As I complete a quarter century of revolutions around the sun, I thought I’d list down the top 25 books which have most changed me, my habits, my political opinions, or just simply left me mersmerised by the story. I cover all genres - excluding romance, and maybe philosophy - I’m still a novice in these genres. List in descending order, the latter ones are more imp to me.

“Everything you wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles.”

This blog is me reflecting back after spending nearly a month TA-ing for pre-calculus at NYU. Honestly, the only reason I wrote this was because across the incredibly crazy and somewhat diverse experiences I’ve had in my nearly 2 months in NY City, teaching UGs in a physical classroom maths has been arguably the most rewarding. I’ll explain more at the end why this has been the case for me.

As Roger Federer lays down his racquet after 24 years, I thought this would be the right time for me to raise a racquet (and a toast) to the person who defined tennis for me.

This blog is my running story. I’m no Mo Farah or Eliud Kipchoge. I wanted to document how and why I started running, how and why I went about making it a routine, and why I probably will continue running in the future. For the many people who’ve asked me how to get into running- this is the story. It probably will not inspire you to get into it, but will give you ideas on whether its worth it or not.

I’ve had far too many people who have asked me for book recommendations, and the ever present question- “Which book should I start reading if I want to develop a reading habit?”. This post/blog lists down the books which most shaped my reading habits and preferences. A good chunk of these could be ones which I read when I was a teen, but I think that was when I figured out what genre I loved the most, what writing style I preferred and which authors I found most inspiring. I’ve read far too much non-fiction in the last 5 years (univ days), so tread with caution if my state of mind in uni influences these books. I love fantasy as a genre- so take my praise for fantasy authors with a pinch of salt, I cannot stop talking fantasy series. I’ll break it down into genres(5 for each), for easy stratification.

DISCLAMER : All points mentioned in this post are my personal opinions based on MY personal experiences. I’ll be protective of the projects I did at McKinsey for confidentiality. Any rebuttals are appreciated, although a response back isn’t guaranteed.

Let’s be clear on the motivation for a blog like this: every 12th grader in India after his/her exams faces the choice of which college or branch to join. Specifically in India, it is generally the marks which decide which college a student joins. Not interest, not future chances, mostly just perception from students and parents.

As a Dual Degree student, if there is one thing we don’t lack, it’s time. Time to decipher what we want to do while our Btech batchmates face the tsunami that is placement season. I knew in the beginning of my 5th semester that one thing I craved for was change, to look beyond the institute’s walls and the stresses that come with the academics within. That coupled with the lifetime goal of watching Messi and Busquets rolling the ball for FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou, an exchange didn’t seem like a bad idea .A semester away from campus would get me that required change in perspective, so I jumped on the bandwagon of browsing through the list of universities IITB had affiliations with.

I’m a first year Master’s student at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences focused on Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computing.