Thoughts

It's funny how clarity comes when you least expect it. Today, while waiting for Chole Bhature and sitting in silence for 60 minutes, I realized something important: holidays aren't meant for staying home and getting lost in YouTube rabbit holes. They're meant for reflection, growth, and yes, eating good food. But more than that, they're opportunities to think deeply about how we work and live. The Shallow Trap Cal Newport said something that's been living rent-free in my head: "Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work." Read that again.  Permanently. We're creatures of habit. The more we bounce between notifications, meetings, and shallow tasks, the more we lose our ability to think deeply. It's not just a temporary state; it becomes who we are. Once you get trapped in frenetic shallowness, climbing back to depth becomes exponentially harder. Busyness Is a Lie Here's anot...

Today, I decided to sit for 60 minutes and write. Not because I had the perfect idea. But because showing up matters more than clarity in the beginning. Earlier today, I read about slow productivity, the idea that we should limit ourselves to one project per day. I think it’s powerful. Not always practical, but powerful. It reminded me of something deeper. Work is not about doing more. It is about solving better. So today, let’s talk about problem solving. Engineers Are Problem Solvers At our core, we are nothing more than problem solvers. The more problems we solve, the better we become, not just as engineers, but as thinkers. But here’s the catch. You cannot solve what you don’t understand. And most of us jump into code before understanding the problem. Step 1: Understand the Problem There’s a quote often attributed to  Albert Einstein : “If I had one hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes understanding the problem and 5 minutes solving it.” That’s software engineering...

Instagram, Silence, and the Discipline of Structure There is a quiet danger in living too publicly. Recently, I noticed how easily structure can dissolve, not through big disruptions, but through small, seemingly harmless actions. Posting an Instagram story. Sharing a thought. Letting the outside world step into a space that was meant to remain internal. At first, it felt harmless. Even reflective. A reminder to focus on the process rather than the outcome. But soon after, something shifted. Attention entered the equation. Awareness of being seen. The subtle pull of validation. And with that, a drift away from groundedness. That drift is rarely dramatic. It’s quiet. It shows up as restlessness, context-switching, speaking more than necessary, and losing the inner container that holds discipline together. This is where structure matters most. Structure Is Not Loud Structure isn’t built by talking about it. It’s built by holding it, especially when no one is watching. When atten...

Yesterday we saw India vs Usa and honestly Usa played extremely well. Better than what I thought at least. One thing that I really liked about their team was planning and how well planned they were in executing their plans. For example, getting the wicket of Abhishek Sharma in the very second over and the first ball of Abhishek Sharma was brilliant. I think they analysed the game really well and that helped them.  We could clearly see the thought process of having fielders located at certain places and bowling according to the fieldset. It was brilliant to see that. The thing that distinguishes USA and other small teams was one word. Planning. Planning is equally important as the execution. The difference between USA and other teams is that the players in USA are extremely intelligent, they plan really well outside of the field and play the game through strategy rather than through brute.  Men have been responsible for the structure For thousands of years now, men are the ones...

Some mornings arrive with a quiet restlessness. You feel slightly out of rhythm, talking more than usual, switching contexts too often, pulled in many directions at once. And yet, that chaos has its place. Some days, order and disorder walk side by side. That is life nudging you toward reflection. What I realized in that moment is simple but profound. Long-term growth is shaped not by how we feel, but by the choices we train ourselves to make. Those choices are getting harder in a world designed to hijack our attention. The Allure and the Trap of Motivational Content The internet is overflowing with motivation. Reels, quotes, success stories, and endless formulas for success. It is addictive, not because it helps us grow, but because it delivers dopamine without demanding effort. Motivational content becomes a mental snack. It tricks the brain into feeling productive without doing the work. Success stories can inspire, but they also mislead. They show the outcome, not the long nights, ...

 As I write this, today I am just going to write for a period of 45 minutes. I just don't know what to write, but let's see what we can write and what we really need to focus on. The important thing to write today is that we need to spend more time doing the work rather than talking about the work. However, we should also collaborate. But for these 45 minutes, let's be comfortable with the silence and work. I am going to talk about a personal formula today about being unreactionary in every situation. There is stimulus and then there's response and in between there's something called as choice which is what we choose. Stimulus is not something that we choose. It's the choice. And then give a response. For example, we can get extremely angry and tell folks that this how things are done. We can become reactionary. However, the goal is not to become reactionary, it is to become more understanding.  Stimulus Stimulus is anything people or the world does. For an exam...