During the flights and train rides, I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I’ve started up a book about Ghandi that I found at mom’s – I thought it might be good to know a bit more about a very famous person from the country I’ll be visiting very soon. I’ve also ordered the Lonely Planet guide to India, which I’ll be picking up this week =) and can then start planning my trip better. I got through half of Ryszard Kapuscinski’s lectures on otherness that I got from mom for Christmas. An interesting book and an easy read. I also did some literature reading about branding and economics.
Although it sounds like a drag, the special Xmas edition of the Economist actually offers a number of interesting articles. I never realized that censuses were previously not carried out due to a fear of God’s punishment, that the Burmese minorities didn’t support the recent protests since there is no single national identity in the country but rather religious and ethnic divisions or that there was a Swedish swindler, Ivar Kreuger, that became well known for his entrepreneurship and well… hmmm… swindling worldwide. Not to mention the interesting stuff I read about Dharavi (allegedly Asia’s biggest slum, conveniently enough situated in Mumbai i.e. the city I’ll be passing on my way down to Goa and Kerala), the Koran and the Bible, the Mormons and the changes in the design of kitchens through time. Another fun article took up Mao as the role model for mediocre managers and gave examples on how his running of the country could be translated into a way of successfully fooling people into believing that the mediocre manager is actually doing a great job.
Congrats also to France for joining the smart countries in prohibiting smoking inside cafes and restaurants. I can’t wait to see that happening everywhere, ASAP!
Although it sounds like a drag, the special Xmas edition of the Economist actually offers a number of interesting articles. I never realized that censuses were previously not carried out due to a fear of God’s punishment, that the Burmese minorities didn’t support the recent protests since there is no single national identity in the country but rather religious and ethnic divisions or that there was a Swedish swindler, Ivar Kreuger, that became well known for his entrepreneurship and well… hmmm… swindling worldwide. Not to mention the interesting stuff I read about Dharavi (allegedly Asia’s biggest slum, conveniently enough situated in Mumbai i.e. the city I’ll be passing on my way down to Goa and Kerala), the Koran and the Bible, the Mormons and the changes in the design of kitchens through time. Another fun article took up Mao as the role model for mediocre managers and gave examples on how his running of the country could be translated into a way of successfully fooling people into believing that the mediocre manager is actually doing a great job.
Congrats also to France for joining the smart countries in prohibiting smoking inside cafes and restaurants. I can’t wait to see that happening everywhere, ASAP!
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