Colour Consultancy Ideas

While interior designing is critical to the consumer of paint today, colour consultancy remains at the heart of it. Today’s paint consumer knows more about colours than ever before and she has a good understanding of what colour should go in what spaces. Here’s an attempt to delve into some of the basic ideas of colour consultancy.

 

That genre called Thriller

               Last night, I watched last Friday’s release Ittefaq. This movie isn’t cinematically remarkable but it’s worthy of mention because it brings back the whodunnit genre back to life in Bollywood. The last mainstream whodunnit you’ll remember was Talaash. Ittefaq is not a thriller that blows your mind off like Kahaani or A Wednesday but it does get some things right and the timing is important.

Bollywood has churned out its best thrillers in phases: first in the form of Woh Kaun Thi, Teesri Manzil etc in the 60s and 70s and later in the form of 100 days, Khiladi, Gupt, Deewangi etc in the 90s and early 2000s. This genre lost its sheen post the discovery of the easy money-minting genre of macho-and-cool-guy-gets-pretty-girl formula that Salman introduced with Wanted and Dabangg in the late 2000s.
The director who probably defined the thriller genre was Hitchcock. With bare minimum investment in sets and props, very little camera work and hardly any technology at his disposal, the genius of Hitchcock evoked thrill and horror through gems like Psycho and The Rear Window. Probably the most basic death scene in any movie: the shower killing scene in Psycho turned out to be one of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema and only Hitchcock could have pulled it off. While Hollywood has had its current flag bearer of thriller in David Fincher (Se7en, Gone Girl, The girl with a dragon tattoo) and the mastermind of intelligent films in Christopher Nolan for quite some time, Bollywood has been struggling with it and movies like Ittefaq bring relief.

          The actors act well and present cogent arguments so well that you are never sure whom to root for as an audience. The script isn’t contrived except for the last five minutes and the director makes no major mistakes. Not bad.

Can we look forward to a third phase of thrillers in Bollywood ? Only time will tell. But at the moment, anything that doesn’t have an uber cool guy doing his thang to impress that neighbourhood girl is a breath of fresh air.

Asian Paints Internship Experience (Published in the Hindu Business Line)

THIS IS MY ARTICLE DATED 09/09/2016 PUBLISHED IN THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE ON 19/12/2016:

http://www.bloncampus.com/cambuzz/my-internship/be-a-team-player-even-when-you-arent-expected-to/article9434684.ece

IT WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR THE NEWSLETTER XL MERI JAAN AND WAS PUBLISHED ON 13/09/2016:

http://www.xlmerijaan.com/life-at-xl/summer-diaries/my-experience-at-asian-paints-by-punit-narwani-bm/

With freedom come great responsibilities so use it wisely

Internships form the most important part of an MBA. They aren’t just opportunities to get job offers but also a glimpse of a corporate work environment. This could help decide career choices for many, to find out if they are cut out for that company/industry or not.

I interned with Asian Paints in their Mumbai and Bengaluru offices for the Sales and Marketing profile. My internship gave me exposure to a new sector: the paint and chemicals. I also learnt the basics of how to get work done and to talk my way out of situations.

The project I was assigned was to design a software for an external stakeholder. For this, I had to meet them and gain consumer insight to make suggestions. The company gave me a lot of freedom and expected good results; I had to find my own way of achieving them.

Key challenges

I had to attend approximately 50 meetings during the two months. I had to schedule them, send email reminders and be on time — all of this needed some discipline, which a B-school teaches you well. For example, sometimes, my mentor would give me the number of A, who in turn would give me the number of B. B, whose friend C would know someone else (D) who could get me an appointment with the concerned contractor, E. So one appointment involved eight to 10 phone calls and meetings with 50 members of the external stakeholder team in all. Sometimes, C would be on leave so I had to wait till they came back. Patience became a valuable asset.

Work culture

People at Asian Paints are fun and creative so I enjoyed working there. The HR policies are employee-friendly and the company values meritocracy. I was made aware of what was expected of me and had to carve my own path.

Mentors play an important role during internship. My guide was very cooperative. One thing for which I will always be thankful is that he was always available and responsive, even if on email.

Things to do in a marketing internship

It’s important, as juniors, to identify the people evaluating your work in the two months. Make sure you keep each one of them updated about your progress through email, Whatsapp or in person. Remember, the stakes are yours and not theirs.

Get your deliverable and scope of project clear in the first few days itself. Get it approved from your boss in writing. You might work really hard but in the wrong direction, exploring topics outside the scope of the project. Start by reading the company website and the work it has done in the area of your project. You don’t want to recommend things that have already been done.

Also, read in depth about your project. Do secondary research and draw a skeleton of your approach to the problem. I locked myself up in a hotel room while doing secondary research for two days. And I scheduled to finish a major portion of the work by mid-review.

Don’t forget to make your schedule and meet the right people to gain consumer insights. Keep adding this to your skeleton and update with every meeting. You’ll most likely find many things you had not come across during secondary research. Build a holistic solution that covers all aspects of your project and make a structured PPT.

You’ll need to show something new in your work. Remember, they already know the secondary research data you may have found and may also know most of the consumer insights you are planning to present. They’ve been working on them much longer than you have. You are expected to give insights they don’t have, analyse them and give a solution. There’s no short-cut to that. Keep bouncing your ideas on everyone relevant to prevent surprises on the last day.

Whiskey with the enemy (fiction)

He didn’t know why he did it. It was one of those things that you do only because you can; you know it is not the right thing to do but you succumb to temptation like a young lad giving in to the desire to know how it feels when the hand is put in fire. The outcome of both these analogical threads was and will always remain the same: it hurts but it quenches your curiosity in a way that leaves you with a lesson never to do it again.

[At the bar -10:30 pm] She sat there, right there in front of him wearing that enchanting smile that once formed his lifeline. For a moment he felt she owed that to him, but she credited someone else for it. He had learnt his lessons young: nobody owes you anything, nobody. Teenage heart-breaks are bad, ones that happen in your twenties, indescribably bad.

He dropped her with a good bye. She hadn’t put in much effort in dressing up. That generally gives away how much a lady cares for the occasion (or you). A man ought to pick these hints from the very beginning. She offered to pay. He laughed it off. He saw her leave while he had moved into a relapse of sorts. “I only wanted to see you once”, she had said. He gave her a fake smile. Every bit of it ripped him apart with the thought of how thankless and unrepenting she was.

[Coin flips] He saw her tied-up hair from the distance in that classroom. She was the prettiest girl in the room by a fair margin. Her voice had a tinge of innocence, something that gave away a pampered upbringing. That she would become one of the most important elements of his life, an object of boyish obsession in the coming days was far from known to him. He went to her and introduced himself. She told him her name was Eleana Wallace. He jokingly asked her if she was an Indian. He told her it reminded him of a Bollywood actress’ name too. She probably fell in love with his type of humour; she would laugh at them all. She smiled and offered him a seat next to hers. She was sweet, even then.

[Coin flips] (9:30 pm) He was 3 pegs down. He asked her if a dance would be a good idea. “I’m a bad dancer” “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you. I am trained. And it’s a simple form” “I’ve seen enough of these at weddings but I can’t”. He shrugged with a sign of disappointment clearly visible on his face. She didn’t want to re-kindle a spark that had been quashed after a lot of pain – one sided, but nevertheless. They asked for the cheque.

[Coin flips] He sat next to her with an uneasiness that shook him off his normal behaviour. She saw him nervously jotting down notes – Nerd alert! She often told him later that he needed to chill: Once when he told her he was preparing for an interview. She was cooler than him. She used to smoke and once told him about it as a test to find out if he had a problem with such things. She exclaimed with joy “You’re nicer than I thought” when he lied to her that it didn’t matter. “I’d miss you in Bangalore”, she’d say while he would knowingly smile. Although, he had lost his temper a couple of times later on, to which her reaction was obviously negative, but he’d always make up for it. She refused to talk to him once after a fight. He sent her a postcard saying he was sorry.

[Coin flips] (8 pm) They shook hands as strangers after which he offered her a chair. He wasn’t sure of what to say but the conversation went smooth nevertheless. Halfway through the conversation, she mentioned a boyfriend she had met in her company. He had heard of him from a common friend. He got to know later that this concerned person was responsible for ripping apart a relationship dearer to him than his life. He hadn’t met him, had never spoken to him. If he met him in the elevator some day and if they were forced to be together for a while, there would probably be silence, a pricking one. She was the common element they had–she, whom both had been obsessed with. His thoughts were interrupted by the waiter bringing the order.

[Coin flips] He messaged her that day from office. She chose to avoid. His life had been reduced to long waits hoping for the ticks to turn blue. She ruthlessly replied after a couple of days with words fewer than acceptable. He thought that she may have switched loyalties but he still chose to believe her, a girl he had met 2 months back. He messaged, “Long time. How have you been?” “I’m busy with work” she replied while the clench of a fist grew firmer on her hands and she smiled at that.

[Eight months later] He wished her good night on the phone and they had that customary kiddish fight over who would hang up first: “You do it, no you…” She was a college senior in Delhi he had met just a month back and the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. He eventually conceded her a win and was about to sleep when his mobile beeped: Eleana Wallace- Hey I’m in Mumbai. If you’re free, let’s meet over drinks. A series of flashbacks later, he replied in the affirmative.

He didn’t know why he did it. It was one of those things that you do only because you can; you know it is not the right thing to do but you succumb to temptation like a young lad…

Childhood: Those halcyon days

Just the memory of those days brings a smile on my face, often a naughty one. I yearn for those winter mornings when Mom would come wake me up at 6:00 in the morning for the 7:30 am school. She would call out to me with all sorts of fond names (a few unmentionable ones) but I would be reluctant as ever to even move a muscle. She would tickle me till I would give in eventually bursting out laughing, both of us. Then what would follow were what (then) seemed like a never ending series of chores that seemed reasonable to do away with at times. But with Mom policing over you, you had to do everything. Mom would carefully tie two pony tails for my sister (I would pull these often as a form of revenge) as I would sip on my milk and gobble on the sandwiches. My hair was then oiled with a quantity of oil that was enough to divert America’s interest from Iraq.
Pradeep Travels (bus) stood outside the complex as punctually as ever. This vehicle was as important to us as our school. Friends chatting/ gossiping, the procrastinators finally completing homework, a few nervous faces having a last revision before an exam, were all a common sight. It was a Christian co-ed—which meant school started off in the assembly hall with a chorus singing the daily prayer (“Give us today our daily bread”) and the national anthem, and the students repeating it. I started understanding the prayer only after a certain age. The principal would be present on the stage in his white robe. He was an object of fear for most of us. He would make known the upcoming events and any other updates in his stern voice after the prayer. What followed was a never ending queue to move to your classrooms.
As an entire day would come to an end with constant checks of what the time was, several hundred times during the day, the next most interesting part of the day (only next to getting ready early morning ) would start—going back home. Now let me get this straight—this was an important affair as what waited at home was far more important than anything else in the world —Fox Kids (the daily one-hour-long cartoon show at 6:00 pm that had spiderman and RoboCop in it). After Fox Kids was home-work time, mostly. Sometimes there would be street cricket matches which often ended in fights over whether a batsman was out or not. In the absence of third umpires, the older and hence, wiser (?) kids would generally take the final call. I loved playing cricket in winters—you never got tired.

Vacations meant going to Nani’s in Ulhasnagar (an area in the outskirts of Mumbai). Now this is a place that may not be equipped with the so-called amenities and facilities one would expect from a usual Mumbai place and was even worse back then, as compared to what it is today. But what I like the most about this place is that there was no artificialness about it. You could do the most rowdy and unsophisticated thing here without turning any heads—the kind of things you love to do as a kid. We would play “surti” which meant you got a paid chit with a number and an object on display with the same number would be your prize. This was our form of gambling. Cycle rides, getting unwanted things from the local general stores, nani’s secret “kharchi” (sindhi word for pocket money grandmothers gave grand kids), night strolls, cricket matches in unsanitary places—everything you would expect from a rural life.
As a kid, I always wanted to be an adult and (unknowingly) trade the innocence and happiness of those small things (childhood) with a materialistic life that is measured with achievements (adulthood). What evaded me was that there was no going back even if you’d want to some day. Damn !!

Home away from home

This is my article from Dec, 2015 that later got published at two places:

1. InsideIIM.com (http://insideiim.com/a-home-away-from-home-life-at-xlri/)

2. XL Meri Jaan, college magazine of XLRI Jamshedpur                        (http://www.xlmerijaan.com/uncategorized/home-away-from-home-lifexl/)

I forcefully opened my eyes to switch off the alarm. The digital clock in my mobile struck 8:52 am. I had overslept and now had to make it to a 9 am lecture, and rather quickly. Then began that listless (no breakfast, no water) race against time. You then curse the random lottery that gave you the room farthest from the learning centre classrooms.

There is something about this place that gives it a “wow” factor. Some call it the XL culture without fully knowing what culture means. What struck me first is how easy going this place is. Seniors that spoon-feed, committees that make life simple –You just need to arrive and rest will be taken care of. The course brings you out of the comfort zone with programs like the outbound (Everybody gets to be a Roadie here), village exposure (If you’ve always lived in a city, this will show you a different side of life) and the mandatory Nukkad Natak

Last minute rush for the assignment xerox, the Big-Daddy aura of PlaceCom, their depricating GBMs that make you feel worthless,”Bhasad” (North Indian word) that never ends, late night walks to Bishuda —that’s life at XL, a place that never sleeps. There is a committee for everything: committee that ensures you know your seniors, a committee to lighten your mood during stressful times (BCT), a committee that serves during SIP, a committee to remind you of home, a committee to entertain you; Seniors almost always ensure you have a good time.

The biggest binding factor for this college is the traditions it has always held, traditions that are followed and bequeathed to the junior batch year after year– the committee juniors treating the seniors and seniors returning the favor, the cultural committee, DRACULA carrying its much-famed lamp for its intro and selection processes, Sports Committee ensuring that its members are in a particular “state of mind” when on stage, all happens here. Even the first week of college is a traditional “orientation”. The professors have a legacy too. You are reminded of a certain QT professor’s stringent grading by an antic of the BCT (an informal committee) while a play captures how SIP shortlists seem all but fair. Each of these have been carried forward as if in a family system over the years; and a happy family it is here, indeed. Some committees remind you of home food and festivals while other non-inhabitants also get a chance to cherish the taste of your delicacies and culture.

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch free time”. There is always something to look forward to. If nothing is, unexpected events like horse-riding and poker nights make way. In fact, into the first month of classes, you realize that things here work a lot more differently (read professionally) than your conventional graduation college: Some profs that won’t budge, some deadlines that won’t move, punitive actions that make doing-the-job look much more attractive, mandatory attendance and 9 am classes that start on time. Caffeine-rich night-outs become commonplace. If nothing else, time management is one valuable virtue you will definitely take home.

On Being World Champions

(I wrote this in my second year of engineering (Year 2011) for the sports section of my college magazine, soon after we had brought home the ICC cricket World Cup 2011. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian team captain, hit the final winning six to bring home the World Cup. This was our second World Cup after Kapil Dev’s team won it in 1983)

He sated the 28 year long desire of every Indian. Over a billion hearts stopped when he lofted a Nuwan Kulasekara towards long on. Over a billion pair of eyes watched in awe as the ball traversed the ground and landed outside the fence — electrifying the entire nation that came down to the streets to rejoice. Bravo! We had become the world champions. M.S. Dhoni finally did what no Indian captain, except Kapil Dev, had been able to do. The only trophy that had evaded Sachin Tendulkar was also a part of his kitty now. For the players, money started pouring in from all directions. Accolades alike.

Given that, what was expected to be a cakewalk turned out to be a Herculean task for the country’s ‘blue eyed’ boys. First the test ranking, then the T20 and finally the ODI ranking, India generously gave it all away to the English while the blame-game continued back home. On July 21, 2011, started the India –England bilateral series; one that most Indians would want to forget as soon as possible. Having had a dream run in the World Cup and a venial underperformance in the Caribbean, Indians were the clear favorites. But not many had imagined that the series would turn out to be such a farce for the new world champions— making one wonder if we will be able to retain the tag for long enough. (Even a half-injured Indian side should not have lost each and every match in the series.)

Speaking of world champions, comparison with Australia is inevitable. Starting from 1999 under Steve Waugh, and then in 2003 and 2007 under Ricky Ponting, Australia has successfully maintained the title and how. An enviable bowling line-up, marked by the wiliness of Shane Warne and the remarkable accuracy of Glenn McGrath, was enough to destroy the strongest of the batting sides. In addition to this, 2003 World Cup saw the rise of this New South Wales lad known to have outpaced Shoaib Akhtar— His name was Brett Lee. Lee added the perfect combination of pace and accuracy to the side. One of the best opening pairs powered by a solid middle order, Australians mercilessly crushed every opposition they faced and thus dominated the game for over a decade: not so surprising. Not even the World XI comprising the 11 best players in the world was spared.

Australia has played 752 ODI matches, winning 464.They have led the ICC ODI Championship since its inception for all but a period of 48 days in 2007. Australia has made a record six World Cup final appearances and has won the World Cup a record four times in total.

Australia has had its most successful period in the 1990s and the early 21st century; reason being a series of shrewd captains from Allan Border to Ricky Ponting and the effectiveness of several key players most notably Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee. But the retirement of almost all these key players (barring Brett Lee who has been in and out depending on his mood), has led to a transition period for Australia and a few series losses to teams like India and England.

Considering only batting, India is well ahead of the then Australian team with its deep and scary batting line-up. But bowling has been incontrovertibly poor. Fast bowling spearheaded by Zaheer khan and spin led by Harbhajan Singh has not been able to match the standards of the Lee-McGrath-Warne triplet. And we’ll soon have to develop a bowling attack lethal enough to protract our period of world championship. Even the success rate abroad has been a matter of concern. But fortunately, India has not had such a sudden transition as the Australians with a whole generation of key players retiring almost at the same time. We’ve always had a mix of both young as well as the seasoned players. (Kudos to the Michael Clarke led side to have tenaciously held to the first spot in the rankings despite the turbulence). But things may not always remain the same for India and it all depends on how Dhoni manages to restructure the young side in these changing times. Only if he can manage to pull off an Allan Border (rescuing Australia from crisis of 1980’s and making it what it is today), will we be able to successfully fit into the shoes left behind by the Aussies.

 

Abki Baar, Sahi Sarkar

PLEASE VOTE AND VOTE WISELY IN THE COMING ELECTIONS

Welcome to what is believed to be the biggest election ever: both in terms of size and historic value, of the largest democracy in the world. Even if you are the most anti-social and politically-indifferent person of the country, you must have still heard of/seen the “Abki baar Modi sarkar” slogans all over the place, the hype surrounding the AAP leader, Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress ka “haath” (that can be interpreted as “Talk to the hand” post elections) among the other USPs of the 2014 elections. The purpose of this write-up is not to campaign for any of these (or any other) political party. My biases are better left to me and my vote. Instead, I am writing this to make a humble plea to as many citizens as this verbose article can make it to, to use that one potent weapon that you’ve been endowed with by the writers of this Constitution: Universal adult suffrage or simply put, the right to vote, and more importantly, to use it wisely.

Were you miffed by the Commonwealth Games’ poor management that tainted the already poor organizational image of the country?  Did you too shed a tear for the innocent girl in Delhi, who was, for no fault of her own, disgraced by some illiterate bunch of losers (December,2012) ? The sorry state of affairs can also be highlighted by figures of poverty, illiteracy etc. India was recently ranked 134th out of 189 countries in the latest ‘ease of doing business’ list. Bureaucracy, red tape everywhere. Sigh ! So who do you think should be held responsible for all this ? Before we get a unanimous answer innocently saying “government”, let’s remember the famous definition of democracy given by American President, Abraham Lincoln which describes democracy as the government of  the people, by the people and for the people. So the “people” (repeated thrice in the line) are three times as responsible for the government’s shortcomings as the government itself. But do we realize that ? Not really. Had each one of us been careful enough in our choices and had we casted our votes based on merit and merit only (not based on caste or even worse, in return for something), we would have probably not been as helpless as we had been rendered by the previous government.

But there is a slight problem with the Indian mentality. We choose to enjoy that one day of holiday declared on the voting day instead of fulfilling our duty. If at all, we cast votes for parties without proper information about the candidates and their profiles. Many of us are not even aware of the candidates contesting in our regions. This indifference stems mainly from our loss of faith in this entire system and that is not entirely our fault. Years of seeing corruption-ridden political environment would probably do that to anybody. But we need to realize that we are the only ones who can turn things around for ourselves. And if we ourselves choose to ignore our own plight and carry on the “Chal raha hai, to chalne do” attitude, things will never change.

We have with us, today, all the information that a voter needs about the political parties to make an informed decision. Manifestos of various parties, their past record, their candidates (and the candidates’ profiles), statements and promises made, are all available online. Even rallies can be seen through webinars. Why not use this treasure, devote some time to research and cast that one vote that we are expected to, in five years ? Remember the plusses of a good government include : growing economy, effective judicial system, controlled inflation, effective policy making and implementation etc—things that will have a direct bearing on us. Sounds prudent to spare some time now ?

With the first phase of polling having already begun while I write this, the stage is all set and the show will begin soon. The politicos and their parties have done their job (campaigning, rallying), but have you?

Indian MBA: A Game of Dice- A beginner’s guide to what’s in store

MBA, from time immemorial, has been the climax in the life of many an Indian engineer–a second degree to wash off the sins of the first—which was,in fact, chosen just because it was difficult to get (ego boost) and made promises (Once in IIT, career is made) it never fulfilled. When you notice that quite a few managers in senior positions are in fact engineers, you come to realize how this inter-field brain drain has worked over the years.

Every other Indian parent wants their kid to pass from an IIT. If not IIT, then BITS, NIT or IIIT. What this OCD has caused for an Indian child is: Most Indian students figure out what they REALLY want to do after getting into these institutes. When they see that the glitter of IIT lasted only 4 years and the life ahead is not as glamorous in the technical manufacturing site/chemical plant/24*7 coding job, where growth seems slow and in some cases a mirage, they start looking for options. The visual of the senior who passed out from an IIM and is currently working in a metropolitan city sipping free coffees from a famous local coffee shop in his plush AC office, brings an urge to follow suit. Result: Many of the smart engineers almost inevitably end up doing an MBA. As a result, the CAT , like any entrance exam in India, is taken by a large number of people—2 lakh to be precise. The number of seats for a general category student is 180 in each IIM. Most students aim for top 6 IIMs-XL-FMS. Total no of seats available is, thus,a little less than 1700.

MBA colleges wish to ensure their brand remains and their students get as varied an exposure as possible. They try to achieve this by creating extra points based on Gender, Academic diversity, earlier academics etc. So out of the remaining 1700, seats there are further biases that creep in: Women, non-engineers and people with better acads get the better of you. You might consider people with better acads as more deserving but even there, some boards award points more leniently than others (All hail Karnataka board !). So that makes things further tilted towards the lucky few who had the privilege of attending central/international boards.

What this leaves for the rest of the aspirants, who struggle to make the cut into these very B- schools, is to voraciously chase that evasive score of 99, that every gyaani on the other side of the fence (B-school gates) must have suggested. So what happens when 2 lakh minus these select few chase 99+ ? Unexpectedly, it’s a game of dice.  Firstly, because not everyone starts at the same level of skill-sets so the game starts at 1-0 for a few depending on your schooling and whether you prepared for JEE or not. Also, not everyone has access to good coaching. Secondly, if you’ve taken the CAT even once, you know that there is a very good chance that you’ll cross 99 without much effort with a little hold over aptitude and the phenomenon called “being at the right place at the right time” or the other way round, can totally mess it up after one year of sincere preparation for no fault of your own (Not to take away the credit from the high scorers, many also score high because of ability and not just luck). And if the option of multiple attempts offers you any respite, bear in mind that by the time you re-appear, the rules of the game may have changed totally and a new strategy would be needed. Also your dream institute may have changed its selection criteria to close its doors on you for good.

The competition is stiff; the opponents are equally good, if not smarter; rules are set against you and they are knowingly unfair. You need to prepare hard and you will do well hope to not get unlucky.

Beautiful things are not to be touched but are felt

Beauty, as they say, lies in the eye of the beholder. The above adage points out that beauty is something that comes from the heart of the viewer. In other words, beauty is not absolute; it’s subjective. That explains why different people would have varied opinions about the same subject. For example, if a mother is asked what she would find as the most beautiful thing in the world, she would most likely say: her child; her creation —even if the child does not conform with “absolute” standards of beauty, as defined by the less aesthetic of us. Poets and Artists are classes of people able to appreciate true beauty the best. The poems of John Keats and William Wordsworth appreciating the beauty of nature have been loved by millions. Non-representational art is in vogue nowadays. To a layman, it may seem like a few strokes of colour juxtaposed on the canvas in a way that suits the artist. But only a true art collector would be able to identify its true beauty.

Places of worship with beautifully carved statues of Gods are known to evoke feelings of awe and overwhelm visitors by the sheer prowess of The Almighty’s presence. Only a true devotee can feel this beauty in His presence. For example the Gomateshwar temple and the Badrinath temple are thronged by devotees to feel this very beauty. The atmosphere in a Gurudwara or the surroundings of The Golden Temple with the Gurbani Kirtan (hymn) being chanted in the background make one immediately connect with Him. These are, no doubt, very beautiful monuments by themselves but the true beauty of these places is the inner peace and satisfaction that one can feel by just being there.

But we humans tend to materialise and objectify beauty. Good looking people are often more popular. Most common requirement of potential grooms in India is a “sundar and sushil” bride. Beautiful countries are popular tourism destinations. What we fail to realise is that beauty is a diminishing asset. A beautiful woman would see her charm wither with age. Even beautiful places are not to stay that way forever. But inner beauty (which in above examples would be the girl’s heart and the utility of the place to the people in terms of providing a place to live and make a livelihood out of its natural resources etc) is what matters more.