By Suraj Chaudhary How I got hacked Read on my website or on my new website Hello Reader, Suraj here – A few weeks back, I was hacked, and almost all of my login credentials were compromised. My Instagram was hacked, my Reddit and LinkedIn accounts were restricted, someone ordered a $400 camera lens from my Amazon account, and my Uber account was used to gift a $170 giftcard. Very interesting experience, to say the least. I almost didn’t want to share this experience, because I was a little...
11 days ago • 3 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary Project Digital Garden Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – This issue is going to be an update. For a long time, I've wanted to rebuild my website, my digital garden, if you will. This has been one of my goals for this year. So I've started working on it. If you'd like to see the progress so far, here is the link. See you next week! Warmly,Suraj If you'd like to hear more from me, here's my YouTube channel where I share lessons, experiments, tools, and resources to...
18 days ago • 1 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On unconditional love Read on my website Dear Reader – “I love you unconditionally.” Have you ever told somebody that? I certainly have, and now I see how big a lie that has been. No love is truly unconditional. Your friends? You are friends because you like being around them, hanging out with them. Perhaps you enjoy their company. The day they begin to disrespect you or stop understanding you the way they do, you will stop hanging out and talking to them, and that...
25 days ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary The human touch Read on my website Dear Reader, Suraj here – Chef Young is a regular at a nearby cafe. I always see him there with a book, and there's always just one drink that he gets: his hot oat latte. Although, as a fine dining chef who works in Manhattan, he could easily afford to get even better tasting beans and a fancier espresso machine and make his drink at home, he chooses to come to this nearby cafe. "Why does he do that?" I always wondered every time I'd see...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary 2025 review — A year of search Read on my website Dear Reader, This is a yearly review, which I started in 2023. The point of this is to reflect, and not to simply let life pass by without appreciating all that has happened. So, here goes: 2025 was a year of some clarity, some losses, and some growth. This was the year when I went from chasing exponential growth at any cost to pursuing stability. Clarity I almost didn’t want to write this review because from the outside,...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On breaks Read on my website DearReader, My spring semester just ended a few days ago, and before the next semester begins, I have about a month. Although the break has just started, I’ve realized that a break invites honesty. This would only be applicable if I’m not mindlessly binging some movie or series or scrolling. When I’m present and have time, a break allows me to see what I’m really up to. Cal Newport might call it a deep break. During the semester, I didn’t really...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary The journey Read on my website Dear Reader – Earlier today, as I was cleaning my windows, I was watching a video about how to get better at reading. One of the things that stood out was how often we like to “have read” rather than “reading” itself. When the text gets difficult or slow, we get frustrated and give up. It happens because we are in it not for the process of reading, but for the end result, which is having read. I think this is relevant on a larger scale: in...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary How my life goals have changed Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – When I was a high schooler, I wanted to achieve what society normally regards as success. In fact, I wanted to go beyond that. I wanted to create an impact at scale; I wanted to change people’s lives, give them jobs, build schools, and factories. I guess many of us might have had similar goals. But as I’ve grown up, my life goals have evolved. My goals might still continue to evolve, but this is...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On writing on the internet Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – A couple of days ago, I was going through a friend’s blog. Until then, I had no idea he had a website and that he, too, wrote into the void of the internet. What got me even more interested was the authenticity with which he writes, his writing style. There’s this flow to his words, sentences, and to each paragraph. That’s something that I’ve aimed for myself. For me, however, reaching that flow has only...
2 months ago • 2 min read