The Tomato Test: Why Smart Shoppers Think Beyond Price

While shopping in a supermarket, you’re torn between two trays of tomatoes: one at ₹40 and another labeled "Organic Premium" at ₹90.  That price difference tests your understanding of cost, price, and value behind every purchase, whether it’s groceries or a dream apartment.

The Trinity of Smart Buying

🇨🇷 Cost – What the seller invests in:  

> Production, manufacturing, or services  

> Transport, storage, and distribution  

> Agency or middleman commissions

🇨🇷 Price – What you pay:  

> Cost + business overheads (rent, staff, etc.)  

> Government taxes, duties, and levies  

> Premium markups (Often empty hype)

🇨🇷 Value – Why you buy:  

✅ Trust in quality and benefits  

✅ Personal priorities and desires  

✅ Brand perception and packaging appeal

The Hidden Reality

That "organic" tomato might cost ₹10 more to grow, but the ₹50 premium you pay is often for the story.  Now scale this to that ₹2-crore apartment you’re eyeing.  Its actual cost may be under ₹1 crore. The rest?  

🗑️ EMIs that double your payout  

🗑️ Never-ending maintenance costs  

🗑️ Taxes and illiquidity traps

Emotions can hijack logic, and your wallet!  'Luxury labels' inflate perceived value, and beg the question: Are you buying an asset or a long-term liability?

The Golden Rule

Spend more only when:

✓ Your needs are genuine, not status-driven desires

✓ The quality difference is measurable and real

✓ The long-term benefits justify premium payout

✓ You’ve considered opportunity costs - what else could this money achieve?  

Next time you shop, ask: 

Does this purchase enrich me life or saddle me with debt?  

📖 Want to read this content in another language?  

Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Want to listen to audio podcast versions? Click below:

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." 

— Warren Buffett  

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

The Power and Peril of Rage

Anger is primal - an instinct rooted in survival.  In a flash, reason can give way to fury, turning vision red and thoughts reckless.  But in today’s world, unchecked rage often harms more than it helps. 

So Why Do We Get Angry?

We often lash out when we feel:

😡 Powerless  in the face of fear or insecurity

😡 Denied something we believe, we deserve

😡 Disrespected, cheated, or ignored

😡 Frustrated by repeated failures

😡 Overwhelmed and emotionally drained

How Do We Express Anger?

Anger wears many faces - some loud, some silent:

👹 Trolling behind screens

👹 Road rage

👹 Vindictive acts, domestic violence, false FIRs

👹 Silent treatment and emotional withdrawal

👹 Self-harm or suicide, when pain turns inward

Whether explosive or suppressed, unmanaged anger always leaves a mark.

How to Defuse Anger?

😌 Pause – Count to ten before reacting

😌 Reframe – Is your response proportional?

😌 Release – Breathe, move away from the scene 

😌 Speak wisely – Use “I feel…” statements

😌 Let go – Accept what’s beyond your control

Mastering anger begins with noticing its early signs - tight fists, shallow breath, or racing thoughts.  That awareness gives us space to choose our response.

Anger isn’t always destructive.  When channeled right, it can fuel justice, and spark change.  True strength lies in using anger, not being used by it.

📖 Want to read this content in another language?  

Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Want to listen to audio podcast versions?

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."   —   Ambrose Bierce

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

If Only We Listened…

A marriage counsellor once asked a quarreling couple: 
“Can you repeat what your partner just said?”  Neither could.  The realization was stark.  They had lived together for years without truly hearing each other.

This isn’t just their story—it’s ours too.  In today’s noisy world, real listening is disappearing.  Conversations are turning into competitions. 

Here’s the quiet crisis:

🚫 What’s said ≠ What’s heard

🚫 What’s heard ≠ What’s understood

🚫 What’s understood ≠ What’s accepted

(symbol ≠ means the "not equal to)

Why don’t we listen?

👎🏿We're too busy framing our response

👎🏿We hear, but miss the meaning

👎🏿We want to sound clever, not connect

The price we pay:

🏷️ Relationships crack when people feel unheard

🏷️ Society polarizes when dialogue becomes debate

🏷️ Growth stalls when we stop engaging deeply

How to bring back real listening:

🤐 Mute your inner voice. Focus fully

👂🏿 Listen to understand, not to reply

❓ Ask, “What do you mean?” instead of assuming

🤫 Let silence deepen connection

Want to make a difference?

As Stephen Covey said:  “Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand.”  

The antidote is simple:   

Close your mouth.  Open your mind.  Listen - not just to words, but to the heartbeat behind those words.

📖 Want to read this content in another language?  

Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Want to listen to audio podcast versions?

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”    — Bryant H. McGill

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

Caught In the Crosshairs: Fake News & Fake People

“Comparing Imperialism to Nazism is like asking a fish whether it prefers to be fried in margarine or butter!”, said V K Krishna Menon once.  Likewise, choosing between fake news and fake people is futile.  Both manipulate, deceive, and divide. 

This post follows my earlier one on Fake News - Click to read: Part-1 and Part-2.  But here, I go one step further.  Because fake news doesn’t spread on its own.  It takes fake people to create it, amplify it, and make it believable.

Fake news spreads fear and confusion.  Fake people fuel conspiracy and chaos.  Together, they wreck our sense of reality.  Watch for these 12 signs to spot them early:

▶️Hypocrisy: Preaching truth, practising lies.

▶️Selfishness: It’s always about them.

▶️Pretense: Faking expertise to mask agendas.

▶️Inconsistency: Tailoring stories for every room.

▶️Love-bombing: Over-the-top affection to gain control.

▶️False roles: Playing victim or hero to shift blame.

▶️No accountability: Always someone else’s fault.

▶️Manipulative charm: Using charisma as camouflage.

▶️Lack of empathy: Profiting from others' pain.

▶️Digital deception: Fake profiles, real damage.

▶️Plausible deniability: Staying vague to avoid guilt.

▶️Eroding trust: Undermining faith in people / institutions.

From morphed photos to feel-good stories, deception wears a friendly face.  Repeated enough, even fiction begins to feel like fact.  Fake people thrive in such blurred spaces.  Spotting a lie is easy, but spotting the liar is trickier.  The fix?  Stay curious.  Verify before you share.  And trust your gut. 

Have you met a fake person?  Share your story below.  Let’s clean up our information space and rebuild trust together!

📖Want to read this content in another language?  

Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Want to listen to audio podcast versions?

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” – Mark Twain

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

Fake News: Spot It Before Sharing (2)

[Click here for Part 1]

Welcome back!  Wondering how to spot fake news?  These 10 simple signs will help.  Don’t let misinformation go viral because of you!

Poor Language:  “New taxplayer rules. Follow or face actions!”  Sloppy grammar, spelling or phrasing screams 'fake'.  Trusted news is polished.

Too Good to Be True:  “Tomatoes cure diabetes!”  COVID sparked “miracle cures” like cow urine, often harmful.  Real solutions aren’t simple.

Unseen Sources:  “Govt waives farmer loans!” A 2023 viral claim had no official source.  No proof?  Trust your doubts.

Unverified Claims:  “Experts say 5G spreads COVID.”  Which experts?  No data?  Demand proof.

Emotional Triggers:  “Child traffickers in your city!”  Fake forwards sparked lynchings in 2017.  Real news informs, not incites.

Recycled Stories:  “Lion mauls tourist in Gir Forest!”  A 2023 post reused a 2015 Thailand image.  Check dates.

Morphed Images:  “Free rice scheme” poster in 2023.  Google Lens revealed a fake, altered image.  Verify visuals.

Clickbait Urgency:  “Onion prices hit ₹200/kg!”  A 2022 post urged instant sharing.  Later debunked as outdated.  Urgency means fake.

Common Sense Test:  “Chips in Rs 2000 notes track you!”  Does it sound practical?  Don't be gullible! 

Partisan Bias:  "Detergent in milk. Boycott now."   Before you believe, search ‘FSSAI + [brand name]’.  Seek facts, not rants.

Final Tip:  Read between the lines.  Spot agendas.  Use Alt News, Boom, or Snopes to fact-check.  Don’t get fooled!  

Want to read this content in another language?  Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Listen to podcast versions:

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

News is sacred. Views are venomous.

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

Fond of Fake News? Find Them Irresistible? (Part 1)

We’d never buy a car without a test drive.  Then, why are we “buying” news without checking it first?  Let's explore:

🕶️ THE SKIMMING SYNDROME

Most of us just glance at headlines.  A Reuters study (2018) says 60% read, only headlines - yet 80% feel, "informed." We treat news like background noise.

⏰ THE SPEED TRAP

Fake news travels 70% faster than real news (MIT, 2018).  We share it quickly because we are excited.  Our fingers move faster than our brains.

🧠 THE EMOTIONAL OVERRIDE

Logic takes a backseat when emotions kick in.  Claims "too good to be true", spread 4× faster (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2023).  The brain loves a quick thrill - and skips checking facts.

🔍 THE VERIFICATION VACUUM

Only 12% of us check sources before sharing (Columbia University, 2022).  It's speed over accuracy.  Be first, rather than right. 

📯 EAGER FOR CREDIBILITY

If a post agrees with what we believe, we’re 4× more likely to share it (Nature Human Behaviour, 2023).  We want to feel right, even if we’re wrong.

🌊 THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Each share, boosts fake news' perceived credibility (PNAS 2018, Social Amplification Study).  We are less critical of friends’ posts, and no questions - we just forward them.

 

THE 10-SECOND SOLUTION

Ask, before sharing: "Do I care more about,  being right or feeling right?  Am I informing or misleading?"  Hold for at least 10 seconds.  Remember, our duty is always to -  Stay responsible. Spread truth.

Wait for upcoming Part 2: "Spot It Before You Share It"

Want this content in another language?  Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Listen to podcast versions:

🔗 English      🔗 Malayalam

"In this world of speed, truth takes the stairs, while lies take the lift."

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills       

Books: Your Next Chapter Begins Here

In a world ruled by screens and scrolls, reading habit is becoming rare.  Many of us associate, reading with textbooks, exams, and grades.  But what if reading is something else - something we can enjoy anywhere, anytime?

My 4-part blog series explored reading not as a task, but as a source of joy. Books open up worlds of imagination and insight—and they grow with us. 

(Click for Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 and Part 4)  

The best part?  There are no rules. Read in any format you like.  Choose any genre that interest you.  Skip pages.  Drop books that don’t connect.  You don’t have to finish every book, or stick to serious stuff.  Just begin—even 5 pages a day is enough.

The series targeted the hesitant reader, the busy adults, and those who've never touched a book beyond school.  Books aren't burdens.  They're bridges to fresh thoughts and better version of yourself. 

Want this content in another language?  Use the "Translate/Select Language" tool in the sidebar. ↗️

🎧Listen to podcast versions:

🔗 English        🔗 Malayalam

Let this be your moment. Pick up a book today. 

As Jim Rohn said:

"Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary." - Jim Rohn

Click here to read about Work-Life Balance

Click here to read about Cognitive Skills