“Were you ever going to tell me?”
I asked, trying to sound as heartbroken and sincere as possible. This was it. This was the pivotal moment that we had been building up to. The yelling, the accusations, the uncomfortable silence, it was all leading up to this. I wanted my eyes to well up with tears so she could see how torn I was. But it had to be the right amount of tears to ensure they remained unshed. …
I never understood photography. The older I got, the better and more popular cameras became, the less I understood it.
Today almost everyone has an exceptionally high-quality camera, access to professional editing software, and the ability to immediately share their instant creations with the world — all in their pocket. All the time.
The photography workflow has become ridiculously simple.
Where is the magic then, I wondered. The skill that one needs to develop to call themselves a photographer. According to widely known humanist photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, “Your first 10,000 pictures are your worst”. A variant of the 10,000…
passion and purpose in corporate America
I hate the word hobby
Maybe it’s because I don’t have many hobbies.
Just so we’re all on the same page, I pulled up the exact definition of the word. Hobby — an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.
I love collecting ancient coins. That’s my hobby.
I recently caught up with some pre-pandemic friends. The kind of friends you would go out for a drink with after work but not the type you would keep in touch with on zoom when you’re stuck at home for fourteen months. “So..what have you…
“I had nothing else to do…so I just worked”
My company had just introduced summer Fridays. Everyone was excited to get the weekend started early.
As usual, despite the bonus time, it went by in a blip. Before I knew it, we were back in the break room on Monday morning with an extra shot of espresso, ritualistically sharing what we did over the 2 ½ days off.
I heard the expected stories of excessive drinking, road trips, side projects, and binge tv watching from my coworkers. …
Remember This 1 Thing and You’ll Be Ready For The Journey
Finding your passion is difficult.
It takes tinkering, trying, and multiple failed attempts to find that one thing (or set of things) that you truly love.
But once it finally clicks, the world seems magical. You feel like you found the first piece of the puzzle and now things will start to fall into place. I felt that way when I started acting again after studying computer science for 4 years.
Suddenly everything made sense. I was born for this. I was supposed to be doing this my whole life. I couldn’t wait to get started on my journey.
So…
Turning Down Opportunities Might Help
“Hi Rishi, I noticed your experience aligns with a position we are looking to fill. We are a fast growing company and the pay range is higher than industry standard. Interested in chatting?”
It was the beginning of 2021 and I had received another LinkedIn message from a recruiter. I wasn’t a highly coveted employee but it was a standard cold message that had become the norm on LinkedIn, especially for folks working in the software industry.
For the past few years, I ignored such messages. I had 2 goals. To do my day job well and for it to…
What Daniel Craig, Walt Disney & J.K. Rowling have in common…
What do Daniel Craig, Walt Disney and J.K. Rowling have in common?
An awesome rags to riches story.
Like many artists, they toiled in anonymity and worked on their craft until finally, against all odds, they succeeded.
Their stories are inspiring and scary.
Countless celebrities come on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show and smile while recounting their experiences of living in a car or being down to their last dollar, when they booked the gig that changed their life.
Through my early 20s, I was in awe of their courage…
The Answer Might Lie In Your Dual Identity
For the longest time, I lived two lives.
By day I was a software engineer at a bank, and by night I was a struggling actor.
I took extra care not to let one part of my life intersect with the other.
Why?
At work, my peers made sure to convey that the primary focus of their life was their job. As I was told — it was not just a job, it was their career. We had all agreed to collectively buy into the lie that we did not solely work for money. Filling my evenings with something other than…
And Why You Shouldn’t Follow Me…
My life has’t started yet.
It will soon though.
I just need to survive the next couple of months at work. I have a big deadline coming up. If I can push hard for the home stretch, I’ll be able to knock this project out of the park.
Then I’ll have some time on my hands to do the things I love.
I’ll stop smoking. I’ll eat healthy and spend more time outside. I’ll see my parents and my friends more. I’ll make sure they know I love them. I’ll get started on my passion projects. I’ll fix up the…
The moment you graduate from college, the first question you get asked when you meet someone new is — “So, what do you do?”.
How a person makes money is an integral part of how he or she is defined. For me, this meant saying, “I am a software engineer”. But every time I uttered those words it felt like a lie. After four years of studying computer science and landing my dream job as a software developer for a large technology company in New York City, I had no interest in my profession. I looked to my coworkers with…
Rishi Kara
Writing about creativity, resistance, day jobs & purpose || Software Engineer | Actor
