Strands of Genius: Choose "Enlargement" Over Happiness, Time is Not Money, What if a Miracle Awaits Us

Guest curated by Rohan Routroy

Jul 08, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, ROHAN ROUTROY ::

LOCATION: NYC
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Twitter

I was born in Jaraka, a charming town in East India, grew up in Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Kolkata - a seminal boarding school which taught me 'All religions are like rivers going to the same ocean' before I turned 10. I left home again, after 8 years, with 2 suitcases on my first flight ever to Singapore to study Product Design. At 19, I got my first internship with Ogilvy - an unpaid one - and thus started my absolutely wonderful journey working with eclectic and magical people across all continents except the cold one - and yes brands too. Currently, I am a Senior Strategist with Twitter NYC. I moved here 6 months before the pandemic - with the same 2 suitcases. My name is Rohan and I was named by my favourite uncle who just passed last week. This is in memory of him - Rest in Peace, Pakuni Mamu 🙏🏾

These days I deeply think and care about - the healing power of stories and communities, researching how and who is addressing the global epidemic of loneliness, and the absolute need for therapy to be accessible to everyone - especially in hyper developed societies. Other than that - deep tropical house/nu jazz, movies with subtitles and nerding out on the history of strategy keeps me up at night, or a mistimed coffee.

Editor’s Note (Faris): Appropriately, I met Rohan on Twitter. He reached out and, post pandemic chat, a mind meld occurred, love at first Zoom. That led to an invitation to join our ELC program and for six weeks he inspired us with his thought, humor, breadth, depth - and beautiful decks! It’s been a pleasure to get to know him, make a pandemic friend, and we can’t wait to meet him IRL (and not just to ask him what his secret island is - see below). Thanks for an inspiring and thoughtful edition, Rohan!

:: THE LINKS ::

CHOOSE “ENLARGEMENT” OVER HAPPINESS

Oliver Burkeman's wonderful mind has given us a lot of beautiful gifts - with his columns, his insights and his book which changed a few of my perspectives (Antidote). Although his last column should be required reading. Especially the section around happiness. Maybe our emphasis on being happy is what makes it so elusive. Happiness for me has really lost its strong hold, since reading that. After all, what makes us happy almost always makes us sad - but once something expands us, we rarely go back to being our former selves. (The Guardian)

TIME IS NOT MONEY, EVERYWHERE

Time - how can we not talk about time. We - in the western world - are too sold and to a fault, I might add, to the concept of punctuality. Of course in a business setting it is the right and polite thing to do but life is not broken up into schedules in most parts of the world. Time is precious and if spent well, memories with certain people last a lifetime. This is one of my most timeless reads - and should be required reading for anyone who gets annoyed at that friend who is always late. This might help you understand them better :) (Business Insider)

WHAT IF A MIRACLE AWAITS US…

I think it has almost become fashionable to be a pessimist. Shoutout to Matt from last week's curation and his excellent call out of our 'linear self centered brains'. Yes if we naively extrapolate everything - it might seem we are doomed - with the climate emergency, with the divisive rhetoric, with the ad industry etc etc. But we are not - and even if you truly believe we were - let's be the ones who play the violin and not the ones fighting for the lifeboats.
Here's a story, a true story about - how, we never know what comes next - and sometimes the most traumatizing tragedies give birth to the most eternal ecstasies. (Collaborative Fund)

Looking for more from Rohan Routroy? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Balderdash - Making up stories about the most obscure things you have never heard of. What's there not to love!

:: City :: New York to live, Tokyo to visit - there is a secret island which is my favorite place in the world. If we ever meet in person, ask me :)

:: Book :: Current Favourite Book - The Seven Good Years by Etgar Keret - Trust me, you haven't ready anything like his writing and if you have please DM me as I have been looking.

:: Podcast :: Philosophize This! by Stephen West. Mad respect for what he does and also a very important cause - We all need Philosophy in our lives

:: Album :: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk, Bonobo's London Boiler Room set

:: HONEYLAND ::

If I could urge you to watch one movie - it is this. And if you may - do not google it or watch the trailer. It's the first movie to have been nominated for both Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary at The Oscars. It's from North Macedonia - a true story about everything that is life - Love, Labour, Loss and the melancholy of it all.

DM me on Twitter @iamrrr if you are in NYC and would love to go on a long coffee walk and discuss anything here that resonated with you, and I would love to hear what you think and care about deeply, too.

Rohan Routroy

rohanroutroy@gmail.com

twitter

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