Meditations — Marcus Aurelius & Influence — Robert Cialdini
A Roman emperor writing to himself, never intending an audience. Alongside it: Cialdini unpacking the six levers of persuasion. An odd pairing that makes complete sense.
Vol. 04 · Iss. 09
Spring Edition / 2026
Spring Edition / 2026
Bengaluru, IN
12.97°N · 77.59°E
12.97°N · 77.59°E
—— a quiet field guide
the
cookie &
the a jar full ofjar
A working index of the things I'm building, reading and chasing. I'm Dhruv — a CSE student who builds products around problems I encounter in daily life. Half lab notebook, half scrapbook. Figuring it out as I go.
Maintained by hand · Updated often
Press 1–5 to jump between sections
Press 1–5 to jump between sections
↳ scroll to begin reading
begin
a folio in five chapters
Expense Tracking✦
Life Gamification✦
Financial Awareness✦
Daily Missions✦
Dhruv Kulkarni✦
Building in Public✦
Expense Tracking✦
Life Gamification✦
Financial Awareness✦
Daily Missions✦
a snapshot ofcurrently,
at the desk
Live signals from where I'm sitting. The site refreshes itself — the time, the weather, what's playing in the headphones.
live · auto-refresh
hi 👋
local timeIST · UTC+5:30
—
Tuesday · The day is open ahead
now playing♫ spotify
Holocene
— Bon Iver · Bon Iver, Bon Iver
locationfixed
Bengaluru, India
12.97°N · 77.59°E · CSE student
now reading2 on the go
Meditations
— Marcus Aurelius · also: Influence, Cialdini
this site, in four drawers.
↗
№ 01 · the workbench
Products
Software I've built to make daily life a little less heavy. TrackSense, Level'd, and one in the works.
2 live · 1 wipopen →
↗
№ 02 · the shelf
Reading
Currently: Meditations & Influence. Finished: Atomic Habits, 48 Laws of Power, Psychology of Money, Can't Hurt Me, Think and Grow Rich.
9 tracked · 7 doneopen →
↗
№ 03 · the lab
Now
What I'm actively learning. Open notebooks, half-formed ideas, things I'd like to be good at.
5 threadsopen →
↗
№ 04 · the album
Gallery
Notable events, milestones, talks, prizes, photographs. The slow-moving timeline of progress.
42 entriesopen →
manifesto
why this
why this
jar?
I am a CSE student based in Bangalore who builds products around problems I run into in daily life. Friction is the signal — if something frustrates me, it's probably frustrating everyone else too. That's where I start.
“friction is the signal. if something
frustrates me, it frustrates everyone.”
frustrates me, it frustrates everyone.”
So this is my workshop with the door open: every product, every book, every half-finished idea. Built slow on purpose. The cookie jar — because the best things are the ones you come back to, one at a time.
latest glimpses, from each drawer.
TrackSense — financial awareness, one transaction at a time
Personal expense tracking with AI-powered categorization and visual reporting. Built because every finance app I tried was either too complex or too dumb.
Why most products fail before launch
Working through consumer psychology — most products die not because they're badly built, but because nobody needed them.
Atomic Habits — James Clear
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." The most actionable book on behaviour change I've read.
Next project — still in the "what frustrates me?" phase
I'll know it's ready to build when I can't stop thinking about it. Sitting with a few problems.
The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel
Doing well with money has little to do with how smart you are. Nineteen short essays that changed how I think about financial decisions.
always be making✦
—
always be reading✦
—
always be paying attention✦
—
always be making✦
—
always be reading✦
—
always be paying attention✦
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