Writing a book on Neilgherries

This has been a long long running thought.

To write a book on Neilgherries (called Nilgiris today).

Why?

• To satisfy the (poor?) writer in me
• I grew up there
• I love the place
• I want to tell the story of how wonderful it was 100-200 years back and how it is now
• I want to write something and can’t think of anything else
• I want to publish my own photographs of birds, animals and landscapes somewhere
• I want to dedicate something to my dad, and he will love my idea of a book on Nilgiris

What is stopping me?

• Time
• Laziness
• Confusion
• Work (at office)
• Lack of enough motivation

So, what now?

• I own www.neilgherries.com and want to make it a decent portal for info on Nilgiris, not the one the regular tourist knows, but the one that the British saw in the 1800’s. This website can serve as a pre-cursor to my book.
• Plan to finish the book before 2015… now, now.. that is long long away! But I feel I need the time!
• No compulsions! I may drop out anytime if I find it boring!
• Hey, its just an experiment. I don’t intend to make any money, quite the opposite, I am willing to spend some money actually.
• For now, felt making this wish public will motivate me better. So, wish me luck!
• See ya all in 2015!

Books: Exchange, barter, borrrow

I just decided to open my bookshelf to all!

Please have a list of books that I have have.. 95% of them are original first hand copies. (I usually don’t buy pirated books, but once in a while, I agree, I do). The collection is not great, but most of them are fantastic books covering a range of topics like finance, management, personal development, etc. No fiction, I gave away almost all of my fiction collection a few years ago.

Now, if you are a book lover, you can either

• exchange these for books of yours
• just borrow my books free for a couple of weeks, with the promise that you will return it in same condition without damage (I hate guys who dog-ear books)
• exchange these books for anything that I am interested in, cds (esp documentaries), coins, stamps, whatever!!

Please click next at the bottom to see the other books.

Coincidence?

I walk into my library (mylib.in) to pick up a couple of books.

I pick up “Trekking holidays in India” and “The Man-eaters of Kumaon” by Jim Corbett. As I move towards the check-out counter, I see an old queer looking book. The word that captures my attention is “wild“. The title is “Into the wild”.

Out of curiosity, I pull out the book and read the brief at the back. The gist interests me and I end up picking it (and dropping Jim’s book). The day is Sunday, Aug 16.

I go home and start reading it. I find the story interesting, but a bit dark too, delving into human emotions (whichI believe is the most complex thing to understand). I discuss the book with a colleague on Monday and come to know about a movie based on the book by the same name. I get so interested that I read the book late into the night on Monday. Deeply influenced by the character Chris, I tweet a quote of his which I like so much.Also end up putting the same line as my Orkut status message.

“Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit of a man than a secure future”

And on Tuesday, I finish reading the book. I get hooked into knowing more about this guy. Chris McCandless. I read a wikipedia article on him. I review a movie based on his life. Also, out of more curiosity, I do a google image search to see more ‘real’ pictures of the guy (and not from the movie).The date is August 18.

Finally, I find that there is a fan created Facebook account of his with a few photos and lots of comments there. I am flabbergasted by one comment I read there.

“Let’s think on him today – 18 August 1992″

I realize suddenly that the guy had probably died on Aug 18 in 1992, which is clearly mentioned in the book.

Oh my god, it is today! August 18, 17 years later! And I, deeply impressed and perplexed by the book’s depiction of the guy, have been googling so much about him. Spending almost all of my evening on a guy who I knew nothing about 50 hours ago. All the while, not knowing that it was his death anniversary!

Coincidence, anyone?

Rest in peace, Chris (aka Alex the supertramp)

Books an investor should read

“Which are the best books that any investor should read?”

Many people have this question.

I have attempted to answer that question in this post. I have read almost all the books listed here. But have included a few which I haven’t read too, because the reviews of those were very good and from very reliable sources. I have indicated the ones I haven’t read yet. Okay, here we go!

Basics
Any investor who has a strong hold on the basics is leaps and bounds ahead of the one who doesn’t. I would say every single book in this basic section is a must!

1. One up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch. An amazingly well written book, one of the best for both the novice and the expert.
2. The Intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham. The bible! Miss this and you can’t be an intelligent investor.
3. Common stocks and uncommon profits by Philip A Fisher. Great book on long term growth and focus oriented investing
4. The essays of Warren Buffett. The master at his very best!
5. The interpretation of financial statements by Benjamin Graham. A simple book on balance sheet basics.
6. Richest man in Babylon by George Clason. A timeless classic on personal finance.

Further reading
Once you have completed the basic books and are thirsty for more, please choose from this list. Read the rest of this entry »

Email tip for better productivity

Do you read your mails, but forget to take action sometimes? And swear to yourself when you see that reminder mail for action not taken?

Or do you lose track of mails that need to be followed up? Like the mail you sent to your HR for tax related information to which she did not reply. And when you remembered it, it was well past the deadline.

Here is a handy tip, courtesy David Allen (Author of Getting things done)

Read the rest of this entry »

The bible of investing

In the movie “The pursuit of happyness”, when Chris Gardner is an intern at Dean Whitter, the training manager gives them all a copy of a book and says this is your bible!

I couldn’t see the name of the book at first, but guessed it alright. I thought it had to be Intelligent Investor or Security analysis.

Paused the movie…..and went back to the scene again. It was indeed Security analysis!

Then satisfactorily, I resumed watching the movie.