You clicked!
I'm absolutely thrilled and grateful that you chose to be here out of the gazillion other places you could be at in this very moment. To have your attention amidst all the noise is a privilege - thank you!
What do I know about noise?
For starters, I've got 723 browser tabs open across all my devices. 15,328 unread emails, 202 pending Whatsapp messages. And it took me 3 days to finish typing this sentence out fully, despite being able to type at over 70 words per minute. If they had a DQ (Distractability Quotient) test, I would probably not finish it.
If you're anything like me, then I know I only have a couple more seconds left before I lose you to another notification or random urge to binge mindless Reels. So here goes:
Welcome to the very first edition of The General List! A newsletter for those who find the phrase 'insatiably curious' as an apt descriptor of their personality, which often manifests as a compulsive need to read every menu card (especially the ones with descriptions), pamphlet or shampoo bottle you find within reach.
It is for you - the ones who are so convinced that the world is filled with an incredible variety of knowledge to be uncovered and experiences waiting to be experienced, that you find it impossible to pick absolute favourites or hard coded labels to describe yourself. This also means that you find yourself struggling to stick to one thing for too long. 'Procrastination', 'commitment phobia' and 'getting things done' are your top Google searches.
For you - those inconsistent souls who might have a completely different answer to every instance of 'what are your hobbies?', 'what are your strengths?', 'what music do you listen to?' etc thrown at them.
And you, the fountainhead of new ideas, inventions and insights. You solve problems in your sleep, and conjure up one new way to change the world every single day. You know by now that your perspective of the world is unconventional, and yet you cannot get yourself to conform to conventional ways of thinking.
If that's you, we can be friends.
Ten years ago, midway through a dual degree program in Engineering and Economics, I encountered the first existential crisis of my life. What did I want to make of my life? Should I study further? What field? Should I take up a job? What industry? What was I good at, and what were my interests? Heck, I wanted to do everything! But that doesn't work as an SOP or cover letter, does it?
In that state of frustration I ended up drawing "Tanmay's Interest Map" - a seemingly disconnected web of subjects and topics that excited me, yet were invisibly linked and related (in my brain at least).
As you can see, spread too thin. And this was me only warming up. In the decade since the existential crisis, I graduated from BITS and went on to pursue a year long liberal arts program (The Young India Fellowship), learnt a bit about the business of drones, spent seven life-changing years at India's best 3D Printing company where I literally played out my fantasy of working in a new industry every single day - and along the way got to meet some of the most brilliant creative people from all over the globe. And just when everything got super comfortable - the perfect set of conditions for 'settling down' in the quintessentially Indian way - I decided to shake things up and quit.
I still can't pick that one subject I really love or I'm decently good at. This is me whenever I'm faced with a task that requires deep knowledge and skill:
But guess what? Over the past few years, it looks like the world has suddenly realised that our tribe is not hopelessly confused, defocused and vague. Quite the opposite! There's even a word to describe us - generalists - and we're supposedly the only ones who can save humanity from a dystopian future :D
L0001 - READ:
And so, fellow generalists (or Certified Amateurs, if you prefer something more formal) as well as those excited to try out the cool new generalist lifestyle, I've decided to convert the cause of my distractions into something meaningful. The General List is going to be my attempt at distilling all that I keep consuming across the spectrum of content - and picking out those gems that you too might find delightful, exciting, insightful or inspiring. This newsletter might find its way to you via Whatsapp, email or social media - and will be published every few days (every other day? every week? fortnightly? Who knows! I can't commit right now). A typical General List will have a bunch of links to things you can Watch, Read, Try, Buy, Experience, Make, Taste, Listen, Play, Visit or some other verb, and I will ensure that nothing gets too homogenous that they start thinking we're a specialist newsletter.
I hope you join the dots in your own unique way and see the patterns emerge through new learnings and discoveries.
L0002 - LISTEN:
So Little Time (So Much To Do) by Louis Armstrong
There's so little time and so much to do
There's so little time for dreams to come true
Many a ship to sail, many a magic land
Many a moonlit trail, many a road to walk hand in handThere's songs of love we never have sung
Let's not waste one hour, the night is still young
Mama, a lifetime's not enough for the love I have for you
There's so little time, so much to do
If you're with me till here, then I'm pretty sure you're someone who will enjoy the following show. One of my absolute favourites, and as relevant today as it would have been back in 1978 when it first aired. Do binge watch all the seasons!
L0003 - WATCH:
Connections is a 10-episode documentary television series and 1978 book (Connections, based on the series) created, written, and presented by science historian James Burke. It took an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention, and demonstrated how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events were built from one another successively in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology.
That's all for now! Please follow The General List for the next one.
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Twitter: @_tanmayshah
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