... that went by fast!
“In a flash” is an idiom that means ‘very quickly or suddenly’—a fitting way to describe how January 2025 has raced ahead. My first month in this new avatar as the curator of the hawkeye project has been a whirlwind, keeping me engaged on multiple fronts. But before diving into the personal, let’s look at the world around us. Four events dominated the month: the new US President Trump's impactful inauguration, a record-breaking Mahakumbh Mela drawing millions, the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and the unveiling of Deepseek-R1, a Chinese LLM supposedly surpassing ChatGPT-01, marking a major step in AI democratization.
If I were to choose three words to describe the month, they would be ‘Change, Scale, and Disruption!’ and we are only getting started with 2025!
Life at my end has been exciting as planned, working on curating that portfolio of experiences to make life interesting.
Academia & Research
On the academic front, I made steady progress on my research work—Understanding Portfolio Diffusion and Lock-in in Consumer Technology Platform Ecosystems. After wrapping up the interviews in December, January focused on delving deeper into the qualitative research, including summarizing the interviews, coding responses, and extracting themes for deeper analysis and theory-building. Still early days, but the momentum is building, and I expect to pick up the pace in the months ahead.
Beyond my dissertation, I also wrapped up final edits for a case study on a large vertical e-commerce player I co-authored with a couple of my professors. The case study has now been finalized, accepted, and is set for publication—marking my first major academic milestone. A small but meaningful win!
Health & Fitness
This month also saw me running my third Tata Mumbai Marathon, where I surprised myself—and pretty much everyone else—with a personal best of 3:33:33 for the full marathon. That’s a massive 23-minute improvement from my previous best of 3:56:09! While I had a strong training block leading up to the event, credit goes to my running coach Dhammo for pushing me through intense intervals and tempo workouts, the good folks at The Quad who kept me strong and injury-free, and Nandhini, my support sherpa with superpowers. Executing a neutral split around a 5:03/km pace was deeply gratifying. The icing on the cake? Finishing 23rd in my age group.
With Mumbai done and dusted, my focus now shifts to the next big one—Ironman 70.3 Mallorca in May. A new training cycle begins, with more emphasis on the swim and bike legs, alongside increased strength training and mobility work. I’m feeling good—both physically and mentally—heading into this phase. My open-water swimming has improved significantly, boosting my overall confidence for race day. More on this over the next couple of months.
Multi-Disciplinary Learning
Between my research and the buzz around Deepseek, much of my free time went into deepening my understanding of qualitative research and AI training methodologies. Alongside this, I managed to complete a few books:
Play to Potential by Deepak Jayaraman— A compelling take on the ‘mid-life crisis’ many of us encounter. The book challenges the romanticized idea of ‘Ikigai’ and instead proposes a structured framework for personal growth called a ‘FLAVOUR’ful life. A thought-provoking read, especially for those in their 30s-50s.
Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru (audio version) – A timeless classic offering a deeply insightful view of India’s history and culture.
The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish (audio version) - A fascinating book on structured thinking and decision-making.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi—My first piece of fiction in ages! This beautifully crafted Japanese novel explores the idea: If you could go back in time, whom would you meet and why? A truly moving read. I’ve already picked up its sequel, Tales from the Café.
#Books Frameworks for life & thinking, history and fictional time-travel
Family & Friendships
What made the month even more special was spending time with my son, who was home from college for the winter break. He even ran the half marathon in Mumbai, while my wife played the role of our official family sherpa. To top it off, I had a short but memorable vacation in Goa with old college friends—one of those rare times where you lose track of time, yet somehow savor every moment. Every now and then, you pause, pick up a memory, caress it, give it a kiss, and let it pass. Pure joy.
हम वक़्त गुज़ारने के लिए दोस्ती नहीं रखते,
हम दोस्तों के साथ रहने के लिए वक़्त रखते है
Hum waqt guzarne ke liye Dost nahin rakthe,
Hum doston ke saath rehne ke liye Waqt rakthe hain!
Signing Off
Every month, I will share at least one long-form article or podcast episode that I believe is worth reading/listening to. This month it is the ‘Longevity 101 episode’ from Dr. Peter Attia’s Drive podcast. His book ‘Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity’ has been on my top recommended books list for more than a year now. If you have not read it yet, please do so at the earliest.
On a different note, please check out this high-energy piece from the Indian Army Band at ‘Beating the Retreat 2025’ 🇮🇳. Loved it!
That’s a wrap from the hawkeye project for January 2025. More updates are to come in a month.
Until next time—keep learning, keep growing.
Cheers! And if you like what I write, please share this newsletter with someone you think would like it too.
Love it! :)
Very engaging read, Murali. The breadth of experiences in just a month is simply awesome. Congratulations on your Case Study and best wishes for your research as well as the upcoming Ironman.