Basically what I’m focused on at this point in my life.
Inspired by https://nownownow.com/about
Last updated: March 2026
How have I been?
Q1 coming to an end. Last 1 month have been busy with 1 project or another. In a good way that comes from juggling 3-4 fun things at a time.
In that sense - I realised that I am actually closer to the goal of an ideal life that I had imagined for myself couple of years back. Scales differ. Not really attending mega-conferences yet. Neither heading out to Bali with like-minded friends to just “chill”. But I have been travelling. And writing. And having fun with projects at different stages of completion. Meeting new people, having fun experiences and good conversations.
March has been good. I needed the change of pace these last 3 weeks.
Two things are absorbing most of my builder energy. One is a tool for making the career landscape actually visible. Not like job boards or LinkedIn’s blech! feed. But closer to a map of the full terrain. The other is the Public Living Room experiment - a drop-in space for makers and thinkers, no agenda, just interesting people and ideas. Face to face. Outreach is underway. An urban historian and architect I met recently has become an unexpected collaborator-adjacent person in this.
Running is back on schedule. Getting better with spoken Kannada. Writing has taken a back-seat.
Still in Bangalore. Still finding it generative.
P.S: Oh…and one more thing: Had fun running Picasa using Bottles :)
Picasa was a lovely software which, among other things, allowed you to create stacks like these.
The big three:
- Writing the book has taken a backseat. (Earlier deadline was: June 2026)
- Been practically absent from Substack”;
- Moved away from my Hey blog for good, having migrated everything here at nextfive.xyz
- Still planning to self-publish via KDP / Pothi; Earlier dealine of June 2026 no longer seems doable, unless I take it as just a task to complete
- Learning to earn without a salary (my version of financial independence)
- Also stalled: Experimenting with different income streams through process / automation consulting for NGOs and small schools. Lack of outreach after the couple of lukewarm responses.
- Exploring real-estate investment opportunities has been more time intensive than they should be. Going slow. Will continue till April 2026.
- And the initial leg-work on systems for people to expand what they can become. The community building around Public Living Room concept - connecting interesting people around ideas and projects - will be part of these systems. Hopefully I’ll have more to share on this one in coming weeks.
Recently read:
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant compiled by Eric Jorgenson: Found myself arguing with almost every 3rd page of the book and agreeing with some point every other 4th page. Quite engaging and thought provoking, especially if you are in a certain frame of mind.
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Thank you for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs: The author’s general tone started grating on me a bit after a couple of chapters. But not enough to prevent me from finishing. And good reminders on what makes for good persuasive cases beyond logic - like Pathos and Ethos. That is - the emotions and your own personality as perceived by your audience. Decent read. (Here’s some other stuff I have read )
And watched:
- Drive Away Dolls: Continuing on my journey with Ethan Coen / Tricia Cooke trilogy. Expectedly bizzare sequences and funny. The one scene with Matt Damon for example…
- Dhurandhar: A surprisingly well made Bollywood action flick with gritty action sequences and did not feel as long as it is. Also, plenty of dog-whistles - like framing things as “Hindus vs Pakistan”. The framing of “prev-govts-corrupt-current-govt-strong” is done smoothly :P Despite all these though, pretty different movie. Soundtracks are nice too.
Also Send Help and Zootopia - 2
(Here’s some other stuff I have watched )