Book Review - The Happy Mind

'The Happy Mind' is a self-help book written by Kevin Horsley and Louis Fourie. It's a great book. It has nuggets of wonderful thoughts, in a condensed form. So, you could quickly read through. Many of those may not be new, but while reading the book, you would also realize that these are the obvious mistakes, which results in compromising one's overall happiness and well-being. 

The book is structured into 5 sections, starting with definition of happiness and ending with a short summary on practical guidelines. Only criticism I have is that it is written in the form of bullets and/or summary, without any story-line, so it becomes difficult to remember and/or internalize. So, the best way to gain out of this book is to take notes and identify 2-3 things that you would want to follow, after reading this book. Otherwise, you may not gain much out of it. 

My takeaways from this book are,

• Enjoy simple things more => Celebrate small success and enjoy smaller joys to the fullest. 

• Clear priority on whom we are optimizing for => At times, we seem to flatter the strangers/ acquaintances and become short tempered with kith and kin. 

• Clear plan and focus => Yearly plan, monthly review and daily focus on all aspects of life- personal wellness, family sturdiness, professional progress and wider community joy.

• Courage to make changes to the job and our life, to achieve the sweet-spot.

• Don't play judge and/or take grudges => Energy spent worrying about inequality is less rewarding than cutting losses and moving forward, especially in smaller aspects of day to day life.

• Focus on things in the present and doing things now. Grass is always greener. We have seen people who wanted to retire when they work, and wanted to work when they retire. 

• Multi-tasking doesn't work. Focus on one thing fully. Even when on holiday, be fully there.

The book covers a lot more aspects that affect one's happiness. I picked-up a few that I wanted to follow. The list could be a lot different for you. Happy reading.

The Richest Engineer - Book Review

'The Richest Engineer' is a self-help book on personal finance written by Abhishek Kumar. Although the book is an amalgamation of various aspects covered in other books such as 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' and other articles in the net, it is presented very well in the form of a story. 

The story revolves around 2 young lads - Ajay, who is struggling financially due to poor investment decisions and Vinay, his friend, who leverages the financial advice his dad has shared with him. The young lads learn the art of personal financing from each other's experiences, letters from Vinay's dad and through interactions with their classmate Manisha, their football coach and other acquaintances. The term 'rich person' is loosely used to refer to financially successful people and the author has generalized the traits of rich people, to land the key message. The book should be a good refresher on personal finance for everyone and more useful for someone who is starting their career. The book discusses the  key concepts, mindset change and ethics required to be financially successful. Also be aware that the book was written 3 years ago and there were a few changes to facts mentioned in the book (post recent budgets) such as tax on dividend income, gains in stocks, etc., 

Below is a summary of my 'Kindle notes' on the book, which are key takeaways for me.

• In Indian movies directors depict poor and middle-class person as good guy and rich people as bad and evil in order to win the sentiment of the majority (who are poor). Hence people consider as a taboo if someone says I want to be rich, but in reality, money is essential for a happy life. In fact the notion that rich people become rich by getting money from poor people is incorrect. For instance, GDP of almost every country increases year on year. The value of entire set of properties in an area increase, when a new IT park comes-up in that area. So net worth is not something that is transferred from X to Y.
• Rich people have a few traits and those are key to be financially independent. 
• Poor people have victim mindset  & use it as excuse to blame it on others, fate, etc., which might temporarily make them feel good. However, what is needed is to own the problem and be self critical with growth mindset (rich).
• Rich people look at opportunities when presented with a problem space. Poor people focus on what can go wrong, which is a huge deterrent to start/ make progress. Although rich people don't have solutions to all problems, they start and find ways to overcome the problems they encounter. 
• Poor people stop learning and do same thing again and again. It is important to innovate and learn continuously. The author shares a story on how a wood-cutter who sharpens his axe before cutting every tree, reaps more rewards than others.
• Poor people talk about income or salary and loose track on how much is their net-worth. It is important to consider oneself as a 'company' tracking their financial portfolio and net-worth (asset - liability).
• Track net-worth every 3 months. 
• Take financial decisions and re-plan based on the assessment.
• Invest first, before you spend (and not the other-way around) => Keep aside at least x% of your gross income no matter how little you earn. Similar strategy for bonus and other increments you get => Consider your savings as % of your income and expenditure in absolute value, so you have control on expenditure.
• Every investment can be grouped into three classes - good, bad and ugly. An asset is good asset if it grows your income and it's intrinsic value also grows over a period of time, such as real-estate, rented house, gold, stock market, etc.,
• Assets such as own house (with long EMIs) are not good assets as it is not increasing your income & one has to spend towards recurring monthly EMIs, which is a liability. However, own house bought with a small % of your savings (say, 20-30% of ones portfolio) is not bad, given it's other non-tangible benefits such as 'feel good' factor, stability, etc., and that it's value grows over a period of time.
• Similar to a football game, one can win financially, if they can have a strong offense (increase income) and defense (lessen expenses). 
• For professionals, the strong offense  (income) has to be their primary job, which contributes significant part of ones income.To maximize the potential of ones income from their primary day job, below are key aspects.
• Work in the area/ job that you love the most => This translates into more energy and effort and helps you to deliver maximum impact.
• Be the best in your field to reap high rewards. For instance, 'jawed habib', hair dresser, earns more than many other business men, professionals or actors, because he is best in what he does.
• Maximize the opportunity space and diversify (within the context of your primary skill) => For instance, can you earn more by part-time teaching or technical blogging or writing books, in your primary area of expertise.
• Continuous learning and innovation => you can't expect growth doing the same thing again and again.
• Learn to play big => Higher risks reap higher rewards. There is no point in playing safe, if you are not using your full potential. 
• If you want to be rich, don't succumb to Diderot effect - buy only what is needed. It is an interesting story on a man who had to refurbish his entire house and wardrobe to match the bar of an expensive gifted dress. 
• 100 rupees saved is worth more by 30% than 100 rupees earned - thanks to taxes.
• Build strong passive income and portfolio that generates revenue and build assets. For instance, royalty, rental income, franchise, etc., that doesn't require your physical presence or time are good examples. This should form significant part of your income over a period of time to gain financial independence. 
• If you need to save on taxes, consider starting a company and invest through the company instead of as an individual. It makes a lot of difference as for corporate tax is computed on profit and not on absolute income. 
• Network with like minded people and avoid people with negative energy.
• Last but not least, once you become rich, pledge to give back to the society, in the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Overall, a very good book that can be read in real quick time. I really like the way the book is concluded - 'Only way to buy happiness is to give happiness'. 

Europe for a Bargain - Book Review

'Europe for a Bargain' is a travel book written by Aditi Mukherjee. It talks about the author's first-hand travel experience to Western Europe - UK (London), France (Paris). Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. It is a short book of ~60 pages and it can be easily read from start to finish, in a flight journey from Hyderabad to Delhi.The icing on the cake is that it is part of 'Kindle Unlimited' and 'Amazon Prime Reading' (free read with Prime Membership), which makes it even more interesting to read the book.

The book starts with Aditi's decision to sign-up with a travel agent for a group tour to Western Europe for 10-11 days and captures her experience starting from the visa appointment. The author has a very good sense of humor and uses satire very well in sharing her views on serious topics such as racism/ rape in India. The book has a lot of interesting facts and trivia such as - 'when the sun shines the Eiffel tower grows taller by 6 inches'. It also has useful tips such as 'carry sunscreen and dark shades (sun glasses) while climbing Mt. Titlis even when it is freezing cold, as UV exposure increases by 10% for every 3280 ft above sea level'.

However, it is not clear if it is a story book or a travelogue. If one treats the book as a travelogue/ travel guide, it misses a lot of critical information on how to save money (only mention is in the title of the book), where to book tickets, etc., The fact that the author has spent only a max of 1-3 days in each of those countries shows-up in the breath and depth of travel related information on those places. If you read this as a story book, there are clearly no twists or turns and there is hardly any events. The book is an amalgamation of facts and trivia, and the author's good sense of humor makes it an interesting read. 

Even with all its shortcomings, I still think it could be really useful for Indian readers who are aspiring to travel to Europe for first time, to understand what to expect in Western Europe, especially during group travel, from the perspective of an upper middle-class Indian traveler. 

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book Review

'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' is a book written by Alexander Smith. It is a short read - around 220 pages that could be read in a few hours. 

Like my last book, the main character of the book is a women - Mme Ramotswe, which is a pure coincidence. As the title goes, it is about a detective and how she uses her instincts and her unique skills to solve several cases. It is a very light read and the cases themselves are very shallow - unlike other detective stories (oh no- comparing with Sherlock Holmes is injustice), there are no major twists or turns, and Mme Ramotswe solves majority of the cases within 1-2 trips to the spot. There are no fight scenes or heated arguments and Mme Ramotswe solves all of the cases, all by herself including the trips to meet the convicts across the country and in one case all the way to South Africa. 

The story is set-up in Botswana, Africa and one would learn a few things about history, geography and culture of Botswana, Rhodesia and South Africa. It is ironical that the African story was written by a white British author.There are also brief references about how Botswana was fortunate to be led by good men, who helped it shape as one of the wealthiest nations of Africa, when it was relatively poor at the time of independence in 1966. It also touches upon the culture and life-style of African men.

Overall, it is a short read and a feel-good story. I would rate it 3 (out of 5).

'A Thousand Splendid Suns' - Book Review

'A Thousand Splendid Suns'  is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. The story is that of two Afghani women Marriam and Laila, and how they survived the tough conditions for women, in Afghanistan, during the war period.

While the story is a fiction, the narration of events and happenings in Afghanistan depicted in the story are facts. Hosseini has used this novel to show the world, the struggle of Afghanistan during the 30 year old period involving Soviet invasion, internal conflicts and the regime of Talibans. Through the two lead characters, the author depicts the level of freedom women had during the Taliban period. It is hard to imagine the hardships women had to go through in Kabul and rest of Afghanistan during that period, where women were not allowed to study/ work, walk alone in streets or laugh in public. There were separate hospitals for women and men, and the facilities in women hospitals were far worse and the doctors had to operate in burqa with only their eyes and fingers unclothed.

In spite of hardships and struggle that both Marriam and Laila had to undergo, they never gave-up. While Laila had a good early-life, Marriam's life is a struggle all along. Looking at their lives, we are extremely fortunate to be living in a safe place and we need to draw happiness from small joys in life such as having tea with loved ones or a movie/ holiday trip with family.

Kudos to the author for making a serious story, into an interesting read. He puts the readers in the town, streets and houses of the characters, through vivid description. It is one of those novels that makes you go back to the web, to search about facts/ events mentioned in the novel. The author himself has called-out the fictional parts of the narration at the end of the book.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. 

Sri Lanka Travelogue

Recently, I had been on a 10 day visit to Sri Lanka during Christmas time, with my friend, his family and mine. Here is my attempt to capture my travel journey, which could be of help to other travelers. 

It took us a month to decide on the destination. Several destinations were shot down  - 'Austrian Christmas' was considered too cold for the kids, 'Greece' was tagged as 'a deserted island during Christmas eve', Maldives was labeled as too expensive to travel in December. The research in itself was a fast-track Geography lesson for all of us and in the process, we learnt a few  interesting facts such as 'Growing anti-Indian sentiment in Georgia, where Indians with valid visa are being denied entry'.  We finally picked two destinations - Sri Lanka & NE India. By the time we decided, the flights to NE India became expensive & we had no choice but to book tickets to Sri Lanka🙂.

What to expect? Sri Lanka is a hidden gem. Most of us (Indians) envisage Sri Lanka as an extension of Indian peninsula (in terms of landscape/ culture) and expect it to be a lot similar  - hot & humid, beaches crowded with people and plastics everywhere. If you are one among them - you would be pleasantly surprised - Sri Lanka is a beautiful island with picturesque beaches, great food and polite & friendly people, who make it a pleasant experience for the travelers.  Major part of Sri Lanka is super-clean & serene, except in Negombo/ Colombo area, where you could see garbage in roads/ gutters. But I can't deny the fact that Sri Lanka is indeed 'hot & humid'. So, plan your visit accordingly. Overall, you get a better value for every rupee you spend in Sri Lanka.

Activities to do: Sri Lanka has a wide range of Landscape - it has gorgeous beaches, serene hills, picturesque tea estates, wild nature parks, historical temples, etc., etc., So, you could do a wide range of activities here. My top few picks are below,

• Visit a turtle hatchery: We visited 'Kosgoda Sea Turtle hatchery' and it was a memorable experience to release baby turtles into sea.
  
• Madu river boating into Mangrove forest - It is a 2-3 hour boating ride & you get to see how cinnamon is extracted, ride through mangrove forests and see a few birds & monitor lizards in the water. If you are interested, there is also a spot to experience fish spa.
• Safari in a wildlife park: We picked Udawalawe national park and the kids enjoyed fun ride into the national park to spot elephants, crocodiles, turtle, wild boars, bison, deer, jackals and a wide variety of birds. Be aware that you cannot see big cats - lions & tigers are non-existent in those forests and leopards are few in number & difficult to spot. The park offers a morning and evening Safari - so, you could plan accordingly. 
• Visit to a tea plantation and a tea factory tour at Nuwara Eliya.
• Bathe, feed and ride elephants at Pinnawala.
• Relax in a beach resort and enjoy the nature.

Recently, whale watching at Mirissa is also getting popular, given very good chances of spotting blue whale, sperm whale, dolphins among others. However, we didn't choose to go. If you would like to go, plan to stay close to Mirissa, to avoid waking-up very early, as the boat rides typically start around 6:30 AM in the morning. Also, be aware that a few people could experience sea-sickness.

Things to eat: Sri Lanka is known for sea-food. But, we found a lot of very good vegetarian dishes as well. My family loved string hoppers, apam, Sri Lankan pancakes, garlic chutneys and mango pickles.

Places to stay: Sri Lanka has a wide range of hotels, resorts and home-stay options. The prices are reasonable if you book outside peak holiday season. We stayed in 5 different hotels over the 10 day holiday,

• Cinnamon Bey, Beruwala - it was the best resort we stayed in Sri Lanka. It is a 5 star resort, with a beautiful swimming pool, beach access, huge kids activity center and a breakfast buffet to die for. 
• Green Park Safari Guest house, Udawalawe - They have Safari jeeps and it is a decent place to stay for a night.
• Nature Walk, Ella - it is a beautiful home in the middle of a hill. I wouldn't recommend this one, as it is difficult to access via car.
• Earls Regacy, Kandy - it is a 5 star hotel but a tad old. The service can be better. But, it is beautiful and is in the center of the city.
  
• Olina Airport hotel Negombo - it is super-clean and very near to airport. It has a nice restaurant, bakery and a swimming pool. It's a good value for your money. 

What to buy: Sri Lanka is famous for wooden souvenirs, crockery, sea shell & other jewelry. Ceylon tea is very popular and you could purchase them during the factory tour. We found a hidden spot in Kandy - 'Gamage Stores', which sells souvenirs at wholesale price but the place is hard to find. 

Commute: From Hyderabad, Sri Lankan airlines has a direct flight to Colombo. For commute within Sri Lanka, we rented a 'Toyota KDH high roof' with driver and it was comfortable for 2 families. Be aware that train ride from 'Ella' to 'Nuwara Eliya' or Kandy is picturesque and you may want to include that in your trip. Reservation is recommended. You could also use 'Pick Me' for local transport. Beware it takes more time than what is shown in online maps, as Srilankan roads are narrow and has more traffic.

Best time to visit & Itinerary: Sri Lanka receives a lot of rain and is hot & humid throughout the year. Depending on the time of the year, you may want to visit beaches in the east coast vs west coast. Refer to the blog here that has a lot of useful information on this. Below is the route that we took.

Visa information & other essential information: Sri Lanka has an on-arrival visa. You could apply ETA online to skip the queue for 'on-arrival visa' at the airport. It is free for Indians.

It definitely helps to buy a local SIM - Dialog has the largest network, followed by Mobitel. USD, Euro and SGD have very good exchange rates at local banks. So, better convert INR to USD, before you travel to SL. Also, majority of folks in Southern and Western region of SL don't know Tamil and speak only Sinhalese. 

Overall, we had a great time in Sri Lanka - I hope you also get to travel to Sri Lanka and experience the fun we had.

Bali & Kuala lampur Trip - Top 10

Ever since Shyama & I had returned back from Bali, I wanted to write a travelogue on the memorable trip we had. We travelled for 9 days from Feb 6, 2011 to Feb 14, 2011 - we spent 3 days in Kuala Lampur, the City of Twin towers & 6 days in Bali, the land of exquisite temples, active volcanoes and picturesque beaches. Here is the list of the top 10 places we visited, rated purely based on the fun we had!

1. “The ‘Eiffel Tower’of Bali”: Pura Tanah Lot is by the far, the most magnificent temple I have seen! It is a sea temple situated on top of a rock, dedicated to the guardian spirits of the sea. The temple, by itself is guarded by poisonous snakes that inhabit the caves below. I could safely say, at the sun set, the Pura Tanah Lot temple surrounded by the ocean would form a wonderful background of one’s family picture!

2. “World's Largest Free-flight Walk-in Aviary’: The KL's Bird Park is a wonderful place to take one’s girl friend around! The unique feature of this place is that all the birds are let free in the aviary which resembles their natural habitat. Initially, when we entered the park, we were a little bit scared, as a few hungry birds were flying over our head vociferously. Soon, we started enjoying, when the feeding session started - we saw a hundreds of birds of various sizes feeding in front of us, at one foot distance apart. It's a lovely sight to see the hornbills flying freely from tree to tree & flamingos catching salmons skillfully in the pond.

3. ‘Café Cofee Day’in the middle of a forest: I read somewhere that “The best things in the life are all free and that includes your life”. What more could you ask far – five different flavors of unlimited tea & coffee served in a teak wood table/ chair on a hill slope, with a beautiful view of lush green forests of Kintamani - all for free! A slight drizzle made the place look even more romantic! We also got a chance to smell & touch “Luwak Kopi”, the worlds most expensive coffee, made out of (coffee bean) droppings of “Toddy cat”, an Asian Palm Civet that has the knack of eating the best coffee beans. No guess- We didn’t taste that for sure!

4. Oh yeah – We live to eat: Who said ‘we eat to live’? Once you get to taste the food @ Sao Nam restaurant, you would say ‘we live to eat’! When we were in KL, we heard about the award winning Vietnamese Restaurant - “Sao Nam” and we didn’t want to miss that! The food there was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially “Mangosteen salad”, “Vietnamese Pancake” and “Vietnamese Vegetable Laksa”. I also carried back the menu card, which had the recipes for some of those award winning dishes, hoping that my wife would cook it for me someday!

5. “A Romantic Dinner’: I remember, a few months back, when I was talking to my friends on what a ‘romantic dinner’ is, each of them were saying different things - “Candle light”, “exotic food”, “beach”, “Sun set”, “light music”, “dance”, and so on., If I were to find a single spot in the world that would match all of their specifications, it would be “Jimbaran Bay” @ South Bali.

6. An eye on an active Volcano: On the very first day of our trip to Bali, we had planned to visit Mt. Batur Volcano, which is one of three volcanoes on Bali and it is Bali's only double caldera volcano. We went to a Volcano view restaurant - It was a thrilling experience to have one eye on the Mt Batur Volcano & the Batur Lake, and to have the other eye on the tasty dishes in the lunch buffet. We enjoyed eating roasted Banana fruit, Potato grills, Bali’s version of papads, salads & snake fruit.

7. Feeding the Sharks, hanging in the mid-sky: Walking through under-water tunnel watching huge sharks, turtles & rays and standing close to a tank full of piranhas feeding on small fishes, were really enjoyable. We also went to the top of the KL Tower & to the Sky Bridge connecting the world’s tallest twin tower. The twin towers were at its majestic best when the lights are ON.

8. A little Piece of Paradise: Green Garden Beach Resort is a wonderful place not just for the facilities it offered but also for the close-to-nature ambience and for the friendly staff – Henry & Adi remember the names & preferences of each of the inmates & they provide personal care. It is adjacent Tuban beach & at a walk-able distance to Kuta beach, a little away from the traffic yet accessible to the shops and restaurants. It is also an adults-only resort, which makes it a wonderful place for couples – the swimming pool & the min-garden is all yours, as there are no kids around that jump into the water & spoil the fun.

9. Water, Water & Water Everywhere: Bali is a land of beaches - from palm fringed white sand on the east coast to the lava coated, black sand beaches on the west coast. It has dramatic surf beaches of bukit, the aquamarine lagoons of Lembongan island and the sleepy coves in the north. We snorkeled at the Nusa Dua, sailed in a steam boat to the Turtle Island, walked along the shore @ Kuta beach, experienced Balinese massage @ Tuban Beach, watched the sun-set @ Legian beach, and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner in the sea shore @ Jimbaran Bay! Hmm…yeah – we were busy travelers!

10 a. Golden fish in the Sacred Pond: Tirta Empul is one of the oldest temples of Bali, which hosts a sacred pond that is filled by a holy spring from the underneath stream. It is guarded by a sacred eel and hundreds of huge golden fishes. On the way, we saw a royal cremation ceremony @ Ubud Palace that gave a stiff competition to the grandness of the Ex Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s adopted son’s marriage function. :)

10 b. 'The Ape Man': In the past, I had seen several monkeys in temples and hill stations, but it was a unique experience walking in the lush green Monkey Forests of Ubud, which also has old temple carvings & statues, huge banyan trees and a small pond that adds to the beauty of the forest.