👋🏽I'm Aditi - Let me introduce myself

A little bit about me

Hi there,

First of all, if you have read any of my posts thank you for your time ❤️. I am deeply grateful that you are choosing to spend your time here.

A warning: This post is going to be deeply personal and a little rambly as I try to organise my life in words.

Why am I doing this? Purely selfish reasons,

• I think adult life is a little lonely. If you enjoy reading what I write it means we share a similar wavelength, a similar lens to see the world - key ingredients for a friendship. Hopefully by the end of this post you might know me enough to feel comfortable to reach out and we can be internet buddies!

• To give you a reason to cheer for me. By opening myself up hopefully you feel like you have a stake in my journey. And you do. Every like, comment, open email stat is a reason I write the next edition. So please feel free to give me your feedback on my posts - I take constructive criticism as a form of love (most times!) because you gave me your time and for that I will always be grateful.

Here’s what makes me - me!

Me being uncomfortable in front of the camera

1. Reading, both fiction and non-fiction, is something I love - I prefer books over blog posts and blog posts over newspaper articles. My pet peeve is that most news stories/TV news channels cover what happened in the past 24 hours but don’t explain the root cause of why something is happening. I understand their incentive structure is different. But I miss and crave depth - show me what happened in the past and how it influences current events, tell me what were the circumstances that led us here. Tell me what you mean by casually throwing in jargon like “margin requirements” and their implications. My hope is that this newsletter can provide that “depth” to my readers.

2. I love Harry Potter - The movies are good, but the books are fantastic. I read them as a young girl, and I remember the joy of discovering a new world. A world full of magic and incredible stories. A huge part of wanting to be a writer comes from wanting to create such magic.

3. Who am I? - I grew up in Bombay (yes South Bombay!) and failed the Chartered Accountancy exam 6 times and finally passed in the 7th attempt. I am a CFA Level 2 and failed the level 3 thrice.

   This makes me an expert in failing. I don’t want to say “failure is steppingstone to success” because that’s not true. I can’t say that I have learned a lot from my failures. I don’t learn from my mistakes fast and I am not the smartest cookie in the room.

   All I can say is that I don’t quit. And this is one of my defining qualities - I don’t quit and that is how I will leave my mark as a writer - I have time on my side and I will write editions upon editions of this newsletter and find my tribe.

4. A big part of my late 20’s was figuring out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life- I wasn’t happy in my previous jobs. When I came to Hong Kong, I was still confused, lost and unemployed. It was tough for me - I felt insecure introducing myself to friends, family, new people. It took me a year (yup! that long), but I figured the only thing I love to do is to read and one way to make money reading; is to write.

   I still struggle a lot with introducing myself to people because I don’t fit into the traditional career roles. This stems from insecurities (again not having a traditional job, having gaps in my CV), imposter syndrome, how do I define my newsletter etc.
   I have discovered though that the more I write the more my insecurities melt away.

5. I love history, especially where money is involved - Humans have existed for centuries; we have so many stories to discover. The best stories are where we see a slice of human nature. Most news outlets stick to what’s happening now, but I think our curiosity demands more and history has so much to teach us!

6. I love economics - I think economics gives us frameworks and the frameworks serve as a foundation through which we can understand the world. At its core - it is a study of human nature, and an understanding of economics can help us understand the best stories as well as break down what incentives were at play.

7. I love Naruto - Naruto is a Japanese anime series, I saw it in 2023 and my perception of the world will never be the same. The depth of the characters, the story arcs, the emotional journey the writers of the show take viewers through blew my mind. Influencers often say oh people have short attention spans, but this show proves people want to be taken on a journey. Again, people crave depth or at least I do. The main character “Naruto” is loudly and proudly courageous, he has ambition which is to be the best ninja oozing out of him and I find that so endearing - I want some of that pizzazz.

8. I enjoy playing almost all sports, badminton in particular - My favourite memories of my childhood involve my mom teaching me to play table tennis. Its thanks to her that I enjoy playing sports and it’s a way to channel my crazy intense competitive side. I play a lot of badminton here in Hong Kong and I am so grateful that the city makes it so easy for me to do so. I feel so privileged at times. I feel safe walking even at midnight in this city, I can interact with people of different nationalities, and I have access to different sports.

9. I love boardgames- Again channeling my competitive side in a society approved manner. My all-time favourite is Catan.

10. Pet Project - I want to showcase in one image briefly the life and achievements of female Padma Awardees of 2024. I am intimated by the project and simultaneously feel who will care (I know it’s not true - but I can’t tell the voice in my head to shut up!).

    As a 90's kid growing up in Bombay, I didn't have many role models to look upto, who looked like me. There was something missing- where were the driven ambitious women? Hopefully, the next generation of women don’t have to go through that.

If you made it till here, you should probably message me! Looking forward to hearing from you! Hopefully you will share with me a little bit about what makes you - you.

Feel free to reach out to me via a comment, a message via Substack or on Twitter/X.

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Filtered Kapi #54