Rishi Raj Gupta

Proud Bhartiya | Open-Minded Thinker and People professional. Personal X handle; belongs primarily to the thinker, and only occasionally to the HR professional

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

मुश्किलें इस बात का संकेत हैं कि आप जीवित हैं। बिना समस्याओं के तो सिर्फ वो लोग होते हैं, जो कब्र की खामोशी में सो रहे हैं। मुश्किलों से भागिए और डरिए मत, उनका सामना कीजिए।

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

I think all art forms for dying a slow death, and the duty to save the handicrafts and handicrafted versions of fine work is dependent upon people who are either connoisseurs by the virtue of family traditions, early leanings, or due to masters like @dieworkwear who have taken upon themselves to help people at least become aware of the world of handicrafts. Kudos to you, Derek 👏

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Recently learned about Sunghyun Yoo, a Korean tailor who moved from Seoul to Naples in 2017 to learn how to become a bespoke tailor. While many East Asians take apprenticeships in Europe, often in Italy, most of them return to their home countries after their studies. Yoo decided to stay in Naples, where he has established his own workshop, which he named Sartoria Del Signore.

If you know a little about tailoring, then you can spot many of the hallmarks here of Neapolitan style: The soft shoulder line, extended front dart, high gorge, straight lapels, and slightly sweeping quarters. It's said that Vincenzo Attolini invented this style in the early 1900s when he worked as the head cutter for Rubinacci (then called London House).

Back then, traditional British tailoring tended to be more structured. A jacket was typically built with a stiff layer of haircloth, a layer of body canvas, and a fuzzy layer of felt called domette to prevent the prickly haircloth from poking through. Faced with clients who wanted lighter, more comfortable jackets for Naples's warmer clime, Attolini ripped out much of this structure — removing the domette entirely and reserving just a bit of haircloth at certain parts of the chest. The shoulder line was also minimally padded. The result is something that's not only lighter and more comfortable in the heat but also looks more relaxed and casual than its British counterpart.

Today, Neapolitan tailoring houses struggle to find apprentices. For good reason, most young people don't want to become bespoke tailors, as it takes a long time to learn the skills, and the future of this market is uncertain. Even when young people enter the tailoring industry, they are more likely to become content creators, businesspeople, marketers, or something similar. They don't want to be the people who draft patterns, cut, and sew.

Thus, it's great to see immigrants keep this craft alive. To me, it's never about the person's ethnicity, but rather their skills and mindset. Anyone can learn how to become a bespoke tailor. In Naples, there's a specific way of doing things that yields a particular silhouette. It's great to see Yoo carry this tradition forward at a time when it's at risk of disappearing.

Earlier this year, I had dinner with two bespoke tailors — one from Hong Kong, the other from Seoul. The second was studied under Antonio Pascariello, a master tailor in Naples who recently passed away. I remember asking both tailors a question about how to fit a difficult figure, and the Korean tailor gave an answer that I thought revealed a very Italian way of thinking. In this way, Italian traditions live on, regardless of the person's ethnicity.

If you're interested, you can follow Yoo on Instagram (look up sartoriadelsignore). As usual, I have no affiliation with him — this is not a paid post, as I don't do paid posts. Just some thoughts about this dying art and the role that immigrants play, even when they're from different cultures and backgrounds.

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

सही है। दोआब में दो ही रस हैं - बनारस और लँगड़ा आम।

[Rohit Kumar Singh @rohitksingh]

काशी की विश्वनाथ गली में आज भी एक पीले दरवाज़े के पीछे स्याही की महक ठहरी है।

वहाँ पंडित हरिशंकर त्रिपाठी बैठते थे, शहर के आख़िरी चिट्ठी लिखने वाले।
- न कंप्यूटर,
- न प्रिंटर,
- बस एक चौकी, %
- पीतल की दवात,
- बाँस की कलम

और चश्मे के पीछे झाँकती, थकी आँखें।

लोग कहते, "पंडित जी, अब कौन चिट्ठी लिखता है? फोन कर दो न!"

वो हँसकर कहते, “बेटा, फोन बात पहुँचाता है, चिट्ठी बात को रोककर रखती है।”

◆ पहली चिट्ठी

2006 के सावन में, जब *अस्सी घाट* पर पहली बार मोबाइल रिचार्ज की दुकान खुली थी, एक ग्यारह साल की लड़की भीगी चोटी लिए आई थी। नाम था- अप्पू। असली नाम- अपर्णा मिश्रा।

“बाबा, बाबूजी को चिट्ठी लिखनी है। वो सूरत में कपड़ा मिल में हैं।”

हरिशंकर ने पूछा, “क्या लिखवाओगी?”

अप्पू ने थोड़ा सोचा, “लिखो कि आँगन का बेल पक गया है, और मैं रोज़ शाम को बाबूजी की खड़ाऊँ चौखट पर रख देती हूँ, ताकि लगे वो गंगा नहा के अभी आएँगे।”

पंडित जी ने वही लिखा, धीरे- धीरे। नीचे अप्पू से गोल-गोल अक्षरों में नाम लिखवाया।

वो चिट्ठी सूरत पहुँची।
तीन हफ्ते बाद जवाब आया और अप्पू फिर आई।
फिर हर महीने...।

*****

समय सरकता रहा...।

******

आज शाम, वैशाख की लू में जब घाट पर धूप तप रही थी, अपर्णा, जो अब BHU में संस्कृत की असिस्टेंट प्रोफेसर थी, उसी पीले दरवाज़े पर लौटी।
दरवाज़ा बंद था!
बगल की पान वाली अम्मा ने बताया,
पंडित जी पिछले माघ में चले गए।

चौकी खाली थी,
बस कोने में एक स्टील का बक्सा रखा था।
उस पर खड़िया से लिखा था:
“अप्पू बिटिया के लिए।”

अपर्णा ने खोला। अंदर कार्बन कागज़ों की गड्डियाँ थीं।
हरिशंकर हर चिट्ठी की नकल अपने पास रख लेते थे।

पहली नकल — “बेल पक गया है...”

दूसरी — “बाबूजी, दीवाली पर मत आना, अम्मा कहती हैं टिकट महँगा है, पर मैं अपनी चाँदी की पायल बेच दूँगी, आप आ जाओ।”

दसवीं — “बाबूजी, मैं दसवीं में फर्स्ट आई।”

बीसवीं — “बाबूजी, अम्मा को दमा बढ़ गया है।”

पचासवीं — “बाबूजी, आज मेरी नौकरी लगी, BHU में। आपकी खड़ाऊँ अब भी चौखट पर है।”

हर नकल के नीचे पंडित जी की छोटी टिप्पणी:
“लिखते समय चुप हो गई थी। दवात में गंगाजल मिलाया।” या “आज बहुत हँसी, बोली बाबा, इस बार मिठाई लाऊँगी।”

सबसे नीचे एक बंद लिफाफा था, जिस पर लिखा था — “मेरे बाद पढ़ना।”

अंदर पंडित जी की काँपती लिखावट:
"बिटिया,
मैं चिट्ठी लिखने वाला हूँ, पर एक चिट्ठी मैंने छुपाई। 2011 में तुम्हारे बाबूजी का आख़िरी पत्र आया था, सूरत के सरकारी अस्पताल से। उन्होंने लिखा था, अगर मुझे कुछ हो जाए तो अप्पू को मत बताना, वो पढ़ाई छोड़कर आ जाएगी। मैं हर महीने मनीऑर्डर भिजवाता रहूँगा, तुम बस मेरी तरफ से जवाब लिखते रहना, जैसे मैं ठीक हूँ।"

मैंने पंद्रह बरस तक तुम्हारा बाबूजी बनकर उत्तर लिखे। मुझे क्षमा करना। पर देखो न, तुम पढ़ीं, अब तुम पढ़ाती हो, तुम्हारी अम्मा ने तुम्हें टूटने नहीं दिया।

कभी-कभी एक झूठ, सच से ज़्यादा जीवन देता है।
अब यह बक्सा तुम्हारा है। चाहो तो गंगा में प्रवाहित कर देना, चाहो तो कक्षा में पढ़ाना।

अपर्णा की आँखों से आँसू टपके और दवात की सूखी स्याही फिर गीली हो गई!

◆आख़िरी चिट्ठी

उस रात अपर्णा ने पीला दरवाज़ा फिर खोला। चौकी पोछी, दवात में नई स्याही घोली। गली के बच्चे झाँकने लगे।

उसने पहली चिट्ठी खुद पंडित जी के नाम लिखी:

“बाबा, आज समझा कि चिट्ठी पहुँचती नहीं, रुकती है। आपने मेरे बाबूजी को पंद्रह साल तक मेरे पास ज़िंदा रखा। अब मैं आपकी चौकी ज़िंदा रखूँगी। हर शनिवार शाम दो घंटा, जो भी आएगा, मैं उसके लिए चिट्ठी लिखूँगी, बिना पैसे। बस एक शर्त, वो उसे पढ़कर सुनाएगा, ताकि शब्द हवा में ठहरें।”

उसने चिट्ठी मोड़कर दवात के पास रख दी।

अगले शनिवार एक ज़ोमैटो वाला आया, हेलमेट हाथ में, “दीदी, गाँव में दादी को मैसेज भेजना है, लिख दोगी?”

अपर्णा हँसी, “बैठो। पहले बताओ, दादी क्या बनाती थीं?”

लड़का बोला, “बाजरे की रोटी और गुड़।”

उसने बाँस की कलम डुबोई और लिखना शुरू किया — “दादी, काशी में आज लू है, पर तुम्हारे हाथ की बाजरे की रोटी की याद आते ही पसीना भी मीठा लगने लगता है...।”

बाहर शंख बजा, घाट पर आरती की घंटियाँ बजीं और अंदर पीले दरवाज़े के पीछे कलम कागज़ पर चलती रही।

कभी-कभी शहर बदल जाते हैं,
पर
कुछ दरवाज़े जान-बूझकर पुराने रखे जाते हैं, ताकि लौटने पर स्याही की महक हमें नाम से पुकार ले।

*गंगा शरण सिंह*

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

@GaonConnection लखनऊ थिएटर के पुरोधा हैं, रस्तोगी साहब। कमाल काम करते हैं।
और हाँ, रस्तोगी साहब ने तो बहुत समय से हिंदी फ़िल्मों में काम किया है। ‘मैं, मेरी पत्नी और वो’, जो कि सन् 2005 में आई थी, वो उसमें थे। ‘इश्कज़ादे’ शायद 2012 में आई थी।

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

I am an ardent follower of Test cricket; I consider it the ‘true game’. Hence, I had no interest in the IPL in its initial years. And yet, as the IPL seasons went by, my liking for Virat Kohli kept increasing. This was especially true after 2014, when he raised his intensity, moved away from his boyish brashness, and kept pushing the Indian team in the longer format of the game after Dhoni’s departure. The IPL still wasn’t on my radar at the time, but one change did happen: I started following RCB’s journey as a side-car to Kohli’s.

And it was a tough journey. For RCB as a team, for the players who cycled through the franchise, for Kohli as a captain, and for its fans… including me. This team got outplayed, outranked, and tagged as laggards. Then came Kohli’s lean patch in international cricket; it felt like RCB had everything going wrong for them. I remember whenever I mentioned to fellow cricket lovers that I followed RCB because of Kohli, I would be laughed at. For every lone RCB fan, there were four CSK and five MI fans in the room. And boy! Those nine were jointly hostile & mocking towards the lone guy! I saw this for over ten years. Yet, my appreciation for Kohli’s fightback kept increasing, both in the IPL and internationally. But as the old sailors' adage goes: nobody cares about the storm you encountered; they only care if you brought the ship in.

In 2025, that ship finally came in. RCB won the elusive trophy after an 18-year wait. A long wait. Very long, indeed.
Yesterday, they won this trophy again, in less than 365 days this time. Kohli top-scored for RCB this season, even scoring his fastest-ever career IPL fifty in the finals.

Somehow, I feel redeemed. My belief in the merit of a long, hard fight has become even stronger. I remember someone telling me this during my childhood: “बहती नदी अगर रुक जाए, तो वो नदी नहीं रहती, तालाब बन जाती है, या सूख जाती है। और सूखी नदी में कोई सिक्का नहीं फेंकता।” ("If a flowing river comes to a standstill, it ceases to be a river; it turns into a pond, or runs dry. And no one tosses a coin into a dried-up river.")

While the world stopped believing in RCB, Virat, and the team, Virat never stopped believing in himself and his franchise. He never stopped trying to get better & fitter. He evolved his game each year and came back harder for that elusive win. Now, for the past two consecutive years, his team stands as champions. And to achieve that, he rallied his teammates, even long after stepping down from the captaincy. He created more and more champions. Look at the dark horses who stepped up: Patidar, Bhuvi, Hazlewood, Iyer, Pandya… Unbelievably, RCB had eight different players winning Player of the Match awards this season!

People in the corporate world often ask me what the secret is behind a long, successful career. The story above, that of the RCb franchise, the players, Virat and the fans; tells that secret. That persistence is the secret ingredient I believe in. Winners go about doing something interesting in the world. They get out onto the field early; they don’t overthink it, and they don’t just talk about it. They do it. You can see them trying, learning, and improving. They fundamentally believe that nothing attracts opportunity quite like someone out in the open putting in real work. Because when you do that, even if you lose the match, you win the game.
Thank you, Team RCB and Virat Kohli, for living this beautiful story. You deserve every bit of the adulation coming your way.
@RCBTweets @imVkohli

[Royal Challengers Bengaluru @RCBTweets]

Ee Sala Nu Cup Namdu! ❤️‍🔥🏆

Welcome to the RCB Era, ladies and gentlemen! 😎

You waited, you believed and you stayed… this one’s for you again, 12th Man Army! 🥹❤️

#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2026

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

This is a valuable career guidance

[Radhika Gupta @iRadhikaGupta]

A LinkedIn post I thought would be worth sharing here too.

An honest open letter to placement cells and campuses:

We get thousands of CVs to join us. 85% of them come for one role: equity research / investing.

I am pretty all 85% of these will get these roles. Or that they are even suited for them.

And the 15 other things we do as an asset manager? No one cares.

But campuses have glamorised a handful of roles in finance: equity research, investment banking, PE while quietly treating many others as second-tier careers.

I promise you this thinking is now outdated.

Some of the largest opportunities in finance over the next decade will come from spaces that are:
• less crowded
• evolving rapidly
• and severely talent starved

Here is a sample...

Risk: regulation, governance needs and complexity are exploding. Demand for good talent far exceeds supply.

Investment Products: modern investment products are as much about design, positioning and communication as actual investment management.

Derivatives Trading: a massive new SIF and hedge fund ecosystem is emerging, with very few trained professionals.

Private debt & infrastructure Investing: India’s capital needs are enormous, but specialist talent is limited.

By the way, we never get a resume for sales, perhaps the most misunderstood career in finance campuses. Sales builds resilience, networks, business acumen and leadership. It's not a surprise many CEOs are formal sales leaders. And in reality, everyone in leadership does sales at some point.

I have seen talented people in all of these areas rise very quickly at young ages, build meaningful careers, be genuinely happy, and make a lot of money. And I have also seen people remain stuck because they refused to look beyond the glamour shortlist campuses celebrate.

Career choice should answer 3 questions:

1. What will the world need more of?
2. Where is competitive intensity lower?
3. What am I good at?

Think about your career the way founders think about startups:
Don’t only chase crowded markets. Find growing ones with unmet demand.

A strange conundrum exists in India.

Every campus says there are not enough jobs.
Every company says there is not enough talent.

Both cannot be true at the same time.

The real gap is not only opportunity.
It is signalling, guidance and fitment.

Too many students are chasing the same visible careers while some of the fastest-growing areas in Indian finance are starved of talent. And I am sure what is true of finance is true of most industries at large.

The people who build extraordinary careers over the next decade may not be the ones who followed the crowd into the most glamorous roles. They may be the ones who saw opportunities others did not.

And finally, let's shun the notion that there is something called the best “Day 0” job.

There is no universal Day 0 job.
Day 0 differs for everyone.

And 0 shouldn't even matter that much. Afterall, a career is not a 6-month placement outcome.
It is a 40-year compounding journey.

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

माँ अहिल्याबाई होलकर को उनकी जयंती पर आज नमन। नारी शक्ति की उनसे जीवंत मिसाल मैं और नहीं जानता। इनके बारे में इतिहास की पुस्तकों ने इतना कम बताया कि ‘आर्क की जोन’ को तो हमारी कई पीढ़ियाँ जान गईं, पर देवी अहिल्याबाई को बिसरा गईं। अपने बच्चों को इनकी कहानी सुनाइए - यह उस लीडरशिप का जीवंत रूप हैं जिसके जैसी बनने के किए हम हज़ारों किताबें पढ़ते हैं।

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

Reminds me of the old adage from Eastern UP:

दरबे से दरबा, जे चहबे सो करबा।

[Harsh Goenka @hvgoenka]

No one needs a Rolex to tell time- it’s only to signal status.

In life, we trade in five currencies: wealth, skills, beauty, fame and power. Each attracts the other.

But like it or not, wealth sits at the top, because it can buy much of the rest.

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

कल कुछ जीवन में व्यस्तता रही, समाचार नहीं देखे। आज सुबह अखबार खोला तो पाया कि बशीर बद्र साहब नहीं रहे! एक आह सी निकली… उन्हें पढ़ते-सुनते जीवन बीता, कितने ही बार उन्हें उद्धृत किया। खालिस उत्तर प्रदेशी थे हमारे बशीर बद्र साहब। लखनऊ महोत्सव हो या देवा का मेला, उन्हें सुनने के कितने ही मौके मिले, हर बार उनके शब्दों ने कैसी अमित छाप छोड़ी…
कल वो चल दिए… मानो ख़ुद से कह रहे हों कि:
“हम भी दरिया हैं हमें अपना हुनर मालूम है
जिस तरफ़ भी चल पड़ेंगे, रास्ता हो जाएगा।”
खुदा उन्हें जन्नत बख़्शेगा तो ज़रूर, सुना हैं उसे भी अच्छा कहने वाले पसंद है।

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

Remembering Veer Savarkar with folded hands on his birth anniversary today.

 Savarkar said at the time: “History shows that the fault of India, if fault it was, had been not that she was less, but that she was too generous and too confiding.”
I am glad that we have stopped being so generous and too confiding. We now tackle the world the way it needs to be.

#VinayakSavarkar #Savarkar

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

“पेड़ हो या आदमी
कोई फरक पड़ता नहीं
लाख काटे जाइए जंगल हमेशा शेष हैं।
क्या गजब का देश है यह क्या गजब का देश है।”
- सर्वेश्वर दयाल सक्सेना

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

An old man in our neighborhood died today. He was hospitalized with chest pain three days ago, underwent angioplasty, but passed away in the ICU. His wife had died during the COVID wave, and he had been living alone since then.

His only son lives in Australia and couldn’t come to see his father. Now, I’m not saying that the son is uncaring or abandoned his parents. I don’t know him. Maybe he is really a nice man. The elderly couple used to visit him every year and spend a few months with him. But maybe once you build a life outside, you can’t really come back. Life, distance, responsibilities, things become complicated.

The son hadn’t come to India in nearly 10 years. He couldn’t come for his mother’s last rites due to COVID travel restrictions, and I don’t even know if he’ll be able to come now or will have to arrange his father’s last rites from there itself.

This has stayed with me all day. To think of an old man spending his final years largely alone, losing his partner, and then leaving this world without his son by his side. Even as an unrelated observer, the whole thing feels unbearably sad.

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

पक्षी गर्मी से तड़प रहे हैं, ऐसी भीषण गर्मी है। आज दरवाज़े पर यह साहब बेहाल दिखे - वो भी सुबह-सुबह - क्या करें, १० बजे ही गर्मी ऐसी है कि शायद इन्हें हीट स्ट्रोक पड़ा हो। पानी और चावल की सेवा की गई तो कुछ ठीक हुए। प्रभु रक्षा करें 🙏

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

गर्मियों की शुरुआत हो चुकी है, पक्षी परेशान दिखने लगे हैं। हर घर के बाहर, या छत पर और बालकनी में, थोड़ा सा पानी और दाना, इन पक्षियों को बहुत मदद करेगा।

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

Every company gets the HR team it deserves.

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow fired the company’s entire HR team because they were “creating problems that didn’t exist.”

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

माँ सरस्वती की जय हो 🙏

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

Word.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Nobody told you this about success: Rent is due every single day. A lot of people seem to think that after you make it you can coast in the idyllic land of success. This is wrong. Every single day, you have to fight to earn your seat at the table. And that fight gets more intense as you have more success. You have more to lose. More mouths to feed. More people counting on you. More expectations. There's an old saying that I love: Every morning in the savannah, the gazelle wakes up and knows it must outrun the lion or be killed. The lion wakes up and knows it must outrun the gazelle or starve. Whether you're the gazelle or the lion, when you wake up in the morning, you'd better start running. Rent is due daily. Pay it with pride.

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

As a proud Avadhi/Lakhnavi with my generations there, I am sad to accept that this thread is quite true. Lucknow’s streets & open spaces are quite dirty, and not because of administrative faults alone, it is largely due to the lack of civic sense of the immigrants from the hinterland. Everyone wants a piece of Lucknow. While other towns & cities have grown in urbane ways, Lucknow perhaps is the only city in India of its size that has not urbanised; it has been rather ‘ruralised’ by the people from all parts of UP who have come in with no connection to the city’s traditions & manners. Traffic, cleanliness, conversations, behaviour - all have become the casualty.

[#YeThikKarkeDikhao @YTKDIndia]

Lucknow is India’s 3rd Cleanest City.

So our team went on ground to check the real condition of the City & Smart City Projects.

Before ground reality, understand the politics:

MP since 1991: BJP
Mayor since 2002: BJP
BJP holds 7/9 assembly seats in Lucknow district.

Thread🧵

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

Have been reading a lot about a certain actress attending the oath taking ceremony of a man actor-turned-politician. She is not his wife, and yet, all attention is on her. Media too has highlighted her presence all along. All while the wife & kids of this newly minted politician were nowhere in the scene.
I wonder, if the genders were reversed; it were a female politician followed by a male friend, while her family stayed away, would the world still tom-tom about this relationship?

[Rishi Raj Gupta @RRGwrites]

यह शेर का बच्चा असली लड़ाई लड़ रहा है - इसका साथ अगर हम नहीं दे रहे, तो हम अपने गुरुओं का अपमान कर रहे हैं। "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः" - जो धर्म की रक्षा करता है, धर्म उसकी रक्षा करता है। इनके साथ खड़े हो कर आततायियों का विरोध करना, यही धारण करने योग्य धर्म है। @kingkapoor72 आपको बजरंगबली का बल प्राप्त हो, लगे रहो, मेरे भाई।

[Harman Singh Kapoor @kingkapoor72]

Released after 24 exhausting hours in custody following an illegal arrest, and straight back to work because my family still depends on me.

I will be taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police and Mayor of London over what I believe was unfair and continuous discriminatory treatment.

I don’t want GoFundMe or handouts. I want to earn it.

If you want to support me, come dine at the non-halal Indian restaurant Rangrez in Hammersmith. Support through community, not charity.