So lets play sherlock homes.

I was pretty surprised when I saw the message

message in envelope 8

If you look at the information here, There are 3 things that Nakul dug out to catch our attention.

1. My name (Vinay)

2. Name of the Book (Black Swan)

3. The page number and the line (Uncertainty of the Nerd)

The name of the Book was quite easy to crack, I had to pick from a lot 4 books. The other 3 books were ordinary looking, almost the same size, similar kind of color on the cover but this Book the Black Swan was a lot brighter and catchy, slightly bigger in size,overall it had a superior feel and stood out !! So it was an obvious pick !! Its like asking you to choose one from  Rakhi Sawant, Jennifer Aniston or Sherlyn Chopra. For the fairer sex, say pick from Brad Pitt, Niel Nitin Mukesh & Bobby Deol. The point is Jennifer and Brad are much better packaged and have a much higher probability of getting picked.

What kind of baffled me was my name in there. How could he predict that. You walk into a room of around 100 people where you just know a handful of them and you find your name being called out in the end . So did he know that I would be the winner right when in walked in ??

At snacks post the event, I picked up my plate and happened to spot Nakul in conversation with another person, I walked up to them and asked “Can I?” Nakul replied ” What if I said, I knew you would come here !!” Well thats the guy for you, he’ll play it so well with that smirk on his face that you’ll just stand and notice. I was curious and wanted to know how did he pick me? He said there are lot of clues that one could pick up and make such a decision, Like, when he asked people to volunteer, I was the first to stand up. Clues that we normally ignore, Nakul would pick it up and form a pattern. So it was clear that the inking my name happened during the event. But when ?

If you go back to the previous post when I said, the 8 of us went on stage and he asked us questions.

“Next he got to me, gave me the same probing look for a while, I was eager for my question and shrugged my shoulders. He said “I haven’t asked you anything yet” for which I replied “I didn’t answer anything either”. Nakul said “You did !!”  I thought he was just acting smart “

Here Nakul was not interested in the answer, he was looking at how we answered it and more importantly our body language/facial expressions. Thats why the probing look (he did that to every volunteer on stage) So when we exchanged this..

Nakul: “I haven’t asked you anything yet”

Me: “I didn’t answer anything either”

Nakul: “You did !!”

I gave away information through my expressions. May be it was eagerness, smartness (I would like to believe), dumbness (I would not like to believe)  which was enough information for Nakul to place a calculated bet on me. So when I thought that he was acting smart, Nakul was actually smart !!

He went around picked up the sheet where all the other info was there previously and he just inked in my name in the space, put it in the eighth envelope, sealed it and passed it to the judge. (In the show he will do it so seamlessly that you will hardly notice it)

As for the page number, it still beats me !! It was my friend Vivek who read out the page number and he was very sure that there was no slip up. Nakul stopped the very moment he was asked to.Unless all the pages of the book were numbered 122,123 which wasn’t the case. He pulled a pretty good one out there. Full credits to him on this. But if any of you can help, then we crack it all

So now if you look at the whole thing what nakul was doing was just picking up clues. Just in the first couple of minutes (standing up to volunteer and with the simple questions on stage) he had made up his mind for a result that would present itself only half an hour later.

Books like Freakonomics and Blink will change the way you look at things. As per the mind reader The Definitive Book of Body Language is the best work on the subject so far  !!

This entire episode opened up a new window for me. To pick up clues that we normally ignore and to read body language (I’m sure it takes time) closely that can help you deal with people. No I’m not thinking of picking a wife. Its a big plus for business. After all business is all  about people skills.

btw, Nakul is an x-texhie who is now following his dream, Like he says,to be Mandrake the Magician !!

So whats stopping you from following yours?

or the mind of your client to find out whether he is going to give you Big Business??

Well, not on the same but something similar happened a couple of days back when I was in Bangalore to attend the website launch of Paul Writer (some great articles on marketing in there)  In the end was a mind reading session by this person called Nakul Shenoy !!

Nakul Shenoy was introduced as one of India’s best and a world class mind reader ! He claimed that he can actually “read” minds, He asked for 8 volunteers to come on stage to prove that. Now I don’t trust these kind of guys, So I almost instantly volunteered.

The 8 of us had to introduce ourselves. He starting off asking us some questions, which we were supposed to answer instinctively without thinking, like described in the Malcolm Gladwell book Blink. He stood in front of the 1st person, looked at him probingly for a while and asked him “Up or Down” the reply was “down”. Next he got to me, gave me the same probing look for a while, I was eager for my question and shrugged my shoulders. He said “I haven’t asked you anything yet” for which I replied “I didn’t answer anything either”. Nakul said “You did !!”  I thought he was just acting smart and then  he shot my question which was “White or Black” and I answered “White”. So there you are.. just some random simple/silly questions shot at all 8 volunteers. after which he got back opened his file, did something. Got 8 sealed envelopes numbered 1 to 8 out and handed it over to a random person in the audience whom he declared The Judge !!

The rule was that the Judge was supposed to cut open each envelope and read out aloud the message that was inside !!

So the game starts, Nakul read out the first one, which was something to the effect..

Envelope 1, “Listen to the questions carefully and act responsibly, If not you will pay for it !! ”

So the stage was set !!

Envelope 2 read, “Any 4 of you take a step forward !!”

That was simple, I stepped up and so did four others, So we were 5 in all. Nakul asked if anybody wanted to step back. One person did. So we were 4 left !!

He now asked the other four to stand behind us !

Envelope 3 read, “The ones who did not act and take a step forward, Kindly get back to your seats”

So the 4 on the back returned to their seats..

Envelope 4 read,  ”Any 2 of you raise your left hand”

I guess I pulled up first, we were 3 who had our hands up !! Again, On being asked if one would want to opt out, one of the gentlemen pulled his hand down !!

Envelope 5 read, “The ones with the raised hands stay !!”

The other two got back to their seats. So it was just the two of us now !! Me and my friend Vivek.

I was finding this kind of funny !! and then

Envelope 6 read, “One of you take jump ahead and strike a pose !”

That is something we both did, I guess I was a little slow. So was asked to stand back !!

Envelope 7 read,  ”Its very easy to jump in front and hog the limelight but its tougher to stand back, So the one who stood back is the ‘Winner’ !! ”

Now I was the only one on stage , It was a little confusing but then I was fine “Winning” now Nakul wanted to give me a gift so he pulled out 4 books and said “Choose One”. I went through the title briefly they were on game theory and so on. The choice was upto me, I could choose any book and I picked the “Black Swan”

Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nakul ran through the other book and showed me that nothing was handwritten written in there, he now asked me to open mine and I found the below (expect for my name which he wrote much later )

It said “The Impact of the Highly Improbable is rather Intriguing !” and “Thank You for making all the Right Choices !!” Signed Nakul Shenoy.

The inner page

I was surprised !!

Now it gets more interesting

Nakul picked up one of the other books, asked a person form the audience to stand up,Nakul was going to run through the pages of this book and whenever he heard the word Stop!! he would stop at that particular page. He started running through the pages, There came the Stop !! Nakul asked if he was sure or should continue flipping , The person said “No, Stop it there” !! He gave him the book and asked him to read out the page number, It was 122/123

Now asked me to get to that page number in my book and said read the 2nd line, and I read out

the Uncertainty of the Nerd !

and finally the Judge was asked to open the Envelope 8 which read :

The Final Message !!

I guess there were close to a 100 guests in the hall and we had all seen him handing over the sealed envelopes to the Judge. This was surely impressive !!

This surely freaked me out a bit, I dont believe in these things and there he was reading my mind !! Had a brief chat with Nakul after the show and kept thinking of it  on the entire drive back to Mysore.

You must be thinking “How the hell did he do that??” well..now even I can read minds huh

I eventually figured most of it !!! and i was thankful to Nakul for not revealing that part of my mind which was also looking at pretty chicks out there.

Now how I think he did it will be in my next blog !! until then do enjoy this case study on Royal Mysore Walks & Social Media written by your truly for Paul Writer.

Keep thinking guys !!  It always helps

And a coupla hours later, Jon and myself were sipping Beer in Mysore, He was in India for the first time and seemed to have gotten used to the madness here. Having traveled 60 countries he had loads of interesting stories to tell. But was most striking about Jon was that he was travelling with out a Bag. Thats right all he carries with him is what he wears. thats it.

Jonathan Yevin is an landscape artist in New York who designs roof top gardens. He works from March to September each year and the rest of the months is off travelling, off course without a bag.He also doubles up as a travel writer, Having authored the Rough’s guide for Ecuador and many more. When I asked him if he doesn’t ever feel the need to have  atleast a small backpack. He said “No, I Never found it necessary.” Jon said that he was appalled when he would see backpackers carrying donkey loads on their back and he wanted to redefine the way people travel. He says “People carry so much unwanted stuff.”  Apart from what he wears all he carries is his passport, his tooth brush , a cellphone, a camera and some general medicine. thats it !! It all fits into his pockets. I know you are wondering about his change of clothes. Well he says that he washes them whenever he gets a chance and if it really gets dirty he throws them off and buys a new pair !!

And if you think he smells well absolutely not. He dint when he stayed over at my place that night. Like every mom even mine is after hygiene so I asked him whether during all his travels if hes ever faced this problem. He laughed and said “Never !!”  When he was leaving the next day my mom asked him where his bag was ? and he said it was in the luggage room in the railway station As Jon would admit that my mom would never invite him to come home again which she did, if she got to know the truth

As Jon left. His way of travelling got me thinking. To think of our lives as a journey. It amazes me the amount of baggage we all carry and how much of it is unwanted.May be there is something for us to pick up from Jon.

Isnt it what they say Travel Light, I’m sure it can’t get lighter.. or well.. can it ?? Its all in the imagination

I happend to meet him a coupla months later and put another brochure in my hand and said “I manage Asia’s only Cricket Hotel” Bat and Ball Inn. As usual when I ran through it, I got to know our cricketer boys Uthappa, Sreesanth and Charu Sharma are involved in it too. I wondered about this guy’s connections. Rubbing shoulders with the who’s who.

And now he tells me that his Heritage Hotel, which is located in Asia’s only Latin quarter,Fontainhas is opening shortly. Now if you are wondering where is Fontainhas. You don’t have to travel to far because its in our very own Goa.

The man behind all this,Mr Mihir Nayak of the Mitaroy iLuxury brand is still in his 20s but is determined to change how one experiences hospitality in India, Having spent a bulk of time in Vienna,Europe studying Tourism and is now exploring his options in India. Probably this is what Indian Tourism needs, Young blood, International exposure, Loads of enthusiasm and above all the commitment to see it through. His fluency in German I was told is truly impressive by an Austrian Diplomat.If you wish to know more check out his blog.I feel that I have gained so much knowing a person like Mihir. Great going Dude !!

As I entered their Hotel room and took a seat I found Mr Laxman in conversation with an elderly man or should I rather say listening to an elderly man as he was doing most of the talking. Then I realized they were childhood buddies and also played cricket together. The elderly man turned to Mrs Laxman and said “Your husband was a great bowler”  And she innocently replied “I suppose So”  The elderly man kept asking Mr Laxman if he remembered this person or that from their childhood days but I could just see Mr Laxman silently nod in disapproval. Then finally the elderly man asked if Mr Laxman knew who he was talking to for which Mr Laxman very  innocently said “No” The elderly man then asked, how can you forget all this , for which Mr Laxman pointed to his head and looked up in despair indicating his old age. I couldn’t help but notice the innocence on Mr Laxman’s face so much like his creation The Common Man. His outstanding ability to just observe and it put in on paper I guess is what makes him stand out.

They talked very fondly of Kunjappa who I then realised was RK Narayan and the other brothers whom they fondly called Srini, Pattabhi etc. I couldnt help but recollect from Mr Laxman’s Auto Bio The Tunnel of Time where he recollects that when he went to the Maharaja’s College, Mysore to study and the last bencher he was he sat on the same bench as his brothers and saw all this 5 brother’s initials craved out on the bench like RKN, RKP, RKS and he says he would go on to complete the genealogy by marking RKL on the same bench. In 2002 when Mr Laxman was at a function at the Maharaja’s College, He and his good friend Mr Satyan the great Photojournalist would go on to search for that particular bench but without luck. As the elderly man was leaving he asked Mr Laxman  ”So where do we meet next ” for which Mr Laxman pointing to the sky said “We will meet there again, after death”.

There were also some women who joined in and had embroidered Mr Laxman’s works on a piece of cloth and got him to autograph on them and took some pics together. They wanted to send these pics to The Laxmans, and asked for their email id, for which Mrs Laxman replied “we do have a computer at home but we are far away from that world.We dont have mail ids” So the women decided to get their residential address so that they could post the pics. Mrs Kamala Laxman went on with the address in detail saying, Flat number so and so.. cross.. main.. park area etc etc Pune, for which Mr Laxman sitting next to her remarked “Is so much required ? ” Mrs Laxman admitted “Oh yes, once someone sent a post just mentioning Mr RK Laxman, Pune and it actually reached us but I dont want to take a chance here”  Mr Laxman said “We have been there for so long and it helps” Watching all this being told not with air of arrogance but with pure innocence made me realize how they are what they are today for not letting success into your head.

As the other guests left I had a few old photographs of Mysore for Mr Laxman which seemed to get his attention and he talked a bit about how he loved skteching in the Deveraja Market and how he and his cricket team Rough,Tough and Jolly played cricket in the Middle School Grounds.  It was time for dinner and I dint want to keep the couple waiting. I got his book Laxman Rekhas autographed. As i left I said “I have grown up reading your cartoons and thanks Sir for making our lives so colorful ” He wished me Good luck. The simplicity of Mr RK Laxman and the sweetness of Mrs Kamala Laxman was profound.

As I was getting back home, I couldnt help but notice that it was Childrens Day today and what better way to celebrate than by meeting the man whose sketches always grabbed your attention as kid when the news dint make sense and even as an adult when the sketches made more sense. From the child in me “Thank you Mr Laxman for your Laxman Rekhas. You are a Genius !!! “