Niloyroy

1 min From Vishal Khandelwal's Notes - https://open.substack.com/pub/safalniveshak/p/rest-well-scott?r=1xt8m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web "I have spent so much of my life feeling inadequate because I wasn’t the best at anything. I wasn’t the smartest writer. I wasn’t the funniest speaker. I wasn’t the greatest artist. Scott looked at that insecurity and flipped it on its head.

C Premkumar's 96 whips you with emotions. Elevated by superlative performances, it is a simple tale of long lost love but the take is refreshingly unsentimental. The opening credits show the protagonist Ram (played by a superb Sethupathi) as a travel photographer on his solo sojourns. Ram captures life in its variety of colours. He describes photography as a tool to freeze a moment which you can replay many years after.

Recently, I stumbled upon a very popular video of Prof Walter Lewin, the beloved MIT Physics professor adored by all students. It rekindled the beauty of the subject and a harsh realization of what it takes to convey this beauty of the understandings of nature and the creator's world. It was a similar realization when I had watched another beautiful video lecture on Calculus by Steven Strogatz where he qualifies it as the language that God talks through to us.

Cinema 2 min The evolution of Indian serials from the 80s till most recently has been very fascinating. From the epic slice of life Wagle Ki Duniya, Buniyaad, Circus, Fauji to the comedies of 90s like Hum Paanch, Family Number 1, Shriman Shrimati, not to mention high on emotion K-soaps, the quality and sensibilities have ebbed and flowed. The penetration of internet and evolution of  OTT platforms ensured that most of the millenials were fed adequately on international cinemas and series.

Couple of days ago, my movie buff friend and I started reminiscing Irrfan Sir's movies. We picked up one of his last ones - Song of the Scorpion. The magic was intact, though the film failed to entertain both of us. My friend made a comment that Hindi cinema was never able to fully realize the worth of Irrfan or give him the roles he deserved, apart from maybe a Haasil or a Maqbool where his craft stood out. While we were thinking hard, films like Namesake, Paan Singh, or even Qissa cropped up.

"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve."- Charlie Munger Habit formation is difficult. Period. Taking a leaf out of James Clear's methods of habit formation, every habit requires a cue or a hook. I want to use this post to reflect on one habit that I have been able to build.

Reflections 2 min These are a few mental models that I have found to be useful for leading a peaceful life- some of them have come through following certain great thought leaders, entrepreneurs and value investors who were all philosophers in their own way. The Happiness Equation: I was hearing the amazing podcast- The One Percent show by Vishal Khandelwal with Rohit Chauhan as the guest.

I am a bibliophile. It all started as a kid when my father enrolled me at the Children's library in town. For a sleepy town like Bokaro, a children's library for an enquisitive kid is a boon. I finished reading most of the books over there, starting with Enid Blyton, Tinkle, Champak and graduating to classics like Don Quixote, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Kipling's Jungle Book, Kim and Captains Courageous.

Education 2 min It is difficult to explain the vastness of the universe and the complexities to kids. I find the Feynman technique to be indispensable in this regards. It is a process to convey ideas using concise thoughts and precise language that even a six year old can understand. My nieces (who are in the 6th grade) stumped me with a very simple question on how do atoms look like.

My maternal uncle Nanu was a simpleton from village. He was my mother's second cousin but was very close to my grandmother. Nanu was gentle and kind hearted and had great empathy towards all alike; however, he had an annoying habit of being a know-it-all once he heard about any topic, even with partial or little knowledge of it. During the early nineties, ours was the only house in the village with a small television.