Notes - (28/2025)

Ramya recently asked why my notes have become monthly. Honestly, it’s either laziness sometimes or just feeling like I don’t have much to say. But I would likely not want to give in to that. So here’s a small effort (thanks to her) to get back to bi-weekly (sometimes even weekly) writing. Also this week has been quite handful.

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My health has been on and off, and I’ve been commuting most of the times for work. But I did manage to focus quite well on Wednesday(July 9th). Personally that day felt unusually long like staring at boiling milk. Ironically, it happened to be the shortest day on Earth till date. Our planet had spun faster than usual because the moon was unusually closer that day, creating a higher gravitational pull, slightly altering the planet's axial wobble. We may encounter it again on July 22nd and Aug 5 of this year.

On Tuesday, I worked from Underline center although I was a bit sick. I had lunch with a bunch of interesting folks, including a few from IndieWebClub. I ended up pondering once again about psychological sovereignty. Staying curious helps. And being around a thoughtful community gives me hope. I’m not chasing grand achievements just trying to participate, learn, and stay present.

• I also met Tanvi and Kiran (who, I found out later that day to be the co-founder of Fifth Elephant). I showed them about KK, and we ended up having a long, meandering chat about Bangalore’s history, and all kinds of side quests over coffee. Just four of us, lounging around and chatting even after work hours.

• Kiran came with a handheld SDR and talked about its usage. He also taught us about beam forming. Until that day I didn't know normal BLE-5 earbud phones would break the connection if you rotate your head towards left. In many headphones, the right earbud acts as the primary receiver and relays to the left. If you rotate your head left and the phone is in your right pocket, the connection to the right earbud might be disrupted, breaking the relay to the left one too. This is only true for those that use BLE-5 (AirPods have receiver at both the ends).

Later that week, I visited my cousin’s place. He casually asked me to drop by and I walked into his house to find 30+ kids listening to a talk by Vishnu(Swiggy’s first employee and former business head). I also met Radhakrishnan, who recently published a book. His work explores some meaningful themes. The evening was overwhelming in a good way.

Ram's short story got published last week and I am so happy for her. Its a lovely piece and definitely worth a read.

I couldn't continue Piano classes as it started clashing with other times. So I had to quit and practice by myself with some youtube videos mostly. Also, I like stencil art, a better way to kill time. I sketched ARR on one of the days.

Overtime, I’ve realised that at work, it’s not the pace that burns you out but it’s the constant sense of running without direction. Slowing down doesn’t mean doing less. It means being clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing even if its mundane. Work isn't just output. It's also expands to relationships, timing, clarity, and care. When you lead your work with intention, take ownership of your choices, and hold space for others to do the same, you move forward with less drama and more focus. And that, to me, is what a slow, grounded life looks like.

Lately, I’ve been noticing how some relationships don’t fall apart from distance, but from quiet forms of control. It’s painful to watch someone you care about slowly shrink themselves just to avoid conflict.

I wanted to end with a note that, making space to be with myself, and not outsourcing my restlessness to someone else(even if its your partner) helps. That doesn’t mean being detached or hyper-independent. To me it just means remembering that we are responsible for shaping our own days and time. And when we stop blaming others for how our life feels, it’s surprisingly liberating. Not easy, but honest. And that’s a better place to start from.