I spent my twenties building apps that kept people on their phones. This year I put mine down.

I grew up in Mumbai and studied in Toronto, where I spent six years building tech companies. I learned a lot, but I'd started measuring my days in business revenue.

So I recently stepped away to find out what it feels like when nothing needs to be optimised.

Since then I've trained as a yoga teacher, learned to sit still (mostly), and started carrying a camera everywhere. It makes me slow down and actually look.

Currently in Budapest

New note · 21 Days in Rishikesh ↓

Photographs

Budapest · Autumn 2026

Notes

Things I want to remember
Aug to Sep 2026 · Himalayan foothills · Photos by Claudia Mazzaferro

21 Days in Rishikesh

I went to do a yoga teacher training. I mostly remember the village, a guy who didn't talk for 105 days, and a motorbike.

Garden and gazebo below misty green mountains
01

Why I went

I'd recently finished up at my company Dippy AI and wrapped up my life in Toronto. I wanted a complete change of setting. After my first startup WOMBO I did a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat, so this time I wanted a totally different kind of reset. Three weeks of yoga in the Himalayas felt like the furthest thing from the life I'd been living.

Pink temple towers above the Ganges in RishikeshMist rolling over a hillside behind lamp posts
02

Where it was

This is Rishikesh town. We were nowhere near it. The place was way up in the foothills, super secluded, and most mornings looked like this.

The yoga hall during a break
03

A total noob

Honestly, I was really noob at yoga. I'd done it every day for about a week before showing up, and two sessions a day had me pretty cooked within the first few days. So I stopped trying to be good at it and just treated it as 21 days of intro to yoga.

Sunlit waterfall over mossy rock
04

Sneaking out

Every chance I got, I'd sneak out to explore the hills and the village nearby. Pretty sure I snuck out more than anyone on the course and got a bit of a reputation for it. I did stay from start to finish though, for the record.

A woman planting in a village field
05

The village

The village was the best part. It's been there for centuries. One water source for everyone, fully vegetarian, and they grow most of what they eat. I made friends with a few of the villagers and they told me they barely need to spend money on anything. They seemed really happy, and the place was really clean.

An elderly woman smiling with her hands in namaste
06

"Hey son, be careful"

It was insane watching 85-year-old women farm and carry water home in the rain on slippery paths. I met her on one of those mornings. She had a pot of water on her head and stopped to tell me, "Hey son, be careful, you might slip." Pretty sure I should've been the one saying that to her.

Five men in white kurtas on a bridge in the mountains
07

Chaitanya

Some of the teachers and guys from the course. I spent a lot of time with Chaitanya, a former Vipassana teacher who'd just done 105 days in silence. I told him I'd been having a few sleepless nights since leaving Toronto and the company. He said, "Angad, that's normal. It's basically a breakup, your body reacts. It'd be weird if you didn't have them." Funny enough, once he said that, I started sleeping way better.

Sitting on a Royal Enfield looking at misty mountains
08

Day off

On our day off I met this guy at a café. Young dude, solo traveler, had seen a lot of the country. We both rented Royal Enfields, and I'd never ridden a motorbike before. We spent the whole day riding around the Himalayas in the rain. He was so generous and kind, and it was honestly one of the most freeing days of my life. We just had the best adventure.