Apparently, once you hit 40, you're supposed to have a midlife crisis…
Buy a sports car?
Make some questionable decisions?
Panic about getting older?
And wonder where life went wrong.
But what if we've got it all wrong?
Sunil Gavaskar said, “I was lucky to have watched Sachin Tendulkar play at 15, and now Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Sooryavanshi will be on the plane to England for T20is with Indian team”. (Vikrant Gupta).
Payal Nag.
Daughter of a daily-wage mason from Odisha.
Electrocuted at the age of eight. Lost all four limbs.
And then, found a bow.
Spotted through her paintings by coach Kuldeep Vedwan, the same man who shaped world champion Sheetal Devi.
Defeated her idol Sheetal Devi at the World Para Archery Series Final in Bangkok, April, 2026
Whenever I am feeling low or sorry for myself I will look at these images of Payal & Sheetal again & remind myself what the words: Courage, Resilience & Positive thinking, really mean.
These champions are not just my #MondayMotivation.
They will be a source of motivation Every. Single. Day
This young man from Biaora, M.P, was criticised for claiming to have cleaned parts of a river just in order to gain social media views.
Well, we usually complain that social media rewards the trivial rather than the meaningful
So If a desire for ‘likes’ can become a force for good that’s fine with me…
Bittu Tabahi from Biaora is my #MondayMotivation
Optimus will be the biggest product ever made.
A general-purpose humanoid robot that can do useful work at scale will change the economics of labor & manufacturing.
Goal is to get Optimus to high-volume production as fast as possible.
If you’re great at AI, engineering, or manufacturing & want to build this, join us!
→ https://t.co/s3YW8Z6tZO
In Thiruvananthapuram stands the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, where architecture meets astronomy.
On equinoxes, the setting sun aligns precisely with the temple’s structure, appearing through a sequence of windows in timed intervals, an event often described as “Suryasmaranam.”
Built centuries ago, but it reflects a sophisticated understanding of solar movement, geometry and orientation.
Comforting that science and spirituality weren’t separate pursuits. They coexisted, and often reinforced each other.
I’m putting this firmly on my own urgent bucket list: to be there on one of the two equinox days. I missed the spring equinox just this past friday. But I have two chances every year.
Calendar marked.
#SundayWanderer
The ‘law of unintended consequences’ seems to be operating stealthily in the prevailing tariff war unleashed by the U.S.
Two examples:
The EU may appear to have accepted the evolving global tariff regime, responding with its own strategic adjustments. Yet the friction has nudged Europe to rethink its security dependence, leading to higher defence spending in France and Germany. In the process, Germany has moderated its fiscal orthodoxy, which may well catalyse a resurgence in Europe’s major economies. The world could gain a new engine for growth.
In Canada, long hampered by notorious internal trade barriers between its provinces, steps are now being taken to dismantle them, bringing the country closer to a common market and enhancing economic resilience.
Both these ‘unintended consequences’ could become long-term positives for global growth.
Shouldn’t India too seize this moment to shape a virtuous consequence for itself? Just as the 1991 forex reserves crisis triggered liberalisation, can today’s global ‘Manthan’ over tariffs yield some ‘Amrit’ for us?
Two strong steps we can take today are:
1. Radically Improve Ease of Doing Business
—India must go beyond incremental reform and create a genuinely effective single-window clearance system for all investment proposals.
—While states control many investment regulations, we can begin with a coalition of willing states aligning with a national single-window platform.
—If we demonstrate speed, simplicity, and predictability, we can make India an irresistible destination for global capital in a world seeking trusted partners.
2. Unleash the Power of Tourism as a Forex Engine
—Tourism is one of the most underexploited sources of foreign exchange and employment.
—We need to dramatically accelerate visa processing, improve tourist facilitation, and build dedicated tourism corridors around existing hotspots, offering assured security, sanitation, and hygiene.
—These corridors can serve as models of excellence, encouraging other regions to emulate and raise national standards.
And a broader action agenda to build on these pillars:
Liquidity & Support for MSMEs; Infrastructure Investment acceleration; A Manufacturing Push, via enhancement and expansion of the scope of PLI schemes; Rationalise import duties so that duty on manufacturing inputs are lowered and assist in improving our competitiveness.
Let the unintended consequences we create be the most intentional and transformative ones of all.
We cannot fault others for putting their nations first. But we should be moved to make our own nation greater than ever.