Hello!

This was a good week - we made and ate 16-18 (depending on how you count) meals at home. We did end up slipping and eating outside for a couple of days—a solid B for effort.

A dear friend showed me his garden after last week's post, and it's beautiful! I'm looking forward to the day I can live off the land, and become self-sustaining. This has been a goal that's been taking root for years, and hopefully, the coming year or two will be fruitful in that direction (puns intended).

Surprisingly we haven't cooked anything with coconut in the past 2 weeks. I remember an episode before the pandemic where we were quite upset for not having coconut - mostly because of bad math on my side, but having the flavour-bomb of a spice mix has been good enough for most quick meals. More on this in this edition.

-Teej

🍱 Tumbled off the Cooktop

10 days. That's exactly how long it took for me to miss a plate of masalapuri enough to buy one outside. Well, a lot longer, but since we're committing it to the public, I'm going to count it as 10 days.

The weekend was hectic. We had a bunch of events, and I know it's not a good excuse, but we did end up eating outside.

The accountability group on the other hand is slowly growing! Come be a part of it. We're still sharing photos, and adding in recipes. We even debated what's the difference between hummus and usli, apart from the obvious texture of it. Fun conversations indeed!

👒 The Hats We Wear

Earlier in the newsletter, I mentioned about reinventing ourselves. This video I watched this week started churning my thought process on the different hats we wear during these mini-lifetimes.

The video talks about the divine goal someone is put on Earth for. I want to take a slight deviation and declare that everyone is here for some reason. And the archetypes the video talks about are exercised by everyone at some point in their life.

Awakeners rouse others from their existential hibernation - similar to how a parent shows the world to their child and teaches them how to wade through the society and environment we're surrounded by. And as they show the path, they learn a lot more about the world.

Healers sense the unspoken pain of longing for acceptance and understanding - similar to the closest of our friends, that family we chose to surround ourselves with instead of the one we're born into. Friends show empathy and create a haven to be ourselves without the risk of judgement.

Warriors stand up for what they believe is right, with an indomitable spirit - similar to how we stand alongside our belief systems when we're angry. It takes real courage to be angry and non-violent, and it comes with discipline and resilience.

Visionaries expand the boundaries of perception - similar to how our partners can help us see better when we're stuck on a problem, or offer suggestions on how things could be. Visionaries create an environment for others' creativity to thrive and create opportunities for growth by shattering the barriers of limitation.

Teachers can communicate complex ideas with clarity and compassion - like our mentors who understand the footing we're on, and bring concepts to the level of our understanding. Mentors often walk alongside us and help us cope with our world through fresh perspectives and offer a path of learning where minds and hearts can flourish.

Bridge-builders see beyond the differences between people and have a deep compassion for the human experience. We're all bridge-builders. We're constantly trying to understand and empathise with others. This takes patience and listening, but once in a while, we understand the common thread that intertwines between the complex emotional and social landscapes and binds us all.

I do think these hats are often worn multiple times every day, based on who we're interacting with and the situations we're put into. Did any of this resonate with you?

🛠️ The Right to Repair

The right to repair is the legal right of owners of devices or equipment to freely modify or repair products.Many companies these days build products in a way where repair could be impossible, or expensive enough to warrant replacements. This is called planned obsolescence.

The movement of the right to repair has been against this, where companies are forced to adapt designs that allow repairs easily, original spare parts are made available to end users and third-party service providers, repairs aren't hindered by some software/licence, and the repairability of the product is communicated clearly to the end user.

This entire train of thought came up when I was busy dismantling my pasta maker machine to clean it inside out. We made fresh pasta today, and the machine was a key appliance for this.Dismantling was fun. Though I didn't take photos of that flow, I was able to put things back together.

My appa often recalls stories of me breaking things apart, to see how it works. Many times I've felt like Sylar from Heroes - the supervillain who was on a journey to understand how people got superpowers.

⏰ Overclocked and yet Under

This article talks about a neurological epidemic that's growing these days within organisations - Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). Symptoms include distractability, impatience, and inner frenzy.

This is usually from a brain overload / overwhelm. People have difficulties setting priorities/goals, managing their time, and staying organised. And most organisations don't look at this phenomenon with empathy and often punish those who need help.

Remote work has fostered ADT too, by removing people away from the social stimulus that comes so easily in a physical workspace. The social stimulus that's needed to trust your colleagues, and create bonds of friendships. The isolation that comes with remote work these days has created undue stress.

ADT is an artefact of the modern world - our parents and the generations before them probably see this as laziness/distraction. It is brought on by the demands of our time, and the attention that everything craves. Milan Kundera describes the speed in the modern world as"the form of ecstasy that technology has bestowed upon modern man." The addiction to speed makes us demand it when we can't possibly go faster anymore too!

The fixes for ADT are to create an environment that promotes positive emotions and allows for a human moment every few hours, sleeping well, organising, and slowing down when you get overwhelmed (which we also covered in the past).

The biggest reason I dig into this rabbit hole of Attention Deficit Disorders and Traits is because I feel I've been burnt out in the past, and this is my way of letting people know how to look for the smoke before the fire.

Have you been burnt out? How were you able to rekindle your passions?

🌶️ Introducing Sundri

We've been making these amazing spice mixes. My family has loved it, and some of my friends have raved about it in the past.

First up, we have this instant rasam powder.It's instant because all you need to do is boil a tablespoon full of it in a cup of water for 5 minutes, and you'll have delicious rasam ready to be served.

We've made an array of dishes with this already - be it eating it as is with rice and ghee, tomato rasam, sambar/huLi, and even bitter gourd gojju.

With Sundri (inspired by sun-dry), we're planning to have a subscription-based product, so that you never have to run out of a spice mix. We're also experimenting with more spice mixes and formats to make every meal a flavour bomb that can be put together easily

If you're interested in this, please let me know here.

Errata / Updates

* Spent more time on designing a PCB. I need help with layout, it feels like forever since I worked on hardware.

* I'm streaming next week for sure. I have the week planned! Subscribe on Twitch/YouTube

* We became Superhosts on Airbnb (finally again), and crossed 900+ reviews! If you haven't seen our properties yet, please add them to your wish list, and visit sometime soon! 😄

* LoFi music in the background is from here.

End Note

If you've liked this post, I'd love it if you could share it with a friend. You can get them to subscribe here.

I do my best to have 5 "fun" things I've been working on every week hopefully on Thursdays. I'm stoked you're here on my journey and would love to read/hear about what you think. If you think there are other things we can look at, do them my way!

Thanks for being here, and reading all this. See you soon!Teej

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit teejofalltrades.substack.com