What’s there in your money box?

Thinking of getting your finances in order? Check out this article to get the basics right.

Conquering Everest, one retweet at a time

I am not on Tweeter – much to the amazement of the young crowd in my project team. One day over lunch, I asked them what would I tweet about even if I got an account there. I was told that I could follow someone's tweets and that there is a lot of good advice and tips over there. Sounded tempting but I refrained, especially, because I am trying to cut down on the number of messages I send these days. And so I didn't want any extra footprint on the internet.

But I came across something in a Mint article today that is making me reconsider my decision. It seems like efforts are on to tweet about historic events like Titanic's sinking or World Wars – using almost the original time-line. Check out Conquering Everest, one retweet at a time.

Looks like I just might jump on the Twitter bandwagon soon.

The Secret – by Rhonda Byrne

It is best to state up front that I am not a believer in self-help books. Also I steer clear of any publications which promise to bring about a sea change in the way you live, work, eat, sleep or breath. So it was nothing short of a minor miracle when I asked one of my friends to lend me her copy of The Secret – by Rhonda Byrne. For years, two of my closest friends had tried every trick in the book to make me read it. I am sure they must have fainted or fallen off the chair when I informed them about this :-)

Okay, so about the book. As I started reading it, some of it did begin to make sense. After all, it was not for the first time that I was reading about the power of human thoughts. We have all heard of the Placebo effect, right? So I agree 100% that we need to keep all sorts of negative thoughts out of our lives and start thinking only positively. At the very least, it will keep us cheerful and that's a lot in today's world.

The sum total of the book is the 3 step process – Ask, Believe and Receive. Basically, you ask the Universe whatever it is that you want. And you need to ask only once. That's easy, I said. What's next? Next step is to believe that you have already got it – because if you don't then you are sending a signal to the universe that you don't have it. And so you will end up not having it as 'like attracts like'. I am not still sure about this one. It's very hard to summon this belief because the fact that you asked for it means you don't have it. Make-believe is what we did when we were children, eons ago. It is hard to do that when you have grown up. The book quotes someone who imagined getting lots of cheques in the mail. And that person claims that the cheques did come. I am not sure how that's possible. If no one owes me any money, where will I get cheques from even if I visualize it every waking moment of my life? I am sure this 'Believer' step has me all stumped. Okay, if you can cross this hurdle, then the last step is ' Receive' – feel the joy that you would feel when you get what you asked for. Again, a leap of faith for which I am ill-equipped.

And that's precisely why the very idea that you can shape your life just the way you want by using your thoughts sounds a bit far-fetched to me. Maybe not impossible, but definitely pretty hard.

As for the book, some of the material sounds a bit repetitive after a point. It feels as if 6-7 people are saying basically the same thing using different words and examples. The whole idea could have been condensed in a slimmer volume.

So am I using the secret? You bet I am - if not fully, then at least partially. I must confess that I never knew how much negativity I had in my life before I read this book. I would always think of a worst-case scenario first. But I am trying to change it now. It's not going to be easy and it will be even more difficult to keep at it. But I am taking baby steps like asking for my bus to come to the bus-stop 5 minutes after I reach it. Sometimes it does that, sometimes I see it leave before I reach the bus-stop and sometimes I have to wait for 15 minutes.

Well, I guess I will have to speak a bit louder so that the Universe can hear me :-)

I came across this site - http://www.daveyjphoto.com/ - while reading an article in the latest issue of GEO. Make it a point to check out the "Long Exposure" section.

Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

I wasn't too enthusiastic when I picked up the book. Whosover has heard of a young Sherlock Holmes? I wasn't sure how much of justice author Andy Lane must have done to the detective made so popular by the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But feeling a bit adventurous I decided to give it a try.

The story of "Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud" begins when young Sherlock is shipped of to stay with his never-heard-of-before uncle and aunt in the Holmes Manor - because his father is leaving for his duty in India, his mom is not well and elder brother Mycroft is busy with his work in London. Sherlock, who is afraid of dying of boredom, soon finds a companion - a homeless boy called Matty Arnatt. Unwittingly, they stumble across two deaths where the victims have inexplicable angry boils  as well as a mysterious yellow powder all over their bodies and a dark cloud is observed leaving the scene. Holmes decides to investigate this matter. Matty is drawn into it along with Sherlock's new tutor Amyus Crowe and his daughter Virginia.

Okay....so the plot is good. I liked the way Crowe teaches Holmes to use his powers of deduction and emphasizes the importance of having facts at his fingertips. And the book kept me sufficiently engrossed so that it wasn't an effort to keep reading it till the end.

All in all, I rather like this young Avatar of my favorite detective. I would like to lay my hands on the sequel - Red Leech - for sure. But one question that still nags me is what's the story of Mrs. Eglantine?

The author has mentioned a couple of books in the End Note. I intend to read "London of Sherlock Holmes" by Michael Harrison one day.