The Protagonist is a Villain

If the Protagonist is a Villain — Then Who Is the Villain?

We’ve all grown up with a very clean idea of storytelling:

There is a hero. There is a villain.

The hero is good.The villain is bad.

Simple.

But that simplicity starts breaking the moment you change one variable:

What if the protagonist itself is the villain?

Then the real question is not about the story anymore. It’s about our understanding of it.

We’ve been mis-defining “Protagonist” all along

Most people subconsciously equate protagonist with hero.
That’s the first mistake.

A protagonist is not necessarily the “good guy.”
A protagonist is simply the center of the story.

The one whose decisions move everything forward.

So if a story follows a criminal, a manipulator, or a power-hungry individual—
they don’t stop being the protagonist.

They just make us uncomfortable and that discomfort is where things start getting interesting.

The Villain becomes a matter of perspective

Once the protagonist is morally questionable, the idea of a “villain” becomes unstable.

Because now—

• The cops are trying to stop him
• The system is trying to control him
• And the people are resisting him

…all of them can appear as obstacles.

In storytelling norms, the one who obstructs the protagonist becomes the antagonist.

So from this perspective, they are the villains.

Which leads us an uncomfortable realization: The label “Villain” is not an absolute label. 

It is but positional.

The story stops being about the Good vs Bad

In traditional narratives, the conflict is moral.

Good vs evil, right vs wrong.

But when the protagonist is a villain, the story shifts.

It’s no longer about morality. It’s about conflict.

Who is trying to achieve something? and who is stopping them?

That’s it.

A corrupt man chasing power doesn’t see himself as evil. He sees resistance as the problem.

So the story is no longer asking: “Who is right?” It is asking: “Who wins?”

Now the pressure Is on You

Here’s where it gets psychologically sharp. The writer stops guiding your morality. There is no clear instruction on who to support.

So you start making internal negotiations:

• “He’s wrong… but his reasoning makes sense.”
• “I don’t agree with his actions… but I understand why he’s doing it.”
• “I shouldn’t want him to win… but I kind of do.”

And without realizing it, you’re no longer just watching the story, you are participating in it.

Sometimes the real Villain isn’t a person

In many such stories, the true opposing force isn’t even human.

It’s something more abstract:

• Ambition that refuses to stop
• Ego that refuses to bend
• Fear that drives irrational decisions
• Power that keeps demanding more

In such cases, the protagonist is not just the villain - he/she is also a carrier of something larger. 

Which raises a deeper question:

Is he the villain?
Or is he being driven by one?

Why these stories almost always end in collapse

There’s a pattern you’ll notice.

When the protagonist is a villain, the ending rarely feels like a clean victory.

Even if they “win,” something is lost:

• Relationships break
• Identity distorts
• Meaning fades

Because operating against balance, whether moral or psychological, has a cost.

And that cost eventually shows up.

Not as punishment from the outside, but as erosion from within.

The Mirror Effect

This is the most uncomfortable part.

These stories don’t just question the character, they question you.

Because once you start understanding a villain deeply enough, they stop feeling like “other.”

They start feeling… possible.

You begin to wonder:

• Under pressure, would I act differently?
• Are my values stable, or situational?
• Is morality something I believe in—or something I’ve just never had to test?

And just like that, the story is no longer fiction. It becomes a mirror.

So, Who Is the Villain?

If the protagonist is a villain, then the idea of “the villain” doesn’t disappear.

It fragments.

It can be:

• The opposing force
• The system
• The internal flaw
• The consequences waiting at the end

Or sometimes... It’s the very mindset that justifies everything.

Final Thought

Maybe the better question is not:

“Who is the villain in such a story?”

But:

“What makes a villain believable enough… that we start understanding them?”

Because the moment that happens,
the line between hero and villain doesn’t just blur...

It becomes negotiable. 

Release

Dated: 15th Nov 2024
The day of Release.

Release all the pressure, Release all the stress, Release all the pain, Release all the hurt inside you...

Set yourself Free! from the clutches of the Dark Fear, 
from the obligation of performance.

Release yourself from the constant fight of survival, 
from being the Best always.

Release yourself from the Burden of being noticed,
from the struggle of showing off who you are.

IF, you are something, they will notice.
IF, you are flamboyant, they all will see you...
And
IF, you are worthy, you will be Praised.

Do not chase Recognition.... for if you are... 
Then you will... be Recognized !!!

Music Websites’ Comparison - UX Analysis

The Information Architecture

For Spotify the Information Architecture is Minimalistic with very few options to choose from - Going easy on user and reducing the cognitive load of the user with quick options to choose from

Menu options are presented vertically in the top left of the screen Which is also positively the most viewed portion of any online site by maximum users based on historic eye tracking studies

In Gaana the Information Architecture is spanned wider with many options to choose from.

Menu options are presented horizontally with more than Seven options to choose.

Brand Language

In Spotify, the user specific keyword is the Third option - Your Library

In Gaana, the user specific keyword is placed last in the list of left to right options - My Music

In this case Gaana is better because it is using the USER’s Context - The user’s mental model of - “My Music” which sounds more personal than - “Your Library” because the word “your” is in second person context whereas “my” is first person.

Commercials

The commercial part is a bit too highlighted in Gaana with “Go Ad Free” and “Gaana Plus” are associated with Gaana’s Brand Red Color depicting continuity and leading the Eye Queue to the commercial aspect.

Spotify on the other hand goes easy on the user with a single word - “Premium” suggesting user discretion and not being too pushy on the commercials.

Post Login

Spotify greets the user with a “Good Evening” or a “Good Morning” depending on the time of the day based on the geopositioning of the user. This experience is a welcome gesture for any user and it does make one feel good. In Gaana this welcome greeting is missing.

Spotify additionally pampers the user by displaying the user’s name as well as display pic icon (if added) Gaana on the other hand only shows the icon

Color Theme

Gaana’s two colored Theme of Red and White looks neat

Gaana also offers users; dark or light theme to choose from with the default theme being the light theme.

Spotify’s Dark default theme in Black and white looks drab and the Green color of the brand is missing in the default theme. The user interface does not display theme change options readily however the default dark theme promotes battery saving for mobile interfaces.

Signup

Spotify seems to be promoting Single Sign-on by placing multiple options first

Here Spotify offers easy to the user providing multiple options like Facebook, Apple, Google and Mobile

This approach enhances the user experience by offering the extremely easy to use options first and makes the user journey a cakewalk

Unlike Gaana which suggests user mobile or email based login first and then offers Single sign-on as an alternative. Gaana misses on offering easy login to apple users!

All about Graphics and Image File Formats

All about Graphics and Image File Formats

Graphics are broadly classified in to Raster or Vector Graphics. Raster Graphics are in the form of Bitmap Graphics wherein each pixel would have a different color and eventually a collection of pixels would compose into any graphic form that it would shape into.

Raster or Bitmap graphics are used in Photographs or color intensive applications.

Vector Graphics are essentially geometric shapes in an outline with color filled in to it.

On expanding a vector graphic the geometric shape is reconstructed and the fill color or Vignette/Gradient is refilled in to it. Here the computer only stores the geometric shape related info and the color info and hence the file sizes of these applications are lighter also there is no pixel tearing on expanding any image constructed using Vector Graphics.

Vector Graphics are used in Applications like CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator and Line art Graphics are created is 3D rendering software like AutoCAD and other Civil Engineering and Architecture related software.

For Raster Graphics most common Web File formats like GIF, PNG, and JPEG are used.

GIF - Graphic Interchange Format is a proprietary file format which stores color in the form of Indexed Colors. Index color is a 8 Bit File format containing the ability to store up to 256 colors with the addition of one of the 256 colors allowed to be completely transparent.

PNG - Portable Network Graphics was an unpatented and improved file format developed to replace GIF file format. PNGs support 8 Bit as well as 24 Bit File formats. The 8-Bit format supports up to 256 colors and one transparent color allowed just as the GIF file format.

PNG supports palette-based images with palettes of 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA colors

Here PNG supports Alpha Transparency with 256 shades of grey giving you a gradient semitransparent image.

Unofficially, the initials PNG stood for the recursive acronym "PNG's not GIF"

- Above line is an excerpt from Wikipedia's PNG Article

Last but not the least JPEG - which is the Joint Photographic Engineering Group or JPG in short is a file format supporting 24 Bit Images primarily designed for Photographic images. It stores and recreates color information in an extremely efficient manner.

The human eye perceives color based on its adjacent color. Hence JPEG Devised a compression algorithm of rendering color in photographic images in such a manner that during compression it actually deletes alternate lines of color and renders/recreates this line of color on its own and even when images are stretched  to a certain extent, it manages to reduce the image file size and still recreates the same image without any artifacts and which is pretty close to the original image.

In the next article I will explain more about - "Display Colors, Color Modes and Color Spaces"

The things I learnt from Indigo Consulting - Chapter 1 - Beginning of a New Era

Chapter 1 - Beginning of a New Era

I was a Graphic Designer, Web Designer, UI Designer and anything related to design and designing until I joined Indigo Consulting.

It all started with Devang Naik

Being a maharashtrian myself I thought... rather I was gut sure that this guy from HR must be a Marathi speaking one however to my greatest surprise he turned out to be a gujju guy ( My perception back then was people with the Naik surname are only Maharashtrians).

I used to stay at Andheri West and most of the job opportunities used to come from Andheri East so when I received a call from Devang for a job opportunity in Lower Parel…. I was already skeptical. His junior had already called me and she tried convincing me but I had turned it down.

Now when I look back and reflect those moments... I think of myself as a true snob….

and just look at the outright audacity I had (considering I had no job in hand at that juncture) to tell Devang that "I understand it is a good opportunity and I don’t disagree that your company might serve as a very good learning curve however it is too far for me to travel from Andheri to Lower Parel and I would rather like to skip it".

I should appreciate the patience and perseverance of our man - Devang... he kept persuading me and he told me that there is nothing to lose in just appearing for an interview. His final closing was something like this - "do you already have an offer in hand" to which I candidly replied  "no" then he said "Ek bar aake dekho". Just come over once and give it a shot...

I came to the office at Lower Parel West in Sun-mill compound. At first glance I like the peculiarly designed office probably made to look like an Ad Agency. it was a Tin Themed setting with Tin / aluminium Sheets with texture/ pattern seen in Mumbai local train’s Flooring used as cubicle partitions and rest of it made in glass. The Tall height of this Industrial Gala was smartly divided into Mezzanine partitions which gave it a two storeys look.

My First round was taken by Deepak Shrivastava who asked me HTML and CSS questions and all questions answered like rapid fire round. My interview with him finished in less than 5 mins and he moved out of the cabin.

Even though I knew my answers were right still the first round was over so quickly and this guy moved out so quickly hence I was worried… probably something was wrong…

Then Jyoti mam came and she asked me her bit of questions and I answered all of them and she concluded that I was selected and asked me when could I join. I was thrilled excited and happy to feel a prospective part of such a hep looking office. I was handed over the offer letter in a short while and I joined Indigo Consulting in the next two days!!

To be continued in the Next Chapter

Chapter 2 - Life at Indigo Consulting….

Guru Purnima Special !!!

 Guru Purnima Special !!!

Guru Bramha Guru Vishno Guru Devo Maheshwara

Citing the Shlokas recited during the veneration of the lords.... Referring to the Trinity Gods - Bramha the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer 

This Shloka is emphasizing that Guru - The Supreme Teacher is above all Gods also above the holy trinity.....

Guru Bramha Guru Vishno  Meaning The Guru is equivalent to Bramha....

Guru is also equivalent to Vishnu....and Guru is also equivalent to Lord Shiva....

Guru Sakshaat ParaBrammha - Guru is the Incarnation (The Avataar) of Parabramha... the Eternal Truth.... the Omniscient (The All Knowledgeable) the Omnipotent (Eternally able and Powerful) and the Omnipresent (Kan Kan mein Stith... present everywhere)

Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah : Hey Guru, I bow to you from my heart and soul.

This is the amount of importance given to the Teacher the Guru and in our lives many people big and small, many people either elder or younger to us have definitely taught us something  or the other no matter how little....eventually turning them into our Gurus.

Today I take this opportunity to praise all of my Gurus and thank them for teaching me all that I have learned from them!

Happy Guru Purnima!!!

The path to Knowledge could be out of Digression!

 Many of you must have heard of AI or Artificial intelligence and the term ML or Machine Learning which is related to the development of Artificial Intelligence and few other terms like NLP, NER, Deep Learning, Data Science, BIG DATA, Et al

In my quest to touch base on these pointers and with an intent to revisit my knowledge and catch upon this trend which had disrupted the tech industry since a decade now (as of July 2021)... I decided to test my awareness and sought to google... verifying it's related terms.

I started from double checking the popular term "NLP" which with a faint recall had thought it to be Natural Language Programming only to know that its not what I was thinking and its full form actually reads - Natural Language Processing.... and this rectification and correction triggered in to revisiting the entire spectrum of terminologies related to AI - Artificial Intelligence.

There was one article explaining the difficulties and challenges of Natural Language Programming which had a term POS Tagging which said that
Part-of-speech tagging is harder than just having a list of words and their parts of speech, because some words can represent more than one part of speech at different times, and because some parts of speech are complex or unspoken. This is not rare—in natural languages (as opposed to many artificial languages)

As I started reading more about NLP I rapidly moved forward to many articles from NLP to NER to an article explaining NER (Named Entity Recognition) to multiple terms explaining NER to POS Tagging - to - POS Tagging Wiki - to - Artificial languages - to - Constructed Language Wiki - To the image Next to this Wiki - To -Tower of Babel Wiki - To a plethora of new words and/or Terminologies (New - being a relative term is obviously referring to me and my limited ken)

As I started reading this article - Tower of Babel (and this is where the digression started) I was struck with awe realizing as to how much deep and vast all this really is and how little do we actually know about the world, about mankind, its history and all its concepts in general... given that I had been reading Wikipedia right from its inception during the year 2005 - 2006

Mentioning few terms know and unknown from the article - Tower of Babel:

Hebrew - Religion of Jesus Christ as a child before his enlightenment
Genesis - The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
Origin Myth - An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world.
Great Flood - Genesis flood narrative - The flood of Noah and companions
Shinar - is the southern region of Mesopotamia in the Hebrew Bible.
Ziggurat - pyramidal stepped temple tower that is an architectural and religious structure characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia (now mainly in Iraq)
Babylon - Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian empire.
Sumerian - Sumer is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq)
Marduk - was a God from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon.

And If I would continue further this article could go endless.... which is when I realized that I had gone through more then Ten to Fifteen odd tabs of Wiki articles to cite the shortest explanations of most of the newly learned terms...

Started with Artificial Intelligence and landed up in Mesopotamia!

Sometimes digressing from the primary topic could also land us up into a whole new world of unchartered knowledge.