Things you should know about me:
- I write sometimes.
- I read, when time permits.
- I solve interesting problems and write code at Helpshift for work.
One thing I know about you:
You most probably will struggle to pronounce my name (hint: it's not son-ved, or san-ved).
Try saying sauu-ved instead.
You're about 95% there!
On writing
My love for writing began when I was about 8 years old, while I was travelling to Mumbai airport in a cab with my family. For some wild reason, my brain was coming up with poetry, and I absolutely had to write it down. So I did, on a piece of paper my father conjured up from his pocket.
I am sure I had written other poems before, but this one dealt with mortality (a concept I was baffled by, and also delusionally convinced that I would never have to face). It was called "A mortal's end", and it dealt with the fact that death was a necessary part of being alive.
I have, since then, written a lot of poems. I think they help me express my most pressing thoughts properly.
I write short stories these days, as well as articles based on life experiences. Deliberate writing is difficult, but ultimately, very rewarding.
On reading
My mother is an avid reader, which meant there were always books in the house. When we moved to Seychelles, the librarians at my school realized that I was a voracious reader, and they lifted the "two book limit" to five for me. I made ample use of that throughout the five years I spent in Seychelles.
These days, for some reason, I want what I read to be useful. I wish that wasn't the case. I love the feeling of reading purely for the sake of enjoying the story.
On work
I love programming and tech. I think it's one of the most wonderful things to have happened to civilization.
My first (and probably the best) teacher was Bucky (thenewboston). I still remember bunking classes to learn Java from him back in 2014.
Nowadays, I mostly work on web development problems. I love creating user interfaces and interactions, and solving interesting problems. The world of web development and programming is massive, and I am grateful that I discovered it when I did.
About this site
A large part of the reason behind creating this website is the joy of coding it from the ground up.
This website is created using a framework called Next.js along with Tailwind for the styling. I write the content in Markdown, using Obsidian as my text editor.
The code is hosted on GitHub and is connected to Vercel for deployments. I am also using Buttondown for creating a subscriber list for this website's newsletter.
The code that powers this website is generic. That means other people in the future might be able to use it to power their own blogs using Markdown. I am still working on it in my free time, and I hope to make it open source one day.