Some people should not be allowed to have kids. Or at least name them.
I am hiring engineers. Reaching out over WhatsApp with a "Hi <First Name>".
This candidate. Her name is Honey. Her actual first name, not her pet name, is Honey.
So I went "Hi Honey". And then I recoiled.
It's just wrong.
Imagine talking to her at work? "Honey can you get me some MAX232's from the IC drawer." Nope. Nope nope nope.
Who are these people naming their daughters Honey?
So yeah, I ended up actively discriminating against a candidate today, because using her first name made me feel creepy about myself.
The more I think about this, the worse it gets. Imagine there is a client in the office, and I am addressing this 21 year old woman as Honey, while I am 46. And this client has no context, no idea, what the woman's name is. They're just overhearing.
Do people not apply their brains at all when naming their children?
It is so sad that I heard of Ananth Anna's passing from a newspaper article. I did not keep in touch for a long time 😔. But I do remember him from time to time.
So, if, hypothetically, in the month of May this year, I did a road trip through North East India, would you like to come along (and split costs)?
I am thinking Gauhati - Arunachal - Nagaland - East Meghalaya - Gauhati. Maybe Kaziranga too if possible.
Very basic stay and food. Likely camping in a few spots (Dawki river side etc). https://www.instagram.com/caravahan/ for context (but we will not be sleeping in the car).
Had this long discussion with a friend about morality today. Why are we in the middle class so hell bent on doing the right thing, while the rich don't have a shred of morality?
Heard in Arambol: "Yogic science believes that there is more to the body than can be observed".
No amount of education can save this nation. People with a high school degree in science and a graduate degree in engineering are confused between a belief system and science. What cannot be observed cannot be science - it can only be whatever cute thing is going on between you and your imaginary friends in the sky.
This is why I like my yoga teacher. She blends well proven yogic practice with modern fitness practice, and spares me 100% of the philosophy. Yes, yoga can benefit you without you believing that your body is a "vibration".
I am sending out postcards today, after many many years. If you want one with an exotic Indian philatelic stamp, message me your address right now. And promise me you will reply with a postcard.
OK maybe some of you will get a card not a postcard. I have little greeting cards from WWF and Sabda from 1992.
Hole in the wall with Jejus. Right here in Sao Tome. Another little detail that I've never noticed as I walk about the city busily, engrossed in my own thoughts.
I made a thing, and I'd like very much for you to see it. It's a new website, designed and coded from scratch. Part work necessity, but mostly a labour of nerdy love and passion. www.thinvent.in
Hoping to see this successful, so it can be extended to Goa too. To think that I've twice had to move houses because stray dogs made the neighbourhood unlivable for my children. Sanity has finally prevailed.
So, I made a thing earlier this year, and forgot to talk about it.
https://web.thinvent.in
It's a website I designed and coded from scratch using Python, Flask, Jinja, Bootstrap, etc. It exposes our internal ERP system and product database as a customer facing ecommerce site.
Do you feel an attachment to machines, computers and servers (even virtual ones) that have served you well, served you faithfully? Or am I just wonky? I feel like I should take the day off.
Ranking of common habit forming substances, dug up by me to bolster my assertion "it is okay to drink socially or occasionally; it is never okay to smoke".
High Potential for Habit and Dependence: * Heroin * Cocaine * Nicotine (Tobacco) * Methamphetamine * Opioid Painkillers (e.g., Oxycodone, Fentanyl) * Barbiturates
Moderate to High Potential for Habit and Dependence: * Alcohol
Moderate Potential for Habit and Dependence: * Amphetamines (e.g., Adderall) * Benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Valium)
Lower to Moderate Potential for Habit and Dependence: * Sugar * Cannabis (Marijuana) * Ketamine * Ecstasy (MDMA)
Lower Potential for Habit and Dependence (but not negligible): 14. Coffee (Generally higher caffeine content than tea) 15. Tea (Lower caffeine content than coffee) 16. Caffeine (in isolation, e.g., energy drinks with lower doses than coffee)
While I've completely dropped tea and coffee, I realise now that the occasional sugar rush is even more risky.
I've recently purchased some shirts, which later turned out to not have pockets. Benetton, and multiple small boutique brands in Goa, all are at fault.
While we were all busy trying to get pockets in women's garments, the industry snuck up and counter attacked by removing them from men's garments too. And don't even get me started about new trousers with stitched up pockets.
If this isn't the surest sign of lawlessness in this country, I don't know what is. I've been scammed.
Goa is a complicated place. Here you see boys and young men, spending time in the evening playing and practising music at a temple. From their build I can tell that they spend time at the gym too. One even had a very fancy motorbike.
I often get into arguments with young people who work at my office. I tell them that now is the opportunity for them to build a career. I'm used to the work culture in Bangalore, where young people stay back after office hours and learn. "You don't have to work; but there are all these resources available for you to learn and practice and become a better engineer". But no. They all have plans for the evening.
And I guess I'll never understand their plans. When Kavin plays the piano as part of carol singing at old age homes, I understand. When young people forego building a career to play music at a temple, I get it. But I also don't want to get it. I come from a world of single minded pursuits. It's a wonder how I made sure my own kids have well rounded personalities.
If there is an award for set design for concerts, then the team behind the Monte Music Festival truly deserves it. From between the artists, you can see the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. Up above you see the moon and what to me looks like Venus. Of course, much of the work was done 500 years ago. Goans knew fully well the scene they were creating from the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount.
This was obvious to most engineers, but the statistics are out now. Driverless cars are much, much safer than human drivers. The point of autonomous cars was never as much about drudgery reduction as it was about reducing death and destruction.
A vehicle has significantly more destructive ability than a gun, yet we regularly hand them out to emotional, excitable folks, even 16 year old kids, as a "necessity". Excited that we will see the near elimination of road-accident related death and injuries in my lifetime.
(Road accidents are the leading cause of mortality in India in the 1 to 35 age group, per actuarial tables. Even in 35-40 they are neck-to-neck with cardiovascular.)
China is going to spend $1 trillion on high speed rail in the coming years.
Trains have invariably led to economic growth. Real estate prices grow near stations, whether in Japan or at India's metro stations. Europe and Japan have benefited tremendously from their regular and high speed train networks. The economic impact, as well as the improvement in quality of life, is well studied over and over by reputed economists.
Meanwhile the Indian Railways keeps breathlessly repeating to its passengers, ad nauseam, that it loses money on passenger traffic.
Nobody cares. The NHAI is spending ₹1,68,464 crore this year, on just highways. The fuel spent on those highways, the cost of the vehicles running on them, the cost of driving and operating those vehicles - all those are additional costs. And in spite of this huge expense, we seem to pay hundreds of rupees in toll every time we go from city A to city B.
The railways are infrastructure, just like the highways. You aren't supposed to make money on infrastructure. It is this kind of reductive thinking that has put American infrastructure in the terrible place it is now. You build infrastructure, at cost to the public and the economy, and then said infrastructure benefits the economy.
I think the language of the government needs to change. The job of the government is to take money from individuals and businesses, and in return build that infrastructure which individuals cannot build and operate themselves. No part of doing that job entails whining about how much the infrastructure costs. We voted you in to make the right investments on our behalf. Just do it.
