random ramblings

1. It is permanently dark under rain clouds. Low lying areas are flooding. People are complaining about road work everywhere combined with rain making traffic difficult. How things change from two weeks back when it was extremely hot to now summer rains causing floods. It is not yet Monsoon.  2. We attended a wedding engagement function. I watched the series “Made in Heaven” which was a story of wedding planners coordinating luxury weddings last year. It was curious to see the wedding planners in this function prepared with remote control to trigger the sparklers when bride entered, cannons that shot out rose petals and photographers instructing the father of the groom and groom to talk to take candid pics. Wedding functions have become elaborate affairs - maybe that industry needed to employ people who will invent more.  3. Finished reading Book 9 of 2024, “ 48 Laws of Power ” by Robert Greene. It was a difficult read, but insightful nevertheless. I can identify the behaviour...

It started raining daily now. Sky is dark most of the time. After maybe the hottest summer, it feels good to not sweat all the time and sleep better.   Acquired a new customer last week, after a pursuit of more than a year. The ups and downs, working with new people, trying different things, bouts of inspiration, thrill of doing something new. Building new teams is a tough challenge ahead, but for the moment it feels good.  We watched a movie, Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (Malayalam) in the theatre on its first day, among cheering fans. We don’t normally do that, but this was an impulsive one. Its story had something new, but then it felt like they didn’t know where to take it. Few good laughs and loud and jarring music.  Finished 8th book of the year - “ When we cease to understand the world ” by Benjamin Labatut. It was a good read, in a new genre that is retelling the life of few scientists as a mix of fiction and nonfiction, with a touch of fantasy and philosophy. I ...

"Yesterday, all my troubles seems far way" is a favourite song.  "Unsociable hours" waking up around 3 am for something, remembering that brain on less sleep might be like a drunken zombie.  "Anger is a secondary emotion - root is fear or hurt" was the takeaway from a podcast I listened to on the way to the office.  "I am going to take things easy, I am stressing out too much, it may impact my career, but it is ok" was a friend's take from yesterday's breakfast where we gossiped and cribbed to heart's content. I can understand why gossip is the reason language developed and having a friendly shoulder to lean on is necessary. "Seeing a smiling face gives energy to go on" was a comment to a colleague, in the virtual world talking to a couple of hundred people with only a handful on video. It is far more refreshing than talking to a computer. "Feeling restless" I said to a friend and he said "I could sense that...

  1. I travelled to Pune for a few days this week. I was recovering from the cough, cold and headache during the first couple of days, with a runny nose and runny eyes as well. Got better through the journey and healed by the time I got back. Pune was hot, it was 40 or 41 degrees. When I landed in Pune, I felt the color palette of the whole scenery was light brown, like the filters used in some western movies to get a dull desert like color. Irony was after we finished, return flight from Pune was delayed due to thunderstorms. Rain water was falling in sheets not drops from the airport roof. It was worth the trip though - to meet a lot of people, get a sense of what is going on and orient myself. A few vignettes from that travel and conversations as notes this week.  2. “If I get to know people, they will come to me with their problems too, which will increase my workload”  “Oh, you are also from the same project? I had seen you around, but never realized” Current hybrid ...

  Couple of weeks back, few of us were walking out for lunch. One person was talking about a detailed assessment done for a product and asking someone if she was confident to present it to a customer. It seems she showed absolute confidence, but when she started speaking, those were incorrect or meaningless statements which the speaker doesn’t seem to have any awareness about. I said something like “The wise are full of doubts, but fools are full of confidence” - I had been seeing more of these happening of late. I didn’t remember where I had heard this phrase before and exactly what it was. Someone remarked that as we learn more, we also come to know the gaps in our knowledge, hence when we speak we are cautious. But if someone doesn’t know at all, they can be confident.  Last week, I saw this quote in a tweet .  "The folks who know the truth aren't talking...The ones who don't have a clue, you can't shut them up!" - Tom Waits Then this poem ( The Second Coming, ...

  "മൂളിക്കേ ഒന്നൂടെ" ഏതോ രണ്ടു വരി പാട്ട് നാക്കിൽ കേറിയതാ. അതു കണ്ടുപിടിക്കാനുള്ള ശ്രമം.  ഞാനിങ്ങനെ ഏതോ പാട്ടിൻ്റെ എവിടുത്തെ എങ്കിലും രണ്ടു വരി ലൂപ്പിൽ ഇട്ട് മണിക്കൂറുകൾ  ചിലപ്പോ മൂളും. ചിലപ്പോ ഏതാ പാട്ടെന്നു എനിക്ക് പോലും അറിയില്ലായിരിക്കാം. താളവാസന ഇല്ലാത്ത കാരണം ചിലപ്പോ പാട്ട് ശരിയും ആവില്ല. എവിടേലും എപ്പോഴേലും കേട്ടതാവാം . അതു കണ്ട് പിടിക്കലാ ഒരു വിനോദം.  രണ്ടു ദിവസം മുന്നേ ഇത് പോലൊരു പാട്ടും കണ്ടുപിടിക്കൽ ശ്രമവും നടന്നതാ. പണ്ടു പുതിയ അല്ലേൽ പരിചയമില്ലാത്ത നല്ല പാട്ട് എവിടേലും കേട്ടാൽ സൗണ്ട് ഹൗണ്ട് എന്ന ആപ്പ് വച്ച് ഓഡിയോ സേർച്ച് ചെയ്തു നോട്ട് ചെയ്തു വയ്ക്കുമായിരുന്നു. ഗൂഗിൾ അസിസ്റ്റന്റ് വന്നപ്പോ, അതിൽ പാട്ട് സെർച്ച് കണ്ടു പിടിച്ചപ്പൊ മുതൽ അതിലായി പരീക്ഷണം. സാധാരണ വീട്ടിലല്ലാതെ, പുറത്തെവിടെയും, അതിനി ഗൂഗിൾ ആയാലും, മൂളാൻ പോലും മടിയാണ്. എൻ്റെ താളമില്ലാത്ത, ചിലപ്പൊ തെറ്റായ വരികൾ വരെ, ഗൂഗിളിനേക്കാളും നന്നായി കണ്ടുപിടിക്കും എന്ന ധാരണ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. പക്ഷെ ഇത് എന്തു ചെയ്തിട്ടും കണ്ടു പിടിക്കാൻ പറ്റുന്നില്ല.  പിന്നെ spotify തുറന്ന് തൊട്ടു മുന്നേ കേട്ട കുറെ പാട്ടുകൾ...

  1. I spent two days in bed over the weekend, with a terrible headache and cough. Even the fever bouts in the past did not flatten me totally like this for the last few years. Even though there wasn’t any fever this time, the kind of “fever dreams” of scenes that run in a loop adds to the disorientation. Recovering now.  2. Watched two movies in the past week. Chamkila (Hindi) - story of Amar Singh Chamkila, a Punjabi musician and his wife Amarjot Kaur, who were both killed at the peak of their popularity. Some of their songs were suggestive about extra marital affairs and drug use and they got caught up in a web of professional jealousy and militant uprising in Punjab. What is right or wrong in such - but solution wouldn’t have been shutting down voices. This was well acted, liked the music and the slice of life from Punjab.   Watched Oppenheimer (English) finally. During the Barbenheimer, I had watched Barbie (which was boring for me), but kept this for later. I w...