Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 26, 2026.
28 June 2026. Saturday. CP. Yeah I am in delhi. Till the 2nd July. In case you are around, let’s meet.
So, I missed last week. And there are odds that I will miss this week as well. Let’s see if this gets published.
The thing is, when I am on the road, my regular rhythm breaks. I need about 2 hours on my laptop in the morning to make sense of my day and my life and my dreams and all that. And when I am travelling, am unable to get these two hours. Take last week for example. I was in Goa. And that meant I had the view of the beach to wake up to, the unpredictability of local commute to think about and absence of a regular table or a chair to sit with my laptop on. Till I decided that I will goto Starbucks (lol) there.
Lemme announce it loud. I dont do well with holidays. I cant see myself not doing anything. I thought I could rawdog thru life and in flights but the last few flights have proven otherwise. I was restless and I didnt know what to do to kill the 2 hours I was in the plane for. While I am on the road, at least I have the internet!
Plus lately, I’ve realised that I am unable to focus on one thing when I sit idle. My mind’s a playground for monkeys. Must get back to meditation. Taking a note.
Ok, the track of the week is no track but an artist. Geet Brajesh. I found him, thanks to YT algo gods. See some of his work here. He’s criminally under-rated and I wish I could help such folks.
Oh and honorary mention to this version of Rahman’s work.
Ok, lessgo…
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Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the week gone by.
1/ June Focus and July Focus.
For the month of June, I had made a list of things that to work on. Here is the list and updates on that.
Distribution. No action.
66 MG Road. Took it a certain stage. Started to talk to people about it. Got a friend to agree to have 66 MG Road as his property partner. Thanks, Ojas.
Caravan Serai and 56 Hours. 56 Hours was shipped. I dont like the outcome but draft one is done. Need to work on draft 2. Caravan Serai would happen as well.
Coaching: fitness and IRL confidence and Public Speaking. No action.
Revenue from Claude. No action. But I’ve been able to save resources and all. As we speak, I got Claude to make a research doc that wouldve taken an intern 2 weeks. Lot of manual work is now easy to pull off. So, there’s savings. But there’s no revenue.
Fix 25: furniture, AC. I fixed the AC. I need to work on furniture. I will do that once am back in Bom. Or may be in Aug or Sep. If all goes well, I will spend Aug away from India. Let’s see.
Fix the CA for C4E. Open. My laziness.
A world problem to solve. Still open. Let’s see what I work on.
Poker. No action.
Phew!
In July, I plan to give my life to Claude and I will do EACH thing it tells me to. Including workouts. Or cold emails. Or offering things. Or whatever. Lets see how I fare on that. Just that in July, I am on the road for about 15 days and about 7 of those are in Colombo with limited internet. I will see how it pans out.
This also means that I will ask Claude to plan my July. I ran a basic query and this is what it threw out. The query is…
from what you know about me, I want you to be my boss for the month of july and tell me what to work on and what to eat and what to do and all that. make a monthtly plan, a weekly plan and a daily checklist. I must get closer to my short term goals, long term goals and all things that I want to. I want to impact all parts of my life as in tony robbins' wheel of life.
Here’s what Claude plotted for me. I am sharing excerpts.
1/ BD
Monthly client BD email (TOMA). Drafted in January, sent zero times in five months, 30+ warm clients. Send Jul 4. Then the last Friday of every month, forever
I hate seeking work. But then I shall do what Claude is asking me to.
2/ Starbucks
Kill the Starbucks leak: two coffees a week, no pastries. Track it.
3/ Fitness
Buy running shoes Day 1. This has been open since early May. It ends Monday.
Target: fat loss plus energy, veg. Protein floor 100g, portion control, 3L water, carry the bottle.
Run or walk 3x in Week 1, build to 4-5x. Strength 2x. 8-10k steps daily.
Posture device 2 hours a day. You log zero wear. Wear it during deep work.
Weigh in every Monday. One number, not a story.
Full meal and training template is in the daily checklist file.
4/ Friends and Network
One CMO of a large company this month. It is on your life goals list. Pick the name by Jul 7, get the meeting by Jul 25.
Keep the intro engine running: two warm intros a week (you did two in a day on Jun 25, you are good at this). Use it deliberately.
Lol!
I am not sure if this is the most optimal. I think I will have make Claude work harder.
Oh, I must say. I was seeing a documentary about a drug lord and one of the ways he was caught was thru his public Strava links. Even though he was crisscrossing the world, he kept running. There’s something to learn from that!
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2/ Ertan / NewYorkTurk
Since I’ve been booted out of Meta platforms (thankfully am still on WA), I while time on YT Shorts. And I’ve become fan of Eartan’s work. See it on Insta and YT.
Love his work. And his philosophy. If there is one kind of influencer I would want to become, it is Ertan.
Guy loves food. Goes to places that make great food. Talks about them.
I dont know what made him so famous. There must be a million food bloggers and yet he sort of broke out enough to be on my timeline. I wish there were more such folks in the world.
Oh, here’s my attempt at being the food blogger. See this post about a restaurant I went to on this trip to Goa.
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3/ Claude Coach tells me that I keep opening threads and closing none
Sigh!
This is not a surprising thing tbh. Just that its strange to have someone else see deep into my soul. And this someone else is an AI. And its not surprising. I’ve known about it. Lately my docs tell me that I need to get diagnosis for ADHD. I am not sure. I dont like clinical things. But, while we think on that, armed with the knowledge that we are good with 0 to 1 (thanks, Pradeep), here’s my thought on this.
One option is to fight it out. Take meds. Take up a boring job.
Or the other is to make it into my strategic advantage and rather than thinking about building a billion-dollar enterprise and dreaming of a ding in the universe, I’d rather build a series of smaller bets and then see if those can scale as a group. Something that Ajeet Sir probably does. Something that Warren Buffet does for sure. Something that a lot of micro VCs and Venture Studios do. I’ve written about Tiny, Every, Bending Spoons and others. The C4E Labs website is an attempt to get thinking in that direction.
Plus, I think I may be able to make it work as well. I am afterall if nothing good with people! Wait. I am not. I am unable to retain folks cos I cant pay. I need to fix that too.
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4/ Writing everyday
This caught my eye on twitter.
If my anecdotal evidence is go by, I think this is true. I’ve been writing for a lot of time now. At least since 2004. And I’ve not taken any large breaks tbh. I’ve always come back to it. This blog and the weekly review is also the same.
And if there’s one thing that I’ve learnt in life, it is that all you have is no one. And if you are the kinds to write, life is good!
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5/ Om Malik
I’ve known about Om as I’ve known about other folks of his time (you know, Arrington and Techcrunch guys, Rafat Ali and his gang and other Internet writers). I would read their reporting with fascination. Their words and thoughts were the only window for me, sitting in Delhi / Gurgaon / wherever I was at the time.
And then, life happened. I got busy with an events job that made me travel wild. Then I started to build C4E and never had the time or the energy for these fanciful things. It it around COVID when I got back to reading, since I was super jobless. And in these reads, once in while, Om and his words would appear.
Lately, since he became so prolific, he started coming more on my radar. Pradeep shared quite a few links. And my fascination fom his words and writing grew even more.
And then I got to know he’s passed away. And I was genuinely sad. He was a stranger to me but I will still sad. And then tributes started to pour in.
Daring Fireball said this. Matt wrote this. Matt maybe doing an OmFest on his 60th. Do check it out. Found this in Nabeel’s post…
But the one thing that REALLY caught my eye was PG’s post. He mentioned this about him.
Was immediately reminded of stories of Charlie and his last few days. Even Steve was apparently working till the last week he was forced to be indoors. Made me realise how much respect I have for folks who have so much to do, so much to say, so much to contribute and so much in them them that they can’t sit idle!
I think this is all there is to life.
Help others. Offer your shoulders. Expect little. And like Scott said in his last words, Be Useful.
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6/ Money
Ok, money.
So, last couple of nights, I’ve been getting money dreams. And it’s not cool. I cant remember the last time this happened. The last time I was this bad in my money department was in COVID. The funny thing is, the last time I didnt know what to do. This time I think I have way too many options of things to do ;P
The point is, I have never been stressed about the lack of money. I’ve always managed to tide thru. I am like that cockroach. I would ride thru this time too. Just that I am in the middle of messy middle and I need to stay calm while the waters clear.
And once the waters clear, I will do things that I’ve never done – such as, choose myself. More on this if I survive the next few months.
Oh, you must read this piece by Tim Denning. It’s titled, “If you’re so smart, why can’t you make money on the internet”. Ofc, a riff on Naval’s legendary, if you are smart, why arent you happy / rich?
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7/ Amex + IDFC
The other day I was denied access to the AMEX lounge at an airport because I was not carrying my physical card. In 2026. When the entire world is crying about going digital and even them passports are not digital. But I get it. They must have policies.
Of course they have policies. Of course, I can argue.
But then is it worth it?
I would waste my time talking to customer care (I did try) and listen to them offer fake apology that will not help anything.
If you are a business like Amex that charge a premium to even issue a credit card, why would you make life of your customers hell? And break the relationship?
Same thing happened with IDFC bank. I have a banking account with them for my business. They charged me 1000 bucks randomly for not keeping a balance of a lakh. Which I would’ve been ok, if they had told me that when I started my bank account. Again, 1000 bucks. I dont really care about it. But why these stupid practices?
And its not that these banks are monopoly services. There are 100 other banks that offer comparable service levels. I hope that my P&L is never that stuffed that I take my customers for a ride.
I will be cancelling both these services this week. Just that it’s a pain to even cancel these. Sigh.
Just that as a young man, I always wanted to get an AMEX card and get access to those lounges. But I think I dont really care for these anymore. Either its the maturity or the Stoicism talking.
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8/ Sovereign LLM
I can no longer imagine my life without a LLM. And within that, I am maximalist on Claude. But the way Fable was taken away, if the base models are taken away as well, I wouldnt know what to do. and I cant imagine being on Sarvam or Krutrim or whatever our models are called.
I know I can get Ollama and Kimi and I dont know what all. But at this point, I am far from that. I dont even know how to switch if Claude went offline tomorrow. So, once I get some time, in the month of July, I will probably invest my energy into building a system that allows me to have open source models and tools and I can get my work done.
If you know someone who’s been able to do this, please do point me to them.
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9/ Live near a beach
This thought landed in Goa. That I would love to live at a place where I can see the sea. And dip my toes in the water often. Right now, in Mumbai, I get to go to the Sunset Club often but that still is like a 2-KM walk and I often am unable to make that walk.
I want to be able to hit the water in like 3 minutes of stepping out of my house. And I know it comes with many perils but I think it would be worth it.
Lets see when that happens.
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10/ Other things
This is a list of things that caught my eye.
Meta + Cred. Kunal Shah was “brought” by Meta for a billion dollars. I wish Om had written about this. There are so many angles – a founder leaving the company that was ridiculed for no business model. The company that has no readily identifiable leaders. The wants of Meta to be a player in the payments piece in India. A single person commanding a billion dollars. Wow!
I need to think about how is it that each person I follow on X is making money off the Internet and I havent been able to. Or is it a bubble? And why and how? And what am I missing?
Lots of photos from Goa. Lots of screenshots. As always, ask me if you want access.
But here are some screenshots I took. Without context.
Such a simple insight. I must write a longer post on this.
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If you know where is this from, well…
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I dont know why they slapped a Kapoor on a Bachchan line.
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📈 Trackers…
I need to restart this. Since I automated my tracking, I have forgotten what I was posting here. Lemme get back to it next week. Meanwhile, these are the trackers that I was using…
1/ Daily cadence on important things. I havent updated this in a while. I have automated most of these with Claude.
2/ Weekly update on things that are important to me. Again, havent worked on this in a while.
3/ Mood tracker This was anyway intermittent.
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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.
Book2 / Caravan Serai. If all goes ok, should be out before end of June. We are 3 days away from it. So yay!
Human Flag Pole. No action.
Save a million dollars. No action worth reporting.
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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.
Health. Sleep, food, movement. Nothing specific. I’ve been unwell for almost a week now with a sore throat and a bad body ache.
C4E / Work. Pick a thing to apply myself to. Yet to find out. Am terribly behind this. I think I will end up doing a portfolio of small best?
Brand SG / Distribution. No action. Except some Claude experiments. Those too are more inputs, than outputs or outcomes.
People. Cant say any large updates.
Book2 / Caravan Serai. This should be checked off!
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🏃➡️ Health
No large actions.
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⏲️ Reminders from last few days
Same as last few weeks. Parking this section.
I think the tracking system I made (I talked about it above) could solve this for me. I wrote about it here briefly.
Yet to fully exploit it. The travel and sore throat put a spanner. Lemme give it a few more weeks.
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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?
Drift.
Yea!
The other words for this year have been: Freedom, People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Flow, Show, Same, Motion, People.
— So that. Over and out. Until next week.
SG
Oh, and this too shall pass.
PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. Previous editions from 2026 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (missed)
PPS: Please do point typos.
PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.
On a 3-day vacation you do not eat at the same place twice. Too much to taste. Too little time. This trip to Goa, I broke it. And oh boy, am I glad.
Here is the kicker. I am vegetarian. One or two bites of the non-veg, no more. At Oya’s Umami I cannot touch more than half the menu. I went back anyway. Read that again. A vegetarian, returning to a Naga kitchen that runs on pork, beef, smoked meat. That is the review in one fact.
Let me sit on that fact a second. It is the whole point. The job of a restaurant is to feed you. The job of a great one is to make you want to come back. Most places get the first part right and miss the second. Oya’s flipped it on a man who could only order the corners of its card. I walked in, able to eat maybe eight things on the menu (apart from Diet Coke). I walked out plotting the second visit. That does not happen by chance. That happens when a kitchen cooks for the plate, not the headcount.
We found it by mistake. We wanted a place within a kilometre of Starbucks. Of course we did. The coffee chain that I ironically call home. We walked Miramar with a phone and a craving and no plan, and Oya’s appeared the way the good ones always do. Off the main drag. No queue spilling onto the road. No neon screaming for you. We reached, and the place pulled us in before the food got a chance.
It screamed taste. Not the palate kind. The other one. The taste we startup kinds talk about. The judgment you feel the second you walk in. The decor. The books on the shelf. The postcards. The posters, down to a framed “Hasta la vista baby” sitting next to a constellation in a paisley frame. Paper lanterns hung like folded moons. White tile. Wood that has taken some years and wears them well.
Taste, the second kind, is a tell. You can fake a logo. You can buy a fit-out off a Pinterest board. You cannot fake the third book on the shelf, or the postcard nobody was meant to notice, or the depth in a film poster on a Naga restaurant wall. One of the posters is the Leo constellation (cos the chef is a Leo; I have no way to validate. Maybe I will next time I am there). Those are choices a person made for no audience, because they could not help themselves. That is the signal I trust. A room put together with that much care is almost never followed by careless food. The hand that picks the posters picks the chillies.
Then you learn who built it, and the room makes sense. The Internet tells me that Imli Ati Aier (though not sure) carried her Naga kitchen from Delhi and ran it out of her home for six years before it earned four walls. Six years of cooking for people who came to her table, not a storefront. The doors opened in Panjim in 2025. It still cooks like a home kitchen that ran out of space and had to rent some. Seven tables. 350 square feet. Thirty-five people if everyone breathes in. You do not get seated at Oya’s. You get admitted.
Naga food does not ask for permission. It shows up smoked, fermented, chilli-loaded, and it dares you to keep up. The pantry behind it reads like a survival manual. Bhut jolokia, the ghost chilli, one of the hottest things on the planet. Dried shrimp. Fermented crab. Anishi, the fermented taro leaf that smells like a dare. A house chilli oil that carries half of that in one spoon. None of this is decoration for a reel. Heck I didn’t know about most of these things. I had to search, use AI and then make some judgement calls.
This is how a hill cuisine kept itself alive before the fridge, and chose to taste like something while it survived. You sit on a beach in Goa and eat a place that lives 3,000 kilometres north. It travels without apology.
And then it made us scream with the other taste. The food.
The hero, for a man who eats green: a charred cabbage wedge, blackened to the colour of an old kettle, in a rust-orange gravy with bamboo shoot and ferment under it. A stone cup of bean-and-herb relish on the side. Raw, green, sharp. You drag the black crust through the orange. Smoke first. Then heat that arrives and stays. This is the plate I keep thinking about.
See this…
A cabbage. Sit with that. The most boring vegetable in the Indian fridge. The only time I’ve enjoyed it is when I am on a strict Keto. It is the one that turns up at weddings as a damp afterthought between the paneer and the dal. Here it gets fire, patience, and a sauce with a spine. It comes out tasting like the best thing the meat-eaters at the table did not order. That is the real test of a kitchen, whether it respects the person who eats green. Not a paneer reflex. Not a grilled-veg platter built out of guilt and a grill pan. A vegetable treated as the main event, because someone in the back believed it could carry one.
Then the pork loins in a dark sesame gravy. I did my two bites. The plate still came back empty but for one, smears of sauce where the rest had been. A table does not wipe a plate it did not love.
There was heat on that table that I felt the next morning. I do not say that as a complaint. I say it the way you talk about a good argument with a friend. It stayed with me. It earned the space it took up. Most food is forgotten by the time the bill arrives. This food followed me to breakfast.
Let me be honest about the math. About 3000 for two of us. Seven tables. None of this scales. None of it wants to. The Indian restaurant business spends its life turning one good cook into forty outlets and a master franchise, then acts surprised when the food goes tired and the soul checks out. Oya’s does the reverse. It guards its smallness like a recipe. I hope it rather turns you away tonight than serve you a thinner version of itself next year. In a country addicted to growth, holding your size on purpose is almost a political act.
We were greeted by Khushi and a gent whose name I have forgotten. The warmth was real. Not the trained, scripted, name-on-a-lanyard kind. The kind that makes 350 square feet and seven tables feel like someone’s home. Because it sits close to one.
You can measure a place by how it treats you when you are not yet a transaction. Nobody rushed the table. Nobody upsold a dessert. They watched a vegetarian read a menu built for carnivores and steered me, without fuss, to the dishes that would land. That is hospitality. The rest is just service with a smile bolted on.
This is how food has to be. Cooked by someone who means it. Served by someone glad you walked in.
It reminds me of Nicky M‘s burgers. Same DNA. Small. Made by hand. Made with love. Made for a commune, not a chain. That is the thing I live for. Not the forty-outlet, master-franchise machine. One person. One room. One thing done with everything they have.
I keep landing on that word. Commune. The best food I have eaten was never the most expensive. It was the most personal. A kitchen that cooks for a small circle, and lets you into it, does something a chain can never buy back later. It says: I made this for people, not for scale. You taste the difference because there is one. Love does not show up as a line item on a menu. It shows up in whether the cabbage got fifteen extra minutes on the fire, because the cook could not bring herself to send it out any other way.
So I broke my rule. Three days, one repeat, no regret. The rule exists to chase variety. Variety is overrated once you have found the thing. Going back was not laziness. It was respect. Some places you taste once and tick off. A few you return to, to check they were as good as your memory swears. Oya’s was real both times. Same heat. Same warmth. Same cabbage that has no business being that good.
If you are in Panjim, do yourself a favor and drop by to Oya’s and maybe, send me a postcard? They’ve got some handpainted ones for you to pick from.
5:30 PM. Oct 18, 2025, Starbucks, Versova. 6:40 AM. Oct 19, 2025, Mumbai Airport. 6:30 PM. Oct 19, 2025, Home (DG).
So, I am back to writing these notes after a week.
The last two weeks have not been the best and I a lot of it was things that I couldnt control. The good part is that I was travelling and I was reading (I read Morgan Housel’s new book; more on that later). And thus I was ok.
I think there’s a lot to unpack today. So, lets get going.
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💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Most thanked person in Oscar Acceptance Speeches I was talking to AD and someone else and I happened to mention that one of the lifegoals is to impact lives of so many people at such large level that I get to compete with Steven.
For context, Steven Spielberg is THE most thanked person at the Oscars.
Spielberg is THE most thanked person in Oscar acceptance speeches.
I would love to be in this club some day! I mean can you imagine the effort and the hard work it would’ve taken for a Steven to have these many people in gratitude?
Oh, and apart from just this, I would like to be in the acknowledgements page of books and biographies. So far, I am in a few and I would want to have chapters dedicated in there. And no, the point is not a shot at legacy or immortality, but at enabling more people do more.
And this reminds me of another tweet that I saw…
Tweets from MJS’ handle delete and thus had to take a screenshot.
B/ Postcard Club. Another idea from Thej that I am stealing. Read his post here.
The premise is simple. I will send postcards, with stamps and all that to folks who opt-in to receive it. And at some point in time, I would invite other folks to send postcards to more people. And then we shall see where it goes.
Here are the first two postcards I sent.
From a restaurant in Goa.
In case you want to be a part of this club, DM me. And disclaimer – like most things that I think a lot about, there are no guarantees that I will do this.
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C/ Morgan Housel’s Art of Spending Money Read this book over the last few days.
Way too many notes. Underlined a large part of the book.
A lot of what I read, I knew that already but there was a lot of reaffirmation and at times that’s the value of what you read. And since a lot of words were clustered together in the book and I was in the thinking zone, the reading was even more impactful. I think thats the point of reading books. Dense content about one topic. And reinforcement of the same via multiple examples and stories and chapters.
I think I will write an entire post on this, assuming I get time. I even did a YT live today. Not so happy but I did it and here it is.
On the live, at the peak, I 6 people joining in. At some point, I want to have a lot more people listening in. Not because I crave for an audience but because I want a platform large enough for me to have a large impact in life.
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D/ 43 The other day, someone asked they wanted to create a meetup of young people. And I commented on it and said, if 43-year olds are allowed and young at heart are welcome I would love to be in.
Right after I posted this, I feel awkward and weird and sad. It sucked that I am having to justify that age is a number. I think it’s about time I accept that I am a never-was.
So that!
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E/ AI Film Festival Some kids are doing this AI Film Festival in Mumbai. And wow. Many emotions. Here’s a list.
We had the same idea at C4E but we couldn’t do it. This is nothing but a slap on the face. I need to build a stronger muscle for action. Plus I need to inspire my people to do more. And do so faster. And ensure that we followup on action. And I want to encourage them to think larger. Each thing we start, we start with a small vision. I encourage that. And I want to change it.
I love the fact that AI is democratizing otherwise gatekept industries. Of course incumbents will catch up and bring things back to the mud but some new folks will arrive, shine and make hay!
My bachpan ka want of making films resurfaced. I made attempts with Red Carbon. But I was unable to sustain the partnership. I was very very hopeful when we did the tnks trailer. But I was unable to inspire my people to actually do. Maybe I should start taking matters and things in my own hands and being a pesky boss?
Glad that someone is doing it. Even better that young people. More power to them and other young folks. I am so very often reminded that so many young people are so fearless and so action oriented and so resourceful that I am often left ashamed and gawking at their greatness. Must surround myself with more young people.
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F/ Updated the Vision Board Here. Not open for public access. Made update in the Wheel of Life and while I did that, I realised that this is the tiniest I’ve been in my life!
Here’s the template that you may want to use to fill yours.
Saw this first on a Tony Robbins video
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G/ Made a list of Regrets in life. Here. This is WIP at this time. Will evolve this as I go along.
The idea is that I want to live an open life and I want to not hide anything about myself from anyone at anytime. And this must include the goods and the bads, and the highs and the lows, the wins and the losses and everything in the middle.
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H/ Theatre One of the things I really enjoy in life, is, to indulge in theatre. You know, live performances.
While I love the feeling sitting face to face with the performers, I dont understand why the theatre artists invest their time and energy in theatre. Each ticket is like 200 bucks and even on great days, you hardly get some 100 people in the audience. So, a crew of 10 will make like 20K per show. And if they were to divide all the money between them (not even the expenses), they would get like 2K per day. And it’s pittance!
I dont get why people so this.
I asked some of my friends. And the answers weren’t very convincing. There are two plausible ones.
Someone mentioned that its the pitstop needed to get to Bollywood. But even in that, the possibility of a great outcome is like negligible. The returns are way too asymmetric to be logical about it!
Someone else mentioned that its the way of life and the purest artwork there is. Again, I am not convinced about that. I am sure there are other means to feel alive?
Neither is convincing enough to me. Any clues?
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I/ Focus One of these days, on my way back from Starbucks, I was walking with C and we were reflecting about life and all.
I popped a question.
If I were to look at 100 of the most successful people in the world and we listed top 5 traits that they had, at the most I will get a list of 500 traits and if there is a perfect overlap of traits, I would have 5 traits only.
I asked some LLMs about and this is what they had to say. So, lets say there are 20 traits that are shared by a lot of successful people.
Here is a list I made (a combination of what I learnt from AI and from my intuition).
I can say with a large certainty, that the list of traits would have things like hard work, ambition, focus, creativity, persuasion, discipline, growth mindset, perseverance, people skills, confidence, self-belief, humility and all that.
And then I said to myself, I seem to have almost ALL of these and yet I am not even a mild success. I even tweeted about it.
I could make a mental nod against each thing and I could demonstrate actions and all against each. Except one.
Focus.
I’ve been told since I was child that I am way too all over the place and I need to focus. And I have strongly objected to any sort of focus ever. I have laughed at people who’ve told me to focus. I have even blamed it on my undetected ADHD.
And maybe, just maybe, I will focus on focus!
Lol!
So, may be, I will focus and see what I would achieve if I did one thing for one year.
PS: The effort on Meru has been as focussed as they come – I have not thought about anything else since late last year. While it is not yet any close to success but thanks to HT, MK, KP, VS and others, I am certain that it would be LARGE!
J/ Self Cringe Riya has been working hard to help me build distribution. And its incredible how much effort that young girl is putting! I am beyond inspired! Yet another case of young people doing superhuman things that make you wide eyed!
The only trouble is, I get cringed out each time I see myself.
For starters, I don’t like to see my face. And then a deeper reason – I’ve not done anything large or substantial to be able to give gyaan to people. Plus I am making tall promises to “teach” people to do more. I am not sure if this is correct!
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K/ Mahabharata Series has crossed 25 posts A few days ago, I promised that I will write a post a day on linkedin. And I thought it would be a good idea to write about management lesson from Mahabharata. It would kill many birds.
Some are…
I would get to explore Mahabharata as a subject. I love it and this will force me to carve time to read more, discuss more and think more.
I will get the daily writing Riyaaz.
I will get to build my distribution on linkedin – something that I’ve thought a lot about.
I will meet more people via this.
And somehow, I’ve been very very consistent with it. Yesterday I posted the 26th update. This link has all posts.
But, the series is not performing well. I have not seen a bumper jump in my followers. There are hardly any comments or shares. I havent made new connections.
Maybe I need to accept that I dont write well?
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L/ SG’s Patrons. AKA LifeIPO I’ve been thinking about Patrons and 1000 True Fans. And I think I am ready to take the experiment to the next stage. See this tweet.
A few weeks ago, I asked for 1000 bucks a month, in exchange of gratitude. I got two subscribers (Prak and Shruti). Now I want to offer a 1% of my life for 10 lakhs. You pay me 10 lakhs to get one share of my life (there are a total of 100 shares outstanding) and you get 1% of my time here on (you must use it yearly) and 1% of my future earnings and assets. Imagine if I become a billionaire, your 1% could be worth 10 million.
Think of this as any startup raising money. You have an idea. You peg that idea to a value. Then you add execution risk on top of it. And then you invest in the idea. That!
I am yet to get into specifics (risks, reputation, relationships, liquidity, legality etc) but I am warming up to the idea.
What do you think?
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M/ Grok’s interpretation of my content I asked Gork to analyse my recent tweets. This is what it had to say.
I love how we can use these tools to spot patterns. Over the next few days I want to use more tools to discover more about me. At some point in time I want to explore the possibility of having my second brain uploaded on the internet and then analyse data from there on.
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N/ Goa I was in Goa almost after a year. This time around, I spent more time going out to the temples, local beaches, eating at vegetarian restaurants, and all that. I didnt do any of my regular things. And that made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.
I love modern conveniences and comforts. And this means I would want to be at places that have reliable connectivity, fast internet, public transport, high-trust economy and a density of great talent.
I am not a naturist. I do not get excited by beaches or greens or mountains or anything like that. If need be, I would like to be in not so extreme weathers.
I love vibrance around me. So, I can not be at a place that is secluded.
I am an early bird. I love places that are open early. Once Mumbai starts 24X7 operations, I will find cafes that are open at 430 AM and make them into my havens.
As I start to think about where I want to live, these things are at the top of my head!
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O/ Fear of Flying I would have taken at least 500 flights in life, if not 1000. And I’ve taken them in all sorts of planes (including helicopters) for all sorts of durations (from 30 minutes to 14 hours) and since 2005 (I think my first flight was from Del to Blr, though I am not sure). And I’ve experienced all kinds of turbulence and even air pockets. Though I’ve never had oxygen masks deployed and I have never been on slides.
And I have not been afraid ever. In fact, I would find excuses to get onto flights to give people hugs!
However, lately, I am afraid to fly. What if the plane goes down? I know the odds of that are a one in a million or whatever but when that one occurrence happens, the loss is 100%!
I am afraid that if that happens, it would be such a colossal waste of life and a stupid way to go! I anyway have mixed feelings towards the concept of death (I know its important but I dont get the reason why we spend so much time and effort and energy to learn things and then when the times comes to capitalise on it and be of service to the world, your time is almost up).
Ok, I digressed. The point is, I have this thing deep in the pit of my stomach or conscious or whatever each time I have to fly. And this is a new feeling! And no, I don’t enjoy this. I have wanted to live my life free of fear. And in chase of excitement and adventure. This fear bit is not core to my identity! And I need to work on it and change it.
PS: I am writing this from a comfortable, business class seat of a fairly new Air India plane and from my seat I saw that there are three pilots in the cockpit – all three fit and alert and had their spines straight, including the lady who’s the captain on this flight. So, I am hopefully safe on this one!
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I had imagined I would have a lot more to write. But clearly I dont.
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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Some photos that I took and saved in the last two weeks are here. And if I had to pick one, I would say, this would be it…
I was in Goa and sent this postcard to AK and C. Will start a postcard club soon!
Show me some of your photos?
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🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – There was no movement. Nothing to report.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – I have made small changes in how I eat and what I eat. I am also walking more. I did some 5 pushups a couple of days. I now take stairs. Small steps. Nothing large. But I remain committed. I will ensure that come November, I am a gym and I am running.
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. Was a bad one. All over the place. Not just the physical health but also mental health. So, a -1.
Meru. Incredible progress. LOVE the hard work being put in by all the people. I wish I knew this team earlier. Most days I am left in awe of all that we do, despite everything. Oh, still no launch. And thus a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.
Brand SG. Riya has been shipping consistently. I am not sure I like how things are going out. I would let that continue till end of this month. And then take a call. I would give this a +1. Only because of Riya.
People. No action on this. 0.
Book 2. Nothing. -1.
Shauk. No action. No time. But not beating myself over it. So, 0.
So the overall score for the week is -1
Few weeks ago, I had decided that I want to get a positive score each week. I had to organise my life but I havent been able to. I will try in the coming week. Will report once I do.
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📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the last two weeks…
Tracker from weeks 41 and 42
The last two weeks have been tough. And I have fallen off the radar. I am not keeping up on what I am eating, neither am I being good when it comes to tracking. I am on the road next week as well. And I expect similar all-over-the-place-ness.
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🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
This week, I am skipping reporting on this as for the last two weeks, this has been all over the place.
Will get back to this after the Diwali week.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views
Since this is for two weeks, I have a LOT of links to share. I am thinking how to fit all these here and make things useful. Lemme try.
And no, not in any order.
1/ This is an incredible read. Titled, “Taylor Swift, Sora, and Slop vs. Substance”, I dont want to give you a TLDR on this one (hint, it talks of Taste as well). Touches many interesting facets.
2/ This piece from Finshots talks about how and why Rakesh Gangwal chose to step away from Indigo. Must read how people still stand for principles in this day and age. While on this, also read this piece on the friendship of the two founders.
3/ Harnidh is soon evolving into my favorite Internet writer. She wrote about PR-FAQ. Incredible read. Here.
4/ This piece about Prashant Kishore tells me that he charges 11 crores for 2 hours. I refuse to believe that he added that much value!
5/ This document talks about maxims from Kunal Shah. Which is your favorite?
6/ One of the BEST investigative reads that I’ve read in a while. I think I would love to build something GFM once I get to a point when I have enough. Do read.
7/ This piece from New Yorker talks about how all of us have started to think the same. Prak would love this piece. This is also the reason why all apps seems to look similar (have you noticed those purple websites?) and there is this insane use of em-dashes?
8/ Kevin Kelly, in yet another incredible essay makes a very convincing argument on why he wants AI to read his books. Read here.
9/ Kuldeep (or KD, as he is known all over the internet) wrote about the history of Whatsapp. Incredible read. He writes so well that I want to get him to quit everything and and just write! Another bonus read from him is this.
10/ This ad by Apple caught my eye. To a point that I want to embed this here.
11/ This hierarchy of “traits” of a top-performer is incredible. Do see.
12/ This piece about impatience and sense of urgency. I’ve read so much about this that I dont know how to not work at speed. And yet…
13/ Each thing from Ashutosh Rana, I dig! In this video, he talks about what made him do things that he did. I wish I had more folks who would listen to me. And I need to find a way to meet more young people.
There was a time when I would get a lot of people write into me. Lately that flow has died. And I need to restart that. Somehow.
Do see this.
14/ This piece by the creator of Oatmeal about AI and Art. Very very interesting read. He says, “consuming AI art is like eating styrofoam”. He goes onto make a lot of more convincing arguments about how and why AI is good or bad.
15/ If you are young, in your 20s, this piece of advice by the CEO of Palantir is incredible. Read here.
He says,
I’ve never met someone successful who had a great social life at 20. If that’s what you want, that’s great. But you’re not going to be successful, and don’t blame anyone else.
I cant say I agree to this (who am I to agree – I am not successful)
17/ This post about what makes YC, YC. For all the hate it gets, I love that they’ve been able to institutionalize starting up. I would love to go thru it. I mean I may not be able to anymore, age is not on my side. But I love them and their impact.
18/ This piece by Karthik about the public outcry from the founder of LuluLemon (Chip Wilson) about how that company has lost direction is a must read.
19/ I’ve been thinking a lot about Punit Pania and his work. Saw this insta reel and had to share.
Phew!
I am left wondering, what is the point of all these links. I get like three people to read these. Unless I find a way to internalise these. No?
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🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
I’ve been skipping this for a while now. Lets see when I get back to this.
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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Unsettling.
There is no other word that I would use for the two weeks gone by. Close people have quit on me, I have fallen off the grid, I am not taking notes, not reflecting on life and things, money seems to be a problem, fitness is a problem. I mean, each thing that I can think of seems to be not working for me!
I hope I am back in black soon.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Regular, Grind, Sad, Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
— Phew! Lemme know what you think. See you around.
Oh, and this too shall pass!
PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes.
A lot has happened since I last wrote these morning pages.
And thus, I think have a lot to talk about.
Let’s see how much of this lot converts into text once I start typing. It’s 9 AM and I have time till 10.
1/ Event at Goa
I managed an event in Goa over the last few days.
Each time I do an event, I realise how much I love this business of events. It offers everything I seek – people, money, instant gratification, showmanship, dopamine rush, adrenaline rush, travel, living in the moment, sprint (not marathon) and more.
I wish I could do more of these. In fact, each time I do an event, I wonder why I dont do more of those.
Sigh!
2/ Apatradaanam
I met someone over the weekend in Goa and he talked about Apaatradanam. Read it as a-paatra-daanam.
Loosely translated, this means, “charity directed at people that don’t deserve”.
Now, if you know me, you would know of my ideas of paying it forward. And that too without any expectation of returns or payback. And I’ve done this even when I was unable to even run my home.
Lately, however, I’ve started to think a lot about how I want to spend my time and energy. And this concept of Apaatradanam makes a lot of sense. I’d love to support folks that are deserving!
Now, this deserving is a subjective thing. And the only judge / jury of the deservingness of these people is, well, me. And I dont think this is fair. I will eventually find a way to make it fair. Any ideas anyone?
Oh, and I hereby declare that I will not give to places, folks, causes and other things that dont deserve. If you see me giving to those, please point out and stop me.
PS: In case you’d like to subscribe to this blog 🙂
The want for this card has been as high as the want for Birkins. And since I was a kid. I’ve looked at it wistfully each time I see someone else sporting it. Each time I passed by an Amex lounge, I longed for it. I knew that at 60K a year, this was probably the most expensive thing I could get. I know if I ever get it, it would be vanity and nothing else. I would laugh at people who have this card (and other such signs of vanity).
And yet, I got it!
This is one of the most foolish decisions I’ve made in my entire life. And I am ok with it. The happiness lasted all of 1 microsecond (when I held it for the first time) and since then, I’ve started to sort of hate it? I mean not hate it but I have this buyer’s remorse.
But then, I was reminded of these lines about shauq. And this is a rare thing I’ve done for shauq.
Also, while I was thinking about this, I was reminded of all the bucket lists, wish lists and all those that I had made when I was younger.
I think I need to bring those back. Meanwhile, here is one for your viewing pleasure 😀
Ofc, there are times when I think that at my age, I should be thinking of pooja-paathh and not finding outlets for my shauqs. But then, am human :D. Oh and in case you want a card for yourself, use this link 😀
4/ C4E and Friends
PS: I wrote this bit with the help of Flow. PPS: Published a slightly edited version of this on LinkedIn. Read at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7227556269274914817/
I am a very, very big believer in expanding my network. And I do that by building a lot of loose connections. And with those loose connections, I hope that at some point in time, those connections actually become a little more warm and a little more close. And then those warm and close connections help me get work for me and my team. Essentially, I try to be present everywhere on the internet. To the point that I once asked an intern to put me on various WhatsApp groups. I am digressing.
Coming back.
The other I was thinking, what if I create a group called C4E and friends and add people who are well-wishers of C4E there?
These “friends” are people that give me work. These are the people that give me ideas. These are the people that show me the path when I’m lost. And these are the people that I can hang out with when I have no one else to. Think village, but a larger one.
What if I can build a community of people who are supporting C4E in its mission of being a world-changing org? And like with most things, I started by making a WhatsApp group (and not by booking a domain this time around).
I have floated the idea and the group link around in the last few days. I’ve had mixed response. Not many like the idea. In fact, not a lot of folks from my own village like it. And no, I have not yet opened it up. But the more I think about it, the more I am warming to the idea of doing it. Maybe I will action it today.
Eventually, the idea is to make this group a safe space where everybody will be connected to each other. There’ll be a directory that would have details on work, city, interests etc. Think of a professional networking opportunity, brought to you by C4E. On this group, each person would propel each other up.
So that!
What do you think?
Would you join?
5/ Accountability and Responsibility
The other day I read something about accountability and responsibility and I realised that I am accountable at best (and not responsible) and in case I need to get ahead in life, I need to be responsible!
Here’s the original piece…
I am not sure of the source. In case you find it, please lemme know.
The thing is, I need to work hard to be responsible!
So this is it. For the day. Let’s see when I write next.
I talk about how I finally managed to not feel sleepy during the day yesterday! And a few other things.
6:20 AM Woke around 6. Scrolled the feeds of Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and Whatsapp. In that order. While still in bed. Yeah, installed all these apps yesterday. After a hiatus of a few days. Realized that I need constant engagement and action and interruptions. I need to be moving all the time. No, not cool. Will come back to this later. Time to make a log of things on top of my head.
So yesterday was the second day on the trot when I worked from a friend’s place. And it was the second day when I was not sleepy during the day. I think it’s the unavailability of the bed. Or may be it’s the fact that I am away from home. However, his place has two issues that I need to solve. A, there’s no desk that I can sit and work on. There’s a table but it’s cramped. Plus, it’s his. I need mine. Second, there’s no AC and in Mumbai, life without AC sucks. Nah, the unavailability of good chairs don’t affect me. I anyway move around a lot.
A solution is to order a desk on Ikea or something. I like Lagkapten. I know he will find space to put it. I think I will. If I go to his place one more day and spend more than 7 hours working, I will order. Let’s see.
The other thing yesterday was that I attended the second day of the Docedge pitching session. I have to say and I don’t say this loosely or frivolously, it was a transformative experience. I will write a longer post on it soon. But thanks to Docedge, I know the kind of stories I want to tell. Non-fiction (or at least inspired by non-fiction), human-first stories that shift the way we think, the way we approach life, and the way we operate. While masala, mass-market Bollywood films are great and help us escape, it is these human stories that move me as a person. I think this is what filmmaking ought to be – real, alive, human-first.
In fact, if you look at the kind of films I like (Sarkar, Swades, Chak De come to mind), while these may sound like Bollywoody, star-studded fictional narratives, at a deeper level, each has a thread of humans and their struggle for finding meaning. There’s a definitive human purpose that the protagonist in each is trying to seek. I am at a loss for words right now but at some point, I will write this at length.
The third thing I have on my head is this entire debate on having your work out there. Or continuing to remain anonymous and chip away till you have chiseled an entire David and then talk about things. I have remained an anonymous antelope all my life and I like that. But I now realize I need to be out there. I need to get shameless about projecting myself and cultivating an image that allows me to get access to more opportunities. It will be a big big move. I have already started to be honest. This podcast is out with me being me, in full glory on video. But then, I am yet to “market” it! I can no longer claim that my picture is not on the internet. I routinely put it on dating websites now. I just need to make the shift in my head and start putting myself out there. I don’t know if it’s the shame at how uncouth I am. Or if it’s the deeper guilt at my underachievement. There’s some deeper emotion at play and I need to tilt that out of my system.
Oh, yesterday, a couple of friends from Goa send a few messages. Even though I may not subscribe to the susegad lifestyle and choices, I for some reason craved to be out there with them. Maybe it’s their eccentricity. Maybe because these were the only people I’ve hung out with lately. Maybe the conversations with them were deeper and richer and beyond the rigmarole that we have in a large city. Maybe because we were closer to nature. I am not sure but I wished I had easier access to them.
In fact, each passing day I am thinking of moving on from Mumbai to Goa. And then keep shuttling as and when required. I know it’s not advisable that you straddle two boats at the same time but then I am one of those that believe that Ajay Devgan could have continued on with his life like that.
Not just bikes, our man has been on cars and even trucks!
I know Goa doesn’t offer me reliable, stable Internet. I know Goa doesn’t have the ecosystem and amenities that I need (Starbucks, AC, people around me who want to work, public transportation et al) but I know that there’s something about the place that attracts me. Or may be, I just was to escape from where I am.
Damn I love the idea of being on the move all the time.
I know I had given myself till the end of May to figure out my next destination. I am yet to take that decision. Let’s see what happens.
Anyhow. So as I end this, here’s a gift for you. A playlist of music I listen to as I drift to sleep. Here.
Guess this is about it for the day. Here’s streaks.
Morning Pages / Meditations – 162
#aPicADay – 0
10K steps a day – 0
OMAD – 0
#noCoffee – 0, I will probably remove this. I am making coffee a constant companion.
Quick post on how things are with me in probably the toughest times we’ve seen as a race. And an attempt at pushing the story forward.
6:04. I just woke up. A minute ago. Without an alarm. The room was too hot. The AC conked off. And so did the phone. Or maybe it’s the charging cable. I will get to know by the time I end this post. I am trying to charge it with another wireless charger I have. Ok, the cable is the problem.
It’s funny how mundane like is, on a day-to-day basis. You plan for grand things, the ones that can change the world and you struggle with basics like devices, tools, etc give you a hard time. Life has its ways.
It was a terribly busy day yesterday. Way too many meetings and calls. To a point that I ate while I was on a call. I had to pee and I had to put 11 people on hold to do that. Which is ok. I don’t mind this at all. I like the idea of spending my time on things other than mindless consumption of all the content floating around on the internet.
But the good part is that I managed about 9000 steps towards the end of the day. I went a million times around the cramped space around my building. Thanks to the calls that allowed me to not get bored. I think I will schedule all the calls that I can control at that time so that I can walk and not get bored.
So, what happened yesterday? And what do I want to log-in here?
More and more people are moving to Goa. This means they are finding better internet and phone connectivity. And thus the Goa post needs to be updated. Done.
A very very good friend was found positive. This is one of those people I care for. Damn. Hope he recovers fast.
I’ve decided to stay away from any negative news of any kind. Even if it’s supposed to be funny. Including jokes, WhatsApp, tweets, and others that have been going around. I am not even hanging out on Instagram anymore. There’s way too much negativity masked as comments and critiques. If I endorse something, they would add to your life and not take things away. I had to log in about the friend (point 3) but that’s that. I don’t plan to delve any further into it. Need to practice equanimity. You know, this too shall pass.
Believe it or not. I did 8 rounds of Surya Namaskar yesterday. I followed this video. I was dead by the 4th. Wanted to quit by the 6th. But persisted. I plan to do 8 more today. At least. I will see if I can push myself to do 10. The lofty goal is to be able to do 100. I don’t know how I would get the time out but let’s see.
Last two days, I’ve been using Headspace on a computer (and not on a phone). This again is better. Cos I switch off phone when I do and thus there are no distractions.
Plan for the day? Lol. Calls. What else.
Here’s the streaks…
Morning Pages / Meditations – 128
#aPicADay – 109 the quality of photos is going down everything. There’s nothing to click in the tiny place I have access to 🙁
10K steps a day –0.
OMAD – 0
#noCoffee – 41
#noCoke – 41
10 mins of meditation – 6
#book2 – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
Original Work (limited time only) – 5
On to the original work. Day 6. Yesterday I was at a point where Roshan has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and he will be dead in 14 days. He tells his mother about it. I did not write it entirely. But I did manage a part of the conversation. I had identified a few questions and pointers. I needed to find out other characters. I need a larger battle as the backdrop. And I need to generally find out what would Roshan do once he knows that he was going to die in 14 days.
Lemme introduce Roshan’s love interest.
[START]
Diksha’s family was as old as Roshan’s was. And had the same lineage. Her’s was the lineage of teachers and had the distinction of teaching even Shivaji for a brief period. She had continued to the tradition and now ran the only private school in Indapur. Like Roshan’s, she also had numerous cousins in the town and most of them were teachers at various schools, including some at her school.
Like any two old families in a tiny town, the two families knew of each other. Many people had married within each other. The relationships were more or less cordial. However, there was no way Diksha and Roshan would cross paths. They had contrasting worlds and world views. Diksha was a lot more serious and had no serious ambitions. As long as her students were happy, she was ok. Roshan on the other hand planned to move beyond to at least Mumbai in search of his dreams. The challenge was, he did not have a dream. Yet. He remained in search of opportunities.
The only time they spot meet each other during the day would be when Roshan would walk back from the temple with his mother. It was around the same time Diksha would finish her work and on the way back stop at the temple for a bit. She did she Roshan as an obedient, respectful person that took extra care of his mother. And that was that. Beyond that, she had no interest in his physique or the flurry of jokes that he seems to have handy all the time.
Neither was Roshan interested in Diksha. She was, what they call, a simpleton. A woman next door with nothing special to write home about. Probably boring as well. Plus Roshan had seen her grow alongside. The large families would meet often on various occasions and since they were both from the only two illustrious ones, they always had special status reserved for them. Most times, these interactions would happen at their respective homes. They weren’t anything like the glorious ones of the past, with each successive generation, the patch of land that they could lay claim to would get smaller and smaller. Most times these splits would be amicable. At such places, pragmatism took over the need to argue.
Except when Roshan’s family got dealt an unfair hand. Roshan’s father was the younger son and thus when the split had to be done, he was left out with parcels of land that none of his elder brothers wanted. He was content with what he was handed over. Pritha had a large part in Kishore’s decision to take what was given to him. They were happy that they got a house to live in, a gala next to the temple where his Kishore could start a business, and a barren patch further beyond the town. This is where Roshan would go on to establish his akhada.
This was clearly unfair as this was not even 5% of the total fortune that Roshan’s family should’ve inherited. If not for Diksha’s grandfather, Kishore wouldn’t have got even this much. His elder brother, Dinesh believed that as the younger brother, Kishore had no claim over any inheritance and must live on the alms. If not for the sense pounded in to his head, he would have probably got his henchmen to do the same. In fact, even now Roshan and Darpan, the two cousins would often spar.
Now Darpan was unlike his father. He believed that whatever his father gave away to Roshan’s family, he still had the rightful claim over that. But then he was a reasonable man. To a point that when the elders started talking about getting him and Diksha married, the pragmatic Diskha had no opposition to the match.
[END]
[NOTES]
Nah. Did not flow. I couldn’t think of a lot. Need to do better. Experienced deja vu while writing this! Woah! After a long time!
Also, need to think on the following…
How to make Roshan likable?
Can I reveal Roshan’s actions at the very end of the film? You know, he did all these because he was terminal? Similar to Sweet November.
This Diksha – Roshan escapade is not happening. Seems forced. May be it’s Diksha’s pain that Roshan is trying to solve? May be Diksha knows that Roshan is terminal and is empathetic? May be she’s a doctor herself? May be she doesn’t know that he was going to die?
I just realised that I think FAR better when I am writing. Or when I am talking to others. #epiphany
I talk about two interesting things. 1, Goa and home. 2, optionality. Read on.
8:22. The balcony at Rajesh Sir’s house, Goa. Back here after 15 odd days.
A funny thing happened yesterday. When I came here after a month, for some reason, it felt like homecoming. I am not kidding. I am not the one to get attached to places etc but this time, the house felt like home. Maybe because I was here at a time when a lot was happening in my life and I did not know what to do. A lot is still happening but this place was my solace in the toughest time. I am so grateful that I have him in my life.
Moving on.
I need to take a big decision about what I want to do in life. I have a couple of options where I can exchange my time for money, make ends meet and get back to some sort of stability. While all these things sound great on paper, I know that in the long-run for a 38-year old like me, these things don’t add up. Plus, salary is addictive.
One of the things I am thinking about while making this decision is Naval’s riff on optionality. He operates in a way that allows him to maximize optionality. As a salaried person, the odds of you increasing optionality go down. Unless you are like Rajan Anandam where you, by design, need to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and those backgrounds help you do more.
When choosing things for myself, I need to work towards creating optionality. Now, what creates optionality? Well, things that allow you to do more than what your job entails. If you are a doctor, there are fairly limited things that you can do. I mean you can treat people and heal them and all that but that’s that. Unless you are an exception that can, may be, write. Of course, as a doctor, you’d have a good life but that’s that. If you are a coder, on the other hand, you can create a thing like Bitcoin that allows you to live a life independent of your practice. Similarly, if you are a senior executive with some pharma company, you are limited to doing what your JD entails. If the company were to shut down, where would you go? Of course, if you are paid a bomb, you can invest tiny parts into businesses that have the potential of growing into larger ones. That creates optionality. In fact, subconsciously, I have lived all my life in a way that I have an option open in terms of what I want to do.
So that.
What else. Yeah. Fitness. Last few days I have been feeling unwell. I don’t know whats causing this but I need to fix it. Maybe its the food. I think I need to get either a balanced meal from someplace. Or get a kitchen. Either way, I need to fix it. Want to add workouts but I dont think I will ever be able to. I know Everest will require me to be fit and all. But I think till I figure out other things, fitness will probably take a backseat.
Guess this is it for the day. This context switching is not for me. I don’t know how other digital nomads do this. Need to learn.
With this, over and out. See you guys on the other side. Now that I am back in Goa, hope things will move better. And no, no #book2. Will start that once I settle in.
PS: Funny how narratives on these morning posts have changed from meaning of life to survival. Guess that’s life!
Your ultimate guide to remote working from Goa or even work-from-home while in Goa. Insider’s dope, tips, and opinions. Do not miss if you are considering WFH / Remote Work from Goa.
Version control: V0.1, last updated on 20 April 2021
UPDATE (22 Nov 2022): This post was last updated in April 2021. I am sure a lot of information herein must be outdated by now. Plus, I no longer live in Goa. However, I am hoping to refresh it over the next few days. In case you want to take this up as a (paid) challenge, please write to me at sg@c4e.in.
So, if you are my generation and have seen your share of Bollywood, you would know of Dil Chahta Hai. Or if you are from the one after mine, you would know Dear Zindagi. Both these are probably at the top of the pile of those films that have drilled the romanticized idea of the small coastline of Goa in our heads. Mention Goa and you start thinking to dream of a better life.
The images that come to your head could carry from the Vegas of India cliche (complete with its “what happens in Goa stays in Goa”) to that of a sleepy town littered with parties (and the characters and shenanigans of these characters at the parties) to lip-smacking seafood (Recheado anyone?) to dilapidated castles on top of hillocks (some of these are now hotels) to tourists teeming with frenzy as if they’re gonna die after this trip (not just from India but from places as far as Israel, Russia, and the UK) to, of course, beer cheaper than water!
At least these were the ones that came to my head. Blame it on a million trips that I have made to Goa over the years. My trips primarily were to give all my money to those poker players and rake to casinos floating in the Mandovi.
So anyhow, thanks to the lockdown and WFH getting acceptable, moved to Goa in early Dec 2020, to live and work from here, and see what else the state has to offer. I had a million doubts and a thousand questions and a hundred apprehensions before I moved to Goa. But I took the plunge. Literally.
What I saw was predictable, interesting, surprising, refreshing and more. And thus the prompt to write this guide.
So, here we are. In this Ultimate Guide to Remote Working from Goa, I will talk about what it takes to move to goa and work from here. Plus with the aftermath of COVID-19, remote jobs are increasingly becoming acceptable and people wanting to live and work out of Goa will need reliable, honest, first-hand information. This is that nifty handbook for those people. And for digital nomads and road-warriors and others that may want to work out of Goa.
Oh, standard disclaimers apply. See a list toward the bottom of the post.
There’s a lot to talk about Goa if I want to do an honest and comprehensive job of helping you decide. Lemme start with these three. In each, I will try to ask a question and the answer to that question will probably help you decide where you want to be once you decide that you want to work in Goa.
1A. The North vs South Divide
Simply speaking, think of Goa as a straight line (it is NOT but just think of it like that for the time being). See this image.
Assume that Panaji (aka Panjim) is the midpoint. Panjim is the capital city and like every other state capital, it is like any other – traffic, highrises (not really as high as the ones we have in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai), fast internet (really!), ample public transport, etc. But if you choose to live in / around Panjim, you might as well live in Mumbai. Or Bangalore for that matter.
? Hat-tip – Read the section on Internet below.
North Goa (Candolim, Calangute, Anjuna, Morjim, Mandrem, and beyond) is where most tourists (Indian, foreign, etc) hang out. With-in the North, I’d advise you to stay away from Candolim, Calangute, or Baga.
But places like Anjuna and Vagator are very very livable. In fact, if you want to meet and network with interesting people, you have to check these two out. You’d also get access to the sea.
?To me, one of these two is the perfect place to live if you are in Goa to work. But this could be my bias as well.
Oh, most Indian tourists do not venture beyond Anjuna. If you go further north, you’d only find foreigners (and Indians that are more foreigners in their heads than the actual foreigners are). So that could be a good place to be if you want to be in the North and yet stay at a secluded place.
If you are ok living in the interiors with a limited sea view, you will like it at Porvorim, Saligao, Parra, Assagao, Siolim, etc. These are not north per se but for our simplistic map, these could be. And within these, I love Porvorim (a city and yet not a city) and Assagao (essentially a forest on a hill).
South Goa is where we have all the secluded, spaced out, sparse and clean beaches in Goa. This is also where the peace of mind is. Food also, in general, is better in the South, if you ask me. And because these are secluded and spaced out, you typically have holidaymakers here (and not the tourists that seek action of water-sports, dance clubs, etc). If I were to choose a place to be on a holiday, I’d pick South Goa. If you want to work in Goa, I would NOT recommend South Goa. But if you have to live and work in the South, I’d recommend looking at places like Palolem, Utorda, and Majorda. There’s some semblance of life there.
Oh, there’s also what I call the North-East Goa (though locals don’t call it that). Which is essentially Mapusa, Moira, Aldona, and thereabouts. This part is fast emerging as the hub of creative kinds. More on this later.
❓ So, the first decision you need to make is, what part of Goa do you want to live in. Panjim? North? South? North-East? I would recommend North.
1B. Natives, Locals and Migrants
If you are going to spend some time in Goa, you need to be able to understand people here. No, a section of a blogpost can never ever do justice but here’s an attempt.
Natives of Goa are people that were born in Goa, grew up in Goa, live in Goa, have ancestral roots in Goa, have houses in Goa, and plan to be here. Most of these would be in professions from fishing to politics to even heavy industries. These are the ones that of course have the claim over Goa as a place. Everyone else is a guest. And thus needs to conduct themselves as guests. You are a guest as well even if you are moving here lock, stock, and barrel.
Locals of Goa are the ones that have some Goan connection (parents from Goa, close relatives in Goa, married to Goans, etc) and are now living in Goa. In my limited experience, these are the people that have created flourishing businesses here and thus give employment to natives, locals and migrants.
Migrants in Goa are people like me. No connection to Goa. Hail from other places. Now living in Goa. Most work in businesses ran by natives or locals. Some are entrepreneurs that have set up businesses. Some are freelancers. Most are creative, freelancing, solopreneurs – musicians, dancers, yoga teachers, chefs, writers, photographers, etc.
As you start living here, you need to understand who’s who and then conduct accordingly. The natives typically do not like migrants coming in. They blame the outsiders for spoiling nature and the culture. They blame the outsiders for leaving too much mess on the beaches and causing other such nuisance. To be honest, they are probably right. But then, free market. They can’t stop the influx. The migrants (like us need) to understand that as mere “outsiders” we can’t really do much without support from natives / locals. And sooner we start respecting the locals and natives, the better it is. For everyone.
1C. The Good and The Bad
While the entire guide is about good and bad, I want to save time for you by making this nifty list. Each of these would be expanded eventually.
The Good part of working from Goa…
Goa is home to so much creative talent and prowess that it boggles my mind that we are not the world-leader in creativity! Plus this creative crowd is always in flux and is moving around (within and out of Goa). This means that there is no dearth of interesting people that you can jam and network with. This to me in itself is a big big draw to Goa.
Goa is probably as cosmopolitan as it gets. Really. Just that it’s a tad different than the cosmopolitan-ness that people from big cities are used to. You may not see a lot of fancy clothes but you would definitely see some really eclectic opinion that would make you take note.
Goa offers some of the best food that you’d have anywhere in the country. No, I am not a foodie at all. So, can’t comment on that.
The Bad part of working from Goa…
Just two.
Nothing is reliable here. Internet, people, electricity, roads, weather, stray dogs. Even people who write long posts on coworking in Goa 😉
If you are hoping to create a business here, unless you have a few crores, you would find it tough. If you have ready work from elsewhere that you want to deliver while you live in Goa, you can consider moving. But if you are hoping to setup something from scratch, it would be tough.
More details as we go along!
1D. What I will NOT talk about in this guide…
I will NOT talk about anything that tourists may want from Goa.
Things like best places to party, best venues to do sundowners, cheap shopping locations, tips on watersports, touristy places, Instagrammable locations, etc. I will NOT talk about the history of Goa, the weather of Goa, the culture of Goa, and so on and so forth. There’s enough and more on it.
2. So, why work from Goa?
This is the smallest part of the write-up and in this tiny, biased part, I will try and convince you to come work from here 😀
If my experience of the last 2 months is anything to go by, if your work allows you to work from remote locations, you MUST not miss the opportunity of working out of Goa! Heck, if I were the activist kinds, I would have met the government here in Goa and try to create a program inspired by the mayor of Miami!
I mean, imagine waking up a few miles away from the Arabian Sea and the winds from the sea and squeaks from the seabirds as your alarm clocks. Imagine the quaint vibe, apparently delicious seafood (which I have no clue about – I am a vegetarian eggetarian), and very very affordable options to wine and dine. Now, top it up with scenic exuberance and rich culture that Goa anyway has. And if you need the final push, imagine an opportunity to jam and network with all the eclectic, creative, free souls that call Goa home!
Why would you not work from here? Life is anyway short and if your work allows you to live and work out of Goa, please do make the move. Even if it’s for a bit. Here are more details for you…
3. The Pros and Cons of working from Goa
Of course, every place has its share of good and bad. While I can fill in reams of pages on the good parts, there are numerous downsides as well. The decision is a personal one but if for you the advantages of working out of goa outweigh the negatives, come join me 🙂
Here we go on the good and the bad, in detail.
3A. Some good things about working out of Goa!
Personally, I have found that living in Goa allows me to be more creative and free. You know how Hemingway said, write drunk and edit sober? Goa is allowing me to do that! I am drunk on the talent of others. And I am sobered by my limitations as an individual. Wow! Poetic! Here’s a “rational” and sober list.
⏩ Goa is probably one of the most vibrant places in the country with a lovely confluence of cultures. There is a diverse community of creative people from almost any discipline that you may imagine. You can whip up the frenzy and some crazy ideas with them. And yet Goa offers you endless opportunities for a slow, lackadaisical, laidback, and serene life. In one line, I’d say Goa exudes a heightened sense of quietude, even with all its cultural exuberance. There’s something for almost everyone.
⏩ If you are a music aficionado, apart from a thriving live-gig scene from across the genres (I can’t even count how many restaurants and bars offer Hindi and English covers), Goa probably has the best EDM and Hip Hop scene in India. Lately even Folk is taking the small state by storm. Plus there are so many traveling artists. If music is your thing, do check out Gypsy Gigs by a friend and mentor, Nupura.
⏩ If you consider yourself a connoisseur of architecture and history, after your work, you may go visit all the grand cathedrals, worn-out churches, and crumbling forts that Goa is adorned with. The architecture here is a melange of rich Indian tradition and strong European cultural influences. I’d say history is every day, a living, breathing part of Goa. Even a regular Goan house has so much to offer that you’d be left amazed. Do share some pics 🙂
⏩ If you love to eat, you’d have a ball. Think of a kind of cuisine and you’d find it here. You have a plethora of options that throw all the right jargon. Organic, vegan, paleo, keto, hand-pulled, machine-made, free-range, cruelty-free, not tested on animals, safe for babies, fished with love and I don’t know what else.
If you like to cook, local markets offer a wide assortment of fresh catch and some of the most stunning fruits and veggies. There are farmer’s markets where home chefs, locals, and small business owners sell their produce. These can give any such market anywhere in the world a run for their money. Goa is anyway known for its chilies (Aldona), Bananas (Moira), Watermelons, of course, Cashews. Plus coconut is as “local” to Goa as it is to anywhere else. You would find a wide range of coconut curries, hand-pressed oil, and even sweets here. I am told fish pickles are really to die for. Then there are numerous bakeries, each proud of their Pois and Puis. The local staple of Ras-omelet-poi (chicken gravy without pieces, omelet, and local bread) is as flavourful as it sounds. The samosas and the egg-puffs I have had here have been the best ever. I just had two samosas from this kiosk outside Las Viegas at Saligao. You have to try him out.
No, do not even hang out around the tourist traps that claim to offer culinary delights to the celebrities and rich kids that come to Goa on vacation. Ok, maybe once or twice for those Instagram pictures to make your colleagues jealous. But not more than that, please. No Thalassa. No Antares. No Sinq. No Cabana. No Martin’s Corner. Please. PLEASE. P L E A S E!!
⏩ Of course, if you are the touristy kind and like to do the things that tourists do, there are flea markets (I could not spot those this year though) at Anjuna and Arpora. There is the Dudhsagar waterfall. There are spice farms. There are river cruises on Madovi and even on the Sal. There are sanctuaries and wild-life reserves and water-sports (Scuba, Snorkelling, Surfing, and more) and paragliding and surfing and whatnot. No, I am not the right person to talk about these as I stay away from them as much as I can.
⏩ As I end this part, here’s a thing that I love about Goa. People. They are the friendliest that I have ever seen anywhere in the world. If you stay for a while, you can make friends with local establishments and claim a few spots that comfort you enough that you start calling them home. I found mine at NickyM’s and they make the best burgers ever. Do try them out.
Wow! That’s a lot of good! The point remains, Goa is amazing if you want to work from here.
3B. What makes working out of Goa a terrible idea?
While most of what you experience here will keep you hooked, a few things might become an issue…
⏩ To begin with, something as basic as uninterrupted electricity is a challenge here. Power cuts are quite commonplace in and around Goa. While for the most parts (at least in the Northern, touristy parts of Goa), they last a mere few minutes, power cuts could take up hours to recover. I am told the situation goes grimmer during the monsoons. As if irony gods were listening to me, while writing this, the power went and came back a few times.
? Hat-tip – Wherever you decide to live, do ensure that they have a power generator or an inverter for backup.
⏩ Internet is a pain in the ass. Mobile Internet is a bigger pain. I have a Vodafone and a Jio connection and yet I couldn’t get see that magical word that starts with 4[1]4G for the uninitiated. It goes down the drain when on the weekends when tourists throng into Goa. Even the broadband at various co-working places tends to be tardy. More on co-working places in Goa in a bit.
I am told that you need to have two connections if your work requires heavy use of the Internet. If your stay has a Wi-Fi router, run some speed tests to ensure that you have an adequate bandwidth for your work. In the event that you experience slow internet speeds, you can ask your hotel management about it or use a few effective tricks to resolve the issue on your own. If the issue is caused by the router itself, you can try resetting it or changing the channel that it is broadcasting on. Additionally, you can use a Wi-Fi extender or booster to extend the range of your router and improve its performance. In this regard, blogs titled “Common Materials that Block WiFi Signals“, “How to increase your internet speed” and “5 ways to boost Wifi signal” may also prove helpful. Taking these measures may provide you with a better connection, allowing you to be more productive and stay connected.
Since I published this, a few people have reached out to me with their experiences. Here are some…
From a reader on Facebook…
asdad Ok..so i am a software engineer and need fast internet 24×7. So, i selected panjim. Internet speed is 250mbps, which is more than what i used to get in bangalore. Also, panjim have miramar beach and dona paula. You are not away from beach. You should add this point…if internet is must, then panjim n dona paula are safest option.
Even bsnl broadband is very reliable here
Via a comment on Facebook.
From another reader on Facebook…
you wrote that the internet is not reliable for video calls. i’ve been on different forums on reddit, facebook where some people say they get good internet and do webinars, and others say it is very unreliable, as you said. for example, an acquaintance living in socorro said he does webinars and has no problem. he has an ethernet express connection. some people on the reddit group for goa have good experience with G Wave in south goa. so going by all these reports, my impression was that internet should be ok, particularly with ethernet express in north goa, hinterland villages like socorro or aldona or such places, which is where i thought i will shift to. do you think one should count your experience as one among the others, or is what you write based on a wider survey of different connections and different people’s experiences, etcetera?
Via a comment on Facebook.
Lemme respond to this one.
For this piece, I spoke to more than 20 people before writing this. I have got mixed feedback on the Internet. While it may work once you get it installed at your place (I would still not count on it), but when you are out on the road it will be a problem for sure! So that.
Update. 20 April 2021. I am told by people that have moved to Goa in recent times that the Internet troubles for them seem to be waning off. Higher demand from about 50-thousand odd “migrants” has made the Internet companies up their game. Phone connectivity remains a challenge though.
I haven’t been able to talk to any of those film companies that are in Goa to understand how they operate. Once I do, will update. Also, this sounds like such a simple problem to solve, and yet no one’s been able to figure this out!
One time I had to send an email and despite all my efforts, I could not find the Internet. Had to fire up a scooty and park on the roadside to get it done!
? Hat-tip – Do NOT move to Goa unless you know where you are going to get your internet from.
⏩ Then, commonplace, mundane things such as getting your computer (or even your ceiling) fan fixed are a hassle in Goa. Goa simply does not have enough handymen that do such specialized work. And the ones that are here, you need to court those like you court a romantic partner. No, you can’t bribe them with extra money. Easier is to become a handyman by yourself with such things.
Maybe a business opportunity? And lemme give you an example. I had to get a new charger for my laptop (a MacBook Air) and I just couldn’t find a shop around me that would have one. I had to order it on Amazon and wait for like 5 days before it came in.
⏩ I am told monsoons are bad for people who are not from here. The sea goes berserk, almost all the shacks (and restaurants) close down till around the end-August, the rains do not stop for days and wild-life (insects, bugs, frogs, crickets, enthu tourists et al) becomes a regular fixture. Most things that keep you engaged after work tend to shut down and the place leaves you with very little to do. No, I have NOT experienced these first hand – I have only come to Goa as a tourist during monsoons and have not lived here.
Oh, power becomes even more erratic. Plus, apparently, there’s a big snake menace in Goa in the monsoons.
? Hat-tip – If you plan to be here around monsoons, get a raincoat. And a snake stick. Please.
⏩ I must mention that Goa has a big mosquito menace and stray dog problem. There are way too many of these all across the state. The strays are not neutered and thus the population. I hate this the most about living in Goa. Of course, most people like to pet dogs and feed them and take care of them and all that. But not my scene. It sucks.
Here’s a “collection” of dogs in Goa.
I should do a thread on dogs of Goa staring at me randomly!
? Hat-tip – Invest in mosquito repellant sprays, incense sticks. And if not that, get ready to burn coconut shells or lemongrass sticks. And please carry a stick or something to shoo the stray dogs away.
⏩ As I end this, I have to say that unless you are a regular in the party circuit or you enjoy loud, upbeat music at all times, Goa might come off as intrusive after a while. Especially if you are in North Goa – it’s perpetually teeming with high-spirited tourists and party-goers at all hours. You’d find it hard to find a spot that you can take some quiet time off at. Even without the tourist season, every café and beach shack blare loud music tirelessly on their speakers all the time. At 7 AM, at the afternoon when the sun makes it unbearable to be in Goa, at 9 PM and even at 2 AM as the last of the tourists stumble back to their homes.
Ok that was a long list. Phew!
4. What all do you need to think about before you move here?
I call this The Move To Goa Decision Matrix. Lol!
There are quite a few important decisions you have to make if you are planning to work out of Goa for the long term. Here are some questions that you need to find answers to…
4A. North Goa v/s South Goa
I touched upon this briefly in the introduction but one of the first things to decide is the part of Goa you want to live and work from. North. South. North East. Panjim. To be honest, the choice is yours and a lot of it depends on the kind of person you are.
If you are into a high-spirited life and you like other people around you, you ought to be in North Goa. I recommend North Goa. Really.
Within the North, you need to decide if you want to be around the water or away from it. Plus you would need to identify the part within North that has other people of your ilk. It is imperative. So much so that I will say it again. And make this bold.
In the South, while the beaches are nice and clean and secluded and all that, for someone that wants to work and chill after work, south is NOT the place. I know I will get hate emails on this.
Panjim is a lot cause. It’s a city. Rather live in Bangalore. Mumbai. Why would anyone live in Panjim? Really?
4B. Work from Home or Co-working Spaces?
I am the kinds that needs to step out of the house to work. Even when I am in Mumbai, I need to go to a Starbucks to work, if not a co-working space.
So in Goa, even though I have access to a fairly comfortable house (thanks to Rajesh Sir), I had to have a co-working space to work out of in Goa. And that’s the first thing I did once I moved here.
Similarly, you need to ask yourself if you are the kind to get work done from home. Or you need the ambiance and vibrance of a public place like a co-working space. Or even a cafe for that matter.
In fact, the cafe guys in Goa, in general, are very very kind and nice. They don’t bother you much, but the chairs are not comfortable. My back’s already arched like a bow!
More on co-working later in the piece.
4C. Does your work require video calls?
If your work requires a lot of video calls, PLEASE do know that the Internet is NOT reliable here. You WILL find yourself in a precarious position quite often. It gets embarrassing after a while. My team now knows that if they have planned for a video call, in all probability, I would be behind a grainy connection.
No, not even the co-working spaces I’ve been to offer a reliable connection (except the Design Centre at Porvorim and Clay on most days). Plus, at the co-working spaces, there are hardly any “telephone booths” where I could lock myself in a quiet chamber to take these video calls. I found the Delhi / Mumbai co-working etiquette missing here in Goa.
Update. 20 April 2021. Repeat. Internet seems to be getting better.
4D. What kind of work do you do?
I am a freelance writer (and editor), a marketing consultant, a podcast producer (and host), and an events producer. Most of my work is management, coordination, and working in isolation. Most of my data is on the cloud (and data gets synced when I get internet).
So, if you are like me, you’d probably get by. So, if you are a coder, designer, writer, photographer, etc. you would largely be ok. However, if you need constant, uninterrupted connection, you will be stuck. So if you are in support, extensive team management, or more, you’d find it tough.
So yes, in one line, remote work is possible in Goa but only for a select set of professions. I mean if Lucky Ali can live in Goa and release a damn new video on the Internet, who else would face the challenge?
Oh, and if you need gyaan on getting things done, Notes For Growth may be your answer.
4E. Some approximate numbers about expenses in Goa (aka Money)
In my limited experience, living in Goa is cheaper compared to living in Mumbai and Delhi. From what I know of friends and their expenses in Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune, Goa is comparable. I don’t know about Kolkatta and other metros.
In Goa, the best part is that you could be price or a pauper, you can find something that would suit your budget. You can get accommodation at Rs. 400 per night (at hostels) to Rs. 4 lakhs per night (at presidential suites) and everything in between. Of course, these two numbers don’t add any value.
So for comparison and context, you can rent a “good” 2 BHK house in Goa for about 20K a month in most of the areas where you’d want to live. I know people that pay 30K for a villa with a yard and three floors. And I know someone that pays 18K for a villa bang in the middle of the forest. And someone that pays 21K for a fully-furnished swanky 1BHK. And someone that pays 1.5 lakhs a month for a 3-bedroom. So that.
In terms of food, you can eat well for about 80 bucks per meal (at those Udipi joints), and then if you want to pay more, you are free to go to those fancy places, that are aplenty in Goa. My meals are at NickyM‘s and each meal is about 200. In case you go there, say that you are Saurabh’s friend and they would extend a 10% discount. Promise.
I did not pay an electricity bill. But I am told it’s about 500 bucks. I did not have an internet line at home but if you were to get it installed, you’d pay a one-time installation fee (most times this can be waived if you are taking a long-term connection) and your monthly bill would be in the 1500 ballpark. This would be enough to do video calls and stream Netflix. But reliability would remain a question.
Here’s a quick table.
Goa
Mumbai
Delhi
Rent for a “decent” 2BHK House
Rs. 25000*
Rs. 55000
Rs. 35000
Internet
Rs. 1500
Rs. 1200
Rs. 1000
A “regular” meal
Rs. 80
Rs. 100
Rs. 80
Petrol per liter (as on 5 Feb 2021)
Rs. 83.4
Rs. 93.49
Rs. 86.95
Utilities (electricity, help, water etc)
Rs. 4000
Rs. 6000
Rs. 3000
A quick comparison on cost of living
*Update. 20 April 2021. This seems to have jumped all the way to 50K in the recent months even though we are staring at the fag-end of the “season”
So that.
If I’ve missed something, do ask me your questions and I’d try to respond to the best of my knowledge.
5. A guide to ‘living in Goa’ as you work from here
So in case you do decide to work from here, you need to start thinking about living here. And life here is kind of different from any other place I have lived at (Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai). Here are some thoughts. Divided into sections.
5A. Accommodation
You have tons of options. So many that it’s impossible to capture those all. Here’s my attempt.
Hostels. Goa is probably the place in India that started the hostel experience revolution. From dorms to private rooms to entire apartments to gigantic villas to even forts. You can have your pick.
BnB. There are tons of people that have spare bedrooms and they let these out for long-term (and short-term) rentals. I am planning to do this myself! You can get to live with some interesting people here. How to find them? Well that’s a question even I don’t have an answer to. May be create a matchmaking service for people like that?
Co-Living. A better hostel, a lesser hotel. A communal living experience. You know, how you have in hostels in colleges? That. You create a community of doers and tinkerers and all that. Entry is via some gatekeeper (CAT score!) and each person has to behave and each person is responsible. I am thinking about this. Like a residency for creative people. Admission via gatekeeping. For people who are serious and not just flirting with the idea of moving to Goa. That. Let’s see.
PS: I am told Nomad Gao (not a typo) is a good option for people that like co-living. Though I haven’t been there.
Rental Houses. Simple. You know, like you’d rent out at other cities in India.
5B. Getting Around
No. You do NOT want to get a car here. You need a two-wheeler. A scooty. You can rent for a month-long lease at 4K kinds (negotiate hard). I pay 6K a month because I got it at a time when there were a lot of tourists.
? Hat-tip – PLEASE keep a litre of petrol in the boot of your scooty. Petrol Pumps are kinda sparse. And no, don’t buy from those road-side kiosks that sell petrol in upcycled bottles. They sell a mix of piss and water and turpentine oil that couldn’t keep a fire going for its life.
Some people prefer small cars (Tata Nano or Maruti Alto) but I still recommend a Scooty.
There are bike taxis (called pilots) that you can use. You can identify these with their yellow mudguards. But they have designated spots as pitstops and you can only hail them from there. Unless you are lucky and you can flag someone. Plus there is no rate card per se. so, it comes down to what you can negotiate with them.
If you do need a car, you can rent via GoaMiles (though local taxi operators hate this. They say it dents their earning. I say it makes them more accountable. One of those never easy to settle debates).
Or you could use local taxi guys. They are all over the place. Especially around popular tourist areas, famous restaurants, and other hotspots. You would spend a little more but you would be far more peaceful.
5C. Spending money
You need to use GPay a lot. Even though you may try to explain that Paytm, BHIM, and other apps also use UPI, people will insist on GPay. To a point that they would tether you to their wi-fi networks.
No, the credit cards don’t work. The ones that accept will do so reluctantly. And will charge you a 2% markup. Unless you are at a 5-star (in that case, you don’t need to read this guide!) or an establishment ran by someone who thinks longer than making money from tourists in just one season.
5D. After Work
After you are done with work, you have like a million things to do here. You can explore the wilderness, meet other creative kinds, other folks that are trying to find themselves hers. You can connect and network with the ones from your ilk. There are classes on everything from scuba to yoga to dance to cooking to marital arts to even brewing wine!
My favorite thing to do is go stare at the sea. Like this one.
? The best thing you can do? Find a co-living, co-working commune. I really want to create one. Does anyone want to partner up?
6. The ultimate comparison and guide of co-working spaces in Goa
This is something that most people seem to ask for. Lemme make a list of a few places and how I look at those. Some disclaimers…
This will only include the places that I have personally been to.
There are a few that I have heard a lot about but I haven’t been to. I have included them but have refrained from giving a comment.
Plus there are some places that are not really co-working spaces but offer what you need for work. Including those here as well.
Before I dig in, the good part of almost all co-working spaces here is that there is good power backup. The bad part is that the Internet is not the best. Even with their leased lines. Oh, most of these offer a great vibe, have a brilliant community, and create so many opportunities to meet new people! So, when I look at a place to work from, I look at the following…
Facilities
Ambience (Have they put any love into putting the co-working space together?)
Internet (How fast, reliable is the internet connection?)
AC (I need AC if I have to even breathe. Even if I were in Antarctica, I’d ask for one!)
Seating (I need a comfortable chair and a table at the right height).
Community
What kind of people does the place attract? Hippies? Creative kinds? People whiling time and merely wanting to hang out? Etc.
Price
Money is money.
Services
FnB (Can I order food? Coffee? How good it?)
Restrooms (Clean?)
Misc
Access and accessibility (How far are they from civilization?)
So, here is a list of the pros and cons of various coworking spaces in Goa. I tried to embed the table here but I could not. 🙁
But if you are lazy, easy reference is…
Design Centre (Porvorim – map) for undoubtedly the Best Internet in Goa. They charge 400 bucks for a day pass and 6000 for a month-long plan.
Clay (Anjuna – maps) for the best community and vibe. They charge 500 bucks for a day pass and 10000 for a month-long plan.
NickyM’s (Baga-Calangute – maps) for the best hospitality. This is more of a cafe. So there’s no commitment per se. But you’d want to keep the tab going. No?
Royal Enfield Garage Cafe (Baga – maps) for the best view. However, this is also more of a cafe than a co-working place.
There are more that I have tried and worked out of. Here’s a long list. I’d leave you with a few shots from Clay (which is gorgeous, if you ask me).
Black Coffee at Clay CoworkThe vibe at Clay CoworkThese are from Clay Coworking at Anjuna. Love their place. Love their coffee. Love their vibe. If only they were within walking distance.
And one from Royal Enfield Garage Cafe.
This is from Royal Enfield Garage Cafe in Baga. One of my favourite places to work from.
Do let me know what coworking you go to. And what you find interesting there. I will add it to the list.
7. Making the move…
So, now you know the goods and the bads of Goa. You know your work can happen from here. You know of the co-working spaces. What next?
Move here!
Let’s say you are ready to make the move. Now, how do you do it?
So, in easy steps…
Come here for a month. To start with. It would help if you have a local contact. I am happy to be the contact, in case.
Carry two different mobile phone connections. It’s a pain to get a Jio mobile phone connection here. The others (Vodafone, Airtel, etc) work when they feel like.
Live at a touristy hot-spot so that everything that you may need is easily available. You may not like it. People may smirk at you. But please do this.
Inform your work colleagues that your access and availability would be limited.
Take a month-long acco (insist that it has a ready Internet connection – it would be tough to get it installed for just a month), preferably close to a co-working space (in case you need better connection, ambience, etc)
Talk to others that do your kind of work (code, films, writing, etc) and identify a location that offers you access to others of your ilk. This will be important to get you to start feeling at home.
Get a house for yourself. Insist on basic furnishing (unless you are rich) and get paperwork FOR sure. You would need it for things like mobile phone connections, Internet, etc.
Get immersed with the locals and natives where you take your house. Even if you are an introvert. This will help you become a local and not just remain a tourist. This is the most common mistake migrants make when they move to Goa. They don’t mingle with the local community. You HAVE to. Especially in Goa.
That’s it I guess.
8. Miscellaneous info about working from Goa
This part has things that I could not fit in other places. While these may be minor, some people may want to know more about them before they make the move to Goa.
8A. Staying fit while in Goa
A lot of people I know are as anal about their health as they are about work or money or other things. In Goa, there are plenty of options for that. From long walks to running on the beach to yoga classes to even fancy gyms (aka fitness studios) to massage parlours to swimming to dance, you have it all here.
The best bet would be walk / jog on the beach. But do keep a stick handy for them strays.
8B. Safety in Goa
Beaches are more or less safe at almost all hours. Actually, Goa in general is safe when it comes to petty crime. I have been routinely leaving my helmet perched on the scooty and it is yet to go missing!
No that does not mean you let your guard down. Just keep your eyes and ears open and you’d be ok.
The cops are friendly, the locals keep to themselves, and the shack owners may want to fleece you with overpriced food but they want the beaches to be safe. They’ve understood that it’s in their long-term interest to offer safety.
Of course, there would be a few unscrupulous elements but that’s everywhere in the world. My rule of thumb is, give respect and you shall get it!
8C. Finding work in Goa
Let’s say you move here. And for some unfortunate reason, you cant continue with your work. What do you do? If you are like me that don’t have any sellable skills (writing, designing, singing, photography-ing, hustling et al), how do you find meaningful work?
Well, they say that Goa is like a village. Everyone knows everything about everyone else. And I have seen that in action! Numerous times. So much so that I am cursing myself for not knowing how to make connections at these villages. I suck at networking 🙁 You will need to find your place in this village to get work!
The best way to get work in Goa is through closed networks.
Some Facebook groups are very active and people from the community share all sorts of opportunities. I recommend Offbeat Goa. Do check it out. I know someone that knows the lady that started it. I have met her just once, that too for like 0.2 seconds and thus I don’t have a personal opinion per se. But If gossip is to be believed, she’s an incredible woman. #note2self: need to make friends with her.
In terms of the kind of businesses, there are film companies (famously, Anand Gandhi’s Memesys Lab), event agencies (C4E Goa :D), design companies, social media agencies, production labels, alco-bev companies, and more. And of course, there are traditional businesses like mining, shipping, trading, etc. And FMCG, auto, finance, etc. Of course restaurants, bars, shacks, etc. So, there are jobs for sure! Quite a few.
But then there are more takers than that. You’d have to work hard to land one. Really.
Plus salaries are a fraction of what you’d expect in places like Mumbai. So that.
Oh, a word of caution. If you have decided to move here for good and you can’t find the kind of work that you really want, please be a tad flexible. I’ve met writers that have become bartenders, guitarists that have become travel bloggers, event managers that are now chefs, and so on and so forth. You get the drift.
PS: I am considering if things don’t work out, I will probably run a cafe here. I hope I get enough to support all the bachchas that I have 🙂
8D. Medical Care
This is something that I found lacking here. Even though Goa has a few medical institutions like GMC and Manipal, I found even the first-aid kinda lagging. But again, luckily I haven’t had the need to go visit a doctor.
But if you have any medical conditions or young children or old parents, I will not recommend the move.
8E. Going back from Goa
In case things don’t work out and you have to move out from Goa, I am sorry that it did not work out. Here’s what you must do. In bullet points…
Take back cheap alcohol. Of course, there is a limit to the number of bottles you can carry back 😀
PLEASE do tell me why you’re going back. It will help me update this page.
So this it is. For the Ultimate Guide to Living in and Remote Working from Goa. Hope this was helpful and told you things that you already did not know.
9. In the end…
Some disclaimers
This comprehensive guide is from my experience of working remotely from Goa for 2 months. I work as a brand planner and marketer and gross generalizations are my bread and butter and I could be biased. So, read with a pinch of salt.
Plus, the way I look at things could be different from the way you look at em. So that!
For context, I am 38 40, M. Single, and no kids. So please be advised.
Credits
I am lucky that I know a few people that know Goa really well. Special mention to Nupura and Rajesh Sir. Both these are super-connectors and have helped me meet more people. These connections helped me get around fast and understand nuances better. Further, Rajesh Sir and VISCOMM allowed me to live at their home while I looked for more permanent accommodation. And Nupura chaperoned me around in the first few days and showed me around the “village”
NickyM‘s for the free Internet and the warmest hospitality I have experienced in all my travels across the world.
Riyanka for helping me with a draft of this one. She is among the best writers I know of. Do reach out to her if you need someone.
And everyone else that made me feel at home in Goa. And everyone that did otherwise.
Oh, if you come to Goa, say hi! If you need something fixed for you while you are here, lemme know. I know someone that probably knows someone 😉
And if this guide helps you make a decision, do let me know. I am very active on Twitter. And do tell me how to make this better!
Over and out.
P.S.: One more thing. Do point out any mistakes – factual or otherwise in the piece so that I can make this better.
Radical idea today. What if I sold a financial stake in my future? To manage my today. Would you buy? Would you “invest”?
0711. Woke up about 3 minutes ago. Eyes can’t even focus as I type this! Was up till 2:30. Had some work and thanks to McD, I had a place to sit and work out of. Of course, there was no Internet but that’s ok. I managed. So when I was coming back from McD (and a subsequent meeting with a friend) at 2 something, I realized I love roads at night. I have said this multiple times in the past but yesterday it was like written on a well-lit hoarding in big bold fonts. Must do something about that! Thing is, when in Mumbai, while I often thought about it, I couldn’t think too much about it. Life was always rushing around me. Or if it wasn’t, I was rushing around. There was no opportunity to take a pause, take a break and soak the scenery in. Here, the entire scenery is a break. And why would it not be? There is hardly any phone connections. Or internet availability ;P No no, digs apart, there is some charm in living in a small city.
Oh, Goa is reporting fantastic weather and thinning crowds. In case you want to make a trip, this is the time.
Moving on. Yesterday was a big day for the world we live in. Jeff Bezos decided to step down from running Amazon on a day to day basis. Wow! End of an era. I can’t wait for people to write (and me to read) as those pieces will start to trickle in. After Steve Jobs, Jeff has been a constant source of content, inspiration, awe, fear, respect, etc. Let’s see what reports come in.
The other big thing that happened yesterday was Rihanna (the American pop-star who I just know for this track with Eminem) spoke about the ongoing Farmer’s protest. It sucks and it’s our collective shame that the world is seeing what has become of India. Hopefully, that’d put some pressure on the government here. Maybe some sense would prevail and actions would be unturned. I hope our Indian “stars” grow some balls as well and do more than just welcoming the next Kapoor on insta.
So, I was to decide by EOD yesterday about where I wanted to live. And no, I haven’t been able to decide. I even ran a blind poll to see what “destiny” told me. Option 1 was Mumbai and 2 was Goa. Lol. The thing is, I’d love to be in Goa long-term but I can’t seem to figure out my work situation. It just sucks that life is dictated by what you’d work on. Whereas it should be the other way around.
I will give myself another day today to figure out things. I know I know, I have been delaying for no reason. But I can’t help it. I just can’t seem to think on this. Do I just toss a coin and figure what destiny has in store for me? Do I continue to drift and let life dictate terms? Arrrghh… such helplessness 🙁
Oh, I do have a radical idea that I have been thinking for a while. And yesterday on one of our calls Akshay pointed out as well. How about I sell shares in myself? You know, I am the “company” that people put money in (like they invest in stocks) and I promise a certain dividend each year (depending on my income of that year) and like other stocks, they can sell these shares.
While this sounds like an interesting idea, I am not sure if it’s workable. There are some inherent issues with this. To start with, this would be a super risky asset class (may be more volatile than BTC) but could also deliver better ROI than anything else. There is a big big risk of investment going to zero (what if I die?). Then there is performance risk (what’s the guarantee that I would make enough to fund all my side projects and yet return this money?). Plus the biggest of them all. If someone gave me a crore today, I wouldn’t know what to do with it! I mean there’s no singular idea that I have that can take all my energy and that allows me to scale things! I know that I’d never run away with anyone’s money. Or trust. I know that I’d be honest. But I don’t know when would I start to give out dividends. So that. I remember, in one of SoG’s I asked my readers if they’d support me by paying just 100 bucks, and not one person (except some comment from JKB) replied. And here I am, hoping to sell shares. Lol. Wishful thinking!
Anyhow, on with the day. I’ve been eating crap last few days. I’d try to gun for a 48-hour fast, starting now. So, the next meal is Friday morning. Let’s see how it goes. Maybe i’ll not eat till the time I know where I want to be. Wait. What about I spend a few days in Mumbai (I need to be there anyway on the 14th to meet Shravan, and on the 16th to attend Rajesh’s wedding) and see if I can create more work opportunities for myself! May be. Let’s see.
Oh, I have to note that I got rejected from a place that I had applied to. Which is ok. Not that I expected to get thru, it was out of my league. Probably need to start documenting all these rejections!
That’ about it I guess. Oh, I have a large project to work on today. I have decided that I need to be out there. I will start putting my face, at least on video (if not on photos). And to help me get going, AA has asked me to make 5 videos of 10 mins each by EoD today. Each video has to be of specific interest to people. So let’s see what I cook up. I will share links, if I get around to do it.
Apart from this have a few other things lined up. One of them is to activate this WA group (broadcast only) where I plan to share tips on better writing. Let’s see how that goes. In case you wish to join it, here.
Guess this is it. Time for #freewriting on #book2.
“We did not have these computers and phones and other fancy devices back then. We had to rely on our instincts. If we had to find information, we had to manipulate a gullible farmer and ask him about the temple. Then we’d stake it out for days. Unlike now, we did not have hotels per se. We had dharamshalas, serais and even them temples themselves. It was very normal to use these temples as resting places while you were on a journey. There was always a roof on your head and there was always food. There’s nothing else a traveler needed. And oh boy, did we use those temples.” Raunak let out a hearty laugh.
Chintan was more than intrigued. He was hooked. He thought he was the storyteller. Here was Raunak, who had better and grander stories than Chintan could ever imagine. He had to get more from him. Maybe Raunak did hold the key to Chintan’s magnum opus. He egged on, “Incredible! For someone like you who doesn’t speak at all, how did you manage all these conversations…”
Raunak broke him mid-sentence and said, “How do you think I am managing mine with you?”
Chintan could only nod and smile at himself. He knew he had found the guru, the moral compass that he was seeking all this while. He knew Raunak was going to be an important character in his story. The story of his life. And the story that he’s been chasing from all the way to Goa from his home in Uttarakhand!
***
That’s about it.
Few words.
But this is all I have time for today. A lot to be done.
Been up for a while. The fuckery of yesterday about the inability to comprehend the Farmer’s Protest is sort of fading. Most sane people I know are asking me to stay away as each side has vested interests and are working on the narratives. But then I am not sure if that’s the right way to go about it. I need to know what’s happening around me, in my country. I may be insignificant but I do have opinions and I like the idea of knowing. Vegetating is not for me.
So, the internet worked well yesterday! For a change. Thank you Design Centre. If you need a great place to work from, do check them out. I think I will go there again. Even though they are at Provorim and it takes some time to reach there but I am ok with it. At least the Internet is reliable and since they don’t have any kitchen, I am away from crap. Oh, that’s what I’ve realized. If I have no options to eat, I tend to stay away.
Goa is now reporting lovely weather. The kinds that I’d love to live in year-round. There’s a nip in the air in the morning. The afternoons are bearable and the evenings get pleasant all over again. I think if someone wants to come to Goa, this is the best time to do so! In fact, I am thinking, I should have come here at this time – all year-end tourists would have been back, all locals would have started to spring out. But then, I am here now. So that’s cool. I am also close to my self-imposed deadline of Jan 31 of making a decision about living in Goa.
I am still on the fence, to be honest. A lot depends on work. A lot depends on money. I think the Internet and mobile connection is a challenge if you want to live in Goa. But if I do decide to live here, I think I can throw money at the problem and solve it. Mobile phones, not so much. But the internet is solvable for sure. It’s only about getting 2-3 connections that are fast enough. Hope something works out that allows me to live from here. Oh, I am in Mumbai for a few days I think in the next week. I have some errands to run. Let’s see.
Oh, I am also gonna pick Shumbur.com back. I haven’t had the time to act on it at all. Among other things, the hunt for a stable internet connection has kept me busy. I don’t know more people but the ones I do, I need to engage with them, get into a conversation with them. Write on those experiences. Showcase them, get feedback and then scale efforts.
So that’s that. I don’t have more things to write in today’s morning pages. Except that I am grateful to be alive, grateful to have access to a roof, grateful to have some people that I can call friends. Damn lucky I am! Talking of luck, the Spotlight is just 2 days away and I am in jitters. I have been to so many other events in the past, have managed, arranged, and produced so many of these smallish events that this should be like the back of my hand. But no, I am in jitters. Guess cos this one is super close to my heart? See this thread.
Lemme tell you a story. Of Serendipity. Of how dots connect.
In a thread ???…
In Nov / Dec 2019 (wow that's long back), @akshaydatt and I decided that we wanted to learn from people that are better than us.
So, I think this is about for the day. I feel as if I should write more. But I dont know what. Guess will pour some thought on #book2. But before that, today’s track is this.
And here’s #freewriting for #book2. Missed it yesterday but I am back.
Rujuta was curious. “ABC, what are those red bottles doing all over your house?”
“Oh those? They are to keep the monkeys away.” ABC sipped onto the coffee that she had just brewed.
“What do you mean?”
“This place has a lot of Monkeys. We are a jungle remember? And it’s their jungle. We are mere visitors”
“Yeah. So?”
“These red bottles keep them away.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. But you start picking these tricks when you start living in the jungles. Not that we’ve left a lot of it. Look at all those towers coming up. I know that people want homes but at what cost? Us humans fuck everything up. But listen. Don’t let my ideas spoil what you are here for. Shumbur.com you said? Tell me more?”
“Well, Shumbur is my attempt to talk to 100 people from Goa and chronicle their journeys, lives, and all that. Plus I needed a new project and this looks and sounds like a good idea.” Rujuta said.
“So who all have you talked to?”
Rujuta couldn’t understand why this was almost the next question that everyone asked them!
“Wait. I am intrigued by these red bottles and monkeys. Do they really work? Tell me what other tricks did you pick up?”
Just then a branch snapped and some leaves rustled in the trees that Rujuta was facing. ABC had her back to those trees and she motioned her head and said, “there they are. Ask them what keeps them away.” She laughed and took a sip onto her coffee.
Rujuta noticed that even though ABC came across as a happy cheerful person, there was a tinge of sadness somewhere. She couldn’t put a finger on it but she knew. Her years and years of experience with seeing people from behind the lens had trained her to spot these patterns. She considered herself a fairly good people-watcher, but not as good as Tarana. And that was ok. Tarana had many more decades over Rujuta!
“And Nah, no more tricks. You just need to get used to the dogs and mosquitos and snakes. Oh, and those insecure vultures and sharks that want to take you for a ride.” The comment from ABC was uncalled for. But Rujuta sniffed an opportunity of a story there. These instincts are what makes a good journalist stand out from a great and she was no doubt among the greatest ones!
She knew she had to get to the bottom of it and fish out a story. If not for Shumbur, then for her curiosity. But she knew she had to be patient. So, she made a mental note of it and continued to smile at ABC.
***
Ok, that’s it. Couldnt find the right words 🙁
Maybe tomorrow I will. Maybe tomorrow is better! Over and out.
