Tag: Shawshank Redemption

Wk 13-26 – Weekly Note

Notes from the 13th week of 2026.

10:30 AM
Starbucks, Versova

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

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

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

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

Oh, Bob!

Anyhow, from this one, my fav lines are…

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

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

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

Any how.
Let’s go…

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

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

1/ C4E Sunset Club

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

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

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

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

So that.

2/ Self-love 101

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

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

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

So that.

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

3/ Rage-bait

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

On wikipedia, it is defined as…

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

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

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

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

I will tell you what I know for sure…

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

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

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

4/ Poker

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

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

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

Lets see when I get to play next.

5/ sgWasHere.com is live!

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

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

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

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

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

6/ Podcast with SheR

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

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

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

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

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

PPS: Must push more for more podcast conversations.

7/ Money Matters

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

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

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

Any ideas?

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

8/ Young People

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

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

Must find a way to meet more people.

9/ Work

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

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

Let’s see.

10/ Misc Things

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

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

Phew!

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

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

🈺 Trackers…

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

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

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

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

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

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

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

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

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

This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.

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

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

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.

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

🧠 Reminders from last week

This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.

A few things.

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

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

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

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

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Activity.
Not action.
YKIYK.

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

—
Phew!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

Oh, and this too shall pass!

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. Previous editions:

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

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

140121 – Morning Pages

I talk about an important lesson I learnt – the difference between being a blogger and a writer. And the changes I’ll make in how I operate.

7 AM

Morning!

So, Rajesh Sir’s house is bang on Baga beach. And that’s a good great thing. And a bad. And that means that there is more hustle-bustle here than what an average road in Goa has. This means that I am not bored and there’s something to look at all the time.

And this also means that there are people at all times in all states of mind – sober, inebriated, happy-high, free, and so on and so forth. And that doesn’t auger well for someone that seeks peace of mind. No, I don’t. But others may. No, I am not complaining at all. Merely stating a truth. The fact that I can live here without worrying about basics is a blessing in itself!

So, yesterday was a mixed bag. Got some work done, got some mind-fuckery happening (even in Goa), spoke to some friends, met new people, passed on an opportunity to meet more people. But I think I am getting to understand how to go about it if I want to be known in multiple circles. A large part of it involves putting yourself out there and pimping yourself subtly. Truth be told, I don’t understand either – pimping self or subtlety. My life has been about muted peacocking. Lol, muted and peacocking in one sentence 😀 Lemme explain.

Muted. I don’t like the limelight. I don’t want to be seen. I don’t want to be known by the aam aadmi per se.

Peacocking. Without trying to be a PUA, the kind of clothes I wear and the way I talk and the way I behave, and the energy I have, all these make me stand out. Often as a misfit. Often as someone that people balk at. You don’t want to talk to someone that doesn’t care about how he looks. Someone that you don’t think of much of when you first lay your eyes on them.

That. Needs to change.

Talking of change there’s another thing I need to change in my personality.

This is something I intuitively knew and got reinforced in Goa. It is…

People want tangible things. Finished things. Finite things. They don’t respect a WIP.

For example, if you say you are a blogger, you get respect at, say, 6 on 10. On the other hand, if you say you are a writer and working on a book, the respect goes up to 9. Both are essentially the same but the subtle difference is in being a blogger and a writer. Just that the Blogger is a WIP. Ongoing. A writer is finite. Something that has been shipped.

People respect finished ones more than they respect WIP. We want to see output more than we want a process. The journey may be the reward for a few but most want a destination. The best part? They don’t care about the quality of what you’ve shipped. They just want to flip the pages of the book, see the URL of the film that is on Hotstar (not Youtube – youtube is WIP, an OTT platform is a finite destination). They don’t want to even do the work required to read or see. Just the signal that it’s out there is enough!

I have seen this in action in Goa like no other place. Probably because there are far less ‘finite’ ones than the ones that are ‘WIP’? In fact, this tweet that Krishna shared made this point beautifully well. And gives me further reinforcement.

I think that’s about it.

The lesson for the day is that being a finite is large in itself and will require me to make substantial changes in how I think and operate.

Here are two that I am making immediately.

A, rather than using all those adjectives that I think do an honest job of describing me (Jack of all trades, curious, marketer, podcaster, etc), I will introduce myself as a writer / storyteller. To hell with what people think about this. I am a writer first and then everything else. And that’s that. This is a sg5stars thing for sure.

Since this is new to me and not really my core personality, it will take time to implement. Do course-correct me if you see me doing otherwise.

B, the SoG series I’ve been writing for a few months? I will restart it at some point in time but I will also release the same as an e-book. And I have already initiated work on that. In case you want a copy, drop your email address on this form.

So that.

I also caught up with friends from the Long-Form-Writing Fans (LFW) Group. With the sketchy internet and a million mosquitos trying to sweep me away, the call was short and there was hardly any rasa but it was phenomenal to speak with them after this long. All of us shared our writing goals, issues that we’re facing (with writing and otherwise) and even spoke about our goals for this year. I wish we could meet more often. I wish we had more things to talk about. I think apart from Prak this set of people is going to be super-helpful as I go about book2.

Oh, I also met someone really interesting after ages on Lunchclub. Not to say other people that I meet are not worthy of a mention. This person was all of 27 and had so much clarity about life that I am left in awe. Apart from Shikha, I don’t think I’ve met someone with so much clarity ever. So that.

I think this is about for the day. The morning pages are now like a public journal but that’s ok. I think I like the idea of writing something to start the day. After all, remember what I said? I am a writer 🙂

Oh, here’s the #freewriting piece for #book2 for today. A writer has to write. Right?

Here we go…

Fire is probably the most misunderstood among all the things that nature made for us. Most people revere it. They don’t revere it really, they are merely scared of it. It is impossible to stop, is all-engulfing and all-consuming. It’s hungry. And it does not relent. The older Paul once told Mrs. Gomes that each fire is as distinct as people are. Each fire has a character. Each fire has a voice. The fires speak. Fire growls. And whispers. Fire can creep up on you silently. And fire can leap on you when you’re least expecting it. Like a person, a fire has its own life. From a spark to a tinder to a flare to a blaze to an inferno and to the biggest of them all, Sun. Sun is probably the only share that the fire takes that we truly respect.

Ok, that’s about it. Love this short para that I’ve written. Among the best, I’ve ever written. Don’t want to spoil it by adding more 😀 What do you think?