Sanjay Swamy (theswamy)

#GloatingTime #AnnapurnaCircuit #IgnoranceHelps #PersonalHigh #Nepal #hiking Thrilled to say that my wife, son and I successfully completed the #AnnapurnaCircuit in Nepal - getting through the famed and highly risky “Thorong La Pass” - the highest hike able pass in the world. Expert hikers have told us now that this is amongst the toughest they have done but for us it was our first ever real hike - so while it was our toughest, it was also our easiest 📷 What made us do it? How did we pull it off? To be honest we have no idea why we signed up for this. Among my best friends, two of the fittest started a WhatsApp group about six-months ago and one member who eventually never signed up invited us to join the group - and we unwittingly did. From there began a journey that was both fascinating and a crash course in “how to get your PhD with no schooling”. Our two friends initially told us “Don’t Die” and put the fear of god into us that we weren’t in the right shape - but also guided us with the right training & diet regimen to get into the right conditioning for this hike. They went on baby hikes with us and gradually helped build up our endurance. They guided us - and in particular my wife took charge - of all the equipment research and wardrobe required. We have never lived in cold countries or gone skiing - so don’t even understand gloves or anything related to the cold. And oh yes, in addition to the -20deg C cold, we were going to have to do a crazy physical workout at 18K feet - 5416m altitude - meaning ~50% Oxygen supply vs sea level! Everyone who understood what we were attempting simply asked us the question, “Why? What are you trying to prove, and to whom?” Except my (soon to be 90) mom who said, “Of course you should do this - be positive and you will succeed”! On March 26th, we boarded the plane to Kathmandu - and in the past 10 days we completed the hike despite crazy snow, dealing with altitude and several of the uncertainties nature and mountains can throw at you. It was 7 days of continuous hiking, altitude acclamatization, and dealing with snow storms and the rain and crazy cold 📷 What worked for us? - 3 months of consistency in training that gave us the confidence in our cardio and respiratory systems, and muscular strength - Friends who helped us with amazing preparation and planning - The incredible sherpas of Nepal who helped us and hand held us every step of the way - My team who helped and encouraged and adapted to my schedule over the past few months If you’ve reached this point - a big thank you. If we could do it, so can you. And whether you care to or not, get in shape so you “could” do it. Set smaller and shorter goals - but get started now, you won’t regret that!

Not our offices for sure - when you work @Primevp_in cricket takes priority. We once had an entrepreneur pitching us & Ind vs. Nz went to a super over - we put the meeting on hold, watched @ImRo45 hit those 3 sixes to win it for India and then got back to work. People asked us if we funded that entrepreneur....well there are some things even freak cricket wins can't buy :)

I've been noticing in the past 10 days or so that even intersections with police do not have them anymore - especially in the evening. That seems to be rapidly increasing the confusion at intersections in India where self-discipline in traffic doesn't work. I feel a bit of the traffic issues can be alleviated by adding more traffic police in peak hours. @krishnabgowda @CMofKarnataka

Congratulations

Landed in Seattle / apparently a few folks have tight connections! The calm at the back of the plane almost feels like we’ve not yet taken off!

Act Now: Search & Recover Richa Tours Indian Pilgrims Missing in Nepal - Sign the Petition! c.org/fCDk6jgwhw via @Change

Literally what happens to startups when they hit a brick wall...

The change and momentum is palpable - finally some hope for our dear Bengaluru!! I'm asking on behalf of a few friends, "HOW CAN RECENTLY RETIRED EXECUTIVES HELP - ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS?" Many people are keen and motivated and happy to bring years of private sector leadership and operational skills to work pro-bono to bring our city back to its glory. Please create a platform - many like-minded people would be happy to pitch in with quality time, Sri @krishnabgowda @WisdomCircleHQ - perhaps you can also collaborate. @rk_misra @TVMohandasPai @kiranshaw

The transformation of Bangalore is happening fast - as a true blue Bangalorean, we truly are hopeful once again - perhaps for the first time in at least 20 years! Last week, I had a flat at home and had to walk to office - for the first time in 5 years, I felt we had a full footpath to walk along. I applaud Shri @krishnabgowda for grabbing the bull by the horns and making a sisncere effort to address the key issues in Bangalore: 1) Roads & potholes - ensuring that we have good clean lanes for traffic to flow 2) Footpaths - which are not just about inconveniencing pedestrians but also with people parking cars to shop 3) Garbage pickup - a major cause for so many other issues 4) Flooding and drainage of roads 5) Traffic issues - which is partially related to all of the above issues A few things that need to scale concurrently will be "enforcement of no-parking". And perhaps in true PPP spirit, getting corporates or Rotary Clubs or other NGOs to adopt 1km of the sidewalks and both maintain them and ensure they are clean and functional. Onwards!!! @GBA_office @rk_misra @TVMohandasPai @kiranshaw

Dear @elonmusk One of the most common uses of @grok is people saying "Hey @grok - is this true". So my questino is when someone does post something, why can't the above step be done automatically and fake news or statements aren't actually shared. nitter.cf/i/grok/share/e0c5c6849…

I spent the better part of 4 hours trying to navigate through the maze of applying for the #eKhata - leveraging @chatgpt all the way. And yet, I got stuck with what even ChatGPT is convinced is a bug in the BBMP portal. There is simply no way to "Proceed" without selecting some invisible options on this page. Help! PS: This is among the worst websites I've ever encountered - no way I would've made it this far without ChatGPT! @cmofkarnataka @krishnabgowda @GBAChiefComm @bbmpcommr

For the past 24 hours I'm unable to pay for a ticket on @cathaypacific website. Have been on the phone with customer support - tried to pay with multiple combination of US and India issued cards, NetBanking, AMEX, the works. All browsers, mobile phones, on Wifi, on hotspot, the works... Airline says "our systems are fine" - but it's just impossible to cnovince them that this is happening at their #PaymentGateway - nothing to do with my issuing bank. Baffled!

Ben Stokes and Jacques Kallis - definitely the two greatest all-rounders since the glorious era of Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan. This iconic Ashes knock and that ODI final at Lords were definitely his greatest innings. Thanks for the amazing memories - disappointed to not see you play India this summer.

My simple math in terms of taxation being used for infrastructure development - people paid an average of say 25L pay 5L in taxes - each person spending 1 hour extra per day is effectively reducing their productivity by 10% - so losing out on INR 50K in taxes, assume they use that time productively and are paid for it - with 2M people working in BLR in the tech sector, we are losing 2M * 50K in potential taxes = 10,000Cr per year Ask yourself what we could do if 10,000 crores were truly invested in BLR infrastructure every year... One may quickly dismiss this as "people's salaries are fixed" - but that's missing my point. If people were more productive they'd probably be paid more too. Ultimately inefficiencies in the infrastructure cost us dearly....

Congratulations @kunalashah on an incredible run building @CRED_club and the way forward in leading @WhatsApp - excited as a user of both! And here's wishing @miten the very best in his leadership of Cred. Three Cheers to the Indian startup ecosystem!

Hello Whitefield - possibly the highest tax paying suburb in the country!!! @bbmpcommr @TVMohandasPai @CMofKarnataka