Listening more than speaking,
Speaking more than enduring,
Serving more than leading,
Leading more than following.

Being more than having,
Becoming more than being,
Loving more than possessing,
Giving more than hoarding.

Bending more than breaking,
Releasing more than controlling,
Nurturing more than humiliating,
Encouraging more than criticizing.

Inviting more than forcing,
Forgiving more than hating,
Uniting more than excluding,
Linking more than separating.

Confronting more than running,
Risking more than fearing,
Savouring more than devouring,
Conserving more than destroying.

Learning more than copying,
Sharing more than repressing,
Respecting more than dismissing,
Rectifying more than retaliating.

Imagining more than resigning,
Realizing more than imagining,
Hoping more than despairing,
Acting more than hoping.

Accepting more than regretting,
Celebrating more than accepting,
Rejoicing more than complaining,
Thanking more than demanding.

Congratulating more than envying,
Laughing more than lamenting,
Calming more than angering,
Trusting more than withholding.

Attending more than sleeping,
Engaging more than attending,
Persisting more than overpowering,
Aligning more than scattering.

Harmonizing more than obsessing,
Balancing more than magnifying,
Cooperating more than competing
Meditating more than winning.

Transcending more than suffering,
Suffering more than postponing,
Simplifying more than mystifying,
Completing more than stalling.

Illuminating more than ritualizing,
Emancipation more than enslaving,
Developing more than exploiting,
Empowering more than protecting.

A few weeks ago, a very interesting essay hit the headlines. Authored by Yasheng Huang and
Tarun Khanna, I had, like many other India and China watchers, eluded to it in an earlier posting. The essay essentially argued India will surge ahead on the back of democracy and the institutions it has built over the years. Quite honestly, the theory is one I subscribe to. Over the weekend, however, I read another very interesting counter argument in Businessworld. Authored by Jehangir Pocha, a journalist of Indian origin based out of Beijing, Pocha has argued that India's isolation from the great wars and revolutions of the 20th century meant that much of the thinking that ossified Indian society in earlier centuries exists even in this one. India knows what it has to do; but not how to overcome the age-old obstacles to do it. Click here for the full essay.

A couple of years ago, I got interested in the economics of oil while on an assignment for The Financial Express. What started off as a passing interest has over the years evolved into a fascination for the Middle East -- Saudi Arabia in particular. What an amazing part of the world this is! The interplay in a society grappling with modernity on the one hand and deeply conservative religious beliefs on the other hand is, to say the least, amazing. I believe the upheavals Saudi Arabia is going through now will impact each one of us, wherever we are. Which is why, Robert Baer's article on The House of Saud makes for mandatory reading. First
published in The Atlantic Monthly, it forms the crux for Baer's Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude. There's an equally interesting interview with the writer on the book and the future of Saudi Arabia on Salon.