aboutSG Archives

Saw this post. And I was inspired enough to write.

Here are the questions…

And answers…

PS: I will keep editing these answers as I go along. In case I make an edit at a later date, I will indicate the same.

1/ What does your ideal day look like?

This has many versions to be honest. And it changes minute by minute. As on Oct 27, 6 AM, my ideal day would look like this…

330 AM – wake up
4 AM – write for an hour or so
5 AM – work
7 AM – goto nearest Starbucks (the one closest to where I live opens at 8) and work or get work done
11 AM – meet new people
12 noon – gym or something
2 PM – first (and hopefully only) meal of the day and a short nap
3 PM – meet people (new or old)
6 PM – watch the sunset
7 PM – catch some play or something live or may be help connect people
9 PM – reflection on the day and lights out

I’ve changed this three times over while thinking about this. But one thing has remained constant. That I want to be free and have a 100% control over my time and I do not want to commute within a city unless its a walk.

I know the vagaries of the modern life can’t allow for either to happen. So I want to be able to reach as close to 100. And this means, no timesheets, no mandatory calendars, alarms etc. And this means I need to live bang in the middle of action (say Versova or Koramangla). Or build something that can run 100% remote.

I am far from this to be honest.

Today, I wake up without an alarm on most days (I will start using an alarm cos I want to be up early; I was up at 445 a few days ago and I want to edge towards 330), and spend the day doing what I want to.

Also, I would love to travel as much as I can. Till last year, I would travel a lot – I would take flights on a whim. This year has been bad on that. I will change that in the coming year.

2/ What did you want to be when you were younger?

At different times in life I’ve wanted to have different professions.

At one time, I wanted to be a detective.
I remember once my sis and a cousin (Sonam) where in some old house where we spotted some hand prints. I wanted to “investigate” the “murder”.

At one point, i wanted to be a video games designer.
Lol!

I’ve wanted to make ads.
I did get to take a shot at it but I wasnt good. Read more about it here.

I want to make films.
Again, I did some short films but I havent found success. I would still want to do it. But then AI and all. Plus, the industry is weird and all that.

Ofc, like all boys growing up in 90s India, I wanted to play cricket at a professional level. Then I wanted to play pool or maybe snooker as a professional. No, I wasnt good enough to qualify for any of these. I do have this thing where I want to play some sport professionally. Maybe poker. But now that its banned in India, I dont know what to do about it.

Oh, I have this bucket list. It’s time I updated this!

And no, I dont think I knew of this concept of entrepreneurship where I could just create things. So far I havent created anything large but I love the thought of thinking new things.

Will update this as and when more things come to my head.

3/ Who are you most inspired by? Why?

This is a long list. But at this time point, I want to name only one person.

Steve Jobs.

In fact, in the flight ~~last night~~ a few days ago, I saw a Tim Cook interview where he says that Steve’s original office is still preserved. After I saw that interview, I realised, I love him because of his aura. And of course his ideas and thoughts about doing great things that serve others.

Also, I have flip flopped over the years about who I am inspired by. I remember writing one time that I’d rather be Paul Graham and not Steve. But I seem to keep coming back to Steve even though he’s long gone.

Other usual suspects in this list, apart from Steve and Paul would include Elon, Bill, Jeff, Warren, Charlie and the likes. I know, all white, men, American capitalists.

4/ Who would you love to meet? What would you ask?

I am not starstruck per se. So, I dont know this answer.

And even if I met my heroes, I dont know what would I ask them. Plus, in most cases, the folks I’d like to meet are public figures and all they think, do, build, hide is in public eye and I can find about them. So there is no specific question per se.

Plus, there are many LLM models now trained on public figures that you can query and talk to them as if you are talking to your hero. This is my chat with Steve Jobs!

So, no one singular person and no specific question.

However, if I could, I would love to spend time with all my heroes and all, as a fly on the wall and see their process in action. That to me is more valuable because that is often not captured in any of the interviews or QnA.

5/ What habit would you most like to break? What habit would you most like to start?

I would love to be able to not procrastinate.
For all that I do and all the gyaan I give, I am a big procrastinator. It’s amazing how much I get done even with that as my Achilles’ Heel! And I cant wait to see how much I get done when I solve that! Oh, man, that would be fabulous!

I would love to start the habit of working out.
I am 43 and I am seeing age not being on my side. I want to change that and ensure that when I am older, I am alive and active.

In fact, Taleb says that if you are above 40 and you are not working on your muscles, you are an idiot. I am one.

6/ Think of a person you truly admire. What qualities do you like about that person?

I admire many people. And the common thread in most of those people is that they create things.

None of my heroes (apart from maybe Warren and Charlie) are value traders or paper pushers. They are creators. Of businesses, things and all that.

To me, the act of creation is larger than anything else. All other things that I value – reliability, empathy, community, giving back, abundance and all that are secondary.

7/ How do you like to relax?

I love to go for walks. I love to watch theatre (not movies). I love staring at the sunset. I love the idea of talking to people – in most cases, it energizes me.

I love to go for drives. I dont have a car at this point in time in life but given an option, I would be on the road all the time.

Or else I love the idea of sleeping. But I want the room to be quiet and cold. In India, it’s tough but that’s where I live and thus. Lately I’ve started to enjoy the concept of spas.

Apart from this, I love to day dream to relax ;P

8/ When was the last time you did something you were afraid of?

I am typically not afraid of things. I look at each thing as a problem to be solved. And I know outcome of that problem may be something that I don’t like. As Bachchan said, mann ko bhaya to achacha, na bhaya to aur bhi achcha.

Oh, and I know that the solution of the problem may be messy.

So, no fear per se. Just preparedness. And the problem-solving mindset.

However, if I were to give an answer, I would say, I am afraid of putting my face on the internet. I dont know if fear is the right emotion but I have held myself back. But lately I have started to let that happen.

9/ What are you most proud of?

I cant think of any one thing that I am proud of.

10/ What are you most afraid of?

Like I said, I am typically not afraid.

Lemme rephrase this question.

What would I be the most disappointed about.
What keeps me up at night.
Etc. etc.

Here’s a list.

I dont want to die with mere “potential”. I dont want to be remembered (see Q 25) but I also dont want to not have seen how it is when you are a wildly successful person.
I am afraid of complacency. I have reached a point in life where am comfortable and often I dont push myself as much as I must.
I am afraid that I will die a lonely, old man who will not have anyone to call his own.
I am afraid that I will not be a “free” man.

11/ If life stopped today, what would you regret not doing?

I would regret that I couldn’t become a wildly successful person.

Apart from that, I want little, seek little and I am mostly able to get a lot of things that I want. And I know that I cant have it all. So am mostly ok.

12/ Who would you like to connect (or reconnect) with? Why?

I would love to reconnect with a lot of people.

For starters, each person who helped me shape up into who I am right now. This includes colleagues from yesteryears, mentors, friends who I’ve forgotten, people who are angry with me, people who I am angry with and all that.
Why? Well, why not?

I would also like to fix relationship with my extended family.
Why? Well, why not?

In terms of new connections, I would love to meet folks who’re building things at the edge of human understanding. At this time, in 2025, these are manufacturing, space, AI, creative tools, longevity etc.

I am not a deeply scientific person and thus I may not do well with folks who do fundamental conversations. I’d rather imagine and build applications on top of enabling technology and rails. For example, I may not know how a LLM functions but I would like to use that AI tool to build new things.

I would also like to connect with people who are great with people. I believe I love working with people and I want to get better at it. And I want to not “study”. Rather, I would learn from others. Remember I said, I want to be a fly on the wall when my heroes work?

13/ What qualities do you admire in others?

In no order…

Hardwork, hustle, ambition, reliability, respectfulness, abundance mindset, long-term thinking,

No, I dont admire creativity per se. For me, ability to build is larger than creativity.

14/ What practical skills do you wish you had?

For starters, I would love to be more disciplined.

Then, I want to learn how to sell.

I would love even more if I could be more persuasive. And I want to be able to predict people’s behaviours by looking at them.

Apart from this, I would love to have the ability to tolerate hot weather. I just cant do when the temperature is more than 24.

15/ Imagine you’re in your 90s. What memories would you like to have? What stories do you want to tell?

I dont want memories.

I dont look at the past. I like the future more than the past. And thus I often dont look back. I do take my lessons and try to not repeat mistakes. But that’s that.

And if at 90, all I do is look back at things, I would have failed.

But if this is a theoretical question, I would say, looking back I would want to see a man who lived a free life, in the way he wanted to, chose things that he wanted to and hung out with people he wanted to. I would want to look back at a man who was active, deliberate, free, passionate, present, resourceful and of service to others.

The stories I would tell will not be of personal conquests or whatever. Rather, of mistakes I made, lessons I learnt, people I met and other such things that may encourage the listeners to follow their heart. I would talk about how freedom is hidden in plain sight and is often the most undervalued asset for us humans.

I would talk about things that I would have seen work for the long-term. Today, I am 43 and I can already see how some time-tested principles have worked for me. I am sure over the next 50 years, there would be more things that would work for me. I would love to aggregate those and talk about those to the world.

16/ What is your favorite book/movie/song? Why?

Favorite songs change with time. But if I have to go back to the time when I was young, I grew up on indipop – Lucky Ali, KK, Dhoom, Silk Route and the likes. Then I moved to English music and I love all the 90s popular pieces – Bryan Adams, Backstreet Boys etc. Then there was a phase when I love Jagjit Singh and all that.

In books, I’ve read a lot. The top would be English, August, Count of Monte Cristo, The Godfather and Mahabharata. And I’ve loved reading Jack Reacher, Sue Grafton, Jeffery Archer. I’ve even read Hindi crime fiction like Surendra Mohan Pathak and Ved Prakash Sharma and others.

In movies, I love Shawshank Redemption, Notting Hill and others. I dont really have a taste in films but I like to see mindless action films like John Wick, Transporter etc. I love sports / coaching films as well. In the recent past, I saw and loved F1. I think I love stories of underdogs and stories that are told well.

Is there a common thread? I am not sure. You find out.

17/ If you could make one change in the world, what would it be?

I would eliminate the concept of religion.

I’ve thought a lot about this and I realise that all challenges that we face today as humanity stem from religion – caste system, hyper-nationalism, cruelty and all that.

18/ What do you love to do for, or give to others?

A lot!

My time and attention (two of the scarcest resources) to start with.

Then, I want to create opportunities for everyone. I live by the Sai Itna Dijiye Quote. I look at myself as a platform for opportunity exchange (heard this phrase first from Gokul).

I want each person I meet to get access to their truest potential. I would love to be a coach and push people. I love the idea of hard work, going all-in and being immersed in the work. I am not a balanced person and that means my philosophy stays in that space. As I grow old, I find that I get more joy and fulfillment when I see others do well.

19/ What excites you?

The idea of doing things excite me.
Even though am old, I am like that kid in the candystore – who likes the idea of doing things.

The chase of the new excites me.
I am excited by the 0 to 1 journey. I want to create new things. I want to give birth to ideas and all that.

People excite me.
I want to be around good people doing things that they want to. Good is subjective. What I like and think of as good may not be good for you. And thats ok.

Things done well excite me.
A well made coffee, a well formatted document, an aligned stack of clothes in an almirah, a shelf painted well. I love when people put in efforts with the intention of doing things well.

Great designs excite me.
While I am not a designer, I love when things are designed well.

20/ What do you wish you did more of?

I wish I got to spend more time with my parents.

I wish I could teach more young people more things.

I wish I could make the world a better place. I would do this by making people realize the foley of chasing ego, the advantages of being kind and the benefits of long-term thinking. I would also want people to realise that life can be abundant AF and there is no reason to kill someone else to get to where you want to be.

I wish I had more shoulders of giants to stand on top of. And I wish my shoulders are broad enough to have all my loved ones to stand on top of.

And finally, wishes are not horses ;P

21/ Pretend money is no object. What would you do?

Mostly what I do today – spend time on things and people and experiences that I love. And this means I would do things that I want to, support projects that I think are interesting, chase experiences and all that.

No I will not retire.

Oh, I will get myself and my loved one a basic level of luxury (not comfort, but luxury). This means a place big enough to not worry about bumping into each other. This means at least a business class flight on each flight they take. This means the means to get from 0 to 1, and after that, they better find their own path.

22/ What area of your life, right now, makes you feel the best? Why?

I am writing this answer on Oct 28, 2025.

At this time I love that there are a few people who’s lives are better because of me. I wish I could do this at scale and makes many many lives better.

Apart from this, here is my wheel of life. Please make your interpretations.

23/ Let’s jump forward a year. What would you like to have achieved in the past year?

One thing. Financial freedom.
This means I would have paid back the loan on my head and I would have enough in the bank to not bother about picking things that I dont want to work on.

If I could have more than one thing, I would ask for better health.
I want to quantify it as ability to run a half marathon in less than 2 hours, do 50 push ups in one set and climb up 25 floors.

24/ What piece of advice would you give to five year old you?

Easy.
Stop being an introvert.

25/ How do you want to be remembered in life?

I dont want to be remembered.

I am a big believer in the idea of Pale Blue Dot. And if the question is about the reputation we carry while we are here, I would say I would want to be known as a person who was around when his friends and family needed him.

Do see this and internalize it…

Thank for reading this.

Do lemme know what you think and please point out gaps in thinking.