Inspired by a line from “Maattram Onre Maaraathathu,” written by Vairamuthu for the film Kochadaiiyaan (2014), music by A.R. Rahman. There’s a line from a Tamil song that I haven’t been able to shake. Tamil Lyrics நீ என்பது உடலா?உயிரா? பெயரா?மூன்றும் இல்லை… செயல்! English Translation & Transliteration Transliteration:Nee enbathu udala?Uyira? Peyara?Moondrum illai… Seyal! Translation:Are you…
Every year, without fail, it happens. Calendars tick over. Notifications erupt. Phones vibrate with predictable precision. Birthdays. New Years. Festivals. Anniversaries. Entire social networks suddenly come alive—people who have been silent for months, sometimes years, re-emerge to send a message that looks uncannily similar to a hundred others. “Happy New Year.”“Many happy returns.”“Wishing you…
We like to believe we are principled people. We say things like “I can’t miss work,” “I don’t break commitments,” or “My health comes first.” These statements sound responsible. Mature. Final. They are none of those things. Because the truth is simpler and far less flattering: our priorities are elastic. They stretch generously for…
The Uneasy Coexistence We Can No Longer Ignore At almost any moment today, millions of people across the world are living under conditions that would be considered unthinkable elsewhere—constant fear, displacement, hunger, loss of family, and the daily uncertainty of survival. Ongoing conflicts in places such as Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, and…
Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern in many companies. There’s a lot of effort put into celebrating employees and their families — family days at the office, pictures of kids drawing on whiteboards, parents being invited to see where their son or daughter works. It’s all heartwarming. These events can make a workplace…
Over the last many months, I’ve had the privilege of working on the creation of a payin product from the ground up. Unlike improving an existing system, building something entirely new is about carving a path where none exists. It is filled with decisions that can seem small in the moment but carry long-term…
There’s a natural temptation in product development to hold back until everything feels perfect. We imagine all the edge cases, all the possible client demands, all the future scenarios — and then we try to build for all of them. The result? Products delayed, opportunities missed, and teams caught in the illusion of “completeness.”…
So often, what stops us is not the difficulty of the task itself but the way we complicate it in our heads. We overthink.We plan endlessly.We wait for the “perfect” moment, the perfect shoes, the perfect conditions. And in doing so, we create so much inertia that we never begin. Take exercise. We imagine…
Some days my head feels like a crowded room. Thoughts competing for attention. Worries about the future. Leftover regrets or frustrations from the past. Endless to-do lists looping in the background. When this happens, I notice I’m not really present in the moment. I get distracted, drained, pulled away from what’s happening right now.…
We all face them. Those situations — in personal life or at work — when tempers flare, voices rise, and egos compete. You feel the urge to “chew the other person’s head,” to win the argument at any cost, to prove you are right. In professional settings, these moments can ruin relationships. In personal…