Debugging Life

Just came back from Allston Market. Got myself a packet of maggi, some frozen parathas, a couple of good days and buttermilk. This is a very unusual shopping list of mine, since I make my own rotis and dough, along with buttermilk. And rarely do I get myself maida (maggi and cookies). You might have guessed. It's my final week in Boston. There's no point of buying a 10 kilogram aashirwad atta, or basmati rice pack.  Also, I stuffed all my clothes into one large cardboard box. The jacket from banana republic, that black t shirt i never wear, the cargos and linen pants, the 3 tommy shirts I got, my favorite pair of denims, and this list goes on... While packing, I realized I don't wear 90% of these clothes. It's the same 3 tshirts, 2 shirts and 3 trousers for me. I can (an am) surviving without those 'extra' clothes. But for some reason, I cannot throw them away. It's not about the material value associated with them. Heck, I couldn't care less about their...

Hola! Dear Reader, Right now it's Saturday, 3:52 AM. It's July in Boston. Peak summer, humid days, hot nights, and a loud-ish white noise of my age old window air conditioner, which I bought from a couple living in Cambridge for around $80. I think this is one of the most useful purchases I did - of the few things I get for myself. Anyway, this blog was in the back of my head since the last time I wrote it in 2022. It was a conscious effort of me wanting to reduce digital footprint, I fairly managed to do so. But hey, a lot happened in these 20 months! I mean it - A LOT. Changed a lot as a person, learn quite a few things (grateful for them). And grateful for everything.  Updates (unsolicited) Tucky graduated !! P in Jersey !! Him, Ashish bhai went to Utah, Kedar bhai left USA for Canada !! Made new good friends... and some 46 more things (which I won't be writing here). (Fortunately) I got laid off in Feb 2024. The first 2 days were devastating, but then I realized that ...

It was raining since Thursday evening. The dark blue sky, cold breeze, and sound of raindrops as if someone was constantly rubbing hands on your bedsheets. Satyam finished his office work. Oh, what a day it was. He was thanking god that atleast he got some forty minutes to cook his lunch that noon and feed himself. Until that point of time, those forty minutes were the highlights of his day. The smell of chicken breast simmering on the hot oiled pan. Aroma of Thyme, Garlic Powder, Paprika, and some salt was reminding him of his mom's culinary skills. The golden brown color of chicken was exactly like the sunset that he saw more than 2 months ago at Charles Esplanade right infront of Massachussetts Institute of Technology. The sunrays striking that dome of MIT across Charles, he used to think, was itself a metaphor. That he had to cross a river of mediocrity from his side of Boston to touch that MIT's coveted Sloan Institute of Management in some 3-4 years. Suddenly, he came to ...

Hey Stalker! I came across this beautiful poem by Wang Ping called "Things We Carry in the Sea". Whose excerpts are like: "We carry soil in our small bags; may home never fade in our hearts We carry names, stories, memories of our villages, fields, boats" And also another couplet: We carry old homes along the spine, new dreams on our chests We carry yesterday, today, and tomorrow... I always tend to feel a bit lonely whenever its major festival in India. Today is Dusshehra. I miss my small town. It's called Indore; the name of which is unheard by most people. When I was a boy, I used to be excited about this day. Used to watch Ramayan on TV and then would wear new clothes and wait for evening Pooja. Then Baba would take us to watch the Raavan. Sometimes at Jai Baba's house or at Dusshehra Maidan.  One time I remember, we went to Babu Bhai's house and he made us Kheer. He was a Qaadri (a Muslim), but that's the beauty of our town; people were knit tog...

Lately I've buried my head in books. Mainly psychoanalytics, some fiction, and an autobiography. But this time, I'll be noting down my interpretation of this absurd but revolutionary idea given by Sigmund Freud which helps us to understand why humans in general are motivated to do things that shape their personality. I'm assuming most of you might've heard this idea of associating sex with behavioral traits by Freud. Now, if you're hearing this for the first time, it WILL seem very weird and gross. But Freud says, every child in some way or another sexualizes his mother. I mean not just in a sexual way, but he's attracted to his mother even in terms of emotional dependence. The reason being that, when a child is young, the only female interaction he gets is of his mother. And in the same way, he sees his father as someone who is taking care of his mother, to whom she is attracted. This makes the child to become like his father, because the child perceives his fa...

Hey stalkers! Yesterday around 7 in the evening, I received a call from Katie that I got the job!! I don't want to reveal a lot at the moment, but it is a big financial firm headquartered in Chicago with offices all round the US. They're paying me decent money (not too much, but given that I'm just entering the corporate, it's good), plus 401k, bonus, and UNLIMITED PAID TIME OFF !! With the option to work from anywhere in the world - which I'll be working from BOSTON or MIAMI or NYC or CALIFORNIA... I mean they're very flexible as long as I'm getting the work done. Now, I'll start searching for apartments, a car, and finally a good lifestyle!! Let's see how it goes. Extremely grateful for the gods and this life. Best, S