The Paralysis of Choice

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A desk overflowing with choices — the perfect metaphor for a modern mind. I’ve always wondered why stepping outside my comfort zone feels harder than it should. With so many ways to spend time, I keep circling the same question: am I choosing what matters, or am I just numbing myself with options? Choice overload might be the defining anxiety of our era. One moment I’m browsing an AI course on Coursera, convincing myself I’ll finally finish it. The next, I’m tempted to restart my Sanskrit lessons. And somewhere in that mental whirlpool, a random LLM video on YouTube quietly steals an hour I never intended to give away. It isn’t learning — it’s drifting. I think back to my first iPhone 4. One model. One color. No storage decisions. Apple had already stripped away the noise. Life felt simpler when constraints were built in. Today everything comes in infinite flavors — phones, courses, ideas, careers, spiritual paths, entertainment platforms. Abundance looks empowering,...

What a wild swing

I am not talking about the elegant backhand crosscourt winner from Federer's racquet. I am talking about the discussion I had with a bunch of guys here. It all started over a plate of bhel puri and pani puri. We started with the serials - Ramayana and Mahabharata about how the country used to come to a standstill during these episodes. There were other serials that caught our attention - Chandrakanta, Mungeri Lal, He-Man(Remember! Masters of the Universe), Reporter, Superhit Muqabala (DD Metro) and others. We also wondered how DD Metro was launched amidst a lot of fanfare. At a time when we were living with only one channel, it was a great relief to get another one. We then went on to the advertisements - Nirma, Pepsi, Coke, Wheel, Zandu Balm, fevicol and so on. The Pepsi advertisement taken in a rustic outlook with street children playing cricket and drinking pepsi from the cyclewalah selling pepsi, and wearing Sachin masks was voted as the best pepsi advertisement till date. I also remember when I saw the advertisement for the first time, as the children were removing the masks, at one point of time, Sachin reveals his identity by removing the mask. That got me out of the chair. It was superbly done with fantastic song rendition by Raghuvir Yadav. This then took us on to the state of affairs of the Indian cricket team, with discussions on Tendulkar's current form. Is Tendulkar a match winner or not? Why he could not be a good captain? Whether Rahul Dravid had got the credit he deserves? Ganguly's sad position today though he was the best leader at one point of time was discussed. Why we have Yuvraj, Kaif and Bhajji in the team? Obviously, Thanks to Ganguly! Then it went on to movies, and how Lagaan was truly an entertaining movie thanks to the cricket in the movie. We then decided that we would watch Lagaan and then wind up for the night!

So, the bottomline is that if you sit back for a discussion, you just have no idea where it starts and how it ends!

Comments

  1. 'khol ke bandhan thod ke thaalein yeh dil maange more...'

    good enough to be made the theme song for the NEW INDIA

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