Raghunathan V has recently released his 2nd book titled “Don’t Sprint The Marathon”.
I read his first book “Games Indians Play” and found it apt for the Indian population and the way we think and function. While I have not read his new book, based on an initial preview I did, it looks good and appropriate for parents with kids.
“Don’t Sprint the Marathon”…obvious as that might appear, as proud and ambitious parents, we often push our children to excel in ways that may help them achieve some early successes – but may sap their stamina to endure the more difficult challenges which life may throw at them. What is more, our obsessive rush to get our children off to a good start overlooks at the fact that in life, as in a marathon, an early lead hardly matters, but being too intent on coming first may leave our children lacking in many of the life skills that a normal childhood would teach them.
V. Raghunathan, best-selling author of Games Indians Play, offers an alternative approach that can be even more rewarding: life he avers, is not a sprint and it does not in the long run matter very much if you missed out on the best school, college or job as starters. As long as you give yourself the time to develop your personality and skills, you will still get where you want, at your own pace and perhaps far more happily. To illustrate, based on first-hand interactions, he gives numerous examples of many achievers, famous and not-so-famous, among them N.R. Narayana Murthy, Dr. Kallam Anji Reddy, Dr. P D K Rao, V. Mani, Ashwini Nachappa, G.M. Rao and Ila Bhat. For those helping their children along for success in life, or rethinking their own approach to it, Don’t Sprint the Marathon will prove an invaluable guide.
You may order in online from any of the well-known bookshops or online stores.
Dennis Taraporewala 
This was a meeting after the school term started. 🙂
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True. Did that father’s son get admission?
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When we had our first parent meeting at Shloka’s nursery school the Principal sought to understand the parents aspirations for their children. Amidst the plethora of ‘gain confidence’, ‘develop learning and social skills’ and other such urban social imperatives was a father who simply said he wanted his son to be contented.
The gentle certainty in this statement struck me on that day. Reading your blog reminds me of this incident because only a deep sense of contentment allows us to accept who we are and what becomes of us in a loving and mindful manner. Whether we are social ‘achievers’ or ‘non-achievers’, ‘winners’ or ‘losers’, ‘famous’ or ‘anonymous’ – a contended person realises that all these dualities are two sides of the same coin and is therefore not torn between them.
This allows him to be present in the moment as his life unfolds and therefore be an objective observer to the flow of the universe. It is this way of life I believe that yields the stamina and resilience to face lifes trials and tribulations in a manner that is elevating and does not leave any residual impressions on our existence.
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