About my life experiences and learning
The earliest memory I have of being body shamed is my school friends calling me “Gundu”, meaning someone fat. They found it cute and I tried to brush it off, but it had become my identity. That I am fat. I have countless memories of being fat shamed since then. A cousin of mine called …
I wish you understood me for who I am and I wish I knew you for who you are. We’re blinded today by the pain we each endure. May this veil of smoke lift one day and reveal us for who we truly are. May we have the fortune of growing lighter in knowing this …
All life advice must be like prescriptions. The problems we face although are universal to some degree, they also are specific to each of us. Perhaps you will benefit from the advice to work harder and I’d benefit from the advice to not hustle. The kind of advice we need will vary based on our …
About 1/3rd of my life is over. I don’t have much time left to waste. It’s time to start living. One day my knees will hurt and I won’t be able to walk or run or dance even if I wanted to. So I want to dance today. One day my hips will hurt and …
I’ve been living in an imaginary cage all this while. There were no real bars holding me back. I was smart, capable, loveable, beautiful and enough all this while. I had just learned a lie that I wasn’t any of these. I had been kept prisoner to the world’s approval and validation that I thought …
It’s been on my mind to go see the familiar bridge near my place. I finally got myself to go this weekend after procrastinating for the last two. And it was quite beautiful. More than what I saw, it was the fact that I did something nice for myself that mattered more to me. I …
Can you live simultaneously the reality of your greatness and smallness? All your achievements and brilliance is true. And so are all the things you don’t know and your insecurities and imperfections. Can you accept both realities and constantly work with them? Neither one is true without the other. The truth is that they both …
You’ve been empty because the people you were looking at for love didn’t have any to spare Maybe you now see the emptiness. You feel it for real. It is painful they do not have it in them to give to you. But they are not love. Love is love. Love is universal. Love is …
I’m melting. Watch these and tell me – didn’t it make your day? :’)
What you searched for outside of you, was all this while within you. What you wanted to run away from was always meant to be your refuge. The you, you wanted to abandon was always your home. You’ve been gone a long while. Go home now, take refuge and search within. In your pain lies …
There is longing in love and a whole lot of love in longing. For I long and I love, just as it is bitter and sweet – bittersweet. Source
Imagine our lives were just stories and imagine you and I writing it together. I write my part. Give you the book and you write your part. Together, we shape our story. You’ll see here that you are responsible for your part of the story alone. You could try to use your part to get …
For long I’ve been working on a few problems such as obseity, constant burnout at work, splurging money, perfectionism and overachievement, anxiety in relationships, talking more, abandoning myself to nurture others and so on. I listened to the YouTube gurus and self help books and tried a lot of the suggestions. Nothing helped me much. …
Context: I struggle with perfection and doing way too much than I can handle. I’m extremely self critical and quite hard on myself. I also tend to compromise myself and my health for work. These coupled with trauma have pushed me towards burn out and depression in the last few years. I’m finally taking the …
Things that have drastically improved my mental health Read More »
I’ve been binging on the Handmaid’s Tale for a few weeks now. While the show initially was extremely painful to watch, I soon got used to the Gilead world. I’m currently in S3 E3 and my brain connected a few dots around sense of agency. Spoilers ahead and you may not fully grasp it if …
A collection of short essays on identity. Choosing to be Who are we? or Who do we want to be? I used to label myself heavily. I am this or I am that. Today, I know enough to know that that was stupid. We are fluid, not just binary states. I also used to think …
One of my biggest recent epiphanies is just how much thinking and action we tend to outsource. I’ve been trying to buy a few things off of amazon and I was noticing the sheer number of ‘buying guides’ for these things. Overwhelmed by the details and specifications, I found myself quickly looking for recommendations. If …
I picked up sewing this weekend and stitched my very first crop top! The project wasn’t exactly intentional. I’d gotten two dresses that I wanted to shorten. That’s how I took the sewing machine out. But the fabric leftover from the dress was too good to be thrown out. So I ended up figuring out …
We all like to think that all we have are good qualities. We’re constantly in search of reassurance and validation that we’re all good. We’re walking on eggshells in the world carrying our ever so fragile ego. When the ego is challenged, we’re defensive and quick to blame the other. For the one thing we …
doesn’t matter. The number of books anyone reads in a year does not matter. Reading is not a competition. There is no one type of reader. Neither is reading x number of books a year good/bad. We read to follow our curiosity, to understand what is being discussed and to enhance our sphere of knowledge. …
I’ve been noticing something – there are a number of books that I used to not be able to relate to or read through beyond a few pages. But as time passed, I became increasingly able to pick up some of these titles and get through them and make sense of them. The Alchemist was …
Rough transcript of a section I liked in the video: “You should see yourself as the free, willing, independent, responsible human being. And you should have certain noble hot powers that have been called to your attention and to which you’ve been invited to give yourself that will enable you to act in terms of …
No decision is right or wrong. No decision is good or bad. No matter what we choose, we can never know what would have happened on the other side. But what we do have is the power to choose at any given point. Sure, we may be scared or we may be faced with killing …
I just saw Mare of East Town. Kate Winslet plays detective Mare Sheehan in the show and she has done a great job as always with her acting. But what consistently stood out for me was her style. She rocked the role in simple clothes – greys, olives, black and blues, jeans and a messy …
1. Find the prompts that make you feel like you don’t have an answer to them. Or the ones you see and immediately think you know everything about this prompt. These are especially interesting since they may highlight your need to not dig deep by assuming an answer or by avoiding the question altogether. 2. …
As someone who has been meticulously conditioned to be “worthy” by “accomplishing” more in the professional fronts, it puts an immense amount of pressure on me to keep achieving things. Sadly, this childhood trait has continued well into adulthood and more than motivating me, it cripples me. I think as a kid, I was very …
Writing has become such an integral part of my life since my college days. Between journalling and blogs, I’ve learned to articulate my thoughts and emotions well and they’ve really helped me get clarity for myself and be of help to a few others. But then… I stopped writing. When I initially started writing, I …
One of few things that gave me the most joy recently is remaking my walkman playlist. I was gifted a Sony walkman in 2007. Back then I used to download songs to our computer and then transfer it to my walkman and listen to it endlessly. I grew up being extremely fond of music – …
Growing up, the world around me tried to actively define me and shape who I must be. There were musts and must-nots at every step of the way, clearly shaping parts of my identity that were acceptable. It is only when I moved to London for a year that these notions truly got shattered. The …
My dear vava, At the time that I write this letter to you, I’m 26. The world around me asks why I haven’t given birth yet. I should have had you by now, they say. This is unfortunately the world that I live in today – one that tells me what to do and what …
If I could, I’d gift this book to everyone.
Today I finally wrap up my Master’s commitments. After gruelling 4 months of work, I’ve finally turned in my dissertation. When I look back, I see a year of resilience. It was an incredibly difficult year with challenges one after the other and I’m not even talking about my course! But a few people have …
What starts out as a weight loss journey ends up being a real transformation journey for Will Smith. The narrative is beautiful and it highlights how Will became who he is. What I loved the most is how they strived to maintain authenticity throughout the show. My favourite quote from the series: If you have …
Lately, I have been forced to face certain choices which do not really have a great outcome, no matter what I choose. To not choose is painful, and both options have painful outcomes. When struggling with questions such as this, I’ve gone back to the core of my priorities and made the choice that best …
What do you do when both outcomes of a choice hurt you? Read More »
You can run from the whole world. You can hide behind facades. And you can actually fool everyone else. But none of these will heal you or help you. None of these will transform your life for the better. None of this will make you lighter. Even when you are running, you are carrying your …
I happened to participate in an LSE student panel representing my program – MSc in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The event was for prospective students and offer holders to clarify their questions. I’ve been getting numerous questions and personal messages about my SIE experience as well. So thought I’ll pen down some of my responses …
I’ve had the pleasure of living with some really nice folks from across South Asia at my student residence in London. We all went out for lunch today at Colonel Saab and it was such a joyful experience to have an Indian meal with everyone ♥️ I was quite excited and elated to see everyone …
When I first came across stoicism, it felt a lot like advice that asks you to be a rock and not feel anything at all. To be unperturbed by all things life and just exist. It seemed so very unreasonable to me and I have ever since dismissed all things stoicism. Not only because it …
“According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ambition is defined as an ardent desire for rank, fame or power, while aspiration is defined as a strong desire to achieve something high or great.” I have forever used these words interchangeably. Wanting to achieve something great does not always have to do with rising in rank, fame or power. …
Today is the pride march in London. The streets are full of people who are owning their own selves and are celebrating love. Because I live in my own cocoon, I had no idea I was stepping out into a pride march. I was initially taken aback by the crowd, but soon, I started smiling …
You are your responsibility. No one owes you anything. No one has to come running to take care of you. You are enough and you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. But human beings thrive on social connection. So it is important to have friends and family, but without the expectation that it …
Brutally honest and forthcoming, psychotherapist Beverly Engel talks about abuse, shame and healing through self compassion. I wish I knew about this before.
In between my assignments, I’ve been rewatching legally blonde and I have refound my appreciation for it. Judge me all you like, but I like those movies! I think what was so striking was how the character refused to change herself to “fit in”. She was so proud of herself. She stood up to what …
I’ve been wondering about my future plans for the last several weeks. As someone who has always thought about “what next?”, I find it quite difficult to not think about the future and have a few options ready. But at the same time, the ghastly uncertainty glaring back at my face scares me. The fact …
How much peace today do I want to trade off for tomorrow? Read More »
I’ve seen a lot of people who are happy to chat away about the problems with the social impact space as it is today and how everyone’s doing a bad job of helping people and the planet. There’s so much talk about what business leaders are not doing and how nothing seems to “make a …
Immediately after receiving negative feedback, it becomes difficult to really see what’s being conveyed. Especially if our expectation of the work/outcome is different from the feedback, it can take a while to really accept the feedback. But once we take the time to cool off a bit and look at the feedback with, fresh set …
Have you noticed how you learn a “lesson” the hard way, and then you know what to look out for or what not to do.. but then you do it again? And somehow you do it again and again, learning the same thing again and again, until you accept that trait to be your identity …
You learn the same thing until you really learn it Read More »
Its been a while since I took off on solo trips. Today some how was one of those days after a long long time. I’d finished some work for my assignments and then been feeling meh after a heavy lunch. I wanted to step out to get groceries and shop something. But what was to …
When we choose something, it is so easy to only think about what we get from that choice. However, by choosing something, we are actually letting go of something else. Oftentimes, I think the conflict with making such choices and accepting them comes from our inability to make peace with that loss inherent in the …
It’s been difficult to associate with the various professional identities I’ve had. Engineer Community developer Sales professional Program manager I’m all of these, but not any one of these. The biggest tug of war has been between “entrepreneur” and “management professional”. I’ve not been able to fully associate with either of these, yet I have …
I don’t really want to do a full book review. I will just say that this is the ONLY book I have read cover to cover from the moment I picked it up. I generally do not read books in full. I read them in parts because not everything about them fascinates me. But this …
In the short span of my career, I have seen two kinds of people – those who give great feedback such that the other person is encouraged to improve and those that only rip apart the other person. The effects that these two folks have on you are very different not in the “guidance” they …
Much of adult life I think is about discovering who you are, identifying your needs and ways of fulfilling them, serving your purpose and more importantly, learning to love yourself. We are all broken in some way or the other and as an adult, I think it becomes our responsibility to learn to love ourselves …
It has been a while since I’ve put myself out there. A lot has been happening at my end and it seems like I must take some time to be with myself and take care of myself. I lost my thatha (my maternal grandfather) on April 26th. He is someone I grew up with during …
I’ve been observing how these social media apps affect me and what their place is in my everyday life. I’m definitely not a fan of facebook. But instagram! oh boy! It is a very addicting app. I find myself casually browsing instagram and consuming all sorts of random, useless information during every tiny break I …
As much as I’m wondering what the significance of all these traditions of seeing the vishu kani are, I’m equally excited to have seen them today atleast on video call. Perhaps it’s the familiarity and a sense of community / belonging that makes me feel so good about celebrating vishu. Today though, I hope to …
Real love is selfless. It is secure and gives you a sense of stability and safety. Great love makes you a better person. It makes you WANT to be a better person. The right partner will double your happiness and reduce your problems by half. With the right person, things will be easy. There won’t …
It’s so easy to look left and right and want to do what everyone else is doing. It can be tempting but is that what works for you? For all you know, they might be just excitementing random things and if you just copy them, it may not work for you. Before asking will I …
I think people are motivated to do that which they find purpose and meaning in. Because if one can spend hours together in playing video games, I think he or she is driven to play video games and finds meaning in it – could be atleast pleasure that they get from it. While if they’re …
We all do so many things to make people like us. Very subconsciously that too. But end of the day if someone likes you but doesn’t respect you, I feel that’s a bigger problem. Because then they’re not valuing what you say or want, but they think you’re nice because you always comply. We cannot …
This question was asked by Sukriti, a good friend of mine over Instagram Q&A. Because this merits a longer post, writing my response as a blog post! Thanks, Sukriti for the prompt 🙂 About my journey I started my fitness journey in August 2020 with a starting weight of 88kgs. At that time, I could …
A lot of my close people have hurt me in the last 3 years. For long, I’ve wondered – why me? What did I ever do to them that they hurt me like this? Why am I suffering when I’ve not done any wrong to them? And then I went on this whole search to …
People hurt us because of who they are, not because of who we are Read More »
I realised that people or circumstances break me because I give them the opportunity to. The real loophole is in my self-esteem, self-belief and capability. All that poor circumstances and assholes do is amplify the insecurities that already live within me. Some of these insecurities are very weak, but some of them are very very …
There are days when you become cognizant of the weight you’re carrying. When you can feel the heaviness in your heart and brain and you feel you cannot keep walking with this. To willfully ignore how you’re feeling is then easier than to sit with your thoughts and come to terms with all that you’re …
I came across the idea of vision boards in some random youtube video. Back in 2020, right after my depression phase, I created a board for myself. And then again early in 2021, I created another one… most of those materialised! I think what is important is being super honest with yourself. That you think …
I think our goal in life should be more internal than external – to evolve our own set of moral values and code of ethics the help us determine the kind of life we want to lead. I’ve realised that decision making is hard. There is no right or wrong answer mostly because you never …
I’ve been feeling this urge to write for a while now. It’s been months since I consistently wrote. Somehow I feel writing gives me clarity of thought, but at the same time, I’m scared of what I write. It is difficult to look at all the thoughts in my head and realise I’m dealing with …
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
So I’ve been into fitness in the last 4 months. From being lazy to even walk downstairs to collect my amazon delivery, to walking 10,000 steps, it has been quite a journey. This is about how I managed to walk 10K steps a day! But before we start, let me confess that I have been …
Today for the first time, I spoke up against someone who shamed my body. It was this aunty who came home to meet my mother and I was sitting calmly on the sofa. She made a comment out of the blue – “Look at your legs! What will people say if they see your legs.” …
Contrary to popular belief, I’m sharing my age upfront. 25 years already! Feels like I was 20 yesterday. Last year has been nothing short of transformational for me. It was much about regaining confidence and answering some tough questions. I picked up a new job, quit it, started working remotely, started learning ukulele, invested in …
One of the most important skills we will need to survive in the 21st century is to learn by ourselves. If you have spent at least a few months in the industry, I’m sure you must have realised at some point that no one is coming behind us to complete a course or do a …
I watched Perks of being a wallflower yesterday. (I know I’m late to the party) But in that movie, Charlie asks Mr. Anderson, his English teacher, “Why do nice people choose the wrong people to date?” He replies, Made me think long, that quote. I think this ties back to self-worth and it can be …
Life gives us a bunch of reasons to hurt ourselves from time to time. But is it a good approach to think that I will be truly happy only if X happens? I find that different people choose different ways of dealing with happiness, but personally, I don’t believe in setting conditions for happiness. If …
From the book: Ikigai Om mani padme hum – A mantra in Buddhism on controlling negative emotions om – the generosity that purifies the ego ma – the ethics that purify jealousy ni – the patience that purifies passion pad – the precision that purifies bias me – the surrender that purifies greed hum – …
Write for yourself. It is important to enjoy what you do and the only person you must try to please is yourself. Consistency and a great love for the work you do is a mark of greatness. Doing dedicated work doesn’t mean living a hard life. It is possible to do dedicated and important work …
God. This is a true story, I moved out of Bangalore 2-3 months back. I stopped using my ACT Fibernet connected because obviously, I don’t need it anymore. I emailed them and asked them to disconnect it. No response. Then they send me a 100 emails with discounts and offers. I appreciate their effort, but …
Why do we hold ourselves back? I was always told that I sing well. When I was 12, I had a music teacher come home to take classes for me. I was doing alright. In fact, the music teacher at school wanted me to join the prayer group. I did not find that exciting enough …
I built my first website in 2016 and since then I’ve iterated several times. Just last day I was thinking I wish I had screenshots of my old websites. And then I learn about the wayback machine that shows you old iterations of any website on the internet. So here’s the thing. For everyone who …
I see so many people fussing about the template to use. I did too. I still do. But the only role that appearance has is in turning eyeballs. In getting attention. If you ultimately do not have has the meat, there’s no point. I came across this tweet by Aleksandr Volodarsky that talks about this …
Have you noticed how some people would laugh at you when they see you strive to accomplish something? They will laugh at you because they think you’re stupid, or because they think they know better. They judge what you do and make comments about it. They try hard not to express it in front of …
My mom took a VRS from BSNL in Jan 2020. I have known her to be someone so fully dedicated to her work to the point on not having any hobbies. And so, I managed to put together a list of activities for her to try out in the hope that at least one or …
I think after a point everyone realizes how important your sleep and health are. But almost inevitably there a time in life where you live like trash. All you care about is the pleasures of a busy life. We think then that not having a second to breathe means we’re productive. Slowly you deteriorate mentally, …
Many call this a progressive move and I’m sure it will help bash the stigma a bit. BUT, I feel this will introduce more biases and challenges for women. People hardly take women seriously. Now add to that them knowing you are on your period – I’m sure they may brush off your comments as …
I came across Ankur Warikoo’s video where he talks about his failures. A bit more of my research pulled up a pdf version of the failure resume he shared in 2016. Like he says in the video as well, it is easy to look at someone’s trajectory and think that they’ve only had successes in …
I was thinking about how passionately Ganga talks about Nagavalli and her ornaments to Sunny. And then the conviction with which she defends that the chilanga Sunny has is that of Nagavalli. I was thinking about how I also turn that passionate when I talk about certain topics or certain projects I’ve worked on. Maybe …
I’m talking about the little earbuds that come with your earphone. I just started an 8 hour road trip and lost exactly one ear bud in the first 10 minutes of the trip. It’s unbelievable how these little things are so responsible for making or breaking your mood. You can probably listen to music without …
Last day I moved out of Bangalore. Its COVID season and we had to move mountains to be able to travel to Bangalore and move out. We had exactly 48 hours to travel from Kerala to Bangalore, vacate the apartment and get back to Kerala. On the way, there were multiple border crossings and at …
The hack to un-stuck yourself is this: Cheatsheet (1) Look at your goals(2) Look at the people and resources you have now(3) Do what you can with what you have(4) In the process, acquire more people and resources Repeat steps 1 – 4
I personally love journaling a lot. I’ve always relied on writing as a way to obtain better clarity of thought. I’ve journaled for 6+ years now and writing has never failed me. In 2019, I hit a rough patch with anxiety and depression. And in order to understand how I ended up in this bad …
I’m writing this in light of the countless questions I have received from young men and women alike who ask me why there are so many women in tech scholarships and opportunities. And if we still need them. To be able to answer this, let me take a step back and set the context. All …
Have you ever felt your inner self stopping you from saying or doing something? When you know in the core of your heart that you are not yourself? When you feel something is not right or that you don’t belong somewhere? If you’ve experienced that, then it means you have been lying to yourself about …
Who is this for? What would your ideal listener be like? What are their challenges? How do they feel because of these challenges? What are their goals? What would you talk about and how should that ideally make them feel? What do you want them to get at the end of the podcast? Are you …
Answer these questions if you want to start a podcast Read More »
Second Learning Club discussion was around 20% projects. What are 20% projects? Why do them? How to do them right? What we did Read a bunch of blogs around 20% projects The Radical Notion of Not Letting Work Define You 7 Reasons To Treat Your Career as an Experiment 20% projects – What they are …
I first came across this term Meraki in 2016 or so. Right from the first moment that I learned the word, I knew it meant something to me. I felt like the word really summarised who I am as an individual. I’ve often been told that I leave my signature in whatever I do. And …
It was interesting to say the least! Almabase sponsored my entire travel related to the interview. This itself was very nice of them! One I arrived, we had a rushed interview because Kalyan, the CEO had to leave to the US. So there were 4 rounds of the interview packed in just one day. I flew …
Today I interviewed with Almabase for the role of Account executive. Read More »
Writin a winning scholarship application So today I was obsessed with podcasts and decided to do a small project to figure it out. I’ve done a short intro/teaser, which is, as usual, a shitty first draft. Clip below: This was my first and only take and I kinda like how it sounds. I’m hoping to …
The title summarises my last US trip. It was May 2019 and the end of my fellowship. Rethink and Sijo were kind enough to sponsor a US travel for me. The objective of the trip was to explore the mallu network in the US and also meet with potential partners. Another hidden agenda of mine …
On May 26, 2017, just about week after graduating from college, I started working full time at Rethink. Today marks my second work anniversary. This is more of a reflection post that summarises what I’ve been attempting to do in the last two years. The problem / The purpose There are tonnes of scholarship opportunities for …
Every once in a while, I come across students who really wish to do a lot of things, but face resistance from their parents. Most of them, particularly girls, find it difficult to get their parents to be okay with them travelling. And the degree of the effort required to get parents to agree to …
This is a reflection post based on my recent experiences. I had come to hear about Dr.Vinod Prasad, a professor at NTU during my visit there. He had few research students under his wing and they continued to remember him fondly. NTU also has this NTU — India connect program that he used to anchor at the …
Reflection: Circle of influence that each individual has Read More »
We wrapped up cohort 2 of our WIT program this week and the feedback coming in has been great validation. This time, we attempted to get the learners to start thinking about their goals — long term and short term. This exercise was going by the idea that if you have a goal and write it down, …
I got selected to attend Google I/O in May 2016. Except, I had my 6th semester exams happening right when Google I/O was happening. If I choose to attend the conference, I’d miss 3 of my exams. I’d then have to write these missed exams a year later, which would delay my graduation by one year. …
Google I/O, re-scheduling my university exam and getting a job at Google Read More »
Professional development opportunities such as scholarships, mentorships and internships play a key role in shaping up aspirations, capability and confidence of students. Our thesis with Opportunity Project has been that undergraduate students are unable to leverage such opportunities not because they are not smart, but because They do not know about opportunities They do not …
One of our learning program participants brought this up and I felt compelled to write about it First up, I think this is a quite common feeling. And not one specific to women either because I have had male colleagues and friends mention they feel uncomfortable owning their achievements. I have myself gone through the …
This is a common problem. I have seen lots of students restrict themselves from doing things because of their fear of speaking in english. Somehow, they think that they really are unable to speak well in the language and hence stop short of even giving it an attempt. Taking the specific case of scholarships alone, …
This is about things I found amusing/interesting/useful form INSEAD. To know more about my visit to INSEAD, read here: Lessons to adopt from Universities in Singapore Diverse Class Each INSEAD cohort has about 70 students. At the start of the classes, you will be put into a group of 5–6 students and each student in …
This is about things I found amusing/interesting/useful form NUS. To know more about my visit to NUS, read here: Lessons to adopt from Universities in Singapore They have a decent campus tour So you can actually signup on the NUS website for a campus tour. On the day of the tour, one person from the admissions …
This is about things I found amusing/interesting/useful form NTU. To know more about my visit to NTU, read here: Lessons to adopt from Universities in Singapore They don’t have to go to classes. They can instead learn by watching recordings of classes! But if they do wish to take classes, they have to pre-book them. Flipped …
This Feb, Sharon and I visited universities in Singapore. Both of us wish to pursue higher studies from a reputed, world-class institution and thought it was only legit to go see these places we one day aspire to study at. From understanding how these universities are, realising how cool it would be to study in …
Jekyll is a static site generator that you can use to create simple sites or blogs and Github pages is a static site hosting service. By using Jekyll with Github pages, you can quite easily put together your first blog/website for free. I created my first personal website using Jekyll and then went on to …
Creating your blog for free using Jekyll + Github pages Read More »
A number of students write in to me with this question. They get selected to an opportunity and then wonder if they should take up on it. Sharing a case of guidance facilitated in this regard. Second year student at MEC, Selected to an AI Conference I’ve read your blog and I’ve sat for one …
I got selected for an opportunity. But should I go? Read More »
Rethinking Education for the new Knowledge Economy Table of Contents What is my vision to change the world? Why a 21CU? Who will benefit from 21CU and How? How do we go about building 21CU?– Foundational frameworks of 21CU– Story so far Impact Stories Where to? : Roadmap to the future How can Toptal help? About Me …
In the 2weeks of engagement with our WITx Learning Program, we have some real huge things in mind. Let me walk you through our program plan. Program Design Before talking about the Program Plan, let me share some perspectives about how we went about designing the program. Feeling we wish to leave you with I can …
Last week, the girls were on their own and they did really well! I sent one email to them with all that they’ve got to do this week and then stood by the sidelines, watching them help each, figure it out and get it done. When we decided that this is how this week would …
Last week, the WIT cohort 1 girls had a call which went great and Bubbles is a fictional character that took birth during that call. During the first activity that gave our WIT Cohort — to create an intro video, Adheetha wrote t me and said, “I’m not too comfortable speaking in English”. She somehow felt that …
This article has 2 segments: Professional email behaviours On drafting good emails Professional Email Behaviours Stay on top of your email Being regular with checking your emails is important. Since emails are the primary means of communicating reliably with you online, almost all opportunities and organisations stick to email for their communication purposes. Checking your inbox …
Coaching approaches that worked and left an impact on the WIT Cohort 1 students. Dear WIT Cohort 1 Coaches, Last week, we had the WIT Participants pick their coaches and have their first call with them. Some of you have one coaches, some two. And most of you managed to have your very first intro call …
Well the week that went by was absolutely hectic. Both for me personally and for the WIT Cohort! After a slow, comfortable and breezy start, last week we really did accelerate and get a lot of cool stuff done. This blog is me letting you in to my thoughts about our week 2 activities and …
TD for Thought Deck BTW! and TWTW stands for The Week That Was, which is basically a weekly summary of the experiences and learning the person has had. Some of my observations and learning from Week 1 TWTW submissions by our WIT Cohort 1. Here are some TWTWs by participants for you to understand what …
There are tons of opportunities available today and not all of them may be great. Some opportunities may be a scam, others may not be deserving of your time and effort. In any case, validating an opportunity and carefully understanding more about it is important before you decide to apply. How do you go about …
These days, you can find opportunities everywhere. From the newspaper, from your peers and also from the internet. Most education supplements with newspapers have a section on opportunities. Aside, you can also search on the internet for various opportunities. There are some specific websites also that list opportunities and the list below contains some of …
WIT Learning Program Designing and running the WIT Learning Program is really quite different from how I expected it to be. There is so much uncertainty in terms of figuring out how to shape the program. Our key objective is to leave the participants with the feeling and confidence that they can figure things out on …
In the 4 weeks of engagement with our Cohort 1, we have some real huge things in mind. Let me walk you through our program plan. Program Design Before talking about the Program Plan, let me share some perspectives about how we went about designing the program. Feeling we wish to leave you with I can …
We recently built Anita Grace, a chat bot that provides information about the GHCI Student Scholarships. This was very well received by AnitaB India following which we did a quick video sharing our experience. Here’s our chat bot Here’s our video and demo on Anita Grace And here’s our website on Anita Grace Now given …
Tweeting to Brenda, President and CEO of AnitaB.Org Read More »
A lot of our students these days are being selected to attend various conferences and programs that require them to raise money for their travel/visa/accommodation and so on. Since most students are not earning while in College, they will need to source money to attend these programs from various sources. Here are few plausible solutions …
How to make money to travel to conferences/events Read More »
No one likes rejections. I hate it just as much as everyone else. SKG is currently running an Entrepreneurship course at XIME. He had all his students create and publish a dialogflow chatbot. Most of the got rejected but their response to the rejection was phenomenal. They exclaimed, “Rejected Successfully!”! That’s when I realised that …
When publishing your Google Assistant App, there is a possibility that the app will be rejected if it does not comply with the general policies associated with developing the app. https://bingewith.com/article/::_Generate_Audio Let’s look at some common errors and solutions to fixing these errors. Invalid Privacy Policy Invalid Invocation Name App leaves Mic Open Invalid Privacy Policy This …
Fixing a few common errors when publishing your Google Assistant App Read More »
July 14, 2018 | Riviera Suites, Thevara Being aware of our laws and systems to protect women and other minorities from sexual harassment as a whole and specifically at workplace is crucial. As it stands now, a vast majority of women are unaware of what ‘sexual harassment’ really means and what they can do if they …
CCRRA’s workshop on Sexual Harassment at Workplace: Issues and Challenges Read More »
DialogFlow is a wonderful platform for you to try out building a chat bot. This is a quick tutorial on how you can build a test app on DialogFlow and test it using the Google Assistant on your mobile phone. So first, you need to create your assistant on DialogFlow. Then you need to click …
Anita Grace is a Google Assistant that provides information about GHCI Scholarship. This is a fun and tech-savvy way of know more about the program and works wonders in stimulating curiosity along with providing information. Here’s where you can download it from: Once you do, you have to say “OK Google, Talk to Grace Hopper …
When I was in college, I badly wanted to live on my own. I used to think to myself that some day I’d have an apartment of my own, home decor my heart out, get a scooter to hang around and a puppy dog to share some love. Well, most part of it did come …
I’ve been leading efforts at WTM Cochin as the Community Lead for the past 3 years. At the end of my first year, I was given the opportunity to attend Google I/O 2016 on a full sponsorship by Google. This is an opportunity granted to GDG and WTM Community Leads and is not open for …
I’ve often had a lot of people do things for me. Things like accompany me to some place where I could have gone myself, arrange for things that I could have arranged myself and even do things that I was supposed to do by myself. Mostly this was done by the few men in my …
Today I spoke at PEHIA’s Opportunity Hackathon. The event provided students more insights into applying for GHCI and Venkat Scholarships. By the time I got there, the students were all charged from their previous sessions with the winners of the respective programs. Ansu Joseph, Pritika Merryl and Felix Josemon shared their experiences. I started out …
Pehia’s Opportunity Hackathon:One #Deckless talk Read More »
This is a list of movies that I liked. Not in any particular order and not from any particular genre. I usually have a hard time picking movies to watch. If you have any recommendations, do let know 🙂 Julie and Julia The Butler Lion Mahanati Dangal Mary Kom Newton Hindi Medium Intern 102 not out …
Embedding code in Medium is pretty easy. There are two ways to primarily do it — by embedding the code directly on to medium or embedding it using Github Gist. 1. Embed directly in medium To embed code directly in medium, type in Command+ Option+6 (if you use mac) If you use other OS, this is what you …
This is the very first google script I tried out. Have created a tutorial also to make it easier to understand. https://gist.github.com/aryamurali/e027517468a4c05a17fb36a3f86ebc29
Last year, somewhere around August, I found myself creating 50 copies of a google document and renaming each one of them with a different title. I sent close to 2 hours doing that. At the end of the entire activity, I realised that I had missed to add something in the template document whose copies …
Information Literacy is a very important 21st century skill to possess. What does it mean? The internet today is flooded with information. Chances are that all you need is available on it. But all this information is no good if we do not know how to locate it, evaluate it and effectively use it. This …
We often receive requests to communicate to our audience through calls/Whatsapp. But our preference rests with emails. Here’s our reasoning: Emails are a professional communication medium. The professional world runs on it and conversing over emails with the students will help them get used to it. We want all our communication to be on record. …
J and K — Move up and down Shift + 3 — Delete A — Reply All R — Reply F — forward Y — Remove Label Useful Gmail Labs Canned response Auto Advance Keyboard shortcuts Conversation view
https://medium.com/learn-love-code/learnings-from-learning-how-to-learn-19d149920dc4 Take breaks, meditate, think about other things, and give yourself plenty of time in both modes. One way of making sure you’re taking regular breaks is to follow the Pomodoro technique. This is where you program for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes. ChunkingThis is the idea of breaking what you …
I’ve been using the free version of mail merge since a while now to send customised bulk emails using gmail. Today I finally decided to pay INR 1885 and subscribe to their premium plan. After I purchased the package, I noticed this: It appears that the founder has managed to sell 22349 premium packages. Now …
Making money using Apps Script: The Mail Merge case Read More »
https://www.womensaid.org.uk/ — Their information and support segment is resourceful. One of the first steps to preventing abuse is to know that you are being abused. They seem to have included a quick pop-quiz to help women realise this. Although the quiz is specific to domestic abuse, it is quite useful. I’m worried about someone else segment — https://www.womensaid.org.uk/the-survivors-handbook/im-worried-about-someone-else/ Your …
Psychological abuse (also referred to as psychological violence, emotional abuse, or mental abuse) is a form of abuse, characterized by a person subjecting, or exposing, another person to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. It is often associated with situations of power imbalance in abusive relationships …
Our lives are so fast paced that it’s sometimes possible that we get carried away as our life goes on. Somewhere in between the rush, I felt the need to pull the brake. Just for 5 minutes. That’s when I discovered the 54321 meditation. It’s a quick, simple way to be present at this very …
[facebook url=”https://www.facebook.com/rethinkcollect/videos/1016329885187967/” /] Where you naturally stand apart is where you have inherent strength or interest. Find those areas and learn deeper. Get a certification. Every time there is a higher bar you are trying to breach, there will be self-doubt. But courage is clamping down your fear and moving ahead. Don’t go for half-baked …
The WeTech Qualcomm Global Scholarship applications recently closed. In 2015, we did a focussed outreach effort to ensure that maximum girls know about the opportunity and apply towards it. As a result of that, 16 of the 18 scholars across India were from Kerala. This time around, we tried to do the outreach efforts online …
2017 was a great ride! I celebrated my last new year at Jagriti Yatra. The Yatra itself was a pretty good experience. It gave me a lot of time to reflect upon my past, my mistakes, my values and what it is that I really would like to do. That is when I had decided …
Almost always, when I discover a new opportunity I start getting excited thinking what it would be like to actually get this. But as I read through about the application process and requirements, I find myself questioning if I really want to apply. I was super excited to know about the WeTech Qualcomm Global Scholarship— …
I recently read this exceptional interview with Naval Ravikant by Farnam Street. Naval is the CEO and Founder of AngelList. In this interview, he speaks about reading, habits, decision-making, mental models, and life. Here is the original Source and Interview Transcript. Adding my notes below. Reading These days I find myself rereading as much or …
We had this little guy come into our life couple of days back. When he came home, he was ill and injured. Someone had broken his leg and he was constantly shivering. After couple of days of nursing, milk and pedigree, he is now as healthy and happy as any other dog. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb6fg1DBmpr/?taken-by=aryacmurali The guy …
Our hypothesis is that there are a number of opportunities available to students and youngsters but most of them miss out on it because They don’t know about these opportunities They don’t believe they are capable enough to get through to these They do not know how to approach these opportunities In June, we helped …
This post comes as a reflection of my experiences and observations conducting events. When we were helping girls apply to GHCI scholarship, I travelled to MEC, TOCH, NIT Calicut and CET, Trivandrum. These could easily be divided to two cases. At MEC, TOCH, CET, the event had about 2–15 girls who already knew the agenda. …
It’s time we started getting rid of the chechi’s, chettan’s, Sir, Ma’am. To me when I was first told to address everyone on a first name basis, it was hard. I did not entirely understand why, but it has started to sink in now. When you call someone X chechi, X Sir, you think you …
Today I spoke at GEC SKP on Opportunity Project and it was a phenomenal event. The students, faculty and the principal were very warm 🙂 Thank you for having me! And that is some nice feedback 🙂 Means much! Sijo also went live and the audience at GEC SKP watched him live. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaIzp2vg6Pt/?taken-by=aryacmurali Some of my observations: There …
Been helping our smart girls in Kerala apply towards the Adobe Women in Tech Scholarship. We have been speaking with them in some capacity and today I wrote an email to the girls who are applying. Some really touching responses came my way. Sharing them here. And this was my email to the girls Hello Fathima , …
Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to Vinay Menon, a stand-up comedian and English teacher. He made us literally laugh out loud. His TEDx talk is very very informative one that gets us to think — What is the purpose of our Education System? Very well spoken, Vinay 🙂 Few take-aways: Being creative is about making mistakes. …
How was your JY Experience? Did you experience any difficulties during the yatra? How was the whole JY team? What was the total expense of the Yatra, other than the amount we pay to them? How did you go to Mumbai from Kerala and reach back? What was the impact of this yatra in your …
A tribe is a group of people connected by a shared interest, connected to a leader or an idea. It takes only 2 things to turn a group into a tribe: A shared interest A way to communicate A leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and it’s members by: Transferring the shared …
What appears as an overnight success is often the result of compounded effort over a long time. You only have limited time and resources. You can’t do everything at the same time. Focus on the one thing that you want to get right and then move to the next.
Compilation of resources we use to get FB lives done A handbook on how we organise FB live sessions at Rethink. Organising Rethink Talks FB Live — Tutorial Handbook that you can share with your speakers FB Live Tutorial Best practices to conduct FB lives FB Live tips
This is something I picked up from House of Cards. In it’s first few seasons, Frank and Claire share a fantastic personal and professional relationship. Whenever one person is in the middle of something, the other person only asks “How can I help you?” Merely asking the question is one of the best ways to …
Last night, Sijo, his mummy, Saleeh and I were playing Catan. At the start of the game, mummy and I were doing fairly well while Sijo and Saleeh were at a disadvantage. Soon, Sijo and Saleeh teamed up and started helping out each other. They started reaping the benefits and tag teamed to rob us …
I’ve just started reading Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky. The book begins by saying that most of us spend our free time watching TV and drinking alcohol, not because we don’t have anything else to do, but because we never realised that we could do something else with our free time. If we take into …
People love to create and share: Cognitive Surplus Read More »
These emails came in just now. One of the first things I did at Rethink was to help students get into the Grace Hopper Student Scholarship India. This year we also have 42 GHCI scholars from Kerala, which is the highest in 3 years. Our girls make up 21% of the scholars selected across India. These …
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief that comes true because we are acting as if it is already true. Now that I know the definition of Self Fulfilling Prophecy, I recall going through this phenomenon multiple times. Whenever I come across an opportunity and read through it, the initial vibes set the tone for the entire …
And design your life around it. Have values and guiding principles in Life. Use them to design your life and take everyday decisions.
This quote was said by Frank Underwood in House of Cards (season 2), one of my favourite TV shows. This is how I understand this quote: You have the power to change something you don’t like Often times we find ourselves suffering in situations we don’t really enjoy living in. Truth is that there is no …
If you don’t like how the table is set, turn over the table. Read More »
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. If we decide that a particular task will take 20 days, then the task will extend for 20 days and will probably not meet completion even then. If we decide that we will get the task done in 20 minutes, it will take …
Rich Dad poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki A must read book for those who want to get started with financial independence/planning. An informal, easy read. https://www.instagram.com/p/BXIGOCngL-S/ Animated Book Review I found this resource on youtube and I highly recommend the video if you want a quick review on what the book talks about. This 7 minute video …
I recently started working on a full time job and very quickly realised that 100/100 is a myth. As a student, you are always taught to get “full marks”, make no mistakes. In fact, I’ve had incidents where I was scolded terribly for making mistakes. But as I started working, I realised that I will …
4 years back I discovered Jagriti Yatra during a lazy evening Facebook browsing. That very moment, I knew that I had to go on the Yatra. Jagriti Yatra is an exciting train journey taking 450 bright youngsters to 12 locations across India over 15 days to learn from the perspectives and ideas of today’s change-makers …
One Country | One Train | 15 Days | 450 Change-makers Read More »
I found his extra large nearly human-sized backpack on the seat next to me in the local train and figured out that he was a traveller. Excuse me, “Do you mind if we chat for sometime?” I asked and the rest of the story is here ☺ Hi Joaquin 😀 He is from Argentina. It’s been …
Ever caught yourself worrying a lot? Thoughts consuming you and sucking the life out of you? Getting so lost in them that you don’t even notice the cute guy who just walked by? I see myself fussing over countless issues, some immaterial, some super sensitive. Overthinking and analysing all possible terrible things that can happen to me …
Until I decided to change it. I have never really liked sitting in one place and reading for hours. I always preferred something more hands on like recycling junk or painting or trying to build a website. I always knew that books are one of the greatest resources that can transform you. But I just …
Do it for the story you’ll be telling for the next sixty years. Do it to inflame passion in every new person you meet. Do it to inspire the ones holding back from their true selves. Do it, so someday you are an example they cite to their own story. Do it, for you, every …
We are all in the quest for happiness, for a purpose in life. But little do we understand that it is human behaviour and values that impact our happiness, particularly in this materialistic world so many are living in. When asked “What makes you truly happy?” His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet replies …
My recent CF campaign #AruforJY has been well-received. I managed to attain my target amount, INR 62000 in 5 days with 52 backers! Campaign link: #AruforJY More on the campaign here: #AruforJY — Thanks for believing in me!, Campaign Overview. Here’s my two cents on running a successful CF campaign! 1.Tell a compelling story Make sure you …
10 Tips to run a successful Crowd Funding Campaign Read More »
4 years back I discovered Jagriti Yatra during a lazy evening Facebook browsing. That very moment, I knew that I had to go on the Yatra. Jagriti Yatra is an exciting train journey taking 450 bright youngsters to 12 locations across India over 15 days to learn from the perspectives and ideas of today’s change-makers …
So, this happened to me an year back, when I was in my pre-final year of engineering — It was unexpected, yet exciting. It was hard, yet rewarding. It was emotionally draining, yet one of the most beautiful things that happened to me. Oh no! I’m not talking about love. It’s about my startup journey! Packing our …
#SVAlumnitalk : Learning enginnering by building real products with #StartinCollege Read More »