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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! Anyway, the videos are great and the guy seems authentic. YouTube realized I like such stuff so it sent another video called Travel the world, ask strangers the wildest questions, it will change your life....

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 and it felt like 8 pm. The street was bustling with people, chai, cigarettes and chatter. I couldn’t believe my eyes....

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. I have done such trips before but this one has been somewhat different. I see conversations that I would call aggressive to be commonplace....

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. Since, I have already eaten breakfast today, I am gonna start the clock tomorrow....

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 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....

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 Is it good for my career? Will it help me move up the ladder? Will it help me financially? Focussing on just one dimension is a bad way to make decisions....

The essay was published on Tangle. 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. It seems weird when I say I spent 11 days but didn’t see much....

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. Cities, however, are more than just collections of people. Each city has its own culture and an implicit message, and whether we like it or not we’re influenced by it to a degree....