🏋️ Health
This week the body had a lot to say and I had to actually listen for once.
Friday’s soccer session ended badly — not the loss, which is fine, but the way it happened. Got beaten in a way that had more friction than game to it. And somewhere in the middle of all of it I accidentally choked on some turf, and for someone with the OCD I carry, that kind of thing does not pass quickly. The rest of the evening my brain was looping on whether it scratched something, whether something was wrong, the usual spiral. We ate after, had some beer at the crib with Sam, talked for a while, and that helped more than anything else could have.
Sunday the body said no to soccer and I had to respect that. Friday took something out of me and my muscles were honest about it in the morning. I felt the guilt — I always feel the guilt when I skip — but I stayed home, rested, and then went out to play pickle ball with some colleagues from office instead. Gagan’s first time playing. Different energy from soccer, lighter, a good kind of active without demanding too much. That felt like the right trade.
Sleep this week was all over the place. Nights ending at 1AM, 2AM, 3AM, with a 10PM thrown in just to confuse the pattern. The body is running on more than it should be. Will need to account for this eventually.
💻 Work
This was a genuinely productive week and I want to say that without qualifying it down. Five solid days of output, long hours, real progress on things that were not moving before.
The beginning of the week was building — template structures, back and forth on a BTS piece, getting selected for in-depth testing on a new audio project. That last one mattered. Being chosen for something means someone believes you can go deep on it. I went deep.
The middle of the week was all audio. I dove into the technicality of it more thoroughly than I expected to — testing audio in the timeline, working through dubbing, tones, promo beat syncing, sound design, mix and mastering, placement. I came out the other end with a level of technical audio knowledge I genuinely did not have going in. By Thursday we had cracked it. The dubbing worked, the sound design held, everything sat where it needed to sit. That crack after days of testing is one of the better feelings this job gives you.
Saturday morning I went to SG’s place and we worked on the lighting architecture for a music video shoot coming up on the 31st. Tested a lot, planned a lot. I also managed to fall asleep there for two hours, which my body clearly needed and took without asking permission.
Sunday I shipped multiple takes remotely, all approved. Monday was a long product meeting followed by a shift into marketing. Tuesday I built a promo entirely from within the timeline editor — something that is going to go out soon — and then sat with Robin and Vikas to help them work through their stuff and integrate it into their pipeline.
Good week. One of the more effective ones in a while.
📖 Learning
The audio deep dive this week was the real education.
I came in knowing enough. I came out knowing a lot more — the specifics of how dubbing sits in a mix, how tones interact with the visual cut, how beat syncing changes depending on what the sound is designed to do. That kind of technical knowledge does not come from reading about it. It comes from testing things until they break and then fixing them. I tested enough things this week that I now have a proper feel for the audio layer that I was missing before.
The conversation with Samarth on Monday was another kind of learning — sitting with someone and mapping out how they can use a new tool inside their existing workflow. Getting into the specifics of someone else’s pipeline, seeing where the friction is, building use cases around actual problems. That is a different skill from building things yourself and it stretches a different part of the thinking.
☕ Small Wins
Got selected for the in-depth audio testing at the start of the week. That is a small win that compounds — being trusted with the technical work means the next round of technical work comes to you too.
Cooked wai wai chaat with paneer at home on Monday evening. Came home, made food from scratch, ate it. That kind of ordinary domestic thing hits differently in a week full of late nights and long sessions.
The Mumbai darshan on Sunday with AK and the crew. We were happy kids doing a thing we’d probably been meaning to do for a while. That is the kind of spontaneous city adventure that reminds you why being here is good.
Khushi’s catch-up on Saturday. She left her job to go figure out what comes next, which takes a certain kind of nerve. Sitting with her and hearing about the next chapter — that was a good few hours.
Cracking the audio problem by Thursday. That one belongs here just as much as it belongs in work.
📚 A Line That Stayed
Nothing specific from a book or article this week. But the week had its own line.
“We cracked it.”
After four days of testing audio — dubbing, tones, syncing, sound design, placement — there was a moment on Thursday where everything sat right and we knew it. That moment of recognition after days of not-quite-there is something I want to remember as a feeling. Not just for audio. For everything. The cracking happens after enough patience and enough stubborn testing. Not before.
🧠 Brain Refreshment
Mumbai Darshan
Sunday evening turned into a full city exploration with AK and the group. There is something about being a tourist in your own city that resets something. You stop seeing the commute and start seeing the place. We were happy kids. That is the only way to describe it.
Pickle Ball
First time properly playing with colleagues. Gagan’s first time ever. There is something genuinely fun about learning a sport alongside someone else who is also learning it. No pressure, a lot of laughing, a surprising amount of actual running.
Lighting Architecture Planning with SG
Saturday morning work that did not feel like work. Thinking through how light will move in a frame, where it needs to sit, what it needs to do for the music video shoot. That kind of creative planning before a shoot is some of my favourite thinking.
🎵 Music
✍️ A Poem by Me
Hindi: Roz Ghar aakr milta sukun, Rozgaar milta humm hote rumzoom, Roz raat behte hote roz raat, Taare ginte hum or sochte hum kaash hote vohi 2-4.
Translation: Coming home every day brings peace, Finding work, we exist in quiet hum, Every night flowing by, every night, Counting stars, wishing we had those same 2-4 people back.
Meaning: There is a rhythm in this poem that matches how the week actually felt. The structure is there — home, work, night, repeat. It is not an unhappy life. But in the quiet of it, when the day is done and the screen is off, there is a particular kind of longing for certain people. Not many. Just 2-4. The ones whose presence would make the already-good life feel complete.
Interpretation: The poem is honest about something most people do not say out loud. You can be okay — genuinely okay — and still miss people. The stars are beautiful. The counting of them is peaceful. And somewhere in that peace there is a quiet space where a few specific people belong and are not there right now.
💭 Closing Thoughts
This was a work-effective week in the truest sense of the word. Not just hours clocked but things actually moving — audio cracked, promos shipped, meetings that produced decisions, evenings that produced connection. The week had weight and it also had lightness.
The soccer loss on Friday sat with me for longer than it should have. Not the score but the friction in it. There is a version of competition that sharpens you and a version that just leaves a bad feeling. That one was the second kind. I ate food, had some beer, talked with Sam, and let it pass.
The poem this week is quieter than the ones before it. Less fire, more sky. I think that is where I am right now — the work is loud and the evenings are quiet and somewhere in that quiet I am counting stars and thinking of the people I wish were closer. That is allowed. It does not take away from the good week. It just sits alongside it.
Next week, the music video prep begins in earnest. Something to look forward to.
See you next week.
— Naman
Mumbai
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