Mahabharat - the great war - 18 days of heroism, deceit, blood and intrigue - now as a mega Twitter thread.

I'll add the events from a few days of the war each day.

Caveats: lots of editorialization, creative liberties and interpretations. There will also be a lot of asides - especially around war strategy and tactics, the characters and their motivations and non-canon storylines.

Over the years, I've read multiple versions, phenomenal translations and modern retellings. So be prepared for a potpourri.

The game of job titles can be addictive but in the long run, is a losing strategy. 🧵👇🏼

In any fast-growing ecosystem (eg India), there are a lot of people who will also grow as a result of the massive success of the companies that they are a part of. This feels right. But ... What happens when you become the VP/ SVP of a function or the CXO of an organization in your 20s/ 30s?

You clearly deserve it? A title is a recognition of two things - your area of influence (pod --> cross-pods --> team --> company --> external) and your level of independence.

1/ I am a mythology buff - especially the Mahabharat. Over the years, countless hours have gone into reading, watching, listening to and debating the original texts, some great and some sub-par translations, various versions and adaptations. 2/ My son and I are skimming through the old BR Chopra TV series (within an hour we typically fast forward our way through 3-4 episodes). He is particularly excited to see the impressive Mukesh Khanna play his namesake (my son’s middle name is Bhishm).

1/ We have a very poor understanding of privilege in India. This has far-reaching effects on the products we design and build.

I am writing this in English. You are able to read it. Congrats - we are both privileged. 2/ The Indian middle class is like bigfoot. Imaginary. We do not belong to this mythical group. In fact, this group has never existed throughout history (and was a figment of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's imagination). Say to yourself - I am rich. And privileged.

1/ My favourite quizzing questions are around transformations. If you know a little bit about guns, you know that a Self Loading Rifle is called an SLR. And then you realize that BSA’s most famous cycle in India in the 90s was the BSA SLR. Hmmm … 2/ This is because, before cycles, Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) used to make - you guessed it - guns!

1/ An obligatory decade in review thread:

This was a decade of great personal and professional transformation. I did a bit of growing up and learnt some very valuable lessons. 2/ In this decade I went from being an author of children’s books to a game designer to running a company to becoming a product manager and an angel investor. I worked mostly across consumer tech (and a little bit of SaaS) in gaming, messaging, healthcare, education and media.

1/ I've always been in awe of people who keep detailed quantitative records on themselves and their activities (blood glucose levels, exercise, sleep, etc).

I've kept track of the following: books that I've read and interviews I have taken. 2/ While a lot of people keep track of the books that they read, I've come across very few who keep track of every interview they have taken.

Here are the learnings/ observations/ insights from the 512 interviews I have taken over the last 108 months.

1/ My first trip to China (Beijing and Hangzhou) was very insightful and left me in a state of euphoria. So it was important that I wait at least 10 days before putting down my impressions (to avoid recency bias). 2/ The first great thing that happened a couple of days before I was leaving was that both Alipay and Wepay allowed foreigners to create temporary bank accounts with pre-loaded cards so that they could easily transact all across China. I used zero cash on my entire trip!