#51 - Notes on Djokovic, Restaurants and Shark Bites
Education Coffee is a 2xweekly newsletter on people, ideas and culture.
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share some inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts. I will continue to write about education and learning as well and hope to be more consistent with the publication of this newsletter this year. Please subscribe to this newsletter and share it in your network if you enjoyed reading this edition. We are now 92 subscribers strong!
1. Learning from People
Novak Djokovic clinched the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He is one of two players to complete the career super slam. Between 2008 to 2023, Djokovic won a record 24Â Grand Slam men's singles titles and is one of the most successful male tennis players ever. In this interview with Lewis Howes, Novak shares his story about overcoming a challenging childhood in war-torn Serbia to mastering the mental game that has propelled him to the top of the tennis world.
2. Learning from Ideas
A pop-up restaurant is a temporary restaurant. These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals. Diners and food entrepreneurs typically make use of social media, such as the Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, to make online reservations or share updates. Since the pandemic in 2020, a lot of restaurants are adopting this model as it requires less upfront cost and provides more flexibility. Vox Media created this video where a few pop up restaurant owners talk about their experience running and managing these small businesses. They share the benefits and struggles of running a pop up business. I think pop-up restaurants are a really creative way to use technology and community spaces to increase access to diverse food choices for people in any part of the world.
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
In the Books and Beyond podcast, Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D’costa uncover the stories behind some of the best written books of our time. Here is how they describe the show
From personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys, find out what drives India’s finest authors to pen our favourite reads.
My favourite interviews from the podcast series were the ones with crime writer Hussain Zaidi, romance writer Amrita Mahale, city explorer Jane Borges and history writer Manu Pillai. You can access the full playlist of this podcasts here. Here is a link to the Manu Pillai interview. He is an Indian writer and popular historian. Known for his works on the Travancore monarchy and the history of Princely India, he is most famous for his debut book, The Ivory Throne, which is about Rani Sethu Lakshmi Bhay's reign as the Regent of Travancore.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
After the Bite is an 2023 American documentary film directed and produced by Ivy Meeropol. It follows the local community of Cape Cod, as they grapple with the alarming amount of sharks being spotted, while investigating the science behind it. Following the death of young man at a local beach in Cape Cod, the local community and vacationers grapple with the amount of rising shark sightings while local scientists and researchers investigate the reason for their appearance. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy featured in this film has facilitated the tagging of over 275 white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod. The film helps us understand how human activity can affect the health of our ocean ecosystems, how sharks hunt in the wild and how humans can develop protection measures to avoid dangerous interactions with this unique species. I love how the film makers presented both sides of the argument in this documentary. It is a complex issue and has lots of lessons for conservation efforts around the world.
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
This video on the making of the song ‘Sunoh’ from Archies, helped me understand the role of production designers, music composers, cinematographers, costume designers, writers, directors and actors in the creation of a music video. A lot of factors have to come together to create a good music video. It was fascinating to observe how so many professionals have to commit so much time and effort to bring the vision of a music video to life. The final product is 2:39 long but takes months and months of work based on this video.
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (50 past newsletters). You can subscribe to this newsletter for more such recommendations on people, ideas and culture.
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below. I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty