Closed for winter…
“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a content creator” — Punit Pania.
This post is about you and our trip together. To all my 94 followers on this platform and a few beloved lurkers that I think about equally, thank you for reading, proofreading, critiquing, disagreeing and encouraging me to write here. It has been a rewarding journey.
Creating, for me, is a compulsion, an obsession, even. It is not a matter of choice. I do it for myself and of course, having a loyal audience such as yourself makes the ride even more fun!
While there are many things I had in mind to talk to you about, I have spent time on 50 weekends treating myself to this hobby. Trust me, the list of unfinished stories is long, here is a glimpse-
And the list of things written in my head but never inked is also significant.
Maybe I shall train an AI and have my alter-ego write these for me someday. Maybe I shall make that one of my next projects, maybe I shall record the ones I already wrote in audio format, but the pandemic-induced demand for long-form content has been replaced by the desire to scroll and swipe ephemeral content. Covid may have a bad time to be an atheist but it was certainly a good one to bloom as a writer.
Maybe it was the algorithm but for the nerds who care about numbers and see that as the only way to validate another being’s existence, my first post, on this platform is where I peaked. Much like life, it was all downhill from there. A wise cousin whom we saw in “What makes an artist?” encouraged me to “Make art for art’s sake.” and those words have stuck. The preference will always be quality over quantity. The ride is meant to be fun, not crowded.
We pondered over some other deep philosophical questions with “Where is home at?”, “How to turn a ceiling fan into a helicopter?” , “How do great products fail at tech hype cycles?”. We met Uber drivers, neighbours and magicians during our adventures.
In a mere speck in time, we debated on the shortcomings of our ape-brain, gamifying the brain upgrades, mind castles and storms, shape of the universe, yog, RUPA banyan, chai and moksha. On romance with electronics, love, hate and lust, Chinese blind dates and my many wives.
Things got sharp, things got dark, and things got nostalgic and poetic. We moved to new countries, got kicked out some. We traveled with friends, met Mr. Buffett, and his mentor, who authored the Intelligent Investor. There were other book summaries that gave us a glimpse of Darwin on investing and a few tips to measure innovation, from the author of how will you measure life.
As you stood by me through my rants, it was the pomegranate-guava juice that was talking or we were on a pursuit to be color (race) blind or I complained about anti-vaxers or of the time I was eating as a student.
As I took you through my love for math, statistics, longevity, philosophy and reading. As I lectured you on personal security and privacy. You, dear reader, accepted me threw my growth, quirks, rants, and typos.
Thank you! This is my 50th post. Probably my last one on this platform. But I will leave these posts on here to come back and smirk at my younger self when I am done feeling embarrassed of my past version. Don’t shy away from doing the same. As for my current version embarrassing my future self, you can find more about that over a call, text, Signal an email, on threads (for short-form written work), YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Substack, or the gram, in that order.
Stay classy! Stay eccentric! Stay raw! Stay young! Onwards! ;)
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