Tag: Jagjit Singh

160321 – Morning Pages

Quick update on the COVID scare, chasing rockstars across the world, inability to stay hungry for 48 hours. And more.

7:00. Hello hello. Morning!

So I got the COVID-19 scare yesterday.

Someone I met on Wednesday of last week got COVID. And I was in a closed room with him for about an hour. And then I sat in that room and ate. And that meant I am at high risk. Since then I’ve met quite a few people (and I have been to various Starbucks outlets). If I had to trace all the people I met and all the places I was to, the list would run into miles!

As I was making that list, thankfully I was told that they traced their source of infection and it’s from someone they met after they met me. So I am more or less safe. Phew!

Even though I don’t have any symptoms, I am more or less safe. I would still get myself tested to be sure. I owe it to all those people that I met that I am not a carrier and if I am, I need to alert those people.

Also, apart from this gentleman, there are few more people that I know that are really close that have been infected. So, the pandemic is clearly not over. Those numbers of some 1500-2000 daily cases don’t paint the real extent of the pandemic. And since everyone is almost out and about and is being careless about things, I am imposing some news rules on myself. Here they are.

  • 1/ Avoid closed, confined spaces for a few days. Goodbye, Starbucks :(.
  • 2/ Never take off the mask even if it’s a meeting that requires me to show my face.
  • 3/ Get a lot more particular about using a sanitizer.
  • 4/ Start working on my immunity (you know, Vitamin C, workout, etc). Lol. Workout.

I am also closeting myself at home for the next 2-3 days, just to be sure. That means, my productivity would take a hit. And that means I need to thank the decision to buy a writing table all those years ago (I think I bought my table in 2014 or something when I lived with Satya at Nahar). Back then I was clearly the guy who liked the idea of buying things. I don’t know when I became that pseudo-minimalist that did not want anything in the house and is ok with just a mattress plonked onto the floor and call it home.

Also, I have realized that the kind of life I live, I meet so many people all the time. If I were to ever get it, I would be at very very high risk. You know, super-spreader.

Anyhow. Moving on.

Here’s the track of the day…

Jagjit Singh was a magician!

While listening to Jagjit Singh today, I realized something. I want to be a part of the crew for a rockstar (or a religious leader, a musician, a speaker, or someone that people across the world are willing to pay money for) that travels the world. I mean, do a search on Youtube for ‘Jagjit Singh in Concert’ and you’d see that he’s been to EACH corner of the world with his crew. If you see some of the videos, you’d spot similar faces as backing musicians. I am sure even the crew would be more or less same. What if I am part of such a crew? I could actually be traveling the world and will get to entertain people and make money and all that. Everything I want in life will happen!

I remember when I did events, we used a talent management agency and people from that agency would travel along with the artists. While they added almost zero value, they did get to travel. I need to figure if I could become someone like that. #note2self.

But wait.

I don’t want a new career option per se. I need to get some sort of a war chest. Right now the coffers are empty. This is one of those rare times when I want to say no and want to be ok with where I am. Rather than chasing the rockstars, I will merely figure what I can augment that allows me to travel and meet more people with what I am doing. Let’s see. Another #note2self.

In other news, I had decided yesterday that I’d try to fast for 48 hours. I was ok till about 8 PM (about 20 hours) but then thanks to all the thoughts in my head about the COVID thingy, I got stressed enough to order food on a whim. And I ate. And then I ate some chips. And then I ate another full meal. And I ate a dessert. In all, I would’ve had some 2000 calories. Grrr. There is no way am getting fit. Any of you has any ideas?

Coming to streaks…

  • Morning Pages – 94
  • #aPicADay – 75 (at least)
  • 10K steps a day – 0 (couldn’t manage 10K)
  • OMAD – 1 (ate between the window of 8 and 10 PM)
  • #noCoffee – 6
  • #noCoke – 6
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • #book2 – 0

And with that, it’s a warp for the morning pages. Time to get some work done. From home where I live. Damn!

PS: I must talk about home. And how where I live is not really home. Let’s see when I get to it.

090321 – Morning Pages

Yet another update on how I spent yesterday. No large revelations, discourses etc. Read if you want to.

08:19. Starbucks, Borivali. Here to meet a friend / mentee / client / supplier and everything else rolled into one.

So, while I wait for the meeting to start at 1:15 PM (yeah yeah, I tend to travel at ungodly hours to save time and money and park myself at Starbucks), here’s the morning pages. Have a few things to talk about but time is also of essence. So let’s see how it goes.

Actually lemme make a list.

  1. Return to a plain old pen and paper notepad
  2. Fitness – OMAD – check; 10K Steps – check!
  3. Misc rants

3/ Lemme go in the reverse order and start with misc rants.

Here’s one on Women’s Day.
So, just after a day, the world seems to be over the tokenism around women’s day. A million companies released a billion videos around that when on every other day they dont seem to care about what’s happening around them. It’s plain sad. Plus, as a marketer, while I try to push the envelope, there’s a limit to what I can move the needle on. The cynic in me just dies. I mean there’s a limit to tokenism and I dont know what to do about it 🙁

While people like me may scorn on it, I think it is needed. The ones like you and me that have access to the Internet are still ok when it comes to treating women but the ones that are not here, I cant imagine the horrors that must be inflicted on women. These initiatives, if communicated strongly about, tend to work. Look at Swachh Bharat. We are far far cleaner, at least the trains and stations that I have been to lately (Dadar, Thivim) have been super super clean. Thats another matter altogether that right outside the station, there’s filth all around. The point is, tokenism is helpful. Especially if it comes from right places. And the right noise is made.

Another rant on Goa
I miss Goa. The simple life where you have no pressure to do anything, where people want to take it east, where things move at their own pace. Sigh.

Clubhouse Session
On insistence of Daksh, I was a panelist at a CH session yesterday. It was fun to be honest to hear people speak. While it may not sustain but it was interesting for sure. It’s exactly like the early days of twitter where interesting people would talk random things and connect with each other.

I think I will get more active on it with time. Instead of listening to music, I will play it as background noise and see what I pick. Plus since Clubhouse happened, I am consuming less and less of podcasts. So that!

Track of the day?
This is not a rant per se but I did not know where else to include this.

So, the track is Jagjit Singh’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. To be honest, this is not just the track for the day but also the theme for my life. I have a million things that I want to do in life and there’s no way I can find time, energy, resources to do all of those. I know I will die a deeply unhappy man. I just hope that by the time it’s my time to die, people find a solution to morality. Amen.

Here’s the track…

2/ Fitness. Lol!

So, yesterday I decided that I would try and do OMAD. Ladies and gents, I am happy to report that I managed it. I ate at 1:30 PM and then at 2:30 PM and then nothing else. And no, I did not have any coffee. Or cola. Or anything that may have carbs. I did consume a lot of soda though.

I also walked 10K+ steps.

I think the trick is simple. Slot all non-important / non-urgent calls post 9 and then walk around as you take those calls. Simple. You no longer have to take out time to walk. I did that yesterday. I will probably try it again today.

Let’s see how it goes.

The thing is, when all goes well, I am more or less able to manage things when things go well. But when shit starts to hit the roof, I am unable to cope up. I have realised that I need to have access to finer things to even breathe in peace. Like they said, nawabon wale shauk!

1/ Return to a notepad

Yesterday, after I don’t know how many months, I went back to a physical notepad and a pencil. And I have to say it was liberating! I did not really get a lot done but I definitely felt lot more in control of my tasks and life. Today on, I am moving back to it. I dont care if I look like a stupid fuck with a notepad and a pencil in my hand as I move around.

I like the idea of capturing thoughts and ideas as they come in. I like to refer back to those. I know I am not good at remembering things. Whatever capability I had to remember things, I have killed that faculty by relying more and more on notes. Plus when I was actively reading about notes and productivity (and when I launched notesForGrowth.com), I think I was doing very well in terms of managing all the projects and things.

I need to get back to it.

So that.

***

Guess this is about it. Had a busy day yesterday with I dont know how many calls. And I am staring at a busy day today as well. With multiple calls and meetings. As long as things are moving, I am ok 🙂

Time to get on with the day and get some work done.

Till tomorrow, over and out.

220221 – Morning Pages

Nothing special to report today either. I am just glad that I am able to keep the streak of these morning pages going.

7:25. My writing table.

I just woke up. I slept very fitfully. Like most days.

The house remains a mess. I am even washing my clothes. Sigh. Of course, I am ok doing my own work but the only reason I don’t want to do it cos I feel it’s a waste of time. This is probably why people have washing machines and all that. Right now, I don’t even have the patience or the mindspace or the time to get someone else to help me! I think I have bit into more than I can chew. I mean I did not agree to this much work when I picked these projects. But theek hai. I need it.

So, I spent some 18 hours at a local Starbucks and I would have spent some 5000 bucks there. Thousand. Not Hundred. Yeah, I am like that. Pennywise and pound- foolish. I need to make clear that I don’t spend money on Coffee. I pay a per-day fee to sit at a comfortable, air-conditioned, well-lit, fast Internet connection. I consider Starbucks as my office / work expense. I had so much coffee yesterday (I can count 5 Grande Americanos that I had yesterday. And 2 of these were double shots) that I am surprised that I even got sleep. Oh, I slept ok. Fitfully but ok. I mean that’s how I get most of my sleep. Coffee or no coffee.

The other thing is that it’s now certified that I can NOT work from home. Yesterday, I came back home for a bit because I wanted a change in scenery. But as soon as I reached here, I jumped on the bed and slept. Sigh. I am jealous of people that can stay indoors. Of course, there are talks of imposing a lockdown all over again in Mumbai and if that happens, I would be devastated. I can NOT survive indoors.

Oh, I have to talk about how Starbucks sparked another serendipitous incident. I was hanging out there and I spotted this person that gave me the first-ever opportunity as a TV writer. No, it did not reach anywhere. The show never saw the light of the day. This was some 5-6 years ago. #tnks had just come out. I used to live at Nahar. I think I got connected to him via someone on Twitter (I will dig it out). It’s amazing things that can happen when you live at hubs. Yeah yeah, I am merely trying to find things that rationalize my thinking. You know, we are pattern-seeking and pattern-matching, rationalizing (and not rational) creatures! #note2self

While editing this piece, I realized that I missed the highlight of yesterday. I was seeing something on Youtube when I stumbled on this video where Vikramaditya Motwane and the team talk about how they made this track for Lootera. I don’t know what state of mind I was in, but I saw Vikram Sir and the team talk about it and I cried. Like an actual tear came outta my eyes. I even wrote an email to him. I hope he sees it!

The medium of films is so so powerful that I am surprised I am doing nothing about it. And I am spending wasting my time making PowerPoint presentations in exchange for peanuts. See this tweet…

I know I know. I don’t have the talent to make films. I know I don’t have the money to say no to PowerPoint. But there has to a way out na? Guess that’s why creative people in the old times had patrons that allowed them to chase their dreams. Come on, universe! Do something!

So what else?

I guess nothing.

Days are moving so so fast that it’s not funny. Each morning seems to blend into the evening and then night and then back to the grind. This busy-ness is great but I need to find a way out so that I can do bigger, larger, grander things.

Sigh.

That’s about it for the day. Have quite a things to work on. No, nothing on #book2. :((