Stream 1 is where the exchanges are straightforward. There are fixed charges, transparent actions and everyone knows how to get it done provided you are willing to pay for it.

Stream 2 is where, only people with the right contacts can get things done. There are no fixed charges or rules. For those who know it is an easy game. Those who don’t know, need to find some one who knows to get things done even if you are willing to pay for it.

For some stream 1 is main stream and for others stream 2 is mainstream.

The ease to thrive in both streams depends what you have groomed yourself or. The rules of the game, tactics and skills required are very different. What many people see as a safe bet is to groom yourself in both streams so that you fall on your four legs whichever way you fell.

Each of us has an inclination for one stream over the other and that becomes the determining factor of our personality.

People who associate themselves more with stream 1 are more self-centered, see a beeline for actions to be accomplished and go about doing it. They often hit roadblocks, use force, get frustrated, curses, wish things were simple.

People who associate themselves with stream 2 builds their network of actions through different relations and multisided interactions. For them, there are no beelines, there are no wasted interactions. There are only learnings of human nature and niches to be exploited.

However there is a stream 3. They are highly networked and that is all they have got.

About 14 years ago I witnessed an executive training conducted by Dr. Prasad Sunderrajan and the most valuable take away for me was the idea that if we continually keep on challenging our central neuron system, by doing new stuff, it kinds of unlocks your creativity. The challenge to the neuron system is more when mastering or changing precision movements. Hitherto in my life I have tried to pursue those challenges in any shape or form I can – like reading/studying totally new subjects, switching platforms of everyday use ( PC to Mac or Sony PSP/Playstation to Wii) and so on. Another revelation from the session was creativity is not restricted to full time artists or writer or performers. It can be any field, it can be in life and it can be in business. So when I picked up this book I had no clue it would be so much in line with my character and also hold a lot more avenues of improvement. Seeing connections between other wise unconnected streams or examples and drawing up analogies, unlocking the potential of our unconscious mind, living a rich inner life all is discussed in this magnificent book. http://www.creativethinking.net/WP01_Home.htm

A brilliant book – relevant as ever.

Interweaving of anthropological knowledge with current challenges involving social behaviour, climate threats, economic collapses – connecting the dots could not be more magnificent.

The hugely insightful and enthralling book about creative choices whether it be career, life or passion after Dan Pink’s The Adventures of JohnyBunko. Both are one of its kind. Johny Bunko with it comic book story telling. Ignore Everybody with its business card size cartoons. Each of 39 keys are worth pondering about and set you on a journey of thoughts. However me being the insatiable book-eater, I could not stop till I finished and was wondering all the while how my friend Aditya would read it one chapter a day and keep the fire burning for 40 days.

Thanks to Seth Godin for having recommended this book on his blog.

Amazing story telling by Larry. This is a personal account of a talented insider who worked the floors of Lehman, made fortunes and was fired during early 2008, as he belonged to bear culture while Lehman Management was bullish . Can be read or heard like a breeze, a bit melodramatic, but clearly engaging and informative

 This is an indepth study into the natures of human behaviour and possible reasons along the lines of antropology and evolution for those behaviours. One of those books which calls for multiple reading for if you start all over again, be sure to find a lot of new meanings and revelations you missed the first time.

One more stunning revelation of untold stories including the atrocitites unleashed by Indian Army on Hyderabadi Muslims and how Nehru and Patel hushed it up from International conscience. If you think about it, stitching together an India which was non – existent was no small task and may resemble the stories from many other parts of the world, however was it worth the cruetly the inhabitants of the country had to face from an organised military of the same country? No history books in Indian curriculum is taught about these shortcomings of great leaders of  India in their quest to make unified India a reality. Children are taught about unity in diversity  - Diversity there is , Unity simply does not exist, todays india is only 62 years old, the rich and varied history dates back thousands of years and there rituals like that of Madurai Meenakshi temple carried out for thousands of years without change in a single detail. Amidst all the invasions of modernity you can see people with modern educations and standing like software engineers, writers, diplomats flock to these ancient traditions. Indian psyche’s emphasis on faith is astonishing and that faith is a trust on the cosmic force and the sense of belonging to that force. For many Indians the innate calmness is from the awareness that “it is written”, from being able to identify with centuries of history and future and realising the momentary nature of one’s existence, yet contributing in whatever shape or form for the eternal good all beings and non-beings.

A detailed account into the lives of so many common men from different parts of India, with all their baggages from the past shadowing their present and future, how psyche evolves over decades, how each  influences the life – whether it be the British or Portugese rule or the local rulers and how the life is torn between several manipulations for power and business between state and central governments and above all how people thrive, even with all their fears and limitations. An interesting insight is that of inhabitants of Bombay having lived in spatial constratints enjoying a rich social life due to the proximity they share with a wide array of strangers – who cease to be strangers after a while and the way they adjust their life to living in such conditions. When these sort of people move out of Bombay into a place without such spatial constraints, they feel nostalgic and develop a longing for Bombay and the rich social interaction spun out of the lack of space.

However the account is of the India before 1990, before the economic liberalisation and the “banglored” era. Luckily for me the cosmic force has trusted a copy of the “Age of  Kali” through the hands of a dear one. On to that now

As the name suggests this amazing book tells a lot of stories about irrational behaviour of perfectly rational people. Some of them you may have heard before like Harvard Graduates paying upto $200 for a $20 bill. However Ori and Rom pulls together such stories and build context for us to be aware as well as to understand the intricacies behind certain decision making and preferences. After reading this book I am determined to read Dan Ariely’s Predictably irrational

How many of us has looked at this economic crisis as an opportunity? That is what Douglas Rushkoff does. And that too in depth reasoning and vision. This book unravels how a centralised monetary system was set up to serve the interests of monarchies and how that evolved to servc the interests of corporates today. How the ongoing alienation to one another is promoted to make a market for the consumer products and how all this slip us into an unreal world of social benchmarking and competition instead of interaction and support. I wish all of you will read this book and or at least watch the video