I have the complete collection of Supremo Comics (which has Amitabh Bachan as super hero); Sunny the Super sleuth comics that has Sunil Gavaskar as super hero. The comics published by Tirupati Temple trust; Complete collection of Axa Comics (perhaps the only adult comics series published in India) and more ...
Do you look forward to being back at work on a Monday morning? Do you look forward to being in a place surrounded by inspiring colleagues? Let me put it simply. Is your workplace as boring and devoid of personality as is possible? Is it soul-crushing? I can tell you a simple way to find out. Read on ...
"68% employees want to learn at the workplace. They can learn at their own pace and they also want to learn what they can put to use in solving a workplace problem. In a world where skills take time to learn and yet keep becoming obsolete, the talent developers have to balance the needs for today and future. The organizations survival depends on that." Soft skill development is done better by face to face interactions - not on devices. Soft skills need other human beings to be learned. So don't expect changes by putting all employees through some e-learning course or stuff taught through a device.
I am a fan of Pixar's storytelling style. I don't know if you have ever read their famous 22 rules of storytelling? If you have not, you must. Some of the tips are really super useful to newbies like me who are fascinated enough by the magic to want to be a magician. But for now one has to be grateful that I am getting to read the magician's book of spells before he returns. I make a quick note of rule number 2 in the Book of Spells.
How can you start to notice stories? Where do you need to go? What is the training that makes you a wonderful writer?
I would say it is the ability to observe the "truth" and then tell it well. Start listening to the stories in the lives of people. Tuck away the stories in your mind. Make notes and sketches.
Remember, what is normal is NOT a story.
THE Tale, the Parable, and the Fable are all common and popular modes of conveying instruction. The Tale is a story either founded on facts, or sometimes just a figment of imagination. There are no moral lessons expected to be learned. The Parable is intended to convey secret meanings. Fables are intended to impact human behavior through the stories and the characters. Good and bad characters are clearly demarcated. Aesops fables have become a part of our everyday language. The story of the thirsty crow dropping pebbles in a pitcher to raise up the level of water is one of the first lessons in innovation we learned. The moral of the story is explicitly stated at the end eg "Necessity is the mother of invention" in case of the Crow and the Pitcher story.
The morning newspaper and a cuppa chai is a ritual that is common to a large part of the human race. But people read it in their own manner. Some glance at the headlines and head straight for the sports page. So open the editorial page and shake their head disapprovingly at the affairs of the world. I head for the cartoons. I grab the newspaper and head straight for Ajit Ninan's cartoon. I look for two elements of wit in a cartoon - the visual and verbal. Ninan excels in both. Usually one lands up choosing between the two. Ajit worked for many years with the India Today group as cartoonist and illustrator, before moving to the Indian Express newspaper in 1992 eventually switching to Outlook one of India's top news magazines. He is now with The Times of India as their Chief Graphics Consultant. Ajit used to run a cartoon strip called Detective Moochhwala (and his tail-less dog called Poochh, which means tail in Hindi) for the childrens magazine Target. That comic strip had cult status amongst readers and it was amazing to see Ajit pack in a tight storyline and brilliant graphics in about 35-40 frames.
