I'm Arunav Daniel. I'm 24, based out of Delhi,India and honestly, I'm still figuring quite a few things out.
I've never been particularly good at writing about myself. It's much easier to talk about something I'm interested in, explain an idea I've been thinking about, or spend hours discussing something completely random than it is to describe who I am.
But since this is my little corner of the internet, I figured I should probably start by introducing myself.
This isn't going to be a résumé or a list of accomplishments. There are enough places on the internet for that already. I'd rather write about the little things, the experiences, the interests, the memories and the things that have shaped who I am.
Growing up
I grew up in a family that wasn't exactly conventional. My parents separated when I was very young, and my mother raised me largely on her own.
She's been a central part of my life, and we've always shared a particularly close relationship. We've had our disagreements, arguments and occasional dramatic moments, but she's played an enormous role in shaping the person I've become.
Growing up with a single parent probably made certain things about my childhood different from those of some of my friends. I don't necessarily look at that as something that defines me, but it's certainly part of my story.
I've always been quite independent in the way I approach things. I like figuring things out myself, forming my own opinions and understanding why something works the way it does rather than simply accepting it.
I also tend to observe people quite a bit. Relationships, conversations, behavior and the little things people do often interest me more than they probably should.
I think I've always been someone who spends a considerable amount of time inside his own head.
The internet, nostalgia and growing up in the 2010s
If there's one period I could revisit, it would probably be somewhere between 2012 and 2016.
I have an almost unreasonable amount of nostalgia for those years.
I remember being around ten, sitting at the back of my classroom, listening to music on my iPod Shuffle. It's funny how something as ordinary as listening to music during school can become such a vivid memory years later.
The iPhone 4, 5 and 6 era, early YouTube, gaming channels, music videos, internet forums and the general culture of that period all hold a special place in my memory.
YouTube in particular was something else.
PewDiePie, early KSI, FaZe Clan, the gaming community and all those creators who built enormous audiences before the internet became what it is today.
I miss that version of the internet. It felt like discovering things rather than constantly being recommended things.
There was something special about stumbling across a creator, finding a new community or discovering music that nobody around you seemed to know about yet.
I also think nostalgia is closely tied to music for me. Certain songs immediately take me back to particular years, places and memories.
Growing up, I listened to a lot of Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Drake and The Weeknd. Their music became part of the soundtrack to different periods of my life.
And yes, I had a massive childhood crush on Selena Gomez. I suppose some things never really leave your memory.
I'm also quite attached to the pop culture of that period. Movies, television, YouTube personalities and the general atmosphere of the early 2010s all remind me of a very different time.
I occasionally wish I could experience that internet again, even if just for a weekend.
Movies, music and fictional worlds
I've always enjoyed films, particularly ones that leave you thinking after the credits roll.
Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is probably one of my favourite film experiences. Batman has always been an interesting character to me, especially the idea of someone who operates without having any extraordinary superpowers.
There's something fascinating about characters who are complicated, flawed and constantly questioning their own decisions.
I'm also interested in anime, comics and stories that build entire fictional worlds around their characters.
One film that has a particular cultural association for me is Rang De Basanti. I was still in preschool when it released, but it's one of those films that has remained part of my cultural memory growing up.
I enjoy revisiting older movies and music because they often remind me of the period in which I first encountered them.
I don't think entertainment has to be particularly intellectual or meaningful all the time. Sometimes you just enjoy something because it makes you happy.
Curiosity and going down rabbit holes
I'm naturally curious, and that probably explains why I end up going down so many rabbit holes.
I can start researching one completely ordinary topic and somehow find myself three hours later reading about something entirely unrelated.
I'm interested in how things work, particularly the systems and infrastructure that people generally don't think about.
This extends well beyond technology.
I enjoy understanding businesses, financial markets, the internet, economics, software, networking, databases and the way different industries operate.
I've spent evenings experimenting with software, setting up servers, exploring databases, building applications and trying to understand technologies simply because I wanted to know whether I could make them work.
I have a particular appreciation for open-source software and the people who build things and make them available for everyone else to use.
There's something I really like about the idea that someone, somewhere, can build a useful piece of software and share it with the world.
I also enjoy the independence of learning something without necessarily needing a classroom, a course or someone telling me what to do next.
The internet has made that possible in ways I don't think we appreciate enough.
Building things and the satisfaction of figuring things out
I've always enjoyed creating things.
Sometimes it's a software project, sometimes it's an application, sometimes it's an idea that I can't stop thinking about until I've tried building it.
I have a tendency to get carried away once something catches my attention.
I'll start with a relatively simple idea and before I know it, I'm thinking about databases, architecture, deployment, automation and how the entire thing could work at scale.
I don't always know when to stop.
I also don't think everything needs to become a business. Some things are worth building simply because they're interesting.
I like the feeling of starting with nothing but an idea and gradually turning it into something tangible.
Perhaps that's one of the things I enjoy most: the process of figuring things out.
Ambition and figuring out life
I've always been ambitious, although I've never quite figured out where that ambition comes from or where it eventually stops.
For a long time, I thought ambition meant reaching a particular position, earning a certain amount of money or achieving a particular milestone.
I used to have fairly specific ideas about where I wanted to be at different ages.
But over time, something changed.
I started caring less about the actual titles and more about the things I could build, the problems I could solve and the opportunities I could create.
I genuinely enjoy the process of doing something difficult, figuring it out and seeing an idea become reality.
I don't think I've ever been particularly good at switching off when I'm interested in something. Sometimes that works in my favor, and sometimes it probably doesn't.
I don't know exactly where I'll be in five or ten years. I have ambitions, ideas and plenty of things I'd like to experience, but I don't have a fixed picture of what my life is supposed to look like.
I'm increasingly comfortable with that uncertainty.
There's still a lot I want to do, a lot I want to learn and a lot of places I'd like to see.
People, relationships and how I see things
I value honesty and communication quite a bit.
I've always believed that people should be able to have conversations openly, even when those conversations are uncomfortable.
I appreciate people who are curious, emotionally mature, independent and comfortable being themselves.
I don't think relationships, whether friendships or romantic relationships, should feel like a constant exercise in guessing what the other person is thinking.
I'd rather have an honest conversation than spend days trying to interpret silence.
I also think I've become increasingly aware of how differently people experience the same situations. Understanding someone's perspective doesn't necessarily mean agreeing with them.
I value meaningful connections, but I also appreciate independence. I think both can coexist.
I'm still learning about people, relationships and myself. I suspect that's something that never really stops.
A few things about me
A collection of completely unrelated things that probably tell you more about me than another paragraph would.
- I'm not particularly active on social media.
- I absolutely hate chai.
- Iced coffee is considerably more my thing.
- I have an unhealthy attachment to Diet Coke.
- I'm nostalgic about the 2012–2016 internet.
- I miss the old YouTube era.
- I grew up listening to Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Drake and The Weeknd.
- I had a childhood celebrity crush on Selena Gomez.
- Batman is one of my favorite fictional characters.
- I enjoy Christopher Nolan films.
- I can spend hours exploring a topic that catches my attention.
- I enjoy building software, even when there's no particular reason to build it.
- I tend to overthink conversations and situations.
- I enjoy discussing ideas, business, technology and completely random subjects.
- I value honesty, curiosity, independence and meaningful conversations.
- I have a soft spot for nostalgia and occasionally wish I could revisit particular periods of my childhood.
Why I'm writing here
I wanted somewhere on the internet that was mine.
Not another social media profile, not a professional portfolio, and certainly not another place where everything has to be condensed into a few bullet points.
I want to write about things I find interesting, document experiences, share projects, occasionally put some thoughts into words and have a record of what I was thinking about at different points in my life.
Maybe some of these articles will be technical. Maybe some will be personal. Maybe a few will be about completely random things.
I don't want to put myself into a particular category or make this website revolve around one subject.
I want it to evolve naturally.
Perhaps in a few years I'll come back and read something I've written here and find it amusing how differently I thought about things back then.
Perhaps some of my opinions will change. Perhaps some won't.
That's kind of the point.
I'm 24. There's a lot I haven't experienced, plenty I don't know, and an unreasonable number of things I'm curious about.
I don't have life figured out, and I don't particularly feel the need to pretend that I do.
So, this is where I'll be writing about it all.