I love these peaceful few moments every morning when I pause, sit back and relax. Looking out to the greens spread out in front of my porch. Bird chirping, cooing amongst those branches - a green maze yet untouched by the human atrocities. A cool morning breeze gliding against my body.
All I do is focus my mind to nothingness - a soft focus, no thoughts, no plans. The regularities the life serves can wait. Not for long, of course. But I breathe my calmest breaths in these short moments.
Science is mercilessly murdered on WhatsApp groups.
So am logged into Clubhouse app now. What next? I think this service has one of the worst first login experience. Nothing I see there is interesting. Again, possibly audio is a costly medium to get in and out of?
I finally stopped reading The Guest List. A quarter in and not hooked yet to any character’s plot, I just couldn’t go any longer. It became tiring. I also didn’t enjoy the shifting view point across 4-5 characters. Interesting, but put me off every single time.
What’s the farthest you go into reading a book before you decide it just isn’t for you? I am a quarter into one and am still not hooked. I won’t continue anymore - it was only it’s high ratings that made me come this far. But no more.
Hello Friend,
My daughter recently learnt how to ride a bicycle. I spent two weeks making her follow the basics, inspiring her to give up on the fear of falling. I had marked the first week to convince her that falling is how she will learn not to stay down. She should learn to get up and pedal again. It’s OK if you fall, you won’t cherish the efforts otherwise.
Once she had that thought imbibed, all I had to do was hold her and run along. I ran like crazy, like I had not in ages. I ran, and then I ran some more. Until one fine morning when I let her loose and saw her pedal along. I jogged next to her, a proud smile on my face. In being a parent, I was reliving a phase of my childhood.
Yesterday, we rode our bicycles together, with her alongside me when we came across a kid learning with training wheels. I could read her eyes wonder why didn’t I get those added wheels for balancing. I planned to tell her that it would have taken her longer to learn with that support attached. My mind was already racing along, talking to her, telling her.
The artificial sense of support holds you back, dear. Just like me running alongside you, never releasing you, will. I will always hold you back from riding away, from taking control of your path. I can make you aware of your fears, but it is you who has to surmount them.
However, she never asked. I never said. Maybe, she already knew.
What are the training wheels in your life - supporting you but thereby preventing you from taking the flight? Anyway, with that said, here is a selection of three brilliant works of writing.
[N]obody ever tells you, but did you know that when you have a baby your hair falls out? Not all of it, and not all at once, but it does fall out. It has something to do with a zinc imbalance. The good news is that it does grow back in. This only applies to girls. With boys, it falls out whether you have a baby or not, and it never grows back in; but even then there is hope. In a pinch, you can resort to quotation, a commodity which a liberal arts education teaches you to treat with respect, and I offer the following: “God only made a few perfect heads, and the rest lie covered with hair.”
Many of the people who came to us were of the kind who would be a nuisance anywhere but have special opportunities in a bookshop. For example, the dear old lady who ‘wants a book for an invalid’ (a very common demand, that), and the other dear old lady who read such a nice book in 1897 and wonders whether you can find her a copy. Unfortunately she doesn’t remember the title or the author’s name or what the book was about, but she does remember that it had a red cover. But apart from these there are two well-known types of pest by whom every second-hand bookshop is haunted. One is the decayed person smelling of old breadcrusts who comes every day, sometimes several times a day, and tries to sell you worthless books. The other is the person who orders large quantities of books for which he has not the smallest intention of paying.
I could read of railway accidents every day–the newspaper atmosphere was foggy with them; but somehow they never came my way. I found I had spent a good deal of money in the accident business, and had nothing to show for it. My suspicions were aroused, and I began to hunt around for somebody that had won in this lottery. I found plenty of people who had invested, but not an individual that had ever had an accident or made a cent. I stopped buying accident tickets and went to ciphering. The result was astounding. THE PERIL LAY NOT IN TRAVELING, BUT IN STAYING AT HOME.
Have any recommendations or feedback for me? I’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply, or you can even email me.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
-Amit
Why is Apple TV+ available exclusively on Apple devices? Is is such a big pull towards Apple ecosystem? iMessage, I understand. But not TV+. Isn’t reach important for the shows?
I got overwhelmed looking at the color palette spread across Android 12 via Material You. I have spent minutes just choosing the wallpaper. This much customisation is not for me - I need customisation-as-a-service.
Free beer, money. Free rides to vaccination sites. And the incentives continue to pour in from the administration in US. And then there’s the struggle for vaccine slots in India & other contries.
Faulty, lethargic adminstration? Economic gap? Selfish, mindless leaders? Sure, the reasons are many. But how does one argue with a common man who is convinced it’s an unfair world? That it’s a world where the scales are always tipped towards a richer populace?
I hate binge-watching shows, but I fall for it so often. I like the weekly release of the new episodes. I wish the streaming services forced an episode a day even for released shows. I know they won’t - it impacts their key business metric.
“You can get rid of masks if you are vaccinated” is a faulty message. People are selective listeners. A section might ignore the later part.
How to (Actually) Save Time When You’re Working Remotely →
During a time of global crisis, it’s healthy to prioritize relaxation, and it’s natural that we might struggle to maximize productivity at work. But as we return to semi-normalcy, what can we do to ensure we use our time savings to pursue meaningful activities that make us truly happy?
What’s the recommended Text Expander utilities for Windows and Android? It comes so handy and is another thing I miss from Apple ecosystem. Only one that I’ve come across is Phrase Express.
Before there was Twitter and Facebook and other social media, was there any physical equivalent of likes and reshares. And hashtags? Because these interactions stem from the social instincts of us humans, right?
How crazy is the mind? It already believes mask is the normal attire. Just a thought of seeing people around without masks makes it queasy.
I always struggle giving titles for my regular posts - especially quick thoughts. Sure, if I’m writing a tech post or writing about a specific topic, giving it a title is easy. But forcing title on every post is fiddly. It can never encompass what the post is about.
Look what I got! Thank you, Jean ☺️
Hello Friend,
At the surface, this channel of communication feels so abstract. I don’t know whether you read this to the end; maybe you skim through for something of interest. Whatever you do, I feel as if I am writing a letter to an old friend. I bear no sense of entitlement just because I am writing an issue of a newsletter. On the contrary, I feel honoured that you allow space for my ripe thoughts in your inbox. I appreciate you taking the time, even if all you do is skim.
Anyway, I have, for many years, struggled to find time for things that matter, to make time for them in the routine. A routine that keeps getting tangled with each passing day. The problem has recently aggravated as I stay locked down at home, always connected. I pass the time without being aware of doing so. I know this isn’t healthy.
The book “Make Time” sets itself up with just that problem. It presents a set of tips and tricks “for improving focus, finding greater joy in your work, and getting more out of every day”. The self-help books tend to crow over whatever little they have to say. This one was among those rear ones that win me over by their simplicity. It inspired me to bring in some simple changes to my routine.
To list a few, I follow a fixed sleep routine now; I exercise and meditate daily. My smartphone unlocks to a blank home screen with no apps, no widgets waiting to distract me. I spend not more than 2 hours on group meetings in a day. I am not letting others’ priorities run my day.
Every morning, I write down a highlight that will bring some sense of satisfaction to the day. Every evening, I log out from all my devices and spend a good hour or two with my family at a fixed time.
And the list goes on. In short, I desire to be conscious of how I spend my time. I have made many minor shifts in my routine in the last month. Do I see any gains? I am not judging yet. But I am leading my life at the very least.
Anyway, I hope this letter inspires you to contemplate whether you are doing the same with your life - consciously living it. With that said, here is a selection of three brilliant works of writing.
Who is your “everyone”? Chess masters scarcely surround themselves with motocross racers. Do you want aborigines at your birthday party? Or are you serving yak-butter tea? Popular culture deals not in its distant past, or any other past, or any other culture. You know no one who longs to buy a mule or be named to court or thrown into a volcano.
So the illusion, like the visual field, is complete. It has no holes except books you read and soon forget. And death takes us by storm. What was that, that life? What else offered? If for him it was contract bridge, if for her it was copyright law, if for everyone it was and is an optimal mix of family and friends, learning, contribution, and joy of making and ameliorating what else is there, or was there, or will there ever be?
The truth is, most wisdom is embittering. The task of the wise person cannot be to pretend with false naiveté that every moment is new and unprecedented, but to bear the burden of bitterness which experience forces on us with as much uncomplaining dignity as strength will allow. Beyond that, all we can ask of ourselves is that bitterness not cancel out our capacity still to be surprised.
Real pain, as in the case of being burnt at Smithfield or having a toothache, is a positive thing; it can be supported, but scarcely enjoyed. But, after all, our toothaches are the exception, and as for being burnt at Smithfield, it only happens to us at the very longest intervals. And most of the inconveniences that make men swear or women cry are really sentimental or imaginative inconveniences—things altogether of the mind. For instance, we often hear grown-up people complaining of having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train. Did you ever hear a small boy complain of having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train? No; for to him to be inside a railway station is to be inside a cavern of wonder and a palace of poetical pleasures. Because to him the red light and the green light on the signal are like a new sun and a new moon. Because to him when the wooden arm of the signal falls down suddenly, it is as if a great king had thrown down his staff as a signal and started a shrieking tournament of trains.
Have any recommendations or feedback for me? I’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply, or you can even email me.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
-Amit
Say you are focused, reading something and thoughts keep popping up in your mind. About some stuff that you need to search for or quickly check the status of or need to research on later. Or simply make a note of. What do you do? What’s the quickest way to get back to reading?
I clicked on a link to an article at CBS. As per my defaults, it opened up in Firefox. CBS asked whether it should open in their app or continue in Chrome. Chrome? Is Chrome synonymous to browser now? That can be healthy for the web.
After almost 30 years in business, Yahoo has come to be known as a straight-up villain. [T]he company’s most notable characteristic at this point is “the sheer amount of destruction they’ve done to the historical record.”
Ever notice the view is wrong in all first person games that exist today? In reality when we look around our eyes don’t just rotate but actually swing side to side and even up and down. As an example this video shows Skyrim configured for our real vision.
I am surprised that the bike sharing projects are failing. Maybe it’s not tried in proper markets, yet. I remember I rented bicycles very often as a child. No technology, just trust. Sure, the lockdown that pandemic had enforced throughout the world must have had an impact.
It was exactly a year ago that I had posted my thoughts on a few key questions. The idea was to capture how I was doing right then. It was a welcome and much needed introspection. I didn't want to miss on the opportunity to revisit the answers from the last year and see what has changed.
It was a nice exercise. My thoughts a year back were so quite unfamiliar to what I am going through today. So, here's an update to the same set of questions. Again, I would love to hear how you are doing.
How are you taking care of yourself today?
Regular exercise and daily meditation. Reading a lot more fiction and non-fiction. I'm still listening to music and many audiobooks. Staying far away from news.
Garden at my home. The wooden swing at the top floor that overlooks the garden.
Biscuits. Lots of them.
Nothing grips me any more. Maybe I have grown numb?
I have stopped staying awake late into the Friday and Saturday nights. That was one habit I had, stay up late either mindlessly watching something or working on side projects.
As an effect, I am following a pretty routine. Get a calming and wholesome sleep.
Which specific place in your neighborhood are you most looking forward to visiting once this is all over?
Again, every part of the neighbourhood. Especially malls and the restaurants.
Getting bored. And getting creative.
Cash. And fancy clothes. What I wear at home is often good enough even outside.
Kindle. Headphones.
Calm workaholic.
Global Stupidity. Political Divisiveness. Natural Selfishness.
I am happy with the format that I’ve settled on for my newsletter Slanting Nib. A regular personal update followed by the recommended reads. Plus a colorful artwork from India. It’s simple enough for me to curate and I feel should be clean enough for the readers to follow.