Author: Karthik Dinakar

Charlie Munger said it best when he talked about his set of tenets in life. There are few things that matter more than the five principles that he talks about. There are few other differentiating patterns in success stories all over the world. Yes, lady luck will shine on some occasionally, but she shines even brighter on those that deserve it. And those that deserve it don’t make things happen by chance, and neither are they so full of themselves that they stop deserving it.

I was walking towards my advisor’s office last week, and read a remarkable quotation pasted on the office door.…

There are many forces competing for the attention of children today. It must be difficult to grow up as a child and to still remain a child in the world today.The variety of influences and situational complexities that children find themselves in today is not nearly the same as what it was just seven or right years ago. Only yesterday, I was watching a webcast of one of my heroes participating in a discussion on building a solid educational framework in India. The importance of family support in the educational life of a child was underscored – that the successful education of a child is primarily a function of the importance parents attach to it.…

Amidst the backdrop of a clear and handsome sky is a magnificent sight. A sparkling constellation of stars lie strewn from end of the eye to the other. The arc of the sky is overwhelming, spherical and all encompassing. The stars glitter so beautifully with such effortless ease, as if to say that  all earthly matters are of tiny significance compared to the grand order of the cosmic race. A countless array of brilliance, covering the vastness of the nightly sky. Amongst this noble array rises a most spectacular star. A massive body of plasma, pulled together the gravity of all forces noble and pure. …

There are some things that cannot be forecasted. There are others which can. And there are those things that defy the most accurate of predictions. I sit and wonder – will the future be the past or will it outshine all others? Challenges line up one after the other, seemingly daunting, occasionally herculean. Opportunities present themselves, bringing with them ideas and hope. There is a choice to be made. Either one can be swallowed by the challenges and be lost in their self-pity or one can seize the opportunities and bring forth the brightest and noblest in themselves.

Spring 2009 has been such a magical ride.…

I saw you first when things were new. I was barely at ease. I was timid and raw. I glanced at you  momentarily. Even from a singular glance from the corner of my eye, I could tell that you were smiling. You had a glow that was most uncommon. A glow that made you affable, that made you look friendly. I could not but help feel a sense of inclination. A sense of interest and gravitation.

I approached you like a wild gander let loose from the denseness of the woods. Looking back at it in hindsight, I can vouch that I was brash and unkempt.…

Its been an incredible week. Actually, it’s been more than  that. It’s as if I’ve been put on a train, blazing past the most commanding of mountains most of time and yet, during others, ambling along a dreary field. Flashes of brilliance and inspiration. Peeks of frustration and melancholy. Glimpses of a hope. A future. A passion.

I’ve written almost a thousand lines of code this week. I love PHP. Modeling and discerning bike-usage patterns in Paris is an ongoing opportunity of a lifetime. More so because there are fifty thousand linear order differential equations, waiting to solved, waiting for some creative approaches from outside the proverbial box.…

We were studying cyclones and anti-cyclones when I was in my seventh grade. My geography teacher asked us to watch the BBC World weather report to get a glimpse of isotherms and isobars and keep a diary of how low and high pressure systems progressed over the period a month.

I suppose I was the only one to do this assignment. I would watch the weather report at ten minutes to six o’clock every day. I  simply liked the way it was being presented. Neat and polished, in brevity, but classy. I’d watch the weather report whenever I got the chance.…

When I watched Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk on nurturing creativity, I felt a natural surge of empathy towards her. While it may very well be that creativity comes at a cost, to think of it as a burden would be inappropriate. By no stretch of imagination can creativity be described as something that can consume the life out of an individual. While it may be true that many great creators in history have suffered an early affliction or even premature death, blaming it on creativity is missing the point. Creativity does not ‘consume’ a person until he or she is left to languish with what remains of their mortal selves.…

I look back in hindsight and doubt if there was ever a time that was as turbulent as they are now. Sometimes its feels as if I am merely meandering. During others, it feels like progress. It is half as bad to be in a state of certainty than to be in a flux, where emotions seem to sway with the frequency of a pendulum. Feeling hopeful during one instant and crestfallen during the next. Never have I had to pass through such a test of fire. Never have I had to cope with so many harsh predicaments at the same time.…

Challenges galore amidst the backdrop of rough and testing times, only to strengthen my resolve. As has been said before, I’ll fall, I’ll flag, I’ll falter, yet I will find my way.

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.  ~Emmanuel

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