Writings on books, cinema, tinkering and living a productive life
I run a group chat which is a space for in-depth discussions about long-form articles/blogs/books or anything else that fascinates us. Unfortunately, since the group chat is on WhatsApp, new members can’t access old entries, so this post is a compilation of all the suggested links posted in the group so far. Personal Productivity An argument for logging off Loved this writeup. That frame of…
Started on: Dec 16th, 2025 Finished on: Mar 18th, 2025 Time to read: 39 hours, 54 minutes Also published on Goodreads “Medieval” and “Dark ages” has become two faces of the same coin in popular culture, so much so that we almost always use it as a synonym for decadence. Like all sweeping generalizations, though, seldom is this accurate. Mr. Durant showcases how much depth…
Check it out on Letterboxd Extremely happy that a film with an original story is the biggest blockbuster of the year, but man did it feel rushed and poorly executed, especially in the second half. I don’t watch trailers before watching a film, so I had no expectations as to what’s going to come. The film, unfortunately, feels like that famous horse-drawing-beginning-end meme; you can…
Started on: Dec 20th, 2025 Abandoned on: Dec 23rd, 2025 Also published on Goodreads I picked up this book expecting it to tread into the choppy waters of war, ethics of killing and the psychological costs associated, something that the title itself told me to expect. Alas, as I continue reading, two things became clear - 1) Grossman was never going to go against the army establishment, being a…
Check it out on Letterboxd Technicolor maximalism at display. Every shot feels controlled and patient and you can feel the craft shining through. The story is immaterial, maybe even treated as a crutch to let the visuals speak some narrative. Oh, the visuals. Sitting in the theatre on a Monday evening; and I almost wished that not many people come to see the show, and felt bad when that wish was…
Started on: Mar 26th, 2025 Finished on: Apr 8th, 2025 Also published on Goodreads Memoirs are by definition biased, which means you have to always put things in perspective and exercise caution while forming judgement. However, it is seldom that you get an insider look into the dirty underbelly of Big Tech, partly because it can be a career suicide and partly because the lawsuits make the rest of…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Check it out on Letterboxd An important film not just for the career of Kitano but an interesting take on the Yakuza genre films. Sharp cuts, pensive soundtrack and absurdist portrayal of the leading man. When you typically watch gangster films, the violence is glorified and the men responsible for violence seem to enjoy doing it. Spinning that whole genre on its head, Kitano…
Read 2 times Started on: July 29th, 2023 Finished on: Aug 24th, 2023 Time to read: 14 hours, 31 minutes Also published on Goodreads Update from my 2nd reading A kind friend gifted me the hardcover version of this book. It was a sublime experience - to be able to hold the narrative in your hands, flip through the insanity and come out of the house with a greater understanding of human beings.…
Started on: July 12th, 2024 Finished on: Aug 29th, 2024 Time to read: 9 hours, 9 minutes Also published on Goodreads I have been riding motorcycles for past 7 years. I’ve had so many crashes in the early days that people were afraid of sitting as a pillion on my bike. Slowly I started internalizing few things and gradually the accidents stopped. This is a typical journey of how you learn any…
Recently when my mom got a new phone, I wanted to remove some system applications from the phone which are bloatware. Now doing this with a laptop is fairly easy, we can just use adb to uninstall, however the task becomes difficult if you cannot use a PC. Found a way to do this via Shizuku + Hail : Install Shizuku Starting with android 11, you can use ADB on the device without using a PC.…
Started on: Jan 31st, 2023 Finished on: Mar 19th, 2023 Time to read: 15 hours, 55 minutes Also published on Goodreads A phenomenally written book! Mr. Rushdie is a master of using metaphors and he went all in in this book. Weaving together multiple narratives, using India’s post-colonial history in a postmodern prose to deliver a magical realism masterpiece, there’s no wonder why this…
Check it out on Goodreads It’s a uniquely strange experience, when you try to put yourself into others’ shoes. It feels fake, dishonest even, to say that you “understand” how the other person must be feeling. Empathy can be a strong force, but it can never be a substitute for the original feeling. A caucasian man can never feel what an African-American man must be living…
Check it out on Goodreads I remember first knowing about the Sackler family when Jon Oliver did a segment on them, and I remember feeling infuriated. Little did I know about the empire that they had created, riding on the wave of people’s addictions, creating and fueling the opioid crisis and absolving themselves of all the blame while at the same time, putting up their names on all the Ivy…
Check it out on Goodreads This book falls into the category of books that I like to call “Fast-food books”. They won’t necessarily make you healthier or your mind sounder, but it’ll feel really good while you’re eating them. There’s only so many anecdotes you can digest. The most common criticism that people have with these kind of books are that they…
Check it out on Goodreads Nothing extra-ordinary in terms of content, but special when you think of the book as a compilation of useful frameworks to think about time. Alas, I stumbled upon Four Thousand Weeks at such a point in my life where I’ve already been a productivity addict for so long that it’s impossible for me to make a fresh start. The central theme of the book - that you…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Check it out on Letterboxd Can there be a more difficult task than being asked to select a single memory from your life that you want to carry forever? As humans, we contain multitudes and we want to resist any attempt to put us into a box. But what happens if you’re asked to choose something which you’ll cherish for the rest of your life - would you let go of all…
Check it out on Goodreads One of the principal joys of reading is to discover the magic hidden in the seemingly banal things in life. I would’ve never cared to think twice about the intricacies of designing buildings and urban spaces, had it not been for this book. This serves as a gentle introduction to the fascinating study of how subtle differences in design of public spaces affect…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Check it out on Letterboxd We are all empty houses, waiting for someone to open the lock and set us free. There’s something romantic about living on extremes. This applies as much to my film taste as it does to my day-to-day life. Nowhere is this more evident than in a crucial element of cinema - dialogues. On the one hand, you have Celine and Jesse showing us the entire…
Check it out on Goodreads There are two kinds of favourite books for me; one where every chapter brings with it a fresh wave of insights about things hitherto unclear for me, and another where I get amazed by the love, understanding and empathy that is on display throughout the book. I guess this is the age-old debate of reading for pleasure and utility, between fiction and non-fiction. I…
Check it out on Goodreads Ethics is hard. If I’ve learnt something all these years, it is this universal maxim. Everybody wishes they’d make ethically sound choices in their lives, but more often than not, ethical choices are in contrast with cost and convenience. Nowhere is this more apparent than the way we consume food. There are a lot of similarities between food and religion. Both…
Check it out on Goodreads Now that I’ve moved away from reading fiction, I find that I face a lot of inertia to pick up something purely for pleasure. Maybe this is a nasty by-product of wanting to be as “productive” as possible. But the more I have drifted away from reading for pleasure, more mechanical the whole process has become for me. Partly to avoid this feeling, and…
Check it out on Goodreads Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. I have no affinity for running, even for short jogs, and much less for wanting to run long distances. Although this is not because I hate exercises - one of those rare things that I figured out early in life was my desire to remain healthy as long as possible and that of course means I need to keep myself fit - but probably my…
Check it out on Goodreads I find India really fascinating sometimes, even though I’ve lived my whole life here. What the cultural multitudes and colorful festivals hide underneath is an ugly facade which threatens to break everything that has been built over the years. What I find most fascinating is how we’ve conditioned ourselves to ignore the blatant reality and move ahead with an…
Check it out on Goodreads I tried to sit down multiple times to write my thoughts on this, but alas, they’ve been eluding me for quite some time now. Needless to say, this feminist manifesto doesn’t require any introduction and I can’t do a proper review right now, so I’ll just give a personal push to folks reading this - pick it up even if you don’t plan to finish…
Check it out on Goodreads A fine book which dives deep into the prevalent social attitude of creating gender differences and how difficult it becomes to disassociate oneself from the gendered identity. The more I think about gender, more and more I become entangled into this weird loop of seeing every social thing in a different light. Those seemingly-innocent “bro” comments between…
Check it out on Goodreads I have had a very curious relationship with religion, although now that I talk to others, it was a much more normal experience than what I led myself to believe. I followed the typical path of receiving a particular religion from my parents (born a “Hindu child”), which had a supporting role in my life up until my late-teenage/early-adolescent years. As is the…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Check it out on Letterboxd Over the years, I have increasingly gravitated towards films where supposedly “nothing happens”. Characters talk, no attempt is made to instill a moral point into the minds of the audience, which is usually accompanied with long, patient shots of people existing in their environments. This was an excellent specimen of the same dish. I had…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Check it out on Letterboxd A slow, methodical display of patience and absurdity juxtaposed on the vast landscape, this film has something else going for it. When you read the synopsis or look at the posters, you expect a certain police procedural drama - the kind of which you’ve been accustomed to till date. What you get is a completely different take on the trope. The…
Also published on Goodreads I was in a state of frenzy and anxiety, unable to decide on how to get started on numerous projects that were pending for a while. So naturally, I decided to procrastinate more and picked up the first book from my bedside table, thinking to calm my mind for a few minutes. Those few minutes turned into 3 hours as I sat obsessively with this book, forgetting to eat, drink…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Check it out on Letterboxd Motorcycling community is laden with fist-pumping-muscle-bulging-neckbeardy-speed-ninjas-Harley-fans, and it usually gets a bad rap all across the world. Gaurav Jani is none of these things. His passion and humility and curious nature reminded me why I loved biking in the first place. This is a must-watch for anyone fascinated with two wheels and the…
Check it out on Goodreads I had picked up this one thinking it to be an autobiography, and with an expectation that it’ll cover Rajan’s tussles with the government in more details. I was pleasantly surprised to find instead a good collection of technical essays covering the workings of RBI, and economics in general. If you’re looking for a good explanatory work in the field of…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Check it out on Letterboxd There are films which you wish you had watched earlier in life, and there are others which don’t make sense until you have had your fair share of world experiences. Waking Life falls in the former category. The college sophomore me would have been really excited about discussing vague notions of self and freedom and free will and morality and…
Also published on Goodreads I have a special affinity towards people/books/shows/films which make me laugh at the horrible human experience, while at the same time, allowing me to introspect and be amazed at how clear and precise their understanding of the self has been. It’s the reason I adore watching a horse whine about how selfish and pathetic he is in Bojack Horseman, or to see Rick…
Check it out on Goodreads (For some reason, this review has resonated with a lot of people - it’s currently the top review for the book!) I don’t have a lot of friends who are supporters of the ruling BJP (well at least the ones who have disclosed it publicly), and consequently whenever the conversation shifts towards the ongoings in India, more often than not, we find ourselves…
Check it out on Goodreads Reading fiction has always been a double-edged sword for me. Some of the most intimate moments I’ve spent alone is while reading fictional stories, while at the same time, feeling a pang of disappointment for myself because I wasn’t doing anything “productive.” Is this mere entertainment? Am I just escaping my real-life responsibilities and reading…
I don’t know why, but I liked the eyes-only version more. Linked below is the work-in-progress sketch:
I used to be obsessed with Sherlock (the HBO show) during the time it aired, and part of my fascination was with Martin Freeman here, who so brilliantly played the role of Watson.
I have a particular affinity towards this sketch as I was very apprehensive about attempting Einstein, his face had much more complexity than what I usually dealt with, but it turned out good enough in the end.
Completely botched this drawing, but it reminds me of the drawing streak I used to have back when I was in my hometown during college vacations.
I was either high or I had watched a sad movie before attempting this piece. A strange juxtaposition of Chaplin and Hitler.
My first attempt at drawing after dabbling in caricature pieces in my childhood :)
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Check out this review on Letterboxd Anhedonia . The Wikipedia entry for this word says: a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. At one point or another, we have all experienced some version of this phenomenon - may be characterized by an oversaturation of love, or caused by a prolonged mediocrity in life,…
Check it out on Goodreads How to fool the world and become a Billionaire I remember hearing about Elizabeth Holmes when I was in my late teens, at that impressionable age when you get hyper-inspired by reading about icons that are going to change the world. There was a profile of her in Wired, with an eye-catching image of her wearing a turtleneck black sweater holding what looked like a test-tube…
Check it out on Instagram I’m scared. No, not because there’s a pandemic going on, even though that itself is enough to make one lose their mind. There’s another deadly virus crawling its way into my whole being. Slowly eating away at my sanity, feasting on my thoughts, mutating inside my head as if a colony of ants was given an open invitation to a room full of sugary syrup.…
Check it out on Goodreads A disappointing jumble of thoughts Disappointed. I am an atheist interested in the power of mindfulness and the whole world of so-called spirituality, so naturally, I am the ideal audience that Sam Harris is looking for. But it disappointed in almost every domain that I had expectations in. Using deep-sounding difficult words and wrapping them in an almost mythical aura…
Check it out on Goodreads World history in a nutshell More than 1100 pages, this behemoth of a book still fails to capture the whole essence of world history - and rightly so. How can you combine over 2000 years of human history and still do justice to every element? But the unique manner in which this book - or more appropriately, collection of letters - has been written, it shines brightly…
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Check out this review on Letterboxd You can spot Wes Anderson trademark from a mile ago, although this is the only movie by him which left me dissatisfied. The unique and swift camera movements are still there, the colors still pop out like from another universe, the absurd comic timings still bring a smile to your face - but you won’t feel the kind of personal emotional…
Check it out on Goodreads Reasons you should read this book: If you’ve ever had a panic attack. If you’ve ever counted the number of times the ceiling fan rotates, just so you could avoid dealing with the endless voices in your head. If you’ve ever felt ashamed to admit that you might be suffering from the D-word. If reading about personal stories of how people overcame their…
Check it out on Goodreads I have been a lover of music since my early childhood - runs in the family - and have imitated and performed songs (mostly inside my own head) on numerous occasions. Despite this lifelong love affair with music of all kinds, there was one particular genre of music that always baffled me. Mostly because of my own ignorance, but partially also because nobody else was…
Check it out on Goodreads There are few books which leave you in a mesmerizing state after having read them. You ponder about it for days to come, want to scream your head off about it to anyone who’d listen, and then dwell in this fear of picking up another book because how can something else ever come close to being this perfect! I have felt this way before - first when I’d finished…