Blog

It was a usual Sunday and I was at my local cafe sipping a delicious flat white. Decaf btw, because I drink too much coffee. I needed a distraction and I opened Twitter. It’s always a mistake to open the dumpster fire that’s Twitter. And the first thing I saw was this racist tweet from a politician in Texas saying — “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” It was infuriating to see this. I went to grad school at Texas A&M. I am not supposed to like UT but honestly, I love them. ...

I was talking to my mentee today. It’s funny how the relationship started as he reached out to me for mentorship a couple of years ago. For the longest time, it was me giving advice, guiding him but now, the script has somewhat flipped. I ask his advice more than he does. I seek out his opinion and some days (today was one of them), I learn a lot from him. Cue the saying when the student becomes the master. ...

I would not like to be online all the time but I am sick for the past few days and I can’t help but scroll Twitter (yes, I refuse to call it X). Twitter is also a dumpster fire full of racism, politicians milking immigration and making us, the people on H-1B — “the enemy”. These days I just block anyone who does it and shows up in my feed. I fully believe in listening to the other side but these people don’t deserve my attention. ...

I went to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. It’s about 2 hours from SF. I stopped at Della Fattoria Downtown Café for breakfast. It’s a beautiful cafe. The vibe is fun and the coffee is out of the world. I haven’t seen such beautiful latte art. Don’t know how can one make it. I have taken a class and it’s incredible hard to even get the most basic shape right. I love flat whites and I am always on the look out for a good one. Will say, this one is so spectacular it would put SF to shame. Here’s a photo. ...

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh I recently stumbled onto a post called how to have good taste. In the world of how to posts, books and videos where there’s an explainer for everything, I find this to be a particularly terrible subject for the genre. The Substack paints a picture that once you go through a lot of something, you too can have good taste. The taste that makes you prefer the actual good stuff. ...

I was just listening to a podcast episode from the Ezra Klein Show. The episode featured Zadie Smith and they talked about how she hasn’t owned a smartphone because the internet has become this manipulation machine. She said she doesn’t want someone to influence what she thinks, how she thinks without her choice. I agree with that point of view. It does tell me what to think about and influences how I define the sides. I can’t say I lose my original thoughts (in most cases I don’t) but I’m certainly given a starting point I didn’t choose. ...

One rainy Sunday I just decided to take a long walk in the city. I imagined I would walk for a couple of hours but it became a full day adventure. The weather was pleasant, it was misty with a breeze. I walked aimlessly with no plans, no destination in mind. I decided on the street when I encountered a turn. I like to live in the moment and experience the world with little expectations. Urban walks are great for this as I don’t plan the route or the stops. I just do what I feel like. ...

I became vegetarian in March this year. It’s the first time I have been able to stick with it. My previous attempt lasted 2 months. The big difference this time around has been that my desire for meat has gone. I am not tempted by it even when the veggie options are terrible. However, I do feel that I am getting the short end of the stick most times. As a result, I have defaulted to Indian food as it’s the most vegetarian friendly and flavorful. ...

Somehow, the YouTube algorithm recommended this video from Austin Augie. I took the bait and watched a few of his videos of India. I am from India so I am interested in people’s experience of India. However, I am not interested in seeing the filthy parts of India, I skip over those for some reason. I don’t know why! ...

Day 0 I couldn’t sleep at night, thanks jet lag! So, I decided to go get something to eat at 3 am and my neighborhood bakery was open. It’s 24*7 and highly rated. The bakery is tiny with lots of outdoor seating on both sides of the street. It was 3 am but it felt like 8 pm. The street was bustling with people, chai, cigarettes and chatter. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I walked around a bit to see if other places down the street were actually this lively and I found people around bars and in general walking around. It was surprising for 3 am. Also, people partying at 3 am on a Monday night? Everything about this neighborhood is eclectic. ...

It’s 7 am and we’re driving towards the national park to see the Cadillac mountain. It’s the final spot on the itinerary. A friend invited me to this trip. We’re four guys, two of them I met the first time at the rental car center. It’s a short weekend trip with people with very different personalities. ...

Baby pineapple, Peru I read Living with a Seal last year and in the book, Jesse Itzler talks about only eating fruit till noon. It sounds like a healthy change in lifestyle. My usual breakfast is eggs if there’s a breakfast at all, which I think is healthy but I am gonna challenge myself to follow Jesse’s advice and see if it makes a difference. ...

This is my 6th time (or maybe it’s 7th, I am not certain) in San Francisco and everytime I come here, I have had feelings in the realm of: oh, this city could be a paradise but sadly it’s so far away from it. It’s pretty meh! It’s terrible, why would anyone live here? I really wanna like this place but it’s still terrible. I have wished and tried hard to like this place and I feel so happy that it’s paid off. I think I finally like it. Maybe it’s a fluke, I don’t know. But here I am sipping coffee with a view of Dolores park. There’s a cool breeze even though SF is in a heat wave right now. The vibe is so relaxing, everyone seems so chill. ...

I was listening to a podcast that mentioned that Gen Z regularly binges old high school videos from the 80s and 90s on YouTube. The implication was that we really miss the old times of living in the moment. The time when you could talk to people anywhere, when nobody was on their phones all the time, when nobody was wearing airpods. To be honest, I am an old soul and I miss those times. There were no phones when I was in high school and I remember the time when you could go out and just be out. ...

I haven’t had a problem making decisions until now. I had always been at ease with them because I had a strong compass. The compass always pointed to career and financial success. I evaluated all my choices on the objective questions ...

This essay was published in Tangle in Sep, 2024 and was referenced in the newsletters: The H-1B debate between Trump, Musk, and MAGA and President Trump orders H-1B visa applicants to pay a $100,000 fee. Regardless of their politics, everyone has a view on immigration. More often than not, people support legal immigration over illegal immigration. Both sides also generally agree that highly skilled immigrants are a valuable asset to the U.S. economy. I would even say most people who immigrate illegally would want to do so legally. But obscure and dated laws in the U.S. make legal immigration downright painful. ...

I am at the Lima airport waiting for my flight back to NYC. It’s been a fabulous 11 days in Peru. I don’t think I got to see a whole lot of places but I did have a fantastic time and I made a bunch of friends. It’s amazing and unexpected how great this trip has been. ...

Cities shape us in profound ways, often more than we realize. I am sure you have heard of the quote that you’re the average of 5 people around you. I can’t say how true that is but I can say that the basic idea makes sense. We are influenced by our surroundings, both consciously and unconsciously. ...

Do most people seem to have rituals? Do you have one? Like morning or a weekend ritual? I don’t remember having a ritual ever. I have always lived a spontaneous life where I make decisions in the moment. And most of such decisions don’t repeat day after day, weekend after weekend. I just like newness. ...

Yesterday, I went to a dinner hosted by someone running a formation group. I came across it on luma. And I was pleasantly surprised how wonderful it turned out to be. I’d like to think that I am outgoing enough to try out such new experiences but the reality is I rarely venture into such unknowns. So, what’s a formation dinner? It’s a form of community building. Someone organizes a group that meets at some frequency and they get dinner, meditate and talk about their experiences. Or at least that was the format yesterday. ...