For the first time in a month, I do not have a “topic” to write about for the 10K challenge. Actually, scratch that, I do have things to write about but because I was consistently looking for working, applying to two jobs, focusing on their assignments, spending time on their interviews, getting lost in a rabbit hole for P3’s content strategy, reaching out to a lot of people to collaborate on P3 for (and that very creatively rich collaboration with Shandilya). It’s not like I did not have the time – I found time to watch some of the F1 races from the 2025 season, even the 1979 highlights (reminding me how I need to watch more archival footage).
But all that I had outlined, I wanted a little more clear time to put into words, and even more to expand on it fully. Like my thesis on globalisation and cancel culture, the echo chambers of instagram accounts that showcase cultural trends and what that tells us about opinion makers in general. Even the evolution of long-distance rakhis, and the transition from rakshabandhan to rakhi as a response to the general urban trend of moving away from optical patriarchy.
So here’s some highlights from the week gone by. This substitutes the morning pages which also I have not been able to keep up with for 2 weeks. So let’s go:
Cracking jobs
In a happy turn of events, I got good responses from both the places I applied to, even though I did not have the direct proof of work that seamlessly mapped to their JD. But I think now more than ever, I see startups embracing three things overs hard skills – the willingness to learn, the ability to adapt, and the jigra to take ownership and responsibility, head firm.y on your shoulders. Or maybe, I have tried to focus on building these things for myself and found more value in leveraging that rather than a simple CV, or the strength of my assignment, which I think is a broken model of hiring anyway.
I am nervous, to be sure. After 8 years in freelancing with complete control of my time, stepping into this phase comes with its own share of doubts. But there is also this underlying feeling that now is the time of something more stable, something to build. And alone, I simply cannot do that.
Cracking the world
I am a part of 18 groups, each of which erupts at least once a day with something new in AI. From behind that screen, the confusion and the chaos is real. Even if you filter all the noise, and stick to the information that might matter, there is still the sense that I am not using AI efficiently, or pushing it to its maximum potential for my work. There is the sense that this is a beautiful window of a year where some of us, those with a lot more information and context than the common public, might be able to build something for the future. Perhaps this is how bubbles are made and burst. But we also know that those who ride these waves well position themselves so beautifully for their future.
Just earlier today, my uncle – second generation businessman – spoke to me about trying new-age businesses, and how he was ready to fund them if the idea was strong and the intent clear. Being inside these conversations feels like I am THIS close to something that will turn the tides of my fortune, will accelerate my growth – yet I cannot grasp it completely. Not the way I grasped P3. Not the way I grasped Digital Humanities.
Not lack of action, but a lack of knowing what to act on. Finding that “click” on an idea, no matter how nascent its stage.
Cracking content
Ever since I started this challenge, I keep revisiting Juliet Ashton’s quote – The doing has given me the appetite for doing more. The writing has given me this burst of energy and will to do more. Pitch and create and build and make stories – they are every where, and as an artist, just seeing them go by feels tragic.
But the consistency on things that matter has stayed, including taking time out of social obligations to create a reel for World Sanskrit Day. It was the fastest effort, with Mahek directing, and it has done well too.
The returns are heartening to see. The movement on the needle what I needed to actually sit and write this piece with about an hour left in my “free time” for the day. After this, it’s on to Rajadhiraj, NMACC, and a family day out in what looks like it will be pouring through it all.
I am not as well planned for next week as I had hoped. We will make up for it.
Cracking life
One of the things I have always delayed are doctor’s appointments, bank stuff. Stuff that’s going to have hard results. With time, with getting less scared of failure and finding the bias for action, these have gotten easier. So over the next two weeks, I will have answers to my health, which will change how I think about and design my future.
This year, I really want to find and go to Andaman – before the government development projects destroy it. Once I finalise a job, I will make a concrete plan for it. I want to apply for speaker gigs at all the festivals. Apply for short-term fellowships in Europe. Teach summer schools across the world. Build a life that’s globally mobile, in short but intentional bursts of time.
This covers the things on my mind. The public space is not for things of the heart, but they are there. Festering. That quiet resentments and the strength of longing, the restlessness of waiting. Stories for another platform perhaps, or another time.
For now, it’s onto a new week. Same energy, big decisions to make, and bigger commitment to stick to them.
Gearing up!