The Thousand Cultures series by John Barnes is brilliant. Especially the first book, A Million Open Doors. A narrative that's essentially all about economics and politics, wearing a space opera costume. The best part though is the world-building, which is just about perfect.

For a brief moment in early 2000s, we had a Kannada punk moment. The best song from then, which we sadly can't find on Internet now (I have an MP3 on one of my hard disks) was a song whose lyrics went...

Hypothetical question. If I say I'll write a book on Bangalore's history, say on substack behind a payment gateway (with fairly frequent updates etc), what's a one-time lifetime subscription fee you'd pay? Unlike a book, given the nature of the medium, there will be no limit on what I keep adding

An anecdote that was narrated to me by A.Na.Kru's great grandson. At some function, a certain Naidu apparently made some snide remarks about Kannada on stage.

If there's an Axar Patel, there definitely should be a Kabhi Kabhi Patel.

If there's a new way I'll be the first in line But it better work this time - Dave Mustaine

What a beautifully formatted article edition.cnn.com/interactive/...

We're humans. We fuck up. Apologize (and mean it). Move on.

In my life I've made mixtapes, mixCDs, mixFlashDrives even. And all of them gave me far more joy than making playlists on any streaming app.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” - Sinead O'Connor

Why aren't kids taught to cook at school? It's a fundamental enough skill that needs to be taught

Sometimes I'm Alone is probably the first song composed by a cat that's become an earworm for me

Quite possibly my favourite local flower (plucked this off a plant some 50m from home) And a name that's impossible to improve on nandibaTTlu

This probably is the first time people will get to eat muLka outside of a titi/shraaddha ooTa

Saturday evening well spent

Definitely rumpled library detective

This should make a lot of IIMB alums of my vintage happy. Apparently Liverpool play tsepak to train.

The one app that really cracked IM was GTalk. I still don't understand why Google let that product die

Good Omens 2 is lovely, but the fan service is a little too obvious.

You always get to see the cutting edge of fashion while walking down Residency Road/Brigade Road. Spotted today, two girls (possibly Malayali) wearing fabindia style kurtas and munDus. More power to them, why should only men have the luxury of comfortable munDus?!

Extended family pic. And this is with many missing. Play "Where's Waldo" to spot me

Three days in Noida, and each day has been a radically different experience, weather wise. Day 1: Unforgivingly hot, even late at night Day 2: Hot, but with an occasional breeze, filling you with hope Day 3: non-stop rain

When it comes to books set in the underworld/among gangs, it's almost always murder mysteries and police procedurals, which while nice to read, gets a little monotonous after a while.

I've seen enough people carry two smartphones. But here's this dude beside me in Delhi airport juggling between three of them!

Putin for SPB

2 -> 5 -> 9 -> 3 in a loop

Noida is this dystopia that over four visits in the last year and a half has slowly morphed into a cyberpunk setting in my head instead.

This is the most classic gOrinTaaku pattern

Happy family!

reintroduction thread: name: thejaswi (though most call me udupa and variants thereof) pronouns: he/him hobbies: read a lot, write a bit, remember more useless information than most people

Belted traditional South Kanara wedding meals after a long time, and now I'm ready to take a ten hour nap

Every time a new Rajni movie releases, someone somewhere pings me about this article I wrote It's one I had a lot of fun writing, so here it is https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/route-no-36-ride-through-rajinikanth-s-bangalore-83892

I'm a [gender] so I [auto-complete] I'm a man so I can understand people

The likelihood of an outsider learning a local language depends on where they place in a 3D graph where one axis is the necessity to learn the language, another is willingness to learn the language, and the third is the social cachet their first language has.

Apparently I look very intense while eating Thai food

Adyar, from the Boat Club

There is one big sign at Silk Board junction saying "This is a No Stop No Halt" zone for buses. Only reason I noticed the sign is because my bus has been stuck in a jam here now for a bit

This paapu right outside Madiwala PS was super agitated with the extra commotion happening thanks to it being a pickup point for most private long weekend buses out of Bangalore towards TN. All he needed was some babytalk, head scritches & he politely gave me company while I waited for my bus.

I lived a week (quite possibly the best week of my life) at a walking distance from the neighborhood completely incinerated by the Maui wildfires in Hawaii and killing hundreds. Possibly why this wildfire news is distressing me way more than others.

David Squires, as always, gets it right

This Lauren James foul has lots of meme potential I feel.

CLEOPATRA she floats only her nose and nipples are dry

Hello world, hello sky.