Recap of 2025

Found a good social circle by moving to Bangalore

This was the biggest improvement compared to 2024. Living in Bangalore did wonders for my social life. I not only reconnected with the old college friends, but also made some amazing friends who share similar interests and hobbies. Adult friendships can be hard to find, but if you have a diverse group of friends, get-togethers become so fun.

Concerts

Found out how much I love going to concerts. The best days of the year were when I was in concerts.

Dating

Figured out a good dating strategy for me. I started this year with experiments on dating apps. After many many distasteful experiences, I started approaching people in real life, and oh boy did that work. Not only that I met an amazing person, but I became a confident person when it comes to dating. Thanks for the Models book by Mark Manson which gave some amazing mental models on how to approach dating.

Giving tech talks and meetups

One of the best things about Bangalore is its passionate tech community. I started out by attending a lot of meetups, almost every Saturday. Teaching any topic, especially to an intelligent crowd on white board without jargon, opens your brain in unthinkable ways. It helps you find your own voice. I gave talks on two topics: Authentication principles, and Transformers training.

Immunity improvement

When living alone, falling ill is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. In the early months I struggled with my health, and fell sick more frequently. Then my sister suggested that I take Chawanprash daily, and that really helped. This was a complete game changer when it comes to managing my physical health.

Dressing sense, hair care improvements

I used to feel I didn't have good clothes. Like many men, I grew up with my mother and sister deciding most of my dresses. I realized I didn't have good mental models of how to think about fashion. So I did what any average human 10 years back would have done, I bought a book (title: wear it well) on dressing sense. Results were very pleasing, not only that book helped me define my style sense, it helped me view my wardrobe in a new light. I applied a similar approach to my hair care. It was really interesting to understand why, when and how you should use conditioner and oil. Overall getting a book to solve your daily life problems turned out as a very good approach.

Not feeling depressed about life

Mental health is the most critical piece in achieving a sense of happiness and content. There were many occasions when I was feeling so low that I wrote some very depressing poetry. I am very glad that I found some ways to deal with these issues. First, I found the antidote to melancholy, "sleep". It works like magic. One movie in particular helped me think about this meaningless life, Dead Poets Society. The movie encourages everyone to find their own voice, don't confine yourself to conformity but express your inner voice sincerely. The movie also kindled my love for poetry and language.

Learnt swimming

Learning swimming and doing a continuous 50m swim across a 16 feet deep pool was an exalting achievement.

Cafes

During my JEE days, I improved around 5000 ranks from mains to advance in a 2 months period. The secret was obviously luck, but also I was able to discover something about myself that helped me increase my focus hours. The secret ingredient was to sit outside of the house instead of in a comfortable place. In Jaipur summer I used to have a place without any fans. Extending that theory, in Bangalore I think I can focus for around 12 hours on a stretch in a cafe. The third wave cafe has become my second home.

Audible

When I changed my stay, I discovered the biggest feature of Bangalore, the traffic. It takes me around 20-25 minutes to reach my workplace. This opened the opportunity for me to listen to audio content while commuting. Audible filled that gap nicely. I listened to all Mark Manson books, now I am listening to Morgan Housel on the loop.

Guitar improvements

I learnt a lot of new songs on Guitar. Chahun mein ya na highlights all my jamming performances now. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Hl4qlkfPQ)

No international travel

Last year I did two international trips, and other week-long vacations. Vietnam vacation was the best vacation so far for me. This year I did no long trips with friends. From the travel front this year was a wasted opportunity because of poor planning. I didn't plan my time off correctly. I also realized it will be hard to do trips with friends going forward, they are getting stuck with their own stuff. But talking to Devesh I realized this gives an opportunity for interesting solo travels.

Engineering prowess

Worked on only one product, one codebase, less engineering prowess than most monsters out there.

Books I read this year

Three body problem, Models (mark manson), More than you know, Moneyball, Subtle art of not giving a fuck (mark manson), Zen art of motorcycle maintenance, Calvin and Hobbes, Wear it well, Beautiful Hair Beautiful You, Some Dale Carnegie here and there, Why do you care what other people think (richard feynman), Psychology of money, Life in the wood (Henry D Thoreau)

My top songs this year

• Hind ke sitara
• F1 movie tracks (bad as I used to be, lose my mind)
• Dhurandhar movie songs

Best story from the year

Lolla 2025 was epic, best weekend of my life so far. Shawn Mendes and Green day. Having Rushil alongside helped enjoy even the average musicians like glass animals.

Travel story of the year: The impromptu Goa trip on Monday night. How you always think fuck this job, I want to chill on a beach, I made it come true, and it sucked. Learnt so many important lessons on the trip, including the importance of regular travel to look things from different angle.

Best watch of the year: Dead poets society (best movie ever), Midnight in Paris, F1 movie, The good place, Onward (disney movie), Solo levelling, following F1 races.