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The thinking happens around hour two.
Half of me builds at a desk. The other half needs a highway, strangers, and no plan worth defending. This journal is for the second half. Every entry gets a story, a favourite memory, one funny moment, and one lesson.
Three trips that shaped how I build, think, and name things. Each one earned its place on this page the hard way: through wrong turns, strangers, and highways at odd hours.
Shillong, Meghalaya
The trip that named my company. Northeast India is nothing like the rest of the country — the air is different, the people are unhurried, and the hills hold a quiet you can't find anywhere else. I took a wrong turn somewhere past Umiam Lake and ended up in a village that wasn't on any map I had. An old man offered me tea. We talked for three hours. He asked me what I wanted to build, and I told him about software for Indian clinics. He didn't understand the tech but he understood the intent. 'Be like the bear,' he said. 'Steady. Strong. People trust what doesn't panic.' Big Bear Software was named six months later. Funny moment: I asked for directions back to the highway and he pointed at the sky. 'That way.' He meant follow the clouds. It worked. Lesson: Names matter, but the stories behind them matter more. Every time someone asks why 'Big Bear,' I get to tell them about Shillong.
Bangalore to Hyderabad, NH44
Not every adventure needs a destination. Some just need a highway and a reason to keep driving. I left Bangalore at 2am with no plan except to be in Hyderabad by dawn. Somewhere around hour two, the thinking started. The kind of thinking that doesn't happen at a desk. I figured out the architecture for what would become ZPHS Locator — a tool that finds 1,000+ schools in three seconds. The whole thing formed in my head between Kurnool and Mahbubnagar. I pulled over, voice-noted the entire schema, and coded it in two days. It's now used by 100+ teachers. Funny moment: I stopped at a roadside dhaba at 4am and the chai-wallah asked if I was running from something. 'No,' I said. 'Running toward.' He nodded like that made perfect sense. Lesson: The best ideas don't come from brainstorming sessions. They come when your hands are on a steering wheel and your mind has nowhere to be.
Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh
I took a train to Araku because a friend said the coffee there would change my mind about Indian coffee. It did. But the trip became about something else. I met a teacher on the train who was travelling to a rural school with nothing but a chalkboard and a phone. She showed me how she used WhatsApp to coordinate with other teachers across three districts. No app, no platform, just a group chat and relentless resourcefulness. That conversation is why ZPHS Locator exists. I built it in two days and shipped it to teachers like her. Funny moment: She asked if I was a student. I said I build software. She squinted and said, 'Then why does your laptop have coffee stains?' Fair point. Lesson: The best user research isn't a survey. It's a train ride with someone who has no reason to impress you.
The format
Every entry, five things.
The story. The favourite memory. The funny moment. The lesson. The photos. No itineraries, no hotel reviews. The internet has enough of those.
The other mode is quieter.
explorer mode. no map.