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Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 176 // Week 12 // 2020

March 21, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

Writing this on the first Home-Quarantine Weekend. I’ve been working from home since this past Monday and have been seeing a lot of new things (firsts things) happening in my lifetime, some things are happening for the first time even in my parent’s lifetime. It’s a crazy world right now. But we gotta maintain sanity.

PM Modi has announced a Janta Curfew (One-day stay-home for people of India) for this Sunday in India and on Sunday (22nd March 2020) at 5 pm (Indian time) all citizens are suggested to take 5 mins from their lives and clap and ring bells or Thalis (dish plate ringing is a sign of good, used in some cultures when a new baby is born) to encourage the people on the front-lines, i.e. health workers, govt workers who are working on essential services and all the police and related departments. It’s going to be interesting to see the entire country clapping and ringing bells at the same time (sounds crazy right?).

As I mentioned a lot of first time things above, I meant, seeing streets empty entirely without a single person, the air so fresh that it feels like Nineteenth century. The insanity of daily life (the monotony) has been broken. People are staying home, starting to play board games again, staying in touch with families more. Even though the hatred of communalism still remains but for this cause (fight against Corona Virus) at least the World seems united.

My first week Working From Home went fine, as I got all the setups done and connected and was able to function 100% from home for work. So that made things calmer.

I’m feeling grateful to have been given the chance to work from home because a lot of my friends and close ones are still being forced to come to office and work even in these turbulent time. I’m hoping govt will do something about it shortly. But in these trying times, we gotta stay strong and maintain our cool.

Coming on to the book listening progress, I’m almost done with “The Sign of the Four” book (90% done) from Sherlock Holmes series and with “Nonviolent Communication” (80% done). Closing in, to the goal.

This past week I also released an informative video on Corona Virus (COVID-19) that too in Hindi language (English video is also coming soon). Check it out at the end section of this newsletter.

Stay safe, Be home and help flatten the curve.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.

Issue 176 // Week 12 // 2020

A resource I found really useful for Working from Home situation —

Remote Life Resources — This amazing repository (Google Doc) was shared by a friend. It contains resources on remote learning, remote exercising, mental health, activities for adults/kids, and how to help out with the #COVID19 situation. Check it out, it might be really useful to you as well.

A course I’m loving (making some better use of the home quarantine time) —

Voice-over Course – As I’m a Podcaster and do Interviews and also do YouTube videos as well, so screen presence and voice delivery become very crucial. I’m still working on my screen presence and yet to find a good course. But for voice-over, I found this particular course by a South-African professional voice over artist really good. I’m learning from this course truly.

If you are also a podcaster or YouTuber or anyone who wants to improve their public speech. This is a good online course to start with.

A new product which got me excited —

The new Apple iPad Pro (2020) – The iPad when it was launched (3 April 2010) almost 10 years back, disrupted a lot of myths about tablets.

Before the iPad, the tablets were being used just as good to have devices to watch Netflix of movies on. But after the iPad, it all changed. The Medical profession started depending on the iPad for a lot of stuff in day to day life. So did engineering jobs.

But it still didn’t become the personal computer fully, which could be used in place of a laptop. Finally, after the recent transformation of OS for iPad to iPadOS, iPad comes drastically close to a real PC or Mac. The latest iPad Pro (2020) takes it a notch further with a lot of great features like a floating keyboard cover design, trackpad support and cursor control. It’s still not a computer but it’s a supercomputer.

Check out Apple’s official intro –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09_QxCcBEyU

An article I found captivating –

One Thing which Separates Great Leaders From All the Rest – This article shares Steve Jobs’ thought process about leadership and how he cultivated leadership at a higher level in his organizations. How he distils this mindset in his management team that – great leaders don’t offer excuses or reasons for why they failed. It makes them own the problems and their solutions as well.

If you are interested in people skills and leadership. This article is a great read.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

We have stopped seeing emotions, we judge each other by the emojis these days and most of the time real and physically present emotion win against an emoji.
From one of my conversations with my close circle friend

Before saying “see you next week”
Check out this informative video I made on Coron Virus (COVID-19) in Hindi (first Hindi Video ever). If you are interested in more Hindi content, please subscribe and click the bell icon for notification of new videos. –

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 176 // Week 12 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 175 // Week 11 // 2020

March 14, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

Hope you are safe and taking precautions to prevent COVID-19 exposure! In the past week, the situation has escalated to another level. Nearly 4000 plus people are dead worldwide and most of the countries are taking extreme caution steps like locking down entire cities.

Even my own office management has asked us to work from home, keeping in mind the situation and the risk associated with travel to the office.

This whole situation made me pause for a while and think about this year. Since the start of 2020, there have been many tragedies until now. Like Kobe Bryant death, Delhi Riots, Australian Bush Fires and now this COVID-19 worldwide spread. All of it sounds like straight out of the book of the apocalypse.

But humankind is always hopeful. I hope we get through this scare as well.

From another perspective, it also seems like a way of earth balancing life. Humans have done too much harm and seem like nature is taking it’s toll now by all these events.

I really wish and want that we humans do better with the environment, the earth and the treat other sentient beings with dignity as well. That seems like the only way to return back to the equilibrium with nature because this is the only pale blue dot we got to live.

I’m personally taking steps to reduce my carbon footprint by reducing plastic in my life, avoiding burning fossil fuel and being mindful of everything I consume and do.

This Corona Virus situation may be a turning point in history when we look back from the future, it may seem like it taught us how nature can give us back what we give to her. It also taught corporates to get better at making people work from home, travelling less, burning less or no fuel for travelling and social distancing.

I’m also making a video on the whole Corona Virus situation which may help people to understand the situation and not panic. Being Alert is the need of the hour and not being anxious.

Last week we had couple of holidays in India. Holi is one of them. The festival of colors. But this time it was not as colourful due to the COVID-19. I also celebrated it along with my family at home only with a small tikka of colour.

Coming on to the book listening progress, I’m at 75% with “The Sign of the Four” book from Sherlock Holmes series and with “Nonviolent Communication” (50% done). Inching closer to the goal. Yay!

This week I also released a different kind of video (with a lot of B-Rolls) – The 90 Mins Morning routine. (Check it out at the end section of this newsletter).

Without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.

Issue 175 // Week 11 // 2020

A video I found really useful to learn more about COVID-19 —

CoronaVirus (COVID-19) – The Basics – Ali Abdaal does a great job explaining about the situation of COVID-19 and what actions to take. Check this out. I’m aiming to create a similar video with keeping in mind Indian situations.

A person I’m curious to know more about (Maybe a podcast episode brewing…Psss) —

Pallavi Jha – She’s the Chairperson and Managing Director of Dale Carnegie Training India. Pallavi has worked with more than 8,000 organizations to date and has equipped countless companies with the skills needed to scale in India’s competitive, dynamic economy.

A powerful personality. Check out this video –

A song I loved —

Kaheen Main Khirki to nahin – Discovered this new song on SoundCloud.

Mehdi Maloof has done an interesting job with this song.

Check it out it’s a little different –

A TedTalk I found interesting –

How technology frames reality – I found this TedTalk accidentally but loved the very different perspective it shared.

How technology is framing reality and how our perception has become a real estate to sell ads. It also shares a web browser plugin prototype which helps shape the digital content and show us how things really are instead of the photoshopped versions.

Check it out –

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom – we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.
Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is the video I released in last week – The 90 Mins Morning Routine. This is what I follow currently for a powerful and productive day. Check it out –

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 175 // Week 11 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 174 // Week 10 // 2020

March 7, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

Happy Women’s Day to all the amazing and lovely women in our lives. More power to you!

Here is a video from the humans of Bombay where 4 different generations of women writer letter to their younger selves.

Coming to the past week, I had a productive week at the office but wasn’t very much productive creatively. Hopefully, this coming week will be more creative. I was able to put in exercise for a couple of days and I tried to sleep on time and replenish my neurons as well as recover. Giving your body and mind, time and space is more important than anything we do.

Coming on to the book listening progress, I’ve finished Homo Deus finally and moved with “The Sign of the Four” more (almost 50% done), I started a new book as well – “Nonviolent Communication” (5% done). So this month I’ve to finish another book from the Sherlock Holmes series to reach 6 books in March end.

Enjoy today’s Saturday-Pentacle. (Delayed a bit due to the podcast episode release this weekend, check it out at the end of the page.)

Issue 174 // Week 10 // 2020

A Podcast I loved —

Agla Station Podcast – This is a brand new show hosted by one of our podcast group member – Priyanka Ganwani (of Fork Media). She’s done a brilliant job on this one. The production value of the first episode even speaks for itself.

In Agla Station podcast, she explores different Mumbai Local stations and talks to people who make these station working.

The whole idea of this podcast is very creative but sounds like so much work put into the production. Glad to see someone doing courageous production.

Highly recommend listening to this podcast. Here is the first episode for you to start with –

A piece of information I found really useful — Amid the panics of COVID-19 (Corona Virus) spreading throughout the world. Kevin Rose (One of my favourite people) discussed the matter on this show (The Kevin Rose Show) with Dr Andrew Weil to share more insights about the situations and few immunity-boosting herbs and others things.

One of these may sound like a superstition but it’s not. It’s a scientific fact that consuming Garlic in raw form (10 mins after it’s cut into the piece), releases Allicin, which is a great source of immunity-boosting. This might help you in contracting the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) by the means of boosting your immunity.

Check out the quick 20 mins episode if you wanna learn more –

A short film I loved —

DICKS: Do you need to be one to be a successful leader? – This short film by one of my favourite filmmakers – Max Joseph, is just so well thought of and made.

In this short film, he explores if to be a successful leader you need to be a dick?

Check out this video –

A documentary I loved –

Facing Putin – Last week I stumbled upon this NatGeo Series called Facing Icons, especially the episode of Putin.

This episode explores the controversies around Putin, how he became the face of Power in Russia. The facts mentioned are just so intimidating but fascinating at the same time. Check it out (link above).

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

They say age brings wisdom, but it isn’t true.
All you ever get is a better sense of your own limitations.
Curtis Edmonds

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a podcast episode I published in the past week. Episode 19 with Rajat Ubhaykar. We talk about his 10000kms hitchhiking journey, his book Truck De India, his writing process and more.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3adAgWZ7udpexep98bnLKZ?si=zT1aBWovR7aEWreDY1604g

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 174 // Week 10 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 173 // Week 9 // 2020

February 29, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

How are you? Really.

Have you asked this question to yourself anytime before? We talk about self-care, self-love and treating ourself as we would to our best friends and family. But have you asked this question to yourself anytime before?

If no, then it’s the right time to ask it to yourself. If you are not able to think clearly, use paper or a diary and note down how are you feeling right now. Physically and emotionally.

Stop thinking about what you should have done, what you would have done or what you could do. You are going to miss this moment, the right now, this moment. (Yes this one!)

Ask yourself the hard question and try to answer it honestly.

I did ask this to myself recently and in the process of answering it, I arrived at quite an interesting derivation about my well being. That gave me a new goal and direction to work on and made me course-correct myself and start living in the present moment once again. I totally recommend you do this exercise.

The only thing which will help you grow apart from generating ideas is following through by doing reflection exercises on a consistent frequency. (This Saturday-Pentacle newsletter has become that for me, a weekly reflection exercise) It helps me re-calibrate the upcoming week, after reflecting on the past week.

This is a leap year day, 29th Feb 2020. So happy B’day to all who were born on 29th Feb. Wish you next after 4 years. Here is a fun Ad Ryan Reynolds’ (the Deadpool actor) company Aviation Gin made for a lady who was born on 29th Feb and turned legally 21 (actual biological age 84). What a video. Watch it here. (This is a bonus piece in today’s pentacle)

Coming on book listening progress, I’m finishing up on Homo Deus (88% done) and finished “A Study in Scarlet” of Sherlock Holmes series and started the next one in this series “The Sign of the Four” (which is almost 20% done). So even though Home Deus is not finished. Still, I’m near to my goal (certainly didn’t breach the goal). So hopefully till the March End, my 6 books are over (Jan – 1, Feb – 2.5 and Mar 2.5). Hoping for more consistent listening time daily.

Coming back to the Saturday-Pentacle, let’s cut to the chase.

Issue 173 // Week 9 // 2020

A Podcast I loved —

That Creative Life Podcast Episode with J.N. Silva and Dave Krugman – Making a Living on Instagram – This conversation was epic. Got so many insights from real photographers (who are not just insta-go-lucky) but really on another sphere of photography.

1 hour well spent. Here is the Spotify link to check it out (if you are not able to see the player below).

Artist, I’m curious about —

Recently my podcast guest Delton Dsouza mentioned about Sam Kolder as one of his inspiration while creating videos on YouTube.

Once I saw Sam Kolder’s work on YouTube. It just swept me off my feet. His videos are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. So much editing work done with all those magical transitions and every second making your jaw drop a little more wider.

Here is a video from him (and you can get down the YouTube suggested video rabbit hole from here and you won’t be disappointed) –

KOLD – The Creative Process

A meditation session I Loved —

The Last Time You’ll Do Something – This meditation session by Sam Harris on the app “Waking Up” shares a significant insight about our lives. Just like a reminder that everything you do may be the last time you do it. Not just maybe because you’ll die tomorrow, but also maybe you might just not do that thing due to any number of reason ever again. So think about it, whenever you are doing anything, is that last time you are doing it?

When was the last time you took a walk just to take a walk?
Sam Harriss

Check out this video (made by someone else, but this same meditation session) –

A playlist I loved –

Songs to Get lost in – This past week this playlist had been on heavy rotation. Loved many of the songs from this playlists. Great for chilling or light focus.

Check it out.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – (this one is also from Sam Harris)

The only thing that permits human beings to collaborate with one another in a truly open-ended way is their willingness to have their beliefs modified by new facts. Only openness to evidence and argument will secure a common world for us.
Sam Harris

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a podcast episode I published in the past week. Episode 18 with Delton Dsouza. We talk about adventure filmmaking, his creative process and much more.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7vQ6MhePvajayNFKCCW5oh?si=T485rI5qTdKYYgZX5Df-SQ

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 173 // Week 9 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 172 // Week 8 // 2020

February 22, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

Hope your weekend was well spent. Recovering and reflecting maybe?

It was a long weekend for me and I was recovering from being under the weather from the mid of last week. I got better and worked on some creative stuff as well. 2 more podcasts are published now, one in the mid of last week and another one today.

So, all in all, it was an okay week with a recovery weekend for me. (How was your week? Reply in the comment section!)

Coming on book listening progress, I didn’t make much progress in listening to the books, just couple more hours than last week for both the books – Homo Deus (70% done) and “A Study in Scarlet” of Sherlock Holmes series (around 70% done). This week I’ll try to be more consistent. Past week 2 additional holidays reduced my commute by 4+ hours, hence less book consumption.

Coming back to the Saturday-Pentacle, let’s get on with it.

Issue 172 // Week 8 // 2020

An advise I loved —

How to Create the Life You Want (And Find Your North Star) – Oh man! This guy – Nathaniel Drew. In this video hey shares how to create the life we want. Almost all of his self advice videos are amazing and I dig this one as well.

He shares practical things to discover what you love and how to pursue them.

Check it out.

News of the week —

Death of Larry Tesler (Creator of copy and paste command)

The year 2020 continuous to shake us with deaths of Legends. After Kobe Bryant earlier, now the creator of Copy and Paste Command in computers Larry Tesler, died on 16th Feb 2020. May he rest in peace, who made lives of modern-day humans who use a computer so much easier. (Can’t imagine what will we do without copy, paste).

Lawrence Gordon Tesler was an American computer scientist who worked in the field of human-computer interaction. Tesler worked at Xerox PARC, Apple, Amazon, and Yahoo!

A person I’m curious about —

Taika Waititi – Taika won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his Movie Jojo Rabit this year. In this movie, he also played the role of Adolf Hitler who is an imaginary friend of a Jojo a young boy living in Nazi Germany.

Here is a TedX talk Taika gave on The Art of Creativity in Doha in 2010. Which blew up to many million views in the past few days, after he won the oscar. His works are just astounding.

A video which blew mind –

Billie Eilish Talking to a robot – I just loved this conversation between Billie Eilish and a robot driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Even though initially it looked like a gimmick but it isn’t. I was blown away by the quality of questions.

Machines are coming closure to humans.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
Aristotle

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a podcast episode I published in the past week. Episode 17 with Chhavi Sachdev. We talk about podcasting, radio culture in India her story, routine, tools, tips and a much more.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NizeIL1pb6xIQIos8iWVL?si=xIYM-qqOQAK_4kVmXsYPMg

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 172 // Week 8 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 171 // Week 7 // 2020

February 15, 2020 No Comments

Hello there!

Hope the Valentines Day went good for you. It’s the day of love. Even if you haven’t found your soulmate, you could spend this with your loved ones at home. Take them out on a date if you could. (Your mom? Your granny? or even your dad? anyone you really love).

If you have a girlfriend/boyfriend, wife/husband or soulmate I hope you gave them special time.

Even though they say, every day is a day of love. But probably if you can do something special on this day (when we get the opportunity to do something special on regular days?), just do it.

This time it was on a Friday, so most of us were working the day. But the evening could be spent out. Well, I did!

Coming to the progress of this week, I released a vlog (Kala Ghoda 2020) and worked on the Podcast edits, which are coming out shortly.

Coming on book progress, I’m halfway through on Homo Deus and 65% done on the first book “A Study in Scarlet” of Sherlock Holmes series. So probably I’ll be able to finish 3 books at least this month. That will help me catch up on last month’s one less book. So far so good.

Last week I joined a special event at my workplace as well, I was selected in the final 44 people (Out of 1000 participants) for the finale of Young Leaders council. We went through 6 exams and interview panels. It was great to interact with amazing minds in the financial sector. I wasn’t selected for the final 12 people council. But reaching finals was also a great deal for me. I got the opportunity to meet even the board of directors and be interviewed by them directly and also voice my ideas. It was a unique experience.

Coming back to the Saturday-Pentacle, let’s get on with it.

Issue 171 // Week 7 // 2020

My latest article –

Goals with Intention (GWI) – 2020 – So this year, I didn’t make new year resolutions, because now I understand that this whole method is flawed. You’ll work only on those things where you actually have a real interest.

This year I’m working on Goals with intention (GWI). Check out the article to know more about my process.

A photo and story from the week —

From Inside the Air India Flight which evacuated around 324 Indians from the City of **Wuhan** (which is the epicentre of the Corona Virus outbreak)

This story gave me chills and I remembered the movie Train to Busan.

In this article – A senior Air India pilot who led the evacuation of Indian citizens from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan describes the experience of planning the operation and flying to the ghost city.

A Person, I’m curious to know more about —

Rajat Ubhyakar – He’s a journalist and an author who wrote the book named – “Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker’s guide to Hindustan“. I got to know about him on Twitter. His book talks about a very odd topic or rather subject – The Truckers of India. The hidden tribe. People we almost tend to ignore. People who we most often think off in very sceptical ways. His book debunks a lot of myths about them. His journey for the book fascinated me. (probably a podcast hint…Psss)

Here is an introduction to him and the book from GoodReads.

In Truck De India!, journalist Rajat Ubhaykar embarks on a 10,000 km-long, 100% unplanned trip, hitchhiking with truckers all across India. On the way, he makes unexpected friendships; listens to highway ghost stories; discovers the near-fatal consequences of overloading trucks; documents the fascinating tradition of truck art in Punjab; travels alongside nomadic shepherds in Kashmir; encounters endemic corruption repeatedly; survives NH39, the insurgent-ridden highway through Nagaland and Manipur; and is unfailingly greeted by the unconditional kindness of perfect strangers.

A series I’m enjoying –

The Crossing – I’m watching this series lately and well it got me hooked. From its description, it looked like a time-travelling drama. (I have a thing for time-travelling movies/shows/books).

But as soon as I started watching it was not exactly like the usual ones, however people from the future come back to the past and it all gets mixed up with superhumans and normal humans trying to beat each other’s a**.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – (Got the reference of it from the last week’s podcast of Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose – The random show episode)

Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.
James Lane Allen (NOVELIST)

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a vlog I was supposed to released last Sunday but got delayed till the mid of this past week. It’s from my recent visit to the Kala Ghoda Art Festival – 2020. Which happens in the Kala Ghoda area of Mumbai. It was my 5th visit to the fest. Hope you like it.

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 171 // Week 7 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 170 // Week 6 // 2020

February 8, 2020 4 Comments

Hello there!

It’s the start of the weekend, hope you’re relaxing and being with your family.

So I’ve started to share a little bit of my week, in this newsletter. I feel like it keeps me a little accountable for my progress of the week.

For me, this past week was a bit relaxed from the last week. I’ve been progressing at a project at work, hopefully it will yield some good.

I’m excited about the two new podcast episodes which are coming soon. (in next few days). I’m even a little nervous about my first presentation at a local podcasting event. But that’s what happens when you are doing something you love. You are nervous in a good way. I hope it goes well.

Coming to the progress on books, as I started “Homo Deus” last week, I’ve listened to this book about 3+ hours till now and hopefully, it will be completed till mid of February. I’m listening to this one in the morning (as it’s non-fiction) and listening to the “Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection” while commuting back home in the evening. It’s sort of a balance of non-fiction and fiction throughout the day and I like it.

So without further adieu, let’s get on with the Saturday-Pentacle.

Issue 170 // Week 6 // 2020

A YouTube Video I loved –

Set systems rather than goals – I discovered Rowena Tsai’s YouTube channel last year and I liked the theme of this channel. But somehow I missed the rail on her channel’s progress.

She’s grown to double the audience since I saw her videos last year. But it’s not just about her channel’s growth, it’s the genuineness of the content. Her content about living a life of meaning and designing her life really resonated with me.

Last week, when YouTube algorithm put her video back in my recommended videos, I was happily surprised and found this video insightful. Plus I loved the way the videos are shot showing her doing casual things with the voice-over narration. It’s the small routine things which seem boring, sometimes they make you feel satisfied as well. (watch the video and you’ll know what I mean)

Loved this one.

A photo I loved —

A person who’s work I loved —

Morag Myerscough – I stumbled upon this British architect/designer while researching for one of my posts and I started loving her work. She designs neon colour (not that I resonate with neons) walls, cafes, temples and more. But the way she merges it with the aesthetics is astonishing. Check out her Instagram and also this piece here showcasing a spectacular example of her work on a biophilic cafe pavilion.

A podcast episode I loved –

The Random Show — 2010-2019 Lessons Learned – My god! This episode was like the one you hope it won’t get over.

Tim and Kevin talk about so many things. It’s like a yearly catch-up call they have. I also would like to have this kind of conversation with one of my really close friends.

They talked about relationships, how to sail through difficult waters (in context of relationships), biohacking (Kevin’s favourite topic) and so much interesting stuff.

This is one episode I totally recommend.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

Your Calendar reflects your true priorities.
The Minimalists

Before saying “see you next week”
Here is a vlog I shot couple of years back, it was essentially my first attempt on vlogging.

P.S.: This week’s vlog will be released this Sunday.

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

Hey friends, I’m Himanshu, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories. Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 169 // Week 5 // 2020

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 52 – 2019

December 28, 2019 No Comments

A recent episode of my Podcast –

Sharing one of my personal favourite podcast episodes which I did in 2019. – Little did I know, when Aawaari pinged me one day (after I shared a podcast episode I did with Trishita Bhattacharya. This visual artist really loved the episode and was sincerely expressed her emotions about how good the episode was), that this will lead to me recording an episode with Aawaari herself. The day I posted it online, so many good and emotional feedbacks were received. People love her and her work. This is one of my favourite episodes from my podcasts.

Check it out.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Looking back at 2019 be like!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Himanshu Sachdeva (@sachdevahimanshu) on Dec 29, 2019 at 7:58am PST

A video adice I loved and recommend —

How To Manage Your Time & Get More Done – In this video, Chris Do of The Futur tells how to get more done in the same time you are awake. How to better manage your time and how to supercharge your day!

Great practical advice. Highly recommend this video!

A highlight song of 2019 –

Billie Eilish – everything i wanted – Sharing this song as it has been one of my highlight songs of 2019. As Billie Eilish blew up as a pop star, this one became the best of her songs which really moved me in 2019.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – (a paradoxical quote to end 2019)

You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.
Joshua Fields Millburn

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 52 – 2019

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 51 – 2019

December 21, 2019 No Comments

A recent episode of my Podcast –

Episode 16 – Ashish Bedekar (Chief Product Officer of picoNets and a Startup Mentor) – Predicting the future by the patterns of the past – In this episode, I’m talking to Ashish Bedekar who is the Chief Product Officer of Piconets (a company which is working on revolutionising Content Delivery Network system by working acceleration the last mile performance. To simply say he is making the Internet sites you see daily, load on lighting speeds and meanwhile decrease the cost.

He is also a productivity expert and start-up mentor. He works with many start-up incubators to nurture and support start-up companies who are focusing on clean-tech, energy, Internet of Things (or IoT).

There are a lot of small tools and apps you’ll learn in this episode about and can implement to improve your productivity.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Quinoa Salad, coffee and some Instagram Flatlays
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Himanshu Sachdeva (@sachdevahimanshu) on Dec 8, 2019 at 6:28am PST

A short film which caught my eye —

Fragile Forests – Even thought this short film is an ad, but go and see like you didn’t know and you’ll never ever know, that it was filmed entirely on a mobile phone.

Just mind-blowing shots and mesmerising music both by Tim Kellner.

A photo gallery I loved –

Discover’s Science Images of the Year 2019 – here are the Science images of year 2019. A superb collection including the famous first photo of a black hole.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.
Dalai Lama

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 51 – 2019

Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 50 – 2019

December 14, 2019 No Comments

A recent episode of my Podcast –

Wanna know more about podcasts and podcasting? Here you go! – Here is a tweetstorm I created for anyone who wanna know what a podcast is why it is being used as a medium to communicate ideas!

My most popular Instagram post recently —

vintage #volkswagen van
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Himanshu Sachdeva (@sachdevahimanshu) on Nov 29, 2019 at 10:26am PST

An interesting video which got me curious —

How Cork Is Harvested To Make Wine Stoppers – A very interesting video showing process of harvesting the cork oak to create a wine stopper. It takes precision, years of practice, and a good axe. Here’s how cork goes from bark to bottle.

A song I loved –

Martbaan by Samar Mehdi – Found this amazing artist via Nimisha Verma and I’m mesmerized by this song. Just how stupendiously beatuiful this song is and many more of his songs.

If you are craving for some original music, check this out.

Quote I’m pondering on lately –

If you have good thoughts
they will shine out of your face
like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
Roald Dahl

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 50 – 2019