Anuradha Sridharan

Some books find you via the vibrations you send out to the Universe while some reach you through Amazon's recommendation engine. The book "Inward" came to my attention via the latter. It is interesting how both these sources - philosophical and algorithm-driven - are in some way interlinked. I spotted it in my Kindle Unlimited recommended list, after I finished reading "The Universe has your back". "Inward" is written by Diego Perez with the pen name Yung Pueblo. It is a collection of beautiful lines and verses on the topics of self-love, acceptance, courage, and letting go in our Inward journey. It isn't a book that you would read page after page. Rather you could just turn to a random page and read a few lines that would leave behind such an impact. Simplistic, yet profound, poetic, yet not cryptic, hard-hitting, yet not critiquing - that's how I felt while reading a few pages every morning while sipping my morning chai. Words can be healing,...

  Google Photos chose to show this memory from "12 years ago". It was my first public talk and I spoke on Product Positioning at a Product Camp event conducted at Yahoo! office in 2010. I have earlier shared how consistency has helped me build my reading and writing habits over the past 2 decades. The same goes for public speaking as well. I vividly remember this moment from my 1st year of Engineering. My Physics lecturer had asked me to take a session on a topic. Though I had prepared well, I was extremely nervous in front of my class - my hands were trembling while writing on the blackboard and my words were all jumbled up. I realized that I had stage fright but something pushed me within that I needed to overcome it. Back in the late 90s, some of the college lecturers would allocate certain chapters either for "assignment" or for "class session by students". It's a different story that these would be the tougher chapters! Whenever the lecturer would...

  A few weeks back, I visited Blossoms bookstore and spent the afternoon in front of the Philosophy/Spirituality aisle. I had such a wonderful time there and returned home with a bunch of books that were on my reading list. I love the writing style of Om Swami. Having read a few of his books earlier, I admire his uncanny ability to succinctly convey beautiful messages relevant to Life. "The book of Kindness" is yet another simple and easy-to-read book that talks about kindness and how it is a skill to be practiced and mastered. The Universe seems to reiterate this point to me through multiple sources - that our feelings are way more important than our thoughts. Came across multiple insights in this book that connected with this point: "The brain only processes what the heart is feeling. And our heart can feel a million things in just one day. We just need to connect with it, so it feels the one thing that matters most."   "Reason is the killer of empathy. When ...

I bought my first smartphone in Apr 2013 - a Samsung Galaxy S3. Used it for 3+ years, after which the device became extremely slow and the battery capacity deteriorated over time. In Dec 2016, I exchanged my phone and bought myself the first version of Google Pixel. It was a solid model with great performance and I loved it. After almost 4 years (Feb 2020), the battery started to drain out faster. But this time, instead of buying a new phone, I got the battery replaced for 3K. Pixel continued to work well and suited my usage. In Feb this year, it conked out. None of the usual revival techniques like device reset helped. Bid goodbye to my Google Pixel after 5 years and 3 months. I then started to use my MIL's phone (Redmi 5 - bought in July 2018) as a temporary one, until we buy a new phone. It's been 9 months and I continue to use the same phone, as it meets my needs. Over the years, I have reduced my phone usage a lot. From a personal standpoint, it is now a utilitarian tool (...

 "If you don't implement or take action immediately, then the act of reading books is a productive waste of time" - I completely disagree with this statement that I heard in a workshop a couple of years ago. I don't believe that you will have to implement all the ideas that you learn from every book as soon as you finish reading it. Not all books are action-oriented in the first place unless you are only reading productivity or self-help books. There are so many brilliant books out there, that can help change your perspectives and question your long-held beliefs. The actions you might (or might not) take after reading such books are dependent on multiple factors, but such books are influential in rewiring your thinking at a fundamental level. Grateful to have stumbled upon some of those books in recent years - "Courage to be disliked", "Subtle art of not giving a f*ck", and "Finding awareness" to name a few. I wrapped up reading Oliver Bu...

 Back in 2010-11, I used to rely completely on BMTC buses for my work commute. The AC Volvo buses were comfortable. The frequency and connectivity were also excellent. After more than a decade, I have again gone back to taking BMTC buses for my twice-a-week work-from-office routine. One main reason is that the route is a direct one, from the bus stop near my home to the one near my office and vice-versa. Another important reason has been the unreliability of Ola/Uber cab services. Much has already been lamented about this topic on LinkedIn. Let me add my 2 cents as well!🙂 I have wasted countless hours while going through the excruciating task of booking a cab on a busy weekday morning. There have also been days when I have waited for a booking to go through for nearly 40 minutes, trying multiple apps. Staring at the 4th line of the booking progress bar on Uber with no certainty of whether the booking will get confirmed, As the booking gets confirmed, getting a call or a message fr...

 This might sound like a Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu style of narrative, so please bear with me🙂 Sun 8AM Our pet cat W was behaving a little oddly. She was cuddled under the sofa and not responding to our calls. She looked scared and wasn't her usual self. Sun 11:30AM The ironwala comes home to collect clothes to be ironed. The door was kept open and W ran out. Sun 8PM W hasn't come back. Though we noticed this, we weren't worried as she usually comes back on her own at night. Mon 8:30AM W hasn't returned yet. There was a slight worry on my mind, as I was leaving for work. But I told myself that there have been times when W was gone for almost 2 days and had come back. Mon 8:30PM No signs of W. All 3 of us went around the apartment, calling her to see if she would respond with her meow. No luck. Couldn't sleep well that night and was keeping my ears open to catch hold of her meow. Tue 11:30AM Saraswati Pooja at home. Prayed to the Goddess and the main item on the list of...