कहानी कम्युनिस्टों की by संदीप देव | A book review

इस किताब "कहानी कम्युनिस्टों की" में राइटर संदीप देव कम्युनितस्टों  की आइडियोलॉजी , उनके भारतीय आज़ादी में नेगेटिव रोल , भारत व् चीन वॉर में किस तरह कम्युनिस्टों के धड़े ने चीन का पक्ष ओपनली लिया   एवं आज़ादी के बाद किस तरह उन्होंने देश की महत्व पूर्ण संस्थाओं अपना कब्ज़ा करके इतिहास , इकॉनमी एवं फॉरेन पालिसी को अपनी पार्टी के स्वार्थ के लिए इस्तेमाल किया पर बात करते है।   

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work | A Book Review

John Gottman's "Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" provides in detail a person could have a healthy marriage. The same principles can also be applied to romantic relationships in general and perhaps even just friendships.

Overcoming Procrastination By Michelle Tullier

This book talks about 10 strategies to overcome Procrastination -

1.) Get Fired Up : Think through the potential negative consequences from procrastination.

2.) Get Organized : Clear the clutter and chaos in your life.

3.) Prioritize : Organize a schedule for getting routine tasks done then do the other interesting things.

4.) Find Freedom in Routine : Having a routine for recurring tasks will keep you from worrying about it rest of the time. Feel free to vary your routine.

5.) Get Comfortable : IF you are not able to make any progress in your current task, then, move to some comfortable place and try again.

6.) Use Positive Self-Talk : Avoid isolation. Reach out to people and to sources of information and get moving.

7.) Use Positive Self-Talk : The messages that play in your head have a great deal of power over your behavior.

8.) Focus on Do Dates, not Due Dates: Set mini-deadlines that come before the final deadline.

9.) Use the Chip-Away Technique : Chip away the big Projects with little bits of action here and there.

10.) Play Trick or Treat : Sneak up Procrastination with tricks and treats that Motivate you to take action.

बोलना ही है by रवीश कुमार | A book Review

"बोलना ही है" इस किताब में रवीश कुमार अपने पाठकों हर issue पर बोलने के लिए प्रेरित करते हैं। स्वस्थ लोकतंत्र के लिए जरूरी हैं की सही जानकारी लोगो तक पहुंचती रहे। फेक न्यूज़ , propagnda , और झूठे इतिहास से हमेशा एक ऐसी भीड़ बनती हैं जिससे देश और सोसाइटी का नुकसान होता है इस सभी चीज़ों का ज़िक्र रविश कुमार अपने लेखों में कर रहे हैं।

Build Wealth With common Stocks By David J Waldron | A book Review

This book by the author David J Waldron is about building wealth by investing in the stock market. The author says that An Informed individual investor has a far better chance of getting rich slowly than getting rich fast, and getting rich slowly  is better than not at all.

The author lists 10 principles which exhort the user to be disciple, do not get carried away by the market sentiments , apply common sense and be prepared for the risk that any stock market can have. 

 

While talking about strategies the author talks about defining value proposition, quantifying shareholder yields and a few more.

 

The author has provided a template for a model portfolio which can be used to build a portfolio with a purpose. 

Overall this is a nice book and I want to explore the model portfolio more for fixing my current portfolio. Please do read if you are into the stock market. principles, strategies discussed in this book are applicable globally.

Review: रुकतापुर [Ruktapur]

रुकतापुर [Ruktapur] by Pushyamitra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Resilience at Work by Deborah M Khoshaba, Salvatore R Maddi

Resilience

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What are the stress/strain related performance & Health Symptoms that Employees may have ?

 -- worry more 

 -- Feel hopelessness

 -- experience aches and pains

 -- Let problems preoccupy them

 -- Act like a victim 

 -- Feel angry and bitter about the world

 -- Sleep poorly 

 -- Finish tasks inadequately or not on schedule

 -- endup having diseases like - arteriosclerosis, cancer, or obesity

 

What Reilient Employees do ?

 -- Turn disruptive changes and conflicts from potential disaster into growth opportunity

 -- Resolve conflicts. turn disruptive changes into new directions.

 -- Learn for the process and become more successful and satisfied in the process.

 -- Don't let their boss's stress related outbursts undermine their work. they help their boss more to ease his work pressure

 

 How to remain resilience under stress 

 -------------------------------------

 Culitvate a group of attitude and skills, collectively called - Hardiness

 

 -- The attitudes are the 3Cs of - commitment, control, and challenge. 

 -- As times get tough -

     -- You to stay involved with the people and events around you (commitment) rather than to pull out,

     -- Keep trying to influence the outcomes in which you are involved (control) rather than to give up, 

-- Try to discover how you and others can grow through the stress (challenge) rather than to bemoan your fate. 

-- These 3Cs amount to the courage and motivation to do the hard but important work of using stressful circumstances to your advantage.

-- It is the combination of hardy attitudes and skills that helps people survive and thrive under stress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A Nation Of Idiots By Daksh Tyagi

A nation of idiots by Daksh Tyagi, In this book the author talks about how group of idiot impact the day to day life of a common Indian. He defines these idiots as a Group that forces on us their logic, their reasons and their way of life. It confuses us, and expects of us to follow blindly.

Unbreaking India : Decisions on Article 370 and the CAA By Sanjay Dixit

This book, Unbreaking India By Sanjay Dixit, talks about the politics done by Muslim leaders in the first half of the 20th century and the latest issues like removal of article 370 and introduction of CAA. This book talks about Kashmir in details. The map of India that you see on the cover is a map proposed by a leader of Muslim League, Rahmat Ali plan, in 1940 to divide India, Which finally didn't materialize as is. Green showed the proposed Muslim countries and the saffron shows the India or other proposed non Muslim countries.

Six Key Management Skills for new Managers

The Six key skills for any new manager are - Time Management, Delegation, Coaching, Feedback & difficult conversation, Working cross Functionality and Accountability. The Primary role of a manager is to ensure that your team achieves common goals and develops into the best version of themselves.

1.) Time Management -  Managing your time well will help you to Achieve more in a shorter period of time . You will be able to Focus on medium & long term development of your team and Feel more in control. Always Keep your head clear about the priority of your work. Create a priority list  and keep your focus on the current and the next action item in your priority list.

2.) Delegation - Do the things that only you can do and delegate the rest effectively. If you decide to delegate then be specific about the result. You should be  flexible about how it should be done. Give freedom as much as possible and Do not interfere unnecessarily.

3.) Coaching - Provide opportunity for your team to learn rather than telling them how to do. you should have regular informal check-ins, ask rather than tell and help them find a solution.

4.) Feedback & difficult conversation - You should Conduct difficult conversations without emotion, defensiveness or passive aggressiveness. Explain to the team that Feedback is not criticism. Drop Gossip and emotion from the conversation. Be honest and transparent.

5.) Working cross Functionality - Proactively reach the internal customers in your organization and ensure you are delivering what they need to deliver to the external customer.  Meet regularly to review the progress.

6.) Accountability - Deliver on your commitments and take responsibility as a team when you fail. You should hold your team accountable for their commitments and provide appropriate praise and reward when they deliver. Make ambitious but realistic , achievable commitments. Evaluate the performance after each success or failure.

Pygmalion Effect - High expectations lead to improved performance

The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.The effect is named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson, in their book, applied the idea to teachers' expectations of their students. And, they saw that it  affected the students' performance. This view has been undermined partially by subsequent research.

 

Rosenthal and Jacobson held that high expectations lead to better performance and low expectations lead to worse.  Both effects lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where the expectation comes true simply because the person believed in it. According to the Pygmalion effect, the targets of the expectations internalize their positive labels, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly; a similar process works in the opposite direction in the case of low expectations.

 

 The idea behind the Pygmalion effect is that increasing the leader's expectation of the follower's performance will result in better performance of the follower.

Review: Invaders and Infidels : From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions

Invaders and Infidels : From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions by Sandeep Balakrishna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Video Review Link : Youtube]

Prophet Mohamed started preaching islam in 610 CE and his first wife Khadija was the first Muslim convert of Islam. Before 610 CE, People in Arab followed polytheism and led a life of nomad.

After Prophet Mohamed died in year 632, Muslims selected their new leaders and called them caliph. Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali these are the first four caliphs in Islam after that the post of Caliphs became dynasty based. During this time India was ruled by Harsh Vardhan and Pulkeshin.

Between 610 CE and 650 , Islam had concurred a big chunk of land in middle east. Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Persia, Byukhara , Samarkand both are in current Uzbekistan and a part of Inner Mangolia which currently in china. it was strange that these all areas were concurred by Islam in merely 40-50 years. the more stragge thing was that they were rapidly islamised and their culture and language was Arabicised. In one brutal attack all these ancient regions lost their pre-islamic culture and civilization.


Now, The Arab Armies were looking towards capturing India. Arab geographers were sent to map Sindh. in year 637 onwards, second Caliph Umar sent islamic navy army to Thane (Maharastra), Bharuch ( Gujrat ) and Debal ( a port near Karachi ) where they were brutally defeated. The Arab forces also tried to attack Sindh through land rout but many of their expeditions failed and the Jasts of Kikaan, in Bluchistan, Didn't let them enter in the sindh for alomost 200 years. Arabs sent 6 such land expeditions and the last one in 680 CE succeeded in wining Makran, a small state which was part of Sindh and which was ruled by Raja Dahir. Even after this win the Islamic forces didn't dare to enter in the Sindh for next 30 years because of the heavy damages that these expeditions were causing to Islamic army.

Next attack on sindh was in 712. During the same time Islamic Armies had captured spain and Portugal in Europe and were wating for to concur France. This time Mohamed bin quasim was being sent to attack Sindh. The planning was meticulous this time. Quasim first reached Makran which they had captured in 680 CE and from there he started through sea route and wanted to attack Debal.its the same Debal where the Islami Army was brutally defeated once in the past. but this time Quasim was prepared and had five big catapults and these catapults were so big that each one was operated by 500 trained soldiers.

Quasim first concurred Debal , Kiiled the priests of the temple and built a moaque and moved on to his next tatget Nerun and won it without much resistance. Nerun is Today's Pakistani Hyderabad.

After this Qasim moved deep into Sindh and challenged Dahir at the fort of Raor. Raja Dahir Was at the brink of victory but he got killed and his troops brokeup and dispersed. and, his sone JayaSimha retreated to Brahamanabad and it was left for the queen Ranibai of to defend the fort of Raor. The Queen did Jauhar to save her owner . Qasim slaved 30 thousand people after this win.

Now, He pursued Jaysimha who was defending Brahamanbad and capital city of Alor. He fought for six months but he had to further retreat and fleed. due to this Qasim was enaraged and killed 26000 common people in brahmanabad. He also won capital city Alor soon. At both the places he built mosques and moved forward.

Finally Qasim Killed Jayasimha and captured Mulastana. Mulastana was pilgrimage center like Kashi , Mathura, Prayagraj, Kachipuram. Qasim plundered the famous Aditya temple. He was further planning to attack Kannouj but was killed by the new Caliph of that time.

In all these operations Qasim killed almost 50,000 people.

The book talks about the Delhi sultenat at lenght. overall this is a good book and I liked it.

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