The crazy busy period continues with 4 days of travel this week (and the week after this too...). I'm missing home!

And maybe as a sign that I'm growing old, at different points of time in this week, I forgot:

My phone charger at a client location (got it sent by WeFast to a relative in the city)
My hot water flast in a taxi (asked the poor guy to come back)
To add my signatures in a training agreement document to be sent to a client (managed to call the Porter guy back and affix the signatures)
My wallet in a printout-xerox store (the lovely people at the shop had kept it safely for me)

Even as I was marvelling at the seemingly rapid decline in my ability to take care of my stuff, I was deeply thankful to the good people I encountered who managed to keep it safe and return it to me. Even as I was screwing up, someone out there was taking care of me!

And now, on to the newsletter.

Welcome to the ninety-third edition of '3-2-1 by Story Rules'.

A newsletter recommending good examples of storytelling across:

3 tweets
2 articles, and
1 long-form content piece

Let's dive in.

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

Trust Tim Urban to give the biggest-picture perspective on immigration!

Another one on perspective - turns out this edition is a perspective-special! Life is actually not so bad folks!

(Check out the whole thread by Deedy)

I agree - we can't let some shortcomings of LLMs prevent us from using their fabulous advantages.

📄 2 Articles of the week

a. Sam Parr on the ability to form a narrative (post on X)

I could not agree more with Sam Parr when he begins his tweet-post with these words:

This is really hard and rare, but looks easy. And it likely the most impactful skill ever: the ability to consume info, retain it, and then form a persuasive opinion + narrative around the info.

He uses the example of the brilliant storyteller, Prof. Scott Galloway (Prof G), who made a provocative point in a podcast:

The biggest innovation in history isn't the smart phone, its the American middle class.

Sam's point is that you may agree or disagree with Prof G - but you have to give him credit for having an interesting, thought-provoking point of view.

Sam concludes with an ode to the art of persuasion

What I’m saying is that:

- actively consuming info

- connecting the dots

- knowing what’s important

- being able to recall that info

- and then forming those points into a cohesive argument and opinion

…that’s HARD.

And to express it eloquently, very hard.

But its a very powerful thing because it makes you the ultimate persuasion machine. Which is arguably the most impactful skill any human can have.

Amen to that!

b. 'Why are we so tired all the time?' by Utsav Mamoria

One more lovely article from the Clear Writing Community group that I'm a part of - this one is from travel writer and creator, Utsav Mamoria.

He does a great job of capturing the existential angst felt by many mid-career corporate professionals. Such lovely use of 'show, don't tell' here with the concrete, visual details:

You’re probably reading this sitting in mind-numbing traffic, which has come to define living in metropolitan India. Or during a workday at a job that gives you no joy or sense of fulfilment. You may have discovered this while scrolling through the many WhatsApp groups you’re a part of.

Your mind has started to drift already. The Swiggy IPO happened, and 5000 people became crorepatis. Your thoughts drift to your portfolio, which has seen some wild swings this year. You open your investments app to check the returns on your long-term wealth-building SIPs. You just checked it yesterday, and your rational self knows nothing changes daily. And yet, you do it anyway...

After the eloquent description, Utsav gives the feeling a name:

If you’re still here with me, I know why. Because a variation of this script is your current life.

You, the Indian Millenial, are living through The Great Squeeze.

Utsav then shares a thought-provoking insight - many millennial professionals are trying to support three generations - at high levels of desire:

Economically, we are forced to build wealth for three generations.

First, for our parents, for they had such little avenues to make money, and whatever they had, they spent on either unwise real estate deals, lost it to family property disputes or invested it in your future. They are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy.

For our children, as they are growing up in a world that is increasingly hard to comprehend - Right from political turmoil to climate change to the rising cost of essentials. You feel pressured to send your child abroad for their ~~bachelor’s~~ undergrad degree, and that costs a pretty penny. And if you have two kids in this economy, I sincerely hope you have ESOPs of companies going public soon.

And lastly, for yourself. Unwilling retirement for the Professional-Managerial Class (PMC) is becoming a thing, which means you may have limited years of stable salaried income. You’ve escaped the money trap your parents were stuck in, but have created a Desire Trap for yourself.

These are tough challenges to navigate, especially from a mental strain point of view. And many millennials are having to do it without strong support from home or the workplace.

Utsav then shares three ideas on how to cope and shares them with evocative personal examples of how he himself is navigating these choppy seas.

He concludes with an appeal to do something, even if it is a small step:

All worthwhile things in life seem like grand endeavours, to be undertaken when the time is right, resources are at hand, and you are in your best mental state. You can paint a picture of success, and have a clear path to get there.

However, we are often sitting at the starting line, dreaming of our amazing ideal future selves.

What we need to do is:

Take the smallest possible next step.

Make it ridiculously small.

So tiny that it is impossible to NOT do it.

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

a. 'The Forces That Shaped Hinduism' - on 'The Seen and the Unseen' podcast with Amit Varma, featuring Manu Pillai

Of all the wonderful episodes I've heard on 'The Seen and the Unseen', this one with historian Manu Pillai has been the most fascinating.

In his new book, 'Gods Guns & Missionaries: The Making Of The Modern Hindu Identity' Manu attempts a grand ambitious project - of telling the story of modern Hinduism in India, especially through the colonial period.

In a book that covers several centuries of history, Manu explores how Hinduism - an ancient way of life - adapted itself to the vastly differing influences of Islam and Christianity.

Manu and Amit explore the impact of various peoples - initially the Arabs, Mughals, and Persians and later the various European powers, including the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and, of course, the British - on the Hindu identity. The book's focus is on the European colonial period.

Manu offers rich insights into the pioneering impact of various intellectuals from the Hindu faith as they responded to societal changes around them. He speaks about the differing approaches taken by these leaders - from the modernising impulse of Raja Ram Mohan Roy to the back-to-the-Vedic-basics approach of Dayanand Saraswati, from the unifying nationalism of the conservative Lokamanya Tilak to the attempts at social reform by leaders like Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule... and finally culminating with the highly influential works of Vinayak Savarkar.

Whether or not you pick up the book, this episode is a must-listen, if you are interested in the history of modern Hinduism.

(Since no transcripts are available, I am unable to share extracts).

That's all from this week's edition.

Ravi

PS: If you found this thought-provoking or useful, please consider forwarding it to a friend or colleague.

And if you got this email as a forward, you can get your own copy here.

Access this email on a browser or share this email on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, or Twitter. You can access the archive of previous newsletter posts here.

You are getting this email as a part of the 3-2-1 by Story Rules Newsletter. To get your own copy, sign up here.

Ravishankar Iyer

A Fascinating History of Modern Hinduism (3-2-1 by Story Rules #93)

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

📄 2 Articles of the week

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

Damodaran on the Corporate Life Cycle (3-2-1 by Story Rules #95)

How to Introduce Yourself Better (3-2-1 by Story Rules #94)

How to Teach so Students Actually Learn (3-2-1 by Story Rules #92)