FROM "GAME OF THRONES" TO "GAME OF LIFE"

DISCLAIMER: Proceed with caution. Spoiler ahead for Game of Thrones (Non-GOT fans can read the other articles in the blog 😊).

“Winter is Coming” and “Valar Morghulis” (All men must die) were on the minds of all Game of Thrones fans throughout the series.

GOT fans were curious to know “Who will sit of the Iron Throne and rule seven kingdoms?” This had become a big question for quite some time similar to the national question in India some time ago - “Kattapa Ne Bahubali ko kyun mara?” I personally felt that this series was very much relatable to the modern-day politics. What do you think?

After all the political conspiracies, strategic decisions, and murders in Game of Thrones series, the adaption of fantasy novel named ‘The Song Of Ice And Fire’, has come to an end after eight seasons. Many were disappointed with the climax of the series; however, the journey was astounding with a lot of twists and turns. Many had played the Game of Thrones, and most have met ignominious ends (Ned Stark, Robb Stark, Stannis Baratheon, Margaery Tyrell). Throughout, I have wondered who will survive until the end as, according to me, this itself is a big victory. It was humorously warned that we must not get too attached to any character due to a shocking (and yet entertaining) plot. But every character’s journey has a unique impact on our real lives too, except for the magic and dragons in the fictional world.

Let us go back to the fantasy world through this blog and unravel the valuable and relatable lessons taught by some of the characters from Game of Throne series.

The overall message was YOLO (You Only Live Once). The show teaches you to live every single moment of your life because you never know what is going to happen. Isn’t this the Game of Life?

1. DAENERYS TARGARYEN

Her journey from an anxious girl to a valiant leader is astonishing. She depicts very gracefully that the real leadership lies in serving the people who follow you and so she not only conquers the lands but also win the hearts of people by being fair and just to them. Her character illuminates within us the importance of having faith, determination, strength, and confidence to achieve our aspirations. She teaches us that “Tough experiences are the best teachers.” Another most important take away from her character is that one should surround themselves with intelligent and experienced advisors and listen to them before making tough decisions. But Power can create an illusion in your eyes sometimes. In this state, a person may take harsh and wrong choices that lead to the beginning of the end.

2. ARYA STARK

She is a perfect epitome of a fanatic learner. She inspires us to be fierce, adamant, and acrimonious (When it comes to the life of people you love most or family). Being one of the most liked characters on the show, she enlightens us by believing that “A bruise is a lesson, and each lesson makes us stronger.” She sticks to the promise that she makes to herself to avenge the death of her dear ones and reminds herself of her destination and learn all the skills needed for the same. Even though her family does not have any female warrior, she goes on to follow her heart to be one. She teaches us, “You can become whatever you want if you try hard enough.”

3. NED STARK

All of us admire Ned Stark as he was a devoted father, a perfect gentleman, and an honorable lord who values morality and ethical behavior. The most important thing this character teaches us is leading is much more complicated than having the honor and a good heart, and a good leader is not merely someone who isn't willing to be cruel.

His character also reminds us that honor is the toughest thing to own as straight trees are cut first. But this is one of the few things that will keep your memory alive in the world forever and remember you like the best ruler the world has ever seen. But don’t be too idealistic because you cannot survive on honor and heroism alone in the present world. The most significant lesson learnt is, “Never let your enemy know what you are up to” and “You must be smart enough to know your way around the world.” Even if your intentions are reasonable, you need to know how to outwit the world. 

4. JON SNOW

Jon Snow – or we must say Aegon Targaryen - gradually accentuated from bastard to Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch to King in the North to a contender of the Iron Throne. We can learn from him that “Bravery Wins You Admiration, Kindness Earns You Respect and Friends.” He is a highly capable swordsman and thinker with a knack for piercing observations (and the only person who does not belong to YOLO category 😉). Doing the right thing for everyone at the cost of personal loss takes a big heart. Always being able to see what could be right for the welfare of the people is the qualities of a true king. But Leadership Is More Complicated Than Being A Hero. It's important to understand what people want. He is a man of his word who always keeps his promises. His loyalty and integrity are traits that we should all strive to possess.

5. SANSA STARK

Sansa Stark’s journey is impressive as she transforms from a young, naïve girl to a strong and confident woman and then the lady of Winterfell. She perfectly depicts “Slow and steady, wins the race” is a life mantra as she is known to be a slow learner. She is a self-preservationist who adapts well to her surroundings and believes that “Adaptability is the key to survival.” This character also implies that you can endure more than you think you can. A person must have patience and rise after every fall to learn life lessons. On the other hand, you must be strong enough and courageous to fight against the atrocities in your life. Her character teaches us, “When life gets tough, you get tougher.”

6. BRAN STARK

Bran is an enthusiastic child and fascinated by stories adventure. But when he was paralyzed, he had to reconsider his options in his life and find the purpose of his vision.

His character teaches us, “You can overcome your (physical) disability and achieve greatness.” When life takes away something from you, it gives you something else. Listen to your inner voice because the power lies within you, but you must discover it.

7. TYRION LANNISTER

One of the most loved characters on ‘Game Of Thrones’, Tyrion is an astute, witty, and intelligent dwarf. His character teaches to “Keep Your Wits by Your Side.” His well-known dialogue is, “Never forget what you are; the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you,” which implies, “Embrace your imperfections.” Despite continually being ridiculed and ill-treated, he proves that “Size isn’t everything because a small man can cast a large shadow.” The ‘imp' or half-man taught us that it doesn't matter how people see you, but what you think of yourself changes everything.

8. JAIME LANNISTER 

Jaime is arrogant, short-tempered, and rash, but he’s also a gifted swordsman and one of the handsome characters on the show. Jamie’s personality has completely changed since the beginning of the series. After his torturous experience as a prisoner of the Starks and during his journey with Brienne, he proves that even if you make mistakes, you don’t have to let them define you. Isn’t that what life comprises of? Learning from experience and becoming wiser in the process. He teaches an essential lesson that “You are not your mistakes; they help you become the best version of yourself.”

9. CERSEI LANNISTER 

She is vicious, cunning, conniving, unmerciful, smug, and extremely ambitious making her a complex character. Being one of the best negative characters in the series, she is gorgeous and has a strategic mind. She knows how to manipulate things to suit her end. She is judicious enough not to get burnt in the fire she lit for her enemies. However, the essential teaching she imparts is, “Love your family and children unconditionally.” It does not mean you should raise Joffrey but love your children with no reservations. She was always trying to secure the throne for her children to show her love. She confesses that her children were the sole reason she was alive.

I hope that you enjoyed the ride from "Game Of Thrones" to "Game Of Life". Kindly comment whose your favorite character and the reason for the same.

Thank you for your time and please feel free to leave comments about your views and topics of your interest. You can also reach me at komalnsoftu@gmail.com

(To Be Continued......)

BEING WOMEN - DEEPIKA PADUKONE

Beautiful, gorgeous, talented actress in the glamour world of bollywood is DEEPIKA PADUKONE. “I used to cry, feel empty for weeks”, says Deepika Padukone while talking about her fight against Depression. While concentrating on her education and sports career, she has also worked as a child model. She gained recognition for a TV commercial for the soap Liril and In 2005, she made her debut at Lakme Fashion week and won “Model Of The Year” award. She learned the Japanese martial art form of jujutsu and performed her stunts without use of a body doubles.

She made her acting debut in 2006 in the Kannada film ‘Aishwarya’. Padukone then played a dual role in her first Bollywood release in 2007 Om Shanti Om and won a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Deepika had five film releases in 2010. In 2013, she established herself as a leading actress of contemporary Hindi Cinema. In addition to acting, Deepika has written opinion columns and has been involved with women’s health and fitness magazine. She has always supported charitable organizations and has performed for stage shows.

"Really #BELIEVE In YOURSELF!" - Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) - Top 10 Rules

Here are some rules listed as per the focusing on the opinion of the leading lady of bollywood.

Rule 1: Believe in yourself

Things will not always go your way and there will be times when things will be difficult. You may want things to go certain way and they don’t go that way. Throughout these years, one thing I(Deepika) have learnt to be patient and believe in yourself. Don’t give up easily. There will be amazing people supporting your vision saying “Yes, you can do this” and also some discouraging people saying “Are you sure you wanna wait? Why don’t you try something else?”. I have always had a clarity about what I want to do in my life.

Rule 2: Work harder

I work harder to prove to myself that I can really do this. Every film has its own challenges and many people feel that film industry is all about glamour and people here are very privileged. But that’s not true because there is lot of hard work, commitment, dedication, sacrifices that goes into being who we are and achieving what we do.

Rule 3: Stay Hungry

I am extremely ambitious and I exactly know what I want to achieve for myself. It is a continuous process. Since childhood I know what I wanted to do and today I am living that dream. But I am not satisfied and I want my hunger and motivation to keep me going.

Rule 4: Be your own individual

I admire people for their performances but I do not want my career to be like anyone else but my own. Even if I wanted to be, it cannot be. I wanted to be remembered as my individual sense of style, films, career, values or anything.

Rule 5: Be willing to commit

You want to keep on adding layers to yourself, your life, your career. I don’t view Bollywood and Hollywood as a separate career but it’s a one long journey wherein you will face new things and new challenges. It’s a huge time commitment and I wanted to do this. I don’t want to regret anything in my life and 10-20 years  down the line I don’t want to thing that I had missed the golden opportunity.

Rule 6: Do what you love

I do what I do and I do what I love. The money happens to come and it means nothing. Even if you have everything in the world and you are not happy; it means nothing. It doesn’t matter if money is there or not there. I value quality time with my family, going on family vacation, cooking a meal in kitchen, spending time with my friends, being creatively satisfied with a film, going up on stage to receive film-fare award.

Rule 7: Be prepared to make sacrifices

You have to make some social sacrifices. The biggest sacrifice for me is I don’t live with my family as I must move away. Of course, there are days when over a meal, I don’t have my parents and sisters to talk to about how my day was. Talking on phone and being face to face is different. There are also sacrifices made on diet even though I am not the one who puts on weight easily. I have to control my weakness for sweets and chocolates.

Rule 8: Challenge yourself

As an actor, you constantly look for challenges either in a kind of role or a movie. ‘Cocktail’ movie was completely out of my comfort zone and it was the right film for me. So I was also offered Fast and furious 7 which didn’t worked out. Today when I look back, I feel like that it just wasn’t meant to me. But ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ was a perfect action movie with the right kind of challenge in the right way.

Rule 9: Define Success for yourself

For me, to be truly successful is to be at peace with myself and to be happy every day. Depression has taught me that my life is very fragile and it made me value people, emotions and feelings. Success is not the material thing and it is not the number because even if you are number 1, you want to keep going or you can have X amount of money and so on. As far as material things are concerned, people want more and more and there is no end to it as it is human nature.

Rule 10: Have fun

Along with the intense hard work, the ,most important thing is that you must enjoy doing your work and enjoy at work too. I would like to share a recent incidence.When 1 year ago, I was offered a movie, I flew there and at midnight I and Vin had a professional photo shoot. I wasn’t even knowing that I am in or not. When Vin uploaded photos, I asked him it will mean that I am in, but he didn’t reply. I had journalist from India asking on a call that am I doing that film? I had no idea what to say.

So try to follow simple things as they may lead to your dream. 

Thank you for your time.

BEING WOMAN

It is a matter of fact that the girl child is viewed as LIABILITY. Birth of a child as a girl is not celebrated. If it’s not a tragedy, to a family it’s the setback. The only expectation is that she grows up to be a presentable young woman who can get a decent spouse. So, when woman start from a point like that it’s very hard to find pride in ourselves, confidence in your own being and in your own actions. Mutation in this mentality is must in modern era where a woman delivers more output with higher efficiency in all the arenas of society.

When we hear, or read such things, we are fantasized and overwhelmed by it. But we seldom follow it or somewhere deep down ourselves, we think it not how the real world works. Yet there are many epitomes who have proved that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A WOMAN. Let us have a look at what these women have to say about being woman.

Mother Teresa (1979 Nobel Peace prize winner) -

We had only 4 boys and all have been adopted. These are the only girls. (She smiled about it) These are the lucky once. They didn’t end up in dustbins. They ended up with the future.

Kangana Ranutt (one of the highest-paid actresses in India) -

Women are lot more than people think they are and we want to find ourselves. It’s a lot more important for women to accept themselves as opposed to others accepting them. Others opinion of you will always shift. Their perspective will keep changing. So, as women, we don’t have to hope that we get our due. We need to get up and get it ourselves. 

J.K.Rolling (author of the Harry Potter fantasy series) -

I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short lived marriage had imploded and I was jobless lone parent. I was as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless. I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, I was still alive and I had a daughter whom I adored a lot, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. So rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Malala Yousafzai (2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winner) -

Thank you to my father for not clipping my wings and letting me fly. Thank you to  my mother for inspiring me to be patient, to believe in myself and be brave. I am just a committed and even stubborn who wants to see every child getting a quality education, who wants to see women having equal rights and who wants peace in every corner of the world. 

Taylor Swift (most popular contemporary female recording artist & an American singer-songwriter) - I want to say to all the young women out there that there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishment or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people side-track you, someday when you get where you are going. Then if you will look around then you will know that it was you and the people who love you who were responsible to put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. 

Priyanka Chopra (Miss World 2000 and most successful actress of Bollywood) -

The most beautiful thing about having dreams is that it’s in your hands how big your dreams become. No one can tell you that your dream is too small or your dream cannot come true or your dream cannot be allowed because you are a girl or a boy or because you look a certain way or because you come from a certain place. Don’t be afraid to dream because they do come true. They really do. 

Indra Nooyi (CEO of Pepsico) - Whatever you do, throw yourself into it. Throw your head, heart and hands into it. I look at my job not as a job, I look at it as a calling, as a passion. I don’t care about the hours and I don’t care about the hardship because to me everything is a joy. So, whatever you do, please look upon it as a calling, as a passion and not as job or something temporary. Please help others rise as greatness comes not from a position but from helping build the future. All of us in position of power have an obligation to pull others up. 

Selena Gomez (American singer and actress) - My mom had me when she was 16. She worked in 4 jobs and completely dedicated her life into making mine better. So to me, she is the definition of strong women. I wanted to be an actress and I had a casting director tell me that I wasn’t strong enough to carry my own show. I’m sure all of you have been told that you don’t have what it takes and you don’t have enough people supporting you. But deep down its all you want to do. You want to be the part of something great. The most important thing is to always have a trust in yourself. 

Kiran Bedi (retired IPS officer, social activist, former tennis player and politician) -

We were 4 girls and no boys. My father defied his own grandfather almost to the point of disinheritance. Because he decided to educate all 4 of us. He sent us to one of the best schools in the city. 

Susmita Sen (Miss Universe1994) 

 I have been blessed to be born in a family who raised me just as a human being. They didn’t differentiate between a girl and a boy.

Age of the Aquarius is when women will rise. It is the time when we will come to the awareness of the female strength. There is a reason why law of the nature says to you when you become pregnant you shouldn’t know it’s a girl or a boy. When we kill the nurturer, we create an imbalance that we will be so sorry in generations to have done because the life will stop to exist the way we see it. The world will change on its own. If you change one life and if you can change one thought that having girl is having the womb of the universe, you will then nurture the life beyond.

Top 10 Leadership Lessons from Chanakya

In the 4th century B.C., a philosopher-statesman Kautilya a.k.a. Chanakya wrote the first few ethics of administrative management. Widely regarded as India’s first economist, his management theories guided royalty from times immemorial.

Chankaya documented his life’s labor in the Arthashastra, a list of ethics that would ensure sound governance. The book is famous more for its contents on polity & economy, but also contains advice on financial administration & management . While a lot of his management ethics have been subject to wide study, his governance lessons are also more than relevant in today’s society.

The Bold Indian unfurls a bounty of Vedic wisdom from Kautilya for modern day managers and administrators.

1. Learn from the mistakes of others. You cannot live long enough to make them all yourselves.
2. Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
3. A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first & honest people are screwed first.
4. As soon as the fear approaches near, attack & destroy it.
5. Even from poison extract nectar, wash and take back gold if it has fallen in filth, obtain highest knowledge from a low born person.
6. Conciliate a covetous man by means of a gift, an obstinate guy with folded hands in salutation, a fool by humoring him & a learned man by truthful words.
7. Before you start some work, always ask yourself 3 questions – why I am doing this, what the result might be & will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find suitable answers to these questions, go ahead.
8. The world’s biggest power is youth and the beauty of a women.
9. People who work sincerely are the happiest.
10. A man is born and dies alone. He experiences the good and bad consequences of his KARMA

CANDLE PROBLEM

The candle problem or candle task, also known as Duncker's candle problem, is a cognitive performance test, measuring the influence of functional fixedness on a participant's problem solving capabilities. The one is given below:

You can now try this and later view the solution given below.

Many of the people who attempted the test explored other creative, but less efficient methods to achieve the goal. For example, some tried to tack the candle to the wall without using the thumbtack box, and others attempted to melt some of the candle’s wax and use it as an adhesive to stick the candle to the wall. Neither method works. However, if the task is presented with the tacks piled next to the box (rather than inside it), virtually all of the participants were shown to achieve the optimal solution, which is self-defined.

The solution is to empty the box of thumbtacks, put the candle into the box, use the thumbtacks to nail the box (with the candle in it) to the wall, and light the candle with the match. The concept of functional fixedness predicts that the participant will only see the box as a device to hold the thumbtacks and not immediately perceive it as a separate and functional component available to be used in solving the task.

As long as the task involved only mechanical skills, bonuses worked as they would be expected: the higher the pay, the better the performance. But once the task called for “even rudimentary cognitive skills,” a larger reward led to poor performance. “In eight or nine tasks we examined across the three experiments, higher incentives led to worst performance.” We find that the financial incentives can result in a negative impact for overall performance.

You can google out and find many such examples or problems and check your problem solving ability. Such exercises really do help to stretch your ability.

Thank you for your time.

TOP 10 LESSONS FROM HARRY POTTER

Harry Potter  books  make up the popular  series written by J.K.Rowling. The book has been made into movies by Warner Bros. Pictures. These are some lessons from Harry Potter film cast.

1. HARRY POTTER 

2. HERMIONE GRANGER

3. FRED AND GEORGE

4. LUNA LOVEGOOD

5  NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM

6. DRACO MALFOY

  

7. HAGRID

8. DOLORES UMBRIDGE

9. PERCY WEASLEY

10. SNAPE

THE SECRETS FROM THE SCIENCE OF PERSUASION-3

5) LIKING

Our 5^th universal principle of influence is the principle of LIKING. People prefer to say yes to those whom they like. The Persuasion science tells us that there are 3 important factors.

i)                We like people who are SIMILAR to us

ii)              We like people who pay us COMPLIMENTS

iii)            We like people who CO-OPERATE with us towards mutual goals

As more and more interactions we are having takes place online, it might be worth wondering whether these factors can be employed effectively in online negotiations.

In a series of negotiation studies carried out between MBA students of the well-known business schools, 1^st group were told TIME=MONEY, so get straight down to business. In this group around 55% were able to come to an agreement. A 2^nd group, however, were told before you begin negotiating, exchange some personal information with each other, identify similarities you share in common and then begin negotiating. In this group 90% of them were able to come to a successful and agreeable outcome.

So to harness this powerful principle of liking, be sure to look for every such similarity that you share with others and genuine compliments you can give before you get down to business.

6) CONSENSUS

The 6^th and final principle of persuasion is CONSENSUS. Especially when they aren’t certain, people will look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own.

You may have noticed often at hotels that a small card in the bathrooms that attempt to persuade to reuse their towels and linens. Most do this by drawing a guest attention to the benefits that the reuse can have on environmental protection. It turns out to be a pretty effective strategy leading to around 35% compliance but could there be an even more effective way? Well it turns out that about 75% of people who check into a hotel for 4 nights or longer will reuse their towels at some point during their stay. So what would happen if we take a lesson from the principle of consensus and simply include that information on the card and said, “75% of our guests reuse their towels at sometime during their stay. So please do so as well”. It turns out that when we do this, towel use rises by 26%. Now imagine that next time you stay in the hotel you saw one of these signals, you picked it up and read the following message – “75% of people who have stayed in this room have reused their towels”. What would you think? Well you might think, “I hope they are not the same towels” and like most people you probably think that this sign will have no influence on you behavior whatsoever. But it turns out that change in just few words on a sign to honestly point out what comparable previous guests had done was this single most effective message leading to 33% increase in reuse.

 So these are some shortcuts of persuasion which can drastically change your life.

Thank you for your time. You can suggest any thing on which we can discuss upon.