Who am I beyond my name?

I don't know the answer myself. I'm figuring it out. When you think of someone, what do you identify them as? Would you think "Oh, you're asking about X? I guess, he/she is cool." That's it? I feel as if that's just being one in the mob, a cog in the machine - there's more to a person than just a name. Coming to me, I prefer not to be a mere name. I try to be more - maybe obscure, maybe abstract, but still a concept that is hard to understand. It's not because it's cool or edgy. Honestly, I just like it so.

in substance

I work in application security - which in hindsight translates to a significant amount of time thinking like someone trying to break things. And I do end up breaking a lot of things. Current obsessions: red teaming, malware development, application security. The common thread is systems - how they actually process information, what assumptions they make, where those assumptions fail.

I see things at a granular level. Not because I'm some prodigy, but because I'm stubborn about it. I don't stop until I understand what's actually happening underneath. I've hit the mat more times than I can count. I always get back up. That's the only thing I'm pretty good at.

Outside of this edgy haxxing: I read stories, books, poems. Writing is how I stay sane. Reading is how I stay curious. This blog is both - a place to put my thoughts in the world, leave a trace of how I was thinking at a given point in time. I'm bad at organising things, "lazy" as my mom puts.

I'm based in Hyderabad. The city is beautiful - the biryani, the people, the weather. They make me enjoy things differently.

what I spend time on

primary

Offensive Security

CTFs, red teaming, understanding attack surfaces. The goal is always comprehension first, exploitation second.

technical

Systems Programming

Go, bash, anything close to the metal. I like software that respects the machine it runs on.

creative

Writing & Fiction

Short stories, mostly. I'm drawn to the specific - small moments that turn out to contain larger things.

ongoing

Tinkering

Projects that exist purely because something seemed interesting. No roadmap. No users. Just curiosity run to its end.

analog

Reading

Technical papers, fiction, philosophy, whatever gets recommended by someone I trust. No particular genre loyalty.

ambient

Music

Late-night writing playlists, classical piano, ambient electronic. Whatever makes the thinking go quieter.

about this blog

Weekend Theory is named for the mental state that produces the most honest work - following something because it won't leave you alone, not because it's on a roadmap. I have fond memories of staying up until 3am on many Saturdays, facing a challenge that refused to let go - many CTFs that made my eyes red and head spinning. You gotta sacrifice something to get something in return, right?

Technical posts come from going somewhere specific and reporting back. Stories come from feelings that needed a different shape. Thoughts are the shorter kind - observations, half-formed things, things I haven't finished yet. I'm not writing to teach. I'm writing to think out loud, and to leave something behind that says I was here, curious, and trying.

Built with ♥ by - for the love of writing.

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