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perfect reads

One thing that gives me a high is reading something so well written that it makes me think – “wish I could write one sentence like that”. Books are the main course, but choosing a good one feels like a finding a perfect match these days. One other source of such joy is long form essays. Not fiction (yes – there are such good short stories), not news or analysis ideally. Personal stories, blog types. I asked Grok AI yesterday to give me five recommendations of latest good essays or articles published, since it has access to what people are sharing and liking in X/twitter. First it gave me news, then some billboard music analysis, some about sports and none anywhere near good. I used to discover such through a few sources – but it is like digging for diamonds, one might find a perfect piece rarely. Hacker News (HN) is one – but it is mostly technical articles, with occasional non technical reads coming up top. Longreads is another, but often has American overdose and I felt I need some...
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train dreams

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What do I want to remember about today?  A train which was an hour late in the morning and another which was few mins early in the evening. One that was near empty, and another that was packed so tight that one had lean forward to not get squeezed.  Everything covered in green, after a season of heavy rains. It is like one of those movies with post apocalypse storyline, where humans don't inhabit cities anymore and it gets overgrown with moss and vine - I guess Keralam is like that most of the time. Like the peepul growing on top of a bus shed or abandoned houses taken over by bush or empty land looking like a mini forest with nothing but a broken well in the middle. I try to click a pic from the speeding train and it is like a blur of green each time. A girl reading "I am Malala" and the mother periodically stuffing her with snacks and drinks.  A boy with a big head full of curly hair falling down to his shoulders, looking like 80s rockstar. Another wearing a Metallica t...
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recent movies and series

East of Eden - a novel adaptation. Took it up due to Florence Pugh (liked a few of her movies - We Live in Time, A Good Person, Oppenheimer) and maybe she being a good actress, succeeded in making one dislike the character, who is evil personified. It is an exploration of the deep hatred that makes people lose all faith in people and the innocent bystanders who get caught up in it getting destroyed. Good acting, few good characters that give the contrast between angels and demons.  Diplomat - continuing to go strong. High diplomacy at the top of US and UK governments. Extremely well written, well acted. I suppose if someone were to make a documentary film about current administrations, it would be stranger than fiction. This level of communication nuance and playing a 3D chess like strategy game makes one wonder, is it all so calculated in reality? Or is it even more complicated that this?  Bethlehem Kudumba Unit (Malayalam) - after some time, watched two films of Nivin Pauly ...
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spring cleaning

It is hopefully going to be a week of clean up and reset ahead. Clutter has been building up in all fronts. I am immersed too much into some rabbit holes that even the dreams are permeated with it, sleep disturbed to the extent I started waking up multiple times and fully awake at ungodly hours. Unread books have piled up – including the bunch I bought from a mall, by weight, five or six books which weighed 1.5 kg or so. Mailbox has more than thousand unread emails, it has never been this bad. I have given up on bookmarks. 100+ open tabs should be closed. Friends whose calls haven’t been returned. Many TODO lists overflowing. At one point I had rationalized that it is time to build/create, not to consume. That I have consumed enough and may not need to pump in more information. But now after months, maybe the cycle should be reversed. I have done this many times before. All the way back to school or college. When the “lawlessness” gets me to the bottom, a determination to write down th...
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learnings #5

1. Find a customer who truly understands the work and work for them.  >> Especially in Services industry, the customer who doesn’t understand or appreciate work can be painful, and those who perform the services still has to act like he/she is the god. How lucky will it be to find those who understand the work.  2. What if your purpose is simply to build a good life? To raise kind children. To cook a little better each year. To read a few excellent books. To notice the seasons. To build meaningful relationships. To help others. To give time - and money if you can - to causes you care about. >> To remind about what is it all for?  3. Hiring - smarts, ownership, passion, team work, ability, character. Hire for character, Train for skill.  >> Reminder about what to look for in hiring.  4. Kind and candid. When we look back, we always see that we haven't been candid enough.  >> It is so difficult to do.  5. Fight entropy with energy...
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a triangle love story

“If he asks me, I will join” – I remember telling a friend, about joining a startup, in case the founder, who was someone I looked up to, ever calls me. I had no such indication that they might even need me. But that was a secret wish. Like those Malayalam movie dialogue sort of “avan vilichaal njaan irangi pokum” (“if he calls me, I will elope with him”). And like in such movies, I never asked if they would need me. I had daydreams about starting a startup for a long time, making some very detailed plans as mental exercises – it was almost like a game I play or sort of entertaining myself. Or like a prisoner planning escape routes. But never had the courage enough to actually try even any baby steps towards any such ideas, to test if any of those had market potential or any such. Since this was like a fantasy world building, in whatever small ways I practiced how this might work out – like kids playing house. I used to think that anything I do, I run it like I am running my own busine...
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learnings #4

1. Are you closing the gap (with competition) vs opening the gap (going ahead of competition)?  >> A question from a mentor. Are you catching up, or are you running ahead? A good frame to evaluate where our time goes.  2. "I want you to do this". "I have high expectations from you". "You can do this". "We have to be world's best in this". "Who needs to do what by when". "Show me the code" >> I was noting down the usual phrases by the same mentor. Direct expectation setting, raising the aspiration, clarifying the vague asks, going to the ground truths than accepting the abstract picture.  3. Don't select people like yourself for the team. Choose people who challenge you, make you think differently, smarter than you.  >> Yet another mentor. He was a tiny bit upset that I managed to steal someone, but I was asking him permission (after the fact). The advise is something to be kept in mind.  4. Don't ...
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