u/Obvious_Support223

Most lowkey birthday, ever. And yet, I don't remember having this much fun before.

Spent time with my 6 month old.

Had a nice coffee

Satisfied my sweet tooth with assorted cookies

Wore a nice shirt

Wore a nice watch

Met a friend I've known for 20 years, but hadn't met since 2023.

Polished off some great dinner.

And of course, spending time with the wife made all of this 100x more enjoyable!

I'm beginning to realise that birthdays at home could be incredibly fun too!

After a couple of months of sub-50 readings on the AQI monitor, we are back to the norm - smelling toxic fumes every night, and AQI levels competing with New Delhi. As always, the municipality is caught napping.

Also, kudos to people who are bursting firecrackers even with this level of pollution. Takes another level of intellect (or lack thereof) to pour soil on an already dug grave.

Jai Hind. Jai Maharashtra.

Wenger Quartz. Swiss Made.

Pic 1

T shirt from Westside

Jeans from Zudio

Pic 2

Shirt from Westside

Jeans from Zudio

Pic 3

Shirt from Westside

Trousers from Zudio

Shoes from Campus

Pic 4

Tshirt from Westside

Jeans from Gap

Shoes from New Balance

Pic 5

Shirt and Jeans from Pantaloons

We finally reached home sometime ago, finishing our first 'family' vacation (to Malaysia). Everything is finally quiet. The baby is asleep. He had a rough flight for a while - spit ups, poop, inconsolable crying - the works. Wife and I are exhausted. She's asleep. I'm not. There's something on my mind - a bittersweet emotion.

They say one person's hard work in the family sets up the future generations. I think I've very closely witnessed this during this 6 day trip. For both me and my wife, that one person is our respective (late) father.

My father was the most talented and yet the most hardworking person I ever came across in life. When his family couldn't afford to let him study what he wanted, he started earning himself from the age of 15-16 and studied the next best thing. Never complained. Never whined. Started learning English in the 5th standard and could out English all us convent schoolers. Did 2 masters. By the time we were in college, he had also collected countless banking related certificates and other accolades.

My father in law was immensely talentled too, but unlucky in business. Lost everything at one point living in his Tier 3 hometown. Didn't back down. Came to a Tier 1 City all on his own at 40 something, leaving his family behind. Lived alone for a while, made it big, travelled the world, bought his own house, and settled his family in the big city.

Both me and my wife have inherited some handy qualities from our fathers. My wife is an exceptional professional. She's one of those who actually love working!! I don't like work much, but I'm very adept at taking a responsibility and making sure I fulfil it no matter what. I always find a way!!

We both inherited zero generational wealth. We just got a solid foundation and inherited a mindset to always work hard, and make a good life for ourselves.

All this has made us extremely comfortable in life, so much so, that we could afford this trip the way we did - business class seats, the best hotels, and great food. Even if we travelled economy and/or stayed at budget hotels - our 4 month old would've done what babies do. But I am at peace (and slightly emotional and proud) that we could make his journey just that little bit better. From priority check ins, to great lounges, to lie flat massager aircraft seats, premium cabs, and in-room dining (so that the baby's sleep schedule didn't get disrupted), it was comfort all the way. Whenever someone praised me for how I handled our baby on the flight, I could not help but think that my father would've done the same thing.

I just wish our fathers were here to witness how we turned out, and that their grandson is living the it life 😄. I do hope they're looking down and cheering us from their heavenly abode. ❣️

Travelling in Malaysia currently. Wanted to buy from a local Malaysian microbrand. The more I researched, the more Revelot came up as a brand to go for. Established in 2017 by a watch enthusiast, it is making quite the waves in the Malaysian watch market. Saw a store selling their watches, and spoke to the guy for about 30 minutes about different watches.

Finally settled on this beautiful 40mm dress watch 'Universal.' Always wanted a minimalist watch. The dial is beautiful, and the date window gives it an edge over other minimalist watches.

I'm so happy with the entire purchase experience, the pricing, and the overall watch features and quality, that I may buy another one!

Don't remember when I bought this shirt, and if I even wore it before. Glad that it made its way to the suitcase!

Travelling in Malaysia currently. Wanted to buy from a local Malaysian microbrand. The more I researched, the more Revelot came up as a brand to go for. Established in 2017 by a watch enthusiast, it is making quite the waves in the Malaysian watch market. Saw a store selling their watches, and spoke to the guy for about 30 minutes about different watches.

Finally settled on this beautiful 40mm dress watch 'Universal.' Always wanted a minimalist watch. The dial is beautiful, and the date window gives it an edge over other minimalist watches.

I'm so happy with the entire purchase experience, the pricing, and the overall watch features and quality, that I may buy another one!

Travelling in Malaysia currently. Wanted to buy from a local Malaysian microbrand. The more I researched, the more Revelot came up as a brand to go for. Established in 2017 by a watch enthusiast, it is making quite the waves in the Malaysian watch market. Saw a store selling their watches, and spoke to the guy for about 30 minutes about different watches.

Finally settled on this beautiful 40mm dress watch 'Universal.' Always wanted a minimalist watch. The dial is beautiful, and the date window gives it an edge over other minimalist watches.

I'm so happy with the entire purchase experience, the pricing, and the overall watch features and quality, that I may buy another one!

Aquaria KLCC. Great place to see all kinds of fishes, from small fishes to giant sharks and even some turtles and snakes. Baby and momma enjoyed it too. Successful Day 2 in KL.

Jeans and Shirt from Pantaloons

Cap from Urban Monkey

New Balance Shoes

First time traveling internationally with the baby.

First trip to Malaysia.

First time traveling in business class.

First vacation in over a year.

I recently purchased the new Noise REP band and wanted to share my unbiased and honest review having used it for 12+ hours. I am posting this review as a short term review because I wore the band and my old Fitbit Inspire 3 for 12+ hours together to see how they compared. I will not say whether the REP is good or bad, and will let the people decide for themselves. Here are the parameters I adhered to:

1. Started at 00:00, wearing the Inspire in my left hand, and REP on the right.
2. For both the NoiseFit app, and the Google Health app, I unsynced the phone, so that the measurements are solely taken from the respective tracker.
3. A major factor to note is that my Inspire is almost 2 years old, and therefore is calibrated quite well, while the REP is brand new.
4. I tracked and compared three main parameters - sleep, resting heart rate, and activity.
5. Fitbit Inspire retails at 8K+ and REP retails at 7999/- for now.

You can look the pictures of all the measurements each tracker took. The light images are Fitbit, and the dark images are REP.

I leave these here, for people to decide how good/bad the REP is. I will personally give it 8/10.

P.S. - I won't be able to take DMs as of now, so kindly ask me your questions in the comments. Thank you.

Just received this beautiful piece from China today. Mark Fairwhale automatic. For me, it's all about the utility, the look, the price, and then the brand - in that order. Anyway so many watches are made in China or components are imported from China. This stigma with Made in China stuff should now be over, IMO.

Interestingly, this is my 2nd Fairwhale watch. The earlier one was a gift, and it has been running smoothly for 4 years now. No hiccups at all.

Before people downvote me, I got it for next to nothing - less than 5K including shipping and import. Excited to get it fitted and take it for a spin.

Outfit Details:

Shirt and shorts from Westside.

Sneakers from Campus.

Cap from Urban Monkey

Kindly do not ask me how I did this, I genuinely won't be able to help. I'm very sorry.

I've often posted in this sub about how I work freelance and the various benefits I enjoy because of it. No stress, no commute, and more recently having the freedom to spend uninterrupted time with my newborn, to name a few. Whenever I post such content, there are people who ask me in the comments/DMs how they could too do freelance.

Although the pros do outweigh the cons, there is one aspect that isn't spoken about much. And that is the financial side of freelancing. I wanted to give my personal example to show how unpredictable and chaotic freelance could be in terms of earnings.

This image shows my month on month breakup of what I've earned. Although, my wife works full time and has a more than decent salary, living in a Tier 1 City results in so many expenses that any salary you earn after a point feels inadequate. Add to that the massively fluctuating freelance income, and things can spin out of control in no time.

I've personally felt the pinch in the last 1 - 1.5 years. As you can see, last year was my worst year (except the first year when I just started) in terms of earnings, and ironically, it was also the time I had some HUGE expenses. I felt like I was moving backwards. We moved to our own house and the EMIs came in full swing. We also had to change our 8 year old car, because it was no longer safe to drive it, and we decided to not take any debt, so the car was bought in cash. As we all know, baby expenses are unending 😄.

Despite all this l'll still choose freelancing any day over working in corporate (which I've done for 12 years).

This is my takeaway in the last year or so, which I am sharing so that it can help others who are thinking of taking the plunge and exploring the world of freelancing.

1. Ensure that your average earnings hover around a number that comfortably covers your expenses and your investments and savings.

2. Never assume all months will be the same - even if you have a set client with a lot of work.

3. Investing takes precedence over expenditure, when the earnings are not up to the mark.

4. Sometimes the grass is greener on your side.

The expenses will never end. Your lifestyle should not take a hit either. Family is most important. Consider all three and then make a decision!

Spaghetti Pasta with homemade Pesto (with a generous helping of Amul Cheese on top)!

Edit - I realize I don't eat that much cheese, so 'generous' may be over selling it. Sorry 😄