Jiddu Krishnamurti warned that tradition — accumulated knowledge and conditioning — can become a psychological burden. It fixes our minds to ideas about who we are, and in doing so, blocks freshness and original thought. I felt that burden when I tried to pin down “our” past. Without clarity, confidence falters; and sometimes we overcompensate with spectacle.

In recent years, Indian culture has moved into public squares far from home: Diwali festivities on New York streets, rituals on the Thames, parades in global capitals. Some of this is simply diaspora life — communities asserting presence, finding belonging, and sharing joy. That has value. But when celebration tips into performance, amplified by Instagram, the line between pride and publicity blurs. Are we expressing culture, or marketing it?

So where does the burden appear? In two places:

1. Inheritance without inquiry. When tradition is adopted because “that’s how it’s done,” it can harden into identity armor. We protect the form, and neglect the purpose — community, compassion, transcendence, beauty.
2. Spectacle without substance. When rituals are curated for a camera, optimized for virality, the practice becomes a stage. The metrics (likes, views) stand in for meaning (connection, reflection).

This is not an argument to retreat. It’s a call to recalibrate.

A few questions can help:

• What is the intent of the practice? If it is joy, community, or remembrance, does the form we choose serve that intent?
• Who is the audience? If it’s our community, intimacy may matter more than visibility. If it’s the broader public, explanation may matter more than assertion.
• What is the cost? Environmental impact, public space, noise, labor — do we account for these responsibly?
• What is the continuity? Are we transmitting a living practice that adapts, or a frozen symbol that demands imitation?

Krishnamurti challenges us to see tradition anew: not as a museum to guard, nor a prop to wield, but as material to examine, question, and if necessary, set down. Clarity isn’t the enemy of pride; it’s the foundation of it. When we understand what we practice and why, confidence grows quietly. The need to prove — to ourselves and to others — diminishes.

Perhaps the task is simple, and difficult: celebrate with intention, teach with humility, adapt with care, and let the camera be incidental. Tradition, then, stops being a burden — and becomes a living conversation.

During a three-month break from work, I became an unwilling babysitter for my mind, and here’s what I discovered. I expected freedom but got a front-row seat to its chaotic, wandering, and rebellious nature.

The mind without a routine

After 10 days of no fixed routine (Mon-Fri job), my mind started to freak out. The anxiety that I felt sitting at home was comparable to the anxiety during a hectic day.

I expected the freedom from work to be liberating, but I realised that the mind seeks solace in routine. Routine gives the mind a sense of control. Without it, it struggles like navigator who does not know the destination.

My mind is a slave of society and master to me.

My mind started playing endless scenarios of me being questioned by a million people: “Where do you work?”. This is society’s conditioning on my mind, and this is when I realised that the mind was a slave to societal norms and prevented my freedom.

While I look back at it and laugh — it was not a pleasant experience going through this constant chatter in my head. This is fascinating since if you were born in a different country/family , you might have a complete reaction to the same set of stimuli. I believe it's because of the way society shapes one’s mind.

The Mind’s Shifting Goalposts

Through 2021, my mind had convinced me that I needed to take a break. However, after 10 days into the break, my mind was convinced that it was a mistake and that I needed to start getting back to work. It’s not just shifting goalposts — the entire game was changed from football to cricket 😂

The mind thrives on performing a post-mortem of the past and a post-mortem of the future, which is why being present is so challenging!

Have you ever achieved a goal, only to have your mind immediately set a new one?

The Mind’s Rebellion

I realised I depended on my mind for various activities — conscious and subconscious. It was like having access to my own AI that could do a lot of tasks without my intervention. However, my mind was more than AI — it had its mind :) And it rarely listens to me. Sometimes, the distinction between who was the mastermind or I is lost.

If mind were an employee, it would be the one who ignores your emails but sends a million notifications.

My 3-month break taught me that the mind is both a gift and a challenge. It’s the ultimate feature of the human experience — dynamic, unpredictable, and endlessly fascinating. By understanding its quirks, we can learn to live with it, not against it. The next time your mind starts to spiral, ask yourself: Who’s in charge — you or your mind?

• The Yogic lens
• The Economist lens

Let me appeal to your rational and logical self through the economist lens,

The Economist’s Lens — Marginalism

Karl Menger coined the term “Marginalism” from which “Marginal utility theory” was born. Menger said that as you get more of something, each new unit becomes less valuable to you.

E.g. Let’s say you bought a fancy new car and assume you own it for 5 years. You have the ownership of the fancy new car for ~1826 days. The value (happiness) you derive out of owning the car on Day 1 is the highest and Day 1800. Due to decreasing marginal utility, your happiness decreases over time.

It’s not the Bengaluru traffic — it’s marginal utility theory :)

So to keep the same level of happiness, you have to keep buying new stuff. But because of marginalism, you need to buy fancier things each time. You move from a bike to a car to a bigger house to a fancy car to a fancy home and the cycle is endless.

An Economist says you can’t stay happy forever because of marginalism

The Yogic Lens

The Yogic theory is simple. You can’t seek permanence from impermanent things. All material things are impermanent and will decay. Thus, pursuing permanent happiness through impermanent things is a fool’s errand.

So that leads to the question — what is permanent?

I don’t know the answer to this and I don’t want to speculate something that I don’t know!

But I want to share how I’m approaching this problem. These are not tenets that everyone should follow. I don’t even know if this will lead to permanent happiness :)

Health

There is a saying in Tamil “சுவர் இருந்தால்தான் சித்திரம் வரைய முடியும்” which translates to “You can paint only if you have a wall”. But the deeper meaning is a healthy body is a basic need to experience life.

Curiosity & Learning

Curiosity only killed the cat. Never killed a human. I have realised that as humans we have a genuine thirst to know and understand the World around us. The Indian education system kills this curiosity with rote learning and forced competition.

There is still that 5-year-old in us thirsty for learning. Let your 5 year old inside you go wild asking questions and discovering new things every day.

Experience over things

When I think about my happiest times, I remember eating good food and going on trips. I rarely think about things I bought. I can’t even remember most of the stuff I’ve purchased

Explore the World and discover we’re all alike

Travel expands your horizons. Despite all the differences in country, race, language, food, and culture — we are all seeking the same thing — permanent happy. When you understand this experientially, you find all these identities (country, race, language, culture) that weigh you down to be pointless.

During my recent visit to the Baltics, I had the opportunity to attend free walking tours organized by various local organizations. I loved this experience so much that I want to share a post about it and how I learned about their culture from locals. This also made me regret having missed similar experiences in other cities I visited earlier.

What are free walking tours?

For the uninitiated, free walking tours are guided tours offered by locals, sharing informative details about the history and culture of their cities. These tours are “free” — but you tip the tour guide based on how much you enjoy the overall experience. These walking tours are slow-paced and last about 2–2.5 hours.

I participated in walking tours in Warsaw and Gdansk in Poland, Riga in Latvia, Helsinki in Finland, and Tallinn in Estonia. I learned so much about the history and people in these regions that I wanted to share a small post about it :)

Some interesting information

• Finland is not a Scandinavian country — it’s a Nordic country. Only a small part of Finland is part of the Scandinavian peninsula, and they don’t consider themselves Scandinavian.
• There are 5 Nordic countries — Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark & Iceland. They share many similarities in terms of weather, culture, and even flags :)

• For those with a bucket list of exotic meats — Helsinki/Finland is a place to tick off bear 🐻 meat from the list.
• Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were part of the USSR — more like occupied by Soviets after World War II.
• Finland has been the “Happiest Country in the World” for the last 7 years. The result of the survey is as shocking to the Finns as when you discover your company is a “Great Place to Work.”
• Finns also love dark humor, and a popular joke is that the sad ones have all committed suicide, and only the happy ones are left to fill out the survey — ouch (sadly, they also have a high suicide rate — blame it on the long winters with little sun).
• With most of these countries having populations smaller than Bangalore city, their political leaders are very approachable (I am sure you all remember the Finnish PM who was partying with her friends) maybe this is one of the reasons why they have one of the lowest corruption levels.
• Finns love saunas, and apparently, it’s a Finnish word added to the English language. They have saunas everywhere — in libraries, parliament, Ferris wheels, etc.

The heavy stuff

• Geographically, Poland, Latvia & Estonia were located between Russia and Germany. It was one of the worst positions to be in at the beginning of the 20th century.
• Almost every building I saw was damaged during WWII and rebuilt afterward. Some of these countries did not even have the luxury of freedom post-WWII since they were absorbed as part of the USSR and were behind the Iron Curtain.
• Poland was one of the worst affected places — I did not have the courage to visit the ghettos after visiting the museums and joining the walking tours. I couldn’t help but think about the parallels where leaders with the wrong intent sow hate, divide the population, and conquer.
• Latvia and Estonia regained independence through non-violent movements, with singing as a key component. Again, it’s hard to miss the parallel of non-violence being an effective weapon against violent occupying force across time and space ✌🏽

I consider it a privilege to be able to travel to these different countries, interact with locals, and understand their culture. The more I travel, the more I realize that all people have the same needs, aspirations, and dreams. If anyone tells you otherwise — don’t trust them. Next time you’re in a new city, please try the walking tours. You will definitely love it!

However, I suggest that witnessing the Northern Lights may not hold the top spot on everyone’s list for the next few years.

Significance of Bucket Lists

For something to be worthy of a bucket list, it must be rare, challenging, and brag-worthy, or a combination of all three:

Rare: It’s so uncommon that only a few people in your immediate circle have experienced it. For instance, dining at a restaurant in your city rarely makes anyone’s bucket list.

Difficult: The endeavor to experience this bucket list item must be challenging (e.g., hiking to Everest Base Camp, traveling to the auroral zone in winter to witness the Northern Lights, etc.).

Brag-Worthy: This is a combination of the first two factors — when you accomplish something rare and difficult, you become part of an exclusive group, granting you bragging rights.

What did the recent Solar storm do?

I recently learned that Auroras can sometimes be observed at latitudes below the typical auroral zone, especially when a geomagnetic storm expands the auroral oval temporarily.

One such solar storm occurred on 11th May — which has been reported as the strongest in the last 21 years. It’s safe to say this is the first solar storm in the age of Social Media.

This once-in-a-decade event created some spectacular Auroras in latitudes where it’s not expected. Many people got to experience this from the comfort of their homes. This event effectively negated the basic conditions required for something to be bucket list-worthy.

Rarity: Since majority of the people across multiple continents viewed it and posted it on social media, there is no component of rarity anymore

Difficulty: Most people had to cross the road or open their curtains to witness this spectacle. There was no struggle to witness this event.

Brag Worthy: When #1 & #2 got negated, it is not a brag worthy item anymore. A mention of Northern lights for the next few years would evoke responses like “I saw it across my road”, “I saw better hues than the regular green” etc.,

The value of any commodity is subjective and resides within the perceptions of individuals. While the Northern Lights persist as a captivating spectacle, I anticipate that their prominence as a Bucket List destination may diminish over the next few years, particularly in light of the recent Solar storm.

It’s Superbowl time and media outlets in India are getting excited about the price of the Super Bowl ad slot. This year (2024), a 30-second ad slot is being bid up as much as $7mn. While the Super Bowl and the NFL do not excite me, this number excited me.

What excited me about $7mn

In a time where everyone can be targeted personally using smartphones, I am intrigued if mass media advertising still has an appeal. While the price of Super Bowl ad slots has been going up continually (as shown in the chart below), has it been going up adjusted for price inflation?

This post examines that and my hypothesis is if the Super Bowl slot is indeed scarce and valuable, it should be increasing much faster than inflation and if it’s not, then it indicates the reduction in demand for such a property in an age where digital marketing is overtaking traditional forms of marketing.

The chart indicates that the ‘nominal’ price of the Ad slots in Dollars has been increasing continuously. This implies a steady and strong demand for this inventory over the last 50+ years.

But it’s never that simple!

Just looking at nominal prices of anything over 50 years will be misleading if it's not adjusted for inflation. Gold is best known as a hedge against inflation and has held on to purchasing power over the last 50+ years.

Here’s what I did — took the nominal price of the ad slot for the “N” year and divided it by the price of an ounce of gold for the “N” year. This gives us the price of the ad slot in ounces of gold (as shown in the table below)

Now let’s plot this over the last 50 years and we get a very interesting trendline. I’ve marked some of the recessionary periods in the US with a grey band post-2000s. There are some very interesting trends emerging when you measure the ad prices in ounces of gold,

Key Insights

1. 1970–80 was the decade when the gold price increased by 10X post the “Nixon Shock” — so let’s ignore this period as the ad prices look artificially suppressed.
2. The price for these spots adjusted for gold tends to go down during difficult markets (Dot-com, GFC, and COVID)
3. 1980–2000 is the 20-year period where the price kept shooting up consistently. 2000 also market the peak of Ad prices in gold
4. 2000–2008 marked a consistent drop in the price — this was also the time when digital marketing took off after the dust settled from the dot-com bust
5. The increase in 2010s could never come back to the original levels indicating that Super Bowl ad slots are not as priced as once they were.

Fin.

I find it strange that most of us (humans) are afraid of Death but celebrate New Year and Birthdays which signifies that we are all closer to our death by one more year 😃

In reality, these are just certain events (with a 100% probability of occurrence) that will happen. So why do we dread one event (death) and celebrate another event that signifies getting close to that dreaded event?

Before we get into the heartbreaking 💔 sporting event, let me explain what the author means. There have been numerous studies to determine what causes happiness. While money and wealth come to the top of the mind, it is usually only a necessary and sufficient condition for happiness and does not guarantee happiness.

Happiness as a formula

If there was a formula for happiness, Morgan believes it’s the gap between expectation and circumstances. The author argues that having low expectations is the only way to sustain happiness. When the expectation (lifestyle) increases in step with our circumstances (life), then the happiness remains unchanged (or even reduce)

This is one of the reasons why a new car or new home feels good for the first few weeks. After that you expect to be in that house/car — expectation catches up with the circumstance and the happiness is back to where it was (or lower if you start eyeing a bigger house, faster car)

Why does this WC final hurt a lot

Less than one month before the WC, this is what I tweeted. Thank god, I was proven wrong. While everyone today agrees that this is one of the best Indian ODI cricket teams, this was not the consensus before the start of the World Cup.

For me personally, I did not expect the team to do well. The 10 consecutive victories by team India felt unbelievable and brought me so much joy. This also increased my expectations in the process. The expectations were so high that a victory was guaranteed in my mind. Even a victory yesterday would have given me relief versus the happy emotions I felt during the group stages since I expected them to steamroll the Aussies in the final.

But a loss yesterday created the biggest negative gap between circumstances and expectations. This explains the pain that I am going through and maybe a billion more people in my country.

In the past 20+ years, we always had great cricketers. We have come agonisingly short in key moments that this should be familiar and not hurt as much. But I believe in those instances, the expectations were never that high.

A key lesson that I will take away “Always lower your expectations since you can always control this side of the lever and have no control over the outcome/circumstances”

This too shall pass!!!

Introduction: Applying for a Schengen visa can be an overwhelming and time-consuming process. Having recently gone through it myself, I realized the lack of readily available resources to simplify this journey. In this concise post, I aim to provide you with all the necessary steps and valuable tips, specifically for the VFS centre in Bangalore, to save you precious time and ensure a smoother experience

Step 1: Generating a France Visa Application Number

To begin, visit the designated link to apply for a France visa for short-stay or tourism purposes. Remember, you will need this application number when scheduling an appointment on the VFS website. Upon successfully completing this process, you will receive an application confirmation with essential details. Congrats! You have completed Level 1.

Visa Application Link

Step 2: Booking an Appointment with VFS

Visit the provided link to create an appointment with VFS. Typically, appointments are scheduled for the next 3–4 weeks. Securing an appointment is crucial to ensure that you obtain your visa on time for your planned travel. Be aware that VFS occasionally encounters technical issues, so it’s advisable to check multiple times a day to secure your slot.

Additionally, you will need to pay the VFS service fee at this stage (approximately Rs. 2400/person). While an option to avail the premium lounge exists, I did not choose this option.

Step 3: Preparing the Required Documents

Get ready to kill a lot of trees — prepare yourself for a seemingly endless list of documents to submit as proof. Here are some items not explicitly mentioned but worth carrying with you:

• Residence proof: If your passport is issued in a different state from where you currently reside, you need to provide proof of residence. Though not explicitly stated, it’s better to be prepared.
• ITR Acknowledgement: Instead of carrying the entire ITR receipt, carrying the ITR acknowledgement (1 page) is sufficient.
• Itinerary: While optional if you plan your trip independently, it’s advisable to bring along your return ticket and hotel bookings. If you’re using a travel agent, you may not require this advice, as they will assist you.

Process at the VFS Center in Bangalore:

• Arrival and Deposit: Arrive at the VFS center 10–15 minutes before your scheduled slot. Note that if you carry items like a laptop or helmet, you will need to deposit them at the counter below, which incurs a fee.
• Reception and Pre-verification: Proceed to the reception where your appointment and passport will be checked, followed by instructions to go to the ground floor pre-verification counter.

Tip 1: Skip the Ground Floor Check: You can bypass the ground floor and head directly to the 1st floor to collect your token. My experience taught me that spending 30 minutes on the ground floor was unnecessary since document verification happens again on the 1st floor.

• Collect the token and wait: Collect tokens from the 1st floor (C area) and wait for your turn. Although there are over 8 counters, the pace can be slow
• Convenient Payment options: When it comes to payment, you’ll be glad to know that VFS has started to accept cards. No need to run to the nearest ATM.
• Biometric enrollment: After payment, go give your biometric information. The process moves swiftly (unlike document collection).

Summary

1. Opt for early morning slots to minimize waiting times.
2. Consider utilizing the lounge facility, as it can potentially save you a significant amount of time.
3. Avoid wasting time on the ground floor and proceed directly to the 1st floor to collect your tokens.
4. Ensure you have your residence proof readily available.
5. The process takes 2–5 hours. So be prepared for this!

I hope you find this guide helpful in reducing the pain and frustration associated with the entire visa application process. If you have any further feedback or suggestions to improve the experience, please feel free to share them.

Anyone who has known me in the last several years is aware that I suffer from allergic rhinitis (allergy), also known as hay fever. Symptoms of this condition include continuous sneezing (sometimes 50 or more sneezes), a runny nose, and watery eyes. Once you finish 50 sneezes, you feel like a truck just hit you.

Allergy is very common in Bangalore where I have seen at least 1 in 4 people suffering from this disease.

What causes Allergy?

Allergies are caused when one’s immune system identifies an innocuous substance (such as pollen, dust, or pet hair) as a threat and activates the defense mechanism.

Is there a cure for allergies?

Mayo Clinic says that there is no cure for allergies. There are a few treatments that are available to alleviate the impact of allergies. I’ve tried almost every possible treatment (allopathy, homeopathy, yoga, meditation, jal neti, etc.) in the last 18+ years. I also tried using a Dyson vacuum cleaner to remove all allergens from my surroundings. Most of the methods offer a short-term solution, but nothing works in the long term.

Then suddenly, a few months ago, I decided to understand the science of allergies that impacted me and how do allergy medication works. I will try to explain the science in a simple illustration below:

What happens when you get allergies?

Antibodies raise an alarm when it encounters an allergen (e.g.Pollen). They release a chemical called “Histamine” into the blood. Histamines work to remove the allergen from the body by inducing sneezing, running nose, and in some severe cases vomiting, diarrhea, and even anaphylaxis!

What does allergy medication do?

It simply removes the histamine in the system with an anti-histamine. That sounds stupidly simple :)

Since the allergens were not harmful, the only role of the medicine is to remove the histamine from the system to revert back to a normal state. But antihistamines have a side effect which is to induce drowsiness.

So all the medicine was doing was treating the symptoms of the disease and not the root cause of the disease. If you only treat your symptoms, there is no way to permanently cure the disease!

So what is the root cause?

The root cause is my body identifying a harmless substance as a harmful substance. Once my body stops identifying the allergen as a threat, I could be cured of the allergy!

Recently came across the article “Allergy is more common in developed & urban centers of developing world”. All these data points led to the following hypothesis,

Hypothesis

“What if by treating the symptoms with medicines, I was not allowing my body to get used to this harmless substance” My body (and most of us) has the superpower to develop immunity against harmful agents like bacteria/virus after exposure, how difficult can it be to get used to a harmless substance like dust, pollen?

Like every rational person 😈, I wanted to test this hypothesis on myself

Test Subject: Me since Dec’22 | Control Subject: Me before Dec’22

As a part of the test, I stopped taking allergy medication whenever I had allergy symptoms. Whenver I get an allergy attack, I decided to endure the symptoms hoping to give my body a chance to get used to the allergens.

The results of this test have been very encouraging so far,

1. The last allergy attack was 3 months ago when I decided to stop taking medicines — haven’t had one after that
2. I traveled to the US for 2 weeks in Feb-Mar, and when I came back — had mild allergy symptoms — again ignored it and been fine for the last 2 weeks

Decoding #1 & #2

#1 — When I did not take medication, my body for the first time in 18+ years got a chance to get used to the allergens and for 2+ months, whenever my body encountered the same allergens, it did not react and release histamines

#2 — When I traveled in the US for 2 weeks, my body got used to a different level of allergens in the states and when I came back, my body again encountered a heightened levels of allergens and started showing some symptoms. But not treating this with medicine meant the body got time to get used to these allergens.

Conclusion

It’s too early for me to declare victory against allergy. I will continue this and maybe update this post in 12 months when I would have had an opportunity to test against different seasons and climate conditions. I don’t know if I should feel happy for having discovered this or feel stupid for not having realized this for 18 years :)

My biggest takeaway from this exercise: While modern medicine has done wonders to extend the human lifespan, we fail to recognize that modern medicine has been around only for 200 years and underestimate the defenses we are born with. Maybe this was a wakeup call for me to embrace that and depend on medical system only for this that can’t be cured from within!

Disclaimer: I am not recommending anyone stop your medication or follow this method of treating your allergy. This is also not a scientific research post — since 1 subject for 3 months does not prove anything. Please do take your doctor’s advice. Having said that, it’s hard for me not to see the obvious where modern medicine is treating the symptoms of a disease that maybe never needed treatment, to begin with!