| Sunday, 11 January 2026 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning, how are you this fine Sunday morning? Now it feels like the new year!
It just drizzled a bit in Bengaluru, leaving the air fresh with the scent of fallen rain. Some of our city’s own “cherry blossom trees”–Pink Tabebuias–have started blooming early. There banyan trees lining the neighbourhood roads are dotted with yellow-orange figs, which will turn pink-red in a few weeks.
It’s the last gasp of Bengaluru’s mild and brief winter. The mornings and nights grow chillier than usual, even as the days start to get warmer. In a week or so, the chill will be gone.
I’m listening to Counting Crows as I write this, still largely sticking with my goal of avoiding auto-generated playlists. This past week, I’ve enjoyed listening to albums from Agam, ZZ Top, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), N.Ramani (flute), and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (santoor).
But the absolute breakout song living rent-free in my head is the energetic and happy “Gaddi Red Challenger” by Babbulicious! The track went viral after New York mayor Zohran Mamdani had Babbulicious perform it live at his swearing-in ceremony. Go watch and listen if you haven’t already.
In other notable achievements this week, I spent two hours in a Mumbai traffic jam covering a few kilometres, and four hours at the Passport Office in Bengaluru experiencing the punishing exception flow of a process clearly designed to be oblivious to them.
I’ve also read a bunch of wonderful books these last few weeks. One of the most interesting ones was Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone. I picked it up after it was strongly recommended by Vidit Aatrey, co-founder and CEO of Meesho, on the First Principles podcast.
I’ve always been fascinated by the art of improvisation, even though a casual observation of the craft might make it seem “unprepared” and “silly”. But watch a few clips from Whose Line Is It Anyway, especially the “Two Line Vocabulary” bits.
Frankly, it is incredible how the performers pull it off so flawlessly.
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