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....
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....
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! 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....