Book Review - Junglezen Sheru & Tuesdays with Morrie

Junglezen Sheru by Samarpan:

This is book delves into the leadership styles and tries to explain in the form of Jungle Setup. The characters are Animals and their natural instincts e.g. Wolves(Rig)=cunning, Monkeys (Kapi)=Copy Paste, Elephant (Muktak)=Wisdom & Tortoise (Kurma)=Peaceful etc. juxtaposed with that of real people in real world and how they behave or should behave.

Intrinsic values howsoever basic or little, of a person shouldn’t be altered else you lose the very value of you being part of a system. One should build / work on the intrinsic and enhance so as to shine.

The theory is explained in form of Drama in a Jungle when the King of the Jungle dies and the leadership is handed over to the Monkeys who being good at Copy Paste (read no brain of his own) applies a theory called Junglezen (all are equal irrespective of their place in the food chain) and thus starts the misplacement of powers, theories, values etc.

Explained in simple English the concept of unequal as the essence of being. I think however that the end is little abrupt and leaves a lot to imagination.

Surely recommended for people who wish to start their reading habit as this is a small book and well written.

 Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom:

This book is beautifully written in chapter form and there is a single story woven through the book.

The 2 main characters are Mitch & Morrie. Morrie was a professor in the institute Mitch was the student. Morrie was short heighted but full of life while Mitch was growing up and more bothered about life in front of him but there was a unsaid bond between them. Eventually Morrie is diagnosed with a fatal disease (ALS) and he has a certain time to live.

The disease changes his already different take on life. He talks about death and makes plan to die. Being comfortable with your situation, thinking positive always (even in death), add life to days & not days to death.

-          Accept what you are able to do & what you are not able to do

-          Accept the past as past without denial or discarding it

-          Learn to forgive yourself & others

-          Don’t assume it’s too late to get involved

-          Consumerism is making people distant, enjoying simple things are getting difficult

Mitch met him on Tuesdays (& hence the title of the book) and discussed various facets of life & death. Why people behave in a way that they behave, why your own kids / siblings distance themselves etc etc

This book will certainly change the way you look at life (& death) and treat people. I recommend this book to people who feel shallow in life and meanings of relationships are forgotten.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Pranaam!

Book Review : "Discover your Destiny" by Robin Sharma

Hello People,

Apart from the interesting, though provoking blogs that I have written in past, here is my first book review of "Discover your Destiny" by Robin Sharma.

The book is written in script form and is a story about 2 characters : Julian (The Mentor) & Dar (the Student/Seeker). Julian is the same monk who sold his Ferrari & went to the Himalayas in search of ‘Nirvana’ while Dar is a successful businessman but has troubled personal life. Dar journey of self-awakening starts when he tries to take his life.

Dar has caring colleagues who insist him to meet Julian and his journey to self-awakening starts. The book talks about the 7 (practical) stages of self-awakening as under and insists on practicing each stage many times till we reach the level of mastery:

1. Living a lie (The Stage of self-betrayal)
• “Most people don’t discover how to live until it’s time to die – and that’s a shame”
2. The Choicepoint (The stage of releasing control & breaking your chains)
• After you have realized the lies of your life, it will present you 2 choices / lures – continue to awaken or go back to misery
1. Awareness precedes choice and choice precedes change
3. Awareness of wonder & possibility (The Stage of seeing with new eyes)
• Ready to play with possibilities
4. Instructions from Masters (The stage of learning, failing & preparation)
•  Fill The Integrity Gap – The gap between who we truly are & the public personas that we present to please the world
5. Transformation & Rebirth (The stage of emptying & refilling)
• Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage
6. The Trial (The Stage of testing & confirmation)
• Life poses challenges before one discovers the treasure of life
7. The great awakening of self (The stage of fearlessness)
• You will be alone in the journey of awakening and you should be fearless

 All of above is not achieved however at the cost of living a life of poor but suggests that one should enjoy the material luxuries of life but keep doing the work on oneself and for people around him/her.


This book talks about getting the best from your life but not what one wants but what one deserves and in best interest. The destiny discovers you provided you have done the preparation and inner work required to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.

I recommend this book to people who wish to clear their minds of confusion, emotions & submission. This book will help understand the fine balance between haves, needs & wants and believe that life is to be lived, enjoyed & experienced both material and spiritual.

Up next will be review on ‘Junglezen Sheru’, followed by ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’

Would appreciate your feedback / addition to this. 

INDIA in History!!!

Hello Netizens. I know i have been absent from writing blog for far too long. Here is my latest thought.

Don't get the title wrong, I am not going to talk about the great Indian History or praise the great heritage of India. This morning, I was discomforted by a passing thought of Indian Mentality at the top (read Indian Politicos or Policy makers or for simplicity sake all those who are in the act of running this country)

The reason for this passing thought was the stories of success by NRIs, People of Indian Origin that I have been reading and all the pom pom around it by the TOP. Have we ever realise that all those individuals (of Indian origin) who achieve a fete outside of India have nothing or little to do with their Indian connection. 

Satya Nadella, Indra Nooyi, Kalpana Chawla & Sunita Williams seems to be latest trumpet that people at the top have. We are so burdened by our prestigious history / heritage that we are becoming one - History. Every achievement by anyone around the world is because of our rich history of "brain quality". "We gave 0 to the world" we say and we are getting to a ZERO in the bargain. How many times have we heard that an Indian born & brought up in India is making world news? 

It is because we look back we are not able to look ahead. We are stuck in past & hence we are not progressing. Look at the countries like Japan who were almost extinct because of atom bomb attack in August 1945 (2 years before our independence) and now compare our growth with that of Japan.

We have been harping far too long now of our rich culture, heritage, history etc and it is time to change the focus to future. History is good to take lessons from, learn from past mistakes, build on past successes as well.

It is time we move look forward & move forward, before we are part of History ourselves.

Your comments / reactions / feedbacks are most welcome.