Welcome to my personal space

Anand Kumar

Writer. Learner. Explorer. I share my thoughts on life, ideas that fascinate me, places I've wandered to, and lessons that have shaped who I am.

Y
Anand Kumar
Writer & Explorer
24 Posts
12 Countries
6+ Years

A brief introduction

Hello! I'm a curious mind who finds joy in writing, learning, and discovering new corners of the world. This website is my personal journal — a place where I document my thoughts, share what I've studied, tell stories from my travels, and reflect on the experiences that have made me who I am.

I believe in the power of storytelling. Every blog post is a conversation I wish I could have had with someone who needed it. Every travel story is a reminder that the world is far more beautiful and complex than any single perspective can capture.

When I'm not writing, you'll find me buried in a good book, experimenting in the kitchen, or planning the next adventure. Feel free to explore, reach out, or just stay a while.

Writing Travel Technology Philosophy Photography History Food Books
2024 – Present
Running this personal blog; exploring new creative directions and writing full-time alongside day work.
2022 – 2024
Traveled to 8 new countries; started documenting experiences on the road and the lessons they brought.
2019 – 2022
Completed postgraduate education. Deep dive into research, writing, and forming a personal worldview.
2015 – 2019
Undergraduate years — first independent travels, first long-form essays, first real sense of direction.
Earlier
Grew up with a love of reading and an insatiable curiosity about how things — and people — work.

From the Blog

Thoughts, essays, and reflections on things that matter to me — from culture and ideas to everyday observations.

📝
Essay
On Solitude and the Art of Being Alone With Your Thoughts
There's a difference between loneliness and solitude that most of us learn only after years of mistaking one for the other...
June 15, 2025 Read
💡
Opinion
Why Slow Reading Is an Act of Resistance in the Digital Age
We have optimized everything for speed. But some things — understanding, empathy, wisdom — resist optimization...
May 28, 2025 Read
🌱
Reflection
What a Year of Daily Journaling Taught Me About Myself
I started journaling on a January 1st whim. By December I had filled three notebooks and changed more than I expected...
Apr 10, 2025 Read
🔥
Lifestyle
Minimalism Isn't About Owning Less — It's About Owning Intentionally
The minimalism trend got something right and something very wrong. Here's my take after two years of decluttering...
Mar 5, 2025 Read
🌊
Memoir
The Morning I Decided to Change Everything (and Then Didn't)
There's something honest about the gap between who we want to be at sunrise and who we actually are by noon...
Feb 18, 2025 Read
✍️
Your next post
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Education

My formal education shaped the questions I ask. The informal education never stopped.

🎓
Master of Arts
Your University Name
2020 – 2022
Focused on [your subject]. Thesis on a topic that still shapes how I think about the world. Graduated with distinction.
📚
Bachelor of Science
Another University Name
2015 – 2019
Undergraduate study in [your field]. Took electives that wandered far from the curriculum — the best decision I made.
📜
Professional Certificate
Online Platform / Institution
2023
Completed a rigorous course on [topic]. Applied the skills immediately to real projects with measurable results.
🔬
Self-Directed Study
Books, Podcasts & Experience
Ongoing
Reading widely across philosophy, science, history, and economics. Some of the best education happens outside classrooms.

Educational Articles

Explainers and deep dives on topics I've researched and want to share in accessible ways.

🧠
How the Brain Builds New Habits: A Practical Guide
Understanding the neurological loop behind habit formation — and how to use it deliberately.
🌍
The Silk Road: Trade Routes That Shaped the Modern World
How ancient commerce created cultural exchanges that still influence our food, language, and ideas today.
📊
Why Compound Interest Is the Eighth Wonder (and How to Use It)
The simple math that most people understand intellectually but almost nobody truly acts on.

Travel History

Every place teaches something a textbook cannot. Here are some of the places that have left a mark on me.

🇯🇵
Japan
East Asia • 2023
Visited
🇵🇹
Portugal
Southern Europe • 2022
Visited
🇲🇦
Morocco
North Africa • 2022
Visited
🇨🇴
Colombia
South America • 2024
Visited
🇬🇪
Georgia
Caucasus • Planned
Planned
🇮🇳
India
South Asia • Home
Home
🗺️ Travels across 12 countries
⛩️
Japan • Kyoto
A week in the city that refused to be modern
Kyoto doesn't ask you to slow down. It simply makes everything fast feel embarrassing. Walking between temples, watching a woman in a kimono navigate cobblestones with more grace than I'll ever have — I understood, briefly, what it means to exist in time rather than race against it.
🌊
Portugal • Lisbon
Fado, tile, and the feeling of bittersweet longing
There's a Portuguese word — saudade — that means a nostalgic longing for something you may never have had. Lisbon is built from that feeling. Every tile, every song, every sunset over the Tagus seems to carry it.

Life Experience

Beyond credentials and places — the real experiences that have taught me the most about what matters.

🏗️
2021 – Present
Building Things From Scratch
Personal Projects & Side Work
Starting with nothing — no audience, no funding, no roadmap — and building something people actually find useful is the most humbling and energizing thing I've ever done. Failed twice. Still going.
🤝
2020 – 2022
Community & Volunteering
Local & International Initiatives
Worked with a handful of community organizations doing education outreach and environmental work. The people I met changed my understanding of what meaningful work actually looks like.
📖
2019 – Present
The Reading Life
150+ books across 6 years
Reading widely — fiction, history, science, philosophy — changed how I think. Each book is a conversation with someone who spent years figuring something out. I try to take those conversations seriously.
🎭
2018 – 2020
Performing & Public Speaking
Debate, Theatre & Workshops
Two years of standing in front of audiences — terrified, then gradually less so — taught me more about communication than any book. Being bad at something in public is an underrated education.
"
The unexamined life is not worth living — but the over-examined life is no fun at all. I try to land somewhere in the useful middle.
— Something I wrote in a notebook at 2am that I still believe

Say Hello

Whether you have a question, want to collaborate, or just want to share what you think about something I wrote — I'd love to hear from you.