- Welcome to the preferred dumping ground for my thoughts.
- I write about books, cinema, life and engineering, whenever I can carve some time off from building One800. Feel free to jump into the recent posts below, or start with some byte sized TILs.
- I post my random, unstructured blurbs on Bluesky (currently invite only, hit me up if you want to get in).
Chup: Breaking the Silence About India's Women by Deepa Narayan
Check it out on Goodreads It’s a uniquely strange experience, when you try to put yourself into others' shoes. It feels fake, dishonest even, to say that you “understand” how the other person must be feeling. Empathy can be a strong force, but it can never be a substitute for the original feeling. A caucasian man can never feel what an African-American man must be living with, day in and day out....
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
If you want to understand how the opioid crisis began, read this. Recommended.
So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport
A series of blog posts that unfortunately became a book. Not recommended.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
A book about time and our relationship with it. Recommended.
After Life (1998) by Hirokazu Kore-eda
An interesting take on life, seen through the lens of afterlife. Highly recommended!
Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl
A gentle introduction to the study of buildings and the way they enable societal interactions.
3 Iron (2004) by Kim Ki-duk
A film where everything is conveyed through glances.
The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer
The ethical dilemma of eating. Highly recommended!
Shame by Salman Rushdie
Check it out on Goodreads Now that I’ve moved away from reading fiction, I find that I face a lot of inertia to pick up something purely for pleasure. Maybe this is a nasty by-product of wanting to be as “productive” as possible. But the more I have drifted away from reading for pleasure, more mechanical the whole process has become for me. Partly to avoid this feeling, and partly because of my shame at seeing my bookshelf filled with dusty unread books, I picked up this one to assuage my feelings of guilt....
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Check it out on Goodreads Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. I have no affinity for running, even for short jogs, and much less for wanting to run long distances. Although this is not because I hate exercises - one of those rare things that I figured out early in life was my desire to remain healthy as long as possible and that of course means I need to keep myself fit - but probably my distaste for running stems from the monotonous nature of the activity....