two words that can save someone's life

tetris as therapy, toly has great phones, and many more...

Prado 🔑

Aug 18, 2025

hi 👋 Prado here

i publish one essay & 10 interesting things that help readers become healthy, wealthy, and wise

Essay of the week - Two words

i clicked this photo in varanasi and now it has over 100k views on unsplash

i was backpacking india back in 2018-19 and was exploring varanasi. i was using couchsurfing at that time and i got hosted by a hostel owner.

it was off-season, so the host let me stay at his hostel.

every night, all the folks in the hostel used to hang out on the terrace.
great view, great weather, music, conversations, nice vibes.

i was meeting lots of foreigners and some of them became great friends.

one night, we were just hanging out and telling stories to each other.

an indian friend of mine told us a very horrifying story.

him and his irish friend went to take a dip in the ganga river (holy river in india) it’s a ritual to take a dip.

the indian guy didn’t know how to swim and thought the currents were not too high.

he was wrong.

he took a few steps and the current took over him.

a loud shout got everyone’s attention - HELP HELP HELP MEEEE

splashing his hands around in the river and the river is slowly sweeping him away.

Irish friend thought this kid is just faking and playing with everyone.

20-30 seconds passed by, and shouts became mumbling.

river water was entering his mouth since he didn’t know how to swim.

over a hundred people are watching this happen.

a minute passes by and still he didn’t swim out. Irish guy thought someone would jump in and save him. no one did.

he quickly took his clothes off and jumped in.

Irish lad swam to the drowning guy and before reaching him, he stopped.

he shouted two words: CALM DOWN.

maybe 3-4 before putting him on his shoulder and swimming back to the shore.

more than 100 people were watching this indian kid drown, and not one of them jumped in.

one man even slapped the kid in the back of his head when he was trying to catch a breath. the kid rushed out and went to the hostel right away.

later that night, when we all gathered and they both were telling us this story, the irish shared that his dad was a coast guard for over 40 years.

his dad taught him one very important lesson.

“when you see someone in trouble and they think things are out of control, tell them these two words - Calm Down”

and we asked him why. he replied - when the indian friend was drowning, he was splashing his hands so hard on the water trying to stay afloat.

his adrenaline has kicked in.

anyone who tries to get closer to save him might catch a blow.

it was important to calm him down first.

next time, you see someone panicking, it’ll be wise to remember these two words.

these words have the power to save someone’s life.

inspiration to write this story:

i was scrolling IG and came across this reel where a girl was stuck in the car after an accident and this biker came to help.

his first words were - Relax.

watch the video here 👇

10 interesting things i found this week

1. what sets great managers apart (read more)

2. we experimented with some AI videos last week. it was a fun sesh

watch these:

Toly has great phones (video)
6 intro videos for the ecosystem call (video)

3. do things that don’t scale, and then don’t scale (read more)

4. good read (click on the image to read)

5. interesting human of the week:- Ian.

i think i’ve been pumping too much bouldering content on the newsletter but i’m obsessed and so is my feed.

6. question of the week:-

what’s a totally normal activity that somehow feels like foreplay when done with the right person? (read the reddit answers here)

7. picture of the week:- my cousin (13yr old) made this painting for me. she wanted to gift me something for my birthday as i won’t be in town.

8. Current read: Tools of titans (100 more pages this week) lfg

9. good tip of the week:-

10. Quotes of the week:

"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be
questioned." — Richard Feynman
"Modern luxury is the ability to think clearly, sleep deeply, move slowly, and live
quietly in a world designed to prevent all four." - Justin Welsh
“if the best in the world are stretching their asses off in order to get strong, why aren’t you?” - Christopher Sommer

Check out some of my previous newsletters: