2026 Manifesto & Yearbook

Hello 👋

2026 is the election year in Assam. Political parties/candidates declaring manifestos, something we have grown accustomed to. It is a worldwide practice. Often, they fail to accomplish what they state. It is ambitious. All I can say, assuming true intentions. 

I had a plan for the whole year. I used to have one every year. Instead of writing a plan, I am writing a manifesto this year. I will try to make it very clear, very actionable. This should define me in the long run. 2026 is not only an election year, but it is also the year for me. 26th is my birthday. I recently got a jersey that says 26 😅. I wasn't thinking about 2026 - honestly. 

For yearly goals, I want to break them down into three themes (Read how I baked these) - 

1. Leverage - If anything, I want this badly this year. I failed at this last year. 
2. Health - I was super on this last year. I want to double down on health. 
3. Family, friends, and fun - I should have fun, and people with/around me. 

Things in 1 & 3 are clearer. Let me explain the last one. We will crawl back to others afterwards. Whenever I turn into real execution, I start feeling more detached. I like being detached and not needing to depend on others. I don't want to miss out on moments of life for this. If this is gonna stop me from great things. Let this be it. And it is a huge thing for me to come here and say this. I marked the sentence bold. I want to be there for people I care about. I want to be there for moments (for things they care about). I want to check on friends. Maybe making a few new friends as well.

I want to have fun. Extreme challenges give me fun. They induce chaos in my life. Chaos that I can control and eventually feel on top. Like a fast of 30 hrs with all normal daily activities. Doing an HM without much prep, committing to have abs in a month. Deciding to learn Sanskrit.  I want to have a social impact. Last year, I moved to a more individual level focus, and I am gonna continue doing the same. 

Time for the actual goals 🛎

1. Leverage
   • Knowledge work (Related to what I do daily - involves my time directly) 
     • I want to hit a total of 2027 users on my products by the end of the year. Just users. Don't need to be paid. 
     • Above is the ultimate goal; if that doesn't happen, I want to have proof that I did the right process, and the process is a minimum of 12 product releases. Do all of this in public. 
     • The above will add to my knowledge. It will add to the speed of iteration and learning. It will eventually help me to find the thing I want/can jump into.  
   • Traditional businesses (Indirect/passively managed)
     
     • I want to have at least 1 business by the first quarter of the year. By the end of March. I shall have one person at least to manage it for me. 3 by the end of the year.
     • This has been a fantasy at the same time, I think there are many good untapped opportunities here. If my goal is to be near people, why not? In some way, once matured, I can use this to give back. 
     • [Feb 5, too early to drop the idea of having a physical business, but I am not sure now]ddfm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
2. Health
   • Dead straight 😅
   • Run 21 min 5k - Stamina, endurance, and more anaerobic 
   • I am going to focus more on flexibility and movements this year
     • Be able to hold a handstand for 27 sec
     • Do a bridge and return from the bridge without any support
     • Biggest one - do a split. I give myself 1 year. Should be enough, right? Let's see. 
3. Fun
   • I don't know how I quantify this yet. I need more time. (5th Jan 2026). 
   • Maybe throw an exciting challenge every 60 days. Can be learning, can be physical endurance. 

Updates 🔊

⚠️ Personal space alert. Updates for each week. Raw access. Don't share, don't quote without running it by me, please 🙏

As usual, this Article will have the goals and progress updates each week.

Here we go. 🚀

Week 9 (23rd Feb)

Landed in Bangalore yesterday. I am in Indiranagar for the next few weeks. Sarva (colleague from Houseware) is going to stay at his parents' place for the next couple of months. Hence, I am going to use his room. Will see how it goes. I must feel productive here; if I don't, I have no other option than finding a different place. I know the people, hence, and have been here earlier, hence optimistic about it. 

The next few months are going to be different in terms of how I show up and what I do. This is my experimentation time. 

Week 8 (20th Feb)

Just getting ready, attending Shubhankar's wedding in Udaipur. Last few days of the trip, a lot of catch-up. Friends and fun. Good time. I was initially thinking of gifting Shubhankar a decor item from Assam. I was on the road for the last 20 days, so it didn't work out. I found a meaningful number and gifted him an equal amount. It is really meaningful to me; it means a lot. Shubhankar is the most influential person in my career. 

Week 7 (14th Feb)

Writing this from Delhi. It is my stoppage before Udaipur. Came to meet Sajal & family. Treated really nicely here. I am cherished here, to be exact. So much love, so many stories - Sajal, auntie, and buwa. Jaipur was good too. But I had to travel a really long distance for sightseeing. I prefer walking, and short distances. I am lazy if I have to be in an auto for an hour to visit a place. Jaipur was a large city, and to top that, the forts are far away from the city. Other attractions are mostly nearby. I had great home-cooked food there. Delhi is huge + crowded as usual. I don't have a liking for this kind of city. 

Week 6 (5th Feb)

Hello 👋 from Jaisalmer. Not much to update, very laid back tourist, vacation city. I don't really see the energy. I am sleeping at 1/2 regularly and waking up at 7/8. Not sustainable for me. So? I am heading out early, Jodhpur next. Ideally, I just want to fly to Bangalore; I feel like wasting time here. It is the phase of life, I guess. Also, the hotel doesn't have a chair, I could go to tarrace to work from. But cool. It is a different experience. On the otherhand, it is a new experience. I have liked the colours of the city. Repeating nth time 😀. Jodhpur, Pushkar - where I am meeting Shyoji and his friend. Then maybe Delhi, or Udaipur - depends. 

The LinkedIn article went live, good response. I am planning to build on them more. Maybe not all articles, but some long posts. But consistent. Creating more visibility for myself. 

I might have a plan finally

I might have a plan and clarity on what to do now. It is still not very different from what I wanted to do earlier. But with more focus. 

- Focus on building B2C ideas. Spend no more than 10 days on one. Spend the next 2 weeks marketing, and also keep building a new one during that time. This way, I will have 2 releases every 30 days. 

- Am I gonna make money? Is there a chance something might hit? Potentially. But this will tighten the loop for my learning. It is a different world. Building, Marketing is gonna change - I need to re-learn these skills. If any big idea comes, it will come from these small iterations. 

- This was the focus: what is changing? The way I would approach. I have a ads budget now if required. I have a budget for AI. Oh, I should set these numbers. 

8th Feb

More warming up, had an interesting conversation with Sidhant, He did a write up. Got connected to a few VCs. I don't know if I need VCs, needs its own post. Anyway, I am in Pushkar and gonna meet Shyoji after a while. 

Week 5 (27th Jan)

Met a few friends. Mostly, that's been the week. I am more convinced I should not do the job, although it is a good job, pays decently, has good people, good culture, and I am doing impactful work. I am deciding if I should wait till April, so I have a little extra cash and see one appraisal cycle here. I have decent money to run myself for a year, on the other hand. I should decide to be in Bangalore till mid of this year, irrespective of what I am gonna do. Let me sleep on this for some time and see where my mind goes. 

Jan 31st

Yes, I will be in Bangalore till April this year, at a minimum. Life is gonna be one-directional, that's it. Till april, I try building on the side and selling. I have found a few contacts who have been selling on the side. I will set up talks next week. 

I have a half-marathon run tomorrow morning. Run starts at 6. I have a flight at 1. I have to reach the airport by 11.30, and I will have 30 minutes to drop my bag. This means I have to be at the hotel by 9.30 head towards the airport as soon as possible. It might take an hour for the race to the hotel. I have exactly 2 hour 10 min to finish the race if it starts at 6, till 8.10. I must get out of there by 8.20 no fluff. It will be one of my hardest runs. I don't have the right tools, I don't have any prep - well, I have eaten extra for a few days. It is a challenge, so I am running. Let's see, if I can't finish in time, I should head back to the hotel anyway. ✊

I have started writing LinkedIn articles. I will write 12 in the next 12 weeks; the first one goes live this Wednesday. This is mostly for brand building. I must tell the world subtly, time to time, how good I am. Is that what we do?

I will start everything else the day after tomorrow. Need to re-pack now. 

1st Feb

I finished the race in 2:08, and left for the hotel at exactly 8.20. Am I a neurosurgeon to be this precise? The route was quite hilly, with an elevation of 210 meters. I had completely dead shoes. No bounce whatsoever. I ordered a pair of insoles and put them in my old Asics Cumulus 23. Calves took a heavy shot, and so did the groin. But feels good, I can still wake up and run a half-marathon. These are just good things compounding. I am in Jaisalmer today. Will be here for a few days. Then visit nearby cities before heading to Udaipur. Peace!

Week 4 (22nd Jan)

Back after ages. I am not very well. Got a cold. It has disrupted my schedule a bit for the last 3 days. But not everything is bad. We went to Aruncahcal last weekend. It was me, Baba di, Anita (cousin), and Tanuj. It was fun, it was a thrilling adventure as Annita mentioned. She thanked me for being brave and coming on a trip in an unknown place and hilly road with two girls and a silly boy. I have never thought like this. I have always belived man and women to be equal (apart from biological limits) and sharing the same privileges. But yeah, the world is different. I have a lot of respect for women who go out of their way, out of their comfort zone, to fight. Be it having different roles in the house or going to space, based on context and aspirations, I would always bow down to them with respect. Equality, I imagine, where women are safe and empowered to think alike and beyond, I don't know where and when it will happen. Anyway, it was a fun trip. It was cold, and I am still recovering from a cough. 

I am flying to Bangalore this weekend. A few senior leaders of the company are going to be in the city. From Bangalore, I will fly to Jaisalmer and spend most of the next 20 days in Rajasthan. Shubhankar is getting married, and I am going to attend his wedding in Udaipur on 20 and 21st.
Looking forward to this as this is the longest I will be travelling. I will have to pack smart. 

Week 3 (14th Jan) 🐌

Adding a mid-week update. I got a cold in the early half. And took it easy on the 13th. Also played a few short tennis ball cricket games, put in all efforts to bowl fast. My body is still recovering one day after. I got a little slower on work as I thought I could after having a really crazy (good) last week. But I shouldn't, as I slowed at work, I slowed at my projects. But it has been a decent week, back to the crazy pace again. Oh, our team has a match in the APCC qualifier tomorrow, but I am not playing - I promise not play on weekdays (if I had done the release for the month, I would have thought). And, I had signed up for a different team in Udalguri. I didn't enjoy playing there much. I feel I shouldn't take another spot, because my first preference here was Udalguri. I saw better opportunities there initially; everything has a price. As much as I would like to preach, people know me in Tezpur, and there is a high chance they will stop me in the actual league. Let's kick hard the next two days. 

Week 2 (Week of 5th Jan) ⚡

Jan 5th, the Plan is set for the year 🎉. I have half-built a cricket coach app. I have half-built an eye exercise website. The Eye exercise website, at this stage, is more like a lead generation place. I shall release this by the 2nd week. It is a quick win. 

8th Jan

I had a game planned today. I had earlier planned to play this tournament. The quality of cricket was lower than what I had expected. Plus, it was today, on Thursday. I have promised myself not to play a game on weekdays unless I am done with my release for the month. Or it is a tournament match in Tezpur or Dhekiajuli, so I don't have to travel, and I can wrap up my work and cricket on the same day. 

I have made a note app. I needed it to make notes on my iPad. It is close to completion as well. I am hoping to release this month. I have ordered a few electrical components to just play with things. I might order a 3d printer if I keep my energy up like this for the next 2 months. It is a good week. Let's keep rolling.

10th Jan

Mass used to use granola at LD. I used to use Fathom. For data & privacy reasons, we are only going to use tools for which we have gotten a contract. But I like my note taker. The problem isn't the AI; it is the data going elsewhere. So, I built my own AI note taker today. Runs completely locally with open source models. It was a pursuit to build something for me & also to get my hands dirty with Claude code. Too much on X. Meh, a nothing surprising, gotta use with skill before I rate. Skill is the alpha IG.

Feels like a month, I have a lot of things, maybe all half polished, unless I use them daily, no one else is gonna use them. Have to start replacing my tools with my own. 

Also did some personal reflections triggered by a conversation. Processing it, gonna sleep on it for a few days. In 2024, I realised I needed to live more in the present. Extension of the same is I need to meet people at their present, not past, not future. Nothing but preset is real.  

Week 1

The week was all reflections, partying, and planning. 

Questions 🤔

Laying out frequently asked questions. 

Biggest question - Do I get married this year? 😅

I would love to be in a position to answer the person, more than the event. As soon as that happens, the event will follow. Parents want it to happen. If I manage to do well on my first theme in the first quarter, I might do this. If I don't do well there, I must leave my job to do well. I don't think that would be a good time for any new person. 

Do I leave my job?

As I answered above, I leave my job if - 

1. I have enough clarity. I found something
2. If I don't iterate as much as I like to. If I don't have 3 product releases in the first quarter. 
3. Even when I don't leave my job, it doesn't mean I do the same job - keeping the switch open. 

Do I play cricket?

I like playing cricket. I believe in the practice of great things requiring sacrifices, not animal sacrifices. I am not allowed to play cricket on weekdays (when my job is on). I am allowed to play on the off days, or if it is a T20 nearby and doesn't disturb my schedule. Or if I magically get to play abroad 😅. I am allowed to play on weekdays if my work is on track, and I have already done the release for the month. I would still have to log the days. Not exceed 12 days in 12 months. 

Do I shift my base?

• If I find something and it requires me to shift for a few months - yes.
• If I don't do well on my leverage targets in the first quarter.