From the monthly archives:

December 2009

What If…

by Dr.Mani on December 31, 2009

What if… You made ONE new friend on Twitter every day of 2010

What if… You reached out to help ONE person every day in 2010

What if… You wrote ONE meaningful blog post every week in 2010

What if… You posted ONE inspiring quote every day in 2010

What if… You read ONE book every week in 2010

What if… You smile at ONE person every day in 2010

What if… You hug someone you love ONE time daily in 2010

What if… You listen to ONE person every day in 2010

What if… You did ONE thing with passion in 2010

What if… 2010 is the year ONE of your biggest dreams comes true

What if… You got serious about ONE thing in 2010

What if… You stretched ONE of your limits in 2010

What if… You told ONE person about a favorite, worthy cause daily in 2010

What if… You paused to enjoy a silent moment ONE time every day in 2010

What if… You didn’t wait to do any of this?!  Or don’t limit it just to 2010

{ 4 comments }

Watching Birds All Day

by Dr.Mani on December 29, 2009

I recently shot some interesting photos of birds in our own garden. One was an Indian Shikari or Sparrow Hawk (which was viewed over 800 times on Twitpic, by the way), and another was a Common Tailorbird.

Those were ‘fortunate accidents’ – but the ones taken today were deliberate and intentional. We spent the day watching birds at the famous Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, where over 40,000 feathered friends gather every monsoon season to breed!

Here are some photos from what turned out to be a very interesting and enjoyable day…

Waking up at daybreak…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

The grey Night Heron…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

The Open-Billed Stork…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Dozens of White Egrets…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Egrets and Black Cormorants…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Painted Storks and Grey Pelicans…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

A flock of White Ibis…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

A nest of Painted Storks…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Pelicans roosting on a little island…

Bird watching at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

{ 1 comment }

The Price of Efficiency

Soon after my residency training in heart surgery, I worked at a corporate hospital for a few months. It was an efficient, streamlined unit. Surgeons spent most of their time inside the operating room. Different specialists managed specific parts of the patient care process.
But no one was involved in every part. And [...]

Read the full article →

A Day In My Life – 2009

Twice before I have done “One Day In My Life” style blog posts – here and here. They have been (surprisingly) popular with readers. I guess the curious streak in us all is keen to see how others live!
Anyway, I thought of doing one for 2009 – and this is how one of [...]

Read the full article →

Why Do I Blog?

For practice. To me, writing is a craft, just like heart surgery.  When you don’t do it for long, your skills get a bit rusty.
For catharsis. Much of my writing puts emotions and thoughts into words.  It calms me afterwards.
For sharing. Some blog posts are meant to guide, direct, help, inspire or support readers [...]

Read the full article →

If You Think Chetan Bhagat Is NOT A Good Writer…

What the… ! THREE posts in a month about the same author?
I know. Sounds weird. The first was about how I first came to hear about Chetan Bhagat. The next was about how this led to meeting him at a live event. This one is about why I’m studying his books, [...]

Read the full article →

Smoothening The Trust Curve

Around 18 months back, I shared the story of how I went from hearing Mari Smith’s name, to promoting her Facebook course to my audience of thousands of subscribers… all within 24 hours!
That’s because Mari had “smoothened the trust curve”.
More recently, I shared a similar experience with bestselling Indian writer Chetan Bhagat – when I [...]

Read the full article →

Perspective

It’s December. Time of the year when the inevitable questions pop into my head, as I look back on all that happened in 2009.
Did I do enough?
Should I have tried harder?
But this time, the answers are conditioned by a new perspective.
Last night, we went out with family for a dinner with two good friends. [...]

Read the full article →

Wanted: Evangelists (Celebrity Optional)

Seth Godin pre-launched his new book, LINCHPIN – in style. In the process he helped raise $100,000 for the ACUMEN fund.
I’m working on my 2010 budget for the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation. We are likely to spend $45,000 to sponsor more heart operations (between 80 and 110).
Viewing these two facts together brought something [...]

Read the full article →

Whither Indian Youth? A Tale of 5 Generations

I followed an interesting string of thought as I drove back from hospital today. It’s about five generations of Indians.

I’ll call my grandparents’ Generation ZERO.
They grew up in British ruled India, and had little freedom to do things they might have wanted to. Their primary role in this thought-stream, therefore, [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries