroastrians as a polluted being, najis did happen…. Compulsory humiliation of those paying jizya did happen… After all, if we don’t learn from history, history repeats itself!” The Magicians of Mazda is a part of the Bharat Series by Ashwin Sanghi. The Dan Brown style of writing with the revelation of diversified Indian secrets kept my patriotic heart enthralled and my mind dipped into the in-between lines reading to grasp all the ancient philosophy and the hidden secrets, not to forget the gripping story plot. The novel is the perfect amalgamation of high-speed drama and yet the elaborative history sharing. Humana, Huk...

  It was during one of the prime lockdown days of the Covid times that I heard a reference to this story while listening to a podcast by Jordan Peterson. And recently, I found this storybook in one of the bookstores. This is a kid’s story that has gently stuck with me like a tattoo. The title of the story is “ There's No Such Thing as a Dragon ” by Jack Kent. The storybook has impactful colors and simple language. The story goes like this- One fine morning a young boy named Billy Bixee awakens in his room to find a small dragon, "about the size of a kitten," in his bedroom. Billy has never seen a dragon before and, as any child would be, he is curious about the new visitor and pats its head. But when Billy goes downstairs and tells his mother about the dragon, she says “there’s no such thing as a dragon”. Confused, Billy returns to his room and trusting his mother’s judgment ignores the dragon’s bid for a pat on the head. After all, there’s no sense putting something that...

  To be forthcoming, I chose to read this book because someone gifted me Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson (his second book) and somehow I guessed the book would be more insightful if I first completed the introductory book of the series. I am yet to open Beyond Order…just pausing for the overwhelming read “12 Rules for Life” to get settled inside my limited psyche. At the end of this read, I find that this book is like a handbook having a counter-intuitive strategy for a population hooked on the instant gratification of ideological conformity and social media likes. It provides the ‘logic’ and ‘sense’ to the impulses of the new generation and works as a contemporary self-help book wherein the writer attempts to explain that our norms and culture exist for a reason. 12 Rules For Life, as the title says, lays out a set of 12 simple principles that can help us become more disciplined, behave better, act with integrity, and balance our lives while enjoying them as much as we can. T...

  "Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not." - Oprah Winfrey L et me confess. This blog post is my shy version of investigating integrity at par with my perception and daily routine. Integrity is still a core value in my disposition… invariably on how people nowadays use this term lightly and as per their wimps and comfort. In my understanding, the kernel of integrity is the promise or vow or commitment. A promise with self to be honest and a vow to be true at any time. A promise is a promise …with no interim 'ifs' or 'buts' intruding anywhere in between the delivery of the promise. And since I am the sentry of my word…that’s why I rarely make promises to other people which I can't uphold. It may look arrogant or self-obsessed or sort of anti-social, but as my close college friend used to tell me- “ You are a true scorpion ”, I don’t believe in short-term connections or friendships based on...