Vishal

[Vishal @Dakshaha]

Was planning to buy a laptop. Saw this tweet bought it next day. There were similar stories floating around same time. But this tweet pushed me in buying. Now the same laptop costs 13% higher than in Feb.

[Aravind @aravind]

If you are thinking of buying computers, laptops, tablets, phones - the time is now. Probably in another six months to end of the year, everything will get costlier. And whatever you buy right now, ensure you max out on the RAM and future proof even if it means paying $500 extra.

[Raj Kunkolienkar @kunksed]

Birkenstock went from 1 India store in 2020 to more than 50 today. And that isn’t the victory it looks like.

It’s a distress signal.

Brands don’t walk into India when they’re winning in the West. They walk in when they’ve stopped winning. The Indian premium consumer has quietly become the last chapter in a lot of Western brand stories — and if you squint, you can see the pattern stretching back a decade.

Starbucks arrived here in 2012, seven years after US growth peaked and “mall Starbucks” had become shorthand for corporate blandness. H&M came in 2015, just as “fast fashion” stopped being aspirational in the West and started being a slur. Victoria’s Secret shipped up when American teens had moved on to Skims and Aerie. Uniqlo, Pottery Barn, and Zara’s aggressive Indian expansion — all arrived in the second half of their Western growth story, never the first. The pattern is almost comical once you see it. Brands land here right when their home market stops being easy money.

Birkenstock is textbook. Their stock is down around 20% this year. Their FY26 guidance disappointed Wall Street last month. The Crocs CEO said recently that customers are “migrating back towards athletic.” The New York Times ran a piece calling the potato-shoe era over. The Western ugly-shoe cycle — the one that put Birkenstock on every Brooklyn influencer’s feet for the last five years — is visibly closing.

Meanwhile, Birkenstock India grew 31% last year. APAC is now the company’s fastest-growing segment globally. In their last earnings call, management told investors this growth will “reduce exposure to the US dollar.”

Translation: we need India to save the story.

And we’re showing up right on cue.

Influencers are doing Birkenstock-with-socks posts in 2026, two years after TikTok in New York was already over them. The aunty who called them chappals at a family function in 2019 bought a pair in taupe last month. There’s an Arizona in every third Uber in Bandra. Wedding sangeets now feature cousins sliding into Bostons for the after-party.

They’re good shoes. I’ll say it twice because the comfort is real. That’s not the argument.

The argument is that the story we tell ourselves about “the brand arriving” is backwards. What actually happened is the brand ran out of easy growth somewhere else, and we became the escape valve. We get to feel arrived. They get to extend the runway.

The Indian premium consumer has become a useful last chapter in a lot of these stories. We show up exactly when the West gets bored, which means we’re buying peak narrative the moment it’s losing its edge.

We always run this cycle two beats behind. We were getting into skinny jeans as they were dying. Oat milk landed in Mumbai cafés the same year America started complaining it was everywhere. Athleisure became a serious Indian category after athleisure had been absorbed so completely in the US that nobody called it athleisure anymore. The pattern is consistent enough that you could almost trade on it — if you could stomach buying the thing your rich cousins in Manhattan are quietly moving on from.

The consolation is that we don’t really care about being first. Indians buy brands for what they signal, not what they predict. A Birkenstock in 2026 Bombay says “I’ve made it.” A Birkenstock in 2026 Brooklyn says “I’m still here, for now.” Those are different jobs, and ours is frankly the more fun one.

Being fashion’s last reliable customer is also its own kind of power. The brands know it. That’s why Birkenstock is opening forty new stores globally next year with India as a focus, even as they guide Wall Street to expect slower growth overall. We’re the hedge. The hedge works.

Maybe that’s fine.

Or maybe it just means we’ll spend the next decade wearing what America is quietly taking off.

[Adam | Faithful Messenger @Adam_FaithfulM]

It's so obvious that God exists.

[𝒵𝒾𝓀✯ @_Gottalovezik]

All this struggle just for a life to end on a random day

[le.hl @0xleegenz]

People who moved abroad alone in their 20s, handled all docs, bank account, visa, tax, jobs, accomadation, and culture difference

These people fear nothing anymore

[kripal amanna @kripalamanna]

Some old-fashioned breakfast at an underrated vintage eatery, Karthik. Remember the times when dosaes weren’t drenched in tuppa and benne. Btw, this was a butter masala dosae! Would you have guessed it if I hadn’t told you?

[Nuwan I. Senaratna @nuuuwan]

Around 2010, I caught the "minimalist" bug and decided to get rid of all my books, keeping only about 20 with sentimental value and relying on e-books for the rest. I donated the books to my neighbourhood library and even sold the IKEA shelves that housed them.

That was one of the dumbest things I've done.

Thankfully, I was cured soon after, and started buying real books again.

I'm now up to around 600 physical books, a number that happily continues to grow at a healthy pace.

I've read most of them, but there are quite a few I haven't finished, or even started. And that's perfectly fine. @ahuja_priyank misses the point.

I think, @nntaleb said it best when he used Umberto Eco's 30,000-volume library to illustrate the idea of an #AntiLibrary, a collection of unread books that represents knowledge yet to be acquired.

Taleb argues that, rather than valuing only the books you've read, a personal library should prioritise unread, even "menacing", books. They are tools for intellectual humility and curiosity, reminders of how much you don't know, and a way to ensure you are constantly confronting the unknown.

[Kiran Kumar S @KiranKS]

Just two districts of Karnataka - Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, attracted more than 12 crore tourists last year.

That's almost 90% of the yearly tourists that a big state like Madhya Pradesh attracts!

The power of gorgeous Hindu temples and beautiful beaches.

[Mustafa @oprydai]

you need four hobbies. no more, no less.

create
bring something into existence. write, build, draw, code, cook. creation grounds you. it turns thought into reality.

consume
read books. watch films. study art. this feeds taste and perspective. good input sharpens good output.

cavort
move your body daily. walk, lift, run, dance. motion stabilizes the mind. a stagnant body distorts thinking.

commune
have a community. friends, family, peers. isolation corrodes judgment. shared reality keeps you sane.

miss one, and the system degrades.
keep all four, and life stays balanced, generative, and human.

[LifeMathMoney ₿ | Unapologetic Truths. @LifeMathMoney]

You *really* want to read the unrevised edition of this book.

This is because Carnige's feminist wife and daughter heavily edited his book after he died to make it more politically correct

For example (among other things) they completely deleted 8 chapters on dealing with women

The unrevised edition is available here:

https://t.co/Jc38t3KTXh

[Vishal @Dakshaha]

Uniball Signo DX 0.38 - Nothing else writes better than this.

[Hardik Rajgor @Hardism]

Joe Rogan has his mind blown - learning about the Kailasa temple.

[Vishal @Dakshaha]

Red Hat has XA Transaction Manager named "Narayana".

[Spiritual GPS Service @AstroCounselVik]

You thought I was obsessed with you?... No, darling. I just study threats that closely.

It's hyper-vigilance born from past betrayal.

~ Ashlesha (16°40' - 30° Cancer)

[Milito @Militojr177]

School reunion is a scam...
nobody is missing anyone, they just want to know whether you have made it in life or not

[Vishal @Dakshaha]

Why does Haridwar have a Mangalore Highway?

[Ghar Ke Kalesh @gharkekalesh]

Drama on Mangalore Highway, Haridwar: Girlfriend stopped by brother from leaving with boyfriend. Boyfriend hit himself with a brick. Brother claims 3-yr illicit relationship, demands marriage or breakup.

[Vishal @Dakshaha]

He paid himself around ₹60 crores for being brand ambassador of his company.

[Scarlet Heart 🐬 @_Saffron_Girl_]

This is how Ads should be. Divine ✨