Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Reviewed by : Dhaval Ghelashah (TG 13)

Summary:-
Johanathan Livingston Seagull is a story by Richard Bach which presents a personifed narration of a Seagull's life. Johnathan Seagull was different from its kind in most ways. His outlook towards life was different from being canonical and mundane. His esoteric ways of living had completely discomfited his clan which later made him an outcast. This is where the story starts to decipher, in a way, to make you connect with the life of Johanathan.



A day in Seagull's life starts with the quest to search for food and come back to shore. They would never jaunt around as flying for them was just a means to get their food. This marks the first point of distinction between Johnathan and his fellow seagulls. Unlike others, Johnathan had a keen allegiance towards flying which was strongly censured by his parents. They wanted their son to be like the rest and learn the strategy to get the food in difficult times. Taken over by his parent's coercion, Johnathan made an attempt to be like the rest. He got involved in the daily chores of flying around, looking for food. He finally gave up on his attempt to be someone who he is not and decided to dedicate his time to do something he enjoys. Flying was his passion and he spent hours trying to learn new aerobatics. However, things weren't as smooth as he thought. He met with several setbacks and soon realized his incompetency in flying. He began to retrograde and gave up his passion to fly out of failure to excel. He thought he wasn't meant for it. He resumed his life as a "just another seagull" and got involved in the routine activities. But soon a chord struck and he gave a second shot at pursuing his passion. This time he debunked all his previous tactics and took up flying again. After hours and hours of practise, he had outdone himself and he soon became the best among his clan who could perform aerobatics. Since this was not in accordance with the rules of seagull communuty, his act was considered to be insolent and he was barred from the clan. This didn't stop Johnathan and he continued to live the life of his dreams. Soon, young seagulls who had similar love for flying started taking notice of Johnathan and were impressed by his impeccable moves. Johnathan became the cynosure of many young seagulls who were inspired by him to take up something which was vilified by most of the Flock for years. He trained all the neophyte seagulls who realized their potential to fly and not be sullied by people who thought different. This led to a revolution in the seagull community. For years, the act of flying around for fun and not for food hunt was severly condemned and anyone crossing the line would be abandoned. Johnathan took a step ahead in pursuit of his passion and brought a change that many would have just dreamt of.

Thus, Richard Bach tries to put forward some great learning through the life of seagull. We too have reservations in trying to be different and pursuing our dreams. We are scared and indecisive when it comes to doing something different. However, we should not be complacent with what comes our way but take a step ahead to create the life of our dreams. 

Confusion-o-nyms Part 2

Confusion-o-nyms – Part 2

1.       Emphasize on/Emphasis:

This differentiation is pretty simple to understand in common English usage.

One can place emphasis on something (This also means that one can emphasize it)

However,

You can’t emphasize on it or stress on it, though you can place stress on it.

2.       Subscribe to / Ascribe

If we agree to a maxim/statement/logic or idea, we subscribe to it. 

It is similar to subscribing to Playboy, if you are of the playful kinds J

On the other hand, if you ascribe a belief to someone, you are ‘attributing’ the belief to that person, perhaps wrongly. It may also be roughly understood as one acting on other’s behalf .

3.       Affluence / Effluence

Affluence (noun) is an outcome of wealth. Remember the latest remark from Tata on Ambani about his mansion in Mumbai?

Effluent is a word you would find in hospitals and in boy’s hostels. It means sewage.

4.       Paramount/Tantamount

Paramount is an adjective which is generally associated with the superlative forms. Paramount = more important than anything else, having supreme power etc.

Energy conservation is paramount in the modern era.

Tantamount, on the other hand is an adjective, means something that is equivalent in seriousness to something else. Or it is agonisingly close to the second object. I am sure you would have figured out that ‘tantamount’ as a word is very commonly used in artistic writing and indicating figures of speech like Simili and Metaphor etc.

Sachin Tendulkar is tantamount to God in cricket.

5.      Wangle/Wrangle/Haggle

Wangle means to obtain by unfair means or non civic methods.

Eg. ABC Ltd. wangled its way up the ladder.

Wrangle – Getting into a bellicose-ial argument.

ADAG and RIL are perpetually in wrangle mode.

Haggle – One of our strongest personal trait, bargaining!!

She haggled to get the best deal out of the vendor.

Few common usage tips:

1.   You always borrow money from a friend. Borrow off is desi usage and hence wrong from CAT perspective.

2.   When spoilt for a choice between using ‘like’ and ‘as’ in Sentence corrections, always prefer ‘as’. Like is considered slightly informal wrt ‘as’.

3.   When confused between ‘if’ and ‘whether’, remember whether always takes the case. IF and Whether are completely interchangeable. IF the sentence has a conditionality attached to it, use ‘if’ and not whether’ (Just like I used in this sentence. Whether would be preferred when we talk of alternatives If talks of conditionality.

4.   Politics is always used in a singular sense in grammar. People would be used in plural.

5.   Few correct usages of ‘as’

a.    Regarded as – never use regarded to be

b.    As long as…..

c.    Such answer as ….

d.   Dances as

Note that we will not use Like unless we are held on gunpoint with no answer options available.

6.   Compare to or Compare with : Compare to compares Unlike Things. Interestingly, it is used to stress similarities.

Compare with compares Like Things. Compare with has a very interesting usage as well. It can be used to show similarity as well as differences. Generally ‘differences’ go better with Compare with.

a.    His belief can be compared to the Atlantic.

b.    When compared with any other document, this report defies all logic.

Why don’t you try with these teasers? The most well written explanation goes on the blog.

a.    Will / Should

b.    Will / Would / Should

c.    Who / That / Which

d.   Everday / Every day

e.    Every One / Everyone

Cheers !!!!

Execution: The discipline of getting things done.

Reviewed by Siddharth Agarwal

A step walked is better than a mile talked. And taking this first step is what the book ‘Execution’ is all about. The authors Larry Bossidy, ex-CEO of Allied Signal, and Ram Charan, advisor to senior executives and directors of various companies, define execution as the discipline of getting things done, the one factor which makes all the difference between promising results and delivering them. 

Execution has always been considered as the tactical side of business, something that is non-sexy and hence delegated by the leaders so that they can focus on more strategic issues. But execution is not just tactics- it’s about discipline and as per the author it’s ‘the great unaddressed issue’ in the corporate world. Often we see companies led by smart and talented CEOs who are able to rope in the best consultants and yet fail because they could not deliver the results they promised. When these companies announce the shortfall, the investors dump their stocks and the market value is obliterated at the end of which usually the CEO is fired by the board or made to resign. While few other companies that are able to put to place an efficient and functioning system of execution result in behemoths like Wal-Mart, Dell and EDS. The misconception around execution being non intellectual is so ingrained in people’s minds that the authors devote an entire chapter to it named ‘The Gap Nobody Knows’ in which they brilliantly summarise all that is to follow in three simple commandments of Execution:

1.   Execution is a discipline, and integral to strategy.

2.   Execution is the major job of the business leader

3.   Execution must be a core element in the organization’s culture

            Larry and Ram suggest that the three core process form the heart of execution- the people process, the strategy process and the operations process and it’s the duty of the topmost leader to be involved in all the three. To impress this point, they provide enough examples of CEOs who either made or wrecked a company just by leveraging or neglecting their attention to execution. And any leader who is in charge or execution needs to have the seven qualities which the authors list out in the chapter ‘The Leader’s Seven Essential Behavior’. Ironically, not one quality on this list is something which cannot be found in every management book or leader’s self-help guide. But the difference brought out here by Larry and Ram is that they are able to convince you, sometimes by their own experiences, that these qualities can make the difference you want to see in your company’s annual result. They also put ample stress on the ‘soft stuff’, the beliefs and behavior of the people, the cultural change that creates and reinforces a discipline of execution and its because they believe that "Behaviors are beliefs turned into actions...They're where the rubber meets the road".

            The leaders are supposed to wear a lot of hats, but the one job he should not delegate is ‘having the right people in the right place’. If the right people are not in the right places, then it’s because of one of the following reasons: the leader’s lack of knowledge of his people, his lack of courage to take a decisive action on his people or his psychological comfort he feels with his people. In the long run, the predicament of having a wrong person in any place is that he is likely to pick more people like himself. Hence the organization needs to have people who are decisive, enthusiastic, can get things done through others and have a knack for following through.

            Having done with the qualities of the leader and the organization, the authors describe the three core process of execution and how they link with each other in great detail They provide some valuable suggestions on how to track the progress made during the process of execution and how to use it to make important decisions with a special mention on ‘How to conduct a strategy review’. The authors close with a letter to a fictional new leader, Jane, from the CEOs Larry and Ram. This letter can be understood as what a CEO might want from a leader in his organization and how he wants her to contribute and improve the existing processes. Both the authors, via this book containing their understanding of the process of execution, their invaluable experiences and suggestions are able to bring home the point that just getting something done by choosing the path of least resistance is as wrong as doing nothing on the pretext of patience and strategy. You will always have to find the way to get the best results in the most efficient manner given the present conditions and constraints.  And to make sure to keep doing it consistently you will need to follow the discipline of execution.

Confusion-o-nyms

Confusion-o-nyms

After the stir in the classroom with certain irregular usages in Grammar, this is a humble attempt to categorize some of the most popular confusables.  Though this list may go on and on, this is a start to categorise some of the most notorious and commonly tested words/usages. I hope to add more words, time permitting, in days/weeks to come. Here it goes:

1: Apprise / Appraise

Apprise : This is a verb and is used with an object. It means to inform, to advise( and not advice), to give/bring to the notice of.

You were expected to apprise me of the cancelled class.

Appraise:  This is a verb and is used with an object. It means to determine the worth of( remember your ‘appraisal meetings’ with your managers J)

My boss appraised me with a rating of 2.

The officer appraised the property to be worth 2 crores.

2: Lay / Lie

Lay: This is a verb and is used with an object. ( verb form: laid, laying)

www.dictionary.com identifies 24 meanings to the word !! We would identify the most common ones and how is ‘lay’ different from ‘lie’

Lay means to put in a horizontal position of rest( like when you sleep).

It may also mean to knock down. The blast laid him low.

Common usages: lay bricks, lay hands upon sth,  etc.

Lie: can be used as a verb and a noun

Lie means a false statement. The ones used in generic reasoning based questions on True/False conditions refer to this ‘lie’. Lie, however, also has a unique reaction when it is used in the present tense. In a sentence, if the subject is acting on another object, you should use lay.

Lay down the gun that you are holding. Or, Lay down the pen that you are holding. Here the subject( “you”) is acting on the gun and the pen respectively.

If, however, the subject doing something on his/her own, prefer Lay.

The doctor asked the patient to lie down. I lay down on doctor’s advice.

3. Majority is/are

This is a classic example from the plethora of words that can be either singular or plural, depending on the context of the sentence( Did I hear groans?).

In the sentence, if the idea conveyed talks about a group of individuals, then the verb would be rather plural.

The majority of the players are not satisfied with the unhygienic conditions at the sports village.

However, if the idea talks of a collective group, then the rule that applies for collective noun applies here as well. Remember, collective nouns are always singular. Therefore, the sentence would be:

A 50% majority is mandatory for a bill to be passed in the parliament.

4. Substitute for/with

You may substitute Virat Kohli for Virendar Sehwag in the Indian squad for the West Indies tour. Many students erroneously use ‘substitute with’ instead. This may, perhaps, be influenced by a closely related expression ‘replace with’.

When we use replace- it is replace with

When we use substitute- it is substitute for

5. Continuous / continual

Continuous is used as an adjective. This means without interruptions.

Continual is also an adjective that means constantly of frequently occurring.

Continuous and continual can both roughly mean ‘without interruption’ ( three months of continuous/continual effort), but continuous is much more prominent in this sense and can be used to refer to space as well as time as in the development forms a continuous line along the coast.

Continual, on the other hand, generally means happening frequently, with intervals in between, as in the bus service has been disrupted by continual breakdowns.

6. Disinterested / Uninterested

Disinterested is an adjective that simply means impartial or not influenced by concerns of personal gains or advantage, ala, conflict of interest or office for profit fame.

Uninterested, on the other hand, means one who is not interested or concerned or bothered.

The difference between the words is thus. According to the Oxford dictionary and the traditional guidelines, disinterested should only be used to mean ‘impartial’ and should not be used to mean ‘not interested’, or as a synonym for uninterested.

In fact, the earliest recorded sense of disinterested is for the disputed sense and it is in wide use today. However, it could be avoided in careful writing.

The judge should be disinterested in the case.

The student looked uninterested in the experiment. 

More of it later. 
Image credit: allkidsnetwork.com

The Mc Kinsey Way

Contributed by Vivek Pandey.

The McKinsey Way is a book written by Ethan M. Rasiel who worked at the company, McKinsey &

Company, from 1989 to 1992. The book is about the techniques that are used at the world’s top

strategic consulting firm and how one can learn and implement these techniques at one’s business

or workplace.

The book is well crafted, divided into different parts, to offer the reader an insight into the minds

and work-culture of McKinsey-ites.

He starts by giving brief idea of how McKinsey looks at and then thinks about a business problem.

While doing this, he also gives emphasis to the 80-20 rule and encourages readers to look for those

20s that are causing the 80s. He also gives a lot of tips to live by.

‘The Elevator Test’ is one of the most precise and worthy tests, according to the author, to be carried

out by anyone before a presentation to a client about the solution that one proposes for the client’s

business problem. According to it, one’s solution to a business problem should have a version which

one can tell anyone in less than 30 seconds, while going to the ground floor in an elevator.

He also explains why a problem is not always the actual problem. It may just be a manifestation of

the side effects of a bigger and unknown problem. So as a strategic consultant one must always look

for the actual problem, even though the client may have no idea about the actual problem.

The author also gives s a lot of emphasis to interviewing, brainstorming and ‘pre-wiring of

presentations’. He also offers a lot of techniques to make things highly effective.

Interviewing, he explains, is one of the most important parts. A consultant, always, is in need of

information that can be useful to him in solving the problem. It’s important to make the interviewee

comfortable and, as he says, not to ‘strip him/her naked’. Paraphrasing is always very useful, as is

asking open-ended questions.

At McKinsey, which is a knowledge based company, brainstorming is of paramount importance.

For brainstorming sessions, he writes, one should always come without any predispositions but

not without doing one’s research about the problem issue. Even the one on the lowest rung of the

hierarchy can come up with the most valuable opinion or idea.

The author also gives a lot of importance to ‘not throwing any surprises at others’. For that, it’s

important that before a client presentation, one must visit the concerned quarters of the client that

matter and brief them about the solution. This makes sure that the presentation remains as just a

formal performance and that the concerned people on the client side are in sync with the solution.

McKinsey is one of the world’s most revered, sought after and successful strategic consulting

firms. ‘The McKinsey Way’ is a sneak peek into the closely guarded techniques of this iconic

company, that one can use not only in the job of a consultant but also in any of the problems one

faces in one’s business.

To kill a MockingBird- Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird

The book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, is a beautiful narration of the prejudice and bigotry seen among the people of Southern America in the mid 1900s.

The story depicts the adventurous life of the narrator Jean Louise Finch, better known as ‘Scout’, along with her brother Jem and friend Dill. Scout lives in Maycomb County, Alabama. Scout, Jem and Dill are fascinated about the house next door and its occupants “The Radleys”. They come up with many plans and tricks to make Arthur (Boo) Radley come out of his house but all their efforts go in vain.

The most captivating part of the book comes when Scout’s father Atticus, a lawyer, gets a case to fight for a black, Tom Robinson. It becomes the most anticipated case for the denizens because of its two opponents, a Black and a White. It was because of the prejudiced view that the people in the south differentiated each other on the basis of their skin. Tom was falsely accused of taking advantage of a white girl but still the verdict was very clear even before the start of the trial. Racial discrimination and false allegations caused a lot of hysteria among the people. Atticus, the only ray of hope, tried his level best to make the people and the jury aware of the truth. Unfortunately, his efforts are dwarfed because of the blind faith of people on Whites.

In one of the chapters, the author tries to convey to the readers, that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds are harmless creatures that do nothing but sing for our enjoyment. The book tells us about Scout and Jem’s childhood and how a series of events shook their innocence and shaped their character. They learnt that even good people suffered injustice.

This is an interesting and powerful book portraying the extreme prejudice that existed in the south at that time. It shows how the justice can be altered because of racism. Somewhere or the other, social discrimination is still effective in our legal system today. It is upon us to act wisely or ill-advisedly.


Contributed by Sneha Jain

Dork : The incredible adventures of Robert Einstein

Sidin Vadukut is a very familiar name for me since I am a regular reader of online newspaper ‘Mint’. I was quite excited when I heard that he had launched his first book of his much anticipated ’Dork’ trilogy. The book titled ‘Dork, The Incredible Adventures of Robert Einstein Varghese’ priced at Rs.199/- was a safe bet as well. Skimming through the pages of the book, I found the narrative simple yet striking.

The story begins from the hallowed portals of one of the most prestigious B schools in the nation, IIMA (WIMWI). Robert is an academically gifted young man. The story of the book is a collection of personal diary entries of Robert. ‘Dorm’ names are very common at IIMA. Robert’s classmates nicknamed him as Einstein. Robert always dreamt of a prestigious consultancy job in MNC’s like McKinsey Corp, JP Morgan
Chase, and Deloitte etc. But, unfortunately none of these companies considered our poor old soul ‘Robert’ for their Management Trainee positions. Finally, Robert lands up with ‘Dufrense Partners’, a mediocre, mid-market management consultancy firm largely run by complete morons.

The story continues at a swift pace and Robert moves to Mumbai to join Dufrense partners. Soon, he finds himself completely out of the place in the firm, Robert was stunned to find how Dufrense cheated its clients by providing them information available easily (sources such as Google, Wikipedia etc). His dreams were completely shattered and he despised his seniors at ‘Dufrense’. Moreover, Robert also has a short term goal
of being promoted to Associate in under an year and beat the record set by someone from ‘Dufrense’ Vietnam office.

Robert is also concerned about his one sided affair with his gorgeous classmate ‘Gauri’. He adores Gauri but couldn’t express his love for her. Robert has a serious problem when it comes to women. He eyes every woman with lustful eyes and dubious intentions whenever and wherever he encounters them at different phases of life.

Robert gets utterly frustrated and gets drunk in one of the so called business meetings. In a drunken state, he blabbers the truth about Dufrense and its policies. The audio clip was aired on CNBC TV and he became an overnight celebrity in the field of management consultancy. The CEO of ‘Dufrense’ realizes his mistakes and promotes Robert ahead of others. Finally, a television interview of Robert regarding the future of management
consultancy will force you to laugh out loud.

The humour is of a different kind and sarcasm is superb. ‘Dork’ is a hilarious story of Robert Einstein Varghese, a super dork (American slang for fool) and an unlikely corporate hero. He is an inspiration for all of us who ever sat depressed in our cubicles and thought of our jobs as monotonous and routine. ‘Dork’ is like a whiff of fresh air. Read the book and have your fair share of fun!!!!!

ARUN MISHRA

3 MISTAKES OF MY LIFE

Chetan Bhagat’s book title ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ talks about an ambitious businessman. The plot has been developed as a combination of author’s personal experiences and the present scenarios.

As you turn the pages of the book, you can very well imagine the picture of Business, Cricket and Religion in India. Govind, the main character, with his two friends steer their lives through the time when business was tough, cricket was religion and religion was a game in The book gives you an insight about entrepreneurship in an Indian town. Also motivates to inspire you for your dreams in life. It also reminds you of the unfortunate incidents in the past where in religion has been used as a vote gathering tool in politics. Though the story is about three friends and their struggle, it very well keeps you engrossed with fun and entertainment in their lives. Any youth can connect some part of his life to the life of three The title comes from the mistakes committed by the main character Govind. The story also makes you think dos and don’ts in friendship, business and religion. The best part about Chetan Bhagat’s books is they are very easy to connect with one’s own life. While reading the book you can feel as if you are watching a movie.

Like any other book from the author, this book also has love and sex to add spice to your reading. It is commendable how the author mixes and matches all the ingredients required for a pleasant and enjoyable course through his book.

The chapters in the book are like episodes in a melodrama that doesn’t force you to leave the book. In all ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ is a light reading text with some useful teachings

- Deepak Bedi

Go-Kiss the world

Submitted by Arun Mishra.

On my last visit to Crossword in Pune, I was quite apprehensive regarding buying a book on Management lessons. Most of the Management books I have come across so far have either been full of boring theories or clichéd ideas. Maneuvering through the piles of books, I finally picked up “Go kiss the World” by Subroto Bagchi. The cover was impressive. But, remember the golden rule “Never judge a book by its cover”.

I skimmed through the first few pages for a while. The book was more of a professional biography of Subroto Bagchi, one of the founders of MindTree Consulting. I was actually captivated by the narrative of how Mr.Bagchi climbed the ladder of success and co founded MindTree in spite of being born and brought up in one of the remotest districts and towns of Orissa. The childhood account of Mr.Bagchi is worth reading.Mr.Bagchi’s father was a Govt Servant and his job was gallivanting from one district to another for the sake of his job. Hats off to the values and ideals he had inculcated in all his children right from the childhood. Subroto’s mother was a brave lady who meticulously built hearth for the family wherever they went and took good care of her children even during such odd situations.

Subroto describes how minor lessons of modesty, humility and honesty he learnt during his unprivileged childhood helped him throughout his life. From his childhood, he takes us to his first recognized job as a Management Trainee at DCM. I just couldn’t believe that a person who started his career with a garment unit could establish a company like MindTree. His story is one of sheer handwork, integrity and commitment to his work. He unravels the lessons he had learnt at various places from DCM to his sales job at HCL and finally his stint at Wipro.

Subroto utilizes and spends resources and wealth in most frugal manner as possible. He shows us the way business should be done and redefines Business Ethics in a completely different perspective. He talks about being honest and developing networks which helped him a lot when he finally decided to start his own business after quitting his job from WIPRO. Finally, he takes us on a ride of his entrepreneurial ambitions
where he co founded a company based on values of integrity, honesty and scruples. He gives us an ideal example of how someone from a very modest background and humble beginning could also rise up to become an entrepreneur in our modern India which has clearly marched ahead of major Western countries in terms of the rate of growth and development.

MindTree Consulting is a product of IT Revolution which started in our country in late 90’s and has helped us to surge ahead with an annual turnover of around 60 billion$. Go, kiss the World is a must read for Business Managers, Young Professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and students aiming high in their lives. So, what are you waiting for? Go, grab your copy now and kiss the world without thinking anything else!!!!!!

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie- An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson.
Author: Mitch Albom
Reviewed by: Preeti Dave

Tuesdays with Morrie is a book which beautifully depicts the relationship between a teacher and a
student. It tells what teaching can be beyond the textbook teachings, in real terms. It teaches us the
values and the true ways of living life.


The story revolves around 2 people: Morrie, the teacher, or the coach, as named by his student, Mitch.
Morrie used to Mitch in Mitch’s graduation. They were at very good terms with each other during
college. But, they lost contact after Mitch passed out from the college. Morrie was a very lively person.
He was always engaged in some sort of activities like dancing, singing, and teaching. He just did not sit
idle anytime. But, suddenly at the age of around 70, he was trapped in a disease called ALS(Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis) wherein the person’s body parts stop functioning one by one. Mitch was busy in his
own life until the day when Morrie was interviewed by a TV producer. Mitch was taken aback when he
heard Morrie was going to die soon. He decided to visit Morrie.

Then started Mitch’s visits to Morrie. Morrie’s legs had stopped working. He was using a wheelchair.
Morrie was very happy to see Mitch and then the teaching sessions started. They used to sit together
every Tuesday. Morrie discussed everything starting from life, money, love, trust, forgiveness and finally
death.

The obvious thing that could be seen was that though Morrie could see his death around him, he
wanted to enjoy life to the fullest. Many people used to visit him. He preferred listening to them, to
their sorrows instead of telling his own (though his were of greater intensity). He talked about love. How
important is it to love and to be loved. He also talked about forgiveness. It is more important to forgive
yourself than to forgive others. Morrie talked about detaching oneself from the other things which are
not going to be eternal. Instead, if you want to get out of something, just go deep into it and then think
that ‘yes’ I can come out of it. It is far better than the fear of not feeling things, and is of course a source
of immense joy.

He also talked about money. One should not run for money and overlook other things, as it is not money
but love and care what makes you as a person on a whole.

And finally they talked about Death. Morrie told Mitch how he feels when he cannot even do the basic
things on his own. He was dependent for each and every thing. However, he was enjoying that too. He
compared the feeling of being dependent to the way a small child is also dependent. He started living
life as that of a small kid all over again. He just wanted to live each and every breath he took to the
fullest and wanted Mitch also to live life the way he did so that his life gets a meaning to it. So they had
discussions on this for hours every Tuesday.

And finally one day Morrie goes away but leaves behind a meaning to his life so that everybody
remembers him in a good sense and so did they.

The one line which touches our soul is “If you learn how to die, you learn how to live”. It is a beautiful
book which, if interpreted in a correct way, teaches us to be optimistic, to be a good listener always, to
forgive and love others, to culture ourselves, in short, to LIVE LIFE.