While surfing through Johnathan Mann’s A-Song-a-Day collection, I came across this rather interesting graph which he calls the 70-20-10 Rule. He argues that on an average, 70% of all his songs would turn out to be mediocre, 20% of them bad and 10% would be the good ones. If he wrote one song a day instead of one per week, the number of good songs that he would write in his lifetime would increase substantially.  

Sounds logical. And if you love doing something, by doing more of it regularly -

• You’ll simply get better at it.
• You’ll be spending more amount of your time doing what you love. 
• You’ll be creating more art than ever before!  

Meanwhile, here are a couple of videos from the good category - How is the world different? & I wanna know everyone.

When I was 10 years old, Leander Paes won the singles bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics - the first individual medal for India since Dadasaheb Jadhav’s win in 1952. 14 years later, it was awesome to see this man do his magic at the Center Court - he was playing as hard as ever before and every time the game seemed to slip away from him, he hit back. And that’s the pattern you can find throughout his tennis career. Respect.

For 5 quids, this was probably one of the best deals ever. If you happen to queue up for the Wimbledon Championships (awesome festive xp!), your strategy should be to watch the Men’s Finals from the Henman Hill and get a resale ticket for the Mixed Doubles. 

After haggling with 3 cab drivers, I thought the days of paying a cab by the meter were long gone. This realization comes as a shock to any true Mumbaikar. You can always find us bragging about our cab drivers & autowalas, especially when we are held at ransom by the ones in Bengaluru & Chennai. Seeing my plight, a cab driver in his late 50s walked up to me and asked for the departure time of my flight. I said - 7:30. He took a quick glance at his watch and said - Chalo Saheb, der ho rahi hai. I get into the cab, still unsure if this guy was going to charge me by the meter or if all the bargaining was pointless. Either ways, I did have a flight to catch and I was running late.

Saheb, the world is all about money now and there isn’t any kindness left. I nodded my head in agreement. With one hand on the steering, one eye on the road & another on me, he begins to narrate a story from his past… a truly remarkable story!

Back in 1991, when the cab driver was a lot younger, he used to drive his taxi in & around Churchgate. Once, while he was waiting outside the railway station, he spotted this well-dressed young fellow, walking up and down the street, looking a bit tensed. He called out to him and asked him where he wanted to go. The young man named a place that was 15 minutes away, but added that he had no money. He had forgotten his wallet back home and as luck would have it, he had a job interview that was to start in 10 minutes. The taxi driver immediately tells him to get into the cab and drives him to the place. Just when the young man was about to get off the cab, the cabbie asks him - Saheb, paise nahi hai tho interview ke baad aap ghar kaise jaoge? The young man returns a smile and the cab driver pulls out a 50 rupee note from his pocket and hands it to him saying - Agli baar milenge tho de dena.

Fast-forward. 6 years later, in 1997, while the cabbie was waiting at the Churchgate station, a group of 3 got into his cab. After dropping 2 of them at their homes, the third guy, who’s face looked familiar, asked the cabbie to take him to a residential complex in Andheri. On reaching Andheri, the guy asked him to wait in the parking lot. A few minutes later, an old lady walks towards him with her hands folded and asks him to come with her. The taxi driver was, as expected, confused and  he had no clue why she was calling him home. It turns out that the lady was the mother of the guy he had helped, 6 years earlier. The young man had managed to get the job and now, had become the Manager of that company.

The old lady, as a gesture of gratitude, wanted to serve him food. When he was about to leave, she gave him a box of sweets & an envelope. She said - Idhar ise mat kholo, yeh tumhare bachon ke liye hai. On reaching home, he found Rs. 11, 111 neatly stacked inside the envelope, with a hand-written letter. Being illiterate, he gives the letter to his daughter and asks her to read it. She reads it and says - Baba, aap ise padoge tho zaroor rone lag jaoge. Bahut pyaari chitti hai. He was a father of 7 girls and was leading a very tough life back then. This money helped him raise his children.

Fast forward to 2010. Mr. Iyer (the young man) always makes it a point to call him when he needs a cab to go to the airport. Mr. Iyer has attended the wedding of all his daughters. 

Saheb, yeh kahaani mein isliye kehta hoon ki aap samjhe is duniya mein kya chamatkar hote hain. Kaun kiska bhagwan ban jaata hai. Zindagi tho zindadilon ki hai. Ab dekhiye, kabhi tho aap yeh kahaani ke baare mein sochenge, tho mujhe yaad karenge.

I just sat there speechless. This is perhaps the story that you would want to tell your kids before you put them to sleep. Or perhaps, this is the story you would want to tell yourself time and again. Imagine how it would be if you can genuinely care for people around you. It makes you believe in human relationships, all over again.

A cloud gathers, the rain falls, men live; the cloud disperses without rain, and men and animals die. In the deserts of southern Arabia there is no rhythm of the seasons, no rise and fall of sap, but empty wastes where only the changing temperature marks the passage of the year.

It takes a while to appreciate Thesiger’s notes on the Arabian desert. It’s so true.

Over time, the desert teaches you to respect & accept nature for what it is - without any protest, anger or remorse. You don’t really have a choice. Listening to people and their harsh life stories makes you cringe, yet you find them smiling. You learn to smile as well. You begin to believe that there is a god looking out for them and that he looks after you.

Conversations, as such, become fewer; emotions subdued. Words become more precious. Your stories don’t really matter. Blogs begin to die. 

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P.S. I had to make a choice today - Pay 19 bucks or give up on this domain. I decided to hold on for some more time!