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LinkedIn Posts

Dopamine

Rarely has anything good has come out of my life without an intense, 6-12 month slog. So it may seem like I lived a miserable life, gritting my teeth to push through the slog. Yet, the reality was quite different. I was always super-motivated and rarely had to dip...

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Sugar-Coating

During my MBA, whenever I asked my classmates about their past jobs and internships, most would invariably start with, “Oh, it was amazing!” Then as you probed further, they would often sheepishly confess that it actually wasn’t THAT great. And in some cases, those...

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Unreasonable people

During my first stint in the IPS as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), one day, an IGP (Inspector General) called me, directing me to release a bus I had seized for violating some rules. In the uniformed forces, saying ‘no’ to your boss is very hard – almost...

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Sleep deprivation

I recently saw a prestigious consulting firm’s post on LinkedIn about ‘sleep deprivation’ becoming a huge crisis, and how the ‘sleep-tech’ industry is coming to our rescue. Really? On reading it, I felt like irony died a (sleep-deprived) death. I have never been as...

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Self-Authenticity

During my stint in the police service, when senior officers called me, they would sometimes ask, “Where are you?” The implication was that if you are in office, you are working – so you are a good boy. But if you were at home, you are slacking off. Nobody said it out...

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Unique Privilege

My biggest privilege has been that I did not grow up in a wealthy, privileged family. Growing up, we had enough money for necessities, but not enough for random indulgences. For many people in my situation, the hunger for success and the drive came naturally – parents...

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Enjoy the ride

The only thing I have seemingly excelled at in life is throwing away whatever I have done, only to restart my career, repeatedly, from scratch. I first learned electrical engineering – admittedly, not very well. The IIT professors tried hard but for lack of...

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Peace of mind

In 2014, when I moved to Trivandrum (from Mumbai), my financial situation was not looking great. For years, I had been drawing down my meager savings to fund my startup. Further, living in Mumbai was expensive despite moving to a smaller apartment after quitting my...

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The Government Job Obsession

A colleague of mine bullied us into sharing five embarrassing experiences for a New Year event. I thought I might as well share them publicly – so here they are: 1. When I first tasted a martini (at the kitchen counter of my aunt's house in San Francisco), I loved it....

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Five embarrassing experiences

A colleague of mine bullied us into sharing five embarrassing experiences for a New Year event. I thought I might as well share them publicly – so here they are: 1. When I first tasted a martini (at the kitchen counter of my aunt's house in San Francisco), I loved it....

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Self-Respect

When I took on my first major assignment in the police service – as the Police Commissioner of Trivandrum City – I got a lot of unsolicited advice. A common one was, “Be very careful! The politics is very dirty and many people will be out to get you.” Apparently, the...

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Embracing Abnormality

When I landed at Wharton, the constant refrain I heard was – “MBA is all about networking. So build connections and make friends.” Academics and learning seemed to just be a sideshow. But unfortunately, as an introvert, I hated networking. Even while serving in the...

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