Flux of Time

This is a great read. Especially on a Monday when you (at least, I) tend to lose focus. Especially when too many things are happening around you, and you are feeling overwhelmed. When you have to handle contempt and scorn. When some scenes from the past keep twirling like a dancing doll in your head. When you know you deserve better. When you need to slowly get your moorings back and stay afloat. When you need to learn equanimity. And be unmoved by high praise and vile criticism. When you should let go of people or things who are not for you. http://ideas.ted.com/want-to-be-happy-slow-down/ Excerpts from the link where Pico Iyer and Matthieu Richard have a great conversation: I think that’s why people like me, who are not part of a religious tradition, will often go on retreat to monasteries, because suddenly you can listen to everything and you’re not endlessly talking and you’re not trying to impress everybody around you, and you’re not being distracted by emails and texts …...

From Glasgow to Pattikonda: The journey of Sir Thomas Munro Sir Thomas Munro, a Glasgow-born Scotsman, who became the Governor of Madras Presidency in the early part of the 19 th century, made a deep impact on the people of the Rayalaseema region. I was reading up on the palegar (local chieftains) strife in Rayalaseema region, and read this interesting snippet: In many parts of Ananthapur and Ballari regions, Munro was so respected that the locals named their first-born son after their favourite administrator – Munrolappa (Kannada and Telugu are the local languages). I haven’t seen it, but there’s a famous statue of Sir Thomas Munro in Madras, near the Gymkhana, according to a piece in The Hindu . ( Sriram’s piece in The Hindu .) What triggered my interest in Sir Thomas Munro was that he was the Collector of Anantapur district. My ancestral village is in the same district, and many of my family members continue to live in the district. I came across a letter Sir Thoma...