Pulkit Bhardwaj

You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry

Bengaluru has more PhDs, engineers, and capital per square kilometre than most countries. And yet the city can’t drain a road. The problem isn’t capability. It’s that every smart person here is building for the world and not for the city they live in. If you’re working on something for Bengaluru, maybe it’s time all of us came together to collectively try and do something.

[ A LONG READ ] Where do you actually want to live 🇮🇳 / 🇺🇸 This is a common topic of conversation with friends and family, and one of the most common questions people DM me. After living in both countries, I have noticed smaller, intangible things that go beyond the obvious reasons. The US does have better infrastructure, more money, more freedom. India has family, community, food. What I’m sharing here isn’t meant to convince anyone or land on a definitive answer. It’s a personal, debatable, and biased perspective. I stay in India today for these reasons, and I also know that for many people, these are the same reasons they choose not to. So if you’ve ever gone back and forth on this yourself, or felt torn, this might resonate. ———— [1] It’s easier to feel grateful here. If you’re reading this tweet, chances are you’re doing very well by Indian standards, probably in the top 1%. In India, you’re reminded of that almost immediately. The moment you step out of your house, you see people living with far less. Auto drivers waiting in the heat. Security guards standing all day. Sweepers who show up every morning. Street vendors who know what one slow day means financially. Seeing this every day brings a deep sense of gratitude without effort. You notice how people make peace with their circumstances and still find ways to enjoy life. I’ve noticed myself complaining less over time because your definition of 'enough' changes. It does recalibrate what feels worth stressing over. In the US, most people around you have their basics sorted. Life is pretty comfortable. And yet, there’s often a persistent sense of yearning for more. More comfort, more success, more meaning. Sometimes it feels like having ten times more still doesn’t translate to feeling settled. In India, it’s very hard to forget how privileged you are. That awareness stays with you, and it naturally turns into a desire to give back. ———— [2] People show up without explanation. India is a collective society in ways that are hard to articulate until you’ve experienced it. There’s an instinct to help that doesn’t come with too many questions. You can knock on a neighbour’s door and be helped without needing to explain much. There have been moments when being alone at home felt unsafe, and I stayed over at a neighbouring family’s place without hesitation. When I mention this to friends living abroad, they can’t quite comprehend it. On the streets too, you see this play out often. People stop what they’re doing and step in, sometimes for something as simple as directions, without first deciding whether it’s their responsibility. In the US, help is clearer and more structured. You know where to go, what to fill out, who to contact. The systems work and they’re reliable, but they also create distance. You’re encouraged to be independent, to manage things on your own, and for the most part, you do. That independence has its advantages, but it also means that when things feel heavy, you often carry them alone. In India, you start feeling like you exist inside a web of people rather than moving alone from one system to another. There’s comfort in knowing that someone will show up. ———— [3] There’s too much to fix, and your contribution matters. India has an overwhelming number of problems. Education gaps, access issues, infrastructure that barely holds, systems that are slow and imperfect. You see them around you all the time. Because of that, effort feels visible too. Even small work feels like it lands somewhere. I was a part of a project to update parts of the curriculum for government schools. We were able to bring in Harvard professors for inputs, rethink the structure, and design it better. What still feels a little unreal is that it’s actually being used now. Knowing that something you worked on is shaping how hundreds of students learn makes the effort feel real. You see this around you in other ways as well. People organising street cleanups, awareness drives, local initiatives that move things forward. If you’re someone who likes giving inputs, this matters. That feeling is hard to replicate in places that are already built. There, contribution often feels like optimisation. Making something slightly better, slightly faster, slightly cleaner. Life is convenient and more comfortable, but there’s less room to intervene. Here, systems are still forming. If you want to get involved, there’s space for it, and you can usually see where your input goes. ———— [4] You get used to hard things. Growing up in India, you learn early that effort is non-negotiable. Competition is everywhere, systems don’t always support you, and very few things are handed to you cleanly. You just learn that if you want something, you’ll probably have to work for it, and then work some more. You also understand young that effort doesn’t guarantee outcomes. Sometimes things still don’t go your way even after you’ve done everything right. That teaches you to stop expecting fairness and start focusing on response. You grow a thicker skin. When something breaks, you look for another way. As adults, this shows up in small, everyday moments. When something doesn’t work, you don’t freeze. I have seen how helpless people can feel in places where systems are meant to be perfect. A delayed train, a cancelled service, and suddenly no one knows what to do next. Growing up here, you’re used to gaps. You look for workarounds instead of waiting for things to fix themselves. I hear this a lot from people living abroad too. That they want their kids to grow up here again. It's not easier, but learning how to deal with uncertainty, effort, and imperfect systems is something that’s very hard to recreate once life becomes too smooth. ———— I still want India to get better on so many fronts. There’s a lot that frustrates me here, and I don’t pretend otherwise. But right now, I’ve found comfort and joy in these positives. If you’re grappling with a similar question, I hope you find the reasons that feel true to you. No place is perfect :)

@adadithya Hi Aditya, would love to join!

Please DM if you want to join, last time i posted a public whatsapp link, i got crypto bots :(

2025 was about fighting brain rot & finding pockets of genius to occupy the mind — online & offline. The Too Long Did Read Whatsapp group by @mister_whistler & yours truly is 430+ people strong, & it's my favourite source of long-reads. Got to create an offline group now.

be delusional about your potential

Raghav Chaddha ke RS mein topics jo bhi decide karta hai wo kamal hai bhai. - Pain of Delivery Boys - Health Insurance claim rejections -Toll Plaza loot - Spam Calls - Monopoly in aviation - 0% GST -Free AI tools - Global Free health checkups - Agniveer Pensions -Affordable food at airports -Hidden Bank Charges -Government Banks efficiency - Railway Mismanagement All relatable topics to Indian Middle Class. Waki wo wahi purane rants kisi ko nahi sunne bhai, liberanduyo ki taali chahiye ya Middle class mein wapsi. Decide karlo.

If you are not confused, you dont know what is going on.

London in the 1800s, New York in the 1900s and Beijing in the early 2000s were likely more polluted than Delhi NCR today Feels like we have now hit the peak where there is real public anger and things will change Byproduct of fast growth and I suspect 2035's NCR will be better

All cruelty springs from weakness!

A man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills!

Founder’s office roles are good but they are also a bubble. Young folks who join these roles get good exposure and become strong operators. But because they are directly working the founder, they end up learning very little stakeholder management. When they come out of founder office roles, they expect the same red carpet treatment in the rest of the org and get frustrated when it is not given to them. It is a difficult transition to make and only those who have managed to keep their head on their shoulders make it through.

Consciousness is what physics feels like from the inside.

So many people inspired me to be nothing like them!

Totally agree. Being from Pune, I’ve seen this up close, the city is exploding in size but not in soul. We’re Maharashtra’s fastest-growing city, yet still stuck with a Tier-2 airport, weak public infra, no strict traffic rules, reckless driving everywhere, and a metro that’s still under construction. Pune is expanding without a clear idea of what it wants to become. Better planning, better public spaces, and a proper long-term vision are still missing.

What a week for Startup India Inc with three back to back IPOs Lenskart Groww Pine Labs Still to go PhysicsWallah Meesho

Is this because my roots are strong, that I can fly!

When I first moved to Bangalore, I didn’t like it. Everything felt too new, too different. 2 years later, fell in love with this city. The energy here is unmatched, with founders, creators, and ambition everywhere. Bangalore doesn’t just help you grow, it inspires you to.

Sports is for everybody and every body. Never tell yourself you can’t do it. You are never too late. That’s Shilpa, my friend and training partner. You can see the pain on her face. That’s because she’s racing the clock to get to the finish line of a marathon. She is not a professional athlete but a senior exec in her mid 40s working in a tech company. For the past 15 years of running, she had one goal. To qualify for the Boston Marathon. And in this race she had to run under 3hr 45mins to qualify for her age category. Why am i sharing this? We’ve a narrative in our society that people working 9 to 6 are always busy. And they can’t pursue goals which are outside their life at work or home. I’ve seen Shilpa train through pain, bad weather, and fatigue with consistency and no drama. For 16 weeks of the training we did together, there were good and bad days and days of self doubt & confidence. What’s invisible in this frame is also the tough times she had to endure mentally. Loss in family, work stress and injuries. Shilpa always had a purpose towards running. And we’d made a promise to each other- both will try to qualify for Boston. I made another promise to come back after finishing my race to cheer & run with her for the last few miles. That’s me in the picture behind her. We all have a hidden identity in our life. Sometimes it’s an aspiration to be something we always wanted to be or the pursuit of discovering the unknown. Playing sports is life’s way of asking, how bad do you want it? And why? You can see it in her face. That’s what giving everything looks like to find the “why”. Play sports to find your why. You’re never too late.

Unsolicited advice: If you have a woman/women in your team - take a step back before you give them office chores (plan a farewell/gift/party/cut cakes) and assign it to the very capable men instead. Thank you :)

@jasveer10 I think KnotDating could be used as a filter. Those who joined it can be straightforwardly rejected.