Come
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
Please read and understand. Just this morning I was discussing work life balance with someone. Do not take your body and your social and emotional needs for granted. Do not take the eight hour workday for granted.
As the world changes, the industrial workplace is at risk of being lost. On the factory floor, it is easy to measure eight hours of work. With increased mechanisation and automation, and the world moving to more "white collar jobs", I see people putting in 12 or more hours a day into work regularly.
To what end?
Step out and smell the roses. While you still can.
Please read and understand. Just this morning I was discussing work life balance with someone. Do not take your body and your social and emotional needs for granted. Do not take the eight hour workday for granted.
As the world changes, the industrial workplace is at risk of being lost. On the factory floor, it is easy to measure eight hours of work. With increased mechanisation and automation, and the world moving to more "white collar jobs", I see people putting in 12 or more hours a day into work regularly.
To what end?
Step out and smell the roses. While you still can.
Any project has its long tail. In Hindi, there is an old saying "हाथी पार हो गया, पूँछ बाकी है।" We should give credit where credit is due. The rate of electrification doesn't hold much meaning in a place like India where terrain, power production, climate, consumption and population density vary wildly from region to region. Getting anything to 100% is a total pain in the ass. While Modi's ass currently hurts, India now has 100% electrification. Good show.
Being "on the grid" isn't necessarily a good idea. I've been working on off-grid solar DC since I was in college - I've been obsessed with running computers directly off of DC power http://www.thinvent.in/solar/. There is now an IITM incubated startup, http://www.cygni.com/, that does rural electrification through solar DC power. I believe they've helped achieve this 100% mark for the country. Kudos to them. Selling DC consumption and DC appliances to consumers is hard (been there, done that).
Being "on the grid" isn't necessarily a good idea. I've been working on off-grid solar DC since I was in college - I've been obsessed with running computers directly off of DC power http://www.thinvent.in/solar/. There is now an IITM incubated startup, http://www.cygni.com/, that does rural electrification through solar DC power. I believe they've helped achieve this 100% mark for the country. Kudos to them. Selling DC consumption and DC appliances to consumers is hard (been there, done that).
We Indians need to immediately learn from the Americans, the desire to explore and to try new things.
On Saturday I bumped into these two Americans at an event. I told them I was going for a photo walk Sunday morning. They were interested. Next morning, they are ready and waiting in my parking at 6:30am.
There is a certain amount of risk when you decide to hang out with a random person you've never met before. The walk could be long and boring. It could get very hot. We could get mugged. We might not find any birds or interesting things to photograph. We could end up thirsty and hungry.
These are the excuses I hear from most Indian folk when I ask them to step out of the comforts of their homes and explore something new. Whether in the US or in India, Indian people want to stay within the comfort of their homes and watch TV, stepping out occasionally to eat their one favourite dish at their one favourite restaurant.
Gurgaon today offers every kind of activity you can imagine. From cycling to motorbiking, exercising at Leisure Valley to bird watching at the Biodiversity park, there is something for everyone. Yet, in a city of over a million people, you find only a handful of people indulging in each activity. They rest are at home, sleeping.
There used to be this walk in Mountain View. On weekday evenings, this lady would take you around a few blocks. No parks, nothing, literally just houses to see. Over a dozen folks would show up just for that, and she'd have to stop registrations. I've never seen a dozen people show up for anything in Gurgaon that doesn't involve free alcohol.
Carpe diem, people.
On Saturday I bumped into these two Americans at an event. I told them I was going for a photo walk Sunday morning. They were interested. Next morning, they are ready and waiting in my parking at 6:30am.
There is a certain amount of risk when you decide to hang out with a random person you've never met before. The walk could be long and boring. It could get very hot. We could get mugged. We might not find any birds or interesting things to photograph. We could end up thirsty and hungry.
These are the excuses I hear from most Indian folk when I ask them to step out of the comforts of their homes and explore something new. Whether in the US or in India, Indian people want to stay within the comfort of their homes and watch TV, stepping out occasionally to eat their one favourite dish at their one favourite restaurant.
Gurgaon today offers every kind of activity you can imagine. From cycling to motorbiking, exercising at Leisure Valley to bird watching at the Biodiversity park, there is something for everyone. Yet, in a city of over a million people, you find only a handful of people indulging in each activity. They rest are at home, sleeping.
There used to be this walk in Mountain View. On weekday evenings, this lady would take you around a few blocks. No parks, nothing, literally just houses to see. Over a dozen folks would show up just for that, and she'd have to stop registrations. I've never seen a dozen people show up for anything in Gurgaon that doesn't involve free alcohol.
Carpe diem, people.
Woman observes my kids in the checkout lane. Then turns to her toddler, who was peacefully sitting in the trolley, and tells her, "See how nice bhaiyas are. And you are so naughty, so naughty."
Toddler promptly starts crying.
So now the mother is telling the child how she's the best baby in the world and my kids are naughty.
Idiot.
Toddler promptly starts crying.
So now the mother is telling the child how she's the best baby in the world and my kids are naughty.
Idiot.
A great turnout. And Yudi's crew is rocking it.
Spot billed duck spotted
Peepal tree, with what looks like a different plant growing on it. Silk cotton seeds strewn all over the place.
MakerSpace launch at the kids' school. Very excited about the opportunities this opens up for them (and me 😉).
My friend from school @[784435130:2048:Jaydeep Sarkar] has written the screenplay for Daas Dev. Whatte proud. कौन कौन चलेगा देखने? It's screening in Gurgaon now. I want to know if Jaydeep has outdone his stellar storytelling in Shaurya.
My friend from school @[784435130:2048:Jaydeep Sarkar] has written the screenplay for Daas Dev. Whatte proud. कौन कौन चलेगा देखने? It's screening in Gurgaon now. I want to know if Jaydeep has outdone his stellar storytelling in Shaurya.
Anybody coming from Australia who can bring this on for me. Its time my kids learnt the truth 😅
As a country we have run out of real problems to discuss.
When you search for JLN, Google points to Wikipedia's article on all Indian PMs, instead of JLN. Because of this, the text and image are from the List of PMs article, not the article on JLN.
Google uses an algorithm. It is no curated - and thank heavens for that. Algos break.
Get a clue, media and Twittersphere. Any social worker or activist you bump into will tell you many stories you need to hear and retell. If you keep Googling for stories instead of getting on the beat, this is what you get.
When you search for JLN, Google points to Wikipedia's article on all Indian PMs, instead of JLN. Because of this, the text and image are from the List of PMs article, not the article on JLN.
Google uses an algorithm. It is no curated - and thank heavens for that. Algos break.
Get a clue, media and Twittersphere. Any social worker or activist you bump into will tell you many stories you need to hear and retell. If you keep Googling for stories instead of getting on the beat, this is what you get.
Me
The world is an interesting place. That makes Wikipedia a very interesting place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal
Only in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal
Only in America.
Joy
My mother having a serious fangirl moment. I wonder if you recognise the beaming lady in the pictures.
A few decades ago, to be a woman and to 'succeed' used to be a lot harder in India. So women of a certain age exhibit an instant camaraderie towards each other - "we made it".
Dr. Blossom Kocchar. She started her entrepreneurial journey at the same time as my mother.
A few decades ago, to be a woman and to 'succeed' used to be a lot harder in India. So women of a certain age exhibit an instant camaraderie towards each other - "we made it".
Dr. Blossom Kocchar. She started her entrepreneurial journey at the same time as my mother.
People my mother admires, admiring her work
The group of artists exhibiting in Arbitrary Imagination
The artist with her work
Do visit the exhibition, on just today and tomorrow at the Habitat.
Do visit the exhibition, on just today and tomorrow at the Habitat.
My mother is exhibiting her paintings as part of a group show. The inauguration is today at the Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre. Please do come. The exhibition is on today and tomorrow, from 11am till 8pm. The exhibition's name is Arbitrary Imagination, and has been organised by Gallerysree Arts.
A religious place that gives you peace - so rare
Someone imagined all this beauty, then had it built. ❤️
Portals to other dimensions. The cavernous walkway on the bottom left is so typical of Indian houses; and yet so uninviting.
I don't even know what these are called - murals and carvings on the inside corners of domes in a mosque.
@upcycling.artist this reminds me of your work.
Happy Birthday Jaydeep. Look what I found for you this morning.
Happy birthday Nitin bhaiya. Google Photos popped up this memory from our cruise together six years ago. That was a very memorable holiday. अगला trip कब plan कर रहे हैं?
We keep electing these idiots, they keep confusing the epics with IETF.org
"We have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living"
I like this Buckminster Fuller fellow. Here is more from him:
There will come a time when the proper education of children, by a glorified system of spontaneous education of choice, similar to the Montessori System, will be made possible. Children, as well as grown-ups, in their individual, glorified, drudgery-proof homes of Labrador, the tropics, the Orient, or where you will, to which they can pass with pleasure and expedition by means of ever-improving transportation, will be able to tune in their television and radio to the moving picture lecture of, let us say, President Lowell of Harvard; the professor of Mathematics of Oxford; of the doctor of Indian antiquities of Delhi, etc. Education by choice, with its marvelous motivating psychology of desire for truth, will make life ever cleaner and happier, more rhythmical and artistic.
I like this Buckminster Fuller fellow. Here is more from him:
There will come a time when the proper education of children, by a glorified system of spontaneous education of choice, similar to the Montessori System, will be made possible. Children, as well as grown-ups, in their individual, glorified, drudgery-proof homes of Labrador, the tropics, the Orient, or where you will, to which they can pass with pleasure and expedition by means of ever-improving transportation, will be able to tune in their television and radio to the moving picture lecture of, let us say, President Lowell of Harvard; the professor of Mathematics of Oxford; of the doctor of Indian antiquities of Delhi, etc. Education by choice, with its marvelous motivating psychology of desire for truth, will make life ever cleaner and happier, more rhythmical and artistic.
Nilay put me in a bit of a spot this morning. Here are my series of rather poor, and some outright incorrect answers:
He: Does the Hind in Jai Hind stand for Hindu or Hindustan?
Me: Uh. Duh. Neither. It stands for Bharat.
He: Why not Hindustan?
Me: Because we are not Hindustan. We are Bharat, or India.
He: But most of us are Hindus. So why are we not Hindustan?
Me: We are just a set of people living within a nation. Not all of us are Hindu. And Hinduism doesn't have anything to do with our being a nation. Like, a majority of us are men, but that doesn't make us a nation of men.
Nilay: (tells me with his expression that this is a terrible analogy).
Google Navigation Aunty: Turn Left.
Me: I have to drive. Phew.
He: Does the Hind in Jai Hind stand for Hindu or Hindustan?
Me: Uh. Duh. Neither. It stands for Bharat.
He: Why not Hindustan?
Me: Because we are not Hindustan. We are Bharat, or India.
He: But most of us are Hindus. So why are we not Hindustan?
Me: We are just a set of people living within a nation. Not all of us are Hindu. And Hinduism doesn't have anything to do with our being a nation. Like, a majority of us are men, but that doesn't make us a nation of men.
Nilay: (tells me with his expression that this is a terrible analogy).
Google Navigation Aunty: Turn Left.
Me: I have to drive. Phew.
Hill Fort Kesroli
As the sun rises you realise that we humans have been eating away at these majestic, ancient mountains. To the left are the fort walls, built with stone quarried from the mountains afar.
If you look carefully you'll see a fog hanging low over the village right under the hill. Pretty.
हम फ़िर तफ़री पर हैं
Kavin: I'm the FBA. Here is my card.
Me: What is that?
Kavin: Errm, the Federation Crime Fighters?
Me: What is that?
Kavin: Errm, the Federation Crime Fighters?
Just one of those days when akamai.com is down
Thank you @[571535106:2048:Neetika] and @[664330393:2048:Sarit] for an evening spent well.
We were up to some serious fun back then
Writers, poets, and lovers of literature. Please do attend.
Customer banking portals that use Infosys's Finacle product load this JS file: Nfacebook-utils.js
What is Facebook doing in my banking site?
What is Infosys smoking?
What is Facebook doing in my banking site?
What is Infosys smoking?
Mr. @[505907433:2048:Deol], care to explain to me how this works: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/4/17197342/google-renewable-energy-climate-change
Also, let me tell you what I'd like to do. Let us say @[100063777711947:2048:Thinvent] buys power at ₹8 per unit from the grid. It also buys power at ₹16 per unit from the building's ugly diesel power backup system. In all we purchase say 300 units a month of grid power, and 30 units a month of diesel power.
Now, we want to make sure that someone, somewhere (within India), is consuming 300 + 30*3 units of renewable energy - solar, wind or wave. That 390 units of "clean" energy is added to the grid.
How can we do that? Let us say there is some location where the grid can purchase coal power at ₹4 per unit, and solar power for ₹6 per unit. So we are happy to pay them ₹(6-4)*390 per month to cover the differential. But, from what I hear, solar plants are already spewing out power at prices competitive to coal.
Is this a problem worth solving? Or is the "invisible hand" already handling this?
To summarise, can @[100063777711947:2048:Thinvent] pay someone to plant trees, produce clean energy, recycle waste material, and reduce our ecological footprint in other ways.
This might even be a good way for corporations to spend their CSR funds. Especially if these efforts create jobs. I am given to understand that most clean tech - planting trees, recycling electronics and metal waste, producing solar power - is labour intensive.
Also, let me tell you what I'd like to do. Let us say @[100063777711947:2048:Thinvent] buys power at ₹8 per unit from the grid. It also buys power at ₹16 per unit from the building's ugly diesel power backup system. In all we purchase say 300 units a month of grid power, and 30 units a month of diesel power.
Now, we want to make sure that someone, somewhere (within India), is consuming 300 + 30*3 units of renewable energy - solar, wind or wave. That 390 units of "clean" energy is added to the grid.
How can we do that? Let us say there is some location where the grid can purchase coal power at ₹4 per unit, and solar power for ₹6 per unit. So we are happy to pay them ₹(6-4)*390 per month to cover the differential. But, from what I hear, solar plants are already spewing out power at prices competitive to coal.
Is this a problem worth solving? Or is the "invisible hand" already handling this?
To summarise, can @[100063777711947:2048:Thinvent] pay someone to plant trees, produce clean energy, recycle waste material, and reduce our ecological footprint in other ways.
This might even be a good way for corporations to spend their CSR funds. Especially if these efforts create jobs. I am given to understand that most clean tech - planting trees, recycling electronics and metal waste, producing solar power - is labour intensive.
A true genius :-D
When you see friends' pics in the news, but it's not the news you wanted to read.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/youtube-headquarters-shooting-4-injured-in-california-female-shooter-commits-suicide-top-10-developments-118040400136_1.html
http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/youtube-headquarters-shooting-4-injured-in-california-female-shooter-commits-suicide-top-10-developments-118040400136_1.html
Traffic in South Delhi was an absolute mess at 11am this morning. Realised my Uber wasn't getting anywhere close to Gurgaon, so redirected it to the nearest metro station. This too took a long time.
Once in the metro system, it was smooth sailing. Seats were available, transfer between the Yellow Line and Rapid Metro Line was smooth, overall an enjoyable experience with better air conditioning than the cab.
We deserve the mess we create by all of us being on the roads at the same time with our cars and cabs, and ignoring public transport.
Once in the metro system, it was smooth sailing. Seats were available, transfer between the Yellow Line and Rapid Metro Line was smooth, overall an enjoyable experience with better air conditioning than the cab.
We deserve the mess we create by all of us being on the roads at the same time with our cars and cabs, and ignoring public transport.
Grabs popcorn. http://www.business-standard.com/article/reuters/trump-to-unveil-china-tariff-list-this-week-targeting-tech-goods-118040200151_1.html . And in a strange way, me likes what Trump is up to :-D
I am reminded of the two monkeys and cat story (https://www.google.co.in/search?q=two+monkeys+and+cat+story). How can India benefit from this trade war?
I am reminded of the two monkeys and cat story (https://www.google.co.in/search?q=two+monkeys+and+cat+story). How can India benefit from this trade war?
जब मैं छोटा बच्चा था
A corollary to hazaron khwahishen aisi
A month ago I was frustrated that no change could come to US gun laws. And then boom!
What if Indian youth rose up like this and demanded jobs.
What if Indian youth rose up like this and demanded jobs.
Marketing emails from China sometimes have cute or offbeat subject lines.
A girl who sells printed circuit boards 😀
A girl who sells printed circuit boards 😀
Making sense of this senseless government https://t.co/PsiHVuoJqb
My son the DJ. Dropped Nilay off early morning for his sports team practice. He was fiddling with his music all the way. Once he was gone, I popped the headphones in to see what's going on. Been an hour now and I'm still listening.
Cue the clichés on Delhi DJs. There is no punjabi/bolly music on his list though.
Cue the clichés on Delhi DJs. There is no punjabi/bolly music on his list though.
Kavin assaulted Nilay with a grape. The grape hit Nilay in his armpit. His armpit started hurting. This amused Kavin so much that he started laughing hysterically. Nilay was in pain and annoyed by Kavin's laughter. But the laughter was so infectious that Nilay also started laughing.
Madhouse. Madhouse.
Madhouse. Madhouse.
Say hello to the lovelies from our garden
Say hello to the lovelies from our garden
The kids got new buntings to decorate their room with, and they're super excited. Use Me sent the pretty things wrapped in eco friendly packaging. Kavin was so delighted. He used a ripper when opening the cloth package, so he could reuse it. Inside he found more reusable bags. What joy 😀