Saurabh

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A marvellous person has departed the world. @[1005490575:2048:Ankit Chadha] was a phenomenal artist. But more than that, he was a wonderful human being.

It is only when you are truly, genuinely good at heart, can you produce the beautiful body of work that Ankit was able to produce in such a short time.

I have only known @[1005490575:2048:Ankit] for less than two years. I first met him at his performance of Khusrau Ke Rang at the Stein auditorium. And then I would see him again and again, every time at a performance more brilliant than the one before. More throughly researched. And even more relevant to the turbulent times we live in.

When a person is an artist, there legacy lives on in their art. You can continue to experience the person through their art. But how do you experience the goodness, the richness of soul that Ankit was. The world has lost some amount of its goodness with him passing.

I... I don't now what I am talking. I am so sad. If you missed experiencing his work in his lifetime, you can know more about him at https://www.ankitchadha.in/ and see some of his work here https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ankit+chadha
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थाल से थाल मिला

#401reasons Andaz Delhi
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Me: Do you know what's living on our compost bin now?

Nilay: What?

Me: Lizards. Do you know why?

Nilay: Oh, they're eating the worms and little buggies that eat the garbage. Ohhhhhh (loudly). We've made an ecosystem.

Me: Yep

Kavin: What's an ecosystem?

Nilay: You're in grade 4 now. You'll learn this year.

Kavin: What eats lizards? Eagles. Next we'll have eagles.

Me: Those, I can't deal with.

Kavin: What next? Dinosaurs!
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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.
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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.
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A great turnout. And Yudi's crew is rocking it.
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MakerSpace launch at the kids' school. Very excited about the opportunities this opens up for them (and me 😉).
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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.
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The group of artists exhibiting in Arbitrary Imagination
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The artist with her work

Do visit the exhibition, on just today and tomorrow at the Habitat.
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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.
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I've been sick for a while now. Being sick always makes me irritable, incoherent, unable to take decisions, tired, etc. This time around, I noticed that it has also made me superstitious and gullible. My decisions are driven by fear and precedent. The fear is irrational, of course, because what I have is most likely just viral fever.

I'd rather refer my kids' paediatrician than a regular physician. I'd rather have their Crocin syrup than the antipyretic prescribed to me. I want to go with the tried and proven, even if it doesn't relate to my situation at all. At each point I've stopped myself from going with the irrational choice.

Today I caught myself looking for a specific spoon in order to consume some cough syrup. Then my brain tried convincing my brain that this was because that spoon had the right measure (but I've never measured that spoon). And because it places the syrup in my mouth the right way (hilarious). Pseudo science, basically.

Right now I'm in no position to read much. When I'm better I'd like to read research on this. How a little bit of sickness and stress makes us so irrational. It's scary, really. Could I make equally poor decisions when stressed by other factors, such as an accident, or hunger, or financial distress.

I see that it is a bad decision to have made this post. But here I am.
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Meethu: I love chatni. It's my favourite.

Me: Then why aren't you eating it?

She: I'll eat it in the end. That way the good taste stays in the mouth.

I've literally been doing this myself, my whole life, but have never shared it with anyone.
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Fever couldn't keep the little fighter from showing up and performing. The show must go on!
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When things get so grim that one must repost Akhilesh Yadav.
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Bharat: Where it is your aapis?

Me: Pakhatale.

I still got it man 😃
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Dropped the little one to school early morning after a long time. So Many Questions:

Why does car glass break into tiny pieces on impact?

How are smaller shards safer than bigger ones, when they're just as sharp?

How is safety glass made?

Do you know the name of those tiny birds on the wire?

Why does yellow coloured liquid leak out when a tire is punctured?

Did you know that the world's largest butterfly has wings this big?

I just realised that school is about sending your children away so they can terrorise some other adults for eight hours. My sympathies for all his teachers 😂🙏🏽
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This is what good education looks like. Reproducing here, an update from the elder one's class teacher. That the teachers would find the time and energy to put together such detailed updates every couple of weeks, is in itself amazing. What is more fascinating is the way knowledge is being imparted to students. The entire focus is on concepts and skills, not subjects and chapters.

If you care about education in general and pedagogy in particular, this post will make for very interesting reading for you. Pallavi Phatak, Sugata Mitra, Priya Nagesh.

Heritage Xperiential Learning School
Grade 5, Middle Programme
14th November – 24th November, 2017

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”
-Angela Schwindt

Dear Parents,

Greetings from the Grade 5 Team!

What would the world look like without children?

The days when students were off because of the AQI, gave teachers a good opportunity to reflect on this question.

Children are the essence of a teacher’s existence. The life of a teacher without children is like – “A bird without wings”, “Sky without Stars” and “A platter without food”.

These were a few thoughts shared by teachers when prompted the question – what would the world look like without the kids around during the non-instructional days – It’s wonderful to have them back!

With these thoughts, under mentioned is a glimpse of what has been going on in the classrooms over the past two weeks, citing progress in all domains.

Children’s Day:

A full day programme was organised to celebrate children’s day. Teachers planned for indoor activities and programmes keeping the AQI in mind.

· A special assembly was organised starting with the prayer followed by teachers dedicating poems for students.

· Magic is something that fascinates all ages. A magic show was organised for students. They enjoyed the show as they expressed their excitement through loud applause for the show man.

· Teacher’s expressed their experiences with students through a musical Qawwali.

· Students were shown “I am Kalam”. It is a beautiful movie that threads together perseverance, friendships, loneliness, class divides, ambitions and the socio-economic differences of our society through chotu. It’s an inspirational tale of a boy working at a roadside dhaba, enjoying his life with all the challenges that comes along each day. He was so inspired by the former president of India - Dr. A. P. J Abdul Kalam, that he used kalam as his alias.

· The day was culminated with teachers giving personalized photo frame/ wall hangings created by them for the children.

EXPEDITION

Culmination of – Whats out there?

It was a delightful sight to see the creative minds at work, through the Travel Brochures prepared by the students as a part of the last lap of the Expedition – What’s Out There?

The Expedition culminated with a talk by the guest speaker Biman Basu, a writer deeply committed to popularize science through print and electronic media. He gave some important insights about satellites and the preparation required for the travel missions. He was left completely mesmerized by the work done by the students on the Travel Brochures. These brochures will be now displayed in the school library for students of middle program to read and explore them during their Reading Programme time.

A revision task sheet was attempted by the students to check their understanding of celestial bodies.

Introduction to the new expedition -Food

A healthy body breeds a healthy mind is a phrase commonly used. Food has a very significant place in our lives because it is our body’s primary requirement. It is a source of our mental and physical energy. Expedition on Food will explore the importance and significance of healthy food leading to a healthy mind, body and spirit.

· Students have been asked to maintain a diet Journal for 7 days and record the meal they are having every day. Through the diet journal, students will trace out the ingredients and its source. The data collected will be helpful in the class discussion to be followed after the 7 days.

· In another experience, students have been asked to collect wrappers of packaged food which they use. They will be examining these wrappers carefully and make notes of some important information and terms printed on the wrappers.


EXTENDED EXPEDITION

The experiences for this fortnight focused on building all the four essential skills. The journey to evolve as a writer has entered into a new phase with the Narrative Writing Workshop.

Listening

· Students were assessed on their listening skills, focusing on the details shared through the story read by the teacher. Students were required to make relevant notes, which subsequently helped them in answering the questions.

· The skill of listening was involved in the discussions of the weekend homework of Contextual Clues.

· Children were fully engaged in listening to the songs and other performances during the Children’s Day assembly and the assemblies of other sections.

Speaking

· Students were engaged in crews and whole class discussions while preparing their models, on various questions allotted to them. They also presented their models to the other crews.

· The story of Merchant of Venice was discussed extensively through the task sheet.

Reading

· Children have been busy and involved in reading through their Novel’s and attempted various task sheets in their study guides. The task sheets are designed to unpack different reading skills.

· Students have also been enthusiastically issuing books from the library, of their preferred authors and genre to read.

· Students were provided with extensive samples of narrative writing for their sample analysis. They used the checklist to analyse the traits used by the writer.

Writing

· After reading and annotating the text “Merchant of Venice”, students penned down their understanding of the characters and the story elements. Students wrote their answers keeping the steps of framing answers in mind.

Reading Programme

· Selection of a book from the school library is always fascinating for the students. During the Reading Programme, they explored new books, especially looking for the authors that were introduced by means of spell list worksheet. It is important that they are encouraged to read their books at home every day.

Novel Study

· Children have been deeply involved in exploring and analyzing the novel in depth with a set purpose. The Novel study is in full swing and children are at the last lap of the Novel Study.

Hindi

· विद्यार्थियों ने 'गोवर्धन पर्वत' पाठ पढ़कर इस पाठ के मुख्य पात्र की विशेषताएँ लिखी तथा साथ ही साथ कहानी में आए किन्ही दो पात्रों की तुलना की |
· कहानी के एक अनुच्छेद का मुख्य विचार लिखा |
· विद्यार्थियों ने 'गोवर्धन पर्वत' पाठ के प्रश्न उत्तरों की कक्षा चर्चा की |
· विद्यार्थियों ने कार्य पुस्तिका संदर्श से गृह – कार्य के रूप में कार्यप्रपत्र- ९ (सेमल वृक्ष पर दावत ) किया; जिसके अंतर्गत विद्यार्थियों ने सेमल पेड़ से जुड़ी जानकारियों से सम्बंधित विभिन्न ज्ञानात्मक प्रश्नों के उत्तर लिखे तथा कक्षा चर्चा की गई |
· विद्यार्थियों ने कार्य पुस्तिका संदर्श से गृह – कार्य के रूप में कार्यप्रपत्र- १० (मैं हूँ दिल्ली ) किया; जिसके अंतर्गत विद्यार्थियों ने अपनी एक यादगार यात्रा का अपने शब्दों में वर्णन किया तथा कक्षा चर्चा की गई |
· विद्यर्थियों ने अपनी पठन कार्यक्रम पुस्तक की कक्षा में चर्चा की तथा विद्यार्थियों को नवीन पुस्तक पठन के लिए दी गई |
· पठन कौशल के अंतर्गत विद्यार्थियों को एक नवीन पाठ 'बिशन की दिलेरी' दिया गया | विद्यार्थियों ने पाठ का मौन पठन किया तथा उसके पश्चात पाठ में आए कठिन शब्दों का अर्थ शब्दकोश से ढूँढ़कर लिखा |
· इस सप्ताहांत कक्षा कार्य के रूप में कार्यप्रपत्र ३५ से सप्ताह ४ के नवीन शब्द अभ्यास के लिए दिए जा रहें हैं |
· अभिभावकों से अनुरोध है कि विद्यार्थियों को हिंदी पठन कार्यक्रम की पुस्तकों को पढ़ने के लिए प्रेरित करें |

Computer

· In grade 5, students have so far continued working on MS-Word, in which they have learned about creating tables and designing forms. They have applied their learning of using MS-Word by designing a Form which will be part of their term 2 Portfolio.

· Recently we have started with Scratch 2.0, it is a programming software that allow students to create interactive stories, animations by using block of codes to build program. Children are acquainted with the software and will require to practice at home as well, therefore please use the link below to download and install it at your home desktop/laptop.

· Link for downloading: https://scratch.mit.edu/download

MATH

Area

• Developing a sense of space to be covered - Introduction of Area

The problem posed by the teacher, “Who has the biggest foot in the class?” prompted children to look at
everybody’s foot and guess who has the biggest foot in the class. Most of the students were under the
impression than largest foot will be the one that is longer in length, A discussion followed on whose foot will
cover more space - one that is long but thin or one that is short but wide. Children came up with idea of
filling the foot space with rope, erasers etc. to know the biggest foot. They came up with different strategies
to compare the foots which were reasoned out and then with consensus of the class, modified according to
the need and efficiency. The class then agreed on using jodo cubes and cheese cubes to find the area of
the foot. The cheese cubes chosen are such that they have an area of 1 sq. cm which will later help them
connect with the unit of area measurement.

The term Area was introduced as a part of language vocabulary and was used interchangeably with word
space. They traced their foot and filled it with cheese cubes. Child with the maximum cheese cubes had the
biggest foot area. A discussion followed where children developed an understanding of area and concluded
that height, weight, and shoe size were not accurate parameters to find the biggest foot.

• Estimating and measuring area using local unit:
Children measured area of different irregular shapes (aam papad, leaves etc) using the local standard unit
which was one flat surface of cheese cube (or jodo cubes) for them. They first estimated and then
measured the area of different objects using cheese cubes.

Through the context of French revolution, we introduced the standard name of the unit for measuring area
i.e. “square centimeter”. Children found out that every side of one flat surface of their cheese cube is
equal to one centimeter, so the name given to it is one “square centimeter”. Therefore they replaced
‘cheese cube’ with the name of .square centimeter’.

• Need of Standard Unit to measure area:

As children found it difficult to put cheese cubes every time and particularly when the surface was not even
like in the case of a leaf, children thought of some other methods they can use to find out the area of the
different objects. After a long discussion the idea of making a square grid of one square centimeter came
up in the class. After this discussion children started tracing the given objects on the square grid and then
counting the number of square centimeters occupied by the objects.

The idea behind doing all the activities mentioned above is that children understand and conceptualize the
meaning of area. They should understand that area involves 2 dimensions – Length and breadth....unlike
weight, length which involves only one dimension. Emphasis on children estimating area and children
deepening understanding of area will be the focus of the next few classes.
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This is what the progeny has been up to in school. Making travel brochures to the moon and the planets. Wanna go for a ride?
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The Airtel Delhi Marathon legitimises every idiot who claims that Delhi is pollution free and safe.
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Someone from Artemis Hospital just calls me on my cellphone. Greets me by my name. Tells me the doctor I am scheduled to meet isn't available. In order to reschedule my appointment, he needs my name and mobile number 😯
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Another road trip. Another accident victim.

On National Highway 8 connecting Rajasthan with Gurgaon, traffic was moving at 100 kmph or more. Two kilometers after Kotputli, we see something sprawled across the middle lane of the three lane highway. A few people had gathered by the side of the road, observing from afar.

As we crossed the being/object, the kids took a closer look. "That was definitely a person dad. Not an animal." I stop the car, tell the kids to stay put, and walk back to investigate. Indeed, this was a naked person lying face down in his own blood.

Traffic was whizzing past me as I stood there, looking at him. The sight of blood has always made me queasy. Viewing the innards of other people makes me very sick. Some people moved to stand beside me. They conjectured he was drunk. Or dead. Or both.

"We have to move him to the side", I said.

I am not a lawyer. I do not know if it is a crime to disturb a dead body in the middle of a highway. But I wasn't going to leave it there and call the cops. By the time the cops got there, it would have been run over, creating a greater disturbance of the crime scene than me moving him to the side. Besides, he could be alive.

"He is breathing", observed someone. "Excellent. Let's move him to the side then?" No one budged, so I grabbed a shoulder and heaved. Others reluctantly joined in, and we carried him to the side of the road. Then we rolled him over onto his back. Someone found his dhoti and covered his privates.

"We should call an ambulance", one person suggested. I told him that he is welcome to try, but I don't except anything to show up. I tried calling 100, but Airtel didn't connect me. (I suppose I needed to prepend the local STD code. This is a huge breakage in our emergency response system. I should figure out how to call the cops when in an emergency.)

I started convincing people to just load him into the backseat of my car. They kept insisting that we should wait for the ambulance and cops. There was a tradeoff here between time lost, and possible injuries from using a car instead of an ambulance to transport him. I did have an inflatable mattress covering the entire backseat.

While we were debating, standing a few meters from the person, a crowd had gathered. Between 50 and 100 people, crowding over him, speaking loudly. Everyone had a theory, but no one was really willing to do anything for him. The American term for this, rubbernecking, does not begin to cover how we Indians (South Asians?) behave at the scene of an accident. We are tamaashbeens.

Something had to be done. The guy needed air. I channeled all the rage and fury I could find inside me and bellowed at the crowd, waving my hands to clear them away. After three roars, the crowd had melted down to the few who meant business. I told them to hold fort while I went to get my car so we could transport this guy.

I had just turned my car into the service lane when I saw an ambulance arrive. Excellent response time (for India). The guy was loaded into the ambulance and I followed the vehicle to the Kotputli hospital.

Turns out I didn't have to. Rajasthan seems to have this excellent emergency response system called 108. The first I'd heard of 108 was in Karnataka. In Rajasthan, it clearly works. By the time I reached the hospital, the guy was inside the dedicated trauma center, and five to six folks were already working on him. Some apparatus had been shoved down his throat, and he was being stiched up at different places. There was a dedicated manager who told me not to be worried, and that the patient would be taken care of. His family members had already been informed.

I chatted with the manager. I told him my experience with government hospitals has always been rather poor. They take ages to start attending to a trauma victim. Usually some medicine has to be purchased, blood donated, or the wheels of sarkar turned in other ways. He assured me things were different here. I asked to leave my number, in case the police wanted information about the condition that the person was found in. He told me that this would not be needed. So we left.

Moral of the story: if you're going to be in a road accident, make sure it's close to a small town in Rajasthan. You will survive to tell your tale.

PS: We Indians tend not to help accident victims. I don't know if this is just us as a people, or conditioning due to the way cops treated "good samaritans" back in the day. Almost eighteen years ago, I was out with Bhaskar Deol in Chennai when he stopped and helped an accident victim. I was shocked; I could not believe someone would "get involved" in a road accident. He spent hours, ran around, saw the whole thing through. The cops did not hassle us after. Since then, I've always stopped for accident victims. Next time you see an accident victim, do stop and help. There is no reason why you shouldn't.
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On our fourth day away from Gurgaon, I asked the kids how they felt.

Nilay: My nose is running again. In Gurgaon it was jammed up all the time. All that icky stuff is flowing out now.

Kavin: The air in Gurgaon was very thick. Here it is a lot easier to breathe.

My personal experience is that my nose doesn't have a constant tingling sensation. Breathing takes significantly less effort.

The Gurgaon DC has just declared schools closed on Monday, per the GRAP. So we will continue to be away from Gurgaon tomorrow. But how does one live from one day to another like this? How do I attend to my work?

In 1998, I watched a documentary screened by AID on IIT campus. Titled "Kaise Jeebo Re!", the film talks about the plight of those displaced from the Narmada valley. Twenty years on, I am a displaced person myself. A "victim" of climate change and/or pollution. I may have personal transport and education, but I have nowhere to go. Indeed, how do I live, my friend?
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I just did what I would never, ever in my wildest dreams have imagined possible. I walked through an entire 15th century fort, at 2am in the night, all by myself, with not a soul in sight. It is every bit as dramatic as it sounds. You should hear this.

On Thursday, I and the kids escaped Delhi's pollution by driving south (we left exhaust fumes in our wake, which is bad, but anyhow). Carefully studying NASA's aerosol map and AQICN's real time readings, we found our sweet spots - Neemrana and Sariska.

Friday afternoon, hunting for deals on Cleartrip, I found a rather affordable room at the Neemrana Fort Palace. Pleasantly surprised, I quickly booked and drove up. Turns out that Cleartrip booked a single room with a single bed for me and the two kids. The hotel was courteous enough to let us in despite.

The place is fabulous (pic attached). Picturesque views. Pollution levels are well within control. (Yes, I carry a homemade pollution meter wherever I go. I like to think of myself as Indiana Jones, PM counter in hand, hunting for the best place for my children to breathe in the open air and enjoy the sun.) Nilay hasn't coughed the whole day. Awesome.

At night, I tuck the kids in, then wear a mask and dutifully clean the room's airconditioner of dust. (I think I might be getting a little obsessive about pollution. I know a few parents whose kids have juvenile diabetes or food allergies. Let's just say I'm not there yet.)

At one a.m., there are noises in the room. I am at the highest floor of a fifteenth century fort. Everything about this place is ancient and spooky. And something's knocking things about. I get up and investigate (Usually, this is the part in the horror/suspense movie where I'm yelling at the protagonist - don't poke around, just run for your goddamn life). I find nothing.

Two a.m., the noises are still there. Get up, poke around, and a rat rushes past. Big, but not a bandicoot.

Since there is just one bed in the room, some of us are on the floor in a sleeping bag. (Yes, I came to the lap of luxury and slept in a bag. You can put it down in my obituary.) A rat will not do. I'm worried.

I call every number in the hotel directory. No response.

This is when the parenting adrenalin kicks in. I put on my pants, secure the kids, and step out to find someone who can fix this.

Now, if you've ever been in a fort, you know that the rooms aren't arranged in a sequence. There is no method to the madness that is a fort, as the kids and I were discussing earlier today. It's all about confusing the heck out of any adversary or spy that dare get inside.

So I'm walking on the ramparts. Walking down congested, dimly lit stairs. Floor after floor, wing after wing, turn after turn. There is simply no one in sight.

And then there is this long corridor. And there are people standing on both sides. Except, wooden people. With weird faces. Weapons and other random shit in hand.

I did not invoke God. I left God behind in the dark, banyan tree lined streets of IIT Madras and I did not have to find him again tonight.

Longest corridor of my life. Even when I've spent a summer living and working at the two ends of MIT's Infinite Corridor.

Now I am out in the open. It's dark. And the floor is rocks. It hurts through my bathroom slippers, so I can't even run.

I am the guy who, for most of his life, could not walk across a dark room to pee in the night. And I am doing this.

At the entrance, humanity was found and woken up. Post investigation, said human decided to simply move us to a much bigger, far spookier room.

Now I'm sitting next to this larger than life bust of a guy, writing this post. The bust has no head, arms or legs. Who lives in a place like this? Who designs places like these? And why am I even here?

Oh, here is your reward for reading this long post. A pic of the kids :-)
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Nilay: Michael Jackson, in every song, repeats one line ten times. Then he starts screaming.
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Kavin: What is the difference between walking and running?

Me: When walking, your knees don't bend much.

Kavin (after giving demos): When running both of your feet can be up in the air simultaneously. My sports sir taught me that.

Living with Kavin means frequently getting some or the other gyan like this.
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Nilay: My homework is out of this world!

He has been asked to observe the moon every night.
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Nilay: Why are my holidays decided by planetary positions and motions?

This was during our early morning drive to school today, after his one week Diwali holidays.
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A photographer has very aptly captured me in my natural state.
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I got a five star rating for my work today :-)

There's a chat box at the bottom of www.thinvent.in. When everyone in our team is busy (or slacking), visitors end up talking to me (coz I'm the fallback guy for everything round here). Looks like my customer service doesn't suck - I did make the product, so I know (and own) all the bugs :-D

Zoho has done a great job of gamifying the job. Fight for your ratings, boy.
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Me: The disadvantage of coming to this supermarket is the very long checkout lanes. It's as if they were giving things away for free.

Kavin: If everything was free, why would there be checkout lines?

Me: Hmm. Ah.

This is a different generation. It's never seem ration lines.
How about we apply the people kill people, guns don't kill people analogy to nuclear weapons. Then maybe the US can stop fretting over North Korea's missile tests.
Hi! Thinvent has the following immediate openings in our Gurgaon office. I would really appreciate if you can share these openings with your friends and refer suitable candidates to us:

1. Marketing Manager: http://www.thinvent.in/about-us/jobs/marketing-manager/. We are looking for someone with serious experience in digital marketing, as well as some experience in traditional marketing.

2. Accounts Executive: http://www.thinvent.in/about-us/jobs/job-opening-accounts-executive/. Fresher OK.

3. Linux Developer: http://www.thinvent.in/about-us/jobs/. Two openings. Fresher OK; must have used Linux as a desktop OS for 3+ years.

4. Inside Sales Representative: Speak to our customers over chat, email and phone. English and Hindi oral communication, and English written communication, must be good. Should be able to use Zoho CRM, Gmail, Zoho SalesIQ and similar marketing software.

5. Support Coordinator: Speak to our customers over phone and email, log service calls, assign calls to engineers using Zoho Desk, make sure calls are closed, take feedback from customers, collate visit reports, generate monthly reports, etc.

6. eCommerce Executive: Fresher OK. Has to work on the seller panels of Amazon, Flipkart, and some ten other ecommerce sites. Upload products, update prices and inventory, receive orders, generate invoices, coordinate with production and ship orders, etc.

7. Sales Executive: http://www.thinvent.in/about-us/jobs/ has the job description at the bottom of the page.

Apart from this, we have openings for field service engineers in Delhi, and various other cities in the country. The job involves >50% travel, installing and repairing computers, and working with Linux.
When replying to a Glisten Varghese, do I use Sir or Madam? "Hi Glisten" is not an option - I am dealing with the sarkar.
How is Bajaj Finance getting away with its flagrant violation of DNC rules? What is TRAI doing?

Also, the TRAI spam call/SMS reporting tool sucks. Serious usability issues.

/whine
Meanwhile on The Hindu website: "Trying to conceive a male child? Check out these nice tips..."

This content might be legal. But doesn't media have ethical standards?
I need urgent help. An iPhone with my Apple ID has been stolen. The thief keeps resetting my Apple ID password. S/he has also disabled Find My iPhone on this device using icloud.com.

I got this message from Apple:

With Find My iPhone disabled, this device can no longer be located, placed in Lost Mode, or remotely erased using icloud.com/find or the Find My iPhone iOS app.

Since I don't use Apple products, I don't understand this extremely stupid security mechanism by Apple. How can someone keep resetting my login from a stolen device?

What should I do. Please DM me if you can help or have been in a similar situation and I will call you wherever you are on the planet. I fear for the safety of my Apple account. I enabled two factor authentication and reset my password three hours ago, but am back to square one right now with my icloud account outside my access.

How stupid can Apple be? Or how stupid am I - because my Google foo hasn't shown me anything meaningful that can rectify this situation.
Kavin has been on the phone for over fifteen minutes now. He is discussing his homework with a classmate.

This being Kavin, two things must be observed. One, this is already the longest phone call of his life (Kavin doesn't like long phone calls). Two, he is annoyed with the me that this is taking so long. You see, I insisted he just call a friend and get the gyan he needs, instead of making me do it over WhatsApp.

I have no idea why you needed to know this.
What memories do you have of the rain? Of running home after school, splashing through puddles, then savouring tea and pakodas?

For families of the Narmada valley, the rains this year will bring an end to their way of life. Forever. Thousands of years of culture and wealth, livelihood and memories, submerged forever. This is not a flood. There is no rebuilding. Most of these families have not been allocated proper resettlement homes and farms. How will they live? Where will they go?

कैसे जीबो रे!
And somewhere, people are losing their homes, farms and livelihoods, so you can run your air conditioning longer, and enjoy the sugar in your tea.
Last night I showed the kids this video. Today they participated in a chess tournament. Kavin said he played like its a real battle, not a game. But he felt very sorry for the pawns.
Watching good Hindi theatre after a long time. Asmita Theatre group is amazing - everyone so courteous and dedicated. The play is so on point and relevant to contemporary India.
आप घर से बाहर निकलिए तो पता चलता है कि शहर में बहुत कुछ होता है