Category: Weekly Notes

Wk 17-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 17, 2026

26 April 2026
Starbucks, Versova

As I start writing this, I dont have any large thoughts. But I do have notes that I want to expand into this post, I do have a track that I want to share with the world, I have my usual list of things that I want to work on, I do have a few things that I want to boast about and I do have many other tricks up my slave. But I dont feel like writing.

And this is strange. Since I can remember Since 2006 at least, writing has been my catharsis. And while there have been periods of ups and downs, I’ve never ever felt like not writing.

But then, we shall prevail. One of the best writing lessons I’ve ever got is this – rather than waiting for inspiration to strike you, make writing your bitch and command it when you want to.

So here we are.

The track of the week is this. I must’ve heard this a 100 times since last week.

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☁️ Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

1/ The Gate of Years

I saw this play titled The Gate of Years by Keneth Desai.
At Rangshila.

And I have to say, it was one of the best I’ve seen ever. And since I was seeing a play after a while, I had high expectations. Needless to say, Kenny delivered. A punch and a performance. So good that I wanted to leave everything and fling myself to the world of theatre.

The play had everything going for it. Based on The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, the story is an exchange between Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a merchant and Bashaarat, a shop owner selling curios from the ancient times. Kenny did a one-person adaption and had me spellbound for almost 90 minutes. I was so moved that I even wrote a Linkedin post about it.

I mentioned on the linkedin post and I want to write here as well.

Of all the inexplicable things in the world, the largest mystery that I am confounded by is the reason why people do theatre. They definitely don’t make money. They are glad if they get audience (for this fabulous piece, Kenny had like 10 people in attendance (and one of the audience members was none other than Naseer Sir)). They are not covered on the front pages of any tabloids. Of all the raison d’êtres that us humans chase, theatre offers none!

Someday, I’d like to ask some theatre folks.

Anyhow.

Lemme talk about Naseer Saab for a bit.

Once upon a time, I was so close to working with him on a film that I could touch the set and feel the air with anticipation. A friends friend pitched the project to Shikha and I. And we latched onto it. We made good progress. We did a few meetings with Naseer Sir (yeah, I’ve been in a 1v1 room with him), spent some money on location scouting (to places like Indore and all that), met the studios (Jio etc), financiers and all that. All in hopes of getting the film. But we couldn’t. There are versions of story on why we couldn’t (and my version is not the most kind), but lets not talk about that.

The point is, if I had run a deliberate life back then, I would probably have had a film with Naseer Sir. If a few years later, I had lived a deliberate life, I would have had a film company. If… would… could… have had… sigh!

Someone needs to slap some sense into me.

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2/ NMG Grant

Thej announced the winners of NMG Grant for the year. He (and friends) granted a total of more than 5.5 lakhs to 10+ people for projects ranging from healthcare to maps to wikipedia to animals to music.

The full list is here.

If you are someone with some capital to spare and want to support young people with microprojects, do consider supporting Thej and NMG.

PS: At a point I wanted to start a grant of my own (see SoG Grant) but I was not able to put attention / focus to it. It has always remained a “someday” project and each time Thej issues the grant, I am inspired to copy it.

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3/ MJO

This past week I re-discovered my love for Saurabh Shukla’s MJO.

I dont know what is it about this series that I love the most. The Indian-ness (more of UP-ness), animation, dialogues, animation, background score or a combination there of. Or maybe how Saurabh Shukla talks about himself in each video.

Do see it.

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4/ Valuation Business vs Cashflow Business

This is one of those questions that needed an answer.
Lemme start with definitions.

Valuation Business is where you are valued at gazillion dollars, irrespective of the revenue or profit. This is largely driven by investments in the business (either by VCs or by other such parties).

Cashflow businesses are the ones where no one wants to invest but you make a lot of money and use that money to scale. Gravity was a cashflow business. A grocery store is a cashflow business. C4E is a cashflow business. The business throws some free cash flow that is available to folks at C4E to use.

So, all my life I wanted to build a business that create a large impact (you know, impacts a billion people) and I thought an easy way to do so is via a valuation business (after all, if you lean on VCs, you get to deliver to a larger set of audience). But with time I am learning that there could be merit in the freedom that you you get when you work for yourself and work on a business that throws free cash-flow at you. And that ladies and gents is the big revelation of the week.

Ofc it may not allow me to build a thing that delivers large impact. But may be, at this time, I need some freedom and some wings?

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4/ Other minor updates

Here are some notes and updates from the week gone by.

  1. Spoke to a few friends about the idea of being a sparring partner to founders and CEOs. Got some interesting feedback. Will sharpen that.
  2. Talked to my people at C4E about my attempt at finding something to work on. So far, I am drawing a blank (I do have some ideas but none of them is close to fruition) but I remain hopeful. If nothing else, I will pick up events and get to it.
  3. Spent time with Rana Sir and learnt about how large businesses take shape. I am realizing that I dont understand a lot about how to run large businesses.

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📸 Photos from the week gone by

Stopped this as few weeks ago. In case you want to get photos from me, DM me.

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📊 Trackers…

Here’s my trackers…

Tracker from the week 17.

And here’s the mood…

The mood tracker.

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✅ Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals.
So, no progress and no update.

Plus I hadn’t seen these in a few weeks. So at least am back to tracking these.

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📌 So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Slowly getting back to a sleep routine.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. No answer. I have given myself a hard deadline of 30th April 2026. Either I will find an idea or I will work on whatever my people tell me to. So far, no idea. But I am moving in some direction.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

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🏃🏽‍♂️Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again.
I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.
I want to keep this live cos this makes me think.

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⏳ Reminders from last few days

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 am revisitng htis after a while

A few things.

  1. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
  2. C4E’s website. This is new.

I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur. Again.

The other words for this year have been: Whiling, Movement, Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

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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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

PPPPS: I am not really happy about this update. But I guess we will live with this and aspire to do better in the next one.

Wk 16-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 16 of 2026.

18 April 2026
Writing this from BKK.
And I am writing this in parts.
From Drink Coffee. And from Bo’s. And from a Pacamara. And of course, Starbucks. Must say, Bangkok has some incredible coffee game. Incredible in terms of looks, taste, hospitality, looks, taste, hospitality and all.

In this weeks, edition, I plan to not use the “structure” per se. Rather a brain dump of all that I’ve been thinking. This will be the closest to my morning pages thing.

Let’s go.

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1/ Skincare Routine

I’ve decided that I am gonna be a man with a skincare routine. I’ve got a shopping list made on Sephora. And since it was expensive, I bought “similar” things on Amazon and Nykaa.

In case anyone is curious, here are the lists. Anyone wants to judge and give me inputs?

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2/ Senior People

A lot of senior people from advertising industry have been impacted by AI. I’ve got frantic calls by friends and former colleagues – each with 15+ years of experience and each asking for opportunities. These are writers, designer, film producers, creative directors and the works. The ones who’ve not called so far are the suits (account management folks). The ones who moved to peripheral work (microdramas, “client” side et al) are ok. And not one has not been impacted by AI and the “efficiency” brought in about AI.

Now, on one side, I can blame my friends for not adapting. And on the other, I can try and help them. And since I recently learnt that when someone is drowning, you throw them a rope and not a swimming lesson, I will throw a life vest and a rope. And I will take an entire barge to fish them out of trouble.

More on this soon.

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3/ Love Language.

First, see this…

From Will Smith’s biography

Now, I will implement this.

I know that I am a dreamer. I know that I like to build and take things from 0 to 1. I have done it many times and I will do it again. And my love language is helping my people do more and see more.

And so far, I have not been able to subject them to grind and sacrifice. And I will change that.

I will demand from my people that they show up and change patterns. And I will change those for myself as well. I will become more strict about timelines, work and money. I will operate with a three strike rule. I will continue to love you but I will not let that love blind me when it comes to work. And while I do that I will not be moved by emotions. My inability to push you to do better hampers my inability to do better for all of the village. And I will remove drain on resources – time, opportunities, money etc.

So, if you see me “change”, so be it.

All I ask for at this time is support and encouragement.

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4/ The next few months

I have some ideas that I will chase in the next few months. These are not large billion dollar ideas but substantial ideas nonetheless.

I will drive Chandni and Aarya to run those. And I will lean onto everyone else in my closest system to help me drive all of us. I will operate in the war-time mode. And thanks to a lesson from Pritam, reorient myself to work on 2-week sprints. This means I will do hard calls and reviews every two weeks. For each project, I want things to move in 2-week windows and if there is no movement in 2 weeks, I will shut.

I will make some fundamental shifts in how I work. I’ve made a list of some principles that will guide me. I will also update work with saurabh page.

Some of these are…

  1. Living a deliberate life. This means that each thing I do will come from deep thought. Right now, I merely go with my vibes. I will continue to do so but I will also be lot more deliberate about each thing I do. And as part of this, I will offer and seek accountability. And I will drive myself and others around me.
  2. Focus and presence (and intensity). I dont know how to focus but I will try. And i will being my 100% presence to each thing I do. If I am playing pool, I am only playing pool and that with the intensity of a man obsessed with it.
  3. Relentlessness
  4. Sense of urgency
  5. Play to win and to win-win. All my life I’ve been a “nice guy” and I’ve of course not been the first. I’ve cut from my heart to let others have what they seek. I’ve tried to please everyone (and may I say I’ve been successful at this) but going forward, I will be ok if I am unable to please others. And, I dont want to be a bad person but I will play to win. And no, my winning doesnt mean that other would lose.
  6. Global life. I want to live a life thats not contained by borders. I dont enjoy flying as much as I did when I was younger. But that’s one inconvenience I am willing to live with. I also need to make money to be able to live ok. So that.

Lemme know what you think

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5/ Comparative Poverty

Gokul had made me realise that all poverty is subjective. Lemme elaborate.

I write this from a fancy coffee shop in a fancy part of Bangkok, the city of angels. And I feel poor. Because the last few days I was with friends from MDI who are now honchos and are in a different SEC classification of their own. And I know each time I hangout with them, I will be and feel poor.

While in India, in a Starbucks and on the road, this class difference is not as visible. But here, it was. And I need to either be ok with this (that I will not get to travel with my friends) or hustle harder to be equal with them.

And no, in friendship the class difference doesn’t disappear. I mean I can not open a 9000 rupee wine bottle for breakfast just because the restaurant is down the road from where I am staying at.

Also, just before this trip with folks from college, I was with folks from C4E. I planned the C4E trip and I did nothing on the MDI one. And I think I liked the one I planned (hotel, city centre, lots of free time etc). I’ve also reaffirmed that I dont like BnBs. I like the idea of a cleaning service and a water-on-call service and the optionality to change the room in case I dont like.

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6/ Walks

I love walking. And even though its hot AF, I walked a lot. I’ve averaged 13K steps over the last few days with at least 3 days with more than 20K steps. I can see a noticeable bulge in the calves.

I must make it a point to walk more.

I dont get to walk in Mumbai because I am not sure where to go. Maybe I will walk on the beach EACH day from 6 PM to 8 PM or whatever. And I will ensure that I dont need to be on any calls in that window.

Lol!

I’ve made many plans like these but none to fruition. Lemme not ahead of myself. I will see if I can keep my walking momentum.

Let’s go.

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7/ What I wrote published in the week gone by?

This is the only “progress” piece that I am talking about this week. More so because I am glad I was able to get these going. Three things…

  1. LinkedIn post on Zone of Genius
  2. Post on Freelancing in 2026, in the post-AI world. Here.
  3. Some copy-tweaks on sgwashere.com

I want to be able to write more. Even in this video-first world. This allows me to think deeper. And allows me to communicate more with more people. Video helps with communication as well. I’ll probably get more active on that. Let’s see.

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So… this is it for this week gone by. Not the best of the reviews but I am glad I wrote.

As I end this, here’s the “footer”…

One word that defines the week gone by?

Whiling time.
Not the kinds that I would like but the one where I was moving.
Physically.
Which is ok.

The other words for this year have been: Movement, Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

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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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 15-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 15 of 2026.

April 12, 2026
Hotel Room at Siam, BKK
Round 2, at a coffee shop. Again, Siam, BKK.

This note comes from a hotel room in Bangkok. And a few more locations around the hotel room. Am here till about the 20th. At least. Could be longer. But as of today, till the 20th. I love this ambiguity!

Anyhow.
Let’s go.

So, truth be told, I have mixed feelings about being here. I love that am at a new place and building newer neural networks. And I don’t like this temporariness. I also dont like the inability to find a rhythm and a routine to get things done.

Oh on that.
I am a creature of habit and routine. I live such a predictable life that if someone had to map my movements, they could get it to last meter and last second and I would be like a sitting duck.

In Mumbai, you can predict when I would be at a Starbucks. And the seat I am on and the time I am and the order am having. In case I move from Andheri West, I will find another one at a walking distance. And I will find the same 10 things to work on.

I must mention that this tweet really made me think hard about life and work. To a point that I want to change how I operate. I see the merit in the arguments being made in this tweet but I also see the benefits in my approach. Lemme talk about it in a bit.

Right now, it’s the time for the weekly note.

The track of the week is music from Khudgarz.
I cant pick one specific track.
I would link the one that’s playing as I write this.

Tbh, I am so familiar with this one that I can predict the next song they’ll play in the medley. I love this so much that I want to create an ensemble band. I know there are many bands like this in the market but I would love to have my own.

Sigh.

So many ideas.
Such less time.
So few people that I can trust. On that note, if you are a young person who wants to get their hands dirty with life, by helping me do these “projects”, please do reach out. I am on sg@c4e.in. Or use this.

Ok, let’s go…

Lets get to the review.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Last week I made these in an order. This week, I dont have an order.

1/ Travel

I have to start with this.

Ofc.

I’ve been on the road for almost a week now. And I will be travelling for another week, at least. While I love it, I also have some not so love-ful notes and thoughts. Lemme try the good and bad of each thing.

Garmi and Walks
For starters, I dont like the garmi here.
It’s way too hot for my liking. And humid. And muggy. And I dont like it at all. But I think this is better than India. I dont know why.

The good part?
I’ve walked about 15K steps on an average since I’ve come here! Maybe cos there is no dust? Maybe cos the city is very walkable with clean footpaths and shaded areas? Maybe the malls and stores are interconnected with large parts airconditioned?

Either way.
I am not complaining.
I cant tolerate the garmi but I’ve been able to rekindle my love for walking.

Fancyness and Belonging to the Streets
While I was here, I realised that I belong to the streets.

This means that I dont like places that are overtly plush or expect you to operate in a certain manner. I dont like fancy restaurants or needlessly boujee things. Ofc, I love attentive staff and tiny details to things but I dont like the randomly snobbish behaviour.

I also am not the kinds to queue up for anything.
I avoid queues if I can. Unless they are at an airport. And some day I would like to skip those as well. Or maybe someday I will walk in to the empty Benne and relish it so much that I want to queue up. But till that time, I dont think am doing that.

So, I belong to the streets. To the things you can touch and feel that are not behind glass walls. To the grime and dust and hustle that get through your skin and bones to your soul.

Exploration and Focus
Since I’ve been on the road, I’ve been using less and less of my phone. There is so much to do, see, experience IRL that I dont want to be be trapped in a 6.1″ OLED screen. If nothing else, I am sleeping better (may be its the walk?).

I know that I need to have a GREAT digital presence to attract opportunities but I see the merit in not being online.

The fact that my screentime is like 5 hours?
I love it!

I am now thinking, do I completely disown the mobile phone? I love the convenience that I get with a mobile phone in my hand. Its unparalleled luxury but then so is uninterrupted, peaceful sleep.

I want to experiment with not using mobile phone at all. Only use a dumb one. In fact, this month, I’ve been away from Insta and X and all that. And I will be, till end of April. May be I will do one month of insta and twitter and linkedin, one month of abstinence. Or maybe 15 days of guilt trip and then back to sanity for a month? I dont know yet. Lets see.

Staying on this exploration and focus thing, I have realised long ago that I am unable to work while I am on the road.

I had imagined that if I get couple of hours in the morning, I am mostly ok. But this trip has (and many others have) proven to me that I work best when I have my life defined by routine. If I have to embrace a truly nomadic life, I MUST find a way to balance work.

City Centres and Groups
This trip is with a group.
And these are people I love.
And ofc people I work with.
And a couple who’re not current colleagues. And each of us is eclectic AF. And as different as chalk and cheese. And yet we are together. I love it!

So, I’ve been the planner-in-chief of this trip. Which means I chose the part of the city we’d live in. The things we’d do. And who all will do what. Today’s day 3 of the trip and so far, I think I’ve done a pretty good job, considering all things and all the people. But I am sure there are many opportunities to do better.

Here are some…

  1. I booked a hotel and not a BnB. I think the decision was a blessing in disguise. Now that I’ve lived a few days, I think a managed place like a hotel was a good idea. We dont have the flexibility of the bnb but thats ok.
  2. I didnt book breakfast. I dont eat breakfast and I assumed others wont eat either. Big mistake. Next time I do a group trip, I will 100% book breakfast.
  3. I didnt define a budget. The trip has gone 40% over my expectations. Which is ok. I will live in the eco mode for a quarter and we’d be ok. Next time, I will inform this upfront.
  4. AK says that booking tickets and planning travel is my zone of genius. May be there’s something there?

There are more lessons but I think I will park it for the time being. Maybe I will wrote more of these once am back from the trip.

So that was travel.
Moving to the next thing.
People.

2/ People

A lot of notes about people.
Lemme list some.
I will remove names. For obvious reasons. I will create anonymous initials for them.

Lets go…

AB
This person is about 25.
One of the most talented, smartest people I know. To a point that I am envious of their talent. And ambition. And drive.

However, this person is inspired more by fame (than by creating impact) and aims to get famous and chase vanity metrics. And not delivering value. And not growing or learning.

And its not wrong. It’s just that at this age, you rather build something tangible. I wish I could put sense into them.

If youth knew…

CD
This person is my age.
One of my oldest friends.
Am grateful that he reads my notes and gives me honest, unfiltered advice. The kinds that you typically dont get from anyone. Love that I’ve got some real estate in his head. I nee to find more like him!

EF
This person is like AB above.
Young. Ambitious. And yet wants to take it easy. You know, make money. And chill.

I understand how this person wants to live life in a certain manner. However, my thought is, why would you throw away your gift in chase of an easy life? And your very life could become a role model for the rest of the world to follow. Why would you not do that?

GH
I know this person for 12 years.
And he’s been a mentor of sorts. And he and I spoke at length about where I am headed and how I would go there. Grateful that I have him. He’s promised that he would try and hook me up with some. Let’s see.

3/ Ego

This past week I let go of a client. Or maybe the client let go of us. The point is we are no longer working together.

Now that I am sitting by myself and thinking about it, I realise I made a mistake. It was a 100% salvageable situation. Many people were at fault. Starting at me. I was wrong. So was my team. And my collaborator. But it was not something that we couldnt have fixed.

I could’ve been strict with my team and told them to pull their socks up. I could’ve mentored them better. Heck, I could’ve replaced my team. May be I need to work with project orientation. In fact I had decided earlier as well that I need to think about projects more than I think about people. But I didnt pull the plug on that. Maybe I should’ve.

Anyhow.

What’s done is done. Lesson learnt. I hope to do better with the next ones.

The silver lining is that the client went away while giving us full marks for our effort. I just wish I wasnt spoken in a tone I was talked in.

4/ Routine

I started this week’s note with this tweet and I want to rethink how I operate.

I see the merit in the arguments being made in this tweet but I also see the benefits in my approach.

So I’ve always believed that luck is something that we can create. And I want to maximize my luck surface area. But then, I dont really do a lot of unfamiliar things. Like I said above, I go to the same cafe, at the same time, meet the same people, eat the same things. To a point that I am the most boring man.

I will change this.
Though, I need to first figure where my work will take me.

So that.

PS: I had imagined I would have a lot to say about this. But I dont. Lol!

5/ Work

Again, many threads in this.
Lemme try and articulate.

Deliberate life.
I was talking to SM yesterday and I told her that I want to live a deliberate life from here on. I dont know the shape it would take but I know some variables. I will try to articulate those here.

  1. I dont have a distinction between work and life. There is a significant overlap between the two and I will not have any other way.
  2. I want my work to a global business that takes me beyond borders and allows me to a “richer” life full of many experiences.
  3. I want to find many many ways to intersect with (and cross paths with) interesting people. This means
  4. I want to be very selective with what I work on and who I work with and what I charge for the same. More importantly, I want to do things that I enjoy. With good people who I really want to be with for the long-term. And some of these must challenge me and push me to do more.
  5. I want to use my time here to do things that I enjoy. And the act of doing those things must make meaning.
  6. I want to be a part of a cult where all of us have a similar mindset towards life. If I am unable to a part of some cult, may be, make one.
  7. Operate from trust and faith and freedom

I know this wont be for everyone.
I know a lot of these will sound vague.
I know most people wont relate to this.
I know this is extreme. But at the extremes is where you make things that are not ordinary.

Lessons from Pritam
Pritam has shown up many times here in the last few months. This week is no different.

This week, he taught me that I need to take hard calls and if need be, fire people who are closest to me. If I have to. And once I’ve tried everything.

And “incentivize” more people to do more. Even if I dont want to.

I also need to be more “real” with people. I must give negative feedback fast. Learnt this from Mihir as well.

He also told me that I need to be sharper and demand more from people. And if that means I need to do more to earn the right to demand more, I must. I also must go closer to outcomes and not stick to just inputs and outputs. Unrelated, when I delegate, I must implement this.

Lessons from Routine, Travel and The Client I lost
I MUST ask for more.

For me and C4E, this is as war-time as it gets and I MUST start to operate like a war-time CEO. And I have to be the warrior and not a gardener. And not create easy times. See this…

And this means I would change the shape of how I operate and work.

Wait and watch.

PS: I’ve been talking about this for a while but I havent acted on this. I guess time’s come to show myself what am capable of.

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6/ People Connector

I need to be a people connector.
There.
I said it.

It’s my zone of genuis. It’s my play while others find it exhausting. I can do this for the rest of my life without thinking about it.

There are many examples that I can cite – Interesting People, NS, DMC. HT and Sanjay Mehta often talk about their annual trip with their friends. I’ve also attended one by Ajeet Sir. Bux talked about doing something similar. And I can see a GREAT value in it.

I must do this. For self. My own version. With my people. For all of us to live a deliberate life. And then, offer it to other people. For them to see the magic that such networks can create. Filing it in #someday column of notes.

.

📸 Photos from the past few days

Stopped this from the last week.
In case you want to get photos from me, DM me.

.

🈺 Trackers…

Here’s my trackers.

Tell me what you see.

I love how everything is in green.
And there is a lot of coffee.
And ofc I hate that I am back on coke.

Also, here’s the weekly one…

Again, I love how steps is higher, screentime is lower and mood is consistent at 1. Yay!

.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals.
So, no progress and no update.
Hopefully from May onward, I will have something to show for.

.

☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Better than last week. Walked a lot. Slept ok. Did some pushups as well.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still not closer to an answer. The deadline of 30th April 2026 stays.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). I took some of my people to a trip to Bangkok. I love it. I wrote a part of this from a breakfast table where two of my kids were eating. Yay!

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Last week, I did do any deliberate action per se but I did walk a lot more than I would typically do. So that counts something. Rest nothing tbh.

.

🧠 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.

A few things.

1/ Update C4E’s Culture Book. 
This is still WIP.
I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

2/ C4E’s website
I may not want to work on C4E per se but it’s about time we fixed it. And I have taken it upon myself to do that. So, added this here.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Movement.
Not the kinds that I would like but the one where I was moving.
Physically.
Which is ok.

The other words for this year have been: Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 14-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts, reflections and highlights from the 14th week of 2026.

6 AM.
NOT in Versova ;P

Here’s the note from the week gone by.

I am sipping onto Iced Americano as I write this. I have not put my music yet and I am letting the day come to me, rather than rushing to it. And since I am on the road, my schedule will be all over the place. I want to figure out if I can stick to my morning routine (reading, writing, reflections, check lists etc) while I am on the road. My sense is that if I get 2 hours each morning at a table and a chair, I would be ok. Today is an experiment in that direction. Let’s see.

Edit note. I took about two hours to write this and I am glad to report that I think I have a hang of the day! Must make this into a daily habit!

Another thing about travel is that it forces you to break your patterns. I am used to a hot Americano with butter while I am in India. Here, I cant ask for butter. I mean I can but I know they dont have. Maybe they do. I will try the next time I get a coffee. I am used to a table and a chair with a certain height. I dont have that here. And ofcourse, the unfamiliarity of the route you take, the sights you see and the people you meet. Good. And bad.

Then, while you are travelling, there’s so much context shifting that I am unable to get any work done. I know some people are good with it. You know, digital nomads and all? I wish I was like them. My best work comes in when I am in a routine. In fact, if I had my way, I would live in a new place for a month, spend a few days walking around where I live and then spend the next 3 weeks pushing for some output.

Finally, on travel, the best part is that you leave behind all the things that you dont like and choose things that you do. For example, in India, I avoid walking. Because, well…

On the other hand, when I travel, I can pick a hotel / bnb that’s in a part of the city that’s walkable. Oh, on that, when I travel, I like the idea of getting the acco in the middle of the city. And never on the edges. If I can choose, I will pick a tiny place in the middle than a large one on the outskirts. And the good part of most modern cities is that they offer many many middles.

Ok, this is becoming a travel blog.
Lemme get back to the weekly note.

The last week didnt see a lot of action tbh. It started on a high note (many meetings on Monday, many emails and conversations thru the week) but there wasnt any concrete outcomes. The week was all about activity (and no action / achievement). But that’s ok. Some weeks we do things. Some weeks we dont. As long as we dont lose sight of where we want to reach, all these are cool and part of the process.

So, the track for the day week has to be Bryan Adam’s Cuts Life a Knife. Here.

There’s way too many things that I like about this. Here’s a list in no order…

  • The way its been shot. I would love to do something similar with some artist. Love black and white and play of metal, wood, darkness, silhouettes and all that
  • The track itself. I love it. And the lyrics, uff!
  • The way semi-acoustic sounds sound like. Music to my ears. Lol.

So that.

Lets get to the review.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Last week I made these in an order. This week, I dont have an order.

1/ Pune

On Friday, I went to Pune. I had no reason. Just a feeling that I wanted to go and meet couple of my people.

Unlike other trips where I announce out loud, I didnt tell anyone that I was going to be in Pune. And truth be told, I didnt enjoy this trip to Pune. I dont know why. May be I would’ve liked to meet more people? I dont know.

But, the two people I had to meet, I am glad I could meet them and spend time with them. Each time I meet my people in different cities, I wish I could move all into one place. I know its wishful at best. I know most people wont want to uproot themselves and their lives to be around me. Some may. But most wont. So I need to make peace with that.

2/ A Book on Better Habits

Staying on Pune and Pune people, Aarya has given me a gift. A first draft of a book on building and sustaining habits. Of course there are many books on habits but this one starts where others end. More on this in the next few days.

So, Aarya did it as part of HelioCoach and she used a lot of Claude and I love how shes been able to program it to deliver an effective outcome. I read the first draft of the book on the flight and I like what I read. It needs work but it’s a good first draft for sure. So proud of Lord Aarya.

I need to now find someone who can polish it.
Do you know someone?

And in case you wish to read an early preview, please lemme know.

3/ Apply myself to a problem

I am dying to apply myself to a large problem that leverages my zone of genius and create value for people around me. And the world.

I’ve been trying to find an answer and a solution for this for sometime now but I havent had any brainwaves. I’ve asked my BoD as well but answers havent been forthcoming. May be I need a better board ;P

Or maybe I need to do deeper soul searching?

Thing is, I can find work easy. I am reasonably smart and connected and if I asked some people, they would give me work. It may not be rewarding enough (financially or emotionally) but I know that I can find work. But that wouldnt give me joy. And I would do them as lip service. I mean I will do a great job but I will not be excited about it. Plus, I’ve decided that I want to work on things that are uniquely mine and give me joy and allow me to apply myself with all my might.

So, need to find something. Any brainwaves anyone?

4/ Gratitude

I must say that I am grateful for the life I have.

5/ Pushpa 2

In the flight, I saw about 60% of Pushpa 2.

I had seen Pushpa 1 long ago and I remembered the story vaguely (sandalwood smuggler and all that). And I thought the story was weak AF. But the screenplay was good, the acting and direction was top notch. I think it would’ve been fun to watch on a larger screen.

Also made me aware that you can make good films if you tried ;P

Anyhow, the point is not the film. The point is the lessons I took from this.

One. The film made me realise that Entrepreneurship and Films are same. You work all your life to be able to build something that brings out an impact, you are betting against all odds, you are obsessed (and passionate to the extent of being mad) about what you do and one “lucky” strike can give you disproportionate outcomes!

Two. That I would love to be a modern day Robin Hood. You know, take from the ones who have in excess and give to the ones that need. But then, I need to either become an outlaw. Or make a lot of money.

6/ Money

The financial year closed in March.
And while I’ve spoken about the goods and the bads, I realised that I need to learn more about money.

Parking this here.
No large thoughts.

7/ Misc Things

Not too many come to mind TBH.
Like I said the week was truncated of sorts (two days of trip to Pune and then one day to recuperate and then a long flight yesterday). Some are…

  1. My best thoughts come when I am in motion. I distinctly remember talking to AK about a lot of work things and I was surprised at myself for coming up with those. I must do more of commute chats.
  2. I must get a car. First I need to know where am gonna live.
  3. The US-Israel-Iran situation doesn’t seem to be dying down. I am so keen on exploring Dubai and GCC but I am unable to. I wish I could be that person that could deescalate things!
  4. I continue to be away from Insta. I miss the mindless banter with people there. I must say I do miss some people too. IYKYK.

Ok, onto other things.

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Stopping this from this week onward. In case you want me to restart, lemme know. However, here’s an image…

From the flight yesterday.

🈺 Trackers…

Here’s my trackers.
Tell me what you see.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. So, no progress and no update.

This has been the thing for many weeks now. Must change this.

☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Not a good week.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. No answer. I have given myself a hard deadline of 30th April 2026. Either I will find an idea or I will work on whatever my people tell me to.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again.
I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.
I want to keep this live cos this makes me think.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.

I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur.

The other words for this year have been: Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 13-26 – Weekly Note

Notes from the 13th week of 2026.

10:30 AM
Starbucks, Versova

I am at my regular Starbucks.
On my non-regular table (the one I sit one has been occupied by a group of young people and I dont want to be around — for I will be distracted with their chatter). And with my regular order of coffee (hot Americano). And without butter. There’s a lot on my mind and this is my opportunity to dump it all.

As always, before I go, here’s the music that am listening to on loop.

This week was about this (Home by The Magnetic Zeroes) and a LOT more about Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin from A Complete Unknown.

Thing with Bob is, his music makes you think. Snaps you out of your reverie. Makes you want to take to the streets. And question your existence. Each song is like a battlecry. Each is like a whack on the side of your head. Each a clarion call. Each an opportunity to go do more. Each makes you want to do more with your life.

Oh, Bob!

Anyhow, from this one, my fav lines are…

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

In fact, these lines are up there in my “dream list” of things that I wish I had written. The other one includes The Piano Man and Hotel California. No, I dont want to get in to that Rabbit Hole of writing and all.

Right now, I need to focus on the review and I have a lot to say.

Any how.
Let’s go…

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Unlike the last few week, I am trying to do this in some order. I may not be able to explain in words but there is an order this time.

1/ C4E Sunset Club

If you are ever in Versova beach, you must head to C4E Sunset Club. I went there this week.

After ages.
And I loved it.
And I have no shame in saying that I missed it.
Here’s an unedited photo from there.

I even made a mental note for myself. That I will find a way to always live close to a beach.

No, I am not a water person per se (I don’t like to get wet or dirty on the beach) but I love that I can see the expansive sky from there. It makes me feel alive with possibilities. I feel that there’s this journey to nowhere. In fact, growing up, I was always a mountains person (maybe cos I was in Delhi?) and I think this shift in the love for the beach happened after I moved to Mumbai. Now that I am contemplating moving to a different country, I want to be able to have some water body, some ocean, some expansive sky to stare at.

So that.

2/ Self-love 101

In one of my consultations with a FOXO doc, I was made aware of my disdain for self. I may be using a stronger word (or maybe, its milder) but in my personality, there is an apparent and visible lack of self love. And I’ve been told to work on it to fix it. Funny cos even Kunal, without any provocation brought this up.

So if two different people, each without a common connection can see that I have a problem with self-love, I better listen to them. And work on it. After all, acknowledging the problem is the first step.

But then when I read about the way to fix it, my science-first brain was unable to fathom the tools and methods and practices that I need to engage with to get better. And mind you, these are coming from folks who’ve spent decades in research on the human mind and human condition. And despite this mountain of scientific evidence, I am unable to bring myself to work on it.

So that.

But, but, but… I will work on it.
After all, when two unrelated, smart and well read people tell me the same thing, I take them serious. So, over the next few updates you will see me talking about my experiments with self-love.

3/ Rage-bait

Staying on my personality quirks, the next thing is rage-bait.

On wikipedia, it is defined as…

…rage-baiting (also ragebaiting, rage-farming, or rage-seeding) is the manipulative tactic of eliciting outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, and revenue, as well as attracting new subscribers, followers, or supporters. This manipulation occurs through offensive or inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes, or comments that provoke users to respond in kind.

So, one of the smartest young people I know (I wish I could work with them at some point in time), told me that when I talk, I ragebait.

When I was told this, my first instinct was to reject it. After all, rage-baiting is the lowest form of human interaction and I would rather become a hermit than relying on rage-baiting to get to where I want to be.

But since this person is smart, I took a beat.
Thought about it.
And while I was unable to see any example of me rage-baiting, I decided that I will ask people around and talk to them. So here we are. If you read this and you know me, do you think I rage-bait?

I will tell you what I know for sure…

  1. I know that my opinions and life choices and decisions are not per norms of the world we live in.
  2. I know that I am a big fan of what we call, “toxic positivity”. The world takes it as negative. I dont. I think if in this one life we dont experience everything, what’s the point? And if we dont push ourselves, who will? And if not now, when?
  3. I know that I am not a believer in the idea of work-life balance. Rather, I love the idea of work-life harmony. I also like Naval’s idea of working like a lion (see this and this).
  4. I can be passionate when I speak. This means I tend to lean into my conversations. And some people find it rude and off-putting.
  5. I have been told that I am often dismissive of people who dont believe in my world-view. I dont agree. But I have been told this often and thus I am aware.

I am sure there are more things that make my personality a bit extreme, a bit negative. But among all things that I know (or dont know), I dont want to be the one rage-baiting anyone.

So, if you think I rage-bait, PLEASE let me know and I will work to fix it.

4/ Poker

The week gone by, I played poker.
After a while.
And it was good.
I had fun!

I didnt really play well (in case you are curious, I didnt lose) but I did enjoy being on the table. The dream of being a professional poker player was rekindled. I even made a video about it. No, it was not the best and I want to do more nuanced conversation on Poker. Let’s see when.

But, the point is, I played.
And I had fun.
I need to find a way to slip it in, in my routine.
And no, I dont enjoy online games. I love the idea of being on the table.

Lets see when I get to play next.

5/ sgWasHere.com is live!

Over the last week, I used Claude to bring sgWasHere.com to life.

I plan to make that my writing hub.
And seek one or two large projects each year.
These projects must allow me to meet great people doing grand things.

These could be in shape of a ghostwritten biography, a long-form article, a speech, a note or something. Over the next few weeks, I will try to market this and get feedback. And once I get the conviction, will put this out on the internet.

Please do see the website and lemme know what you think.

PS: To be honest, I want to get sgWrites.com or something but I didnt want to wait and wanted to optimise the domains I had. sgWasHere.com sounded nice to me and I went ahead. And anyhow I’ve had the domain since I saw Brooks Was Here.

6/ Podcast with SheR

Of all the friends I’ve made on Internet, Seena and Reyana would be up there!

The two of them run SheR, a communication agency focused sharply on helping brands work on their community efforts. Their website is WIP but you must check their LinkedIn posts. They are onto something really interesting and I am in awe of their ability to have this laser-sharp focus.

The other day, they invited me on their podcast to talk about my thoughts on community. I went and spoke. I dont know if I made sense but I had a lot of fun. They made me think a lot and the things that I spoke with them sparked lot of ideas.

I am gonna take the transcript from that podcast and turn that into my 101 for community building.

PS: This was after a while when I was doing a gyaan session (on a podcast) and I must say, I loved it.

PPS: Must push more for more podcast conversations.

7/ Money Matters

I was talking to AK the other day and I realised that I suck at understanding of money. I make some. I lose some. And I save some. But I am unable to tame it.

I’ve read all books that you can imagine – Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Morgan Housel, Vishal Khandelwal and more. And yet I am unable to tame it. I think I don’t value it enough and like all good things that you don’t value, you lose them. I know that till I learn how to tame it, I will (shall?) remain a slave.

And no, I dont have action points here. I know I need to fix my relationship with money. I need to understand money. I know my friends are very good with it. Just that I dont know what to do. Maybe I will use some AI LLM to help me with it.

Any ideas?

PS: No, I don’t have a problem in making money. I make enough to live a middle-class life and not rent my time. Just that I am unable to have it work for me.

8/ Young People

C4E needs to hire a project manager. And to help them, I decided to be the first port of call. So, I met a few young people. And I must say, it was good. Makes you realise where you are in life.

Also, it was after a while that I was meeting people. And while the average quality of folks I am meeting has gone down, one or two were really good. Its sad that it wont work out with them cos most of them are stuck to being in their hometowns, are fixated on not making C4E their priority and in one case, C4E wont be able to afford them.

Must find a way to meet more people.

9/ Work

The month of March is coming to an end. And I had given myself this period (Q1, 2026) to figure out where I applied myself to. And I dont have a clue. There are many explorations, many ideas, but nothing is concrete.

The only pattern that seems to be emerging is that I dont want to be in India. I dont have the resources or the plan to be out. But I will be deliberate about it.

Let’s see.

10/ Misc Things

This has things that I am thinking about but I want to add them to one large list with one line each.

  1. Boman Irani Sir’s Competition. At Spiral Bound, Boman Sir is running a screenplay competition. Its been more than a month that he announced it and I have not moved a needle on it. They are write that time flies!
  2. Miss plays, pickle and Poo.
  3. BKK. In the month of April, I will spend 10 odd days in Bangkok. I am with some folks from C4E. And then I am with some friends from MDI. I typically dont get excited about travel but this trip, I am looking forward to!
  4. I will use a Nokia phone for all of April. I will carry my iPhone but I will use it as less as I can. I will carry cash, I will hand carry my groceries, I will use ricks in a regular manner. When I am in BKK, I will be with someone or the other and I will lean on to them. Let’s see how it goes.
  5. At home, things are not the best. Will figure.
  6. Stumbled onto Mehdi Hasan and his genius and how he speaks. A big fan. See this tribute from him, to his father. You will hopefully hear more from him.
  7. Staying at the how to speak well, saw this video of the lecture by Prof Patrick Winston and WOW! You must see this.
  8. AI. No mention of AI in this post at all! Probably a rare one where I’ve not used these two words. And thus I had to put the keyword.
  9. Fitness. I increasingly find myself thinking about and taking no action about my fitness.
  10. I want to do a clone of NPR’s Tiny Desk. Come on, universe!
  11. Promises – People. I had written this in my notes but I forgot what this was about. We shall never know.

Phew!

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

I think this is the last week when I share this. Unless something grand happens in the next 7 days.

🈺 Trackers…

Back with the trackers. Not perfect. Not 100% there. But back. Tell me what you see…

Clearly, I’ve been all over the place and I need to pull my socks.

Same as the digital one. I started using this one cos I wanted to rely less on the laptop and the phone once I woke up. Clearly that’s not happening.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. So, no progress and no update.

☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. As you see from the notes above, I havent been able to make any progress.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I dont know what would I do. But I have started to move in some direction.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. If you count the SheR podcast and daily live, maybe yes!
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). Played poker 🙂

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again.
I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.
I want to keep this live cos this makes me think.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.

I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Activity.
Not action.
YKIYK.

The other words for this year have been: Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 12-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes from weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12 of 2026.

I am back!
After exactly a month.
The last post here was on the 22nd of Feb. And in the last 4 weeks, a lot has happened. I’ve travelled to Dubai, Delhi, KL, Singapore. There is a war in the Middle East. Some inkling of the idea (in terms of what I want to do) seems to be taking shape. And as always, a lot of thoughts and observations. Lets see how many of those can I capture here.

But then I havent written a lot lately and I think I the writing muscle needs some sort of a booster. Maybe this post is that.

Lets go.

Wait, the track of the week is this.

I used to hear this track a lot when I was younger. And I had forgotten about it. And then I meet a friend and he reminded me of it. And I love it. I can not stop grooving to it!

PS: Here’s a post about the friend. And a photo I took.

Any how.
Let’s go…

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last few weeks

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ The world becomes kinder when you’re seen as a success

If there is one lesson that I’ve learnt in the last 15 days, it is this – the world will reward you more if it sees you as successful.

Nothing surprising about it.
The entire theory of evolution is about natural selection of the strongest. The Selfish Gene says that whatever has the highest odds of propagating, will survive. Success is the independent barometer reading of your value to the world. And the world will reward the ones that they see are already successful. We see this play out a lot around us beyond the books and in real life.

Founders with IIT-IIM pedigrees get funded more. The success indicator is the school they went to. Actors that do well tend to get offered better films. And apparently in Dubai, if you dont have a Rolex on your wrist, you are not allowed inside certain places. The car your drive, the place you live at, the clubs you have the memberships to indicate a lot about your success.

And that begets you more opportunities!

So, its imperative that you are a success if you want to deliver on your destiny. I’ve been the kinds to never chase the worldly markers of success. But I am learning it the hard way that I must. And it will need a large change in my personality to do this. Let’s see if I can choose this discomfort as I think about the next things in life.

And like that maxim goes that its expensive to be poor, there’s another that I want to tattoo on my backside – you’re a failure if you dont succeed.

Lol!
Maybe need to come up with better ones.

2/ The concept of Karma is theoretical at best

The other thing I learnt while I was on the road is that Karma is overrated. It’s the softer pillar that you lean on to tell yourself that you are doing good and as a result, good will happen to you.

Same as religion but milder.

With religion, the idea was to create some guidelines that would serve the rulers and create some semblance of order with those doctrines. And then with time it became degenerated (or maybe evolved) as a way to control people and wield power.

With religion, the rules of conduct are set by old books and their keepers. With karma, you set the rules, you want to be good, hoping the good will circle back.

With Karma, you dont serve one person’s agenda but you limit yourself. And then you stay in the boundaries. However, IRL, I’ve seen boundaries diminish with such ease that I am often left wondering, were there any in the first place.

So that.
Wont write more.
I am hoping that my readers are smart!

3/ Life in other countries is very relaxed…

…if you can do you own dishes and clean your clothes.

Jokes apart, I think the day to day life is a tad better out of India.

I travelled to three countries and lived with friends for more nights than I slept at hotels. And that means I could see life up close. And I realised that daily friction of living is so less in other countries that I am left wondering, why is our life in India so screwed.

The landlords dont bother you if 5 people come in.
The neighbors are not pesky.
You dont fight over petty things with folks around you.
The strangers are generally helpful.
No one is cutting queues.
You are offered space.
There is overt politeness.
Everyone seems to be helping each other.
The two countries that I spent most of my time in, there was no large display of religious disharmony (one is an extremist nation and the other has very hard rules against such).

Of course its expensive to get the army of domestic helps that we are so used to in India. So if you can afford, it would be even better. If you can’t afford, you ought to find your balance. But am more convinced that one must not live in India!

PS: If you do choose to live out of the country, you also have the option of finding your kinds (other Indians) or you can learn to chat with folks from other nationalities and expand your knowledge. I specifically write about this because I saw a lot of my Indian friends make friends with other Indians!

4/ Dar ke aage jeet hai!

Read this “jeet” as…

making cold calls,
making small talk,
taking shots beyond your comfort zone,
sales
etc.

Most people I know are unable to do these because, well, fear.

I am the same.
I have a hard time initiating a conversation with someone. I have a very terrible self-image. To a point that Kunal shared some notes and ideas on how to fix it (I tried but I havent been able to fix). But I do know that folks that are able to overcome their dar are indeed great!

And I I have to say this, in bold.
That if I could turn back time and re-learn life from scratch, I would learn the art of sales. Really. I just dont know how to sell. I often sell myself short. Or I push myself way too much.

5/ Claude Code

I am claudemaxxing for last two three days and I love it.
I have this spring in my step.
I am giddy with possibilities.
I can build up these worlds that I live in.
I love the idea of being able to control my future and do larger things.
And I know I am like a child – I am not sure of the risks and pitfalls and everything looks full of hope. So that!

Oh, with Claude, my friends and I have tried to work on a nutrition supplementation app, a screenwriting support tool and I dont know what all! I know none of these are production quality, none of these have users but as they say, hope floats. I will keep updating here.

Here’s an update from Sunday evening…

6/ The return of Travis

This was one of the biggest news of the tech world in the last few days. And no, I am not untouched by it. I have conflicting thoughts on Travis. On one side, he built a company and took it global and created impact. And on the other, he’s not a nice person. So that.

Anyhow.

Do read Travis on Atoms.
And Om on Travis on Atoms.
While you are on Om, also read Om’s piece on storytelling and Symbolic Capitalism. This is something that I want to push at C4E!

7/ Stripe Press

Spotted Rohit’s piece on Stripe Press.

I have to start a Stripe Press clone! I’ve been thinking about it for too long. And if my latest manifesto (to spread joy while i make money) is to be believed, I would love to do something in the publishing space. I do have a few friends in this space. There is Prak. Just that I havent had the courage to do that. Plus the money situation in the publishing business sucks. So that.

Lets see what I end up doing.

And while we are on Stripe, here’s advice from Patrick to folks who are between 10 and 20. Read. And truth be told, relevant to even people my age!

8/ Mobile free in April. Can I?

I want to spend the whole of April without a smart phone. Is it possible?

Especially when I plan to be in a different country for a few days. Let’s see. I mean I can use my smart phone dumb (assistive mode) and live with it.

I dont know.
Time shall tell.

But today, on Sunday the 22nd, I plan to not use my Smart phone.
I am carrying a feature phone.
Let’s see how that goes.

You may also want to see this daily YT live that I do…

9/ Lessons from last few days

I will make a linkedin post on this but I want the content to have originated here.

Like I said, the last few weeks have been interesting. I’ve been about town and met people (old and new) and learnt many lessons.

I wanted to capture all those even though its humanly impossible to do a good job, even with notetakers and all that. So, here’s one line lesson from some folks I met. And like in most one-line pieces, a lot of context and nuance will get lost.

Anyhow.
In no order, let’s go…

Aastha taught me how to think big. And not give up. And be at it. In fact, Aastha has to be one of the top 10 people I’ve met and been able to befriend in the last 5 years.

Pritam taught me that a true general will never leave till he wins. And if he is forced to, he will not leave without his team. Pritam is also a top-10 person.

Bux and Puspesh taught me in different words that the market needs to validate the idea by paying money for it. The validation of ideas is NOT in research or in reports.

Puspesh also taught me how you find your space in this world. And even if you choose to be stubborn about what you want to do and how you want to do, the world will often give you what you seek.

Sharan taught me that consistency can be easy. Thing is, this has been my Achilles Heel. I am not consistent and I want to learn more from Sharan.

Aanchal taught me how is it to be focussed and driven and yet have a good time. She and I share a common last name and I want to be better friends with her.

Mahesh Sir taught me how to build and support a village. And how to put your money where your mouth is!

Swathi taught me what courage could look like, especially in the face of battles on all fronts – work, personal, health, etc etc.

Ajeet Sir taught me how to build networks and bring people together. And be compelling when its the time to sell.

Bhaargav taught me how is it to acknowledge that you were on a wrong path. And then course correct. And keep at it.

Ankesh taught me yet again that I need to be fearless. And he also taught me that it’s ok to acknowledge that you may not know everything. Also, Ankesh is another top-10 person.

Krishna taught me how to change my opinion and look beyond things that I am convinced about.

Rohit taught me young hustle. And dream. As I write this, the boy from a tiny village (literal village) is in SFO and building his dream.

Ayush is another young hustler and he taught me how to focus.

Varoon taught me grace. On this one, I will have to give context. He’s been a client on two projects – on one, we did a kickass job and on the other, he fired us. And yet he remains accessible and helpful and polite and graceful.

Aoenha taught me how to be a bossperson and chase an idea that no one can even fathom and do it with so much passion and energy that the world has to line up and give you what you seek.

Samriddh taught me three things on my last meeting. I will only talk about one. To not give a fuck. While I hear this from many many people, I am not left inspired. In Samriddh’s case, his journey has been nothing short of incredible.

Phew!

ISTG, there are more.
But I am tired of writing and remembering.
I need a better system ;P

10/ $50 from NeoSapien

This honest review of NeoSapien Neo 1 that I wrote a few months ago seems to be ranking high on SEO. And I have made some 50 dollars thru it! I love free Internet money!

In case any of you has any consumer tech products that you want me to review, am here! Lol!

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🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

Not too many. Especially cos I was not in India. And I’ve been thinking about shutting this anyway. So may be, from next week on, I will shut this.

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🈺 Trackers…

I dont have trackers.
I was unable to track while I was on the road.
No one to blame.
So skipping these for this update.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. I do have a vague thought on what I want to do in terms of work. But that doesn’t count on these at this time.

So, no progress and no update.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

Like last section, no update over the last few weeks. Just been on the road and terribly busy with it.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. 
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. 
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media. 
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc).
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. 
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc).

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again. I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.

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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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. Closing this. Couldnt make progress.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
  3. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

These few come to mind as I speak.
I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Movement.
And that’s why I was not that active on socials!

The other words for this year have been: Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three).

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 08-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, ideas and links from Week #8, 2026

Morning.
I am perched at the community table at my local Starbucks. And I have my headphones on and I am writing this. As always in parts.

Oh, as I write this part (at around 11 AM), I dont have the headphones and and AK is standing behind me.

And as I write this (at around 10 PM), am at the Starbucks and staring at a wall.

This has been one of the most “regular” weeks where I did regular things. For most days, I was up and about between 6 and 8, and then I came to this Starbucks where I am at, and then ate home made lunch, and then slept, and then done some work. And I thought about a lot of things and been thinking about things and avoiding things. And of course, I have a lot to talk about.

So, lets get with it.

Oh, the song of the week is this.

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Ok, let’s go ahead with the review.

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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 8, 2026

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ What did I change you mind on, in the last week?

This one is thanks to Krishna.

For all the differences and frustrations I have with him, he remains one of my closest people. He makes me think, helps me when I need anything and is around, in general all the time. Plus most of my conversations with him are not about mundane life things (you know, school and clothes and all that). Rather about where we could be and all that.

This past week, he and I were talking about certain someone, lets call this person A, and he pointed to me that my opinion about him are biased and I must not give him as much attention.

But then, I have my reasons for being such a fan of him. I’ve seen him grow from being a young boy to a man he is, I’ve seen him hustle thru college, startups, relationships and life. I’ve seen him do things that I can not even dream about.

But Krishna pointed at anecdotes and examples of inconsistency. And then he threw in weight of his experiences and gave me specific data points that made me rethink my perspective. And by the end of it, epiphany dawned onto me and I was able to change my opinion.

I am glad that I continue to have strong opinions loosely held. And no, I am not kaan ka kachcha. So, a win!

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2/ SG’s Performance Mode

I was talking to AD about something and then I said, lets record it so that we’d have notes and all.

And then he said something interesting. He said that moment I have a camera on, I get into the “performance mode”. As if I am talking to an audience and measuring my words. And that doesn’t bring out the real, unfiltered me!

On one side I wanted to deny it and refuse. I know that I dont get into one.

On the other, I dont want to say no to AD’s third-party opinion about me. Even Pradeep mentioned that he felt that I am in performance mode when I speak with him.

And I know that I dont want to ever be into a performance mode. For me, my authenticity and persona are the most critical. I will never ever put a face or a facade. But if AD’s pointing it, and Pradeep is validating it, I want to fix it. More so because in the times to come, I plan to be lot more vocal and visible and all that.

.

3/ Burn The Paper

In some cultures, they say that if you want to forget about something, you should write on a piece of paper and burn it. This is a part of our rituals that we get thru to mourn over things that we dont want to lose.

Ofc, despite these elaborate rituals and processes and mournings, people dont get over things.

In my case, I am the opposite. I get over things fast. I tend to not hold grudges. But I ensure that I dont get into a relationship / transaction with people who I feel have wronged me. You know, I tear their page. I panna faaado them. Thank you, Nath Saab for the lesson.

I also forget about and get over things once I write about those on this blog (or on my Roam and lately on my YT live).

For example, last week I talked about Chalta Purza. Till I reviewed the last week’s notes, I had no recollection that I even wrote about it. In fact, when I “wander” on my notes and on my blog, I often discover things that I would’ve liked to remember but I have since forgotten. Another case in point, Riya and another person asked me about who I talked about in the last week’s blog and ISTG I dont recall who I wrote about.

On one side, this is a good thing – I dont fret over things that most people will ruminate over, for days and weeks. Plus, this blog, journaling has become my emotional anchor.

And on the other, its not so good thing – I dont let my emotions process. I dont grieve. I dont celebrate. I dont let my environment shape me as much as I would want it to.

So, maybe, I will try and find a compromise. May be I will use AI and all that to help me remember things and take lessons from and build myself on top of. May be I will double down on my personality and ensure that I become even more immovable.

What do you think?

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4/ Paddling to loved ones

Now that I have chosen to live and communicate without filters, I have started to see things that I otherwise missed.

Last week was epiphany that people use me. This week, I have had a couple of incidents where MY people are paddling things to me.

These are MY people. The ones I would kill for. The ones I respect. The ones I’ve grown up with.

Lemme talk about a story. I remember long ago, one of my friends from MDI had tried to sell a gold coin MLM scheme to me. I walked away from it but it left an indelible impression on me. That attempt to sell to me is probably why I am not comfortable selling to friends and family.

But then when I read about how the world works, I find that most people sell to their loved ones, their connections, their alum. And I find that weird. Supporting your friends, voluntarily, is ok. But using them to build your life? Unacceptable. I’ve always been the kinds to not charge anything from my friends and family. In fact, if anything I’ve tried to go out of my way to help them. And if someone’s tried to sell to me, I’ve been ok to accept their need (and may be greed) and if I could afford, buy from them.

So when this week, when I saw at least two examples where my people tried to sell to me, I could recognise the pattern and realised that may be that’s the way of the world and I am not meant to operate here?

Thoughts?

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5/ SongKran for C4E

I think SongKran is one of THE best experiences that us humans have invented. Each person must experience it at least once in our lives.

I wanted to have as many of my people experience it. And I offered everyone at C4E that I could take them there. I was willing to pay for it. But after a quick poll, I realised that my people weren’t as excited about it as I was.

Which is ok.

So this becomes one more addition to the long list of things that I’ve wanted to do for my people but I havent been able to.

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6/ FOMO with AI

I am falling behind.

That’s it.
That’s the emotion.
I said it.

Before I launch into a rant, lemme get something out of the way. I am not afraid. I am not scared. I am not worried about a “job loss”. I will survive that. I am a cockroach. My worry is my shot at greatness. My ambition of being the richest man in the world. My impact. And no, not cos I want to leave behind some legacy.

So, I have this overwhelming FOMO about the AI revolution transforming the world. And I am being a passive observer as the world rushes past me. I belong to action. I am for doing things. I am built for motion. Movement defines me. I want to move things.

And yet, am twaddling thumbs and merely nodding at other people.

The funny thing is that I can spot patterns from previous tectonic shifts and my inability to participate in those. When the world shifted to crypto (and then to web3), I had zero participation. I am maximalist and HODLer (if I had any coins, I wont sell those) and yet I dont have no money/investments/assets.

And if I were to go back even more, I was unable to capitalize on the social media boom. Before that I was unable to participate in the software boom.

And more recently, I failed at learning how to use Vercel, Cursor, Claude etc. Heck I couldnt even install clawdbot! Plus I am not sure if I can learn coding at this age.

So yeah. Big FOMO. I must do something about it!

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7/ PIMA session for the world

So, Sajith Pai has this concept of PIMA. See this. And ever since I heard about it, I’ve wanted to get a PIMA team for myself. More so in this day and age.

And thanks to Pradeep and Aarya, I have finally found some semblance of structure.

We have a WA group where we share links and lessons with each other. And then we read it at our time. And then each Thursday, we sit together to jam on what we read. And how it applies to our lives. And how can we leverage that.

No, we dont get into any specific instructional workshop or workalongs. We keep it like an edutainment piece and jam on it from a more philosophy lens. For example, on the last week’s call, we talked about…

  • how SAAS is not dying (but distribution is getting harder)
  • how the brain is overloaded (and not lazy)
  • how you can build taste

And it was probably the best 30-45 mins session!

So, encouraged by that, I want to open my PIMA calls to others.

Here’s a place where you can put your name in case you want to participate. And then either Aarya or I will get back to you.

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8/ Misc notes that are worth capturing

Here are some that I want to capture here.

  1. I am thinking a lot about my personal brand. Though I dont have a lot of action. One sub-action is that I need to write more.
  2. I have been thinking about focus and deliberate work. Again, no large thoughts. And while we are on focus as a subject, here’s Dandapani on Focus. Here.
  3. Anu’s recent essay on Stability. Link. For a change, I dont agree with Anu. She’s no doubt one of my favorite internet writers and each time she writes, I read the piece a few times till I internalize it. And then challenge my thinking. However, I dont agree to a lot of things shes said in this one but it’s worth a read for sure. I wish I knew her to be able to debate with her and get clarity in my thinking.
  4. Dan’s video on The Future Of Work (& The New High-Income Skill Stack). Link. In words of Pradeep, “[Dan] is talking about a shift from the creator economy to the meaning economy where people will increasingly pay for perspective, opinion, and curation rather than just labor or output. He talks about skills needed to provide this meaning – Agency, Taste, Perspective, Persuasion, and using AI tools.”
  5. Naval released a new podcast on AI. Link. Yet to consume. But I do love how it calls it “A Motorcycle for the Mind”
  6. Made a spreadsheet of all the LLM accounts, logins and all. Across 6 LLMs, I have like 18 accounts. And a lot of those are paid. I also had decided that I would name my LLMs but I havent had the time to.
  7. Boman sir has announced a contest for his students. I want to send an entry to it. I have an idea. I will work on it as part of my Guru Dakshina to him for teaching me so much about writing in the COVID-19 lockdown.
  8. Saw a play on Rashmirathi. This one by IDEA. Realised how much I love theatre. And I want to see more of it. And no, I dont like grand performances with elaborate sets. I want intimate ones where you can feel the breath of the actors and the texture of what’s happening behind the scenes.
  9. This post by Seth Godin on freelancing is worth it’s weight in gold. Do read.
  10. Saw a very interestingn hardware company – Antimattr. And their first product, a wearable. Do check it out.
  11. Read about Allostatic Load. See this.
  12. Read more about Bayes’ Theorem. This is one of those things that rule the world in plain sight and as someone who wants to be impactful, this is a critical one.
  13. Saw this tool that gives you meta data about how you use WA. See this by Nikunj. I used it and it made the following chart for my use of WA.
Who would have thought that I was more active in the last 45 days of the month when I was on the road!

Needless to say, I love data!

And with that, I will end this week’s notes.

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🈺 Photos from Week 8

Here are some.
Again, not too many.
I must take more photos. Taking a note to self.

And maybe I will stop sharing this section if I am able to write more about photos that I click.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 8

This week on, I started with a weekly tracker.
To be able to see trends.
Before I get to those, here are the highlights…

  1. Screentime on mobile phone is down to 5 hours. Took a lot of effort. I think getting it to 30 minutes is not possible in this day and age. May be I will aim for sub one-hour.
  2. Played lesser pickle. And I see my pickle sessions dropping in the coming weeks. I need to find new players. This means I will have to socalise. And this mean I will have to put in superhuman effort. Sigh.
  3. I need to add some fitness regimen. This has been on my lists forever.
  4. No action on words.

What do you see?

And here’s the tracker (here, no access)…

The tracker for the week of 22 Feb.

The amber ones are where I did bad compared to the previous week. The green ones are where I got better. With time, I will evolve this tracker to present a more solid picture of how I am doing.

Also, I maintain a daily pen and paper tracker. Here…

Please excuse the bad photo.

While I love the pen and paper, at some point in time I will move to a purely digital one. I want to be travelling a LOT more and thus the need for a digital life.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. I had wanted to build a system but I was unable to. This will become my number 1 task over the next few days. Coupled with my use of AI to seek help and save time, I may be able to do. Will keep posted.

.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Last week the highlight is that I had a green recovery for 7 days on a trot!
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still not there.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media. Dying to get back. I think I am missing out a lot on by not being on X.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. Lol!
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action. I did play pickle four times this week, if that counts. And my daily health updates WA Channel is live!

Plus like I said, I had 7 ays of Green recovery. See this…

I think this is the first 7-day green streak for me!

.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. Closing this. Couldnt make progress.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
  3. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. WIP.

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.

Again.

The other words for this year have been: Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Wk 07-26 – Weekly Notes

Morning!
I am at my favorite regular Starbucks.
Perched on a corner table (not on the community table for a change), a buttered coffee in my hand, lingering pain in my back, knee, ankles and I dont know where all and a lot of thoughts.

So, I played pickle yesterday (the third session of the week; yay!) and it was not the best.

I didn’t even get a drop of sweat. The weather was not really cold. It must have been 28. I saw AK and Prak sweating like they were in some furnace.

The game was also not the best. I mean I won all the matches I played (I am better than the ones I play with) and I could see that if I played with the folks on court next to mine, I would not win a single point.

And for some reason I was ticked. I dont know what it was. I cant pinpoint it. And I hate it. And I carried that thru the night. Was pissed. Ate crap. And then as I type this (10:01 am, 14th Feb), I am not in the best of my moods. And I dont know what to do to snap out of the mood.

The only saving grace is that this has happened after many many days (I saw my tracker and at least in the month of Feb, all I have is good days, 1s. Not even 0). So that.

Maybe this free-writing will help? May be I need to find a way to hit some punching bags. Maybe I need to get back to twitter ;P

Anyhow. Lets see where I go from here.

Edit: 6 PM on the 14th. Moods significantly better!

Edit: 8 AM on the 15th. As of editing this, I played on Saturday also. So 4 days in a week.

The track of the week is Prana’s mashup of A Thousand Years and Lag Ja Gale. Here. I love the lines, pass aaiye…

Now, with that out of the way, here’s the weekly review.

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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 7, 2026

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ Chalta Purza

This has to be the highlight of the week!

I met Bhanu for a lunch and among other things he told me that I am a Chalta Purza. This is the second best thing someone has told me about me. The best is Cockroach (thank you, Vanita).

Per Bhanu, a Chalta Purza is like a cog that can fit into any machine and make the machine go like the fastest rocket to space on the shortest path possible. In other words, Jack of all trades. And ofc the need for these Jacks is a lot more in this day and age.

Ok, I dint do a good job explaining this. I used chat GPT and it said (edited for brevity)…

“Chalta purza” in everyday Hindi means:

A smooth operator. Someone street-smart, well-connected, fast-moving, and able to “get things done.”

In management speak, depending on tone, it can translate into different professional archetypes:

1️⃣ The Positive Framing

Operationally agile, network-leveraged executor

Traits:

  • Strong informal influence networks
  • High execution velocity
  • Navigates bureaucracy efficiently
  • Understands power structures
  • Knows who to call and when

In org language:

  • “Cross-functional catalyst”
  • “High-agency operator”
  • “Enterprise connector”
  • “Execution-focused stakeholder manager”

In startup language:

  • “Zero-to-one hustler”
  • “Gets shit done without waiting for permission”

2️⃣ The Neutral/Realistic Framing

Politically intelligent operator

Traits:

  • Reads room dynamics well
  • Builds strategic alliances
  • Influences without formal authority
  • Knows where decisions actually get made

Often high in:

  • Social capital
  • Informal power
  • Tactical persuasion

3️⃣ The Slightly Negative Version

Politically opportunistic fixer

Traits:

  • May bend processes
  • May prioritize access over systems
  • Relationship-heavy, process-light
  • Can bypass governance

Corporate translation:

  • “High politics, low process”
  • “Influence-driven operator”
  • “Outcome-focused, compliance-optional”

The Clean Executive Definition

If you wanted to put it on a performance review:

“An informal power broker who accelerates outcomes through networks, influence, and execution agility.”

In One Line

Chalta purza = High-agency, politically intelligent operator who can move systems.

So that. High-agency, politically intelligent operator. Lol!

And, two things…

a/ my definition and understanding was incorrect.

b/ I love And I think thats like SPOT on!

Brings me to the next point.

.

2/ Handwriting Analysis with ChatGPT

Oh some random whim, I decided that I want to use ChatGPT (I use it a lot) to analyse my handwriting.

So, I used this prompt (edited a bit).

You are a world-famous graphologist who has done a lot of work on graphology for a lot of business people, entrepreneurs, political leaders and people in power and you specifically excel in doing it for Indians. And your interpretation is far, far better than others. I'll give you a sample of text written by somebody. I want you to analyze that and give me a very sharp, sharp, sharp thought on how that person is and what are that person's ambitions and life and aims. Remove any biases or perspectives that you may have on that person. Be as objective and as indifferent. Operate from zero empathy.

The outcome was, well, amazing!

It told me about things that I knew already (reinforced things). And I am left thinking that may be graphology is legit. Here’s the analysis it created (you will have to ask for access). Some things are worth highlighting.

a/ I may not be a Chalta Purza per that! Lol!

b/ Am great at being a founder. Lol. And I suck at focus and execution. Lol again.

c/ I need to partner with people who are high on conscientiousness. If you are you one? DM me. If you know someone else, ask them to DM me.

If you want more, you are welcome to read the analysis.

.

3/ Gardener in a War vs Warrior in a Garden

I dont know where this thought came into my head while I was writing the things above.

I read somewhere that it’s better to be a warrior in a garden than being a gardener in a battle. And I validate this 100%. In the past week, for work, I’ve had to do many difficult conversations and while I did not enjoy those (or the aftertaste) I realized that I need to have more of those. And since I’ve been a gardener all my life, I couldnt.

I thus want to be the warrior who chooses to live in a garden. I want to be the person who can eat first but doesnt. Right now, I cant.

.

C4E/ Culture Book 2.0

I am working on rewriting the Culture Book for the next version of C4E. And its not been easy. For starters, the book by Sans is like THE best ever and so brilliant that I am breaking into sweat merely thinking about bettering it.

Then, there’s so much to talk about and pack in it, in an eloquent language, for a world that loves brevity, to be read by high-agency, high functioning people who choose to call C4E their home, their village.

Then, I havent really written a lot in the last few months and thus words are not flowing easy. Writing is indeed a muscle that atrophies. At least mine has. And I must prevent it from dying.

So, AI or no AI, I must write more.

Coming back to the culture book. I am having a hard time. I want to not deviate too much from who we are, who I am and what my core is. And at the same time, I want to build it to last the next few years (if not decades). And while I do that, I want to reflect all that I want to stand for. You know, high-agency, hardwork, long-term orientation and all that. I have some 100 keywords that I want to own and write and share and all that.

Been seeking help from AI and colleagues and I am still no where close.

Sigh!

.

5/ Notes from sgSoloCasts / Daily Live

I realised that since I go live everyday (well, almost), I tend to talk about things at the top of my head.

And that means that I dont save them for the weekend to capture here. So starting this week, I will try to include some notes and highlights from my sgSoloCasts here.

  1. Tried an AI handwriting/personality analysis and found the results surprisingly accurate. See point 6 below.
  2. Using an AI tool as a “sparring partner” for business decisions and planning follow-on experiments.
  3. Preparing a storytelling/communication session for March 7 and working on slowing down speech and improving delivery.
  4. Clear internship philosophy: meaningful work, real exposure/skill development, no busywork.

Ok these are not as insightful as I had imagined these to be!

.

6/ Curate People

Naval says that we ought to curate people.

I’ve been doing that since I was like 5 year old. Been a people-connector, low-ego, high-empathy person. Been a Chalta Purza. And yet, when I need people the most, I find myself standing alone.

And the worst part?
The very people that I think I can count on, use me per their convenience and use and throw me. Happened in two cases this past week itself. Sigh!

Also, this use and throw has happened with so much frequency that I am left thinking if its me – I mean if one person had left me, I could have assumed that they did something wrong. But if there are many who’ve used me and left me, there’s something that in me that needs fixing.

So that.

And three things from here on.

a. I dont mean to turn away or offend the rare ones that choose to stay back. There are indeed a few who have my back. You know who you are. I am grateful and I am glad that I have you in my life. I wish I had more cheerleaders and supporters.

And I dont want to discount the role others have played in my life. I am standing on shoulders of many many giants. From my work to money to thinking to life OS to connections to everything else has come to me as a direct and indirect outcome of other people’s generosity.

So, on one side, I want to pay things forward (by helping others selflessly) and on the other, I feel wierd and awkward when I am “used” by others to get ahead.

b. I’ve refrained from writing about this but I think 2026 is the year where I embrace who I am and what I feel. You know, warrior (and not a gardener). I want to accept all the messiness that I am made of. And live that.

c. Despite a and b above, I wish everyone all the best and all the luck that universe has to shower on them. I believe in abundance and net positive games. Each person who grows will hopefully pay things forward and not become a hoarder.

Ok, with that brutal honesty, lets move on.

.

7/ Misc things

  1. I am now an early backer of Remster. This will be the 4th or 5th investment I’ve made in a startup.
  2. I use a Macbook Air M1 and I updated to the new Mac OS. And the latpop has had a significant drop in performance. Or may be that I have many tabs and windows and apps open (which is true). And my performance is taking a hit. So, either I need a new laptop or may be build a fast desktop. However, I dont want to be tethered to a location. So I am in that decision making limbo. What would you do?
  3. Saw this tweet. Talks about the Japanese philosophy of breaking the year in 1-6-4. Do see it. For me, the #1 is book2. And then I will marry other large goals into the 6 and 4.
  4. I submitted a screenplay for the SWA Script Lab and Pitchfest! Wrote about something that I think needs to be talked a lot more – the influencer burnout. This is after a while I wrote something. I hope I get thru.

.

🈺 Photos from Week 7

Here are some.
Again, not too many.
I am not taking as many pics as I would like to.
The one I want to “feature” here is…

I may have uploaded this last week as well. But I had nothing else ;P

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

.

🈺 Trackers from Week 7

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -5900. Last week it was about 7800. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 4! Also with C going out, I need to find someone as enthu about things as she is.
  • YT Live Sessions – 5. See here.
  • Screentime – Daily average of about 6 hours on my device. Up by 15% compared to last week. I want to bring it to an inhuman 30 minutes. Darn!

What is missing?
Need to get some fitness regimen. Some gym or something. I dont know why am unable to do this :(. May be I will get someone to come to my place and force me to do this? Lets see.

The pen and paper tracker
Here…

I am still trying to find the right things to track.

.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on either the book 2 or the flag pole. I did save some in a bank account that I plan to not touch till the rainy day. So a needle moved on that. Yay!

On the other two, I will build a system. Yeah, I know I’ve been saying that I will build one and never got around to. Let’s see when.

.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Last week the sleep was a tad screwed. I had a coffee post 6 PM and then I couldnt sleep and then I overcompensated. And then it spiraled. But then now I am back on a regular 6-7 hours of sleep.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still far from it. Been 45 days since the beginning of the year. Need to work harder.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action. I did play pickle four times this week, if that counts. And my daily health updates WA Channel is live!

.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is WIP and I will hopefully get this done by next week.

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.
There is no other word I can think of. Regular day, regular life, regular work. Etc etc.

The other words for this year have been: Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 06-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, updates and everything else from the 6th week in 2026

Morning!

Started writing this on the 7th. Did some work on the 8th. And finishing it on the morning of the 9th (Monday). I woke up late and I have lost the control of the day already. Must do whatever to preserve my mornings.

So, week 6 of 2026 has come to an end. I dont know if its age but this year is flying. While there is little progress on a day to day basis, life is moving with a breakneck speed. From work to personal life to world around us, each thing is changing.

Now change may not be a bad thing. In fact, in the wise words of Steve, its a great thing. I love that things change. Many reasons. Primarily because the new is ushered in when change happens. And I have been a beneficiary of this newness and I know more folks will be beneficiaries.

Look at the SAASpocalypse brought about by AI. See this Reddit conversation. If you are able to go beyond the bloodbath on the stock market, you will start seeing the second and third order effects. I am excited about the opportunity and I believe that folks like me (not particularly talented) must accelerate the efforts to build a personal brand, get into Atoms business (compared to Bits) and learn how to apply these tools fast. I have started to build a thesis. And like I said at the beginning of the year, identify one thing and focus on that.

Ok, lets go ahead and get going with the review of the week.

Oh, the track of the week is Dil Se and this version by Berklee folks.

.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 6, 2026

Note: These are not in any order.

1/ The Zomato Lust

A lot of young people I meet, they want to “intern” at Zomato. Specifically in the marketing space. And I am aghast at their choice.

I have a simple question for these folks. What would you learn at a company like that? Isnt internships about experimenting, learning, doing?

You will become a paper pusher. You will fetch coffee for your boss. You would do data entry. You will become better at corporate politics. You will be a real-life Dilbert. You would be a humble cog in a giant machinery. And I dont know what would you learn there.

I mean I get why people want to be at a Zomato. But as a young person, why would you shoot for safe havens of large companies that are designed in a tightly controlled confines?

I really hope and pray and wish that someday this instagram-chasing generation starts to see life from a long-term lens.

Sigh. I will record a podcast on this.

.

2/ Wadhwa, The Address

While going thru my Google Photos, I stumbled onto this photo from Vivek’s house. At a point in time, I was using this house as my primary residence.

Vivek’s house. Truth be told, I miss the luxury it offered.

This is THE most luxurious place I’ve lived at since I moved to Mumbai. And I think I miss it. The house is no longer accessible and even if it were, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Its my life goal to have access to such places.

Let’s see when.

.

3/ The weekly habit tracker

Apart from my digital, Google Sheets tracker, I have started to use a pen and paper one. Here’s a screenshot from 02 Feb to 08 Feb.

You see a lot of empty spaces because I started tracking a few things from different dates and times. I am hoping this will be more full in the next week. Plus I will add more rows (of things that I actually track).

The pen and paper system I am using to track my daily habits.

No, I am not that disciplined that I dont need a tool. Plus I like the idea of quantified life. And to be honest, I like this better. But when I am not at home, this becomes a task to fill in. So maybe I will carry it around? But then I dont want to lift the burden. So maybe digital. Lol!

.

4/ The portfolio

This is how my laptop looks like.

I have one more sticker on my laptop. And as AK says, this is my portfolio. And yes, many are missing.

For the longest time, I was the kinds to not put any stickers on my laptop. But then I put Pooja Ki Chappal on the laptop. And then I put CynLr’s. And then once I had two, I let the floodgates open. And today I have all these.

Oh, yesterday, I put one more. Can you spot which one is the latest?

.

5/ Poker

Over the last week, three different people talked to me about poker. All three are from MDI. Two threads emerge from this.

a, I need to expand beyond MDI to get more friends and all. I am unable to make small talk with people at cafes; I dont have a personal brand that excites people and makes them want to speak with me; I have nothing spectacular to offer; I am not rich. In fact, at the event yesterday (on the 8th), I could see that I was unable to get people excited to talk to me.

So I need to fix these.

b, I must get back to poker. I am a believer in signs and if three different conversations are leading me to it, why not? And no, I am not good at it but I do enjoy being on the table.

So that.

.

6/ Screentime

I had mentioned last week that I will bring down my mobile screentime. I wrote,

As of today, my average screentime on the mobile is 6 hours and 50 minutes (and that too is 18% down from last week). I want to work to get my mobile screen time to 30 minutes.

Here’s how it is for this week.

Screenshot

Down 39%. Yay!
It’s at 4 hours, 40 minutes.
Last week it was 6 hours, 50 minutes. So I’ve shaved about 2 hours. I insist that I want to get it to under 30 minutes. Looks tough but we shall try.

.

7/ Misc things.

In no order…

  1. I dont like to travel within the city. This week I had to travel to meet people and it was not good.
  2. I’ve made some progress on the mental health / influencer thing. Am still not ready to talk about it but I like that I am spending some time on it each day.
  3. Been reading a lot of pieces from Om Malik. God bless Pradeep for his curation.
  4. Saw this quote, “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man (with half-baked knowledge) is king, but the two-eyed man (who is a visionary genius) is in for a hell of a ride (suffers a backlash and is called a fool.)”. Loved it.
  5. A person quit working with C4E cos they didnt like the culture here. This is a new. I’ve had people leave us for a lot of reasons (money primarily) but never for culture. I thought the culture was a differentiator.
  6. Met someone who’s gone to NS. I remain on the edge about me being there. But if you are young, you must try, if you can afford.
  7. Took some photos yesterday and edited those on Snapseed. Loved it. Must do more. Here’s one…
This is a shot of Veda. Heavily edited using Snapseed.

.

🈺 Photos from Week 6

Here are some.

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

.

🈺 Trackers from Week 6

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -7046. Last week it was 5186. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 2. Want to get to 3. I will see if I can go.
  • YT Live Sessions – 5. See here.

What is missing?
Well a lot. Sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more. To be honest, I have not filled in my in2026 tracker this past month. I will get on to it from today.

What did I do new?
I tried to use a pen and paper based tracking system. See above.

.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

I have started to work on the book. At this time, I am reading and writing some. I am relying heavily on AI.

On the flag pole, no action so far. Apart from better food and some movement. I am using Harada method for it. Here’s what I am told…

Ofc, this is the starting point. I need to do a lot more deep dive into things to be able to. The point is, if you follow a system, things are doable. And I want to do that.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Like the large objective bit, there is no update on this as well. I will get to this at some point.

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action.

I restarted my daily health updates WA Channel. Thanks to ladies from Sher.

.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Easy.
I didn’t do anything in a hurry. My sense of urgency took a back seat. Took it easy, met friends, ate, chilled.

The other words for this year have been: Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: I dont like this update. I will try harder next week.

PPPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

PPPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 04-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, ideas, links and some photos from week 4, 2026.

7:41 AM, Tiruvannamalai

New Week.
New City.
And I love it!

This week, I was in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and then Chennai. And now here. Loved it. It’s good and bad.

Good – I got so many new experiences, new sights and new smells. You know, something shifts your internal chemistry when you have new experiences touch your soul.

Bad – The routine gets screwed. I sleep on unfamiliar beds, eat things that you dont want to eat, dont have a table to write on (I am writing this lying on the bed) and I am unable to work out. I can only imagine how the traveling salesmen, athletes, celebrities manage their fitness!

Ok, ranting. Lemme get to the weekly notes.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 4, 2026

These are not in any order. And like last wee, I will try to include as many photos as I can.

1/ Ramana Maharishi

I am at Tiruvannamalai to visit Sri Ramanasramam, the Ashram of Ramana Maharishi.

I am not a religious person. Neither am I spiritual to be honest. I am indifferent. I am probably that Nihilist Penguin in human shape. Lol.

Anyhow, the visit has been worth it.

Especially cos it needed the grind to reach here (a flight to Chennai, a 4-hour road trip that became 8-hours long (thanks to a rally by Modi Ji) and the hunt for a place in the large town. If you get things easy, you dont respect those ;P

The entrance to the Ashram.

And some bouts of clarity that struck me.

No, I am definitely not the illuminated one. Never was. May get to that some day. But now that I’ve spent a day or two here, I did get some thoughts. For starters, I am a LOT more aware of the constant bombardment that we subject ourselves to. That I subject myself to.

While I was in the ashram, I didn’t use the phone and it was painful for the first few minutes. And then the silence engulfed me. And even when it did, there was this revolt from my system. I found myself reaching to my phone more than once, tbh.

I found myself thinking about how you can invest your time enquiring about who you are and what’s the purpose of life and all that. Or you can run the rat race (do see this). Or how you can discharge your duties and while you do that, you are helpful to people, the world and thus, in exchange, to yourself. And maybe that’s there is to life.

Truth be told, I’ve known this for a long time (that I need to be useful and be of help to people and that my salvation is in helping others get to their respective salvation). Each spiritual or inward experience brings that to surface. The only addition that seems to be happening lately is the move towards the oneness. I am far from it, especially because of actions and thoughts of so many people seem so… stupid.

Ok moving on.

One striking thing that I noticed about the Ashram was that there was no conversation about religion at all. While the leaning is clearly towards Hinduism (I could be wrong), there were no overt showcase of religion.

The most important thing I noticed is that simplicity with which he lived his life. They’ve preserved two rooms where Ramana Maharishi seemed to have lived, died and held meetings. And the rooms were tiny and sparse. An astute builder would have sold that much space as a cosy 1 BHK but we are talking about a guy who commandeers thousands (if not lakhs) seekers. And yet he lived in place with no opulence. Room barely large enough to do even yoga, white bedsheets and literally no furnishing. Made me wonder why do people chase opulence of palaces and kingdoms.

Reminded of that couplet by Mehshar Afridi. He says,

“Rehta Hai Sirf Ek Hi Kamre Mai Aadmi, Uska Guroor Rehta Hai Baki Makaan Mai!”

And no, this is not to be confused with Minimalism or hoarding. This is more from the space of needing little. You may or may have large wants. I’ve been there – want a lot, hoarded a lot, reduced those. And now I am an advocate of Optimalism – things that you need to live a good life. This includes, limited number of clothes, comfortable bed, cool bedroom, air purifier (while in india lol) and a Starbucks ;p

Lol!

Only I could have compared Starbucks and Sri Ramanasramam in one note. On the mid-wit curve, I am either the illuminated one. Or I am stupid. You decide. And lemme know.

The midwit curve.

So, to end this part, if I were to talk about who am I, these things come to the top of mind…

  • Medium thru which things happen. In words of Gokul, a medium of opportunity exchange.
  • Cheerleader of action.
  • Enable others to get to their salvation.
  • Be of service to the world around me. In words of Scott Adams, be useful.

And like most lists and things, this is WIP.

Ok. Moving on.

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2/ Sleep

Lets move to worldly things like sleep and all that.

My sleep has been all over the place this month. Many reasons. The big one is of course all the travel. And the minor one is all the distractions. And I want to fix it. I can control the distractions for sure – other things will need some thinking.

I have realised that with age, unless I get my sleep, I am unable to function well. And on top of that, with lesser time at hand, I want to optimize the time that I am up. And thus means that I need to get more from my sleep.

You see how this is a vicious circle?

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3/ Constant Simulation

Marrying 1 and 2 above, I am acutely aware of this constant simulation that I have subjected my mind to. I mean there is not a second in my day when I am not jumping from one thing to another. And that’s NOT cool at all. I can’t be of service to the world (or my loved ones) if I am unable to get deep into things.

So I need to find a solution.

I can start with the modern-day boon and bane. The mobile phone. I will fix my life.

Guess what made Beeple famous?

So, over the next 21 days (habit formation and all that), lemme try to fix this. And while I am at it, I will also try to add some more good habits.

So, I will be off SM (unless work), eat only Lal Babu’s food (if I am in Mumbai) and average 15K steps per day. And if I can do these three, without an exception, I will reward myself with a trip to Singapore in March.

Off SM means I will delete apps from phone (use only on laptop and that too ONLY when I am in a Starbucks). I will not actively post (unless someone asks me to open it). I will use my YT lives and these weekly updates as a way to share what I am upto.

Eat Lal Babu’s food means the things that are cooked in my kitchen by Lal Babu. If I am travelling, I will see what I will find to eat.

Steps is easy. Wherever I go.

To be honest, I was unable to stay off social media cos I thought that I will miss out on something important. I mean look at how fast the world is moving! But then, fuck the FOMO. I am sure the Village will keep me abreast with what I need to know. And news important enough for me to know, will reach me!

Oh, and this starts the day I land in Mumbai. Lol!

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4/ Making Health my identity

Marrying the three above, I think I will make health my identity. Lemme explain.

A person like Virat Kohli is paid to play well. The largest ingredient in that is to be fit – physically and mentally. An actor like Ranbir Sing is paid to look good. The largest ingredient is perceived beauty. A corporate leader is paid to make great decisions. A large part of that is low cognitive load and thus they are offered comforts.

I am not an athlete, not an actor and not a corporate leader. In fact, I refuse to let my identity come from the work I do. However if I dont want my body to fail my brain, I need to keep the body well.

If I were to look at my work, I am probably paid to think and connect. Connect people, dots, things. And get things done. And I do all this with a lot of enthusiasm, effort and emotion.

Now, if I could do the same effort with same three Es, for my health, I would get fitter. So that.

Side Note: I saw a reflection of me in a mirror while I am here (in a tee and pants) and I dont like how I look. And this, I want to change.

PS: Credits to this book that I am reading.

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5/ Chennai

I have loved my time in Chennai this trip. There was less traffic (probably because long weekend), great weather (needed AC but I could walk on the roads) and great people (Aashik, Nikhil, Aditya, Shravan etc). And there was enough things to do. There’s something about relaxed, no-agenda meetups

Also reminds me that I must travel more often (lol).

Red hearts pro max!

Oh, this is a photo from a random traffic signal in Chennai. I am told that all these red signals have red hearts. Lol.

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6/ Nagarathna Memorial Grant is now open

The annual Grant is now open.

In Thej’s words, “I am creating a yearly ₹1,00,0001 micro-grant to support something meaningful. Grant is named after my mother – Nagarathna. The reason for grant could be anything as long its meaningful to you and people around. Though I prefer free and open source or creative commons projects, It’s not a must. It’s a no strings attached grant.”

I am a fan of Thej’s work and I support his grant. In fact, I instituted SoG Grant after I learnt about microgrants from NMG. I encourage you to apply and share word.

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7/ Notes from flight to Chennai (AI 2780)

It’s no secret that I take notes when I am in flights, I take notes (this time I saw parts of a a movie as well and I must see more films as well and make more films) and here are some redacted, snippets from the flight.

  1. I need a main quest that gives meaning to life. I think running a business is not a quest. While its creating and keeps me happy and engaged and all that, its not a big one. Think of the quests that Dr Peterson talks about. Think of a “provider” for a family.
  2. I love being in flights. They allow me to think hard and deep about things. Need to make more such caves.
  3. I realised that I dont work harder cos I have it easy. On paper, I have a business that throws enough cash at me to keep happy and maybe this is a problem? I dont talk about this often. Must do.
  4. I am not even an petty thief!
  5. What do I focus on this year – yet to find out. I have options – events, defi, Helio.
  6. Live a life where I work hard, get paid well and I pay people well. Sanket told me this first. So that.

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8/ Films

Staying on the notes, I think I must make movies!

I dont know why I keep coming back to it. There was a time when I was convinced that I wanted to make movies. I chased that dream. Made some moves. Failed. And now that I am back to thinking of the next steps, I find myself wanting to do movies! And even though I know that AI will screw this business, I am still keen on doing that.

This seems to be the constant itch that I cant seem to get away from. As a child, I had wanted to make ad films, then I wrote a book, then some short films and then I have been all over the place. I must either scratch the itch (make films and get over with it) or I must bury the hatchet!

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9/ WordPress vs Substack

Substack seems to be evolving into a CMS and an ecosystem. It seems to be evolving into a blogger / Medium. Compared to wordpress, I think Substack offers a lot of advantages and I am almost on the fence about moving my words to Substack.

I typically want to own my content and words and all that and while on Substack as well, the words would be mine, I am still on the fence about it. The ones who’ve moved, what do you think?

Any other learned opinions?

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10/ Misc things from this week

Here are some thing that I want to capture but not necessarily talk about in great length.

  1. This speech is kickass. Do see. It talks about The Power of the Powerless. One of the best texts I’ve ever read in a long long time.
  2. This group of musicians, Patiala Mehfil, has my heart. Each time I see a great music act, I want to get into that business.
  3. This campaign by Plum is KICKASS. I wrote about it here. If you are a marketer, please take note.
  4. DD held their Darbar in Chennai. OFC, I didn’t attend it but a win for someone from the village.

Guess this is it.

I dont have a lot of reads, link etc this week (travel, you see). Maybe more next week.

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🈺 Photos from Week 4

Here are some.

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 4

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -9047. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 1. I want this to be 3 over the next few days. I also want to upgrade to Paddle one of these days.
  • YT Live Sessions – 4. Missed for the 22nd, 24th and 25th. Will miss 26th as well unless i do it from the car, en route to Chennai. Let’s see.

What is missing?
Well, sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action last week either. Jan is almost over and I have not moved an inch on this! Also, last week I mentioned that if I am gonna be moving around this year, how do I keep consistent towards the goals. I dont know the answer. Will think.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

I will get back on this in the next update. This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last one, no action. Give me a few weeks.

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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.

Again, need a few weeks

Like the last two, I will get back on this in the next few updates.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Downtime.

The other words for this year have been: Journey.

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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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3,

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.