Your first steps in the Kingdom
Where to begin if you’ve just arrived.
The Kingdom of Chintan is big: Gurukuls, courts, crises, algorithms, dragons disguised as bugs. This page tells you how to use it so you don’t drown in lore and forget to learn.
- Who this world is for (and who will hate it).
- Three clear paths depending on your current situation.
- How each story is structured: tale → reflection → algorithm.
- A short list of recommended first episodes.
This is not a LeetCode dump. It’s a story-first way to understand algorithms, trade-offs, and engineering thinking, aimed at people who like narrative more than dry PDFs.
✅ You’ll probably like this if…
- You’re an early-career engineer, CS student, or self-taught dev.
- You understand code basics but feel lost with “DSA” patterns.
- You remember stories and images better than formal proofs.
- You want to think more clearly under pressure, not just pass quizzes.
- You enjoy a bit of fantasy as long as the logic is sharp.
Translation: you want to actually understand algorithms, not just cargo-cult solutions.
🚫 You may hate this if…
- You want only bare code and formulas, no narrative or metaphor.
- You need a pure “500 problems in 30 days” grind checklist.
- You dislike any fantasy framing around technical content.
- You expect full course-style coverage of an entire CS curriculum.
You can still steal the mental models, but the world-building is not optional. It’s part of how the concepts stick.
You don’t need to read everything in order. Start from the pain you actually feel right now and branch out.
Good for CS students and junior devs.
- Start with the Gurukul arc overview: /arcs/gurukul/
- Read the first 3–5 Gurukul tales in order (arrays, greedy, sorting, two-pointers, sliding window).
- After each story, open its matching Scripture page to see the algorithm formalised.
Good for people who already code daily.
- Scan the Library page by algorithm pattern: /library/
- For each weak pattern (e.g. sliding window, backtracking, priority queue), read 1–2 Gurukul stories.
- Then jump straight to the corresponding Scripture pages to reinforce definitions, complexity, and edge-case checklists.
Good for mid-level folks who want sharper thinking, not grind.
- Read a couple of Gurukul episodes that mirror your current pain: focus, too many options, emergencies.
- Skim the Court of Chintan arc overview to see how the same patterns show up in bigger political/organizational stories.
- Use the Library’s “real-world situations” section when you’re stuck in similar messes at work.
Every tale is secretly a machine. If you know the parts, you can squeeze more learning out of each read instead of just enjoying the vibes and moving on.
The 3 layers of a Chintan tale
- Story layer — Gurus, kings, tricksters and crises. This gives you emotional hooks and concrete images so the idea sticks.
- Reflection layer — Sutras, “Real-world Scroll”, or Arjun’s inner thoughts. This connects the fable to actual work, study, and interviews.
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Scripture layer — On the
/scriptures/pages: names, definitions, invariants, complexity, implementation notes, and code sketches.
When in doubt: enjoy the story once, then come back later with a notebook and mine it like a textbook.
If you just want a default reading order that builds intuition step by step, start with these. All are in the Gurukul arc.
Suggested path through Gurukul I
- Episode 1 — Arrays & linear thinking: Arjun and a simple, deceptively long staircase. (Pattern: scanning, off-by-one, invariants.)
- Episode 2 — Two Pointers: Opposite forces on the same path, working together instead of fighting. (Pattern: left/right pointers, convergence.)
- Episode 3 — Greedy Scheduling: The Gurukul marketplace and picking sessions under time limits. (Pattern: greedy, interval scheduling.)
- Episode 4 — Sorting: The Scroll Archive and the pain of “everything is important” until you sort it. (Pattern: selection/insertion sort, ordering as power.)
- Episode 5 — Two Pointers Revisited: The twin fortress gates and moving pointers toward each other. (Pattern: two pointers on sorted data, constraints.)
After these, you’ll be comfortable enough with the style to wander: pick stories either by pattern from the Library or by arc from the Arcs page.
Don’t rely on memory alone.
When new tales, Scriptures, or arcs drop, they’ll quietly join the kingdom. If you want a nudge instead of randomly checking, join the scroll and I’ll send you the next crisis (and its algorithm) when it ’s ready.