Think Again - Adam Grant

The bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals, Organizational psychologist Adam Grant examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people’s minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life in his book 'Think Again' which was 22nd of 2021. He makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he’s right but listen like he’s wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. Think Again reveals that we don’t have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It’s an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom. 

Learning requires focus. But, unlearning and relearning requires much more—it requires choosing courage over comfort. In Think Again, Adam Grant weaves together research and storytelling to help us build the intellectual and emotional muscle we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval–and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become.

Steve Job did the rethinking in apple or did he? 

The story goes, it was his genius, clarity of vision that gave birth to the revolutionary iPhone. This is only part of the truth. The reality is Jobs was dead-set against the mobile phone category. It was his employees’ vision and their ability to change Job’s mind that really saved Apple from the brink of collapse. Sure, Jobs knew to think differently but it was his team that did much of the re-thinking. In 2004, a small group of engineers, designers, and marketers pitched Jobs on turning their hit product, the iPod, into a phone. “Why the f@*& would we want to do that?” Jobs snapped. “That is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” The team had recognized that mobile phones were starting to feature the ability to play music, but Jobs was worried about cannibalizing Apple’s thriving iPod business. He hated cell-phone companies and didn’t want to design products within the constraints that carriers imposed. When his calls dropped or the software crashed, he would sometimes smash his phone to pieces in frustration. In private meetings and on public stages, he swore over and over that he would never make a phone. Yet some of Apple’s engineers were already doing research in that area. They worked together to persuade Jobs that he didn’t know what he didn’t know and urged him to doubt his convictions.

The iPhone represented a dramatic leap in rethinking the smartphone. Since its inception, smartphone innovation has been much more incremental, with different sizes and shapes, better cameras, and longer battery life, but few fundamental changes to the purpose or user experience. Looking back, if Mike Lazaridis who was an innovator had been more open to rethinking his pet product, would BlackBerry and Apple have compelled each other to reimagine the smartphone multiple times by now?

(Could hear audio on Mike Lazaridis as well)

"The curse of knowledge is that it closes our minds to what we don’t know. Good judgment depends on having the skill—and the will—to open our minds. I’m pretty confident that in life, rethinking is an increasingly important habit. Of course, I might be wrong. If I am, I’ll be quick to think again."

If there is a medical emergency, we take second opinion. But when it comes to our thoughts, we favor feeling right, over being right. We make many diagnoses of our own, we need to create the habit of making our own second opinions. 

The conventional wisdom says confidence and competence go hand in hand. In practice, they often diverge. The armchair quarterback syndrome is where confidence exceeds competence. The opposite of armchair quarterback syndrome is the imposter syndrome, where competence exceeds confidence. Imposter syndrome is when people believe they don’t deserve their success when they reach a certain level of success.

The Good Fight Club: The Psychology of Constructive Conflict

Karen Etty Jehn, an organization psychologist and one of the world’s leading experts in conflict management, says there are two types of conflicts. When you think about conflict, you’re probably picturing ‘relationship conflict’ – personal and emotional clashes. There’s another flavor called ‘task conflict’ – idea and opinion clashes. The two types of conflicts lead down to two very different consequences.

Great leaders know they learn more from the people who challenge their thought process, than a team of yes-man. They engage their critics to explain their range of view and make their thoughts stronger. Weak leaders silence their critics out of the fear of losing power and authority.  

Sometimes questioning our stereotypes means realizing that many members of a certain group aren’t terrible at all. And that’s more likely to happen when we actually come face to face with them. The most effective way to help people pull the unsteady Jenga blocks out of their stereotype towers is to talk with them in person.

Motivation Through Interviewing

Motivational interviewing begins at the intersection of humility and curiosity. The goal is not to tell them what to do, it is to help people break out of negative cycles and see new possibilities. Motivational interviewing happens in three simple steps:

1. Ask open-ended questions
2. Engage in reflective listening
3. Affirm the person’s desire and ability to change

This help people make their own decisions; its done by all professionals these days.

Adam shared his own thought on falling prey to idea cults. He said, “From time to time I’ve run into idea cults—groups that stir up a batch of oversimplified intellectual Kool-Aid and recruit followers to serve it widely. They preach the merits of their pet concept and prosecute anyone who calls for nuance or complexity. In the area of health, idea cults defend detox diets and cleanses long after they’ve been exposed as snake oil. In education, there are idea cults around learning styles—the notion that instruction should be tailored to each student’s preference for learning through auditory, visual, or kinesthetic modes. Some teachers are determined to tailor their instruction accordingly despite decades of evidence that although students might enjoy listening, reading, or doing, they don’t actually learn better that way. In psychology, I’ve inadvertently offended members of idea cults when I’ve shared evidence that meditation isn’t the only way to prevent stress or promote mindfulness; that when it comes to reliability and validity, the Myers-Briggs personality tool falls somewhere between a horoscope and a heart monitor; and that being more authentic can sometimes make us less successful. If you find yourself saying ____ is always good or ____ is never bad, you may be a member of an idea cult. Appreciating complexity reminds us that no behavior is always effective and that all cures have unintended consequences.”

Time For A Checkup

As a closure note, Adam share his thought on rethinking our career choices. He said, “My advice to students is to take a cue from health-care professions. Just as they make appointments with the doctor and the dentist even when nothing is wrong, they should schedule checkups on their careers. I encourage them to put a reminder in their calendars to ask some key questions twice a year. When did you form the aspirations you’re currently pursuing, and how have you changed since then? Have you reached a learning plateau in your role or your workplace, and is it time to consider a pivot? “

Regularly checking up career choices help you stay curious enough to discover new possibilities or even reconsider previously discarded ones. Checkups are not limited to careers. They’re relevant to plans in every domain of our lives. A successful relationship requires regular rethinking, whether it’s with our friends, mentors or a partner.

Our identities are open. So are our lives. We don’t have to stay fixated to old images of where we want to go or who we want to be. The simplest way to start rethinking our options is to question what we do daily. Rethinking liberates us from the shackles of our familiar surroundings and former selves. Rethinking is a tool for leading a more fulfilling life.

If you think rethinking is hard, you think rightly. Our inner Preacher, Prosecutor and Politician stand ready to trip us up: "The risk is that we become so wrapped up in preaching that we’re right, prosecuting others who are wrong, and politicking for support that we don’t bother to rethink our own views."

So what should we do instead? This book helps you find your inner Scientist — infinitely curious, moderately confident, perennially skeptical. Then "you define your identity in terms of values, not opinions", and actively "seek out information that goes against your views."

Rethinking is not only a skill set but also a mindset. 

Gulliver Travels

 

21st of 2021 Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails.  Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels. The first line of the novel sets the background, of the family that he comes from, and how it was not easy for him. 

Gulliver's Travels, in Four Parts by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire by the Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre.

Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death. Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.

After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver undertakes his next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. Here, a field worker discovers him. The farmer initially treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer eventually sells Gulliver to the queen, who makes him a courtly diversion and is entertained by his musical talents. Social life is easy for Gulliver after his discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their huge size. Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he is not attracted to them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of their torrential urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance of the people here—even the king knows nothing about politics. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in the form of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on his food that make eating difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea.

Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up in Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane and impractical, and its residents too appear wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom he finds much less impressive than in books. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England.

Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver sets about learning their language, and when he can speak he narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by his many conversations with them and by his exposure to their noble culture. He wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses that he is very much like a Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe and makes his way to a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and all humans—as shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with a claim that the lands he has visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even though he questions the whole idea of colonialism.

The Doll and her Partner The Sketchnote Singh

An amazing  choice  and may there be showers of blessings  on both of them -  Rabh ne bana de Jodhi. Stay Blessed.  Be happy always. 

Choti has always been everyone's  Ankho Kha Tara, and thankfully she has found a perfect partner. She can write poetry, he can make sketches. I was so impressed  by his caricature art work. Seems he would  read a book and then make pictures of each chapter.  Amazing,  is'nt it?

 He also is a good singer, music lover, photographer,  adventurer,  foodie, is what I could  infer from our short meeting,  am sure there are many more talents. We missed to listen to him sing live, but we did listen to him, and we had our lunch together - beginning with their local Shaadhi kha ladoo. We missed Jisha and Ramya but was good to have Saroja and our time as well. 

You can view his book review sketches here; https://www.instagram.com/thesketchnotesingh/

Two of them, which I could very well relate were on:

1) Rich Dad Poor Dad

2) Eat That Frog!

And this is how he plans what to read:

There are sketches from the seminars he attends as well.

Looking for many more of these, and glad that we could spend some quality time, before he become famous and is not reachable.

Best Wishes dear Chooti - Am really happy for you, see he brought you to meet us, though we could not attend the wedding, you could visit your old home , school and friends. Keep Smiling!

Iringole Kavu

Sacred groves, also called Kavu in Malayalam language, are rich abodes of biodiversity. They are often seen on the premises of Hindu ancestral homes (tharavaadu) in the villages. It was a common practice among the people to assign a portion of the land on which they built house to serpent god Naga or goddess Durga. While the state boasted of more than 10,000 groves at the time of its formation in 1956, only around 1,200 exist now, and among these many are under threat, the report prepared by the State Assembly Committee on Forest and Environment, chaired by forest minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, reads. The biggest one now is the Iringlole Kavu in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam.  Though had been staying not very far from this place, this 14th Feb. was my first visit. 

Like most sacred groves, Iringole Kavu, too, has a temple which is dedicated to Mother Goddess. Considered as one of the largest sacred groves or kavus in Kerala, when you visit the place, you can hear the droplets of rain making its way down through the green canopy; all of this is accompanied by the chirping of birds and chattering of squirrels, which would give you an energetic experience of being in a tropical forest, although, this one is not legally considered as one.

The temple is said to be 2700 odd years old, but only 1200 odd years old since the rituals and festivals and the arrival of devotees began. Spread over 50 odd acres of land, it would take one an entire day to cover the entire sacred grove. Home To Nature The grove remains in the multiple hues of green with its many marshes and ponds in the vicinity, which form a mesh like appearance in the ground formed by the locks of roots which have aged up to thousands of years. The temple pond here is filled with water throughout the year, which means to say even during peak summers.

The grove is not only the holy abode of Mother Goddess but also to 49 odd different species of trees, 19 varieties of spiders, four species of amphibians and seven species of reptiles. While most of its residents are under the threat of extinction, it is also home to 42 different species of insects and 5 mammals. The green woods surrounding the temple exhibit a very rare combination of divinity and wilderness. 

As per one of the many stories, which are associated with the goddess here, the most popular one goes like this, the goddess is considered as the eighth born child of Devaki and Vasudeva who ever imprisoned by Kamsa. It is said that the newborn rose up to take the form of goddess Durga. Kamsa attempted to kill the infant and the goddess made her appearance with a lighting; the place where the lighting struck was called Irunnol, which later became Iringol. Another legend narrates that, a sage named Trinabindu had been meditating here. Once Hanuman is said to have watched him without his knowledge. Pretty soon the monkey god was chased away by the sage who failed to recognise him. Hanuman is believed to have returned with an elephant and a lion, which further enraged the sage who cursed Hanuman, who happened to be sitting atop a tree, that he would be unaware of his strength.

Hanuman's father, the wind god, is said to have searched the entire forest after learning about the curse and began to shake every single tree here. Except one, the rest trembled to the power of Vayu. The monkey god had been sitting on this tree which came to be known as Valiya llavu and is one of the most worshipped ones here. It is also said that Vayu bowed before the sage to apologies on behalf of his son, but he was stubborn. The sage reminded Vayu that Iringol is a sacred land; the wind which blows here must be soft and no one should cut the trees and that there will be no dangerous animals or venomous ones which would harm anyone.

The Goddess Who Accepts Non Fragrant Flowers Here, Mother Goddess is worshiped as Saraswathi, the goddess of learning, in the morning, Vanadurga in the afternoon and as Bhadrakali in the evening. Here only tulasi or the holy basil and non-fragrant flowers, such as the lotus, are used for the rituals, which makes it all the more unique. If you happen to carry any sort of plastic material, kindly refrain from dumping it into the groves in case you plan to visit this place and be watchful for snakes.

 

Drishyam 2 - 100% Spoiler

Weekend, everyone in Kerala had gone gaga over Drishyam 2, all the groups, and social media was busy chatting about this one movie, and many who have never watched movies in OTT opened their innings, and there were tons of new subscribers for Amazon Prime.

“Drishyam 2, like any other Malayalam film that released first on an OTT platform, will not be allowed to have a theatrical release. The films that register with the film chamber sign an affidavit that they will release their films on OTT only at least 42 days after a theatrical release. All films that fail to do so will not be allowed a theatrical release. Just because Drishyam 2 is a superstar film, the rules cannot be bent,” Vijayakumar, President of the Kerala Film Chamber, told TNM.

Though had not been very keen, I too ended up watching. It was played in our house on Friday night, on saturday when I had been to my sisters place, it was being played there as well. On why not keen, I was never a big fan of Mohanlal, and I am against people taking law in their hands. 

The Story, Spoilers ahead, don't read in case you don't wish to know, this is what I got Thursday night, three hours after the release of movie, Thanks to Anil from team:

The first part reveling the life of Georgekutti, during  the past six years, setting up theater with wife's name, elder daughter  being scared of police and getting  fix occasionally,  natives speaking  rumors  of the incident though a bit slow is setting  background  for the fast paced and inquisitive second part.

Georgekutti planned for this in advance so it's not possible to say it in one liner. In fact before  the movie released,  we used to say police would  know where he had hid the body of Varun as all of them would  have  seen the first part by now.

There was an eye witness who saw Georgekutti inside the police station that night he got arrested on a Murder crime and was in Jail for 6 years, when he got relised, he came to know about the prize money on any information on Varuns case and becomes a witness to Police for Money.

Thereafter they find the body. Also for two years Georgekutti's neighbours were secret police. His wife says a line on the crime that he was responsible and not their daughter but stopped there, Police takes it as a substantiate evidence and arrest whole family. On custody Georgekutti admits that he did the crime mistaking Varun as a thief he found in his backyard and first buried at the backyard in a sack later moved the body to the Police Station. Police  first acts like he believes him and would present him to the court and later they would charge Mother and daughter as co-accused.

But Georgekutti had planned for this already. He says in the court that the admission to Police was made under duress and he is innocent. Geeta Prabhakar/Asha Sarath hitting  Georgekutty in range when he says adamantly that they had been to Thodupuzha on the day Varun died was a striker.

To substantiate that before getting arrested he changes the remains of the body from Medical College prior to DNA Test, Using the friendship with the watchman there which he built over years for this sole purpose. He had  collected and stored similar skeleton from a gravedigger with whom he developed friendship over the years solely for this purpose.

To substantiate the evidences he even had a movie planned on this story line and had a well known script writer to write the script and published it. Scriptwriter Saikumar later tells this to Police but by that time all the bones were evaporated by acid. Also a book was published thus planning two ends to the movie.

As a tail end  he give  bones to a priest to do final rites per Hindu Custom.

We thought he was playing snake and ladder, but he ended up playing chess. His life was his punishment. 

Many had mentioned  this to be the goosebump scene.  Well it is significant.  A friend  Murali Gopi trying to help a colleague  and friend,  two suffering  families,  an escape  from law. There is an interesting  dialogue,  if all people  thought like Prabhakar/Siddique, the world would  have been a better place.

If in place of Mohanlal all that was done by someone else, would the actions be justified?

A capable  man would do anything to protect his daughter especially when there was no mistake at all with her. It's all justified. If someone plays as smart as Georgekutti to evade the IPC and CRPC, law cannot do anything but allow it.  As they say in the movie, there are so many unresolved  cases in India.

When you dont feel guilty and the law makes you guilty you play smart and evade the law, take law in your hand. We are human!

Delhi Riots 2020 An untold Story - Monika Arora

 

20th of 2021, completed on 22nd Feb is Delhi Riots  2020 An untold Story - Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar, Prerana Malhotra . Monica Arora is the Convener of Group of Intellectuals and Academiciansin addition to being senior advocate of Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India. She has been council for various ministers and institutions.  (GIA) My thoughts on this was recorded live as the events unfolded here:

http://arunoday.blogspot.com/2020/02/namaste-trumph-delhi-burning.html

The book begins with an Introduction on Delhi, the melting pot of people has seen a huge churning in its way of being, thoughts, cuisine, culture and attitudes. The communal violence of post including 1947, 1984 and then focuses on the one from 23 to 25 February. The writers call it Not Riots, but a First-of-its-kind Urban Warfare in India. The old fault line of Indian Society was being exploited and first of its kind strategy adopted, with Shaheen Bagh protests and rioting being just the Prelude. 

The next chapter is the theory of Urban Naxalism and Jihadism. Urban Naxalism falls within the ambit of Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW). It derives legitimacy from genuine developmental issues on the ground. The ultimate aim of the Naxalas is to achieve an Indian (communist) revolution. The ideology of Jihad has two sources - one in relation to Khilafat Movement and Ali Muslaiyar. The other is a contemporary study of the ideas of ISIS and Ghazwa-e-Hind. A number of organisations are alligned to this viz: Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI); Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

The Background to the Delhi riots 2020 was obviously The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) tabled  in the parliament on 10th Dec, 2019 and which came into effect from 10th Jan 2020. Targeted at six minorities suffering religious persecution in three of  India's neighboring, Muslim-majority countries - Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Migrants who entered India before 31 Dec 2014 had suffered or feared religious persecution in their country of origin were eligible for citizenship. The amendment also relaxed the residence requirement for the naturalization of these migrants from eleven to five years. The immediate beneficiaries from this act would be 31,313. (Unfortunately many more lives were disrupted in implementing this) This was all blamed on the Propaganda to Create unrest. 

The Prelude was violence in universities, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) , Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), JNU and DU. 

The Interlude was the Shaheen Bagh Model, when the state assembly elections were held in Delhi. Typically women of all ages took centre stage at Shaheen Bagh, who came from all parts of the country, while it is believed that men were at the back end, working on planning. The location of most Anti - CAA protest sites were in close vicinity of a local mosque. Art was used as a tool of protest. Hate speeches formed a very important part in escalating the general atmosphere of violence and aggression in the protest. The final riots happened the day Trump visited India. They had planned to block other roads to Delhi, after blocking the metro area, being aware that once a dharna site was established, it would become impossible to dismantle it. Next targets were Road Number 66 and Wazirabad Road. The Maulanas tried to ask the crowd to return, but they would not agree. There were fear psychosis among the locals in the area. High rise buildings and schools were used to launch attack. 

Many unanswered questions still need to be examined and investigated in detail. To create a plural society all sides of the event has to be looked at. The main sufferers were the common people. Now is the time for all of us to take stock and pledge that this sort of barbarous brutality never occurs again. 

Willfully choosing to ignore accumulated evidence will only help bring about another exigency. The level and degree to which civil society has been weaponized is a mater of concern.  It needs urgent attention to avoid further conflagration.

Kapil Mishra was singing  Bhajan at the site, there is no mention  of his uttering  anything  else nor the slogans  raised during  Delhi election , while  there are speech excerpt of all Anti CAA members.

As rightly said, every story has three sides, your version, my version and the Truth, May Truth Prevail. 

Don't remember reading  anything  about  this Rahul in the book.

Thanks Shouvonic for recommending  this book.

'The Wisdom Of Crowds' by James Surowiecki

"History tells us that when you want something done you turn to a leader:right? Wrong. If you want to make a correct decision or solve a problem,  large groups of people  are smarter than a few experts. This brilliant and insightful book shows why the conventional  wisdom is so wrong and why the theory of the wisdom of crowds has huge implications for how we run our business,  structure  our political  systems and organize our society."

'The Wisdom Of Crowds why the Many Are Smarter Than The Few' by James Surowiecki was my 19th of 2021.

It's title is an allusion to Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published in 1841.

The opening anecdote relates Francis Galton's surprise that the crowd at a county fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged (the average was closer to the ox's true butchered weight than the estimates of most crowd members).

Divided into two parts, First part cover:

Surowiecki breaks down the advantages he sees in disorganized decisions into three main types, which he classifies as:

Cognition: Thinking and information processing, such as market judgment, which he argues can be much faster, more reliable, and less subject to political forces than the deliberations of experts or expert committees.

Coordination: Coordination of behavior includes optimizing the utilization of a popular bar and not colliding in moving traffic flows. The book is replete with examples from experimental economics, but this section relies more on naturally occurring experiments such as pedestrians optimizing the pavement flow or the extent of crowding in popular restaurants. He examines how common understanding within a culture allows remarkably accurate judgments about specific reactions of other members of the culture.

Cooperation: How groups of people can form networks of trust without a central system controlling their behavior or directly enforcing their compliance. This section is especially pro free market.

Five elements required to form a wise crowd.

Not all crowds (groups) are wise. Consider, for example, mobs or crazed investors in a stock market bubble. According to Surowiecki, these key criteria separate wise crowds from irrational ones:

Diversity of opinion: Each person should have private information even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts. (Chapter 2)

Independence: People's opinions aren't determined by the opinions of those around them. (Chapter 3)

Decentralization: People are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge. (Chapter 4)

Aggregation: Some mechanism exists for turning private judgements into a collective decision. (Chapter 5)

Trust: Each person trusts the collective group to be fair. (Chapter 6)

Second part covers:

• Traffic: What we have here is a failure to coordinate
• Science: Collaboration, Competition and Reputation
• Committees, Juries and Teams: The Columbia Disaster and How small groups can be made to work
• The Company: Meet the New Boss, same as the Old boss?
• Markets: Beauty Contests, Bowling Alleys, and Stock Prices
• Democracy: Dreams of the Common Good 

A healthy democracy inculcates the virtues of compromise - which is, after all, the foundation of the social contract - and change. The decision that democracies make may not demonstrate the wisdom of the crowd. The decision to make them democratically does. 

Surowiecki studies situations (such as rational bubbles) in which the crowd produces very bad judgment, and argues that in these types of situations their cognition or cooperation failed because (in one way or another) the members of the crowd were too conscious of the opinions of others and began to emulate each other and conform rather than think differently. Although he gives experimental details of crowds collectively swayed by a persuasive speaker, he says that the main reason that groups of people intellectually conform is that the system for making decisions has a systematic flaw.

To different individuals and groups the common good is bound to mean different things. So two politicians or industrialist may both say and mean, that they are acting in the public interest and then advocate radically different policies. We may agree with one and disagree with the other. But it's not obvious that we can say that one of them has acted against the common good. The reason this question matters is that if we could say that certain policies were against the common good in an objective sense, then it's likely that democracy's reliance on some version of the collective wisdom- as refracted through votes - would make it an excellent decision-making system, and would make any democracy's changes of adopting good policies high. 

Relationship Maintenance

Most of the books that was read during the past couple of months, said Love and freedom was the two key essentials for a long lasting relationship, which made me ponder. 

Many people are curious about what makes a relationship tick. Is love enough? Is it about commitment, trust, or passion? Or is it about that unmeasurable yet compelling mix that equals ‘compatibility’? There are a lot of articles on the internet about how to cultivate healthy relationships, and even though it may seem exciting to have one shining answer to the perfect relationship, the truth is that there isn’t one. Relationships, like any well-rounded dish, have a combination of ingredients with different specifications, and each individual has their own preference.

Here a few common characteristics of strong and healthy relationships:

Connection: This is one of the most fundamental aspects of any good relationship. This connection could also be labelled a mutual attraction towards each other (whether physically, intellectually or emotionally and preferably all three) and a genuine interest in spending time with one another and actually being together in the long-term.

Similarity: The phrase that opposites attract is a commonly held conception when it comes to interpersonal attraction. However, research in fact shows that one of the primary principles at play in good relationships is actually “Like attracts like”. Great couples tend to have a great deal in common including their ways of thinking and values or ideals.

Sharing: Individuals in healthy relationships share many things: they invest time into their relationship, seek out activities to enjoy together and exchange stories about their past experiences as well as their dreams for the future. Partners in healthy relationships do not play hard-to-get with each other’s emotions but instead share love freely.

Support: In healthy relationships, partners respect, trust and support each other whole-heartedly. They find in their relationship a safe space to share their hopes and fears. A truly secure partner would encourage their beloved to reach new heights and provide unconditional support during challenging times.

Space: Every good relationship has space to breathe and thrive as individuals while also being part of a “we” and “us”. Partners respect each other’s privacy and personal space. Knowing what the boundaries are and maintaining them are a good way to prevent co-dependency and fosters independence among couples.

Acceptance: No good relationship thrives well on criticism and degrading behaviour. Rather, partners in healthy relationships accept each other without trying to change, mould or manipulate them into being different people. There is whole-hearted acceptance and affection, not conditional on meeting unrealistic standards.

Good relationships can have multiple variations with some couples like more adventure while others prefer a comfortable pattern. Some tend to be more passionate, while others may be of a calmer nature. But this much is clear: every relationship needs a conducive environment to thrive in, a heart filled with love and a safe space in one’s partner to come home to.

Unconscious Bias - Inclusive Group

Sasha Scott and Zoe, from My Gworks took us through this wonderful session. 

A picture of chess board, 'The Queens Gambit'.

Learning and unlearning; thinking and rethinking. Think more deeply. Build knowledge on bias. 

Iceberg is a metaphor for Diversity, it is multifaceted. 

Iceberg is intersectional. There is movement among all these things. It is about increasing representation. It is about you and me about human being.

Inclusion is different from diversity. You don't want to be just accepted or tolerated but welcomed. There is a choice about inclusion. A verb is a doing word. It is a choice, that we make. 

Put I before D; Inclusive people  would  work with purpose, care, empathy. 2021 would be year of accountability.

Bias is the human condition. We tend to see it everywhere, it can be positive or negative. We see it around us, and we don't see it within ourselves.

If only we see it within ourselves. It is important to accept it, to own it, to bring about changes. 

Past experiences, family, surrounding effect our bias. 

We are always a little biased. System 1 is driving without thinking and System 2 is thinking and driving. We have an obligation to check our bias. We should not demonize it.

Question: If a bull and a bear together cost 1 dollar and 10 cent, and the bull cost 1 dollar more than bear, what is the cost of bear?

Bias vs. stereotypes.

Stereotypes are patterns of expectation.

We should be consciously inclusive. Stress triggers the bias. We are always stressed the most now.

Biases could be of various types:

Affinity bias - I like people who are like me,

Confirmation bias is when I need evidence, need to feel safe.

Status bias is when I like people only of a particular status

Sunflower bias is about power. Someone in an influential position

Everybody should feel safe to disagree. We get more ideas then. 

How do we manage bias:

Conscious inclusion is needed; and we can do it:

Go an make connection with whom you did not talk for some time. Story telling helps.

Read 'Think Again' by Adam Grant.

https://waiyancan.com/summary-think-again-adam-grant/

 

Random Act of Kindness Day - 17th Feb 2021

Stories about random acts of kindness all have something in common: people demonstrate kindness, with no expectation of anything in return. What a way for me to celebrate this! This is my 1000th Post. With this I share my thoughts, ideas and reads with others there by inducing an inclusive trend, and with the future - reminiscence. 

There’s no reason random acts of kindness should be limited to the “outside world” or to strangers. In the midst of this lockdown and difficult time, we can surprise, delight, and inspire, self, colleagues, friends and family with a random act of kindness.

 These acts don’t have to require a huge effort, or cost a lot of money, if any at all. They often don’t require a lot of time either. All it takes is one small gesture to brighten someone’s day. 

No act of kindness, no matter how small is every wasted. We have read instances of how small beginning have lead to big changes. Kindness is love made visible. 

Remember Sudeep Sir telling me once, in case you are confused, as to listen to your head or your heart, when they give conflicting thoughts , just Be Kind. 

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day; a day to celebrate and encourage random acts of kindness. "It's just a day to celebrate kindness and the whole pay it forward mentality", said Tracy Van Kalsbeek. Kindness is the most important tool to spread love among humanity, and it is very much needed now. Let us be kind to one another.

“I EXPECT TO PASS THROUGH LIFE BUT ONCE. IF THEREFORE, THERE BE ANY KINDNESS I CAN SHOW, OR ANY GOOD THING I CAN DO TO ANY FELLOW BEING, LET ME DO IT NOW, AND NOT DEFER OR NEGLECT IT, AS I SHALL NOT PASS THIS WAY AGAIN.”

William Penn

Sophie Scholl, The White Rose & Present Trend

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose movement, is a powerful example of youthful resistance to the Nazi Regime.

She was a key member of the White Rose, a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich who distributed leaflets and used graffiti to decry Nazi crimes and the political system, while calling for resistance to the Nazi state and the war. On February 22, 1943, she was beheaded for treason at just 21 years old. The parents, especially her father, did not like their children’s’ involvement in the Nazi youth groups and made no secret about it. A critic of the party from the beginning, who had raised their children firmly grounded in the Christian tradition, Robert Scholl viewed the developments in Germany and their children’s interest in Nazism with growing fear and horror. Lively discussions were a daily occurrence at the dinner table, teaching the children the value of open and honest conversation—a rarity at the time. Sophie’s siblings, especially her oldest brother Hans, later to become a founding member of the White Rose, also were members of non-Nazi groups of young people. These associations shared and propagated a love for nature, outdoor adventures, as well as the music, art and literature of German Romanticism. Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed by guillotine on February 22, 1943.

“I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.” She had written. 

While their deaths were only barely mentioned in German newspapers, they received attention abroad. In April, The New York Times wrote about student opposition in Munich. In June 1943, Thomas Mann, in a BBC broadcast aimed at Germans, spoke of the White Rose’s actions. The text of the sixth leaflet was smuggled into the United Kingdom where they were reprinted and dropped over Germany by Allied planes in July of the same year.

In post-war Germany, the White Rose was and is revered. A myriad of schools, streets, and a prestigious award are named after individual members, the group or the siblings Scholl.  She personifies the importance of acting according to one’s beliefs and of following your conscience, even in the face of great sacrifice. In our collective memory, her story reminds us to not be silent, and fight for what Sophie wrote on the back of her indictment a day before she was killed: Freiheit—Freedom.

Love & Freedom seems to be the cornerstone of everything - the presence of them create bliss and the absence of it create unrest. 

And her Story repeats:

Disha a Bengaluru activist and founder of Fridays For Future India, was arrested by Delhi Police for editing and sharing Greta Thunberg’s farmer protests toolkit. 

"Disha’s was one of three environmental advocacy groups that were censored last year for raising concerns about the draft Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2020. The group’s website was blocked and, quite disturbingly, it even faced action under the anti-terrorism law UAPA.

The Delhi police filed an FIR on February 4 alleging that the toolkit tweeted by Thunberg – which helped draw global attention to the protests just as the Indian state and much of the legacy media were trying to deligitimise it in the wake of the violence during the Republic Day tractor rally – indicated a conspiracy behind the protests against the Modi government’s new farm laws.

The police slapped the charges of “sedition”, “criminal conspiracy” and “promoting hatred” on the creators of the toolkit, a Google document detailing what the movement is all about, suggesting hashtags for the public to mobilise on social media and giving pointers on how to make their voices heard.  " So says NL Team on 14th Feb 2021 

The police had earlier issued a notice under the UAPA to block Fridays For Future India’s website because their ‘unlawful activities may disturb peace, sovereignty of India’, only to later claim that it had been sent mistakenly. Fridays For Future India, Let India Breathe, and There Is No Earth B have had their websites blocked.

"Everyone has forgotten what a democratic republic is supposed to be like: the legislature, the judiciary, the executive, and the media.

Disha would never have been arrested if even one of them was doing their job right. Ditto Munavar. And Rona. And Sudha. And Kappan. The list goes on.

But you know the real tragedy? The real tragedy isn't that the four pillars of a functioning democracy have stopped functioning. The real tragedy is that we the people have stopped caring. We believe Disha and Munavar, Rona and Sudha, Umar and Kappan are waging a war against our Republic and that they got what was coming to them. We believe that 'sedition' is when a kid shares a document that helps spread awareness, when a comic thinks of a joke he doesn't deliver, when a highly educated and paid person comes back to her country to serve the poor, and we think it is perfectly all right to put them in jail, plant incriminating evidence on their machines, interrogate them in custody, parade them in public, and condemn them to an indefinite incarceration without justice. We think sharing a toolkit is conspiring with secessionists (which, by the way, wouldn't be illegal to be in a real democracy). We think making a joke is inciting riots. We think standing up for the oppressed and the marginalised is planning an insurrection. We think everyone who disagrees with us is not just an anti-national, but also somehow a lesser human fit only to be eliminated. And we think this will never happen to us or our loved ones because obviously, they are patriots and good people. This only happens to traitors. To the others. To those who break the law or are planning to break it. Never to us, the law-abiding and nationalistic citizens of this great country.

Until one day when they will come for your daughter, or brother, or friend, or even you. And you'll watch with horror as others talk of you in a tone and tenor you recognise as the same you used when speaking of those you hated. It will all be (obviously) wrong. You could never even dream of hurting or harming your nation. But nobody will care."

~ Kedar Anil Gadgil

What is hurting is anything done by the people in power, and those supporting them is fine. 

From India Vs. Pakistan, Goli Maro Salo kho, and now Hindu Ecosystem, all in a span of a year. On November 27, Misra posted a video for members of his network announcing that their first campaign would begin at 10 am that day, using the hashtag #JoinHinduEcosystem.

The Hindu Ecosystem believes in spamming Twitter. Every week, they pick up a theme and do an intensive campaign around it, All the ecosystem members need to do is hit “Tweet” and, boom, Twitter spammed! If enough people spam it at the right time, the hashtag starts trending.

Having Troll army, Straw man Argument, are all old stories, right, Whatsapp chat revealed all these for the Nationalist Journalist, roaring on the top of his voice, Nation want's to know, and he continues to roar, while other Journalists who oppose the government are either behind the bars or removed from office. 

Few people, irrespective of how much we try to ignore them, they continue to be part of our life. For each their own. Each of them personifies the importance of acting according to one’s beliefs and of following ones conscience, even in the face of great sacrifice. 

To repeat what was typed before, her-story reminds us to not be silent, and fight for what Sophie wrote on the back of her indictment a day before she was killed: Freiheit—Freedom.

But with Love and Peace. We live life only once, live it right, with dignity.

Self-Care: Vital for Everything else in life

Self-Care is vital for everything else in life. An empty tank will not take you anywhere, you need to refill it, and as any motor vehicle need periodic servicing, so do we. Be kind, Be Patient, Be Generous, Be Accepting, Be all these to self first, and then the rest. We are Work in Progress...., Becoming.....; lets strive to become the best version...Take time to do what makes your soul happy....

Self-care refers to any activity that improves one’s relationship with oneself and their sense of inner wellbeing. For many of us, the approach towards life is to problem-solving, hoping it will make us happy. But happiness doesn’t lie merely in subtracting issues, as problems will keep arising and challenging each one of us. There will always be a new problem to tackle and another goal to reach. Self-care is about engaging in activities that enhance or actually add to our well-being, regardless of our stack of problems.

We often mistake self-care for self-indulgence.  While an extra bar of chocolate may sometimes make you feel better, our short-term gratification is not the main goal of self-care. Self-care is an ongoing process that takes effort. It can be enjoyable and a fulfilling way to connect with your own self. It's not being selfish. Here are 7 reasons why you need to start taking care of yourself today:

Self-care improves how you relate to yourself.

No one really teaches us in school how to develop a healthy relationship with our own selves, even though it is in many ways the most important one we will ever have. Self-care activities make us look at ourselves in a new light. We deserve to be loved despite our flaws or weaknesses, instead of subjecting ourselves to self-criticism.

Self-care makes you feel good.

Self-care involves activities that make us feel good in the long run, as well as in the present. It could be about taking a break from work to engage in a hobby, or taking time off away from people for some time. Being able to say no sometimes can be liberating and make you feel great! Self-care is about not feeling guilty when you do any of these things.

Self-care helps you stick to your goals.

Since the approach of self-care is one of kindness and warmth towards ourselves, it helps us move steadily towards a healthier and happier version of ourselves. Through small but dedicated daily actions towards our own wellbeing, self-care instils in us the momentum and motivation towards constructive action to help us achieve our goals.

Self-care makes us more self-reliant.

Self-care helps us feel more secure in ourselves. Through self-care, we practice self-control and develop discipline. It also happens to be one of the most enjoyable ways to do so! Whether it’s getting in your daily dose of exercise or working on a project, we start to feel confident in our abilities to pursue them independently.

Self-care helps you get to know yourself better.

Engaging in acts of self-care helps you get to know yourself better because you actually get to spend quality time with yourself doing things you enjoy or need, just for you. Self-care is a life-long process of self-discovery. It can also give you the courage to step out of your comfort zone and have new experiences.

Self-care improves your relationships with others.

Self-care directly and indirectly improves our relationship with others because of its necessity in forming healthy boundaries. Taking care of yourself sometimes means claiming your own space and time when it is important, and saying no to people or events. A more secure relationship with yourself helps you have a more honest and healthy relationship with others.

Self-care enhances mindfulness.

Self-care is all about enjoying the present moment. It’s hard for it not to be, because the essence of self-care is about catering to your own needs of the moment. How can being in tune with your own self not be nice? Self-care is an act of kindness that make us want to be there to experience it.

Self-care is personal and asks you to recognise your own needs. Do you need a break? Do you need some time by yourself? Do you need to rest? Your rituals of self-care or need of the hour may be unique, but the essence will always be to approach yourself with thoughts and acts of love and kindness. Not only do you need self-care, you deserve it.

Self-care helps us overcome stress. It helps us effectively manage time, by focusing on one task at a time, and prioritizing.  It will help us support others better, as we would be more healthy and happy, and will have more time at our disposal. 

A Day of Valour : The Story of Arjuna

 A Day of Valour : The Story of Arjuna from The Dharma Forest by Keerthik Sasidharan. 

Arjuna, also known as Partha and Dhananjaya beloved, conflicted and melancholic in equal measure, was uncertain of the ultimate cost of the war he intended on winning.

Krishna said, "The only enemy you can't defeat today is the setting sun. Over all others you can be victorious."

Yudhishtira had these thoughts always, : "who am I deceiving? I want to rule over Hastinapur, and these are costs, real and psychic, demanded by that ambition. "

Krishna consoled Yudhishthira, 'Not all forms of valour require weapons. Some forms of courage require keeping silent, suffering insults and struggling from within'.

Arjuna's immense faith and devotion were means to the ultimate end, the surrender of one's persona itself. 

Arjuna was like a creeper that would have grown inevitably, but the presence of Krishna as a tree, allowed him to climb further up and see the world. 

Susharma accepted Duryodhana's task to kill Yudhishthira along with his army called Samsaptakas, performs a Yagna, which ends with their own last rites. All of his army has given up the hope of returning alive after challenging Arjuna. Susharma, along with his 5 brothers Satyartha, Satyavarma, Satyavrata, Satyeshu and Satyakarma gets prepared in a special attire for war. Next morning, they challenge Arjuna to fight with them.

Arjuna, entrusted the protection of Yudhishthira to Draupadi’s brother, and asks Krishna to drive the chariot towards Akshouhini of Samsaptakas. On day 13, Susharma and his army of Samsaptakas again challenge Arjuna.

While Arjuna is kept busy, Yudhishithira is thrown the challenge of Chakravyuha. When nobody was able to face it, Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, volunteers to break it. He claims to know the entrance technique, but does not know how to exit.

He asks remaining four pandavas to follow him, while he enters. But Jayadratha, who had the boon to block pandavas for one day, stops them from entering the chakravyuh. Abhimanyu enters alone and is killed mercilessly by all Kaurava warriors. When Arjuna finishes the entire akshauhini of Susharma and returns, he finds dead body of his son.

His son's death brought added vigor in Arjuna and he decided that the boy must be avenged.  

"Time is our past reborn"

Many believed, that if there is no Arjuna, there is no Pandava war. 

In battle, one must be light like a bird, purposeful, diligent and not aimless like a kite. 

The brothers agreed that none should intrude if Draupadi was alone with one of the others, the penalty for doing so is a year to be spent in exile during which the culprit must remain celibate.

When Arjuna, his siblings, mother and Draupadi returned to Hastinapura, Dhritarashtra determined to avoid a rivalry developing for control of Hastinapur by splitting the kingdom, with half of it being left to his own eldest son, Duryodhana, and half to the eldest son of Pandu, Yudhishthira.

Arjuna inadvertently broke the pact with his brothers, intruding as he sought to collect weapons whilst Yudhishthira, was alone with Draupadi. He felt obliged to go into exile despite Yudhishthira's attempts to dissuade him. He decides to walk away into a forest of responsibility towards his deepest self - his Dharma Forest. He promised to write to Draupadi, before he left. 

Draupadi's prayer had always been to keep evil away from her womb, home, husbands and kingdom. 

It was this event that led to him forming a close relationship with his cousin Krishna because he ignored the celibacy condition of the pact and married three people on his travels, the first of whom was a Naga princess named Ulupi, with whom he had a son called Iravan. His second marriage was with a princess of Manipura, Chitrangada, who bore a son named Babhruvahana. The third was with Subhadra, the sister of Krishna. This last event, which took place in Dvaraka, is not the first meeting between Krishna and the Pandavas in the story but it does mark the start of a bond, sealed with the birth of the couple's child, Abhimanyu, whom Krishna adores.

One day, many years before this great war, Krishna said, 'My dear cousin, Arjuna. Darling of my aunt! Karna is a disease that afflicts you. You, the body, can never rid itself of it, neither can he, the disease, live without the sustenance of your body. Though often Arjuna and Karna fought each other, they resembled each other in mannerism.  They did face each other in the battle field as well, how Arjuna saved Bhima was covered in this chapter, may be more to follow in the chapter on Karna.

What is covered here is the fight with Jayadratha, who had tried to kidnap Draupadi from the forest. He was married to the only sister of Kauravas. Dronacharya arranged a combination of 3 vyuhas (military formations) in order to protect Jayadratha from Arjuna. The first one was Shakata vyuha, the cart formation; the second one was Suchimukha Vyuha, the needle formation; and the final was Padma Vyuha (Lotus Formation). 

Bhima, Satyaki and Arjuna tear through the Kaurava army. But it was clear that Arjuna couldn't accomplish the goal before the sunset. At a climactic moment, with the sun nearly set and thousands of warriors still between Arjuna and Jayadratha, Krishna sends him Sudarshana Chakra in order to mask the sun and create an illusion of sunset. The Kaurava warriors rejoice over Arjuna's defeat and look forward to his imminent suicide. Jayadratha, who was hiding behind Duryodhana, is relieved that he was saved. Therefore, he comes out of the formation. Suddenly the sun is free from the eclipse and Krishna tells Arjuna, pointing at the sun that the sun had not set, but it was only an illusion by him. He then points at the hiding Jayadratha, telling Arjuna to sever his head and shoot the head into the lap of Jayadratha's father. Arjuna quickly picks up his Gandiva and shoots the Pashupatastra at Jayadratha. Jayadratha's head is taken with the arrow far from the battlefield, finally landing on the lap of his father, Vridhakshatra.

Kauravas were already scheming, plotting, conspiring, a counter-attack. But all that would come another day. For now, as the darkness began to rush in, Yudhishthira breathed in the human smoke from this crematorium of histories that would burn all night in the name of Dharma. 

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His father, being a sage had granted him a boon that whosoever will be responsible for his son's severed head to fall onto the ground will have his head burst into 100 pieces. Therefore, when his father, horrified at having his son's head in his lap, hurriedly got up, the severed head fell to the ground, killing Vridhakshatra at the same moment. Jayadratha is succeeded by his son Suratha through his wife Dusshala, who did not participate in the War. However, a few years later, after Yudhishthira becomes the king, he performs the Ashvamedha Yagna. He sends an army to guard the horse, with Arjuna as the commander-in-chief. Arjuna soon marches towards Sindhu Kingdom, and when this news reaches Suratha, he ends his life fearing that it will be impossible for him to face Arjuna. When Arjuna reaches Sindhu, he hears of what happened, and feeling bad for his sister Dushala, he installs Suratha's infant son as the next king of Sindhu and returns without a battle.

A Night full of Love: The Story of Draupadi

A Night full of Love: The Story of Draupadi from The Dharma Forest by Keerthik Sasidharan.

Draupadi, has always been above and beyond the chaos and yet at the very center of it, trying to protect her husbands at any cost, wondering whom to trust. 

Susharma was king of Trigarta, who vowed to to either die or kill Arjuna as part of a larger plan by Duryodhana to capture Yudhishthira alive in Kurukshetra war. For this, he formed a suicide squad on 11th night of the war. After Bheesham fell down on 10th day, Dronacharya was made commander-in-chief of Kaurava army. Duryodhana asks his guru to capture Yudhishthira alive.

Drona did his best and when he was almost about to capture Yudhishthira, army raises an alarm and Arjun blocks his guru’s chariot.

Drona, unable to defeat Arjuna before sunset returns without fulfilling his promise.

He says to Duryodhana that, Yudhishthira cannot be reached as long as Arjuna is in the battlefield. So, it is important to engage Arjuna or distract him for a day.

Hearing this, Susharma volunteers to do this job. He wanted to take revenge on Pandavas, especially Arjuna, who won Draupadi in swayamvar, where susharma failed to hit the fish’s eye with an arrow.

Drona warns that facing or challenging Arjuna is equal to suicide. 

Sudekshna informs Draupadi of the plan. Spies crawled everywhere during war. 

Draupadi always had Krishna's prayer with her "It is kings who must tremble in your presence".

To Yudhishthira, she revealed to be the kind of woman who sought to make the best of the circumstances she found herself in. To Bhima, she appeared unburdened by the past, and eager to get on with life. To Arjuna, she seemed determined to yield to none but the very Tuth that she believed lay at the heart of any matter. To the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, it was suddenly clear that unlike most, she had ability to sufer and fight past moments of self-doubt. She would grow into the lives and minds of each of them, life fog that slips through trees. Imperceptibly, inescapably. 

Behind every just ruler - once Yudhishtira had said to Draupadi - was an unjust regime of spymasters who use every tool in their trade to patiently architect an edifice of lies, layered with truth and half-truths. Both sides - spymaster and spies - were engaged in a dance where neither trusted the other fully. Both kept an eye for the knife blade during this intimate pirouette. Like love, in spying, it is the powerful, the more self-assured who suffered more. The weak were reconciled to small defeats and smaller humiliations. Spies were true radicals. 

To others Yudhishthira was like Dharma, the God of Righteousness; Bhima was like Vaayu, the God of powerful Winds; Arjuna was an incarnate of Indra, the Kings of all Gods; the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were born of the Ashwins, the God of Health and wisdom. For years, despite living with them, amids their sweat, farts and burps, she too had believed in this story. But one day, seated in the great Kamyaka forest, the folly of such abstractions burst out. Each of tem carried within themselves darkness and light, as fierce and fascinating as the forest itself. They were swayed by circumstances, by the inescapable clouds of fortune and ill luck that showered on them. The very cheerful Arjuna could also be melancholic, the very powerful Bhima could sit around desultorily hurt by headaches and pains. They too were vulnerable men, who needed both, love and freedom. That night she had discovered on her own, in an epiphanic revelation, the secret to a deeper, viscous, coagulant love into which she sought to drown the rest of her life with her husbands. 

The night full of love had to wait, for the Gods of war awaited their offering. 

'Daughter of Drupada', also referred as Panchali and Yajnaseni, is the tragic heroine, one of the central characters and the common wife of the Pandavas in, Mahabharata, who had 5 husbands, and they used her in the game of dice.  After he lost Draupadi in the game, she was humiliated by the Kauravas, Shakuni and Karna, it was Krishna who saved her. She had taken a vow, that she would leave her hair open, untill they were washed in the blood of Kaurava brothers. 

After the event of Lakshagriha, Arjuna, his mother and brothers decide to hide from Hastinapura. One day, Arjuna comes to know that Drupada is holding an archery tournament to determine who should marry his daughter Draupadi. The tournament was to lift and string a bow, and fire arrows to pierce the eye of a golden fish only by looking at its reflection in the water. At the Swayamvara, almost all the assorted monarchs were unable to complete the challenge. In the end, Arjuna, dressed as a Brahmin, wins the tournament. Annoyed by their defeat, the kings attack Arjuna, but he defeats them and runs home to tell his mother of his success, shouting "look what we have found". Commentators vary as to whether Kunti thought he was referring to alms found in the forest or to some great prize unknown to her. She tells him that the find must be shared with his brothers, as they had always shared such things in the past.

This misunderstanding, combined with the protocol that the oldest of the brothers, Yudhishthira, should marry first, leads to the agreement that all five brothers marry her. This is one of the rare examples of polyandry in Sanskrit literature.

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