Corporate training ko background mei ignore krte hue ye mail padha, aap jab khi phunch jate hain to aapka safar sirf aapka nhi rehta ham jaise logo ka bhi ho jata hai, jo bhatak rahe hain abhi bhi. Kitaab ki badhai, pichle mhine hi pre order kr di thi. 🐱
Hi Anurag, I've known you for only couple of months. I first read you substack and then got to know you page on instagram. As creative STEM student from Kanpur, I understand what it must have meant to create your path with arts in your world. I hope your book reaches masses. I don't want you to suffer financial losses but I look forward to seeing your book selling in the road side book stalls, that's a sign of a successful book right?😄
Congratulations Anurag! Your success seems very personal. You are one of those few artists I have been following since very early stage and I treasured your work as hidden gems of the internet. So definitely bought the book :)
I already have your book and had kept this marked as "unread" for no reason, possibly to read when I had more time. As life happens, I am reading and commenting on this when I don't have much time! What a story, Anurag. Very inspiring. As always, there are so many timeless sentences in this. My favourite is - "All art begins with observation, and you can only observe when you are not sprinting to some destination." Starting your book today. As always it was on "To read" for a long time :)
Very inspiring Anurag. Your honesty and candor are so refreshing in this curated world. I love hearing all your podcasts. Keep writing. You are getting better and your voice is getting louder every day
Hi Anurag bhai! Bought a copy of your book, finished it a few days ago. Was a super fun read, makkhan jaisa flow tha, thanks for creating an almanac of the Indian internet!
Hi, thanks for writing. I am from engineering college, and probably around the same time you did engineering, even before Orkut days, I think. I did not hate engineering though and was pretty ok with it, but unfortunately, the way the world is set up, it is always a big struggle for creative people.
I knew one of my colleagues in my first job who always wanted to be a writer. He used to write a magazine and email it to people—everything he used to write—and he did that for many years along with his tech job. I lost touch with him eventually, and guess what? A few days back, I was happy to find his book on Amazon.
Your story also reminded me of a time when I was interviewing freshers for hiring in my company. I found one guy, let's call him S. S had great grades in 10th and 12th, but his grades were very ordinary in engineering. When I asked him why it was so, he said that when he was in 10th, he was told that this was the final frontier, and once he did well in 10th, he could enjoy his life. He worked hard and did well. Then came 12th, and again he was told that this was the one final frontier, and he did well. Again, to be told that engineering was his next FINAL frontier that he needed to scale... he said that he had given up on the world and did what he liked in engineering.
We ended up hiring him, and he was a remarkable guy and a very enterprising person. Pity that our education system does not reward this.
I have not read your book but will pick it up. Keep writing and keep your enterprising spirit up.
Hi Anurag. I really enjoyed the post. I, too, studied engineering from one of the so-called premier institutes, and fortunately for me, I liked it. Of course, by that time, the education system had pretty much killed the creative spark in me (whatever remains shows up in the occasional use of brighter colors in my PowerPoint slides ha ha), but not the appreciation for people like you who have a lateral POV on things and provide moments of joy to the likes of us. Unlike most of my batchmates, who considered the mandatory humanities courses a waste of time, I quite enjoyed them. Your experience reminded me of my batchmate and friend who painted, wrote poetry, played music, and somehow managed to graduate while hating every minute of the experience. And like you, he has found success after stepping off the treadmill of the corporate rat race.
I reread the article in The Print and the comments, which pretty accurately reflect a society that considers humanities studies a waste of time, much the same way my batchmates felt over 30 years ago. So thanks again for your outpouring. I have bought the physical book and will bring it back with me the next time I visit India. Is there a plan for an audiobook since I find that medium much more accessible these days?
Thank you, Shantanu for such a thoughtful note. Your engineering classroom memories feel very familiar. I think all engineering college memories have some kind of similar connection :) And yes, an audiobook is planned and should happen in few months.
This was just the inspiration I needed to keep chasing this silly thrill of writing just for its own sake, and stop worrying, if only for a moment, about how people respond to it. I always love your articles because of the ease and gentleness with which they unravel social norms and cultural behaviour. As a writer who is trying to build a new version of herself out of the smoke of failed plans, antagonistic circumstances (and boredom), this was a special treat!
Corporate training ko background mei ignore krte hue ye mail padha, aap jab khi phunch jate hain to aapka safar sirf aapka nhi rehta ham jaise logo ka bhi ho jata hai, jo bhatak rahe hain abhi bhi. Kitaab ki badhai, pichle mhine hi pre order kr di thi. 🐱
Bahut sundar baat kahi :)
Hi Anurag, I've known you for only couple of months. I first read you substack and then got to know you page on instagram. As creative STEM student from Kanpur, I understand what it must have meant to create your path with arts in your world. I hope your book reaches masses. I don't want you to suffer financial losses but I look forward to seeing your book selling in the road side book stalls, that's a sign of a successful book right?😄
Haha. Technically it is one of the most important sign of success :)
Congratulations Anurag! Your success seems very personal. You are one of those few artists I have been following since very early stage and I treasured your work as hidden gems of the internet. So definitely bought the book :)
Thank you so much, Rishija, for the generous words and for always being so supportive.
I already have your book and had kept this marked as "unread" for no reason, possibly to read when I had more time. As life happens, I am reading and commenting on this when I don't have much time! What a story, Anurag. Very inspiring. As always, there are so many timeless sentences in this. My favourite is - "All art begins with observation, and you can only observe when you are not sprinting to some destination." Starting your book today. As always it was on "To read" for a long time :)
thank you so much :)
BTW, your book is sold out on Amazon!! Wow
Very inspiring Anurag. Your honesty and candor are so refreshing in this curated world. I love hearing all your podcasts. Keep writing. You are getting better and your voice is getting louder every day
thank you so much :)
Hi Anurag bhai! Bought a copy of your book, finished it a few days ago. Was a super fun read, makkhan jaisa flow tha, thanks for creating an almanac of the Indian internet!
thank you bhai :)
Almost going to finish reading your book. Can’t wait to post abt it ♥️
yaay!
Hi, thanks for writing. I am from engineering college, and probably around the same time you did engineering, even before Orkut days, I think. I did not hate engineering though and was pretty ok with it, but unfortunately, the way the world is set up, it is always a big struggle for creative people.
I knew one of my colleagues in my first job who always wanted to be a writer. He used to write a magazine and email it to people—everything he used to write—and he did that for many years along with his tech job. I lost touch with him eventually, and guess what? A few days back, I was happy to find his book on Amazon.
Your story also reminded me of a time when I was interviewing freshers for hiring in my company. I found one guy, let's call him S. S had great grades in 10th and 12th, but his grades were very ordinary in engineering. When I asked him why it was so, he said that when he was in 10th, he was told that this was the final frontier, and once he did well in 10th, he could enjoy his life. He worked hard and did well. Then came 12th, and again he was told that this was the one final frontier, and he did well. Again, to be told that engineering was his next FINAL frontier that he needed to scale... he said that he had given up on the world and did what he liked in engineering.
We ended up hiring him, and he was a remarkable guy and a very enterprising person. Pity that our education system does not reward this.
I have not read your book but will pick it up. Keep writing and keep your enterprising spirit up.
That's a wonderful story, Aman. Thanks for sharing it. I remember few people from engineering who went through this similar journey.
I'm reading the book, and will do a book review.
Thanks Abhinav. Looking forward to reading it.
Hi Anurag. I really enjoyed the post. I, too, studied engineering from one of the so-called premier institutes, and fortunately for me, I liked it. Of course, by that time, the education system had pretty much killed the creative spark in me (whatever remains shows up in the occasional use of brighter colors in my PowerPoint slides ha ha), but not the appreciation for people like you who have a lateral POV on things and provide moments of joy to the likes of us. Unlike most of my batchmates, who considered the mandatory humanities courses a waste of time, I quite enjoyed them. Your experience reminded me of my batchmate and friend who painted, wrote poetry, played music, and somehow managed to graduate while hating every minute of the experience. And like you, he has found success after stepping off the treadmill of the corporate rat race.
I reread the article in The Print and the comments, which pretty accurately reflect a society that considers humanities studies a waste of time, much the same way my batchmates felt over 30 years ago. So thanks again for your outpouring. I have bought the physical book and will bring it back with me the next time I visit India. Is there a plan for an audiobook since I find that medium much more accessible these days?
Thank you, Shantanu for such a thoughtful note. Your engineering classroom memories feel very familiar. I think all engineering college memories have some kind of similar connection :) And yes, an audiobook is planned and should happen in few months.
Pre ordered it a while back. Looking fwd to reading it.
Congratulations Anurag. Love your podcast. Looking forward to reading your book. 🙂
Thank you, Rahul :)
Thankyou for writing, I'm 98.9% convinced to not to be a creative
Awesome and inspiring. Thanks for being so honest and sharing your journey. Your writing has a lot of heart in it.
Thanks a lot, Mihir.
This was just the inspiration I needed to keep chasing this silly thrill of writing just for its own sake, and stop worrying, if only for a moment, about how people respond to it. I always love your articles because of the ease and gentleness with which they unravel social norms and cultural behaviour. As a writer who is trying to build a new version of herself out of the smoke of failed plans, antagonistic circumstances (and boredom), this was a special treat!
Lovely! Thanks a lot, Shubha.