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Your brand is your story
You are already a brand. Your brand is the way you write and talk. It is how you tell your stories. It is your thought clarity and the values your words reflect. Your brand is the things that excite you and move you -- things you love or loathe. It...
Recent Posts
Bouncing back from failures
In week-2 of the 1st semester at IIT Kanpur, I got my first big life shock - the physics quiz. This quiz was pretty nasty: An ant was supposedly...
Finding Happiness
20 years after we first met, I ran into Mr. Michael Siromani, a retired IAS officer, under curious circumstances -- he was collecting roadside weeds...
How to win in an unfair life
It was an unequal race -- not fair. During my 6th grade, our sports teacher announced an impromptu bike race to celebrate the end of the annual...
Prioritizing & delegating in high-stress situations
Years ago, when I was heading Trivandrum City Police, a horse in our mounted police unit got seriously ill and was in severe pain. Since it was...
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Clarity is only in hindsight
My good friend and first boss in the IPS, Vinod Thomas, was a cop on a particular Friday. The next Monday he was a private equity investor. He probably made the world’s most dramatic overnight career transition, going on to manage more than a...
Finding meaning beyond material success
The clock is ticking. Once out of college, you have to be ‘30 under 30.’ God forbid, if you miss it, ‘40 under 40’ is your absolute last chance. If you miss that as well, shame on you. If you are in a job, you are wasting your life -- look at all...
Are we stealing our children’s joy?
I recently heard that 17 kids got 100 percentile in IITJEE Mains. I wasn’t sure if we should celebrate or feel sad. Here is why. About half of these toppers (8 out of 17) came from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (now AP and Telangana). What is so...
Prioritizing health and well-being
Day 1 of IPS training. When the whistle went off at around 5 am, we ran down the stairs of the IPS Mess for the morning PT, terrified of being even 5 seconds late. Over the next 10 months, the grueling physical training made us fit and taut like...