Life Etc Etc

Happy Valentine's Day! Until Next Time, Yours Lovingly, J.J. Chaitanya

It was new year night, while the entire world was partying and going crazy with their friends and family, I was fast asleep giving my body some much needed rest. This new year's eve didn't rank in the upper echelon of all the happening new year eves I've had in my life. There was a new year's eve where I flew half way around the world to give a monster surprise to my friends and family, there was one which I celebrated after making a podium finish at Toastmasters District(National) Table Topics contest, there was another where sandy beaches and crystal blue skies were beckoning me for a memorable holiday. Yes, I was blessed to be a part of some fantastic New Year Eves but none of those years gave me the peace that 2018 did. So how a year ends is not reflective at all of how the year has been . In my blog about 2017 , I wrote about how taking a step back and doing nothing is actually a good thing. 2018 on the contrary was all about getting back on the horse and gallo...

Climb your own Mountain Until Next Time, Your Philosopher of Life, J.J. Chaitanya

We won...! We won...! We won...!  For kids like me who grew up in the 90s the thought of India beating Australia in Australia was as inconceivable as dating a Ms. World or a Ms. Universe (but yours truly did think of... ahem! ahem! let's not go there). Yeah, stars have to be seriously aligned for a victory such as this to happen and stars were indeed aligned when Warner, Cameron and Steve were all sent off on a vacation for playing around with a certain  tape . That vacation helped the Indian Team succeed in their triennial vocation. Mantra for Steve / Warner / Cameron : If you use tape your team will scrape . The above mantra was just the beginning, I set out on a journey where I personally uncovered several such lessons while watching this coma inducing, patience numbing, sometimes nerve wracking but ultimately gratifying series. Let's take a look at all the lessons I've grasped one by one: Players with rock solid and dependable techniques don't get IPL contracts...

Yours Inspiringly, J.J. Chaitanya

There's absolutely nothing I can say about Sidney Lumet's ' 12 Angry Men ' which hasn't already been said before but I must try, considering the fact that 60 years after its release this movie is now more relevant than ever. We live in an era where terms like ' classic ' and ' masterpiece ' are often used loosely, '12 Angry Men' is the very definition of a cinematic classic and a bona fide masterpiece. So let's not wait any further to review this classic movie. Plot: 12 jurors from different economic backgrounds and different strata of the society are assigned the complex task of deciding the culpability of a teenage boy who has been accused of murdering his father. The juvenile defendant has a history of run-ins with the law and shares a troubled history with his abusive father. If the jurors return an unanimous verdict of guilty the defendant would be hanged, if the jurors decide there is reasonable doubt with the prosecution'...

Until Next Time, Yours Inspiringly, J.J. Chaitanya