Underdogs, Akala, and Personal Finance

Interesting Reads - Nov 01, 2021

Hi,

Hope you are doing well.

The book I am recommending today is:

David & Goliath: underdogs, misfits and the art of battling giants by Malcolm Gladwell.

In this book, Gladwell challenges the assumption that to be poorer, weaker, or less skilled is necessarily a disadvantage. He examines what it means to be disadvantaged, why being smaller makes you nimbler, and whether some disadvantages are desirable.

I have enjoyed Gladwell’s books over the years and this Ted Talk is a good preview to the kinds of problems he analyses and his fun approach.

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If you don’t have the time to read a book this fine Sunday, here is an article from The Hindu which I enjoyed reading earlier this year:

The Shudra Queen Rashmoni and a sacred river, by Anshuman Acharya

In this article, Anshuman brings out the story of Rashmoni, a historical figure usually unheard of. Rashmoni, as early as the 1840s managed to outwit the British and capture fishing rights for a marginalised community on the Ganga.

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The fifth episode of my podcast is now out on Youtube and Spotify. I discuss Malcom Gladwell’s book David & Goliath. Please do let me know what you thought of the episode.

Youtube:

Episode 05 of Books from Abhinav, my podcast where I discuss books.

Spotify:

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Whether due to prejudice or just because how different the two art-forms are, we seldom associate Shakespeare with Hip-Hop. For reasons unsaid, we associate Hip-Hop with being cool and Shakespeare with being refined (or annoying ICSE kids, but that is a matter for another day). However, we fail to appreciate how much these two art-forms have in common. Be it using similar tools of rhyme, rhythm, and rhetoric. While we laud the iambic pentameter in Shakespeare’s “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”, we fail to notice the same in Wu Tang Clan.

In this lecture, Akala, the artist dispels myths and weaves how these 2 art-forms almost mirror each other:

Do check out this song by Akala, which is composed almost entirely of Shakespearean plays -

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In other news, I recently co-wrote a blog post on personal finance with Pankaj Jathar. In this piece, we discuss how to figure out how much money you need to accumulate for retirement. While I am just starting to think about money, this article was a learning experience and I hope it helps you plan your finances.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this edition as much as I enjoyed writing it.