arch

The one in which my mom's health gave us a scare.

The one in which I took pride in mundane house chores.

The one in which I tried to surf and got angry at how huge the IKEA store was.

The one in which I learnt about email security and geared up for travel.

The one in which I did finally get back to work.

The one in which I tried to get back to work but failed miserably.

The one in which I got exhausted sorting through years of documents and ate too many momos to cope with it.

The one in which the house repairs were finally completed and I set up analytics on this website.

I am not a big fan of standup comedy. I often look for something meaningful even in fun stuff and most standup comedy feels like a waste of time (sorry). I watched Tathastu because multiple people, including ones who I consider to be serious people who don't while away their time, rated it highly. They had watched the show in person and said that they were moved to tears by the end (and not because it was so bad).

And they were not wrong. I was told that the Amazon Prime offering was not the full set, but it was still brilliant. It was hilarious but also took the audience through moments of deep sadness and regret. It was at times an emotional roller-coaster, which was perhaps steeper for people like me, who had recently lost someone close to them and could relate to Zakir Khan's relationship with his grandfather. Like many other viewers, I too cried towards the end of the show and walked away with a sense of having witnesses something profound and meaningful.

You can watch the full show on Prime Video (subscription required).

The one in which I took it slow and Chelsea finally won a match.

Really old post by Jason Fried. But as relevant as ever, maybe even more now. People are dropping dead all around us (for a variety of reasons but often heart attacks) and we need to realise that this lifestyle of going crazy because of work is not worth it. Only emergencies should truly be considered urgent. We can ease up on the other stuff slightly.

Translation: A love letter to the day.

This poem by Ravish Kumar reminded me of those rare moments when I realise that life is not a hustle by default and maybe doesn't need to be one at all.

Sometimes when I take a break from constantly scuttling between tasks and look out of the window, I notice that the day is not in a rush like I am. It follows its fixed schedule—starts in the morning and ends at night. Always. And without any care about what I am trying to do. In this moment, I am reminded that this rush to do more quickly and the associated anxiety of upcoming deadlines are all in my head. The day, the world and nature are much bigger forces than me and they seem to be doing just fine at their slower pace. I should be fine too.

One of the insidious things [about entertainment] is that it is so goddamn entertaining.

A clip from a 2003 David Foster Wallace interview in which he talks about the dark side of entertainment and how too much of it is harming society.

Not sure if I'm looking forward to 2023 or not. Can we just rewind to 2013 please?

An aunt who is very close to us visited us recently after more than five years. We visited monuments, theme parks and most importantly, good food places across Delhi.

It's that time of the year again. The AQI in Delhi is above 400 (I'm probably understating) and I keep randomly coughing from time to time. I needed another air purifier for my mom's place and started going through reviews on Amazon and YouTube. I came across TechWiser in that process and their videos genuinely seemed fun on top of meeting the standard expectations of being informative and high-quality. I generally find videos from established names like Geeky Ranjit and Vineet Malhotra to be helpful and trustworthy but TechWiser seems to be doing that and something more—making them entertaining.

PS: Based on my limited research, I've placed an order for the Coway AirMega 150. Let's hope that it turns out to be a good decision 🤞🏽. (I might just have gone with Xiaomi if the offer to buy two units for 14,999 were still going on—slightly unhappy that I missed that).

Yes, I know that this resource has existed for many years now and has become a big part of the current internet culture. But I came across it only relatively recently. Going through it and making the connection with how I see developers share their knowledge these days makes me feel like I missed something, trudging along in isolation. I wish I would have learned this sooner (my standard response to everything related to web design).

But as they say in Hindi, der aaye durust aaye. I've come late to the party but will gradually try to be an active participant in the main event. 🤞🏽

The Arc browser doesn't quite feel right to be my daily driver. But it shines somewhere else—it's brilliant for consuming content.

The match was fantastic not just for entertainment and patriotism. It gave me a few things to ponder on as well.

Finally set up a catch-all email address from my Greythink email. Now, emails sent to random addresses like kuchhbhi [at] greythink [dot] in or ones with some typos would still reach me. Wasn't really a big deal but it's good to have this.

Work begets work begets more work. So stop apologizing for the deliberate act of letting it slide. Embrace it with gusto. Proudly declare that "this just isn't worth dealing with right now". Then resist the temptation to beat yourself up if you were wrong, and something bad does happen. Something bad is bound to happen somewhere regardless of what you do.

It's probably easier for someone successful like him to say it, but I'm happy that someone is saying it.

A long-pending task has been completed and I can't help but feel excited! This is just the first iteration and looks bare-bones, but has a strong foundation underneath it. I have a feeling that this website will usher in a new era of launching more side projects.

I went through Souvik's talk again yesterday when writing the website launch blog post. There is so much that is done well in this talk—it conveys a complex topic quite well, has a good understanding of its audience, uses practical examples, is delivered well and the slides are just amazing. It has become my go-to reference for architecting a new website.

For the first time in my life, some of my closest friends happen to be Bengali. And while it is a pleasure to spend time with them in general, it is extra sweet during Durga Puja. We got invited to a puja with a beautiful pandal in Gurgaon and later went to CR Park to see some of the grandest setups in the city. We ended the well-travelled day with a nice meal at the Laidback Cafe in GK-II (their terrace is very peaceful, btw).

This is an old weeknote by Ankur Sethi but I came across it only recently. I really like how Ankur opens up in his writings—one of the few voices that I've come across on the internet that make you feel okay to be human while also not being extreme in some way. This particular note struck close to home as some of my patterns are similar. Whether in good times or bad, it is always reassuring to see that you're not alone.

I met up with a couple of old friends from the NSIT Quiz Club yesterday. It's funny how you immediately get lost in conversation with close friends from college even if you're meeting (or even talking) after years.

This was my first visit to The Dhan Mill Compund in Chhatarpur and visually, it did not disappoint. Food-wise, though, things were mediocre at best. Both Café Dori and Colocal had amazing ambience but the food, while quite presentable, did not taste great, especially for the price. A good place to perhaps come for a coffee or dessert, but I'm having my main course elsewhere.