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...

A 448-page memoir published on November 13, 2018, is the saga of how culture shapes life. The book is written by Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, the first African-American woman who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. And this is her story of zeal, emotions, and family love. Mrs. Obama's candour dissipates a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling. The book is divided into three sections: Becoming Me (my favourite), Becoming Us, and Becoming More. She invites readers into her world, chronicling her childhood hardships, her efforts during school and college, the hardship of being a professional, and then her public life. There is one baseline of the book (i.e. beside her own life) which is the persistent conversation about her family, her husband, and her journey of motherhood. What I loved about her writing is that she kept it real. The fear, triumphs, anxiety, hopes, disappointments, etc… She tells her full story as she has lived it. The...

  A recent movie adaption of this novel with the same title Where the Crawdads Sing led me to this read. Although the movie is yet to be watched, this book has left me with a spellbinding story. The novel captivated me with its mystery till the end. The story revolves around the wild girl named Catherine “Kya” Clark also popularly called “The Marsh Girl,” or “swamp trash”. She is a figure of paradox and prejudice in the remote North Carolina coastal community of Barkley Cove in the 1950s and '60s. The novel tells the tale in two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first timeline describes the life and adventures of a young Kya as she grows up isolated in the marsh of North Carolina. The second timeline follows an investigation into the apparent murder of Chase Andrews, a local celebrity of Barkley Cove, a fictional North Carolina coastal town. Abandoned by her mother who is no longer able to withstand her drunken husband’s beatings and then by her four siblings, Kya grows up in ...

  Disclaimer- This post is part of trait-series-for-kids which I began to search and write for my kids in 2019. With this series of blog posts containing knowledge-slash-experience, I pray from the almighty that our kids have a simple but magical life. The contents of the series are the outcome of a rigorous search, several readings and first-hand experiences, and self-reflection. Nae Salanghaneun Adeul , (In Korean meaning My dear Sons)      As you grow, there shall be extents in life when you might feel glued. The things around, passing scenarios, existing dilemmas, and even the behaviour of loved ones might not be making any sense to you. Your dreams may be looking distant, the purpose for the moment lost and you may start wondering about the ultimate game of life. The questions about your existence start challenging your efforts and actions. But in these times, you must conserve the highest of hope and faith that some transformation is near. It is because the c...