Essays and thoughts on technology, design, culture, and everything in between.https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/places-where-time-doesnt-matter/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/places-where-time-doesnt-matter/Hospitals, airports, and long train rides share something odd — they're the only places where we stop worrying about time.Sat, 29 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/on-writing-in-public/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/on-writing-in-public/Why I started putting my thoughts on the internet, and what I've learned from doing it.Fri, 15 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/the-ux-of-slowing-down/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/the-ux-of-slowing-down/How friction — designed well — can actually improve the way software feels to use.Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/product-marketing-is-translation/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/product-marketing-is-translation/The core job isn't about spin or positioning theater. It's about bridging two languages that don't naturally speak to each other.Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/retro-futurism-and-why-it-endures/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/retro-futurism-and-why-it-endures/There's something deeply appealing about a future imagined from the past. Why do we keep returning to it?Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/hustle-culture-killing-creativity/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/hustle-culture-killing-creativity/After burning out across a job, a newsletter, and a YouTube channel, I decided to slow down — and found more clarity.Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/art-isnt-born-its-found/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/art-isnt-born-its-found/Art isn't something we pull from thin air — it's a reflection of the people, experiences, and world around us.Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/love-isnt-yours-to-claim/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/love-isnt-yours-to-claim/How a one-sided love I carried through school and college taught me that love is never yours to claim.Sun, 11 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/way-up-and-way-down-are-same/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/way-up-and-way-down-are-same/On Heraclitus's observation that the path up and down are the same — and what that means for the decisions we make.Wed, 24 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/why-internet-writing-is-hard/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/why-internet-writing-is-hard/As a creator, you're renting two minutes of your reader's attention — and that's why writing on the internet is both brutal and worthwhile.Wed, 24 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/is-our-existence-just-a-notification/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/is-our-existence-just-a-notification/How digital notifications have become the only proof of life we have for people we once knew deeply.Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/face-masks-remind-me-of-butterflies/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/face-masks-remind-me-of-butterflies/A discarded mask on the street and a surprising resemblance to a fallen butterfly.Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/did-my-dad-ever-think-of-jimmy/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/did-my-dad-ever-think-of-jimmy/A childhood dog named Jimmy, a house in Pondicherry, and the quiet grief my dad never talked about.Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/middle-class-teaching-kids-to-give-up/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/middle-class-teaching-kids-to-give-up/How middle-class conditioning quietly teaches kids to accept failure — and why that's worth questioning.Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/waves-and-still-water/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/waves-and-still-water/Watching the sea at Pondicherry, I noticed a still puddle on a rock and understood something about our relationship with noise.Sun, 20 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/big-ideas-walking-alone/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/big-ideas-walking-alone/Why walking without your phone is one of the most productive things you can do for your mind.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/epicurus-philosopher-friendships/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/epicurus-philosopher-friendships/A look at Epicurus — the ancient philosopher who built a commune with friends and argued that happiness is found in simple pleasures.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/fading-biriyani-shops/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/fading-biriyani-shops/The traditional biriyani shop — with its open front, clanging ladles, and fixed menu — is quietly disappearing.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/family-is-like-a-startup/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/family-is-like-a-startup/How to think about your family's finances, health, and well-being the same way a startup thinks about growth.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/have-cities-made-us-insensitive/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/have-cities-made-us-insensitive/Why city life makes us calculative and detached — and what it would take to care again.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/my-dads-friend-uppu/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/my-dads-friend-uppu/Uppu sold salt on the streets for decades. When packaged iodized salt arrived, he reinvented himself. Nobody knew his real name.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/premium-instant-coffee-india/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/premium-instant-coffee-india/How new-age coffee brands used storytelling to make instant coffee premium — and what their marketing is quietly normalizing.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/sahib-ibn-abbad-400-camels/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/sahib-ibn-abbad-400-camels/The story of a 10th-century Persian vizier whose love for books was so vast it took 400 camels — arranged alphabetically — to carry them.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/snack-named-after-explosive-anugundu/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/snack-named-after-explosive-anugundu/Anugundu — the Tamil name for atom bomb — is a bonda that kept my dad going through poverty and became our morning ritual.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/what-makes-sitcom-funny/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/what-makes-sitcom-funny/After watching too many sitcoms, I noticed they all follow the same formula — and it turns out there's a name for it.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/chole-bhature-customer-experience/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/chole-bhature-customer-experience/A small restaurant's thoughtful act of splitting a poori taught me more about customer experience than any business book.Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/digital-camera-drowned-dads-business/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/digital-camera-drowned-dads-business/When my dad dismissed digital cameras as a fad, he didn't realize they would put him out of business within two years.Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/previous-generation-indian-dream/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/previous-generation-indian-dream/Watching retired men eat vada at 6 AM made me wonder if our generation will ever reach the peace they have.Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/life-is-meaningful-because-we-think-so/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/life-is-meaningful-because-we-think-so/A colleague's sudden death and a new joiner's question about meaning led me to think about what life actually is.Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/stop-being-too-humble/https://www.karthikpasupathy.com/blog/stop-being-too-humble/There's a thin line between humility and invisibility — and staying on the wrong side of it has real career consequences.Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT