Asha ji was a favourite in our house. Amma loved her because she making her name famous. She always said that she a lot more versatile than her sister, Lata.
Her death ignited a curiosity to explore what her last recorded song was. It was a collab song with a British band called the Gorillaz. I had heard about them in Australian news media. She had her way of working on collabs with many artists. The most famous ones I remember are Brett Lee, and of course I've heard sing with Adnan Sami. But this was a different type of song. The lyrics were powerful. It somehow held my attention for a few days!
In her own words, she had posted this on Instagram.
"The song ‘The Shadowy Light’ holds deep meaning for me. Visiting Varanasi and travelling along the most sacred river Ganges, observing closely what I saw, I understood the meaning of life, who I was and what I was supposed to do on earth.
On ‘The Shadowy Light’, my crossing this deep river signifies my life’s journey… my birth, my relationships, my dedication to music, my achievements and my duties as a daughter, mother, sister, wife and a Hindu Indian. The boatman is my music, my guide across this river of life and when I get to the other side, my journey shall be complete. I shall attain moksha (ultimate freedom) wherein I shall become one of the thousands of sounds floating all around us. If you put some of them together, they form a beautiful tune. Therefore, I shall become one of those sounds, which shall eventually become a musical note in a beautiful song which shall be heard by several generations for thousands of years. This freedom to become one with nature is what awaits me on the other side of the river.” - Asha Bhosle"
This was like - she sang her own farewell song. How beautiful! Especially the part about her disintegrating into sounds. Brought back so many memories and thoughts about the passing away of Amma too. She was also Asha. Her death was mourned. She had lived a beautiful life, with a beautiful mind. One of giving - always caring.
Tributes have been flowing from all parts of the world. Every major news outlet had coverage on her passing away, including so many from Pakistan and all over the world.
I was worried about opening any comments section on social media. That's a different topic altogether.
For now, I feel like the continuity of generations of music lovers has been broken. Her songs, voice and versatility will live into hundreds and thousands of years. She was a legend.
This blog is a written expression of the middle in my head. The middle is just there. Can't do nothing about it. I even had a muddle deciding between nothing and anything in the previous sentence. Back to the muddle ...
In the absence of the writing, I'll end up consuming more useless content. 90% of which I can do nothing about. Or they don't even interest me, remotely.
This blog a digital footprint of my mind. I have stuff written in other places too, but those are not for public consumption.
I have managed to type so much without actually saying anything. So ...
I was part of a leadership course at work and the introduction was done by our CEO. He showed us an old graduation ceremony in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was the key note speaker. Besides the fact that he simplified and made the concept of leadership really easy to comprehend, he was very articulate and actually inspiring. Without knowing too much about his background and his struggle, the way he told his story was entertaining. He did come across as an authentic person too.
So, what are the 6 rules of leadership?
Rule #1: Trust yourself. Figure out what makes you happy and pursue it
Rule #2: Break the rules. Following the well tread path can do you nothing in terms of leadership
Rule #3: Don't be afraid to fail. If you don't push yourself to try new things, you can't succeed
Rule #4: Don't listen to Naysayers. Most importantly, the little voice in your own head as well
Rule #5: Work your butt off. There's no substitute to hard work.
As a data driven marketer, I get really excited when I see the comparison of how different channels perform. For me email is by far the most important channel. Rather than talk too many words on the topic, I found this infographic from Visually which says why it is important.
I filed my tax returns for the previous financial year yesterday. Finally! It's one of those tasks that is boring, manually tedious (even with a Mac compatible software this time) and low value creation in terms of intellect and wealth.
This pie chart from IBISworld (www.ibisworld.com) got me thinking on the fact that a tax is an expense. If each one of us, was a business, I would've viewed it as an expense. But, as an employee, I have always treated it as a liability. By liability, I mean, what is left after tax is where I start from as a revenue to the household! I now work in the salary packaging industry - and as a marketing guy. And still I realised this fact only when prompted by the chart. Food for thought - to be smarter about taxes. Not avoidance, just being smart about reducing expenses. $500 saved is as good as $500 earned!
The last few weeks have been good for me and trust. I am generally a naive kind of guy anyway - very trusting in the good of the world.Let me straight get into.
Last month, I lost my wallet in the train in Sydney. I didn't know I'd lost it either. I thought I'd left my wallet at home. Then I got a call from Pooja saying that she'd received a call from my insurance company saying they'd got a call from Wynyard station in Sydney CBD - they had found my wallet. Not knowing my wallet was lost was a relief, but having found it and picking it up from the train station manager - a nice lady - who had accounted for every cent in the wallet - was uplifting!
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. A guy's car was in front of our house a for while and he looked like he was trying to do something to the tyres. He knocked on our doors and said he wanted to borrow $50 - he had lost his credit card and he needed NRMA to come fix his tyre. Again, with a lot of trust, I gave 50 bucks - giving him the benefit of the doubt. What if he was saying the trust - would be rude - someday I'll need help or someone I love and care about will need help. More than anything else, he looked like he was telling the truth. He gave me his driver's license to take a photo of. Again, on the very next day, he had dropped the $50 note in a little envelope and saying thanks for helping him out.
These 2 incidents have reinforced that trust is alive and well. We all need more such incidents to bolster our trust in trust!
