Truth be told, he was at best a stranger to me. I’ve never met him. I’ve never been in a room with him. And I’ve never been even close to his shadows.
So, the loss of the man is nothing but a piece of news for me. Something that I paused to read, thought for a fleeting second and then I moved onto whatever I was doing.
But I work in advertising. Or may be on the fringes of it, if you will. My first love for a career and life is the business of communications. I call myself a writer. I believe I want to create words that moves mountains, shift cultures and inspire. Piyush was all that. Piyush is all that.
During the day, tributes and stories started to pour in. Some from folks I know well. Some from people that I look up to. And then some from absolute strangers. And impact of Piyush on all those people started to emerge. Piyush may have been a famous person when he was alive. However when his time came, he was even more mushhooor. Each piece I read, each story, each op-ed, each narrative made me want to know the man more. From up close, if it was ever going to be possible.
Each person spoke about what he meant to them. Each story is full of his vigor for life, thunderous laugh, maverick partnerships, ability to forge lasting relationships and… his trademark shirts and his moustache!
Two pieces stood out to me – one by Ogilvy (reproduced below) and the other by Suresh Eriyat – this. These two and all the others expressed Piyush’s passing meant to them. And then I started to reflect on life and things.
I am 43. With almost no large monumental achievements that I can put my finger on and claim as mine. No family apart from my parents (who constantly worry about my wellbeing and life) and my sis (who has her own battles). No assets that I can leave behind for Myra. When its my time, I am sure no one would miss me. The handful of people who’s lives I’ve probably touched will have the same reaction that I had on Piyush’s passing – a fleeting note, an awe, an Om Shanti text on common whatsapp groups and then, moving on. And which is ok. Life doesn’t stop. Shouldn’t stop. Pale Blue Dot and all that. Wait. The point is not that. The point is, Piyush.
Back to Ogilvy’s ode.
When I read Ogilvy’s ode to Piyush, I found myself nodding to each thing they said about him. Read it first…
Waking up early and writing – Check Front foot pe khelo – Check Child-like heart – Check Stood in the front – Check Relationships – Check Ek kaam karo – Check
Like I said, I found myself nodding to each thing they wrote about him. I could see myself in each thing that Piyush stood for. Of course, I am not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of who he was. But that’s the greatness of the man and the words. In each line, I saw myself. And I am sure each person reading would’ve seen themselves. And the ones writing? Oh man, I can only imagine the anguish of the folks who worked on that tribute.
Reading about Piyush from all the people made me want to find a way to turn back time, find a way into his cigar room, or the living room or wherever he roared with his laughter or lead with wit. No, not to learn from him — I have my gurus and I am grateful — but to see the man in action. See the man perform. See the man put up a show. See the man marshal his troops. See the man turn ordinary writers into weapons of mass influence.
Life happened and I was thrown into the world of computers. And then I got fired from the first job I got (and I learnt my lesson and it seeded hatred for large companies), I had to get into a business school to find my way around. Life took me to GE Money and yet I sort of found my way back to advertising. First, right in the middle if the industry (with CLA) and then on the periphery (with Gravity) and eventually, as a Jack of all trades (with Rajesh Sir and C4E).
While I worked, little did I know that I was not good. Not even good enough. I am at best a reliable doer, someone who can be called upon when you needed something to be done for sure (and not to win an award or showcase mad genius). And just this skill of being the reliable one has allowed me to survive so far in this business that is competitive, tough, harsh, ever-evolving and seeks excellence.
Through the years, I loved each stint and I was always aware of the genius of Piyush and party. Year after year they would release gorgeous pieces of communication and I would pine for some sort of introduction to Ogilvy. The closest I came to his aura was when Rana Sir showed me around the office. He had walked into those offices at some point. I also know that Rr and Huz worked with his nephew who by himself is a great adman. I’ve shook hands with Rajesh Kejriwal numerous times and I know he would have shook hands with Piyush many a times.
Ok that’s my note about Piyush. I wish I could’ve been Eklavya to him. But I wasn’t. Neither I considered him a guru. Nor am I as good as Eklavya were. Piyush is at best, the guiding light that I looked upto and aspire to be like, if I can.
Shifting the tone of this note.
In the last few days, I have seen and heard about a few people at the end of their time. While I was writing this, I heard Satish “Indravadan Sarabhai” Shah passed away. Angrezo Ke Zamane Ka Jailor passed away a few days ago. A close friend’s co-founder almost died from a heart attack on the Diwali day. Thank God, he’s back home now. The elder-most member in my family (my aunt) is dying. And I am left questioning the very reason why we work so hard and to what end. I am thinking a LOT about how I want to spend my time here. I know that one side I want to make a ding in the universe and on the other, I want to be free. I can feel in my bones the revolt at the thought of being a slave to a routine.
Wait. Even as a free man, I have to work to make ends meet and I would still have to answer to a routine of eat, poop, sleep, walk, write, meet people et al. I will still have to push myself. But at least I would have the agency. I would be free to live where I want to, how I want to and free to choose who I work with, when I work with and what I work on. and most importantly, on my terms. I think absolute freedom is tough to get – we live in super hyperconnected world. But I believe that the world we live in, allows for smaller teams to make large enough dings. Like Piyush did.
I have to say, Piyush did made a ding.
After I saw the impact Piyush has made, I am all the more inspired to do more and push myself harder. And like I said, on my terms. And as a free man.
Wish me luck.
And…
Thank you, Piyush! As your colleagues and family said, hope the heavens are ready for the force you are.
PS: Also, thanks to Bryan Dont Die and Deepinder recent unveiling of the Continue manifesto, I have started to believe that human lifespans are painfully and wastefully established at about 70. Deepinder is talking about 180. Most futurists believe that any child below the age of 150 has large odds of getting to 150. I hope I get to see 150 and like Piyush, make a ding.
5:30 PM. Oct 18, 2025, Starbucks, Versova. 6:40 AM. Oct 19, 2025, Mumbai Airport. 6:30 PM. Oct 19, 2025, Home (DG).
So, I am back to writing these notes after a week.
The last two weeks have not been the best and I a lot of it was things that I couldnt control. The good part is that I was travelling and I was reading (I read Morgan Housel’s new book; more on that later). And thus I was ok.
I think there’s a lot to unpack today. So, lets get going.
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💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Most thanked person in Oscar Acceptance Speeches I was talking to AD and someone else and I happened to mention that one of the lifegoals is to impact lives of so many people at such large level that I get to compete with Steven.
For context, Steven Spielberg is THE most thanked person at the Oscars.
Spielberg is THE most thanked person in Oscar acceptance speeches.
I would love to be in this club some day! I mean can you imagine the effort and the hard work it would’ve taken for a Steven to have these many people in gratitude?
Oh, and apart from just this, I would like to be in the acknowledgements page of books and biographies. So far, I am in a few and I would want to have chapters dedicated in there. And no, the point is not a shot at legacy or immortality, but at enabling more people do more.
And this reminds me of another tweet that I saw…
Tweets from MJS’ handle delete and thus had to take a screenshot.
B/ Postcard Club. Another idea from Thej that I am stealing. Read his post here.
The premise is simple. I will send postcards, with stamps and all that to folks who opt-in to receive it. And at some point in time, I would invite other folks to send postcards to more people. And then we shall see where it goes.
Here are the first two postcards I sent.
From a restaurant in Goa.
In case you want to be a part of this club, DM me. And disclaimer – like most things that I think a lot about, there are no guarantees that I will do this.
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C/ Morgan Housel’s Art of Spending Money Read this book over the last few days.
Way too many notes. Underlined a large part of the book.
A lot of what I read, I knew that already but there was a lot of reaffirmation and at times that’s the value of what you read. And since a lot of words were clustered together in the book and I was in the thinking zone, the reading was even more impactful. I think thats the point of reading books. Dense content about one topic. And reinforcement of the same via multiple examples and stories and chapters.
I think I will write an entire post on this, assuming I get time. I even did a YT live today. Not so happy but I did it and here it is.
On the live, at the peak, I 6 people joining in. At some point, I want to have a lot more people listening in. Not because I crave for an audience but because I want a platform large enough for me to have a large impact in life.
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D/ 43 The other day, someone asked they wanted to create a meetup of young people. And I commented on it and said, if 43-year olds are allowed and young at heart are welcome I would love to be in.
Right after I posted this, I feel awkward and weird and sad. It sucked that I am having to justify that age is a number. I think it’s about time I accept that I am a never-was.
So that!
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E/ AI Film Festival Some kids are doing this AI Film Festival in Mumbai. And wow. Many emotions. Here’s a list.
We had the same idea at C4E but we couldn’t do it. This is nothing but a slap on the face. I need to build a stronger muscle for action. Plus I need to inspire my people to do more. And do so faster. And ensure that we followup on action. And I want to encourage them to think larger. Each thing we start, we start with a small vision. I encourage that. And I want to change it.
I love the fact that AI is democratizing otherwise gatekept industries. Of course incumbents will catch up and bring things back to the mud but some new folks will arrive, shine and make hay!
My bachpan ka want of making films resurfaced. I made attempts with Red Carbon. But I was unable to sustain the partnership. I was very very hopeful when we did the tnks trailer. But I was unable to inspire my people to actually do. Maybe I should start taking matters and things in my own hands and being a pesky boss?
Glad that someone is doing it. Even better that young people. More power to them and other young folks. I am so very often reminded that so many young people are so fearless and so action oriented and so resourceful that I am often left ashamed and gawking at their greatness. Must surround myself with more young people.
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F/ Updated the Vision Board Here. Not open for public access. Made update in the Wheel of Life and while I did that, I realised that this is the tiniest I’ve been in my life!
Here’s the template that you may want to use to fill yours.
Saw this first on a Tony Robbins video
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G/ Made a list of Regrets in life. Here. This is WIP at this time. Will evolve this as I go along.
The idea is that I want to live an open life and I want to not hide anything about myself from anyone at anytime. And this must include the goods and the bads, and the highs and the lows, the wins and the losses and everything in the middle.
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H/ Theatre One of the things I really enjoy in life, is, to indulge in theatre. You know, live performances.
While I love the feeling sitting face to face with the performers, I dont understand why the theatre artists invest their time and energy in theatre. Each ticket is like 200 bucks and even on great days, you hardly get some 100 people in the audience. So, a crew of 10 will make like 20K per show. And if they were to divide all the money between them (not even the expenses), they would get like 2K per day. And it’s pittance!
I dont get why people so this.
I asked some of my friends. And the answers weren’t very convincing. There are two plausible ones.
Someone mentioned that its the pitstop needed to get to Bollywood. But even in that, the possibility of a great outcome is like negligible. The returns are way too asymmetric to be logical about it!
Someone else mentioned that its the way of life and the purest artwork there is. Again, I am not convinced about that. I am sure there are other means to feel alive?
Neither is convincing enough to me. Any clues?
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I/ Focus One of these days, on my way back from Starbucks, I was walking with C and we were reflecting about life and all.
I popped a question.
If I were to look at 100 of the most successful people in the world and we listed top 5 traits that they had, at the most I will get a list of 500 traits and if there is a perfect overlap of traits, I would have 5 traits only.
I asked some LLMs about and this is what they had to say. So, lets say there are 20 traits that are shared by a lot of successful people.
Here is a list I made (a combination of what I learnt from AI and from my intuition).
I can say with a large certainty, that the list of traits would have things like hard work, ambition, focus, creativity, persuasion, discipline, growth mindset, perseverance, people skills, confidence, self-belief, humility and all that.
And then I said to myself, I seem to have almost ALL of these and yet I am not even a mild success. I even tweeted about it.
I could make a mental nod against each thing and I could demonstrate actions and all against each. Except one.
Focus.
I’ve been told since I was child that I am way too all over the place and I need to focus. And I have strongly objected to any sort of focus ever. I have laughed at people who’ve told me to focus. I have even blamed it on my undetected ADHD.
And maybe, just maybe, I will focus on focus!
Lol!
So, may be, I will focus and see what I would achieve if I did one thing for one year.
PS: The effort on Meru has been as focussed as they come – I have not thought about anything else since late last year. While it is not yet any close to success but thanks to HT, MK, KP, VS and others, I am certain that it would be LARGE!
J/ Self Cringe Riya has been working hard to help me build distribution. And its incredible how much effort that young girl is putting! I am beyond inspired! Yet another case of young people doing superhuman things that make you wide eyed!
The only trouble is, I get cringed out each time I see myself.
For starters, I don’t like to see my face. And then a deeper reason – I’ve not done anything large or substantial to be able to give gyaan to people. Plus I am making tall promises to “teach” people to do more. I am not sure if this is correct!
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K/ Mahabharata Series has crossed 25 posts A few days ago, I promised that I will write a post a day on linkedin. And I thought it would be a good idea to write about management lesson from Mahabharata. It would kill many birds.
Some are…
I would get to explore Mahabharata as a subject. I love it and this will force me to carve time to read more, discuss more and think more.
I will get the daily writing Riyaaz.
I will get to build my distribution on linkedin – something that I’ve thought a lot about.
I will meet more people via this.
And somehow, I’ve been very very consistent with it. Yesterday I posted the 26th update. This link has all posts.
But, the series is not performing well. I have not seen a bumper jump in my followers. There are hardly any comments or shares. I havent made new connections.
Maybe I need to accept that I dont write well?
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L/ SG’s Patrons. AKA LifeIPO I’ve been thinking about Patrons and 1000 True Fans. And I think I am ready to take the experiment to the next stage. See this tweet.
A few weeks ago, I asked for 1000 bucks a month, in exchange of gratitude. I got two subscribers (Prak and Shruti). Now I want to offer a 1% of my life for 10 lakhs. You pay me 10 lakhs to get one share of my life (there are a total of 100 shares outstanding) and you get 1% of my time here on (you must use it yearly) and 1% of my future earnings and assets. Imagine if I become a billionaire, your 1% could be worth 10 million.
Think of this as any startup raising money. You have an idea. You peg that idea to a value. Then you add execution risk on top of it. And then you invest in the idea. That!
I am yet to get into specifics (risks, reputation, relationships, liquidity, legality etc) but I am warming up to the idea.
What do you think?
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M/ Grok’s interpretation of my content I asked Gork to analyse my recent tweets. This is what it had to say.
I love how we can use these tools to spot patterns. Over the next few days I want to use more tools to discover more about me. At some point in time I want to explore the possibility of having my second brain uploaded on the internet and then analyse data from there on.
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N/ Goa I was in Goa almost after a year. This time around, I spent more time going out to the temples, local beaches, eating at vegetarian restaurants, and all that. I didnt do any of my regular things. And that made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.
I love modern conveniences and comforts. And this means I would want to be at places that have reliable connectivity, fast internet, public transport, high-trust economy and a density of great talent.
I am not a naturist. I do not get excited by beaches or greens or mountains or anything like that. If need be, I would like to be in not so extreme weathers.
I love vibrance around me. So, I can not be at a place that is secluded.
I am an early bird. I love places that are open early. Once Mumbai starts 24X7 operations, I will find cafes that are open at 430 AM and make them into my havens.
As I start to think about where I want to live, these things are at the top of my head!
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O/ Fear of Flying I would have taken at least 500 flights in life, if not 1000. And I’ve taken them in all sorts of planes (including helicopters) for all sorts of durations (from 30 minutes to 14 hours) and since 2005 (I think my first flight was from Del to Blr, though I am not sure). And I’ve experienced all kinds of turbulence and even air pockets. Though I’ve never had oxygen masks deployed and I have never been on slides.
And I have not been afraid ever. In fact, I would find excuses to get onto flights to give people hugs!
However, lately, I am afraid to fly. What if the plane goes down? I know the odds of that are a one in a million or whatever but when that one occurrence happens, the loss is 100%!
I am afraid that if that happens, it would be such a colossal waste of life and a stupid way to go! I anyway have mixed feelings towards the concept of death (I know its important but I dont get the reason why we spend so much time and effort and energy to learn things and then when the times comes to capitalise on it and be of service to the world, your time is almost up).
Ok, I digressed. The point is, I have this thing deep in the pit of my stomach or conscious or whatever each time I have to fly. And this is a new feeling! And no, I don’t enjoy this. I have wanted to live my life free of fear. And in chase of excitement and adventure. This fear bit is not core to my identity! And I need to work on it and change it.
PS: I am writing this from a comfortable, business class seat of a fairly new Air India plane and from my seat I saw that there are three pilots in the cockpit – all three fit and alert and had their spines straight, including the lady who’s the captain on this flight. So, I am hopefully safe on this one!
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I had imagined I would have a lot more to write. But clearly I dont.
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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Some photos that I took and saved in the last two weeks are here. And if I had to pick one, I would say, this would be it…
I was in Goa and sent this postcard to AK and C. Will start a postcard club soon!
Show me some of your photos?
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🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. Nothing to report.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – I have made small changes in how I eat and what I eat. I am also walking more. I did some 5 pushups a couple of days. I now take stairs. Small steps. Nothing large. But I remain committed. I will ensure that come November, I am a gym and I am running.
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. Was a bad one. All over the place. Not just the physical health but also mental health. So, a -1.
Meru. Incredible progress. LOVE the hard work being put in by all the people. I wish I knew this team earlier. Most days I am left in awe of all that we do, despite everything. Oh, still no launch. And thus a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.
Brand SG. Riya has been shipping consistently. I am not sure I like how things are going out. I would let that continue till end of this month. And then take a call. I would give this a +1. Only because of Riya.
People. No action on this. 0.
Book 2. Nothing. -1.
Shauk. No action. No time. But not beating myself over it. So, 0.
So the overall score for the week is -1
Few weeks ago, I had decided that I want to get a positive score each week. I had to organise my life but I havent been able to. I will try in the coming week. Will report once I do.
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📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the last two weeks…
Tracker from weeks 41 and 42
The last two weeks have been tough. And I have fallen off the radar. I am not keeping up on what I am eating, neither am I being good when it comes to tracking. I am on the road next week as well. And I expect similar all-over-the-place-ness.
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🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
This week, I am skipping reporting on this as for the last two weeks, this has been all over the place.
Will get back to this after the Diwali week.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views
Since this is for two weeks, I have a LOT of links to share. I am thinking how to fit all these here and make things useful. Lemme try.
And no, not in any order.
1/ This is an incredible read. Titled, “Taylor Swift, Sora, and Slop vs. Substance”, I dont want to give you a TLDR on this one (hint, it talks of Taste as well). Touches many interesting facets.
2/ This piece from Finshots talks about how and why Rakesh Gangwal chose to step away from Indigo. Must read how people still stand for principles in this day and age. While on this, also read this piece on the friendship of the two founders.
3/ Harnidh is soon evolving into my favorite Internet writer. She wrote about PR-FAQ. Incredible read. Here.
4/ This piece about Prashant Kishore tells me that he charges 11 crores for 2 hours. I refuse to believe that he added that much value!
5/ This document talks about maxims from Kunal Shah. Which is your favorite?
6/ One of the BEST investigative reads that I’ve read in a while. I think I would love to build something GFM once I get to a point when I have enough. Do read.
7/ This piece from New Yorker talks about how all of us have started to think the same. Prak would love this piece. This is also the reason why all apps seems to look similar (have you noticed those purple websites?) and there is this insane use of em-dashes?
8/ Kevin Kelly, in yet another incredible essay makes a very convincing argument on why he wants AI to read his books. Read here.
9/ Kuldeep (or KD, as he is known all over the internet) wrote about the history of Whatsapp. Incredible read. He writes so well that I want to get him to quit everything and and just write! Another bonus read from him is this.
10/ This ad by Apple caught my eye. To a point that I want to embed this here.
11/ This hierarchy of “traits” of a top-performer is incredible. Do see.
12/ This piece about impatience and sense of urgency. I’ve read so much about this that I dont know how to not work at speed. And yet…
13/ Each thing from Ashutosh Rana, I dig! In this video, he talks about what made him do things that he did. I wish I had more folks who would listen to me. And I need to find a way to meet more young people.
There was a time when I would get a lot of people write into me. Lately that flow has died. And I need to restart that. Somehow.
Do see this.
14/ This piece by the creator of Oatmeal about AI and Art. Very very interesting read. He says, “consuming AI art is like eating styrofoam”. He goes onto make a lot of more convincing arguments about how and why AI is good or bad.
15/ If you are young, in your 20s, this piece of advice by the CEO of Palantir is incredible. Read here.
He says,
I’ve never met someone successful who had a great social life at 20. If that’s what you want, that’s great. But you’re not going to be successful, and don’t blame anyone else.
I cant say I agree to this (who am I to agree – I am not successful)
17/ This post about what makes YC, YC. For all the hate it gets, I love that they’ve been able to institutionalize starting up. I would love to go thru it. I mean I may not be able to anymore, age is not on my side. But I love them and their impact.
18/ This piece by Karthik about the public outcry from the founder of LuluLemon (Chip Wilson) about how that company has lost direction is a must read.
19/ I’ve been thinking a lot about Punit Pania and his work. Saw this insta reel and had to share.
Phew!
I am left wondering, what is the point of all these links. I get like three people to read these. Unless I find a way to internalise these. No?
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🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
I’ve been skipping this for a while now. Lets see when I get back to this.
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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Unsettling.
There is no other word that I would use for the two weeks gone by. Close people have quit on me, I have fallen off the grid, I am not taking notes, not reflecting on life and things, money seems to be a problem, fitness is a problem. I mean, each thing that I can think of seems to be not working for me!
I hope I am back in black soon.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Regular, Grind, Sad, Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
— Phew! Lemme know what you think. See you around.
Oh, and this too shall pass!
PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes.
And here’s an important note. I will not publish this for the 41st week. I am on the road and I dont want to open my computer. Let’s see how that experiment goes.
Ok, coming to the 40th. It was a fast week. I dont have a lot of distinct memories or even notes. They are sparse.
Oh, since I was a lot in traffic and in mindless work, I discovered and rediscovered a lot of music. Here are some shares. This band and fabulous singer. Doobey. So Good to Me. Rani. In fact I will feature Rani here.
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💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Lessons from Rana Sir I met Rana Sir for a walk at Carter’s Road. While Carter’s is like Mumbai’s favorite hangout place and you see more fancy people than you see actual walker, Rana Sir, Chandni and I did walk.
And oh man, what a revelation. The guy’s a genius. I cant stop thanking my stars that I have him as a mentor. Here’s a page from my first and only book.
Page 282, The Nidhi Kapoor Story
And no, I am not making those lessons public, just as yet.
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B/ Bumping into people from Internet In the last week, I bumped into two people who know me from Internet. Both these people have NOTHING in common with me (no common friends, no alma mater, no Starbucks, nothing), except we met on Internet. Via a thing them and I caused (I made some WA groups, they left some comments).
Not that I care for fame or something but these serendipitous connections make life worth living! Must strive for more!
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C/ Theatre I’ve been DYING to see some life theatre performance for a while. And I havent been able to. I open bookmyshow everyday and I try to see what’s playing near me. And then I try and make plans around it. And then some work creeps up on me.
Come on, universe.
PS: If all goes well, on the 11th, I will attend something. Let’s see.
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D/ Cleaned and organised my life. Since I moved on from C4E, I’ve not had someone to work with me. This means I dont have anyone to tell me what to on, who to push, follow up for me, give me file locations, jam with me and all that. And I was seeing the impact of that on my work. I was strruggling to even find my bearings.
So one of those days, I slept early and woke up at like 530 or something. And then I organised my life. Wait, not life. But work things. This means, I made a bookmarks bar where I listed all things that I am working on, cleaned tags in Roam, made my TDL and then some more.
As a test, I challenged AK to ask me pull a file that she was working on. And I could!
So, thats’s a big win for the week.
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E/ Jaane wale ko kaun rok saka hai In the last week, two of the people I really care for told me that their number 2s are moving on. In one case, one even committed an act that is inexplicable.
I know people move on. I’ve had many folks move on. And even though I want to forget and forgive and understand, its a deep gash that I cant seem to find an answer to. Anyhow. The point is, people go. I am lucky that I’ve experienced this and thus when someone moves on, now it doesnt surprise me. Neither I am hurt. I have accepted the reality. Marcus would be proud of me.
However, it was tough to explain to both these folks. In both cases, my friends literally gave a part of their lives to the ones who’ve moved on. And the first emotion that they had was of surprise.
“How could he?”, “What did I do wrong that he had to do this?” and similar.
I had to explain to that often it’s not you or what you’re building. Just that the paths diverge. See the chart below.
Source: Unknown
This chart is an oversimplification of relationships but I think it works well.
You think and believe that what you’re building is the life of a parent or a dog but it’s actually a friend with benefit. And instead of being harsh on yourself about lack of judgement about identifying people, you ought to move on and try and find the next person who could stay with you.
I just hope more people learn this lesson, earlier in life. And yes, I am cruel to wish this upon you.
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F/ Hormozi on Mental Toughness Alex has done GREAT service to humankind by making this video. I’ve communicated this to many people in many ways but I never had one reference point to it.
If there’s one thing you see this week, make sure it’s this.
PS: Dont be thrown off by the words you see on thumbnails. I’ve seen some very scary thumbnails for this video. Am sure some A/B testing is happening there.
Also, I am a big big fan of his work. Alex is what I would have wanted to be. Runs his life the way he wants to, eats well, works out and supports others.
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G/ Monumentum is taking shape Some of my people are building this new thing. I am very excited for them. More about this in the next few days.
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H/ Financial Stress Financial stress has reached its peak. I found myself scrambling to find avenues to take loans. I thought about revolving credit cards, taking a personal loan, asking for it from a friend (who will take it as an OD from his bank and give me).
No, I dont need solutions from anyone here. This is my battle and I will fight it. I just want to capture it here.
Oh, and the lesson from this bit is to get more money wise and fix my relationship with money. I need to be lot more open and upfront about it and stop leaving it on the table. At this time, I pay for convenience and to avoid tough conversations. I must build the resilience to not hate money.
I also wrote last week that I will start charging for my counsel, even if it’s token. I’ve not been able to bring myself to do that.
Any how. Let’s see where I end up.
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I/ Mahabharata I have been writing one lesson a day from Mahabharata on Linkedin. It’s a brilliant exercise. I love it! It makes me read some part of Mahabharata, makes me read its interpretations, makes me connect to some thread from my life and then I write.
AK’s told me that what I write is not giving. I understand. I am trying to tweak it for the medium and the readers. And that’s ok. I ought to experiment. Maybe I will get a post written from AI and see how it performs. Actually good idea, lemme fire it!
I just prompted chatGPT.
Lets see what comes out of it.
The only trouble is, I don’t want to add to AI Slop and do things for the sake of doing those. Let’s experiment and see where it goes.
My chatGPT library 😀
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J/ Goa I am in Goa this weekend for 2-3 days. I’ve not been to Goa in a while. While I am not looking forward to Goa as a place but I am doing this with my parents and thus.
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K/ SOTY C4E is building a Student of The Year thingy. This has been one of my longest standing ideas. I was never able to execute this. I am glad that folks feel the importance of the same in my absence.
I am excited!
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L/ Notes from Apple in China I’ve been reading the book for a while note. Each chapter is a treasure trove of knowledge and information and lessons. Just from yesterday’s reading, I am inspired to go deeper into storytelling, negotiations, sales and more.
I will write a longish post on this sometime. Let’s see when.
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M/ Sit in the Mud I met a few people last week and one of them told me that she’s not been able to sleep for two days because of something that happened at her work place. Then I met another friend and he was also in that overthinking loop. And this is when I realised that even though folks have friends and families and all that, deep down, everyone is alone. And I really wish I could help fix those things.
At least to these people, I told them that they can reach out to me when they need inputs or counsel. They MUST not think that I am busy. I am never busy for my people. And even if they think they are bothering me, just say SOS and I will be there. I want to experience how it is to sit in the mud with you.
I think I know where my zone of genius would be. At the intersection of ideas, connections, people, meaning.
This dawned upon me yesterday when I spent the day talking to people. For Meru, I did a session for some folks on writing. Then gave gyaan to some kids. Then helped someone else build his personal board of directors. And then walked with someone else. To a point that I was exhausted and wanted nothing but sleep.
I was in the moment, in the flow. Didnt know where time went.
And that’s probably where I want to be in life.
I am not sure how the money bit works on this. But may be I will explore this.
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O/ Focus It’s no secret that I am the most unfocussed person there ever is. While I can club each thing I do into an umbrella (enabling people), it comes across as an excuse, even to myself, tbh.
So, I’ve been thinking about focus for a while. And what would it take to get that in my life. the very thought of this makes my entire being revolt. Why would I make my life into a unidimensional one when I can be free and explore?
I dont have answers. But I am thinking on this. May be I will pose this to my braintrust.
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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.
The cover would be this…
Features all the things I love – Books, Starbucks (not coffee), stationary and mornings.
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Lemme know which one do you like the most. And do share some of your photos with me!
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🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. Nothing to report.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – I am thinking about this all the time but I havent been able to act upon it. From what I track, I am eating in moderation but neither my weight, nor my energy is getting fixed. Sigh! PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
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☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. Not too many good things to report. I now try to”cook” one meal at home. This means I boil water, dump Saffola oats and each. Or I boil eggs. I am not walking. I am not even working out. I will put this on 0.
Meru. Making progress. Again, I can’t talk about it out loud. Will talk more when I ship. Oh, I did take a session on writing auto-biographies. A 0.
C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.
Brand SG. No large things to report, apart from the fact that Riya has been consistent. I’ve realised that each thing I do or work on, once I have someone supporting me, things tend to move!
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Nothing. So, -1
Shauk. No action. No time. a 0.
So the overall score for the week is -1
Last week I had decided that I want to get a positive score each week. And this means I need to organise my life better to ensure that I ship this positive score.
Will report once I do.
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📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by…
What trends do you see?
I see…
Fewer greens
Terrible recovery
Ok on food
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep Sleep was all over the place. I am aware. I will work on this.
2/ Exercise No action. I dont know what to do about this 🙁
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. I’ve not been able to fix this but I have reduced what I eat. See this…
4/ Community No large movement on this.
5/ REDACTED This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.
6/ Movement No action.
7/ Meditation No action.
Overall, the last week on health front was not good. Again, despite all this tracking, no action 🙁
Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 39 of 2025.
Sunday the 28th. Starbucks, Versova.
The week gone by was hard and long. For starters, I turned 43. And I am sad about it. Many reasons.
A, I was to be rich and famous and powerful by 42. I am not.
B, I dont think I’ve done enough to celebrate another year around the sun.
C, While I am not in the legacy game, I definitely am in the experience game. And with each passing year, my ability to access grand things goes down.
D, I realize that on a realistic timeline, my ability to do things goes down with each passing day. You know, age. I look like I am 50. I can feel the tiredness in my bones. Most days I wake up with a sore back. I cant seem to see very well. The skin is breaking from more places. Even Dr H mentioned that she’s unable to understand why things aren’t happening. I dont know either.
So that.
Ok, wait. I dont want to make this into a pity party. Lemme change the narrative.
So, I love when I am with people. I love how I think that life has great things to offer to us. I know deep inside that life is essentially a mirror – if shows you what you want to see. So, we shall move on. Oh, I am changing the format of this weekly update. Let’s see if you can spot it.
The song of the week is this cover of Aint No Sunshine by CAPTAIN OG and Shotaro Miyamoto.
Ok, let’s go!
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ I met Arun Sir and Hareesh Sir for a Meru review and got a whack on the side of the head about money. In that, I realised that I need to make friends with people with money. I think I’ve always shunned money as a bastard thing. But I need to start loving it. And not be overwhelmed with it. I’ve always operated like I was the richest person in the world and never got into money conversations. Between time and money, I’ve always picked time. When in conflict, I’ve left money on the table for others to pick up so that I can walk away with some peace.
I think I will change that.
More on this as I think more. #sgtothink
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B/ Take token for everything. Staying on A, each time someone has come to me for help, I’ve extended my support and help to them at no cost. And in fact, often at my expense (of time, energy, money etc). But I think I will change this from now on. I will ask for a tiny token (or Re 1) before extending any help. I must work on building a “seek help from SG” page where I list these things.
No, I am not taking the decision just yet. This is very intrinsic to me – the want to help the underdog and have more people do more.
My argument has been that if I take ANY money, even if its 1 rupee, it becomes a transaction and then I have a performance pressure. And knowing myself (perpetual underachiever feels), I will not be able to do justice! Plus once someone pays me, it becomes a transaction and it’s never ending!
On the other side, if I dont do a transaction, then I am not obligated. And that relieves me of the responsibility of the outcome. But then I become that consultant breed that I loathe from the bottom of my heart!
Any how. I will think on this and decide it over the next few days. #sgtodo
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C/ The third lesson from the meeting is that I must make check lists. I anyway do this but I want to be able to do this at a GRANULAR level. And then I should be able to get even a machine to execute things.
I’ve lived my life in a freewheeling manner but now as I am older and have lesser time to get things done, I will lean onto this. I will re-read the Checklist Manifesto.
Also, I think, this is a lesson I need to give to folks at C4E. If there’s a checklist structure and a scrum master to run and list priorities I think life would get better. I know C4E is built on top of self accountability but this could be a good driver. Again, not my place to recommend or push things at C4E. I would let them decide. I can only leave a note to them.
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D/ This linkedin note on creative folks, from Prak is fabulous. She says something that I’ve always known but I never knew how to write. About the creative folks, she says,
What happens when you take this type and put them within the same tiny rooms and dull walls day in and day out?
They lose that perspective. They lose their voice. That freshness and creativity? It dies a slow death, like a plant kept away from the sun.
Touch grass is not just a fad for us, it’s a way of building the things, creating in the best way possible.
We make space for epiphanies, to enter flow zones of brilliant work, to find sparks of magic in the world outside walls, both physical and metaphorical.
Creative folks bring their whole self to office, not just “a skill”.
I knew of this all the time but I could never find the words to articulate it.
Thanks, Prak.
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E/ This piece makes an argument that warmer counties are poorer. If there is one thing that you read today, read this. I am convinced that once I move to a colder place, I will be better off.
In fact I was thinking today only – what holds me to Mumbai. Some years ago it would have been friends and SO. But the only friend I cared for in life is no longer in India. And SO, well, lol. So, maybe its the trigger to move to a colder place? But then, Indian passport 🙁
But, in spirit of action and seeing something that I always knew on paper, why cant I make my way to a colder country?
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F/ This text by the other Vembu is brilliant. More than the hyper-national conversations, I like how they’ve chosen to play the long-game. Ofc its easy to talk about things after you’ve succeeded. I am a sore old man. I played the long-game all my life and look where it left me. And despite that soreness and my bias, I encourage everyone to play the long game.
Also, the podcast I was gonna do with Riya’s help was gonna be called The Long Game. I will have to find a new name. I dont want to encroach upon someone else’s work even though I am a rounding off error in their scheme of things.
Oh, see this video of Steve introducing about podcasting.
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G/ Mahabharata Today is the 6th day when I am writing a post on my linkedin where am talking about a lesson from Mahabharata. They are on my linkedin. Do see those.
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H/ Ashutosh Rana and Rashmirathi You have to see this, unless already.
Ok, this is it.
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I/ Music and mehfils I am seeing Shotaro Miyamoto on loop and the urge to build mehfils is getting stronger by the day. I really really really need to dig this shit up. See this exasperated note!
There was a time when I was doing this with CSS. We kept it just right – friends, music, camaraderie but I wasn’t able to continue with it. You know, life happened. And then with time it withered away. I so want to get back in those rooms. You know, Sofar, Tiny Desk (by NPR), even Coke Studio but done in an intimate setting!
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J/ Focus Saw this tweet and wondered, if the missing ingredient from my life and success is focus. I’ve never been the kinds to stick to one thing. But maybe this is the thing that I need to do? With Meru, at least I am trying to do one thing. Let’s see if it bears fruit.
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K/ Mental Health 101 From whatever little I know, I’ve been able to distill that your happiness is the gap between your expectation and reality. By corollary, it’s also the gap between efforts and returns. And thus the old-age advice on not attaching to outcomes serves well.
So that!
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This is it for this week. More next week.
📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.
The cover would be this…
.
Lemme know which one do you like the most. And do share some of your photos with me!
.
🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. Nothing to report.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – Was ok health wise but not doing very well with food and all. So a -1. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. This has fallen off the grid completely. The rigor with which I worked on this is gone. I need to restart. Am taking off Monday and Tuesday to only fix this. So, 0.
Meru. Great progress but not something that I can talk about on this blog. But till we ship, I will give myself a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.
Brand SG. Riya has started to share things on ToL. You may check it out here and here. Early days. But some action finally. Thanks to Riya, a +1!
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Nothing. So, -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score for the week is 0
I need to now ensure that I get a + every week. And that means I will break things into tiny chunks and manage those.
Watch me.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by…
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What trends do you see?
I see…
Consistent unhappiness.
Bad food.
Sleeping late.
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep I slept ok, but later than what I would’ve wanted.
2/ Exercise No action. Despite my 100% intentions.
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. Was terrible. I am just not able to solve this. : (
4/ Community No large movement on this.
5/ REDACTED This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.
6/ Movement No action.
: (
7/ Meditation No action.
Overall, the last week on health front has not been the best. I am thinking why am I even tracking this if week after week, all I have is inconsistent outcomes?
📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
Here are some…
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1/ This post from Sam Parr. About how to live a good life.
2/ This X thread about Osho is very interesting. I am not too well read about his life and work but this was a good 101.
3/ This Linkedin broetry has great advice for young people. I love these parts the most…
1. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘁: Regular readers know the Explore vs Exploit framework. In situations of repeated decision making, you can either 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 (try a new thing), or 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘪𝘵 (stick with what you know works). In building a career, the early years should be dedicated to Exploit. Try as many things as you can. The time to Exploit your skills / experience will come later. For now, experiment!
5. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀. My closest friends today are from only two cohorts – college mates, and friends from the earliest days of my working life. Cherish these early years. They offer you deep friendships, lasting mentors.
6. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵. Eating out every day, too much drinking, long nights at work, travel, no exercise. Think your body can take punishment and still endure? Maybe. But it’ll thank you later if you took better care of it.
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4/ This post on the Taste and Talent gap is worth it’s weight in gold. Do read it?
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5/ This X thread on success is great. From this, I love these…
you should be able to sleep on floor, no matter how rich you become
dilute stakes at peak to use the money at extreme lows and stay afloat
business is an emotional ride and very bumpy, be prepared
if you can move to Dubai or US make some money quickly then expand in India
always have 36 months of money for family security
Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 38 of 2025.
Sunday the 21st, Starbucks Versova,
The week gone by was interesting, to say the least.
Health was all over the place and this is when I am trying to be more conscious of what I eat and how I eat.
Work was ok – no large complaints but hectic for sure. On other things, I wasn’t as consistent as I would have liked to be.
Also, this review will be a short one compared to others.
Like I said, I am not 100%. I had the choice of skipping it or doing a half-hearted shoddy job.
I chose later. I am trying to be consistent even if quality goes down the drain. Plus this (my consistency) has been my Achilles Heel and thus I want to not stop with it.
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order. And this week, please expect these to be a tad less than previous ones.
A/ How people use ChatGPT Open AI released this report that talks about how people use Chat GPT. I am sure you have seen it. But if you live under the rock and you havent, here’s a chart.
Chart from openAI on how people use ChatGPT.
These are very interesting tidbits. I would love to get even more granular data on this to know more. I love how large companies that mine data are able to predict human behaviour so well!
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B/ ChatGPT as a therapist. I found this prompt and I think I will use this to get chatgpt to be my therapist.
“ask me 10 – 12 questions to identify my limiting beliefs and what is holding me back.
Ask the questions one by one and ensure you get to the root cause and not just surface level answers, provide insights and rationale on aspects of myself I am not currently aware of.
After the 10 questions, use advanced Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to wire my brain to push past these limiting beliefs.”
WARNING: PLEASE try at your own risk
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C/ Why do you do hard things? Who do you do hard things for? First, read this post. And here I am, quoting some words from it…
I thought I fought for a cause but I realize I fought because he fought. Because one afternoon he let me witness his humanity.
It has been a long time since that afternoon but that hour changed me permanently. You do hard things because of the people who you do it with and they do it with you because you do it with them. I know to let people around me see the cracks. I remember that I need to witness an d be witnessed.
In my life I’ve wanted people to succeed and I have worked for that. I’ve worked with them at my own cost and at the cost of building opportunities. I dont take names normally but there are some people who’s ambition and dreams are unbounded and I want to be shoulder that enables them to do more! Aastha, Anubhab, Pritam. Shikha and Prakruti in the past. AK and C lately. The ones who put their faith in me. The ones that allowed me to steer them. I failed in most of those. But I did try.
I know when (not if) most of these folks reach the altar, they probably wouldn’t remember me. And that’s ok. I dont seek to be the person who gets to ring the bell on your IPO but I want to be around in the trenches when you need me. I want to be with the underdog. I want to be the person who has the honor to sit in the mud with you when the chips are down.
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D/ Rocky Saw this. And I want to run. Lol!
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E/ Management Lessons from Mahabharata While talking to Riya the other day, an idea popped into my head. What if I could divide Mahabharata in smaller chunks and created some lessons for young people. If I were to offer this as a cohort, how many of you would want to take this up?
PLEASE do let me know!
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F/ SG Patrons (#sgPatrons) I mentioned a few weeks ago, I now have three patrons. I need 997 more. Need to work for those.
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G/ Aint No Sunshine on Jazz I said last week that I am listening to a lot of Jazz lately. Here’s a cover of one of my favorite songs of all time. Here’s another cover (this one takes a bit to start). Oh man, I love listening to various versions of tracks that I love!
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H/ H1B row and Apple in China In the last few days the world for Indians in the US seems to have turned upside down. There are new regulations on H1B Visa. While I am not as well read (reminds me of this from Calvin and Hobbs), I can understand the pain and anxiety in the minds of people.
Also, I am reading Apple in China.
And I am thinking and reading about global business and all that.
All three things are very very very unsettling to me as a person. On one side, I want to live as borderless, free life. And on the other, I am contained in India. And then there are stories of countries and economies closing their doors. And then there’s this thing where I know am growing old. And fast. And to a point that I dont know how long do I have! To a point that I dont even want to get on to a plane – why give fate even a fleeting chance?
Ok, I dont know where am going with this. The point is, kaafi khichdi hai. Lol!
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Ok, this is it.
📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.
Lemme know which one do you like the most. And do share some of your photos with me!
.
🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. Nothing to report.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – Was not in the pink of health last week. So -1. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. Was unwell. No one or nothing to blame on. Just life. Lol. I even tried to cook but that was a disaster. So, 0.
Meru. Apart from other things, did a session with some folks about how to write their biographies. Doing another one on the 5th Oct. Details here. Still a 0, TBH.
C4E. No action from my side. September looks tough. Let’s see. C tells me that the pipeline looks ok but let’s see.
Brand SG. No action. Nothing to be shared. -1
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Nothing. So, -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -2. Has been -2 for some weeks now.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
What trends do you see?
I see…
Terrible recovery. The last five days have been like less than 50 and one day it was 9!
Food’s all over the place.
Emotions are all over the place.
Lol, life’s all over the place ;P
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep In one word, last week was FUCKED!
2/ Exercise No action. Despite my 100% intentions.
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. Was terrible.
I tried sprouts and boiled eggs and all that. But didn’t work out. I think I will give up on it and get catered meals. I will pay more than I can afford but I will not have to waste headspace.
4/ Community No large movement on this. It’s as ok as it could be. Nothing great, nothing bad.
5/ REDACTED This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.
6/ Movement No action. Even the steps are down 🙁
7/ Meditation No action.
Overall, the last week has been terrible. The first half was bad cos of work. The second half cos I ate something bad.
📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
Since I was not working a lot, I had time to read a lot. And I started reading a book as well (Apple in China – see this). So, here are some links that I want to share.
1/ This LinkedIn post talks shows the income of Indians across tax groups (only the ones that file tax). The surprising part was the number of people making more than 10 lakhs is like 1 crore only (assuming 10 crore people file tax and 10% of those are in this category)! What does this mean for us?
2/ Interesting post about how the Aggarwals cant seem to find enough brides. More pertinent cos this is the community that I come from.
3/ This tweet implores you to find your Spartans. Like I said, I have 2. How many do you have? Oh, while on Spartans, please see this video to get the real meaning of what Spartans mean!
4/ I saw this tweet and I want to take the no-smart phone challenge. I will probably do this towards the end of the year. #sgtodo
6/ Read this post about who would you like to be without an audience. Very very deep and inspiring and interesting. A conundrum that I have faced for a long long time now.
7/ This tweet by Kunal Shah is very interesting. I would love to get into some sin business. Any ideas?
8/ This long post on how twitter / X algo works. Do read. I am yet to implement this in my work but I plan to.
9/ Re-read this long post (from 2014) on why Bitcoin is doomed. Some of the reasons are no longer valid in 2025 but some are! Do read and lemme know what you think.
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I want to share more links but this week’s update is a truncated one. So may be next week?
🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
I’ve been skipping this for a while now. Lets see when I get back to this.
🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Sad.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
— Phew! Lemme know what you think. See you around.
Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 37 of 2025. Wow time flies!
9 AM, Sunday the 14th, Starbucks Versova,
I’ve had probably the toughest week in the last few weeks. If I look at my charts, I am sleeping well, emotions are in check but I had a terrible week. I know it. Quantified self may not be as quantifiable as we imagine it to be ;P
There is clearly a lot that goes under the hood that we are not aware of. And I think that ability to scratch beyond the surface is what separates winners from losers. At some point, I need to grow that ability. I dont think I have at this time.
Anyhow. A lot to be said and a lot to be thought about.
Let’s get going.
Oh, the song of the week is Jagjit Singh’s version of Chaudhavi Ki Raat. Here.
Chalo, let’s go…
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Jazz I have started to like Jazz. I never imagined that I would love things like Jazz music. But I like it now. May be its the impact that Akshay has had on me. Or may be its a natural instinct to start like mellow things as you age. Or may be its the appreciation of fine things in life (lol, am calling Jazz fine). Or maybe this is an hangover from Whiplash?
Whatever it is. It’s interesting and I like.
Here’s one of the playlists that I listen to often. And I am listening to this as we write this. You must watch this. People having fun!
And yes, my choice of music platform is Youtube. Not Spotify lol.
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B/ SG’s Raison d’être Am continuing this from last week’s point E.
From all the 84 people that read that post, 2 decided to support me. Both are at a 1000 a month. Thank you, Prakruti and Shruti. I now need 998 more folks.
Also, 2 out of 84 is not that bad to be honest. Now that I have 2 patrons, I need to think what can I offer them. And how can I expand this.
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C/ Domesticated SG I’ve found a spot in my house where the sun peeks at me in the morning. So, most days, I putter around there, peeling eggs, almonds, cleaning the kitchen and all that. I dont do anything of use to be honest. It’s an hour of wasting time but I am told by Dr H that I need to waste this hour. So that.
Oh, I am also getting a lot more domesticated. I am buying things like lunch boxes, containers and what not. I already have an air fryer, a blender, an egg boiler, a humidifier. Apart from tons of glass jars, spouters, containers and all that. I’ve ran away from a functioning kitchen all my life and now I have one. Sigh!
What age does to people ;P
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D/ Walk streak Since early august I was on a 8K per day streak. I broke it yesterday 🙁
I am committed to continue this. So while I missed this yesterday, I will try to get back to it today on. As I write this, I am on 1000 odd steps for the day. The ambition is to do 15K today. Let’s see how it goes.
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E/ Weekly Updates + Roam I found a way to import my blogs in Roam.
And now I have a tracking system! Yay!
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F/ Distribution / Personal Brand Not one day goes by when I am not reminded by how stupid it is that I did nothing on my personal brand over all these years that I have been active on social media and internet.
I really have to pull up my socks, pants, life and EVERYTHING that I can on this. I need to start putting my face and thoughts and ideas and everything else out!
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G/ Upskilling Cohort for Mid-Career Folks A friend (Akshay) and I had this idea – what if there was some cohort for mid-career professionals who are wading in the ambiguity with their careers? And the cohort could offer a structured program where you could attend sessions by others (gyaan), upskilling workshops (say AI), and opportunity to find gigs that are not soul-sucking full time jobs.
We floated this idea in couple of groups – one was DD’s group and the other was MDI’s community. We got some really interesting feedback. What do you think? Would you be interested? Why? Why not? What would you want to see in that cohort? What money would you pay? No, we dont want to charge people who want to upskill but we want to filter non-serious participants. And any other feedback?
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H/ Bending Spoon’s acquisition of Vimeo I read this week that Bending Spoons is acquiring Vimeo. If you are uninitiated about BS, they are a tech venture studio of sorts that also owns and runs wetransfer, issu and evernote! Oh, I also love their Values page!
Also, Bending Spoons is the kind of business that I want to create. In fact, the labs piece by AK is my ticket to that. I just need to find a way to show the kids the light and move beyond the quirks.
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I/ Bharat Ek Khoj Someone needs to reimagine and retell Bharat Ek Khoj. May be using AI. I wish I had the money to commission it! In fact, on that thread, reminds me, I have so so so many ideas that I want to work on and I dont know how to do all of those 🙁
Ok wait. I will not cry. Moving on.
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Ok, this is it. Moving on.
📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.
And here’s a photo that I want to share with the world…
Took this on one of the mornings at Starbucks.
Do share some of your photos with me 🙂
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🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. A, I was busy with work. B, Bri was busy as well. So, I have nothing to report. Will get back next week.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – No large actions. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. I was not on track at all. With FOXO I had built a good habit of eating in moderation and all that but one slip from my side, I am back to the starting line. I need to get back on track. A 0.
Meru. Lot of action but no updates that I can put on this blog. So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. But we did survive one more month without ruin. So that’s a win for sure. With the way things are going, I will have to take up a loan to pay September salaries. So it has a good thing and a bad thing. May be a 0.
Brand SG. No action. Riya and AK and Vishal and others have been at it but we havent shipped anything. So a -1. Also with a team and talent like that, it’s a shame that I am unable to get them to do more for me.
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Nothing. So, -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -2.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
From Week 37 of 2025
What trends do you see?
I see…
Better sleep despite my emotions being all over the place. Funnily the days that I was most screwed, I seem to be sleeping better. Lol.
Food needs fixing for sure.
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep Like I said, this seems to be ok. Despite my emotions. I think I am blessed!
2/ Exercise No action 🙁
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. Was terrible.
Here’s a screenshot of macros from last week. I am told I need to add 20% to what I track. Please do the math ;P
I use chatgpt to estimate this.
So, am ok on protein (I think) but I need to fix my carbs and calories.
Oh, in case you need my prompt for this, lemme know. It’s able to find macros but I am yet to automate it to a point that it can add to the tracker by itself. On that, I am sure it’s possible but I havent had the time to play with AI tools yet.
4/ Community No large movement on this.
5/ REDACTED This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.
6/ Movement No action.
Apart from steps over the last week. See this.
7/ Meditation No action.
Overall, despite everything, I am unable to anything about moving the metrics that matter. I think I need intervention! Who? Come on, universe. #sgtodo
Also, question for the world at large – how to people manage work, life, family and fitness? #tothink
📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
I read a lot last week. I mean it feels like that.
Here are some pieces that I want to share…
1/ Longevity as the new status game by JMJ. Here. Satirical read about how longevity has become the new pursuit of the rich and tech-ous.
2/ The note from Wire about the Nepal situation. Here.
3/ Here’s a note on Pmarca’s operating principles and the change. Here. I think I am somewhere in the same flux. Over the last year or so, I’ve become a lot more manager than maker. And thus I need to change as well.
4/ My friend Pavithra on self worth, told thru the lens of GLP-1 drugs and Serena’s decision to promote these drugs. Here.
5/ This tweet on how to use modern digital marketing.
6/ Aarya write about what makes Apple, Apple. Very well written piece from a young person. Must read. Here.
7/ This story on Parsi’s Towers of Silence. And Vultures. Really. MUST read. For sheer joy of reading. And amazement.
8/ This review of Manu Joseph’s book, Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us. No, I have not read the book. But I am aware of the sharp tongue of the man. And I love how he’s able to write so well. This review is Josephesque itself. Do read.
9/ Ev (the twitter guy) talking about “Why Greatness Can’t be Planned”. I havent read the book but I love the narrative. Here. I can totally see myself buying the book. Meanwhile, here’s a summary of the book.
I am starting this on a Saturday. Let’s see if I get to publish this today. Last few weeks have been tough, accounting to all the work and meetings and all that.
Today’s Sunday. And I didn’t publish this on a Saturday! Lol!
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Ember Months Lock In Most of the startup world is talking about the great lock-in over the Ember Months. Funny I didnt know of this as a concept all this while. But now that I know, I am inspired to something. I think I will make it about fitness. Work, life, people, relationships, etc etc will come and go but fitness will stay with me. So that.
A part of this is that I will run a HM on 31st Dec. I am 14 odd weeks away from it. And as of today I can only run like 10 meters. Let’s see how it goes.
What are you gonna lock-in the next 4 months with?
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B/ Teacher’s Day A sum total of two people wished me Happy teachers’s day. Which is fine. I dont want adulation anyway. But I am very very big on learning and lessons and life and all that. And I want to believe that I am teaching a lot of people a lot of things. And while they may not acknowledge me, I hope they are using it.
On the flip side, I used to be big on wishing my teachers and my mentors each year. But since the last few years, I’ve stopped doing this. There are a couple of reasons.
1 – I am like eternally grateful to them. And I try and thank them a lot. And that means that I dont need a specific day to think about them and wish them.
2 – With time, these special days have stopped meaning a lot to me. Call it my laziness, call it my limitation but I no longer think a lot about these days.
3- I often thing that by wishing one, I am not wishing or thinking about others. And there have been way too many teachers that have made me who I am. So, my policy is, dont wish any. I know this is stupid – at least the ones I wish will feel good. But here I am.
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C/ New Twitter / X handle If you know me, you know how important it is for me to connect with people – new or known. And twitter has been an incredible source for that. But lately, even though I got a premium account, my reach has been limited. I can blame it on my content (probably true cos I dont get reach on any platform that I am active on) or I can blame it on the ago (lol). But I dont get reach.
One investigation (in my head) tells me that its probably because I’ve done things that may flag the account as a bot (following a lot, unfollowing a lot, posting links etc etc).
So, I want to build a new handle and see if I get more reach on it. Also, on the new handle, I will talk about one niche (the holy grail of growth on twitter). The only trouble is, I dont know what niche to talk about!
Oh, while I made a plea to the world to follow me on the new handle, I asked them to share a quote. Some people shared and some of these are gems! I think I will get someone to make posters, frame those and send to people who’ve shared those quotes. AK, up for a challenge?
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D/ Fold Money + Kite by Zerodha Thanks to Fold Money, I discovered that I had stock investments worth 80K! I thought I have no savings. But I was wrong. So I will sell those. And try to prepay some of my loan.
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E/ Saurabh Garg’s raison d’être Aka, why am I here. Aka, what gives me joy. Aka, why I do what I do.
This is tough question that I will never find an answer to. Most people dont. While most people are ok with the ambiguity, I am not. I want to find an answer. I know it may never dawn upon me but I will continue to try.
A thread in that direction is as follows. PS: This was an outcome of one of my free thinking sessions.
My salvation is in thinking, reading, knowing more. And not in doing.
I am an explorer. I am an organic. I can get things done from others (not from self). I can push people to do more than they would have imagined. But I like to move across (not around) and I want to open doors. My magic is in connecting people and getting them to work with each other.
The life of an executer is not for me. As I reflect on my work and life, I realize I never was a great executer. I’ve not been a finisher. I like to take things from 0 to 1. But not from 1 to 10 and not from 10 to 100. I’ve never taken anything to 10, let alone 100. And I am ok with this.
So, I want to do more of what it takes to be this organic, this explorer, this tinkerer, this door opener. And then whatever happens from there on, I want to let that happen!
Also, when I let this happen, how do I make an honest living?
One way it that I find 1000 true fans who will give me 1000 bucks a month to live and then I do things that support them. Till last year I would have scoffed at the idea. But now, I dont. Talk of changing philosophy ;P
So, here’s my plea. If you are reading this and you want to support me, here’s a test. You have my number. If you don’t ask me. Make a transfer of an amount that you are willing to fund me for month on month. And then DM me. Let’s see if I get any close to my dreams.
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F/ Do things with hand Dr H asked me to do things with hand. Last time I tried doing it, I learnt how to juggle three balls. This time I think I will go back to Uke.
My only problem is that my neuroplasticity with the Uke is way too strong. And not is a good way. So, let’s see.
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G/ The fall of the heroes This past week two things happened that reinforced the belief that heroes fall. The Balraj incident and the dinner of tech CEOs.
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H/ MDI network I am incredibly grateful to the network from MDI Gurgaon. There are so many times when I need help and inputs and support and the network ALWAYS comes thru. I hope to be able to help others when they need me.
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I/ Zakir Khan Saw this (from Rajiv Nema). And OMG. I am in awe of the man. The thing am taking away from this story is riyaaz. Must do more riyaaz. With everything I work on.
PS: Lately a few young people have pointed out to me that Zakir has not really lived up to the responsibility he has as a strong voice. I want to say that it’s his choice. And I am sad at the same time. Especially now that I have started to see things that Punit Pania wants us to see.
I think on this, the final word would be of Parijat’s. He said and I concur, “A spine is rare, harmful at times but valuable, I daresay”.
And no, I dont have a spine. More on this some other day.
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J/ Personal brand See E above. And in continuation to that, I’ve started to think deeply about my personal brand. To be honest, this is not the first time. But this time I am committed. and this time, Riya is helping me like she’s never helped me before. I am hopeful something will come out of it.
I sent the following to some friends…
Hello Saurabh! I’m working on a personal branding exercise for my startup journey, and I need your help. Can you please take this short personal values test: https://personalvalu.es/personal-values-test
But instead of doing it for yourself, please do it while thinking about me — what values you feel represent me most strongly. At the end, you’ll get 5 values on the final page. Please take a quick screenshot of that page and send it back to me here. It’ll really help me understand how I’m perceived by the people close to me. Thank you!
I would love if you could take this and share what you think I stand for.
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K/ Larger font. I had to change the screen resolution of my laptop to a higher one!
Age, sigh!
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L/ What does the life amount to? Someone asked me, what does my life amount to. I mean I am 42 and I have -40 lakhs of net worth and literally no assets to call my own. Even my CA told my dad the other day that all I do is dream big and do nothing. And that was a rude shock. And I need to find a way to not be that. Anyhow, am digressing.
So someone asked me what does my life amount to and I didnt have an answer. Then someone else I know told me that that person has a different metric. They said, “maine paise nahi kamaya but izzat kamai hai, log kamaye hai”
And I was like OMG, I am this! All I’ve earned is izzat, people, exposure. But then, these things don’t give me no dal roti. Sigh!
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M/ Michael Lopp The discovery of the week has to be Michael Lopp and his blog. I found him via someone on twitter and I think I’ve read a large part of his website. He’s one of those, “why didnt I discover this person sooner” person.
N/ What can be road block for us? One of the things I am grateful to Meru for is continued patronage of Hareesh Sir. And all the lessons I get from him.
In the most recent one, for each thing we work on, he asks us, what can be a road block for us in this project. He asks us to list those and then ensure that we prevent ruin on that end.
This one lesson is worth its weight in gold!
Also, random #parkedIdea – For each such thing, am gonna build a razor. You know, like Occam’s Razor. And maybe evolve them into decision making frameworks like Charlie has (you know, psychology of human misjudgment).
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O/ Disappear from internet? I’ve been thinking lately that what would it be like to disappear from the Internet. I know I am far from it. In fact, if anything, I am hoping to bombard the internet with my face – you know, AI avatar, content, blogs, videos and all that. All in chase of that “personal brand” thing that will enable me to get more opportunities. That give me enough cash flow to take care of myself and my ilk.
I wish I had enough to not worry about anything and have access to everything. And then may be, I would actually go missing!
Ok, wait. I have a crazy idea. I dont login to social networks at all. I am only on email and whatsapp and all that. And I get my people to build / manage / operate those handles? As if Saurabh is a mere bot and there are people that run that bot!
More people must know that they are insignificant in the large cosmic plan of things. While we are on this, please see this.
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🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – I sat with Bri and I got it restarted. No large output yet. But I’ve started to work on it. No, I am not counting this as a win but this is definitely a start (was on pause for a while).
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – No large actions. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. I dont think it was on track. I did eat in moderation and I did try to be consistent. But I can do more. And I dont want to be randomly harsh. So, a 0.
Meru. No large updates in this week. So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. 0.
Brand SG. No action. Last week, at least I recorded a few things. This week, nothing. And this is an important plank. So, -1.
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. I moved some needle but not enough. So, -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -2
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
What trends do you see?
I see…
Inconsistent with sleep. But a couple of good days. I think it boils down to discipline.
Consistent steps. I think I need to find a way to do similar thing with workouts and I will be unbeatable!
LOT of coffee. And all of it at Starbucks. Need to reduce it. No, not
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep This was better than last week. There were two 90+ recoveries. Need to continue to invest more on this.
2/ Exercise Walks have been consistent. But havent been able to add any fitness yet. I must.
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. This week was little easy going. I ate things that I typically I dont want to eat. Really looking forward to the next week cos I am gonna get onto OMAD / 2MAD / Keto or something.
4/ Community No large movement on this. Didn’t have the time.
5/ Crowdfunding health I will remove this from next week onward.
6/ Movement No action. 🙁
7/ Meditation No action. I will start this for sure this week. Lol!
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
Here’s a list of interesting things from the last week.
Aug 31, Starbucks, Versova Finishing it on Sep 1, 2025.
Today I woke up late. I mean I was up at 6:30. And then I slept again (cos I was up till 2). And then I woke up at 8:30. And this means I am delayed on most things, including this note. But now that am here, I will make the most of it. And since I didn’t write the last week’s well, I need to do this one better.
Lol, talk of self-imposed pressure.
Anyhow. We shall prevail. And we shall do more. Oh and before we go ahead, here’s the track of the week. This.
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Ok, let’s go!
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
1/ The raison d’être of this weekly review As I was writing this, I realised that it takes me about 3 hours to write this. Give or take. And then whatever time it takes me to maintain notes that I take thru the week (in hopes that I will publish this on this post). For the curious, most of those notes are on my Apple Notes, Self WA Group, TIL and Roam.
However, if I am to look at the value that I get from this, I think its zilch.
Apart from making me feel good about continuing with a habit for more than 8 months.
TBH, in the past, I used to have lot more time. And that meant I could work on this at my speed, at my pace, at my schedule. I remember I would start writing this on a Thursday and then I would get back to it often. Now, all I get is a half a day per week and in that time I need to crunch errands, socialise, do soul things and all that.
And thus I am left questioning this.
But then, I enjoy the process of writing. This is the only thing that I write these days apart from work. Plus, writing this allows me to reflect and see notes and revisit things from the week gone by. Its this revisiting that has got me numerous opportunities that I would otherwise not get.
So, if I were to do a pros vs cons analysis, I dont know what to make out of this.
What do you think? Should I continue with this? Or should I stop?
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2/ Punit Pania I’ve been aware of his work for a while but over the last week, I saw a lot of his videos. And with each, my are for him has only grown. What an incredible guy!
I wish I had the balls to be like him – live life on own terms and rely on 1000 true fans to support his life. He’s clearly using his ability to write and speak to rage against the system. In a manner that is harmless and yet impactful. At least I am a convert. I wish I had the talent to do that.
But then, even if I had the talent, I would probably not rage against anything. I would try and build things. I am never against anything. I am towards something else. I dont know if this makes sense to whoever is reading this, but that.
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3/ Personal Brand I’ve been making efforts on building my personal brand. Actually wait. I am not making efforts. Riya is. And Vishal and Naman are. I am merely giving into whatever they tell me. See this video as the first output. This is still a private link that we made as a trial. I have no interest in giving financial advice. Lemme know what you think.
I’ve also started to talk publicly about this on various platforms. And thanks to that, I’ve got inputs from many folks. Each is helping me sharpen it. Let’s see what comes out of it.
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4/ Micro Dramas I’ve been enamored by it. And everyone I know is talking about it. And I have this feeling of being left out. Super FOMO. Like I have with AI. And with so many more things.
Thing is, a lot of filmmakers I know hate this format (they think money is too less and there is no creativity etc) but I think its an important to embrace it. I think it will democratize storytelling. Like Youtube did. Plus, with all the noise of Tik Tok making a comeback, we will see a million filmmakers come to life – all equipped with simple phone cameras and insane talent. If someone can build a microdrama business, I think they are in for a goldmine.
Of course, I speak as an outsider. Till I had TRS, I was still on the fringes but I am no longer there and thus I know nothing about the business. What do you think?
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5/ AI Film Fest AK, C and others are working on putting together a film festival for content made with AI. Wow! I am constantly surprised at all the things they do! More details here.
Again, like micro dramas, AI as a concept is being dismissed per se by a lot of filmmakers but I know the time has come. Sooner you adapt to it and accept it, better it is.
Anyhow. Again. I dont want to talk more cos am not a man in the arena. But I do know that if young people think of putting together such festivals, the established filmmakers will have a field day if they embrace AI.
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6/ Coaching Sandeep Sir mentioned that I must explore coaching as a career option. I don’t think I want to. But he sees something in me that I dont see. And I dont want to dismiss him. Let’s see.
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7/ This tweet from Naval on people I am embedding it here so that it’s eay to read and all that.
I’ve long believed in this idea of having to identify people from afar. And then investing in them and then try to get them to work with me. And I’ve been mildly successful. Now that Naval has spoken, I must accelerate.
Also, thanks to Gokul (founder at CynLr), I understood the term “needle in the haystack” when it comes to talent. This is a very good way to spot talent. In fact, this is how scouts for the sports teams work. Even VCs have scouts that work for them to identify talent.
I saw this and I was like, O FUCK! Ofc, I’ve spoken about it above. Lemme know what you think of this.
🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – no action.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.
Health – No large actions. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. I think I was better than last week. I ate mindfully. Had a few thing that I shouldn’t have had. But was ok more or less. If I had added workouts, it would have been sweet. I will give myself a 0.
Meru. No large updates in this week. So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. 0.
Brand SG. Recorded a few things with Riya. Yet to ship. But I did record and did make a progress. After a few days. So, a 0. And not a -1. Yay!
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Lol! -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -1.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
What trends do you see?
I see…
Eating a lot of things that I shouldnt be eating. I hope to fix this.
Lesser spends than I typically do week on week. So, yay!
Consistency with steps. Yay!
Need to check on emotions, especially in the second half of the week.
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep This was not good at all. I’ve been lagging behind on this. Must fix it.
2/ Exercise Walks have been consistent. I do at least 8K each day. I hope to continue with this.
I want to add some workout in this. Yoga is easy but I need someone to help me. Gym, I can’t. I need to find a sport that equals weight lifting (you know, muscle and all).
Also, again, no action. So not counting this as a win. Till I actually do something.
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. This week was ok. I had an average of 1800 calories in the week gone by. As I write this, I have had only two Americano’s since morning. Not even protein shake.
4/ Community This seems to be doing ok. I am able to meet new people. I am ok to build deeper relationships with more people. I am able to sustain interest as well. So all well.
5/ Crowdfunding health I had said that I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy. This will be a bummer. I had to be under 90 but I am not losing weight at all. And I wont for the next few days either. So that will suck. I will inform these people and move on.
6/ Movement No action. Except walking.
7/ Meditation I was to have meditated for a few hours this week. But I did not. So that. Will try again this week.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
Here’s a list of interesting things from the last week.
1/ Read this from Naval in the morning and was like a whack on the back of the head. There are so many times I think to myself – the world is unfair, I couldnt do it, I dont have it easy etc etc. But Naval is right. YOU have only YOU to blame if you’re not doing well. Will think a lot about this over the next few days!
2/ The CBO at Atomberg (Arindam Paul) just wrote a new book and its getting rave reviews. I am getting a copy for myself. Could be useful if you are interested in consumer brands, d2c, modern marketing et al. Check it here.
3/ This piece by Yash Garg on founder’s office roles is a gold mine for folks seeking such roles.
4/ Sahil talks about 3 types of friends. Incredible list. Made me think who’s my leaves, branches and the roots. I see myself using this analogy a lot in how I converse.
So yeah. This is it.
🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
I’ve been skipping this for a while now. I think this will remain ignored for a few more weeks. Let’s see when I get back to this.
🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Routine.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Busy, Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
— Phew! Lemme know what you think. See you around.
Weekly update from Saurabh Garg from the 34th week of 2025.
Aug 25. Monday. Aug 26. Tuesday. Various places, various times. This was supposed to happen over the last weekend but I was unable to. Not that I was very busy or something. Just that something kept on coming up. And that kept delaying things. Plus I’ve had few very long days at work. Plus most times I would start writing this on a Friday and then complete in spurts over the weekend. This time, I was unable to work on this on Friday or Saturday. And then Sunday went in meetings and all that.
So that.
I had imagined that I will skip it. But then I realised that skipping would be taking the easy way out. And I dont want to break my streaks.
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
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A/ Missed the Sunday Linkedin post. I missed all my weekend things and this included the post I make each Sunday. If I had posted, I would’ve celebrated Dr Hitakshi. You must check her linkedin.
Apart from all the sense she makes as a doctor, she once mentioned to C that she wants to hire someone and the non negotiables that she has are, “Not dumb. Not slow. Integrity.”
These are super super important for anyone who wants to make a good life!
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B/ Bikram Bumrah I can dedicate an entire section to this, if I have to! But here we go!
I saw him live on Aug 23. For this show. And this was easily the highlight of the week! Here are some notes that I took…
Mumbai kaayaro ka sheher hai. Yahan aata ko aaram nahi milta.
You must do what it takes to chase your bliss.
The need of poets and all!
PS: I will write about him in detail some day.
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C/ Ray LaMontagne Ray is a gift that keeps giving. Since I’ve heard him at Starbucks, I have come to become a fan. I’ve heard almost all tracks. These days, I was born to love you is my jam.
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D/ 2 lakh steps Since the 6th of August, I have walked 2 lakhs steps. Super stoked. Apart from the lingering ache in the feet, I dont think I’ve lost any weight per se.
Oh, as I write this (Aug 26th), I broke the Canyons I was wearing. I need to get a new walking companion.
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E / Flash Memory by Sandeep Kaul. Met Sandeep over the weekend and he told me about this concept of Flash Memory.
He says that all he operates as a slave to his Flash Memory. Like a Flash drive, he only remembers things before and after 30 minutes of now. He has no recollection of the past. He has no plan for the future. He’s in the zone, all the time and leans onto AI tools and others to support.
Now, I have worked like this all my life. Just that I didnot know the name of this concept. From today on, I know the name.
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There’s a LOT more. But since I am running super late with this and I want to push it, I will skip that for this week and post on this week’s note.
The highlight photo has to be of Bikram Bumrah. More about him in the next few lines.
From Bikram’s recent show, Ambarsariya.
🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – no action.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.
Health – The last week was ok. Not the best. And I know I need to be regular. So that. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. Was not the best. I fell off the radar. And had ups and down thru the week. I will give myself -1.
Meru. No large updates in this week. So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. 0.
Brand SG. No large action. Did a lot of chats with a lot of people. But no action to show for. So, a 0.
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Lol! -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -2.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
From Week 34.
What trends do you see?
I see…
A lot of reds in the sleep department.
Consistecny with walks (8K+ steps each day)
Tracked what I ate on most days.
Ok on stress.
You?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I will start with updates on what am doing for health. I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.
So…
Sleep
Exercise
Diet
Community
Crowdfunding my health.
Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
1/ Sleep This was not good at all. See the chart above. Insta to blame. I am removing insta from my phone. Everything else I talk about health is moot tbh if I cant seem to fix this one thing.
2/ Exercise No action on this apart from walking. I need to fix this. This week looks tough to be honest. I will try to include some workout for sure. Let’s see how.
3/ Diet I track each thing I eat on my food log. This week was bad for food. I need to get back on the track. Which I will. As we speak, its 5:30 and all I’ve had is a protein shake.
4/ Community I love this the most. Just yesterady I met two new people – both because of the communty that I had created.
5/ Crowdfunding health I had said that I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.
This will be a bummer. I had to be under 90 but as of today morning, I am 93 KGs. Talked to Dr H and she mentioned that I need to not worry about it at this time.
6/ Movement Want to add to this (apart from just walking). This is zero at this time. The only saving grace is all the walking. See this chart…
I’ve walked 2 lakh steps since 6 Aug!
7/ Meditation I want to restart on this. Now that I will remove insta from the phone, I will replace it wiht Headspace. I will report back next week.
📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
PS: I had added YT to my “reads”
Here’s a list of interesting things things from the last week.
This thread from Rahul is goldmine. He talks about content, youtube and more. Do read this.
This tweet has strategies for a good life. I love each of his advices. And I can see implimenting most. Thats another matter that am still poor ;P
This post by Kavin Mittal on why he’s exiting India.
This post by Yash on how to land a founder’s office role
This link – https://trackthis.link/ – can bomb your ad networks and set random cookies. You MUST try this. But, please know that it will nuke your laptop!
A rare post on goepolitics – here. Important to read and understand. Cos, well, we are in a new world order where rules are being rewritten as we speak.
This post on work-life balance. I am working on a post of my own.
This research proves that the shape of logos can dictate how people percieve things to be. Very interesting. Must read.
This is it from the week gone by.
🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.
🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Busy.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
— Phew! Lemme know what you think. See you around.
Pooja Sahatiya: The Creative Force Behind the Village at C4E
When I think about the people who’ve shaped my entrepreneurial journey, Pooja Sahatiya stands at the very top of that list. Not just as a co-founder of C4E, but as the creative soul who helped transform a simple idea into the village we call home today.
How I Met Pooja Sahatiya
It’s funny how the most important relationships often start with the smallest gestures. Rahul introduced me to Pooja Sahatiya sometime in 2021. From the first call, there was this infectious “hello-let’s-do-something-together” energy. And that became the foundation of everything we’ve built at C4E.
Pooja Sahatiya didn’t just respond to my eccentric ramblings on Twitter; she saw something in the chaos. Where I had vision scattered across early morning tweet storms, Pooja Sahatiya brought the creative clarity to make those ideas tangible.
Why Pooja Sahatiya Made C4E Special
Let me be brutally honest: I’ve worked with dozens of creative professionals over the years. But Pooja Sahatiya is different. She’s not just talented—though her creative vision is extraordinary. She’s not just hardworking—though her dedication is unmatched. Pooja Sahatiya brings something rarer: the ability to turn creative work into creative community.
Pooja Sahatiya’s Creative Philosophy
What sets Pooja Sahatiya apart is her approach to creativity. She doesn’t just solve problems; she builds bridges. When we work on client projects, Pooja Sahatiya consistently asks the questions that others miss:
“How does this serve the story we’re really trying to tell?”
“What would make this feel more human?”
“How can we make this idea feel alive?”
This is Pooja Sahatiya‘s gift—she sees the humanity in every brief, every campaign, every creative challenge.
Building C4E With Pooja Sahatiya
When Pooja Sahatiya and I started talking about creating something together, we quickly realized we shared the same stubborn belief: work should feel like an adventure, not a chore. Pooja Sahatiya helped shape the culture that makes C4E feel less like an agency and more like a creative village.
“We are the greatest set of hustlers gathered in a single place—intentionally,” as one of our team members put it. That intentionality? That’s Pooja Sahatiya‘s influence. She insisted from day one that we build something that felt purposeful, something that attracted people who shared our hunger for meaningful work.
How Pooja Sahatiya Shaped Our Creative Process
Working with Pooja Sahatiya has taught me that the best creative partnerships aren’t about agreeing on everything—they’re about disagreeing intelligently. Pooja Sahatiya challenges my strategic thinking with creative intuition. I push her creative vision with business reality. The tension creates something neither of us could achieve alone.
Pooja Sahatiya has this remarkable ability to take abstract concepts and make them feel concrete and emotionally resonant. When clients come to us with vague briefs about “brand transformation” or “digital presence,” Pooja Sahatiya translates that into stories that actually matter to real people.
What Working With Pooja Sahatiya Teaches You
If you’ve never worked with someone like Pooja Sahatiya, you’re missing out on understanding what collaborative creativity actually looks like. Pooja Sahatiya doesn’t just contribute to projects—she elevates them. She doesn’t just follow creative briefs—she interrogates them until they become something worth creating.
Pooja Sahatiya’s Impact on C4E
The most telling thing about Pooja Sahatiya‘s influence at C4E is how she’s shaped our entire team’s approach to work. New team members quickly learn that Pooja Sahatiya sets a standard: everything we create should feel intentional, everything should serve a purpose, and nothing should feel ordinary.
As I often tell people, Pooja Sahatiya helped us build C4E into “THE VILLAGE it takes”—the village it takes to build things, to build dreams, to build a life that feels meaningful.
The Future With Pooja Sahatiya
Looking ahead, I know that Pooja Sahatiya and I will continue evolving, both individually and as creative partners. Today we dont work together. But that’s the beauty of working with someone whose creativity never stops growing. Pooja Sahatiya keeps pushing our entire team to ask bigger questions, take bigger risks, and create work that matters more.
Our clients don’t just get Pooja Sahatiya‘s creative expertise—they get her commitment to making their brands feel more human, their messages more meaningful, their impact more lasting.
Why Pooja Sahatiya Matters
In an industry full of people chasing trends, Pooja Sahatiya chases truth. In a world of artificial creativity, Pooja Sahatiya brings authentic vision. In a business built on brief relationships, Pooja Sahatiya builds lasting community.
Pooja Sahatiya reminds me daily that the best creative work comes from the best creative relationships. She’s proven that business partnerships don’t have to be transactional, that success doesn’t require sacrificing authenticity, and that the most rewarding adventures are always shared.
Connect With Pooja Sahatiya
If you want to understand what modern creative leadership looks like, pay attention to Pooja Sahatiya. If you want to see how authentic collaboration can transform both work and relationships, watch how Pooja Sahatiya approaches every project in life.
Pooja Sahatiya isn’t just my business partner—she’s the creative force that turned an idea into a village, a vision into a community, and a professional relationship into something that feels genuinely meaningful.
