In April last year, I went all-in on using calendar events to manage my personal time. Time-blocking, the practice of scheduling chunks of time to get things done, is often praised by productivity gurus on the internet. Some even suggest planning an ideal week — a list of events you want to achieve in a given week.

So what happens when you actually follow the advice? Something like this:

The problem with scheduling your whole life on a calendar with recurring events comes down to the lack of three things —extrinsic motivation, willpower, and intention.

When I set out to create a system, my extrinsic motivation and willpower were probably at their peak. While extrinsic motivation1 comes and goes in waves, willpower is a depleting resource. Although I had the right intention when I began, as days went by, the calendar event notifications started to feel like a chore and I eventually started ignoring them.

My wake-up call to reassess the system I had created for myself didn’t happen because I wasn’t following through with the schedule though (I wish!). I was conveniently ignoring the huge chunk of time-blocked events on my calendar. It happened when I double-booked myself for two paid events. :(

Since my calendar was a mess with random recurring events dictated by my past self, I couldn’t process important events.

Here’s what I’ve done since then:

1. Hid all the recurring events (this was easy since I had already created separate calendar feeds for each)

2. Integrated Superlist with my calendar. Superlist automatically blocks time on the calendar for tasks you schedule (Also stopped creating recurring tasks :3).
   Would totally recommend it.

This is how my calendar looks now:

What did we learn, Palmer?

1. Scheduling/time-blocking something gave me a false sense of accomplishing the task. Does that sound like a me problem? Probably. Does the new approach work better for me? Absolutely.

2. Having a task management system means nothing if you don’t do said task. There, I said it.

3. Superlist is heckin awesome.

Until next time.

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay sane,
Subin

Hello again! Welcome back to another edition of Product, a section where I post about my journey to product management. This edition covers my thought process while analyzing the market of AI tools for productivity.

The Problem Statement

As part of NextLeap’s (last!) Learn in Public challenge, the cohort was tasked with analyzing one of the following markets and creating a case study:

• Credit on UPI

• AI Tools for Productivity

• Indian Space Economy

• The Creator Economy

• Mental Health & Wellness

Initial Thoughts

The first thought in my mind, obviously, was to decide which of these markets to focus on. After a brief while of brainstorming and imagining the directions each topic would take, I decided to play by my strengths.

As someone who used to write about (productivity) apps for a living and has an ongoing newsletter on productivity and tech, I convinced myself that I wouldn’t go wrong picking the AI tools for productivity market.

Segments

I broadly classified the AI tools for productivity market as follows:

• Chatbots

• Customer support

• Content creation and editing

• Project management

• Legal services

• Coding assistants

Of these segments, I focused on the content creation and editing segment and continued my research.

The Research

I typically use AI tools at the end of my research to validate it. This way, I have enough context to understand if the LLM is giving me factual and relevant information. This time around, I introduced AI towards the middle of my research and let it be my research partner for the rest of the process.

The most valuable resources I found during the research were the AI Ascent 2024 keynote from Sequoia Capital (linked below) and Figma’s Design Trend Report. It was also fascinating to explore the products of the top AI Assistant startups funded by Y Combinator.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. Goldman Sachs1 and The Economist have offered a counter view calling out the relatively low return on investment and the significant infrastructure cost of AI data centers so far. That’s also highlighted in Sequoia’s AI’s $600B Question piece, where they argue the gap between AI infrastructure investment and actual revenue growth in the AI ecosystem has widened significantly.

This is not the first time AI has been the hot thing either. It has been happening since the 1970’s, leading to a phenomenon known as the AI winter.

Case Study | Closing Thoughts

Here’s the case study:

View on LinkedIn

From this exercise, I realized we have a while to reach peak AI. The key is to solve user problems with AI, instead of leveraging AI for the sake of it and slapping an AI label over a feature that could work just fine without it.

It also gave me a sense of bhai kya kar raha hai tu for sitting on the sidelines. Will I end up taking a leap to start/join an AI startup or work on an AI-enabled product? Stay tuned to find out!

Until next time,
Subin

Hello there! Look who finally remembered the existence of their newsletter! 😬
Welcome to Product, a new section where I post about my journey to product management. This edition covers my thought process while creating wireframes for a travel platform.

The Problem Statement

As part of NextLeap’s Learn in Public challenge, the cohort was tasked with creating wireframes. The problem statement reads as follows:

“You need to create wireframes for a travel planning assistant on a travel platform (eg. MakeMyTrip/Expedia etc). Assume that the assistant is powered via OpenAI or similar technologies and is completely automated. The assistant is an attempt to help potential customers get inspired, plan their travel itinerary faster and help them in the travel booking journey. Remember, it is NOT a chatbot.”

Initial Thoughts

As someone who has never created wireframes, I felt a little lost in the beginning, to be honest. I had a high ambition though. I wanted high-fidelity wireframes that looked visually appealing. Since I’ve never really used Figma for designs before, I knew it was going to take a while to get accustomed to the interface. (Thanks to my designer friends for clarifying my noob queries!)

For the uninitiated, a low-fidelity wireframe highlights the core structure of the screen. A high-fidelity wireframe is a detailed version of the screen with all the UI elements and images, something developers can refer to get to their final front-end output. Here’s a nifty comparison image that conveys the idea:

One might argue that it is not about fidelity and is more about what you create, to which I partially agree. I think if you don’t make it presentable, your chances of getting eyeballs on what you have created decrease significantly.

Of course, I didn’t set out to be a product designer with this challenge. In fact, I have a newfound respect for all the product designers out there, who transform rough ideas into visually pleasing artifacts.

Choosing the Travel Platform

The first thing I had to do was finalize a travel platform. The examples given were of travel aggregator platforms (Makemytrip, Expedia). However, I chose to go with Zostel.

Zostel? Isn’t that a hostel, you ask? It is. However, one insight I have that led me to choose Zostel over other platforms is the target audience. People primarily come to Zostel when they travel, not when they’re just looking for accommodation.

As the company puts it, “A pioneer of the new-age travel culture in India, Zostel is also the world's largest backpacker hostel chain. Stay with us at 60+ destinations across India and Nepal, exploring remote locations, remote parts of famous locations, and unconventional experiences on your holiday.”

Finding the Right Problem to Solve

With the app finalized, I went on to think of ways to integrate a planning assistant into Zostel, which is not a chatbot. Customer chat support? Maybe. Smart trip destination suggestion based on trip history, why not? Ideas went in and out until I remembered one thing: my solo trip to Chitkul!

You see, when I booked my tickets to Chitkul, I had no idea about the places to visit there. I postponed that as tomorrow me’s problem and thought I’d figure it out eventually. When I arrived at Chitkul, I was pleasantly surprised to see this board right outside the reception:

All the nearby top attractions were listed there, along with the distance from Zostel. This drastically simplified my efforts to plan my days in Chitkul. My hypothesis also strengthened when we naturally started sorting places to visit by the distance from Zostel Jaipur for an upcoming Jaipur trip (if weather permits!).

With these two anecdotes, I decided to create a trip itinerary planner that lists the top attractions near Zostel. Solo travelers and the planning-obsessed can utilize this to add a pinch of certainty to their trip. Off I went to sketch out early pen-and-paper wireframes of how the feature should look.

Early Wireframes

I decided to add a “Top Attractions” page on the Zostel landing page, where users can view the top attractions near the Zostel. Users can sort either by relevance or distance from Zostel. There’s even an option to download a PDF copy of your itinerary before you book the stay, say for times you have to revisit the plan or discuss with friends or family.

The initial wireframe had food delivery app-esque card layouts, which I later changed to match the larger cards of the Zostel app. After the trip, users can rate the itinerary, which then creates a feedback loop for the recommendation system to improve.

Final Wireframes | Slide Deck

With all that said, here’s the final slide deck featuring the wireframes:

View on LinkedIn

PS: I’ve created a separate section for Product Management-related posts and have not copied over the subscribers from my other sections here. If you’re here for my random ramblings, I won’t force you to go through these. That said, if you like what you read, feel free to subscribe! :D

Until next time,
Subin

I know, the title sounds like I’ve reached the gold standard 10 - 15% body fat with a Greek god physique. Spoiler alert, I haven’t. In fact, I’m somewhere in the middle and at this point, I’m okay taking things at my own pace. But hold on, how did we get here?

The Precursor

Dear reader, it’s my duty to inform you (for context) that I have always been a fat kid. Combine that with a relatively short height and you have the worst of both worlds. During my school education, I was oblivious to it, and during my college education, indifferent. However, the infamous COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that soon followed drove some change in me.

The year is 2022 and I created a goal for myself to productively use the lockdown period — reach normal BMI. Nothing else mattered to me, as long as it contributed to my weight loss. Every day after work, I ended up running somewhere between 3 to 5km in the evening.

To help increase the pace, I adopted intermittent fasting and started skipping dinner. It was damn difficult to control the urge and cravings in the first few weeks, but I eventually got acquainted with it.

Months passed by and one fine morning, I noticed something. The weighing scale showed 68 kg as my weight. This, according to me, was a dream come true. Never in my life had I been in a normal BMI. This helped fuel the momentum for a few other months that saw the lowest weight as 61.1 kg.

That, my dear reader, is where the happy story comes to an end. I crossed Reach Normal BMI off my to-do list and eventually gave up intermittent fasting and the evening run. In my defense, the transition period also involved moving from Kerala to Bangalore. That said, I could’ve found alternate ways to create a new routine. I should’ve. However, my mind was not entirely up for it and that’s a story for another day.

Long story short, I gained back all the weight I lost and some. At one point around mid-2023, I weighed around 86 kg. I knew it wasn’t good. It was terrible. A few weeks went by and sometime in December (probably due to Dr.Pal), a random burst of motivation awakened me and I got motivated to restart my fitness journey. Not with the previous approach though. A revamped approach that takes the best of what worked, alongside a dose of sustainability.

The Revised Approach (Backed by Science)

Unlike the previous just run bro approach, I decided to put some effort into formulating the plan. I watched tons of videos to absorb the good stuff and tune out the bad stuff. I watched anatomy videos1, lose weight videos, lose weight quick videos, motivational videos, and the like.

Being the avid viewer of Ali Abdaal that I am, I decided to take a DEXA scan to understand my body composition. For those out of the loop, body composition is a reliable metric to understand what your body is made of. There are various ways to measure body composition, but the most accurate one is the DEXA scan.

I did, however, procrastinate for a few weeks to take my DEXA scan. And the results blew my mind (not in a good way). I got to know that I have 36% body fat. 36%. For context, I weighed 78 kg when I took the test and as of this writing, I’m at 76.5 kg.

With this newfound realization that I should do something about my body, I started changing my routine and lifestyle.

Notable Changes

Diet

I reintroduced intermittent fasting to my life. As was previously the case, I struggled the first week, but can now stay satiated longer. I didn’t adopt a fancy new diet, but I must disclose that I have changed my preferences.

Preference: Protein > Fat > Carbohydrate

I have also started incorporating salads whenever I can, but won’t beat myself up to it. Same with intermittent fasting. If I feel too hungry, I just call it a skip day and have dinner. However, I won’t let it happen twice a week. To quote Bryan Johnson’s Blueprint protocol, one must strive to embrace systems over willpower.

Excerpt from Bryan Johnson’s Blueprint Protocol:

Embrace ♥️:
systems over willpower
data over human opinion
harmony over addiction
compounded rates of self improvement
Rebel 👿 against:
addictive algorithms
corporate profiteering at your detriment
social norms encouraging bad behavior
self aided destruction (SAD)

Zone 2 Cardio

According to studies (source: trust me, bro), doing zone 2 cardio helps boost fat loss. But wait a minute, what is zone 2 cardio? Simply put, zone 2 cardio refers to utilizing 60 - 70 percent of your maximum heart rate during a workout. The general practice to find your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you’re 25 years old, your maximum heart rate is 195 BPM.

As per the studies, doing a 30-minute zone 2 cardio burns more fat, as opposed to carbohydrates. As the intensity goes up, the body switches to glucose for energy and doesn’t put in the effort to utilize fat for fuel.

However, that’s not to say that Zone 4 cardio is useless. While you might not get the same fat loss benefits, it tends to burn fat in decent percentages (sometimes more as long as you put in the extra effort). If that works for you, more power to you.
For the rest of us normies, zone 2 cardio is the way to go.

Pro tip: I’ve found the Elliptical to be the best use of my time for those elusive zone-2 cardio gains without a lot of body fatigue. Sure, a treadmill is objectively better, but it also tends to be hard on your knees. The key is to stick to something that is sustainable long-term.

Walking

If you’re someone with a lot of time to spare (or dedicate), walking will work wonders for weight loss. An ideal low-intensity activity that you can do pretty much any time of the day, walking also comes with cardiovascular benefits.

There is an overarching opinion that walking is merely a waste of time. I beg to differ. Sure, it isn’t an efficient use of time when you compare it to a full-fledged workout, but it doesn’t put you in a state that needs a lot of recovery time either.

For starters, walking 10K steps a day is a good place to be in. I try to reach 10K steps every day. I measure my progress monthly so I get insights on what goes wrong on days when I don’t complete 10K steps.

Don’t get me wrong though, walking ideally shouldn’t be your only form of exercise. If it is, it’s recommended to have long brisk walking sessions for better benefits. That said, if you are not working out at all, walking is a great place to start.

Accountability

Accountability is a double-edged sword. Force too much and you will end up rage-quitting. Have no checks and you will go off-track. If you can find an accountability partner to keep you motivated, this will work wonders, at least until you have a good routine. Shout-out to the Activity Family for keeping each other accountable.

Perspective

At this point, reaching a normal BMI is not my primary goal. I would be lying if it isn’t one of my goals. More than that, reaching a healthy body fat percentage (ideally around 15%) is what I’m going for. This also requires some form of strength training exercises, something I’m planning to incorporate over the coming weeks.

I also have a new goal — not sabotaging my progress embracing sustainability in my lifestyle.

The Path Ahead

I’m planning to write a follow-up to this sometime next year, ideally with a normal BMI and around 15-20% body fat. Stay tuned for that! hehe.

If you have recommendations for weight/strength training exercise routines, feel free to reach out to me.

Until next time!

Stay healthy,

Subin

Another year comes to an end! This year went by faster than usual, I feel. Not entirely sure why. Here’s to the last quarterly review of the year!

This post focuses on the progress I’ve made in 2023’s second quarter — April - June 2023.

Bucketlist for 2023 (Realistic version)

Upon introspection and reflection, I’ve sorted the …

Read more

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him. You must have heard of Carl Pei even if you’re a casual follower of technology. Once an OPPO corporate guy, Pei got the attention of media and tech enthusiasts after the legendary OnePlus One. Dubbed “flagship killer”, the device truly lived up to its hype and every tech enthusiast wanted one (although the young ones couldn’t afford it) back in the day.

OnePlus One offered the best of both worlds — flagship-grade hardware and customizable software. The device ran Cyanogen OS (CyanogenMod, anyone?) based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. In a world of laggy Samsung TouchWiz phones and expensive Nexus phones, the device struck the right balance and was truly a breath of fresh air.

Although Pete Lau co-founded OnePlus alongside Carl Pei, Pei was the extroverted one of the duo. He made constant media appearances and was presumably actively involved in the company’s branding efforts. After the infamous turn of events that led to the eventual demise of Cyanogen OS, Pei and team rose to the occasion to develop their own flavor of Android, what we now know as OxygenOS. However, OxygenOS no longer has the core DNA it once had and that’s a story for another day.

If there is one thing that sets Pei apart, it has to be his storytelling expertise. So when Pei parted ways with OnePlus (after the company started leaning towards OPPO) and eventually announced his venture Nothing, it’s safe to say that everyone was intrigued.

During my career transition, I remember thinking, “If Carl Pei can leave a company he co-founded and can start from scratch, so can I”. As naive as it sounds, it was great reassurance that anyone can reinvent their life at any point if there’s a wholehearted effort.

Nothing started with safe bets — earbuds and eventually ventured to smartphones. The Nothing Phone 1 sold in decent numbers and they are now out with their second phone, the Nothing Phone 2. Staying true to the marketing playbook, Carl Pei has made one bold claim with the Phone 2 — iMessage on Android.

On the technological aspects, Nothing is collaborating with a company called Sunbird to make this a reality. The TL;DR version is that you will essentially be logging in to a remote Mac owned by Sunbird to use iMessage on your Nothing Phone 2. Do I think this is a safe bet? Absolutely not. Does it turn heads and create marketing buzz, obviously.

If there is one brand that can pull off this marketing stunt, it is Nothing. Knowing that Apple is less likely to take legal action against the company fearing antitrust implications, Nothing seems to have taken a gamble to see how Apple reacts. While my bets are on Apple silently blocking this workaround behind the scenes, we will have to wait and watch how things unfold.

For the record, I don’t think tech enthusiasts are going to flock to the Phone 2 for its iMessage support. Taking an educated guess, Nothing might be hoping for the other way around. The company presumably wants to attract the average Android-leaning iPhone user who is sticking to iPhones for network effects.

Having said all that, it’s safe to say that Carl Pei is the last man standing who tries to cater to the tech enthusiast crowd while simultaneously trying to scale. Although I don’t consider Nothing an enthusiast’s dream brand, the truth is, there are no options left.

The last time I got excited about an enthusiast brand was OSOM Products, the spinoff startup from former Essential employees, which turned out to be a colossal disappointment. As Marton once said, enthusiast brands will betray you, especially when they are trying to expand their business.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I stopped thinking of custom ROMs or Android mods. The thing that provoked the essay is MKBHD’s recent podcast about CyanogenMod featuring Mishaal Rahman and Stefanie Kondik. You can check out the episode below for a trip down memory lane.

Update: Soon after I hit the Publish button on this one, I got to know that Apple has finally announced RCS support for iPhones. According to a report from 9to5Mac, Apple has announced its plans to offer RCS support for iPhones next year. The report confirms that RCS will exist alongside iMessage (iMessage games are safe, yay!). Guess Nothing’s marketing stunt and Google’s relentless RCS push didn’t go in vain, eh?

Until next time!

Hello there, long time no see! Although I feel bad for abandoning my Substack for almost two months, it feels good to be back. Here’s to hoping I don’t go away again.

The prologue

Today, I look back at how life has changed since Snow entered our lives. It’s been almost a month and a half since I first saw Snow. From the moment I saw his face through a WhatsApp forward message, I knew I should bring him home.

Growing up, I often pondered the idea of adopting my cat. However, mom always opposed the idea. Moreover, it didn’t seem like an economical idea back then. Honestly, we were struggling to make ends meet, and bringing another living being into the mix doesn’t make a lot of sense if you think rationally.

Now that I have my (rented ;-;) place and am financially at a point where I can afford to offer a cat a luxurious life, I seized the opportunity. Huge shout out and thanks to Pooja for answering all my dumb questions and making it a seamless transition. :’)

That said, here are a few things I learned from Snow, my beloved cat!

Standing your ground isn’t a crime

They say life is all about compromises. Snow begs to differ! He won’t do something unless he is wholeheartedly into it. There’s no such thing as half-assing in Snow’s books. Either he will never do it or go all the way.

For instance, after weeks of interaction, I learned Snow is not a typical outdoor cat. He prefers staying indoors all day and night. He loves people-watching from his beloved spot and doesn’t mind staying there for hours. Of course, there are times when he meows and orders us to let him outside his room (yeah, he has a room!). Even then, he is happy hiding under the sofa or staring at the balcony or utility area.

Having learned from multiple experiments trying to get him outdoors, I’ve made peace with the fact that he doesn’t want to go outside. If acting paralyzed while putting a harness on doesn’t convince me, I don’t know what will. After it happened several times, I took a step back to introspect if I was doing something wrong. And yes, I was.

I was so fixated on meeting my expectation of taking the cat out for an evening walk that I didn’t stop to think if he was interested in the activity I was excited about. Perhaps I should not force my idea of leisure on Snow, since we are two different living beings.

Stay present

Snow is all about living in the moment. I imagine he doesn’t worry about what tomorrow holds and is living his best life, purring, meowing, rubbing, and occasionally scratching us.

I know for a fact that he isn’t too fond of screens. He gets bored after watching TV for 15 minutes and jumps out of the sofa to walk around and live a little. Maybe our lives will get better if we all collectively reduce screen time. Idk, Snow thinks so.

Never let your guard down too fast

Cats don’t trust other creatures easily. You’re supposed to earn a cat’s trust. Fail the vibe check and you might be subject to scratches, bites, or even getting ignored. Getting a cat to trust you takes real effort and won’t happen overnight. It could take days, weeks, or even months for cats to get used to you and your environment.

It’s been a month since Snow has been here and he is still a little scared at times. He never leaves his sofa hideout spot when guests are home. The sofa is where he feels safe and we let him be, which brings me to the next part.

Have a safe spot

When Snow is scared, moody, or upset, he rushes to his hideout spot — the sofa. Until he knows it is safe to come out, he stays there. While it is heartwarming that he has a place to count on, it becomes a trouble at times. He just won’t come out and I have to come up with creative workarounds if I need him outside.

One such method was bringing the vacuum cleaner under the sofa. While it used to work like clockwork, I think Snow, the smarty, has learned to ignore the vacuum. :(
The current method involves waving something like a stick under the sofa. I hate to do it since it alarms him, but it works for emergencies.

Perhaps we should all have such little hideout spots, don’t you think? For times when the world is not being kind to us, when it feels like everything around is falling apart and all that is left in the world is eternal pain and suffering. This spot could be the warm hug you’re looking for when you need something to lean on.

Forget and forgive

To be honest, living with a cat isn’t as easy as it sounds. While I love Snow, there are times when he pisses me off and I end up wondering if I am meant to be a pet parent. I also got to know that I shouldn’t punish him by de-grounding him (I keep him somewhere high so he can’t jump off, but he somehow finds a way and comes out every time) or denying treats to correct bad behavior.

While we have our ups and downs, Snow doesn’t ruminate over unpleasant incidents and forgives me instead. He comes to me and rubs his head on my hands or legs. As a result, I end up forgiving him too.

I hope he knows he is safe here and is loving the new place. I hope he knows he is loved. I hope he knows I’m grateful to have him around and I look forward to kissing him after coming back every work day :’)

A word from Snow

Snow wanted to convey the following while I was writing this piece. I have no clue what it means, but feel free to come over and indulge in deep conversations with him to understand what he wants to say. Here’s the full text:

k,,,,,cvfjkmuhr fjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjkmn gvh\]vcccccccccccccccco09
\][p;k
iukj/
;pl[ty655555555555555555555555555///////////////////////g /.
8888888m/;lqbviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiKJUcx
]-

As a side note, being Snow’s exclusive social media manager, it’s my duty to inform you that you can follow him on Instagram to never miss any of his crazy updates. It’s snow.meow.meow. Creative, I know. :3

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Meow-meow,
Subin

Hello, world!

I know! I sorta abandoned my Substack for way too long. But hey, better late than never, amirite. Let’s get right into the review!

This post focuses on the progress I’ve made in 2023’s second quarter — April - June 2023.

Bucketlist for 2023 (Realistic version)

Upon introspection and reflection, I’ve sorted the b…

Read more

Editor’s Note:1

It’s been a while since I’ve last clicked the Publish button here. Sure, there were a few pieces that never saw the light of day since I was too lazy to edit them, a few that were abandoned after the title and subtitle, and a few that never made it past my phone’s notes.

Looking back, I assume I might have been too caught up in the vicious cycle of making things perfect, instead of just putting it out there. I mean, considering the metrics, why am I being so hard on myself? Maybe it’s due to the structure or template I’ve created over the months that made me procrastinate, I think.

Assuming this to be the case, I’m going to partially throw the structure out of the window. I’m going back to basics and am not going to be fixated on having certain sections just because I previously thought it would be a good idea. Begone, sunk cost fallacy!

With that out of the way, let’s look at what we have here.

Making significant changes is perhaps one of the riskiest bets one can take in life. And as the saying goes, if you never try, you never know. It sucks to be in a state where you feel like you don’t have any control over your life. You can neither move forward nor backward. I’ve been there and can speak from first-hand experience that it’s not a great situation to be in.

So, what do we do? What do we owe ourselves for a better future? Perhaps one thing that may come to mind is having good faith. While you might have lost faith in humanity (just like I did, that’s a story for another day), it’s important to have faith in yourself. As the great Taylor Swift once sang, you’re on your own, kid. You always have been.

While having faith is an aspect that drives discipline, which in turn drives actions, it doesn’t help if you don’t have one thing — a vision. When I was a student right out of college, one question that scared me was the generic Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? While I made my way through those questions with diplomatic answers, deep down, the truth is, I didn’t know.

Some would argue that life is long and it’s okay not to have it all figured out right in your 20s. Honestly, I would disagree. The freedom to carve your path in a capitalistic society comes from a place of privilege and generational wealth. And that’s not something to be overlooked.

Of course, I don’t endorse hustling every single day to make a sophisticated living at the cost of one’s health. I don’t recommend partying like there’s no tomorrow either. As with most things in life, it’s imperative to find the right balance. What’s fascinating here is that the definition of the right balance is highly variable and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to life.

Having said that, it’s possible to create a vision for oneself to achieve goals. With a vision in mind, it would be easier to make sense of ideas and carefully craft plans that align with the vision. Now that there’s a plan, all that’s left to do is stick to it. And that’s what I’m going to do, hopefully.

Umm, I guess I rambled a bit here. The TL;DR is, to take risks, explore life, make memories, not let your dreams be dreams, have a vision, create a plan, and stick to the plan. To live a life worth living and to live to tell the tale!

Treat Corner🌟

In case you missed it, the title is an obvious nod to David Fincher’s upcoming movie The Killer. It’s not every day when you hear about a new Fincher movie, so it’s safe to say I’m hyped. Here’s to hoping they release it in Bangalore before inevitably putting it on Netflix. Fingers crossed.

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Love,
Subin

What is going on with social media platforms these days? I mean, are we on the brink of losing two major social media giants in the same year? Sigh!

That’s what I thought when I first saw the post of Christian Selig, the founder of popular third-party Reddit iOS client Apollo late May. As it turns out, I’m probably right. After the downfall of Twitter (and Spotify), Reddit is now following in its footsteps.

For the uninitiated, it all started when Reddit published a post mid-April detailing its upcoming API changes. TL;DR - It’s bad. It’s bad for everyone involved. It’s bad for third-party Reddit apps (like Apollo, RIF, Sync, etc.), it’s bad for Reddit moderators (who are not being paid a penny btw), it’s bad for the community, and ultimately, it’s bad for Reddit.

While I understand that it is reasonable for Reddit to monetize its API, there are two major flaws in the execution:

1. Third-party app developers are not given sufficient time to adapt to the changes.

2. The pricing of the API is exorbitant for most third-party Reddit client apps to sustain and continue operating.

Here’s the thing: While third-party users might make up a minority of Reddit’s monthly active users, these are relatively important people who generate and moderate content on the platform.

One would think Reddit, being a community-focused platform, would care about its power users. Wrong! Judging by the current landscape, the company wants to get rid of them to appear more “investment-worthy” while going public. If things don’t change for the better, I foresee Redditors shorting Reddit stocks after IPO as some sort of revenge (coughs GameStop coughs).

How did we get here?

Let me start with the bad news: Apollo has announced its plans to shut down operations at the end of this month. You know what’s more heartbreaking in the post? The section where Reddit blatantly made allegations about Christian for “threatening” the company. Fortunately, Christian has proof to defend himself and has rightfully made the evidence public.

Here’s a relevant excerpt from the post:

About 24 hours after that call with Reddit, I received this odd message on Mastodon:

"Can you please comment publicly about the internal Reddit claim that you tried to “blackmail” them for a $10,000,000 payout to “stay quiet”?"

Then yesterday, moderators told me they were on a call with CEO Steve Huffman (spez), and he said the following per their transcript:

Steve: "Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million."

Steve: "This guy behind the scenes is coercing us. He's threatening us."

Wow. Because my memory is that you didn't take it as a threat, and you even apologized profusely when you admitted you misheard it. It's very easy to take a single line and make it look bad by removing all the rest of the context, so let's look at the full context.

I can only assume you didn't realize I was recording the call, because there's no way you'd be so blatantly lying if you did.

As said, a common suggestion across the many threads on this topic was "If third-party apps are costing Reddit so much money, why don't they just buy them out like they did Alien Blue?" That was the point I brought up. If running Apollo as it stands now would cost you $20 million yearly as you quote, I suggested you cut a check to me to end Apollo. I said I'd even do it for half that or six months worth: $10 million, what a deal!

The bizarre thing is - initially - on the call you interpreted that as a threat. Even giving you the benefit of the doubt that maybe my phrasing was confusing, I asked for you to elaborate on how you found what I said to be a threat, because I was incredibly confused how you interpreted it that way. You responded that I said "Hey, if you want this to go away…" Which is not at all what I said, so I reiterated that I said "If you want to Apollo to go quiet, as in it's quite loud in terms of API usage".

What did you then say?

Me: "I said 'If you want Apollo to go quiet'. Like in terms of- I would say it's quite loud in terms of its API usage."

Reddit: "Oh. Go quiet as in that. Okay, got it. Got it. Sorry."

Reddit: "That's a complete misinterpretation on my end. I apologize. I apologize immediately."

The admission that you mistook me, and the four subsequent apologies led me to believe that you acknowledged you mistook me and you were apologetic. The fact that you're pretending none of this happened (or was recorded), and instead espousing a different reality where instead of apologizing for taking it as a threat, you're instead going the complete opposite direction and saying "He threatened us!" is so low I almost don't believe it.

But again, I've recorded all my calls with you just in case you tried something like this.

Transcript of this part of the call | Audio of this part of the call

I bring this up for two reasons:

• I don't want Reddit slandering me to internal employees or public people by saying I threatened them when they reality is that they immediately apologized for misunderstanding me.

• It shows why I've finally come to the conclusion that I don't think this situation is recoverable. If Reddit is willing to stoop to such deep lows as to slander individuals with blatant lies to try to get community favor back, I no longer have any faith they want this to work, or ever did.

If this isn’t unprofessional, petty, and miserable, I don’t know what is. Soon after this discourse, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hosted an AMA, which, as you might have guessed, was vague, and didn’t address any real queries.

Is the official Reddit app really bad?

Yes, it sucks. It absolutely sucks.

How has the Reddit community reacted?

To a surprise to absolutely no one, the entire (well, a significant majority) community has come together to push back against Reddit’s poorly timed API pricing changes. If there’s one thing that unites Reddit, that’s fighting for a common cause. I mean, do you remember how people coordinated to secure their community’s position on r/Place? Absolute mad lads! Not to mention, the whole r/wallstreetbets fiasco during the pandemic.

Notably, several popular subreddits have gone on a blackout (public subreddits gone private) for 48 hours starting today to protest against Reddit’s controversial decisions. Furthermore, some subreddits have even gone on an indefinite blackout. 💪🏼

You can check the stats of the subreddits that are currently private from this appropriately titled website called Reddark. At the time of writing this piece, 6292 of 7265 subreddits are dark with a combined subscriber count of 2,617,191,114!

While I have a love-hate relationship with Reddit, I’m personally devastated to see the downfall of what was once a messy cesspool of good and bad stuff. It’s only bad stuff from here and I doubt it’s going to get any better unless the company backtracks on its moves. We will have to wait and find out.

Do we have viable Reddit alternatives?

Not really. There are ones like Lemmy and Nostr, but I doubt they will ever take off and manage to reach even half of Reddit’s MAU. The closest I can think of is Mastodon, which is more of a Twitter alternative than Reddit. And yes, I’m blissfully ignoring Tumblr, 4chan, and the like for my own sanity.

Poorly Aged Things

And in today’s episode of poorly aged things, we commemorate Craig Federighi’s fallen dream of seeing Apollo for Reddit widgets on macOS Sonoma. RIP :(

Update: It’s at 46:36. Substack doesn’t seem to support timed YouTube embeds for some reason.

Hmm, I guess I should post this on r/agedlikemilk. Oh wait, it’s private because of the Reddit blackout movement. Good job, Reddit! 🫡

Honestly, it felt nice to see Apple namedrop Apollo multiple times at the event. And my favorite workout app Any Distance is one of the winners of Apple’s Design Awards 2023, yaay!

Small Wins 🥹🌟

For this edition, my biggest small win is finally getting sufficient sleep last night. My schedule has been packed for the past few days and it feels great to have a good night’s sleep. Here’s to hoping I don’t go sleep-deprived again.🤞🏼

I also felt rejuvenated early last week when I cycled to Bannerghatta National Park. The safari ride was incredible and I got to see and say hi to a lot of animal friends.

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Fight the good fight,
Subin

It’s 7:45 PM on a Sunday evening. As I gently recover from a state of feeling physically and mentally exhausted, there’s one phrase that comes to mind — practice what you preach.

After relying heavily on my fallback mechanisms (more on this later), I finally have the headspace for introspection to answer the dreaded What is going on with me? question.

At this point, you might be wondering what I usually preach. Dear reader, at the cost of sounding preachy, I say it’s just general wisdom (hehe). And it’s about time I start applying them to my life.

So, what do I preach? For starters, I argue self-care isn’t selfish, emphasize the importance of delayed gratification, and highlight the importance of critical decision-making. Perhaps this edition of the newsletter is a gentle reminder (not the passive-aggressive corpspeak gentle, mind you) to practice self-compassion.

Now that we have the background and have established the premise, do I have any actionable steps to ensure I will be more compassionate to myself? Well, I could try. And I did. Here’s what I came up with:

Strengthen self-fallback mechanisms

Contrary to popular opinion, I won’t recommend involving another human being in your fallback mechanism. I’d rather look for DIY fallback mechanisms. For instance, what helped me this evening was my moody playlist and a much-needed nap for over 2 hours. Sleep really serves as a hard restart for the brain, doesn’t it?

I don’t see an area of improvement here as of now since I started playing music right when the auto was reaching my doorstep lol. But yeah, putting it out there so future me can come up with something.

Update from 10 minutes later me: Well, my first thought was to watch a movie, get drunk, and sleep, so I’m glad I found a healthier fallback mechanism. Anyway, moving on.

Say no more often

I often criticize people for being people pleasers. Perhaps I should take my advice and say no more often. Not in the mood to do something? DON’T DO IT (unless it’s a priority obviously).

Build a stimulation control system?

On the surface, this seems like a doable action item. For the first step, I’ve silenced notifications from everyone. Yes, everyone. All notifications will go directly to the notification center when I’m home. So yeah, please expect a delay in responses and give me 48 hours TAT :P

I should also proactively take things off my calendar when I’m feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated. Speaking of calendars, I’ve created a public calendar to keep track of events and gigs I find interesting in Bangalore. I’m looking for collaborators to maintain it, so please drop me an email if you’re interested!

Treat Corner 🍨

This week, I have a song recommendation for you — Valerie. I discovered this song recently when a (cute) lady was singing it outside Bangalore International Centre. I kinda sorta liked her version better, but Amy’s cover is equally good hehe.

Editor’s Note: I had the aforesaid version in drafts for a few days and listened to it while writing this post. I sorta found it a bit too overstimulating. Anyway, I found a live acoustic version (240p though) that sounds more peaceful.

I keep seeing these Amy Winehouse was a legend comments, and I’m starting to understand why. Her voice is amazing! This section of her Wikipedia page (TW: Substance abuse and mental illness) is devastating to read though.

Small Wins 🥹🌟

Introducing Small Wins, a new section where I appreciate myself for achieving smol things in life. :3 I guess this might be a mandatory section, as opposed to the optional treat corner and rant box sections. I have a niceeeee rant for this week, but I’m too tired to keyboard it now.

If you don’t see this section in the next post, you can safely assume I’ve achieved basically nothing lately :P

Umm, I have two small wins this week. I finally rekindled (no pun intended, physical books >>>>) my reading habit, thanks to a silent reading community called Lalbagh Reads. The idea originated in Cubbon Park with Cubbon Reads and since then, multiple chapters have been formed across the country and even abroad.

You know what I like about this community? It’s not a book club. Maybe they should make a tee merch with this quote (you’re welcome, Nandi Hills :3). Everyone is minding their own business and quietly reading books, making art, under a serene sky. No typical pretentious bookclub gossip discussions are happening over here, and I think that’s beautiful :)

And I bought a fancy 4-slice pop-up toaster 🥹 Haven’t unboxed it yet, but yeah, looking forward to extensively using it for productive mornings :P Hope it isn’t damaged ;-;

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Love,
Subin

I’d like to preface this by saying that dogs are one of the most adorable creatures on this planet. They are (mostly) loyal, grateful, kind, and are capable of both protecc and attacc. Although I prefer cats to dogs, I don’t really hate dogs. In fact, I find them cute. So, why am I writing this, and why are you reading this? How did we get here?
Dear reader, welcome to my sob story on how dogs treat me like a foe when I’m out and about on a cycle.

Without beating around the bush, let’s face it: I’m scared of some dogs. Not because I see them as a threat, but because they’re mostly unpredictable. One minute you’ll find them wagging tails & playing fetch and the other, they’re furiously chasing a poor cat or two. And that’s where the problem lies.

No, I’m not here to advocate that dogs shouldn’t chase cats. It’s none of my business, albeit I deeply empathize with poor cats getting their afternoon nap disturbed because of a restless ferocious dog. I’m here to self-advocate.

See, I like going on cycle rides and I wholeheartedly enjoy them. After almost two years, I’ve come to realize that there are two distinct things that disrupt my rides — traffic and dogs. While I can’t do anything about the traffic (thanks, Bangalore), I can think of ways to avoid dogs that brutally chase me during rides. And I did.

For a neutral discussion, I’ve invited Mr. Doggie Kruger, who will represent the dog’s point of view today.

Subin: Hi Doggie Kruger, thanks for joining.

Doggie Kruger: Woof, thanks for having me.

Subin: So Mr. Kruger, why are your folks chasing me when I’m minding my own business and having a peaceful ride? I don’t even try to provoke.

Doggie Kruger: Mr. Subin, I’m sorry you had to experience this. The thing is, it is a bit complicated. As dogs, we haven’t quite evolved from the good old days where we are expected to chase a prey on command.

Subin: So you think I’m a prey?!?!

Doggie Kruger: Not really, I’m pretty sure you don’t pose a serious threat to us. It’s just that when you come cycling at 20km/hr, we often think the cycle is our prey.

Subin: Well, for the record, I could pose a serious threat, you know. Just saying. Do you think you can bite me and get away with it? I will ensure at least some of those tooth are broken if you dare to.

Doggie Kruger: Ugh fine, I acknowledge you could pose a serious threat. But that’s not the point. The thing is, we often misinterpret your cycle as an animal and our primal instinct to hunt the animal (cycle) down gets triggered.

Subin: Hold up, what? That’s fascinating, dumb, and interesting at the same time. So, what if I slow down, stop for a second, will you still chase me?

Doggie Kruger: Probably not. Most dogs tend to stop chasing once the realization kicks in that it is indeed a human and not another animal. However, your mileage may vary. If the dogs still chase you, you could try using your cycle as a fence of sorts and wait till the dog calms down.

Subin: Hmm, that seems viable. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I usually outpace dogs when a chasing situation occurs. I will try this approach when I’m in busy roads. Thanks, Kruger, for the insights. It was a pleasure chatting with you.

Doggie Kruger: The pleasure is mine, Subin. Stay safe out there. If nothing works out, you could try that old trick you used to scare dogs away when you were a kid.

Subin: Ssssh, how did you know that? I didn’t even tell it to many people.

Doggie Kruger: Haha, it’s a small world, Subin. Stories like this spread like wildfire.

Subin: Alrighty, I will be more careful next time xD. See you, Kruger. 👋🏽

Doggie Kruger: Woof woof! 🐕

Takeaways 🌟

Well, that was, ummm, interesting…. So dear reader, what do we learn here?

Here are my key takeaways:

• If it is an empty road, don’t bother about the dog. Pick up the pace and the dog will stop chasing after you cross its perceived territory.

• If it is a busy road, get down and use your cycle as a fence. To be clear, the cycle should be between you and the dogs. Needless to say, there’s a little risk involved here. It’s still better than increasing the pace and getting your head crushed by a huge lorry though.

• Try to distract the dog by throwing something you have (not something valuable, duh) in the opposite direction. You may manage to de-escalate the situation.

• Maybe give them biscuits when you are getting chased (I’m not responsible if they chase you for more biscuits :3)

Treat Corner 🍨

As a self-proclaimed cyclist, I love Strava for its detailed insights (most of them are locked behind a paywall though). However, I won’t forgive them for the lack of dark mode. It’s been years since Strava has been around, and no one cared to improve the aesthetics of the app?! Boooo…

Enter Any Distance, a new workout app that also doubles as a social network for athletes and anyone interested in fitness. I absolutely love the design and UX of the app. It’s just chef’s kiss!! 🥹 And did I tell you about the cool 3D graphs it can generate? If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen many of those by now.

Moreover, the app is one of the nominees of Apple’s Design Awards 2023, whose winners are about to be announced next week at WWDC. Rooting for them and curious to see how it goes! 🤞🏽

Any Distance is currently available on iPhones and Apple Watches. If you have one, I’d genuinely recommend checking it out!

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay safe,
Subin

How about some music while you read the article? Connect your headphones, set the volume to 40% (no cheating 🔫), and enjoy the song in the background while you read. I’ll try to make this a 4-minute read. Yeah, vv extra, I know.

PS: This is experimental and may or may not be present in the future.

Shopping at IKEA is surreal. I remember the first time visiting the IKEA Nagasandra Bangalore store and being mesmerized by the attention to detail and the sophisticated shopping experience. Having said that, it’s easy to splurge on things you don’t necessarily need when you’re at IKEA. Heck, I bought 3 unplanned products during this visit and it’s really hard to resist the temptation when you see a shiny thing and anticipate the idea of it making your life a tiny bit better.

With that in mind, I had to come up with a strategy to shop at IKEA without impulse buying. Before you come to the comments saying “You can always order online 😏”, hear me out. I’m aware. While you can order online and pay the ₹99 delivery fee, there’s something about the IKEA shopping experience that makes me go back and spend hours there.

That said, here’s how I try to mindfully shop at IKEA. It goes without saying that my approach won’t work for everyone and requires doing a bit of homework. Disclaimers aside, let’s get to it!

Part 1: Have a shopping list 📝

Who would’ve thought, right?

It doesn’t take a genius to guess that having a list makes any shopping experience convenient. Growing up, I remember scribbling shopping lists on faded brown papers from my ruled notebook as mom dictated them and rushing to the friendly1 neighborhood grocery store. In 2023, I don’t have to tell you that a lot of people don’t use physical shopping lists. That ship has sailed, for most of us.

Assuming you have adopted note-taking and to-do list apps (or the blocked ex’s WhatsApp chat, you do you) to keep track of things, you probably have a digital space to dump your shopping list. Well, dump it. Congrats, you have completed the first (and the hardest) part. 🎉

Part 2: Find product locations from the online store 👀

Look up all the products from your list on the IKEA app (or web) and find their section location at your nearest IKEA store. I prefer taking screenshots of the location and pasting them to my notes app for quick reference, but that’s optional.

Also optional: You could start using the IKEA names in brackets if you need. Since I have the memory of a goldfish, I prefer keeping things simple.

Note: If you’re planning to buy online, you can check out here and call it a day.

Part 3: Get the store plan sheet

Now that you know the location of the products, you should grab a store overview pamphlet. Typically placed at the entrance, this pamphlet gives you one key piece of info — the number mapped to the section’s location.

For instance, if you’re planning to buy something from the home organization section, you’ll know from the pamphlet that it is the 15th department. This way, you can plan your route and avoid back-and-forth trips with a trolley.

Pro tip: Consider carrying a blue/black ball pen to scribble/circle on the pamphlet. IKEA offers small pencils that looks as if a kid has bitten all the paint out of it, but it’s not practical.

How am I supposed to use a pencil on a paper with a laminated finish? This design decision feels way out of place and not quite IKEA-esque.

Part 4: Sort the shopping list by section numbers

With these two data points at hand, all you have to do is sort the shopping list in ascending order and pick the products as you go. Easy!

Here’s an image for reference:

Wait, did the music just stop? Fret not, I’ve got you covered. Here’s another track to keep the party going (screams DeeeeeJayyyyy Subinnnnnn) [Hey, at least I didn’t say, it’s your boyyyy Subinnnnnn2]. Okay, I’ll stop. 🙊

Part 5: Delegate item finding to staff

Pro tip: If you’re planning to visit IKEA, it’d be a good idea to avoid wearing yellow. It’s the dress code of the staff and you don’t want random people asking you directions for things, do you?

If you’re a people manager, an aspiring one, or a productive person in general, you probably know the power of delegation. Delegation takes tasks off your plate and frees up time for doing something worthwhile. Putting delegation to the IKEA shopping context, you could ask the staff for assistance in finding items on your list.

Tell them the IKEA name of the product (found in the app and they usually recognize it) and chances are, they will direct you to the exact spot. This approach saves me a lot of time and helps me cherry-pick stuff I need.

With that said, if you love the idea of finding things yourself, don’t let me stop you. By all means, take your sweet time to track each product on your list down and grab them. You got this! 🤝

Part 6: Pray you don’t get distracted 🫠

At this point, you have everything you need for a productive IKEA shopping session. But I know things are not that straightforward. After all, we are only human and temptations exist. As long as you have a rational or (relatively reasonable) emotional reasoning for your purchase decision, I’d say go for it. Just don’t max your credit card hehe. Or do, c'est la vie!

Treat Corner 🌟

Did you know there is a system to represent places in three words? Well, I didn’t, until recently. Enter what3words, a cool (yet simple) way to express locations.

As the company states:

We divided the world into 3 metre squares and gave each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share exact locations.

It’s like Morse code, without the complexity of Morse code. I hope this goes mainstream in the foreseeable future. Imagine saying something along the lines of “bhaiya, pint.liberty.nylon se right aao (brother, please turn right from pint.liberty.nylon)” when you’re getting food delivered. 😂

Anyway, greetings from feuds.newer.ridge .... - - .--. ... ---... -..-. -..-. .-. -... .-.-.- --. -.-- -..-. ...-- ----. .-.. . -.--

Since it’s been a while, this edition includes both Treat Corner and Rant Box hehe

Rant Box 😤

Ever purchased something at an unbelievable price and thought you scored an amazing deal, only to realize there was a big catch all along? Well, that’s what I’m going through right now. During our recent trip to Ooty, we bought a red wine bottle for roughly 500 bucks!

Alas, my excitement was short-lived as I read the fine print on my way back. As it turns out, it is a “de-alcoholized” wine. Whaaat? That was the day I realized such a thing even exists. You know what, I would forgive the lack of alcohol. What I won’t forgive is the choice of the bottle cap.

It comes with a generic plastic Coke bottle-like red cap and opens anticlockwise! Like, who even does that? Instant turnoff, ughhh! 🫡 I understand it’s convenient, but they should adhere to standard industry design guidelines, no?

PS: If you want to take a look at the bottle cap, drop me an email or reach out on Instagram (If you decide to text on Instagram, please don't say just hello in chat).

As I’m writing this, I’m sipping sophisticated grape juice off a fancy red wine glass.🥲
Not gonna lie, it sorta tastes nice though. Anyway, here’s to hoping the next red wine doesn’t betray me. And dear reader, always read the fine print.

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Happy shopping,
Subin

Green peas curry

Starting off with my favorite food 😋

• First attempt (2022): Flop — Used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon for measuring salt 🤦🏽

• Second attempt (April 4): Success — Didn’t look as aesthetic as I hoped though

• Third attempt (01-May-23): Success — Aesthetic. Almost perfect. Salt was on the higher spectrum of things though

I’m not planning to send these as emails and app notifications, so visiting the website would be the best way to check these posts if you’re interested!
Until next time! Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

~Subin

If you’ve been on the lookout for any new trending app lately, you’d probably be familiar with this: A landing page with a waitlist enrollment box appears, or worse, a Google Forms link asking you to fill in your details for a spot on the waitlist. But how did we get here?

The Scarcity Effect

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year, we all knew it was all gonna go downhill for the microblogging platform bird app. Multiple controversial decisions later, it’s safe to say that Twitter has lost its charm and everyone on the platform is looking for a way out. The problem is, we don’t have a true alternative to Twitter and there starts the Twitter clone boom.

While there are a lot of Twitter alternatives in the market, one app that’s receiving the most hype is Bluesky — a platform backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Although the app looks like a literal Twitter clone, a frustrating factor driving hype and building anticipation is the invite system.

As of this writing, opening a Bluesky account involves applying an invite code from an existing Bluesky user. Another option is to sign up for the waitlist and you know… wait. In other words, Bluesky relies on public FOMO to keep itself relevant in a crowded market.

Honestly, this is not the first time we’re seeing an invite-only system. It’s a tale as old as time. One specific example that comes to mind is the invite system for OnePlus’ first phone, the OnePlus One. More recently, however, we have seen a similar approach from platforms like Clubhouse.

To be fair, I understand scaling systems take effort and infrastructure investments. And I agree that no company wants to give their users downtime right when they are trying the service out for the first time. But where do we draw the line?

Is there a way out?

Giving companies the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume the limitations are real. So, the question is, what can companies do to make the experience better for everyone who wants to get in and check out what’s inside?

For starters, it could start with transparency. If there is a waiting list, it’d be nice to see the position you’re in and how long it would approximately take for a new user to onboard (I’m aware some companies do this, and I appreciate you!).

Another approach would be to have realistic estimates and start the marketing efforts accordingly. Almost no one cares about the wider availability of an app that was once hyped and failed to keep up the momentum in the initial run. It’s gonna be dead on arrival. There has to be an efficient roadmap to present the product/software in a way that doesn’t bottleneck the R&D efforts and keeps the anticipation of potential users alive.

Sincerely,
A frustrated early adopter netizen who’s tired of filling out waitlist forms

Having said all that, if anyone has a Bluesky invite code, hit me up on Mastodon or Reddit1🏃🏽‍♂️ What? I'm only human! ;-;

Treat Corner 📱

Now that we’re on the subject, one app that I found myself using a lot lately is Artifact. For the uninitiated, Artifact is an AI-powered news app from the co-founders of Instagram.

A unique feature of the app is the universal comments section where you can comment on news articles and interact with other Artifact users without having to sign up for multiple accounts. So essentially Disqus, but better.

Moreover, it has newly added a summary feature that lets you summarize news articles. And guess what? You don’t require an invite code to access it. 🎉
Check it out and let me know if you’re liking it in the comments.

Until next time. Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Don’t believe the hype,

Subin

When I first read Nir Eyal’s piece on being a schedule builder and not a to-do list maker1, I dismissed it thinking it’d be exhausting to block timeslots for everything and would result in a robotic miserable life. Yet, here I’m, writing a piece arguing how calendars are better than to-do lists.

How is a calendar event different from a to-do list?

Let’s address the elephant in the room — what is the difference? You get notifications on both, can set the time on both, and can keep track of stuff on both. Right? Well, not really. Let me explain.

The main factor that sets a calendar event apart from a to-do list is the timing. As opposed to the to-do list’s conventional approach of starting a task at X time, a calendar event gives you the flexibility to estimate how long the task is going to take. This way, you get a mental picture of the tasks at hand and can prioritize accordingly.

Of course, this doesn’t mean to-do list apps don’t make any sense. They do. In fact, I use a mix of calendar events and to-do lists to plan my day. My primary use cases for to-do lists are shopping lists and time-non-sensitive tasks.

Speaking of time, I find it overwhelming when I don’t complete a task on the to-do list. That’s a stark difference from a calendar event where I can effortlessly reschedule to a convenient timeslot. It goes without saying that you can change the reminder time of the to-do list too, but I get a feeling that I’m slacking off when I’m postponing reminders. That doesn’t happen when I’m rescheduling an event — at least not yet.

How to get started with a calendar?

While you can stick to the default Apple or Google calendar that comes with your phone, one app I found helpful while setting up my calendar is Daybridge2. Daybridge is an aesthetic calendar app that doesn’t compromise on design and usability.

Disclaimer: Daybridge isn’t involved in this endorsement and this recommendation is purely based on my experience.

I’ve been using Daybridge for almost three weeks now and am loving the experience so far. Sure, there are a few shortcomings, like the inability to add notes to calendar events within the app (workaround: you can add using Google Calendar and it will show up on Daybridge) and a general sluggishness when you’re updating an event.

Those quirks aside, I have no major complaints with this app and would recommend it if you’re someone who likes the idea of organizing your day with the help of a calendar.

Pro tip: Use Google calendar to create separate calendars for categories and use them for events within Daybridge. Scalable approach if you consider moving out of the app in the future.

Daybridge is currently in public beta and is available on Android, iOS, and the web. Consider giving it a shot and let me know how it goes in the comments.

Rant Box 😤

Introducing Rant Box, a new section where I rant about stuff I have no control over. Posts going forward will either have rant box or treats. You can’t have it all :P

What’s wrong with the leadership team of Warner Bros???? Bizarre licensing and market expansion strategies aside, they are now rebranding HBO Max to Max?3 Like, whaaaat? What is the point? To be more kid-friendly? Why are you ruining the legacy of HBO by keeping it alongside some random cartoon or U-rated content?!?! Uggghhhh.

Meanwhile, here I was, hoping HBO Max would eventually launch in India and I could stream Succession legally like a sane person. GGWP, Warner Bros. 🫡 And STOP MILKING HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE!!!4

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay organized,
Subin

We all crave gratification. Whether it stems from a desire or a goal, the feel-good hormones released after you feel a sense of fulfillment remains unmatched. While there are a lot of ways to get a dose of gratification, they can typically be classified into two groups — instant gratification and delayed gratification.

So, what if we attach personas to instant and delayed gratifications? How would that conversation look like? Well, I’m glad you asked.

With that said, here’s how I envision the conversation would go:

IG: Hi, I’m Instant Gratification! I give people what they deserve and treat them right!

DG: Hello there, IG! I’m Delayed Gratification! I give people what they deserve and treat them right if they’re disciplined enough to prove their dedication and commitment.

IG: Why are you hard on people? They deserve all the happiness in the world, don’t you think? 🥹

DG: Yes, I do, which is why I think it’s important for happiness to be sustainable, unlike your approach. Life is a marathon and not a sprint! How do you expect people to have sustained results?

IG: Well, I don’t. You see, you never know how long you’ll live. Might as well live every day like it’s the last one you live, right? Carpe diem, baby!

DG: IG, I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of your attitude and lack of vision and planning for the future. While I do agree that living in the present is important, I think being careless about the future is a recipe for disaster.

IG: Guess that makes two of us. I’m not interested to continue this conversation. Off you go, resume watering your plants for “hobby” or going for a run for “good health”.

DG: Good luck, IG. I hope you find satisfaction doomscrolling through the night or eating junk food. I’m glad we had this conversation, it’s good to understand opposing views at times.

IG: yawns Yeah, right!

Moral? 🐣

So, what do we learn here?

As with most things in life, finding the right balance between IG and DG is key. And what is the right balance, you ask? Well, it depends. There are multiple variables involved and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to choose one over the other.

Sure, choosing DG might pay off in the long run, but if it comes at the cost of missing out on all the fun that IG has to offer, is it worth it? That’s a decision one has to make.

Sidenote: While reading these conversations, how did you visualize DG and IG? Personally, I envisioned IG as a teenager and DG as someone in their late 30s. How about you? And which side are you on? Let me know in the comments!

Treat Corner 😋

This Gramophone Classics Spotify playlist has “POV: Your neighbor is playing Bollywood classics on a cloudy Friday eve” energy when you play it at 35% volume. Check it out!

⚠️ Succession Season 4 Episode 3 Spoilers Ahead!

You know a show is legendary when a legit media publication puts out an obituary for a fictional character. 🫡 More on that here.

Until next time! Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Delayed regards,
Subin

Newsletter Update ✨

Before we get to this post, I wanna share a quick update! Notice something different in the URL? That’s right, I got a custom domain for this newsletter, yaay! ✨

In other news, the posts are now neatly organized into categories hehe.

On to the post now! 👇

There’s no escaping chores. We all have to do it, delegate it, or ignore it (won’t recommend though). One of the mundane chores one has to do is cleaning the household and you know, the things around you in general. While I won’t call myself a cleaning freak, I prefer having my surroundings tidy.

Although I’ve been having ups and downs in my cleaning journey, I overlooked one aspect that was right in front of me — cleaning my mechanical keyboard. My keyboard of choice is the Keychron K2 V2. I bought it a few years back and have been loving the experience.

After postponing a few days, I finally decided to do it and as it turns out, it might be my favorite cleaning activity. Here’s how it went:

Stage 1: Preparation

I collected everything I wanted to clean the keyboard. Since my keyboard’s cleaning spray is not here, I relied on an alternative (more on this later). Stuff that came in handy:

• Mechanical keyboard (duh!)

• Cotton ear buds

• Tissues

• Microfiber cloth

• Cleaning liquid

Stage 2: Removing keycaps

Repairability is one of the perks of owning a mechanical keyboard. It’s possible to easily remove keycaps or even swap them for new ones. For the uninitiated, a keycap refers to the plastic thingy that is placed on top of a keyboard’s switch. You could call it the front end of a keyboard, in a way.

Keychron bundled a keycap puller in the package while shipping the keyboard. Thanks to that, I could easily remove the keycaps from the board. During the process, it almost felt like I’m a dentist performing a root canal surgery.

One other way to do this is to manually pull each keycap. It’s doable, but not efficient. In case you’re wondering, here’s how the keyboard looked after removing the keycaps.

I used cotton earbuds to carefully clean all random residual particles (trust me, it looked really nasty :( ) and the process took around 15 minutes. Now we get to the time-consuming part, cleaning keycaps.

Stage 3: Spray, wipe, dry, repeat

I typically use a dedicated spray for cleaning keycaps, but not this time. Having realized that I left the spray back home, I was thinking of alternate solutions. That’s when it hit me, I happen to have a cleaning liquid here — Colin Glass and Multisurface Cleaner for cleaning mirrors.

Although Colin let me down the first time, I was ready to give it another shot. Don’t we all deserve second chances in life, after all?

To my surprise, Colin worked exceptionally well while cleaning the keycaps. I sprayed on all keycaps and wiped it off with the microfiber cloth.

Stage 4: The result! ⌨️

After roughly 45 minutes, the keyboard was as good as new! This should do for another three (or more 🙈) months.

Drumrolls 🥁, here’s the ✨result ✨:

How fast can you type?

Since we’re on the subject of keyboards, I want to know how fast you can type. Not sure how many words you are capable of typing in a minute? Fret not, enter Monkeytype, an aesthetic typing test website.

I used to average around 95 - 100 WPM, but as of this writing, I scored 83 WPM on the laptop keyboard and 70 WPM on the Keychron K2 V2 (ironic, but yeah. It is what it is). Lemme know your speed in the poll below!

Maybe not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I drafted this newsletter a couple of days back, but something happened today — I bought a new cleaning mop. Not the regular one, a fancy one with a dedicated bucket and wringing mechanism.

Pro tip: Use a chair with rolling wheels while mopping if you’re lazy.

I’m loving it so far. Perhaps it’s because I’ve started applying the boots theory to my purchases. For the uninitiated, boots theory essentially urges people to spend money on quality stuff for better ROI.

Here’s a relevant excerpt of boots theory from Terry Pratchett’s 1993 book Men At Arms:

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

Recommended Reading: Understanding the 'Boots Theory' of socioeconomic unfairness — Moneywise.

Anyway, only time will tell if there’s a new favorite cleaning activity in town. Until then, cleaning mechanical keyboards takes the crown.

Treat outlet 🍨

If you (still) like browsing twitter dot com, Harpy is a good client on Android (no DMs though). The developer gave up on the app and listed the premium version for free due to the Elon-owned company’s controversial API pricing announcements.

The app still works and you can check it out from Play Store. I like the custom themes option and even made one myself (get in touch with me if you’re interested to check that out). Enjoy while it lasts!

Before I wrap up, I want to leave y’all with a song recommendation. Here’s a song I came across a couple of weeks back. Hope you like it. :)

Until next time! Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Clean regards,
Subin

I’ve created this section to efficiently track the progress of the bucket list items I set for the year.

As I highlighted in my birthday post, I have a few items on my bucket list for this year.

Bucketlist for 2023 (Original version)

Here’s a list of things I hope to do this year in no particular order.

• Learn car drivin…

Read more

One realization I had while authoring my birthday essay was to get out of home often. Travel the world, explore the unknowns, take risks, meet new people, and the like. While most of my birthdays are typically spent indoors, possibly a ~5km outdoor visit at best, I wanted to do something different this year — travel to a new place, preferably cold.

During my brief research, I stumbled upon Chitkul, a place touted to be the last village of India towards Tibet. I checked the weather there and it was -10 degrees Celsius. I was sold! I decided I’m visiting Chitkul this birthday, with or without company. As you might have guessed from the title, it ended up being a solo trip — one I won’t forget anytime this decade.

The Itinerary

Reaching Chitkul from Bangalore involves three major stops, at least on the route I chose:

• Bangalore

• Chandigarh

• Shimla

• Sangla

• Chitkul

Mode of Transport to Reach Chitkul

Here’s what the mode of transport looked like from the source to the destination:

• Bangalore - Chandigarh (flight)

• Chandigarh - Shimla (bus)

• Shimla - Sangla (bus)

• Sangla - Chitkul (bus)

Day 1: Shimla

The agenda for the first day was fairly straightforward. Catch the flight, board subsequent buses, and reach Chitkul by the end of the day. However, it didn’t quite play out that way in reality.

After a delicious Punjabi breakfast from Chandigarh, I was all set for my journey to Shimla. “Everything is going as per the plan, nice!” I thought. The lunch was fairly disappointing at Shimla and I was in for more disappointment. After stocking Shimla apples for the journey and the night, I faced a situation that I hadn’t anticipated — the frequency of buses.

As it turns out, the next bus to Sangla (the second last stop to Chitkul) is at 7:15 the next morning. I figured out three options:

• Take a cab from Shimla to Chitkul

• Take an alternate bus to reach the village close to Sangla & figure out a way to reach Chitkul

• Stay in Shimla for the night

While the first option seemed like a comfortable way to reach the destination, it was pretty expensive (~Rs. 10K). Sure, there was an alternate bus in the evening that goes close to Sangla. However, I got to know it’s close to impossible to find a taxi or accommodation in that village at that hour. After considering the uncertainty of option 2 and consulting with my genius gf, I decided to go with option 3.

Naturally, I booked an Oyo near me and was anticipating my Uber driver. A few minutes later, I got a call from the driver informing me that he wasn’t allowed to pick up passengers from the bus stand, thanks to local lobbying. That’s when I met H, a taxi driver in Shimla. I told him the drop location and I had to settle for a relatively higher “fixed” trip fare.

H, however, turned out to be a good chap. He informed me how the Oyo I booked was in a remote place of Shimla surrounded by the woods and pitched a much better place, a resort. After a few moments of contemplation, I obliged in hopes of exploring the streets of Shimla (Spoiler Alert: That didn’t really happen, but more on that later).

I guess H is a little too extroverted for my taste. He just won’t stop talking. He gave me a history class on Shimla and not gonna lie, it was fairly informative. Almost 30 minutes later, H dropped me off at a highway. Reaching the resort involved climbing a lot of steps. I eventually made it to the top and checked in. The tired me took a nap seconds after seeing a warm blanket. However, later that day, I thought I might as well explore the streets of Shimla.

The resort manager told me there are two ways to get to the main road — going all the way down or climbing a little up. Naturally, being the lazy ass I am, I chose the latter. I started climbing and it was all good until I saw multiple monkeys approaching me. 🐒

While I don’t usually count monkeys in my “OMG! run” list, I didn’t want to risk getting scratched. So I decided to come back and climb down instead. Until….you guessed it…I saw more monkeys on the way down. I went to bed, ate a couple of Shimla apples (they taste so yum!), set the alarm, and called it a day.

Day 2: En Route Chitkul

I had an early start to the day, thanks to the infamous frequency of buses to Sangla. I got ready and was all set for the journey. I called H up and he came to drop me at the bus stand. Although I was initially skeptical that he might not make it, he did show up, albeit a little late.

Anyhow, he dropped me at the bus stand 10 minutes before the bus departure. On the way, he gave me tips on booking the right seat for the trip. I rushed to the booking counter to secure my seat and fortunately, I got a window seat. At least, that’s what I thought.

Entering the bus, I witnessed that my allocated seat is already taken by an uncle. When I asked him about it, he said he had been assigned the same seat from Delhi and he’d get down in ~25km. Fine, I thought. I looked at the three-seater in front of me and noticed two empty seats and a cute young woman.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked her. “Why are you asking me, ask the conductor,” she replied. How rude! Anyway, I decided to settle down there and eventually forgot about my actual seat, thanks to the scenic view I got from the front seat (To be clear, I’m speaking about the mountains and btw, my gf is not imaginary).

Hours went by and the multiple turns the bus took left me a little dizzy. Since I didn’t have neck pillows, I couldn’t even sleep with proper neck support. Out of desperation, I decided to ask the rude cute young woman if I could use her shoulder to sleep for a while.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s call her RCYW going forward. To avoid coming off as creepy/awkward, I first asked if she wanted to sleep on my shoulder. She said no. Then I proposed my actual request, wanting to sleep on her shoulder. She smiled and said no again. :( Emotional damage!

Takeaway: Buy neck pillows before the next trip or flight.

Not gonna lie, at this point, I was feeling a little awkward and sleepy at the same time. So I decided to distract my mind with the TV series I had thoughtfully downloaded offline before the trip — Shrinking.

A few episodes go by and I spotted an empty two-seater to my left. It also didn’t have sunrays that slightly affected the screen visibility and disrupted the viewing experience in the current seat. I moved to that seat and continued my journey, splitting time equally between enjoying the magnificent view outside and catching up on TV series.

Things took a turn when a mother of two requested the seat citing her kid is likely to vomit (She was right, the kid did vomit :3). I obliged and went back to my seat near RCYW. By this point, the view outside was getting so beautiful that I didn’t care about RCYW. I kept snacking apples and grapes I bought from Shimla and eventually reached Sangla.

After getting down, I noticed that RCYW’s mother (presumably) was there to receive her. I went to the ticket counter to enquire about the next bus to Chitkul and he told me something devastating — the last bus to Chitkul just left. Right when I was about to lose hope, he also mentioned that the bus stops in the market ahead for a while and I might be able to make it if I go fast.

Hearing this, I channeled my inner runner and ran at the best possible speed with ~10kg of luggage. I almost felt like Geet from Jab We Met, except that I managed to catch the bus (Yaaay!). RCYW and her mom saw me running too :3. While I felt accomplished to have managed to board the bus, that feeling faded after the bus didn’t start for another 10 minutes. I could’ve easily made it had I walked. But then, I didn’t know it would stop for 10 more minutes, so I don’t regret running. :)

My joy knew no bounds when I saw the Welcome to Chitkul board. Later that night, I reached Zostel Chitkul and got all settled in. Got to know about my roommate P who was thoughtful enough to buy whisky from Chandigarh and generous enough to share. We got a lil tipsy, talked for a while, and eventually went to bed.

Day 3: Chitkul and Chill ❄️

The third day of the trip turned out to be the most memorable one. I woke up early in the morning and had breakfast from what’s allegedly the last dhaba of India (Narrator voice: It wasn’t).

Over the course of the journey, I visited this dhaba multiple times, just for their amazinnggggg tea and the mountain view. They won’t tell me the recipe though :( (trust me, I tried :3).

A Cycle Ride to the Indo-Tibetan Checkpost

I then rented out a cycle from the folks over at Zostel Chitkul. The familiarity of a Rockrider mountain bike put a smile on my face. :) It was -10 degrees when I set foot on the MTB and started my journey to the Indo-Tibetan checkpost. Albeit short, the journey was rewarding and a visual pleasure. There were highs and lows, and I carefully navigated every corner as I admired the mountains around me.

Having reached the checkpost, I saw an armed security officer. A few friendly chats later, I was on my way back. Right when I was about to reach Zostel, I saw another route that led to the river. Naturally, I took that path too and reached the river bank. The climb back, however, was steeper than the mountain ride!

I went back to the room and prepared myself for the next activity — mountain hiking! I got to know from Zostel that there’s a national flag trek that lets you witness, well, the national flag. Intrigued by the idea, I decided to do it! I asked the natives for the best possible route after lunch and found the way.

Mountain Hiking 🧗‍♂️

After deciding to climb the mountains, I started the preparation phase to make sure I had everything to support me along the way. I charged the phones, power banks, earphones, filled hot water (more on this in the Appreciation section), took tissues, gloves, and bought energy drinks.

I took multiple breaks along the way and it felt like the mountain kept growing every time I reach a corner and think I’m almost there. Somewhere along the middle, it started snowing! I screamed in joy after experiencing the first snowfall in my life. ❄️

As I went higher, the snowfall’s intensity kept increasing and I eventually made it to the top. There it is, the national flag I was looking for. Well, almost. It was torn and 90% of it wasn’t there. I won’t comment on the possible causes for this, but it was a little sad to witness, even for someone who wouldn’t call himself patriotic.

Lost in thoughts and joy of witnessing the snow marvel, I forgot one thing — the route back. Yup, that happened. I looked back and all I saw was snow and mist. For a moment, I did panic, just a little bit. However, I was determined to find a way.

Going downhill through a random path involved hopping through multiple rocks, crossing various thorny plants (my poor butt :( ), and being extra sure I don’t slip and rest in pieces. Hours later, I managed to find the right path and make it downhill. Yaaay!

Came back home, took a warm shower, indulged in some well-earned rest, had dinner, and dozed off. The next morning, I got to know that the power went off due to the weather. It never came back, at least until I left.

Day 4: More Chitkul; Return Journey Starts

While it’s sorta cool that Chitkul is the last village of India towards Tibet, it also comes with caveats — connectivity. The buses are not as frequent as you would expect and at times, they may even get canceled due to extreme weather and snowfall. In fact, the bus that was scheduled before mine got canceled, while mine fortunately arrived.

The snow from last night started falling from the roof as the sun gradually showed up. I then played what I call snow cricket — wait for the snow to fall and hit it with the cleaning stick. It was fun! 🙈

Having decided the return journey, I was in the common room with limited battery left to scroll away. Thanks to that, I grabbed a book from the shelf, picked a blanket from the room, and started reading a book. Somewhere around the third chapter, I met E.

E seemed like a cool person and she was also solo-tripping. We played Uno for a bit (I won, btw) and headed out. She was planning to board the aforesaid canceled bus. That said, she didn’t wait for the bus I was waiting for and decided to start her journey in a tempo traveller. For what it’s worth, she saved three hours. 🫡

My bus eventually came and there, I met S. We bonded over our shared love for KitKat and kept each other company until her stop arrived.

I must say I got lucky on the return journey. I got to occupy a three-seater (body) and a two-seater (legs). While I had to eventually give up the two-seater, I had the three-seater to sleep until I reached Chandigarh. Although the journey was fairly comfy, there’s one part where my planning went wrong (other than the neck pillow) — keeping my feet warm.

In an attempt to get extra cozy, I removed my shoes and started sleeping with socks. Big mistake! My feet got really cold to the point where I was uncomfortable and couldn’t sleep. I even tried improvising with what I had to keep my feet warm: I put the tissues I had and inserted my feet in a cloth cover. It sorta helped, but I knew it wasn’t sufficient to make it through the night.

So where is my bag with extra socks, you ask? Well, I had kept it in the bus’ luggage section for effective use of space. I tolerated the cold until the next rest stop and rushed to pick up my extra pair of socks. Huge sigh of relief! My feet got warm and comfy in a few minutes and I went back to the seats for a nap.

Day 5: Exploring Chandigarh

By the dawn of Day 5, I arrived at Chandigarh — the last stop of the trip where I board the flight back home. Since I had sufficient-ish rest on the bus journey, I decided to charge my devices for a while from the accommodation and set out to explore Chandigarh.

At this point, exploring Chandigarh felt like a side quest to fill the time until my flight takes off. But, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw when I got out there exploring Chandigarh.

The first stop was a lake called Sukhna. I was planning to go on a boat ride, but unfortunately, they didn’t allow single rides. :( I looked around and got to know there was a place called Rock Garden nearby. I also noted the timings of a double-decker touristy bus that shows the city around.

I decided to walk since the garden was a few meters away. Trusting Google Maps, I ended up at the back gate that was closed and not accessible to the public. That’s where I met R and S, two gentlemen from Malaysia. They were also misled by Google Maps and we ended up being buddies during our garden exploration.

I had low expectations for this garden, but I was happy to be proven wrong! There was a lot of stuff to see and most of them were made out of recycled materials. It was creative, thought-provoking, and profound in a way. I also loved being on a swing after what felt like forever!

After the garden exploration, I headed back to the lake to board the double-decker bus. It gave me a nice view of the popular places in Chandigarh and the ride was worth it, despite the blazing sun.

I then went back to the accommodation, packed my stuff, reached the airport, and flew to Bangalore. In typical Bangalore fashion, there was a cab shortage at the airport. But I eventually managed to find a ride home and slept like a baby (in the vicinity of a bunch of dead cockroaches (more on this in the Home Updates section). Fin! :)

Appreciation ✨

I’d like to express my gratitude to the wonderful people over at Zostel Chitkul. They answered all my queries and were very welcoming. I remember making relentless hot water requests even after the power went off (What do I know, I’m a hydrohomie :) ) and they politely obliged.

The hospitality was incredible and they even went the extra mile to come look for me at the bus stop thinking I forgot my jacket. Although it wasn’t mine, I really appreciate the gesture. 🥹

Let’s Talk Money 💸

One of the key aspects while planning a trip is having a budget. And I did have one for this trip. It was Rs.30K inclusive of flight tickets. Throughout the journey, I logged every expense on Splitwise, and here’s what the result looks like (Yup, I overspent by Rs. 2,073):

To put that in perspective, let’s do some math. Going by the fact that the trip lasted for a total of 5 days, let’s consider 120 to be the total number of trip hours. That would mean I spent 267.275 rupees per hour. Or 4.45 rupees per minute. Does that sound a little expensive? Maybe. Do I regret it? Absolutely not! A small price to pay for salvation.

Speaking of planning, I guess I’m getting better at planning stuff. Or as I like to call it, ✨SRAM✨ (Strategic Resource Allocation and Management). I used all the clothes I brought from here (including socks) and everything I brought along had a purpose at some point in the journey.

Is Chitkul the Only Last Village of India?

Of course not! Upon looking up on the internet, I found these other places:

• Mana, Uttarakhand (officially deemed the last Indian village, apparently)

• Turtuk, Ladakh

• Jaigaon, West Bengal

• Dawki, Meghalaya

• Moreh, Manipur

• Wagah, Punjab

• Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu

• Sunauli, Uttar Pradesh

Home Updates

Although my mission to clean my bathroom mirror turned out to be a colossal failure, my plan to get rid of cockroaches was a resounding success. Over 15 roaches lost their lives after I strategically planted cockroach chalk traces, cockroach killer dough (PSA: It looks like atta, but please don’t get carried away), and naphthalene balls all over the house.

I call it “The Great Roach Massacre 2023”. RIP roaches, I’m not proud of the outcome, but it had to be done. Won’t miss you though. 🫡

Sidenote

After coming back, I’ve been catching up and easing into daily life. Doing chores, meeting important people, appreciating Bengaluru flowers 🌸, catching up with shows, etc. And that reminds me, why is Succession unavailable to stream, ugh? I had to put my pirate hat on to keep up. Now that we’re on the subject, here’s the theme song (yes, I won’t stop talking about this glorious masterpiece) for your listening pleasure:

If you ask me, they should’ve launched HBOMax in India alongside Justice League Snyder Cut back in March 2021. It would’ve been the perfect timing for a big movie release, a new home for HBO content, and whatnot. But no, HBO decided to stick to Hotstar for its catalog.

Thanks to infamous streaming wars and licensing deals, we don’t know where the new home for HBO content will be. Under Amazon Prime Video as a channel? Likely. We’ll have to wait and watch how things unfold after March 31.

Treat Dhaba 🍜

I think I’ve finally made peace with the whole self-care vs self-obsession thing after watching this Instagram Reel (or it’s confirmation bias, you never know). But yeah, I have stopped overthinking this part, at least for now. Yaaay!

As I mentioned above, I’d recommend watching Shrinking on Apple TV+. It has Marshall from HIMYM and it’s a good watch! The only sad part is that it just has a single season as of this writing.

Until next time! Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay mobile,
Subin