Praveen's World

I generally start my day listening to either Bhagavad Gita or some other kind of devotional verses/stotras which I have in my collection. That really gives a fresh outlook for the day which is very important for me. I have realized that listening to Gita in the morning takes out all the negative thoughts from my mind and keeps my mind empty so that it can be filled with more positive things.

Even though I like all kinds of music, depending on my mood I prefer listening to carnatic classical (both instrumental and vocal), gazals, some other kind of soft music, may be some A.R. Rehman melodies etc. In four languages and instrumentals I have collected about 5000 songs till now. Music gives me relief from any kind of worries and tensions/pains.

Coming to movies, some of my favourite are Hyderabad Blues, Jogger's Park (Indian English), Chashme Baddoor (Hindi), Kannathil Mutthamittal (Tamil), Sukritham, Dany (Malayalam), Children Of A Lesser God, Bruce Almighty, A Beautiful Mind (English) etc. Some of my all time favourites are "Shankarabharanam", "Swathitirunal" etc.

I don't have any favourite actor or actress. I like any good actor/actress. According to me Tilakan, Nedumudi Venu (Malayalam), Paresh Rawal, Nasrudeen Shah, Om Puri (Hindi) etc are some of the really good actors.

Coming to TV channels, I prefer watching programmes like Walk the Talk, The Big Fight etc on NDTV, Star Movies, HBO, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet etc. My favourite programme on TV is Tom and Jerry show in Cartoon Network (In every human being there is a child which is hidden). But now-a-days I rarely watch TV because of less time and the funny cable network in the part of Jodhpur I am staying.

But during the rare nostalgic moments I remember the good old days of Doordarshan. Those days we only had one channel to watch and thats Doordarshan. I still remember we did not have a TV at home and we used to go to the neighbours house to watch Ramayana and Mahabharat. Some of my favourite serials those days were Lekhu, Gul Gulshan Gulfam, Honi Anhoni, Mougli, Spiderman, Giant Robot, Byomkesh Bakshi, Fauji etc. The programmes on National Integration aired by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad were my favourites. The advertisements of Hamara Bajaj and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate were some of my favourite ones. I have collected some of the audios and videos of these programmes and advertisements which I will upload here. Please click here to go to the downloads page.

Reading....that’s become a part of my routine now. I can't sleep with out reading some good work at least for15 minutes. Some say books really change your life. You get influenced by the books you read. But what exactly the book does on you, perhaps no body thinks of that.

I believe it’s not what we get out of the books that is so enriching -- it is what the books will get out of us that will ultimately change our life. Generally I like philosophical, inspirational/motivational, informative books. Some of my collections include Think And Grow Rich, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Living the Seven habits, You Can Win, Management Thoughts, Man's Search For Meaning, Mein Kamph etc. Some recent additions are The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, The Alchemist, What Are You Doing With Your Life, Conversations With God, Oh Mind! Relax Please etc. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Robin Sharma are some of my favourite authors. I have a good collection of their books.

I also have collections like Emotional Intelligence, Five Love Languages, Personality Plus, Who Will Cry When You Die etc. I try to finish at least one book a month even though it becomes difficult sometimes. I feel that most people don't change or resist change in life because they stop further reading after the school and college days.

In addition to the above I have recently added a good collection of E-Books to my library. I have got about 500 E-Books of various authors from the internet.

I am always curious to know things. Be it technology or any other thing. I don't mean that I am expert in all these things. What I meant is I try to keep information on latest happenings in the field of technology and hence I like spending a lot of time in knowingr new technologies emerging in the market. Be it computers or any latest thing coming in the market, I like to explore it and I keep doing it. This habit has given me a lot of new knowledge and a great mileage and has helped me to get ahead in my career life.

I used to run a Computer business with my friend during my days in Mumbai. I used to make use of every single moment in my life. (That’s what I think ). This has really helped me to be in touch with the latest happenings in the computer industry. Even though my shift to Jodhpur has reduced the flow of information in this stream, it has not completely stopped. Also this business helped me to learn the basics of marketing by my own and I could sell lot of PCs with the help of what I learned.

The most important thing I learned doing this business was that there is lot of information available in the world. There are lots of people wanting this information, but they don't know where it is available and how to get it. If any one can provide this information/data, s/he can really setup a huge business with the support of other faculties. God knows, some day I might set up a huge business based on this.

In addition to all these I am interested in several other things like Cooking, Collecting Antiques and handicrafts (Just started doing that & realised that its a very expensive affair).

I keep trying new dishes during holidays, sometimes the dishes will be really tastey and I feel that I'm the greates cook in the world. But sometimes..... I don't need to say that it becomes pathetic  , eventhough it happens very rarely. That's quite natural. Anyway, to save the valuable time of great bachelors like me, who like to cook (and those are forced to cook for themselves) I have decided to include a lot of Recipies in my site. I am still working on making notes of the same. It will be uploaded any time from now. The best part is that most of the recipies which will be uploaded here must have been tried and tested by me. That means I am not trying to make any of you a Ginnie Pig. But once you try any of the recipies please let me have your feedback.

Since the time I am in Jodhpur, I have got a good chance to get very good antique/handicraft/art work materials and Rajasthani Handicrafts. I keep searching for these kind of things in the old market and already got some of them. I know that the kind of things which I get in Jodhpur for very less, will cost me a lot in other places like Delhi, Mumbai etc.

Another thing which I like is to listen to Hindu Religious Verses / Stotras / Mantras of differiet dieties or occasions. Like I have mentioned earlier I have got a good collection of these and keep listening to those everyday in the morning, which helps me to keep my day very good. These include Suprabatham by M.S. Subalakshmi, Vishnu Sahasranama, Laksmi Sahasranama, Bhagavad Gita, Navagraha Stotras, Maha Mrutyujaya Mantra, Hanuman Chalisa, Bhajans, Aratis etc. You may click here to go to the Devotional page.

There are lot many other things which I like about which I'll update sometime later.