Iki (to live) gai (reason)

Ikigai, a Japanese concept which means a reason for being, literally translated to “reason to live”. What’s your reason to live? What is your reason to wake up in the morning? At first, I didn’t see the connection between Ikigai and starting small, one of the pillars of Ikigai. To live a life of purpose, […]

“Art Should Disturb The Comfortable and Comfort The Disturbed” –from a Charles river runner’s T-Shirt

Art for art’s sake is absolutely important. What is the point of rationalizing art, isn’t art a matter of the heart. Shouldn’t true art come from the heart. Absolutely. But if art doesn’t console and comfort people when they are disturbed or shake things up when they are feeling too comfortable, is it really art […]

It’s Not A Question Of Talent, It’s A Question Of Choice

Our struggles in life are not because we don’t have talent, not because we don’t know what to do but because we don’t do what we know. We lack the discipline to build good habits. Talent is overrated, just as someone said 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration is the recipe for success, I would say 99% […]

#8 Karthish Manthiram

On Creating Fuels and Chemicals For The Next 100 Years and The Importance Of Accessible Role Models Karthish Manthiram is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT. The Manthiram Lab at MIT is focused on the molecular engineering of electrocatalysts for the synthesis of organic molecules, including pharmaceuticals, fuels, and commodity chemicals, using renewable […]

Apps I Find Useful

Everyday ask yourself “How am I being useful to this world” –Madhav SBSS Notion, a neat tool that packs a lot of things into one app. Todo lists, documents, spreadsheets, team collaboration but is it too busy? Is it trying to do too many things, is it trying to be a Swiss Army Knife? Spark […]

Lessons Learned From Ben and Jerry

We didn’t think of it as a business, we thought of it as a venture. We wanted to do it for a couple of years and then become cross country truck drivers. A lot of our problems would be solved if we made the ice creams shittier. Business is essentially “busyness”, it’s mostly commonsense and […]

#5 Sreekanth Vemula

On following ones curiosity, being comfortable with not fitting in and taking care of his next patient Dr. Sreekanth is a leading Neurologist at Apollo Hospitals Hyderabad. He received his MD from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and DM in Neurology from Institute of Medical Sciences at Chandigarh. Teaching medical students is one […]

#3 Sumona Karjee Mishra

On a mission to eliminate pregnancy related disorders in India and around the world, starting with early diagnosis of Preeclampsia. Sumona Karjee Mishra is a scientist turned entrepreneur. She co-founded Prantae Solutions along with her husband to disrupt treatment of pregnancy related disorders, with an initial focus on Preeclampsia which affects 5-8% of all pregnancies […]

#1 Ishwarya Ananthabotla

On rethinking how audio is captured, represented and retrieved in this new world of AI Ishwarya Ananthabotla completed her BS and MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. She is pursuing a PhD in the MIT Media Lab’s Responsive Environments group, exploring ways to capitalize on our knowledge of human perception, cognition, memory, […]

Madhav's Book Notes, SWITCH by Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Recently I was introduced to this book by a friend. I had known about the book for a while as I have read Made to Stick by the same authors a few years ago and liked their lucid style of capturing complex concepts in simple metaphors. Here is some notes I made as I listened […]