Category: Personal

  • Weekly Notes 50/2025

    I started this week with a plan to get a lot of things done. Life, had other plans. It dropped me in the Hospital for the third time this year. I was discharged on Friday.

    Unlike my other Hospital stays this year, this one was marked by an absence of phones and a lot of time spent staring at ceilings. I thought I would read some books but I got nothing done.

    It’s good to be back home and able to write, even on a mobile device. Not yet back to 100%.

    I missed many events in Pune that I had hoped to attend. I wanted to take my daughter to see and meet the Pune urban sketchers community and also see some of the stationary they had on offer.

    I have been thinking of using mostly Instagram, Facebook, Substack and Mastodon through most of next year. I am not thinking of it as a rule.

  • The front yard of a house

    This is the house in front of the place where I bring my son to the doctor.

    I used to think earlier about how they can survive in this mess in their front yard. I now appreciate the way nature has overgrown here.

    It’s filled with trees, birds, and numerous invisible creatures that may be calling this home.

  • Weekly Notes 48/2025

    I got a lot of work done in the past two weeks. But, I had recurrent health scares that kept me away from writing. This weekend I was really busy with several home improvement works. Hence, the delayed post here. But, better late than never, as had been the case in the last few weeks.

    I am currently reading Oh, Life Relax Please by Swami Sukhabodhananda and listening to Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks. I went to the library after a long time. I donated Jatan Mehta’s book Seven uni verses among several other books to the public library here. There are many more books that I plan to give away.

    I also attended my first in-person event in a long time. The talk was on geology of the Himalayas by Suvrat Kher. I have been reading his blog, Rapid Uplift for a really long time. His latest blog post, Landscapes: PIndari Glacier Trail formed a part of the talk. I also had the chance to meet some of my friends there, whom I had missed meeting because of the surgeries.

    I started reading blog posts on Readwise again. I have also removed X, Mastodon, and Instagram apps on the phone.

  • Week 43/2025

    I used to write my Weekly Notes in a structured way, tracking my reading and writing progress. This time, I want to write it in a more free-form style, similar to how I did for Week 42.

    My parents visited and took the kids to Mumbai during the Diwali holidays. It was our first time home alone. You might expect us to get a lot done without the kids, but we mostly just relaxed and did nothing special.

    We watched three movies – Coolie (Tamil), Ronth (Malayalam), and Greater Kalesh (Hindi) on OTT. I started reading Kurashi at Home by Marie Kondo (which I could not find in her publications list on Wikipedia) and Make Epic Money by Ankur Warikoo. I listened to The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel and I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi. I did not finish any of the books I started and left them all unfinished. I am spending my time recovering from surgery watching Countdown and Lazarus.

    I am disappointed with my recent book choices. I didn’t read Between Worlds, which I wanted to. I read more on my mobile than anywhere else. Between Worlds is just sitting on my shelf after I read the first two chapters.

    I have been following several accounts on X that focus on manufacturing in India. While there are traditional manufacturing companies, these new-age creators showcase impressive manufacturing processes through engaging videos. We imagined these processes in our heads. I will share a few videos in another blog post.

    It was interesting to see how India’s manufacturing limits its space program and how ISRO built up its capabilities, helping the program grow. This serves as a useful model for other sectors in India. For instance, the Semi Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh could apply this approach to build the capability of the Indian semiconductor industry, leveraging SCL’s experience being an ISRO Center.

  • I think IDFC First Bank has done well with AI related search engine optimization. All chat-based AI tools suggested IDFC First Bank and its banking products during my various interactions with AI.

  • I wanted to share this Instagram post from the_blueboat. This is about a 3 hour journey between the districts of Kottayam an Alapuzha through the Vembanad Lake.

    The first service is at 6:45 am, that the_blueboat recommends for a comfortable ride through hidden villages not usually covered by houseboats and shikaras. The service is run by the Kerala Government’s State Water Transport Department.

  • Helical stepwell of Walur, near Parbhani. Quite a wonder of geometry and constructional precision. Designed in the shape of a spiral galaxy (possibly by observing Andromeda?). Perhaps even a perennial source of water and weather study.

  • An Instagram post on the transformation of Muthoot group headquarters at MG Road, Kochi.

    I hope more companies consider the move from Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) to Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC). I had to look up the acronym GFRC because they never explained that in the video.

  • Week 42/2025

    I underwent another surgery in the first week of October 2025. 2025 seems to be really bad for me health-wise. I hope something good comes of it. I am still recovering from it.

    I have had a lot of time to process as well during this period of illness, as is often the case.

    I started sharing my content on the blog again. I would earlier share this content on various cozy web groups (WhatsApp groups, mostly). I think I will start to post here to get better at tracking what I consume.

    I got on Arattai to know what all the buzz is about. Sai Rahul Poruri had written an interesting article arguing that moving from WhatsApp to Arattai was just about jumping from one walled garden to another. This helped me to get to use Prav again. I am looking for people I can speak to on the XMPP protocol.

    I expressed that I wanted to start writing about space again. That is my first love. Just reposting things on X and other social media platforms just doesn’t cut it anymore.

    Not too much to share this week. But 42 is an important number and should not be missed. Hence, this short senseless note.

  • YouTube – Life Explained in 15 minutes

    There are many such videos online which mainly remix online gyan using AI. This may also have been scripted using one. But, I found the order in which it was said and its tone useful to me. Hence, sharing.

    I think this video has collected the 20% I find necessary to live the 80% of my life.