Species on the edge of its extinction. Almost 140 years old.

Survived long enough to pass on the knowledge set of one century to the next.

My first memory of spotting a typewriter was at my maternal grandfather’s small shop in our native town back in India. Must have been the early 1980s.

The whole space resonated with hard clicking sounds. Sounds strongly etched in childhood memories. Those were the times when paper and its carbon copies were still heavily used to write official documents and letters.

Things seemed simple and permanent.

Things still flowed in the physical space. Time was in abundance. Paper was expensive. Ink was not cheap.

The mind worked hard to extract thoughts deeply hidden in the corners of wisdom. An active dialog that continued between mind, heart, fingers and the keys. Many iterations in mind and heart before the thoughts got imprinted.

The sensory physical touch finalized the ink on the paper.

• No autocorrect.

• No text predictors.

• No aid from an algorithm to predict the next thought.

The commitment between you, the ink and the paper—once final, could not be erased.

No strong letters, no easy hate, but yes, strong thoughtful ideas.

The physical body will soon disappear, but the Qwerty keyboard will probably stay on.

The design that was introduced to reduce fingers’ travel time across most commonly used words in that era.

Do people still use the same set of words, or does the new generation have its own language?

Should the new design not keep in sync with the time? But is the cost of switching now way too high?

Familiarity passed through generations, the layout coded in your genes.

Spirit stays, legacy continues, the physical form disappears.

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Nothing seemed to have changed from my last visit here. But one of the cafe owners said that the city is changing everyday. He said a few years back a new yoga studio would pop up every day; now, it’s a cafe. I went there for a chanting concert by Krishna Das, conducted to raise funds for a local cancer hospital, Ganga Prem Hospice, which provides free treatment to terminally ill patients. It is his annual ritual now and coincided with our India trip this year. The dedication of the volunteers for this noble cause who traveled from far to organize and ensure the event’s success was heartwarming. Everyone I talked to, mentioned how personal this cause was for them. The event was attended by roughly 10,000 people over two days. Never experienced this vibe in any of Krishna Das’s American concerts I attended in the past. Imagine 5000 people on day one, jumping and going crazy singing Hanuman Chalisa and other chants for more than three hours and vibing together in Rishikesh. What would you give to have a voice that could raise close to half a million dollars in just two days in service of others?

The city’s evolving vibe is driven by three primary draws. The area that is surrounding Ram Jhoola has a lot of well known traditional ashrams and temples on the banks of river Ganga owned and managed as trusts of various Gurus (like Parmarth Niketan, Omkarananda, Trayambakeshwar temples, Beatles ashram, and others). This is where one set of Indian population (primarily families) who are seeking spirituality in the traditional way come and stay. This is where you will get to experience the famous evening Ganga ji prayers as well. Then you have the Tapovan area surrounding Laxman Jhoola, which is where most of the non-indian visitors and younger set of travelers come and stay. This is the area where you will see all the yoga classes and the exotic cafe scene. Then you have the activity scene up in the hills where either the younger population come for rafting or trekking. The common theme that binds everyone who is coming to Rishikesh is the idea of free flow, spiritual vibe and getting high.

The city’s vibe felt more chilled out than my last visit, or perhaps I was more relaxed this time to fully experience it. The food scene has improved. The spirit needs to be nourished properly if any salvation needs to be achieved. The chaos is still there but it didn’t bother me as much as I was only there for a couple of days. Plus the charm at many levels of this city also lies in its old-world feels and slower pace. The Indian youth scene is thriving and rolling. It was refreshing to see a lot of solo travelers out and about. They are experimenting more, isolating themselves from the traditional societal set ups, chasing thrills, and some of them using Rishikesh as a stop to further trek up in the mountains. Youth hostels, which are common in the west, have come up in a big way in India and are a great way for younger people to feel safe during their stays, socialize and make friends. I noticed lots of construction activity hinting at future tourism potential. The city walls are covered in flyers for spiritual offerings on Kundalini yoga, Cacao ceremonies, Sound baths, Ecstasy dances and Yoga workshops. People have learnt from the west and have broken multi-year pursuits into smaller chunks to fit in the customized time schedules. They provide an opportunity to explore by snippets and bytes. Obviously it is a more enriching experience to go deeper and spend dedicated time in these pursuits. It is a place where a lot of young Indian and non-Indian travelers with limited budgets, likely in their early 20s, living the most carefree time of their life, experience exotic India in a very unique way. If one wants to get high on spirit, levitate a bit, experience byte-sized spiritual shortcuts, or sit in solitude on the banks of Mother Ganga and experience her silent mystical power, Rishikesh is the place for you.

Continuing my tradition of picking books that aren’t celebrated on social media, I randomly grabbed this one from Bahrisons, my go-to bookstore in Khan Market, Delhi. I had never heard of the author, nor had I ever followed her music. But what a treat this book turned out to be. She writes beautifully and metaphorically. I gained so much respect for her, despite never having heard of her or her work before opening these pages. It is a deceptively simple read that keeps pulling you back in, even when life gets busy.

It is an autobiographical account of a South Indian, female “Ghatam” player, Sumana Chandrashekhar, who challenged the norms in the percussion music scene still dominated by males. The Ghatam is a clay pot with a narrow mouth, built in a highly specific way. A tremendous amount of skill goes into crafting the right instrument, and they are manufactured in only a few places in India—most famously in Manamadurai, near Madurai in the south. The making of this pot is an art form in itself, passed down through generations. In fact, an highly acclaimed Sangeet Natak Akademi award was recently conferred upon Meenakshi Amma, a traditional maker whose family has kept this heritage alive. While the Ghatam finds its roots in Indian folk music, it now features prominently on global stages across fusion, jazz, and rock genres.

Sumana depicts a life that feels deeply Indian, allowing the inherent loneliness of an artist to shine through. Musicians are often deeply spiritual and philosophical, which is evident in her writing. Sprinkling philosophy over the pursuit of a lifelong career as a percussionist, she writes from the heart of her lived moments—with love and romance in her eyes. She challenges systemic norms, yet stops short of sounding bitter like many modern activists do. Early health challenges taught her humility, grounding her perspective. Her writing is unbiased, uplifting, and beautiful in many subtle ways. It presents a vision for a life that can be earthy, grounded, intelligent, curious, and vulnerable—almost as if she lived in a shielded world guided entirely by intuition. Far removed from modern, Western, material definitions of success, her path exists on a different tangent, proving equally rewarding in intangible ways that are celebrated in niche corners.

After finishing the book, I was left wondering what path I should carve for myself in this current phase of life, where I feel God has been incredibly kind and given me an abundance of resources. When you have the luxury of choice, these are the moments to think about what steps will truly fulfill you in the future. This book ignites that exact energy. It offers moments to pause, reflect, be overwhelmed with emotion, and feel alive. It added to my stream of thoughts, validating my own approach to life while giving me the ammunition to pause, sit with my emotions, and guide myself forward. As long as we are human, we will continue to derive our purpose from what we feel. As soon as we transition to a society where we coexist alongside non-humans, machines, and robots, a different set of rules will follow - rules of power will flow differently. But that kind of society is still many, many years away. Until then, we can enjoy books like this and simply feel more human.

Because of social media, it seems that each year there is a theme; a collective decision that a certain place is interesting and an unspoken agreement that says, “Let’s go there.” A couple of years back it was Japan, and this year, it was Alaska for us. Whoever I talked to either had already been there or wanted to go this year. It seems visiting Alaska has become a grand addition to the checklist—a destination that everyone collectively wants to hit.

I first watched a documentary-style movie on Alaska, Into the Wild, during a plane journey, and ever since, I have been deeply curious about the land. It is celebrated as the last frontier, a vast majority of the earth yet untouched by civilization, still pulling in those people who crave an off-the-grid lifestyle, wanting to live noise-free and exist closer to nature.

Historically, this wilderness was bought by American Secretary of State William Seward for a mere seven million dollars from the Russians, at a time when Russia wanted to repay their losses from a war and feared they would no longer be able to safeguard it from the British. There were a couple of subsequent booms that shaped Alaska’s destiny, pushing it into prominence and onto the grand political stage. First was the Gold Rush, discovered there in the 1870s, which birthed towns like Hope and Fairbanks. And the second was the discovery of the largest oil field in North America during the 1960s around Prudhoe Bay, way up north, further establishing Alaska as a serious land foray for capitalists.

The political undertones are mildly evident as you wander the land, shifting into view within the interiors. The natives of the land, loyalists, and their future generations are striving hard to maintain Alaskan identity and preserve its original culture. Throughout the journey, I saw the Alaskan state flag flying in so many places but didn’t witness the American flag appear beside it. Likely a quiet resistance against the federal control that the state and its people are trying so hard to avoid. Through the presence of the Church in many areas, you can see shades of how Christianity historically may have pushed an agenda of control over the natives, driving political expansion forward. You rarely see the American and state flags flying together; the American flag is prominently displayed wherever a church is established, further highlighting how religion and political invasion so often go hand in hand.

Beyond its resource booms, Alaska also became strategically critical for the US during World War II, as it was the only American soil briefly captured by Japan, one of its primary enemies in the war. That flashpoint led to the heavy establishment of military bases in Fairbanks, another prominent city of Alaska.

Still, given the rough terrain and challenging landscapes for humans, this land—in spite of being the largest state in America—supports only around 700,000 people, a footprint even smaller than a compact, dense city like San Francisco. The majority of this population lives clustered in a few urban centers like Anchorage, which alone accounts for 40% of its residents. What is so deeply impressive about Alaska, however, is its modern infrastructure and the beautiful, sweeping highways that make this exploration so convenient for all age groups. Kudos where it’s due to America for ensuring that this infrastructure still preserves the raw beauty of the land, refusing to ruin it with the excessive tourism faced by various other global cities like Bali and Kyoto.

Yet, things are incredibly expensive, and the whole exploration of Alaska is heavily commodified through organized tourism, packaging the romantic pursuit of seeking adventure by coming close to nature. Some bold and few would dare to spend months taking the path less traveled, but others like us buy our way into it. We choose a slightly more practical route and throw money at the landscape to experience adventure.

“Buying experiences” is what I call it—not exactly the same as the real thing, but still, you complete the checklist. Seeing nature through a helicopter ride to land on glaciers, taking boat cruises to see a glacier from up close, riding trains deep into the woods, exploring the wildlife, or taking river tours on boats—everything is expensive and adds up quickly if you are traveling in a group. You just need to be clear about where you want to draw the boundary and not get stuck in the endless loop of buying your experiences.

Most people (like us with families or young couples) visit Alaska for 7–9 days. And if you are sticking to the beaten path, then that number of days is ideal before the travel tiredness finally hits you.

Our Itinerary:

Our trip itinerary followed this loop: Anchorage (one night) → Seward (2 nights)→ Hope (on the way) → Girdwood (2 nights)→ Palmer (on the way)→ Talkeetna (1 nights)→ Denali (2 nights)→ North Pole City (Day trip from Denali) → Fairbanks (day trip from Denali)→ Denali (came back to sleep and leave next day) → Anchorage (one night).

Most people land in Anchorage, which serves as the central hub. Denali and Fairbanks lie to the north of it, while Seward and the beautiful mountain ranges of Chugach lie to the south. Given you have to cover both north and south, you end up crossing Anchorage twice in your trip, and that’s just a natural part of the journey.

Top 10 Things we did in Alaska

1. Drive on Highway 1 from Anchorage towards Seward: By far the most memorable aspect of the trip for me. You are surrounded by the ice-clad Chugach mountains on one side and open water on the other. I could drive for hours back and forth, listening to music, entirely incapable of tiring myself of the views and the sheer beauty. These magnificent landscapes suddenly transport you into imaginary lands, and you simply refuse to come out of them.

2. Town of Seward and Boat Ride to Kenai Fjords Glaciers: Historic, yet at the same time chill, mellow, and beautiful. The Kenai Fjords boat tour to see the glaciers made the trip even more memorable. We chose the six-hour cruise because we had kids and elderly parents with us. A four-hour tour would be a waste of time, as you won’t get far enough out to see the tidewater glaciers that form the highlight of the cruise; otherwise, it’s just about being on a boat enjoying a beautiful journey.

3. Discovery Train Ride from Girdwood to the Interiors: A must-do. Train rides are inherently romantic, but cutting deep into the wilderness through some of the earth’s most spectacular landscapes elevates your spirits to the next level. The train staff is incredibly kind, casual, and masterfully woven into the storytelling fabric of the passing woods.

4. Alaska Native Cultural Center in Anchorage: A must-visit is the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, which makes you acutely aware of the deep pain the natives endured through both the Russian and, eventually, American invasions of their land. This place forces heavy questions to the surface: Who does the land belong to? Does it belong to animals, or natives who first inhabited it at the dawn of civilization, or both—and should they not learn to live in harmony? Or does it belong to the more recent migrants from modern imperialist powers, empowered with their own forays into technology and progress, coming from Britain and other empires to establish these places as capitalist hubs to expand their global footprints? It feels like a living testament to Darwin’s raw and brutal theory: the survival of the most powerful, where nothing else matters.

5. Town of Hope: If you are driving on the highway, a small detour will take you to the town of Hope, one of the first settlements born from the Gold Rush and still largely untouched by modern civilization. There is almost no action—dull and quite boring—but still, you feel intensely alive because you are so close to the edge of nature. A small river flows right through the town. Just sitting there and absorbing the sound of flowing water brings an immense sense of peace.

6. Visit to Denali: Imagine driving around at 1:00 AM in broad twilight, spotting a moose hanging out in a parking lot. Denali is a sacred space, worth visiting just to exist in the mountain’s looming presence. Sadly, the peak remained hidden from us behind a wall of clouds. They say only 40% of visitors actually get to see the summit, and you are either initiated into that exclusive club or you aren’t. The name of the tallest peak in North America has long been a rope in a political tug-of-war. The Indigenous people called it Denali for centuries. A white gold prospector, wanting to show loyalty to his Ohio Governor, dubbed it Mount McKinley—and surprisingly, this governor never even set foot in Alaska. The mountain was renamed Denali to honor the heritage of the Alaska Native peoples and restore its original, centuries-old name. The state represented by natives still calls it Denali, but on the federal road map, it is called Mount McKinley. The Obama administration made the change to Denali, but recently Trump reverted back to name it after the Ohio governor. William Shakespeare would ask, “What’s in a name?” but out here, a name carries the weight of an entire history.

7. Town of Talkeetna: As you head towards Denali from Anchorage, the drive is long, especially when balancing a toddler and elderly parents. To break the journey, we took an overnight stay in this cute, small town. Talkeetna feels like a hippie enclave—artistic in its own ways, uncrowded, yet well-known as the historic base camp for climbers waiting to hike up Denali. The small town is quirky and laid-back. In their quirky style, the honorary mayor of the town is a ceremonial cat or a dog, depending on who wins the community’s affection that year.This year a dog won the race and funnily enough we even witnessed a minor altercation between these two groups.

8. Helicopter Rides from Knik River in Palmer: We debated whether to take a small airplane ride from Talkeetna to land on an ice-clad ridge and see Denali, or to take a helicopter ride around Palmer to land on a flat glacier and experience a different path. If your budget allows, I strongly suggest choosing the helicopter ride. The company that managed it, Alaska Helicopter Tours, was remarkably professional and gave us an immediate sense of trust and security. If you can afford it, it is an absolute must-do. Tip: You can explore discounts by calling them directly, though I booked through Viator because it offered the flexibility to cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.

9. City of Fairbanks (and North Pole City): Our visit to this historical city was only a day trip. The Northern Lights are completely invisible during the summer, as the sun refuses to set for four straight months. We stopped by the Ice Museum in Fairbanks; it is older and a bit weathered, but it was a delightful surprise anyway. Art in any form deserves to be celebrated, and it was a magical stop for a four-year-old and grandparents alike. We also made a pit stop at a local pizza shop that overlooks a small airstrip. Watching bush planes park and take off right outside the window while eating was incredible—the entire restaurant is aviation-themed, paying tribute to Fairbanks’ identity as a major military outpost safeguarding the American frontier.

10. Face-to-Face with Moose at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center: While driving from Anchorage to Seward, make a stop at this sanctuary. It isn’t a traditional zoo; it rescues injured and orphaned animals, providing a home when they can no longer survive on their own in the wild. Here, you get close to the moose—an animal loved deeply by all Alaskans. You fall in love with them through sheer repetition. The highlight of our trip was spotting them in the wild, including one breathingly close encounter in a parking lot. My fear of them vanished as I learned their nature: they are herbivores, generally harmless unless provoked or threatened. The bulls grow massive antlers that they shed every winter and regrow in the summer, and the cows are fiercely overprotective during the summer calving season.

Practical Insights for Family Travel

• The Minivan Companion: Renting a minivan is expensive, but for a family of six including elderly parents and a toddler, it effectively becomes a rolling second home. It resolves almost every logistical challenge on the road. You grab it at the airport and drop it back, painless and practical.

• AirBnBs and Dietary Realities: Relying solely on home rentals gave us vital flexibility. As a Jain vegetarian family, a kitchen isn’t a luxury—it’s a critical requirement for our travel. We also mandated staying at least two nights in one place, as it gave us enough breathing room to pack, unpack, and use it as a base to enjoy the surrounding cities without feeling rushed. When traveling with three generations, it’s advisable to slow down the pace to avoid the fatigue of endless packing and unpacking.

• The Layering Myth: Pack winter coats, but don’t become obsessive about it. Highly likely you are going to visit Alaska in the summer season, and it can actually get quite warm. Most accommodations are heavily insulated, meaning you won’t need endless layers inside—save them exclusively for those moments when you are out exploring the ice and wind.

• Pick and Choose Your Adventures: The costs compound aggressively in Alaska. Everything is premium-priced, and you simply cannot buy every thrill on the menu. Defining your boundaries early on what you want to do and don’t want to do allows you to stay at peace with yourself and remain anchored in the present. After all, there is a distinct, quiet joy in missing out.

• Don’t be too adventurous with nature, stay as a family: Alaska is still isolated. If you don’t have any experience of living in nature, it can be quite overwhelming and scary. There are wild animals all around and you don’t want to take unnecessary risks. We booked an airbnb on a farm thinking it would be fun but when we reached there, waves of big mosquitoes all around, in the middle of nowhere and that was scary especially when you are not familiar with the place. We made a hard decision to cancel that airbnb and find some other place.

• Lodge vs AirBnBs in remote places: I used to debate whether Airbnbs or national park lodges were the better choice. It sometimes took us a while to get used to Airbnbs because they can feel isolated, lacking the social energy and interaction you get with other tourists. However, for places like Denali and Talkeetna, opting for a lodge is a great choice since the two listed below are absolutely amazing. If you prefer having people around and enjoying a bit of hustle and bustle, booking a lodge is definitely the way to go. You can always mix and match.

• Some personal recommendations of places to stay:

  • Denali: (8/10, but worked well for us, host was ok but no issues whatsoever, kitchen downstairs bedroom upstairs, given national park initially when you enter you are like a bit anxious as not many people outside and wild animals can come, but within a day we got used to it and started enjoying) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HMYFHZNBEW; We didn’t stay in the lodge as it was full, but saw it from a distance. Location wise quite amazing and looked fun and quite reasonable. If we have to do it again, would book this: https://www.princesslodges.com/princess-alaska-lodges/denali-lodge/

  • Girdwood: (10/10, amazing, amazing location, two floors though - living room and kitchen upstairs, bedroom downstairs) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HM5FHCMRFB

  • Seward: (10/10, amazing, amazing location, kitchen downstairs bedroom upstairs) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HMWYNDJTD3

  • Talkeetna: (10/10, amazing hosts, modern, one floor, amazing location) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HMPCKDQK3C. We didn’t stay in lodge as it was full, but looked equally amazing (close to the downtown): https://www.alaskacollection.com/lodging/talkeetna-alaskan-lodge/

• You can Avoid the following ones: We were not that lucky with Anchorage ones.

  • (4/10, bad location, very old and not at all like pics) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HMQSQPEZH5

  • (6/10, bedrooms were not comfortable, location was good, too dark inside, host was also not that great) https://www.airbnb.com/trips/v1/reservation-details/ro/RESERVATION2_CHECKIN/HM2E39K4AH

• Link to booking Discovery Train ride: Book in advance if you are going in peak season. They get booked fast. We also drove to Portage to board the train as we had a car. https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/glacier-discovery?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22028542983&gbraid=0AAAAABHtqQKyOxZBjQ-WercdiHuobsygo&gclid=CjwKCAjw08fSBhA7EiwAfbQTsEoXzKZGVTySpODiKPKgusZi7MdLe8vBtJHHYQJXS4swUoFryhl3zxoCWzEQAvD_BwE

• Link to booking Helicopter Rides: Professionally run, very clean and organized place. We chose 3x landings: https://www.alaskahelicoptertours.com/glacier-tours/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22259133825&gbraid=0AAAAACnHdzs7abWsfyFrqi9cgYHsTGijC&gclid=CjwKCAjw08fSBhA7EiwAfbQTsBGh690owLcWqTXTN6r2JWT5bbXpptWdbn6pkzg4b5AWwaIcHTSpFxoCS1UQAvD_BwE

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Recently, I challenged myself to make almond biscotti and was pleasantly surprised by how simple they are to bake. The only catch? They disappear so fast that you may want to keep an eye on your butter and sugar intake! Still, if you are into baking, it’s a fun therapy, and seeing the final result is immensely rewarding.

I was fascinated to learn that biscotti have over 2,000 years of history, dating back to ancient Rome. They were originally baked for the Roman army as long-lasting, non-perishable rations for long journeys and campaigns. The name comes from the Latin words ‘bis’ (twice) and ‘coctum’ (cooked)—double-baking is the secret behind their signature crunch and rich flavor. Once the Roman Empire fell, biscotti faded into obscurity. They made a resurgence in the mid-1800s when Antonio Mattei, a famous Italian baker, restored them to their original glory. From there, bakers began experimenting with new ingredients and flavors, leading to the variety we enjoy today.

If you love Italian biscotti, you’ll enjoy making them at home as you can use all organic ingredients to make it healthy. Since our family follows a Jain diet, we customized the recipe to be completely eggless. Traditional biscotti rely on eggs as a binding agent, but substituting them with another protein-rich binder gives you the exact same delicious, crispy texture.

Ingredients & Quantity

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1. All purpose flour 260 gms/ 2cups

2. Baking powder 5 gms/ 1 tsp

3. Salt 8 gms (if butter unsalted) or 2 gms (if butter salted); Translates to 1/8 tsp(salted) or 1/2 tsp(unsalted)

4. Butter 71 gms/ 5 tablespoon

5. Sugar 120 gms or 2/3 cup

6. Vanilla extract 1 tsp

7. Flaxseed Meal 8 gms mixed with 30 gms of water; Translated to 1 tablespoon mixed with 2 tablespoons water

8. Almonds (sliced) 90 gms

9. Milk 45-60 ml; 3/4 tablespoon and also the exact amount based on your dough needs. Observe - should not get too fluid.

10. Almond Extract 1 tsp

11. Zest of 1 medium lemon; You can use Orange zest if you prefer orange flavor. Ideal to not mix flavors and keep them separate.

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven [350 degrees F or 180 degrees C]

2. Mix Flaxseed meal with water, let it sit for 5 min to gel.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Combine. Add chopped almonds and enough milk until the dough comes together.

5. Shape the dough into a log (roughly 12 inches long, 3 inches wide) on the prepared sheet. This may need some repetition and work if you are a beginner.

6. Bake for 30-35 min until golden and firm. Cool on a rack for 20 min.

7. Cut the log diagonally into ¾ inch slices.

8. Lay slices cut-side down and bake for another 12/ 15 min per side until crisp. Remember this 12 min per side. You will need to flip it.

9. Cool and eat.

My love for chess started when I was a child. We lived in a joint family, and my uncle, a fatherly figure who was also a math teacher, laid the foundation for my interest in the game. I secretly nurtured this passion and eventually played in the finals of a local tournament in a community where students from 200 apartments participated. I lost the finals and came home crying. That memory is still embedded in my mind—that sweet pain you feel when you are so close to winning. While my love for the game never went much further as I got busy with academics and life, I have always appreciated the mental stimulation it provides. If you get into it, it is like a video game: addictive, holding you in its grip.

I picked up Viswanathan Anand’s autobiography out of curiosity and learned so much about him and his background. The book is a fitting tribute to his legacy. For kids of the 80s, Anand is a household name. He was a pioneer in so many ways—the first Indian Grandmaster, the first Indian to win the World Cup, and a player who defended his World Championship title five times (only three other players have defended it six times in modern chess history). On top of that, he has consistently ranked in the top 10 for the last three decades, continually reinventing himself with time.

Being the pioneer, especially in an 80s Indian ecosystem that didn’t naturally support risk-taking outside science and engineering for middle-income households, was extraordinary. To hit such milestones and stay at the pinnacle of his field is no easy feat. The journey to compete at the world level typically starts when you are a child and spans the next twenty to thirty years.

Sometimes, the sacrifices and dedication of parents and family members aren’t as obvious when we follow famous figures, yet they deserve equal or even greater recognition. Success belongs to the individual, but the sacrifices belong to the parents, who dedicate the prime of their lives to building a foundation for their children through discipline, consistency, and commitment. And then, these parents selflessly step back, letting their love carry the light forward through their kids.

Reading this book and reflecting on the occasional games I play online or with my friends made me realize how much chess strategies have evolved over the last three decades. This game is far from static. While the core rules of the game haven’t changed much in the last two hundred years, the strategies players deploy keep changing with the prevalent spirit of time, which makes chess a dynamic mix of memorization and creative play. At lower skill levels, it may be split equally between memorization and creativity, but at higher levels, memorization takes the driver’s seat. Yet, creativity remains crucial—a single innovative move can alter the outcome of an entire game. Even within a single chess game, the opening sequences (the first 20–30 moves) and the endgame rely heavily on memorized patterns, whereas the middlegame is where pure creativity thrives.

Through this, I also realized that chess is largely a game of memorization. The principle is simple: the more you play, the more patterns you store, and the better you can predict and strategize. This book also sparked my curiosity about how one becomes a World Champion versus a Grandmaster. They are distinct milestones. Being a Grandmaster is independent of winning a World Championship; you can hold the Grandmaster title your entire life without ever winning a World Championship. However, under modern regulations, it is practically impossible to become a World Champion without first becoming a Grandmaster. To put this in perspective, there are roughly 2,000 Grandmasters worldwide at any given time, but only one World Champion crowned every two years.

To earn the Grandmaster title, there are strict requirements. A player must reach a minimum rating of 2500 and achieve specific performance norms in international tournaments featuring high-caliber competitors. FIDE, the governing body of international chess, calculates these ratings using a mathematical model: the Elo Rating system. The concept behind Elo rating is simple—if you play against a stronger player and lose, you are not penalized that much in ratings, but if you lose against a weaker player (lower rating), your score drops drastically. This rating system is famous because it eliminates bias and auto-corrects itself to measure your true value over time.

Fascinatingly, this Elo system is now ubiquitous across competitive gaming, and it has become the exact basis for how frontier LLM and AI models are evaluated today. This explains why machine learning researchers leveraged games like Chess and Go to train early AI models. In fact, LLMs and modern AI have advanced so much that we can see parallels between AI scaling laws and human learning. For instance, machine learning scaling laws apply remarkably well to chess: with more computation, expanded memory, and longer training time, the output improves exponentially.

Popular theory suggests that if you devote 10,000 hours to a discipline, your skill level will improve drastically. This makes me wonder: is domain excellence purely a function of the time you commit? If you possess the dedication to pursue something long enough, will success and recognition automatically follow? To put a 10,000-hour commitment into perspective, if you dedicate 2 hours daily, it takes roughly 14 years to build that level of mastery. Hence, at some point, humans are left with a choice: either take the risk and fully commit to it as a lifelong career where the rewards may be higher, or take a more diversified approach and stick to conventional paths where outcomes are more predictable and rewards are a bit subdued.

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Snippets of the past are being rediscovered and brought into modern prominence. Having attended cacao ceremonies in Bali, Rishikesh, and San Francisco, I deeply resonate with their core philosophy. These ceremonies are not new to the yoga community, but with a growing desire to reconnect with nature in an increasingly synthetic world, awareness and appreciation for raw cacao’s medicinal and healing properties are rapidly rising. Only recently have I seen cacao go mainstream, taking on a cultural trajectory similar to Japanese Matcha. Across many nature-worshipping cultures, sacred rituals often center around a drink—much like the mindful intentionality of traditional Japanese matcha ceremonies.

The drink for the ceremony is prepared much like traditional hot chocolate, but using raw cacao as the base. Cacao to some denotes passion, life, art and nature. It is kept below a specific temperature during preparation to ensure temperature-sensitive nutrients and medicinal properties aren’t lost. The ceremony itself is simple: light a fire, sit in a circle, meditate, sing, play folk music, share your stories and simply enjoy the vibe and company.

Cacao ceremonies originated in Central America with the Olmec civilization and were later adopted by the Mayans and Aztecs. Practiced roughly 3,000 years ago as community rituals, they were used to honor nature and foster communal healing. Raw cacao comes from the Theobroma tree—Theobroma literally translates from Greek as “Food of the Gods.” These trees thrive near the equator (roughly 20 degrees north or south) in tropical rainforests, natively in the Amazon basin and throughout Central America.

To a beginner, distinguishing between cacao, cocoa, chocolate, and coffee can be confusing. While cacao, cocoa, and chocolate are mildly caffeinated and originate from the same Theobroma tree, coffee contains significantly more caffeine and comes from a completely different plant native to Ethiopia. Cacao, cocoa, and chocolate share the same origin—they simply take different paths.

The Theobroma tree has three main genetic varieties: The first one is Criollo which is the most premium variety (known for its lighter beans and delicate flavor). And then the Forastero which is the most prevalent and affordable variety, accounting for roughly 80% of commercial chocolate globally. Trinitario is the third one which is a hybrid between Criollo and Forastero. Recently, scientists have categorized these three main varieties into even more nuanced genetic variations. A fine chocolate connoisseur understands how bean origin impacts quality and price, explaining the vast differences you see in the chocolate industry.

The journey from harvesting the bean to making raw cacao, cocoa powder, or chocolate is fascinating: Pods roughly the size of a football are harvested from the tree and split open to reveal 30–50 cacao beans embedded in a sweet white pulp. The beans and pulp are stored in wooden boxes to ferment naturally. Similar to sourdough bread-making, beneficial wild yeast and bacteria break down complex compounds. This enriches the flavor profile, tempers the natural bitterness, and enhances antioxidant availability. The fermented beans are sun-dried and separated from the dried pulp. These dried beans are lightly roasted at low temperatures (if preparing raw Cacao) or at higher temperatures (if preparing Cocoa powder or Chocolates) to reduce acidity and bring out complex flavors without destroying delicate nutrients. The outer shells are then cracked and removed through a process called winnowing, leaving behind the inner seeds—known as Cacao Nibs. The nibs are ground into a smooth paste called Cacao Liquor (or cacao mass), which consists of non-fat cacao solids and natural cocoa butter.

From here, the paths diverge:

For raw Cacao: The cacao liquor is cold-pressed to separate the rich cocoa butter from the solid press cake. The remaining cake is finely ground into raw cacao powder, retaining its original mineral and antioxidant profile.

For Cocoa powder: The beans are roasted at higher temperatures and treated with an alkalizing solution (a process called “Dutching”), acidity and bitterness are further neutralized. Cold-pressing this paste removes the fat, leaving standard cocoa powder—commonly used for baking and conventional hot chocolate mix.

For preparing chocolates, it’s a slightly divergent process that involves recombining cacao liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa solids with varying amounts of sugar and milk. This is also where dark chocolate ratings come into play. An “80% Dark Chocolate” label simply means 80% of the bar consists of cacao components (liquor, butter, and solids) while the remaining 20% is sugar and seasonings. However, because much of that cacao percentage is fat (cocoa butter) and heat-processed solids, even raw dark chocolate isn’t quite the same as pure, unprocessed raw cacao powder.

If you haven’t attended a cacao ceremony yet, it is well worth experiencing. The practice is inherently grounding, helping you tune into yourself and your surroundings. It is deeply meditative, opening your heart and bringing you closer to yourself. Some might question why there is so much storytelling or ritual around a simple drink, but I believe it is far more than that. These ceremonies and narratives help revise our sensibilities, highlighting the vital role nature plays in our lives. Nature holds the answers to many of the problems we humans have unknowingly created. If we can take care of how we cultivate the earth and refuse to let short-term commercial interests guide us, we will all be collectively healthier, wiser, and more peaceful.

Ref links worth watching if you want to learn more about Cacao farming:

1. Documentary on cacao farming - New York based Cacao labs started by a brother and sister deeply passionate about preserving the rawness of Cacao.

2. A youtube playlist around Cacao Ceremonies Music: Antigua Ancestral

3. Traditional song “Pajaro Viejo” honoring nature, the sun, the moon and the mother Earth, that is often sung in Cacao Ceremonies: Pájaro viejo (Official Video)

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I picked up Robin Sloan’s Sourdough based on the recommendation of a Bay Area teacher who is also a fellow sourdough bread enthusiast. I could not imagine how an entire work of fiction could be created around the art of bread making, combined with a sci-fi plot set in San Francisco that captures so many aspects of Bay Area life.

The story revolves around Lois, a young software engineer who moves from the Midwest to work for a robotics company in San Francisco. While she is good at what she does, her true passion is ignited when she is handed a mysterious sourdough starter by two immigrant brothers. They run a local sandwich restaurant but have to leave the country due to visa issues. The brothers inspire her to become a full-time baker, but her success also pushes her onto an alternate path where she discovers the quirky side of San Francisco, where capitalism meets socialism in a very unique way. Here, she encounters a set of powerful, arguably well-intentioned, but clueless people attempting to build the future of the food industry through technology and obscure science experiments. Luckily, their ideas don’t come to fruition, as the science experiment fails, destroying the big plans carved around it.

The book starts on a promising note and carves out a plot that is highly unique, bringing together many themes in a way that is rarely executed successfully in modern writing. It sits at a unique intersection of modern sci-fi, culinary appreciation, and magical realism. At its heart, it is a story of self-discovery in a tech-driven world, complete with bread-making tutorials and a sharp portrayal of a Gen Z generation living in its own bubble. The book does a great job of portraying the unique culture of San Francisco, which feels incredibly real and close to home.

Sadly, the narrative loses its way in the middle and doesn’t fully recover by the end. The initial emotional connection—grounded in the existential dilemma we face while working in a tech company—suddenly shifts to a hypothetical sci-fi plot that becomes repetitive, abstract, and hard to follow. The ending is dull and leaves you craving more; what could have been amazing soon fizzles out.

This book is a great reminder where Sloan’s fiction mirrors our reality. The reality of what is happening in the food industry finds an uncanny resemblance in this plot and opens up many uncomfortable questions. The capitalist mindset of these well-intentioned but powerful people, combined with their half-baked knowledge, has far-reaching consequences. These individuals are so powerful that the world is left at the mercy of their self-obsession and half-baked ideas. Ultimately, the narrative they construct within their capitalist mindset ends up justifying every misstep.

Read this book for the sheer uniqueness of the premise. If you are a sourdough lover, seeing how deeply the author romanticizes the stages of baking will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Sometimes it’s hard to describe the storyline of a book, especially when it’s literature. It’s far less about the plot and much more about expression. Stoner by John Williams is one of those books.

The book is about a boy, William Stoner from a Midwest farming community, born into hardship, who goes to university in Missouri to study agriculture. The first in his family to attend college, he ends up choosing an alternate path, becoming an English professor at that same university. He marries a woman he thinks is his soulmate, only to end up in an emotionless union that is wrong for both of them. He later finds true love in an extramarital affair with a student, but chooses to give it up to avoid disrupting the world around him—convinced it is the most logical thing to do, even as it breaks him. Though he finds joy in his beautiful daughter, his wife unintentionally pulls her away from him, driven by her own compromises, ruining the relationship for both father and daughter. After an early retirement from teaching, he faces cancer in the final chapter of his life.

With limited exposure to the world, William Stoner was instinctively inclined to let life guide him rather than proactively taking control. This theme runs throughout the novel: he surrenders to every situation he faces, yet remains fully committed to every role and responsibility he holds. It is an ordinary life shaped by hardship, devoid of loud accomplishments, but one you connect with on a deeply personal level.

Despite his quiet nature, the writing captures a unique dignity in Stoner. He becomes a hero in his own right through the grace with which he accepts his fate and the dedication he brings to his routine existence. There is a profound sadness to the story that lingers on human loneliness, painting a tragic yet beautiful picture of complete surrender.You tear up reading about a life that held promises but one shaped by a social construct anchored in shame and guilt, leaving you grieving for a man who deserved so much more.

One can’t help but marvel at the originality and depth of writers from past eras. English novels likely started being written in the early 1600s. And in a span of 400 years, the writing ecosystem has evolved a lot. It’s hard to say if writing was better in the past versus now but the literature has changed a lot. Art imitates and finds inspiration from the real world and vice versa. As the world has become more prosperous and well equipped to handle the basic life needs around food, shelter and clothing, art has shifted from depicting hardship and realism towards more analytical things. The majority of the people have also lost the patience to romanticize things which would come around anchoring on a few things and dwelling deeper in them. From a past where people would invest their lifetime to compose a few pieces now it’s about creating fast consumable content. We have moved from a world of far and few to often and more.