Through an Alumni meet, I got the opportunity to visit the school I studied classes 11 and 12. It was a feeling of acceptance more than anything else. I felt like "Yes, I was here. I went through these incidents in my life. Now here I am." I was surprised with what I wasn't feeling - pride, joy, pain, fellowship, regret, longing. Probably because I only spent 2 years in that school and I didn't meet MY teachers.
#personal
Watched Sinners in a flight from Frankfurt to Chennai. I should've watched it in a big screen with theatrical sound system. It has soul. I interpreted the vampire confrontation as an IRL incident, in which racists cause death and destruction. The community fights back, KKK comes for revenge and the protagonist has the final say in a one-man Commando-style showdown. The music was amazing. A terrific watch. Of the limited films I watched in 2025, this one is up there at the top.
There are at least 3 standalone movies packed in one, which appears to be the movie's main criticism, but I am happy with this version and with my interpretation. #bookmark #movie
There are at least 3 standalone movies packed in one, which appears to be the movie's main criticism, but I am happy with this version and with my interpretation. #bookmark #movie
A Real Pain is the first time I watched Kieran Culkin for full 30+ minutes on screen. What a terrific performance! I felt his every facial muscle movement. His eyes when he is alone vs when is with company. I saw his world shatter when he heard his grandma talked about him behind his back - a behaviour which he disapproves of. Jesse was amazing too. Themes about survival, depression, pain and suffering - so poignantly depicted and left to the audience to "feel" them rather than get preached about like its done on most Indian movies. I watched with my daughter and it was a memorable one.
#bookmark #movie
2025 has been a blur. Personally and professionally it wasn't a good year. I am diabetic now, but not taking medication yet, it is borderline. Didn't really ship anything meaningful at work, I seem to find busy work to spend weeks on that somehow is complicated yet low impact. My exit plan didn't go well either. I got calls from dream companies but couldn't clear interviews. On the plus side, I completed one semester in OMSCS - Machine Learning for Trading, more on that in another post.
#personal
Chicago.
Growing up in India from 1980s to 2010s and knowing how things get and not get done there, it still fascinates me that a group of people can come together and plan a city with an eye for the future. #travel #picture
Growing up in India from 1980s to 2010s and knowing how things get and not get done there, it still fascinates me that a group of people can come together and plan a city with an eye for the future. #travel #picture
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
I mean, of course the book should have a lot more content than the two trilogies could possibly cover. But I was still pleasantly surprised. It is an honour to say that I now belong to the group that read the LotR books. Now on to other books based on Middle Earth. #book
I mean, of course the book should have a lot more content than the two trilogies could possibly cover. But I was still pleasantly surprised. It is an honour to say that I now belong to the group that read the LotR books. Now on to other books based on Middle Earth. #book
Matt Damon gave an interview about winning the Oscar award as a 27 year old. He says what a wasted life it would be if someone is chasing this well into their 80s and getting it and realising that it wasn't worth it. That he was blessed to have this realisation in his 20s because he got the award that early.
This is a profound statement with two key takeaways for one's career:
1) Chasing job titles isn't worth it
2) Job titles come to you when you work hard and show results. The results part is important.
#personal #lifeadvice
This is a profound statement with two key takeaways for one's career:
1) Chasing job titles isn't worth it
2) Job titles come to you when you work hard and show results. The results part is important.
#personal #lifeadvice
The festival of Pongal is celebrated today, usually by people of Tamil origin, which includes me. My earliest memories include in no particular order: sun & sun worship, cow & cow worship, the colour white, sugarcane, Kamal Hassan, venpongal & chakkaraipongal, a pile of ashes in front of each house, long holidays, special programs on TV, traffic-less Chennai, and Tamil the language.
Ever since I moved to Sweden I never got the chance to celebrate the festival in India, including this year. I do hope I get the chance to observe Pongal celebrations in India someday. #pongal #festival
Ever since I moved to Sweden I never got the chance to celebrate the festival in India, including this year. I do hope I get the chance to observe Pongal celebrations in India someday. #pongal #festival
I wanted a home feed for this blog, similar to social media feeds and yet keep the blog format for longform text. So I created two layouts, one called the "microblog" layout which doesn't have body but a yaml parameter that I called "gist". The other is the regular "post" layout from Jekyll. Turns out any post with only "gist" shows up empty in the RSS feed. Like, who would've thought!
One solution is to duplicate the gist content to body. But I'm quickly finding out is cumbersome. Other solution is to use body but apply character limit only to microblogs, as it should've been. #helloworld
One solution is to duplicate the gist content to body. But I'm quickly finding out is cumbersome. Other solution is to use body but apply character limit only to microblogs, as it should've been. #helloworld