welcome to my little corner of the internet.
each month, I share recent discoveries and long-time
favorites: blogs, books, research papers, videos, and other hyperfixations.
my favourite speeches
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Imposter Syndrome Is A Scheme: Reshma Saujani
Though you've probably watched Jobs' Stanford commencement, it's always a good idea to watch it again.
This is water – David Foster Wallace.
quotes of the month
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"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas
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“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs, exactly 20 years ago
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"Who doesn't like pie? Communists. Terrorists. Enemies of American freedom." – Anthony Bourdain
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"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." Again Albert Camus
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"Who has not asked himself at some time or other: am I a monster or is this what it means to be a person?" Hour of the Star, Clarice Inspector
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"Long you live and high you fly, smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry, and all you touch and all you see, it’s all your life will ever be” Pink Floyd
Articles I read recently, last 4 are pieces I keep revisiting:
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Good conversations have lots of doorknobs - Link
(My friend recently shared this with me, and as a yapper i learnt lot about myself, and i think everyone should read this, all of us would have better conversations. very well written)
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BreadCrumbs - Link
(Again shoutout to Aarya for this gem! something i would like to work on)
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Chattel Childhood – Link (weird and very good)
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The deaths – and lives – of two sons – Yiyun Li, New Yorker – Link
(Possibly the most gut wrenching piece of writing I’ve ever read. I am still thinking about it after days. having lost a loved one to suicide, it really resonates.)
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Contra grant on exaggerated differences – Slate Star Codex – Link
(good piece on the gender gap in tech. Despite being a feminist, this article changed the narrative for me.)
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Conformism: Paul Graham – Link
(I think I read this before, but don't remember clearly. Written in 2020, but rings truer even now.)
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The Lesson to Unlearn – Paul Graham – Link
(I keep reading this one often, as I've realized what is education if not learning to learn, learning to unlearn, and then learning all over again.)
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The currencies of a life well lived – Link
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P’s Parties – Jhumpa Lahiri – Link
(I read this in 2023, first time i ever read something by her, and i just remember how how fascinating the narrative voice was)
I absolutely love watching documentaries – learning about recent world history through accounts of people’s lives, often made possible by the courage of investigative journalists. I love Isobel Yeung – she is one of my idols. Unfortunately, most of her docs are removed India (but VPN works), here are some of the docs, debates, podcasts i watched recently
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Come September – Arundhati Roy – (Though delivered in 2002, this speech hits even harder in today’s India. Roy reflects on power and powerlessness, the dangers of nationalism, and the grief that violence leaves behind)
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A Look Inside a Taliban Courtroom – The New Yorker Documentary (my favourite documentaries of all time)
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Inside Iran: What Happened to Iran’s Women-led Uprising? – Isobel Yeung, Vice
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Charlie Kirk + Q&A / Debate – Cambridge Union
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Imran Khan Talks Cricket, the Taliban and Being Ousted from Power – Isobel Yeung, Vice
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Bharat Ek Khoj Ep18, Bodh Gaya – Unfiltered by Samdish
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WTF is Longevity? – Nikhil Kamath, WTF Podcast (one of the best Indian podcasts)
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How Falling Behind Can Get You Ahead – David Epstein, TEDx (no he is not THAT EPSTEIN)
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Worst of the worst: El Salvador Prisons – CNN (great piece on how prisons have made El Salvador safer, though here's another video exploring the casualties and human rights violations.)
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Some interesting channels I recommend checking out – this, this and this.
