Skip to main content

Featured

2018 in Books #1 : Outliers

My membership at the Evanston Public Library is my best-worst decision. Best, because I now have e-books delivered right into my Kindle without having me trudge in snow to borrow or return a book and the worst, because it is going to make me lazy and unfit.  Cut to the chase, Outliers has been a good start to 2018. At a modest 300 odd pages, Malcolm Gladwell writes a deeply researched and critically analysed account of success stories that we know of.  | The biggest takeaway you can get from Outliers  is the "other side" of stories, which are often ignored for the sake of glorification of the achievement. | It was enjoyable to see how tiny, seemingly inconsequential factors can help a person go a long way. A popular example the book talks about is Bill Gates' rise as a billionaire when he was a college dropout.  Treating his story superficially has led to popularizing the opinion, "hey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were college drop outs

Song for Someone

Song for Someone by U2 is the best song in Songs of Innocence, a highly disappointing album.

As I walked home today from the bus stop, I happened to listen to a song that I had always associated with a person I had loved with all my self. And, as bitter as things are right now, I could not help but smile. The song was a time turner that took me back down a long, winding, nostalgic road of happy memories. For what it's worth, they were really good times and it is alright to cherish what you had some time ago.

We associate people with a lot of things, their nature, idiosyncrasies, clothes, food and so on. For me, it's a song. Everyone who is close to me is related to a song. And when I listen to it, I inadvertently remember them. It has its up and downsides. As Murakami said, "Memories warm you up on the inside. But they can also tear you apart." Thanks to the latter, there are tracks I cannot bring myself to listen to yet. Artists and albums that used to be on loop have made their way to 'Most Skipped' to avoid the flood of memories and desires. Dil me jaage ishq wale manmarziyaan. 

Sometimes, I wish I could stop associating music and lyrics with people I meet, places I go and my experiences. But a larger part of me knows that these links I make in my head are how I romanticize life and all its moments.

Comments

  1. Yours writings are beautiful...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much :) Do keep reading and give your feedback

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts