An inspiring lesson from Life of Pi February 23, 2013
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Uncategorized.Tags: Hollywood, Life of Pi, Movie Review
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So I finally got to watch Life of Pi last week and to say I loved it is an understatement. Life of Pi is a beautiful story – a visual adventure replete with rich fantasy and poignant moments. Suraj Sharma gives a fabulous performance as the young Pi. But most importantly, I was wonder struck and hugely inspired by a very powerful theme in the movie – the ability to create a silver lining out of a cloud. The saying ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ is well-known. But no one knows if every cloud comes naturally with a silver lining or if it only lies in the eyes of the beholder. The movie starts off with the young Piscine coming up with an ingenious way to stop his classmates from calling him ‘pissing’ – he rebrands himself as Pi. This watershed incident then goes on to set the narrative of the whole movie. The adult Pi introduces the characters of the tiger, hyena, orangutan and zebra in the lifeboat replacing the more painful, tragic human characters. In the process, he creates a better story for himself and for the viewer. I wonder if a pinch of Pi in all of us would make life and living more worthwhile. The ability to use imagination, ingenuity and fantasy to create a silver lining in the cloud of every adversity should surely make life more beautiful. And in the process, create better stories and inspiring journeys.
Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?
Writer: The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.
Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.
Writer: [smiles] It’s an amazing story.
Time to break the radio silence – I’m back! February 22, 2013
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Uncategorized.Tags: Blogging, Hiatus, Social Media
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There has been an eardrum-shattering radio silence on this blog and the reasons have been aplenty. For starters, I’ve been hugely active on Twitter (I know, just another silly excuse). I’ve spent 2 years with one of the best social media agencies in Dubai (Omnicom) working on one of the world’s biggest brands on social media (PepsiCo) – learning a lot in the process and evolving from an ‘ad creative guy’ to a ‘media and community strategy person’. I’ve been fueling my passion for aviation, traveling around the world and most importantly, working towards my dream job – a communications role in the airline industry, which finally bore fruit in September 2012. w00t!
I now work for Emirates Airline in an exciting social media role. I’ll be hitting 6 months with them in a few days and am very pleased with the journey that has taken me this far.
An airline job has been my dream for my years and something that I have worked towards since I started my first job in 2005. It’s amazing to be in a role where your passions meet – it doesn’t feel like ‘work’. Being surrounded by the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s works wonders for one’s #avgeek soul. That said, there are challenges galore and expectations to meet, which is fair, square and deal.
I’m hoping to blog more often – especially as this blog has helped tremendously in my growth as a person and professional. I get very encouraging comments on my best post on this blog – How to know your Airbus from Boeing and I believe that my blog and your support will take me miles ahead on my journey to learn and share. Happy reading! Happy flying!
Arun Rajagopal 