Thinking, fast and Slow-Book review

The author starts with a confession of a modest goal (enrich talks at the office water coolers) and then proceeds to reveal his decades of research on human cognition -how we make decisions, choices and memories. There are two systems, he posited, one conscious and slow and involved, the other devoted to jumping to conclusions, mostly subconsciously. The book fleshes two characters(System 1 & System 2) who embody these systems and we get to understand their individual traits and the dynamics of their interaction.

This cognitive model also helps explain illusions such as anchoring, non regressive predictions and overconfidence. The operative model of our mind makes us susceptible to these biases and in most cases we are not even aware of it. 

This is an extremely smart book, quite balanced in building its case and discussing the implications of the result. It requires attentiveness to work through the various experiments illustrated in the book to explain the different theories and ideas. Also sometimes you need to summon personal experiences to evaluate if the theory explains your individual behavior.
In the course of reading the book, there were times when the book seemed to decode my motivation for action or inaction in my daily decision making. 

If you are trying to make sense of the 2016 US presidential election, the book provides very useful framework to interpret human rationality, gains & losses perception, biases and data interpretation.

Human existence is defined by our mortality, rationality and emotionality ; our societies are shaped by the sum total and in turn feedback to the individual. Don’t worry the book doesn’t indulge in such convoluted logic, this is just my random musing inspired by the book. 

This is a well researched and logically articulated book. I am in complete awe of Daniel Kahneman's work, with his focus on understanding individual decision making, he has developed a framework for institutional decision making and public policy discourse.

As I flipped the last page, the one thought that surfaced in my brain was what am I going to do about it, now that I know how ‘it’ works? 

I guess just stop and look closely whenever I press 'Submit'!(and  submit,,,)

The Grapes of Wrath-Book review

The book is essentially a looking glass into the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. Between 1930 and 1940, approximately 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states due to drought conditions and migrated towards the West coast only to find that the Great depression had rendered economic conditions there little better than those they had left. The large scale worker movement created demand supply imbalance, depressed earnings and created conditions rife for exploitation of the displaced migrant workers.

The novel is a commentary of the period with poverty, migration, labor rights and public policy as the key themes of the narrative using the trials and tribulations of a fictional family-the Joads from Sallisaw Oklahoma, who drove in a Hudson Motor car company saloon converted to a truck along highway 66 to reach California. When they finally reach the Promised Land after personal tragedies and loss, what they witness is unwelcome social treatment, colluding business interests and hostile law enforcement.
To a great extent the world interprets human history in terms of the stories, poems and pictures. The brilliance of the book ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is that it distilled the undeserved poverty and displacement of the self-respecting White American Joad family as representative of the collective history of the nameless multitudes that lived the era..

Although simplification of history comes with its own perils, what we get in the novel are unfaultable heroes (the insufferable Ma Joad and Tom Joad the son who breaks the law but has a heart of gold). The writer doesn’t veil his sympathy for migrants and workers' movement so we have a clear annotation of the good vs. evil clash.
When preparing to write the novel, Steinbeck wrote: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects]." He famously said, "I've done my damnedest to rip a reader's nerves to rags."

I guess when I weigh the book against the stated objective of the author, I agree that the book has served its purpose.

Ho Chi Minh city-Impressions

The people here(in Vietnam) have a mind of their own, about their destiny, their identity, freedom and they fought a long war for their sovereignty.
‘Hearts of Atlantis’ was my prelude to our Vietnam trip- the book mirrors the 70’s disillusionment with the Vietnam War in US. The trip to HCMC provided a more vivid perspective of the naked American aggression and the psychological warfare tactics of the Viet Cong and the Guerillas in the Vietnam War.

For every conflict there are two sides to the truth; the truth vs. optics and the truth vs. propaganda. The line between the two is blurred in war times but the truth is universal and becomes apparent with the passage of time. It was an ugly war just as each one of the other fought by mankind; losses on both sides, deplorable acts of brutality, misguided motives, conceited rationalization and money for someone.
The War remnants Museum in HCMC and the Cu chi tunnels are powerful reminders of the mistakes of past and a looking glass for the current plight in Iraq and Syria. However it is easy to reduce the wars of yesterdays to tourist attraction in the present and the message gets lost..

The city has a quintessential East meets West charm which is evident in the architecture, culinary and café culture. Case in point, the locals took the essentially French import- Baguette and transformed it into the tongue tantalizing Banh-mi(sandwich) and made it its ‘own’.
When the entire world has essentially surrendered to the Starbucks dominion, the coffee here holds its ground- it is robust and mean. It has an authentic well roasted coffee bean flavor and not the bitter slightly acidic flavor that masquerades as black coffee.

There are always two ways to explore a new place-the convenient off-the-shelf approach and the more immersive DIY approach. Our HCMC trip was overall more the former and less the latter, we opted for group day trips with tour operators which was informative but less about self discovery. 

We did the Mekong river delta group tour and got a glimpse of rural life and cottage industries(bee keeping/coconut candies). It was a well-planned trip and provided a glimpse into the everyday life/livelihood & culture. Also it is a good concept to funnel tourist money to rural locations and reduce migration pressure to big cities.
This trip brought back memories of the eventful Nagarjuna Sagar and Krishna river trip with a bunch of Deloitte colleague back in Hyderabad some 5 years before. This was one of my first trips in Hyderabad and an introduction to some of my greatest friends in the city. The memories of last minute arrangement for a 7 seater vehicle, ‘Shutter island’ like experience and a surprise invitation from a local Hyderabadi friend for dinner at his home are just as fresh and so is the friendship..
It is quite natural for me to compare my travel experience in Asian countries with India given the geographical proximity and broad similarity in the social-economic parameters. My perception is that a lot of these small south asian countries have done a much better job than us at building the travel logistics and service mindset to capitalize on cultural tourism(agree my version of India may be slightly outdated).

Moving on to matters of the stomach, I will have to give a shout out to this Vietnamese restaurant-Com Chay Mani (Comchaymani) for an authentic local food experience. We went in looking for a hearty vegetarian meal and stepped out a happy bunch. We tried the Mani special noodles, dumpling and a hot pot dish and were bowled over by the distinctively vibrant flavors in each of the dishes.
We had a meal at Hum restaurant(good ambience, extensive menu with lots of choices and ok food) & were lucky to get our hands on some tofu banh-mi at Mybanhmi, the spicy garlic version was our absolute favorite- repeated the order and gobbled up the sandwich with some healthy veggie soup... yum!

The current day Vietnam has come a long way since the end of the war in 1975 to become one of the world’s fastest growing economies and has set its sights on becoming a modern and industrialized nation by 2020. Politics aside, there is definitely something steely and gritty about the gentle natured people here and I would like to see their vision come true..

Completing a circle

Two years later, I was back at the place where it all started. The same building, the same faces, and the same roads, essentially nothing much changed. Sure few people left and some new faces were added but it was the same old Memphis.

All through the week, I had the song ‘That’s how I got to Memphis..’ playing in my mind as I tried to place the fork in the road, in hazy mental maps. I felt warmth and appreciation for the days I spent there but there was no tug pulling me behind. I guess that is something you feel only for your ‘home’..

Yet in some ways it was fulfilling, like completing a circle. When I left 2 years before, I did not bid farewell to the people around, mostly I just disappeared in my own uncertainties.
To keep me company on this trip, I was reading ‘Hearts in Atlantis’ by Stephen King. The book is essentially a mood that is deftly crafted in the interrelated stories. This is a ‘looking back’ book and I couldn’t have picked anything better to keep me company in this journey..

Taking my flight back, I found myself musing over another of King’s quote…. ”It's a little place on the Pacific Ocean. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”

Storytelling- celebration of different forms!

What happens when you go to sleep watching the show ‘The Get Down’ on Netflix and wake up to listen to Mukesh’s Ramayana while doing your 30minute Yoga and exercise set? You begin to see the parallels between the two. At the completely bare bone level, stripped of all externalities of technique and divorced from the emotional, the form of both Hip-hop and Ramayana shares an uncanny resemblance-the story being told.... The story, the subject that moves you could be personal or mythological but the angst, emotion or the ‘bhakti’ is real.
I know I am underselling the rhythm/musical component of hip-hop to make my case but for me it is the spoken word, the story that makes a great hip-hop song. I bet Grandmaster Flash will also agree with me, you need the wordsmith before you get to the ‘Get down’..

Next I was in the theatre watching ‘Kubo and the two string’, I guess the movie had already won me over when I saw the trailer-the shamisen rendition of ‘while my guitar gently weeps’ literally cutting through the big ocean wave under the ominous sky. The movie is more about the form, execution and technique that keeps you spellbound but slightly lighter on character development and genuine humor..
However I found sufficient to cheer in the movie-the Japanese folklore elements have been skillfully incorporated and the execution seems sincere. There was magic in the story but no special concocted super powers, and the hero didn’t slay his nemesis but rather brings him back to humanity. These elements of the movie were quite refreshing for me since they eschewed the common themes currently being spawned by major film studios.

Moving on let’s talk about books, since we are talking about story telling. Over the last few years, I have found a reliable genre of books that naturally holds my attention-‘the Mountain books’. I picked up my first copy from the legendary Narain book store in Nainital-The Nanda Devi Affair by Bill Aitken. While travelling I prefer to get a book that can effectively block out the passage of time-the interminable wait at the railway station and the airport, and this book just did the trick for me. It is either the lofty inner desire to go on one such trek or the guilt of not exploring my own backyard (Uttarakhand) that always attracts me to these books.
Next I picked up ‘Into thin air’ by Jon Krakauer. Without indulging into the controversy regarding the accurate portrayal of individual characters of the book, I felt I was deeply invested in the book because it presented a vivid physical and challenging view of the snowy mountains and an incisive understanding of psychological motivations of different people attempting to conquer the highest peak.
I am looking forward to starting another mountain yarn tonight-‘Becoming a Mountain’-by Stephen Alter..

In between there was Stranger Things on Netflix and enough Donald Trump stories to keep you entertained and shocked in equal measure! 

This August has been rich.. :)

Levels..Japan

Hong Kong people love to visit Japan, some in my team make an annual pilgrimage, others head east during any decent long weekend.
Avicci's 'Levels' soundtrack offers an interesting analogy in this regard. The upbeat tempo and progressive beats of the song reflect a state of mind, a sense of climbing up levels. I think that the song also explains why Hong Kongers visit Japan, a place familiar in feel and mood but at the ‘next level’..

The Japanese minimalist philosophy and their relentless pursuit of perfection gives them an edge over other developed countries of the world. It is easy to notice the attention to detail and conscientiousness of the Japanese people that exhibits itself in the smallest and the loftiest undertaking in equal measure. 

This modern version of the country evolved from the conscience of a nation bruised by an aggressive war mongering past which shaped the geo-politics of the Asian subcontinent and the horrors of the nuclear bomb drop. However none of the manmade and natural disasters broke the spirit of this nation and they rose to higher levels.

The Japanese society is primarily a rules based society with a code of honour and moral conduct that goes back generations. People take immense pride in their culture, language, food and their way of life. Surprisingly in this formal framework of the society there is equal celebration of the quirky and nerdy pursuits. The anime gaming world, the Hello Kitty universe, the Manga comics and all the weirdly cool stuff that I don’t know about. The society rewards, honours and celebrates individuals who pursue their passion with utmost dedication. 

Interestingly it is this dichotomy, the coexistence of contrary forces which gives Japan a special appeal. And i am glad I was able to experience a slice of this amazing country this first week of July. While planning for the trip, I was quite anxious about-language, food, understanding public transport network not to forget the rising Yen due to the Brexit!, but with few handy resources-maps and apps it was easy to navigate around

Here is a sample itinerary and the highlights of the trip(3 days Osaka+3 days Kyoto)

Day1: Airport to hotel and then sightseeing. Long walk through the underground Namba subway shopping area. A gracious cafe host who customised a vegetarian lunch for us. A day trip to Nara- visited Todaiji temple(with the deer park) and Kofuku-ji. The light drizzle set the right mood to reflect on the architectural grandeur of these lofty wooden structures.

Day2: It was raining again, so we spent greater part of the day indoors at the Osaka aquarium and then the covered shopping streets of Shinsaibashi which are open only to pedestrians. The shopping arcade has everything from big department stores to small local specialty shops. The southern end of the arcade is at the Dotonbori River, a good place to stand and take in all the activity around with the backdrop of the gentle river.
After some good deal of window shopping and watching the Mister shop for shoes we headed for
Osaka castle. We reached after the viewing hours so it was less crowded and we peacefully explored the grounds of the castle and the adjoining parks. The sounds coming from the nearby Osaka Shudokan(Martial arts training hall) added a robust touch to the otherwise peaceful environs.
The sprawling castle grounds are a good place for an evening stroll, occasionally we came across locals enjoying a good run in the evening and cats lazing under the park benches. On our way back we stopped by Kuromon Market area to sample some Japanese fruits.

Day3: Day trip to Himeji castle-the Taj Mahal of Japan(far fetched metaphor). Himeji castle reopened to public in 2015 after extensive repair so the whiteness even smells fresh. Before Pokémon Go invaded our mind space with Augmented Reality, I was able to sample some of the AR stuff at the Himeji Castle in Japan. There are signboards located in the castle where you point your mobile phone camera to watch the reconstructed AR images of how the castle used to look in the past.  Technically I just peeked into the phones of the touristy bunch who point their camera at everything, so it was a surrogate AR experience for me, but I thought it was a cool approach to explore the castle.
Back in Osaka we explored Umeda neighborhood in the evening. The plan was to take in the sights of the city from the Umeda sky building which features a rooftop observatory for a 360 degree of the city lights. Later we had a hearty vegetarian Japanese curry for dinner at a camp themed restaurant(Curry camp) in one of the shopping malls at the Osaka station area. The food was good and also the theatrics of the open kitchen, just 4 people running all the operation with Japanese efficiency!

After three packed days in Osaka which involved a lot of walking (average 12km/day) we headed for Kyoto.

Day4: The ambience changed completely, we were out of the big commercial city into the cultural nerve centre of Japan- Japanese lamp shades, small shops, people walking around in Kimono.

It was a bright day in Kyoto and after some general strolling, we headed for Uji. It is a quaint little place with a relaxed Matcha flavored vibe,  we explored the Byodo-in temple(imprinted on the 10Yen coin) and the adjoining museum of Buddhist artifact.
On our way back we stopped by the Fushimi Inari Shinto shrine.

Again a good idea to visit in the evening when it was cooler to walk under the famous vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind the main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, and we walked up to the view point from where one can see the peaceful Kyoto sunset.
A lot of good dinner places close early so we had to do some hunting to find a vegetarian place to eat. Finally it was an Indian place-Thilaga (the Masala dosa there was right next to the best Mysore Masala dosa, I had in San Diego almost 4 years before and the Masala dosa in Munnar 9 years before). The next 2 days we were slurping perfect Udon noodles, regular and the curry version(almost like Maggie) like pros..

Day5: Temple sightseeing in Kyoto, starting in the Southern Higashiyama neighborhood. We took a bus to Kiyomizu-dera and from there we did a walking tour covering Ninen-zaka.
"Lined with beautifully restored traditional shophouses and blissfully free of the overhead power lines that mar the rest of Kyoto, Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka are a pair of pedestrian-only lanes that make for some of the most atmospheric strolling in the whole city"-Inside Kyoto guide
I am quoting this specifically for the fact that it mentions 'overhead power lines' and both in Osaka and Kyoto, i could not help but notice their ubiquitous abundance..
We stopped by a couple of temples en route to Chion-In temple(sometimes called the Vatican of Pure Land Buddhism) and took in the tranquil beauty of the scenic Marayuma park. Having completed part 1 of the temple visiting, we headed over across town to NorthWest Kyoto to visit the Kinkaku-ji temple and Ryoan-ji temple. Here our planning hit a slight nag with the buses- wrong direction, long wait so we came back for Ryoan-ji temple next day.
All the temples we visited were unique in their way, and each of them exploited the hilly terrain to its advantage-different views from different angles/height and also the carefully landscaped gardens framed the temple differently. It seemed the prayer space were specially designed to allow the gentle breeze to circulate freely(it was a particularly bright day so the breeze felt refreshing).

Day6: The plan was to explore the Arashiyama district-take pictures at Arashiyama bamboo : have a shojin ryori (Zen vegetarian cuisine) at Shigetsu, a large temple-style restaurant surrounded by the natural beauty of Tenryu-ji's World Heritage gardens and then rent a cycle to pedal along Hozu river and explore Sagano area. We didn't learn much from out busing experience the day before and so with some hiccups we accomplished our mission(bonus items: Ryoan-ji zen garden and Okochi Sanso, the attractive ''spiral'' garden and teahouse complex), but no cycling (mister's bucket list sacrificed).

Day7: time to pack, picked up some souvenirs in a morning shopping trip and took the train to Kansai airport in the afternoon for the evening flight. I cleaned up my wallet of all the small currency notes and coins at the duty free shopping area at the airport, with just a single 5000 Yen note coming back to Hong Kong. The idea is to start saving for the next trip- may be sample the Spring cherry blossom or the picturesque Autumn colors..

The Peak

I have a friend in the city, who I like to visit sometimes early in the morning and sometimes in the evening. It is an uphill task paying him a visit but one that is truly enriching.

When living in one of the most densely urban city, the urge to leave the city behind and gawk at it from a distance and at a height is but natural. The Peak is one such vantage point and thongs of tourists with their selfie sticks take the buses/tram & the taxis to reach the observation deck at the Victoria peak.

There is another path, a well shaded wooded road that steadily rises in gradient as it takes us from the base of the hill all the way to the top. This is a nice urban trail, well paved and lighted with street lamps for joggers, walkers and such to get lung-full of fresh air and ear-full of chirpy bird sounds. This is the road the mister & me have trudged countless times now..

There are a couple of variations to the hike and I believe we have explored each one of them. The standard Lung Fu Shan country Park trail, the longer version that goes along the Pok Fu Lam reservoir, the route via Pinewood Battery heritage trail, which comes with a slice of history. (This coastal defence battery was built by the British and was air-raided and heavily shelled by Japanese artillery fire during the battle of Hong Kong in December 1941.)

Very recently, a hiker friend introduced us to the quieter sibling of the Peak-the High West. This summit is reserved for those who toil and walk up the gruelling steps to earn the quite of the winds and the clouds. Far away from the pandemonium of the crowds at the peak, you can peacefully sit down and look far across all the way to Discovery bay. The wind is at its playful best at this height and sure is a ‘balm for the bruised soul..'

The summit has a psychological significance; it gives you a sense of accomplishment. It is the desire to reach the peak that makes you trudge the road all along, but the journey is its own reward. The vistas en-route change continuously with the seasons and the time of the day. Sometimes it is a nice breezy walk; sometimes it gets all muggy under the dense canopy of the tree. Sometimes the clear distant sights enchant you and other times you see the night lamp flickering at a distance in the mist.

There is a special spot along the route where the gradient gently gives way to a gentler path. This is the park area with some nice canopy rest places and landscaped garden. Apparently this is where the forces of nature stage their theatrics. It is here that the hot city air comes in contact with the cool air and it gets fantastically misty on some nights. You can see droplets of water trickling from the trees and the ground gets all wet. The first time around we were tricked into thinking that it was actually raining. Only when we retraced our steps and walked down the slope did we realize that we’d been fooled.
Another time we stood under the canopied shade with the cooing birds and watched as the wind, rain and the mist played their game. A little butterfly should have known better than to get embroiled in this tussle, I watched as it fought its way back to safety. 

With each hike you hope to get a little wiser about the ways of nature..
With each hike you seek to revive the kinship that city life threatens to usurp..
With each hike we try to claim some quite for ourselves. 
With each hike you bond and share stories..
With each hike you challenge yourself to get 'faster, stronger & higher'. 

In sum total this is one darn good friend to have.. :)

Live, let Live...

Sometimes what comes later becomes a revelation in light of what came just before it, visiting Pushkar after Bali was something in the same nerve. A very simple analogy would be the serendipity to hear Nina Simone-Feeling Good play after Bill Withers-Ain't no Sunshine..
These two beautiful songs share something magical, they evoke a certain vibe, a certain mood and a strength of emotion that perfectly complements each other..

Driving down Bali was a tour of green and refreshing waters-nestled in green hills, terraced rice fields and flanked by beaches. Pushkar landscapes are essentially a palette of brown, with wisps of green acacia and desert hardened trees. The bare hills stare at you, brown in the sunlight and black in the shadows.
Pushkar in March is not the most ideal choice; it is really hot and gearing to get scorching hotter in
the coming months, but you forget everything once the magical evening descends. The Ghats surrounding the lake is where the magic happens; it’s an entrance to a different world. The facade of the main entrance ghat is fashioned like characteristic Rajput forts and looks majestic. It captures the lore of the bygone era in its soft whiteness. The swans paddling the lake adds to the royalty of the ghat. The constellation of small temples around the lake gives it a cozy feel and their twinkling lights complement the small lamps placed by the devotees lining the lake. The brown hills in the distance mirror perfectly in the waters of the lake and one can read the meandering pathway flanked by little light bulbs leading to the temple on the top of the peak.

Perhaps other religious places with water bodies can boast of a similar ambience, however this felt more personal-like a favorite passage in a book carefully marked for later reference. It also helped that the ghat was less crowded and one could take in the panoramic view without any rush or elbowing. The warm embrace of the chanting, hymns, conch sounds makes the heart sing the same tune inwardly and be at peace with everything around.

Pushkar is one of the oldest existing cities of India, is one of the five sacred dhams (pilgrimage site) for devout Hindus. Both Bali and Pushkar are living centers of Hindu faith, rooted in mythology, with temples and religious symbols at the turn of each corner.  Also both are flourishing centers of arts and culture, music and dance.
It is like a common creative force pervades the air at the two places, inspiring the artisans and giving their arts an authentic flair. Its a pleasure browsing through the collections in small shops selling colourful cotton dresses, metal, wood crafts, leather articles and everything else(or maybe a power bank is what you need)...
The air here also attracts a certain strain of traveler’s-weary souls inquisitively staring into the lives of people with faith and promise of Nirvana. Dressed in local hand printed cotton grabs, with matted hair and bare feet; they flock here from different parts of the world and just fit in with enviable ease. Ah! the charm of the hippie lifestyle..
I saw a tall white man, lovingly feed a cow on the main road, the two seemed to have a communion of their own. It was the same bonhomie around, congregation of men and women in hazy eyes and some with clear blue, green and brown eyes wearing a gentle smile. They waved and hi-fived the locals, who shouted back with a sheepish grin.
The live and let live mantra..

The two song playlist to sample the mood:
Bill Withers: Ain't No Sunshine
Nina Simone:Feeling good