Through the course of my work I talk to a lot of German professionals and the biggest fear they have now is how dependent their infrastructure is on American software and hardware companies. Life in business Germany is currently bleak and they're all hoping that Trump is an aberration.

Sad to learn of the death of former BBC foreign correspondent Sir Mark Tully. For so many years he was known as the ‘Voice of India.’ As a tribute I play one of the pieces Sir Mark selected on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs: Danny Boy.

Earlier this century, the US went to war in the name of fighting terrorism and successfully painted a religious group as terrorists. A quarter century later the effects of that ring back, anyone who doesn't follow the authoritarian regime is a terrorist, the snake comes back to bite its own tail.

Travel everywhere until the only place left is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Berlin weather report: Stop ice.

Berlin weather report: Boycotting going outside till it hits a respectable temperature. I'm not heating the world with my body heat, not anymore.

Need a social media platform without Americans posting about America. Yes Ice sucks, it's all over the pavement here in Berlin.

Having spent months in this job hunting hellhole, the only thing that got me noticed was bypassing company portals and directly talking to people. Job listing written by AI which take in AI applications which are in turn vetted by AI with hallucinations at every layer, these are strange times.

Decided before age and health knocks my appetite out I need to go around the world and eat as much as I can of the creative ways people reimagine ingredients. And a special place for a total Indian revisit. I'm Germany you eat to live, a dream destination would be where you can live to eat.

Berlin weather report: Went out for five minutes today and the skin on the legs is cracked, lips sharp enough to shave the chin and a cold than gone to the deepest possible rungs of the lungs. Stay inside, do nothing.

3. Paprika (movie) This film fully embraces its fascination with dreams. I mean, one of its characters is literally an alter ego of another character's psyche. I wish more movies had the courage to put what interests them first instead of sticking to the same old conventions

My idea of travelling is just go to a place you're not supposed to be and then figure out why you're there in the first place. Always worked for me, even in places that were supposedly dangerous (though I'm told in latin america it'd mean I lose a kidney)

Stopped a couple of tuk-tuk drivers and asked them to drive randomly for a couple of hours with no specific destination just an idea. Agreed to give them how much ever they asked without haggling and no one seemed to grapple with the concept.

Pick up the nearest book. Open to page 42 and post your second sentence. Add #page42 and include this rule as a reply: "2. Cut three scallions slantwise, slice ginger, and chop garlic"

There was a really great exhibition at Gropius Bau in 2022 called Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility that delved into exactly what you're talking about. Also, do you know the Habibi Funk reissue record label? Have a listen.

The Lebanese joints in Berlin are onto something with the really sad songs they play over the speakers. Makes you stare into nothingness for ten minutes and take you to a Lebanon than exists only in the your mind.

Wanted to escape having a calendar full of plans this year and be non-commital about every social event. What do we know, two days after being back my calendar is already full for the next two weeks. I guess I'll save these wishes for retirement (which will be never).

Just make them do all the paperwork that an average Indian tourist has to do and then wait for the fireworks to fizzle.

Berlin weather report: Knockoff northern lights visible to the naked eye over the city. Look to the north, not just through any random window.

Weirdly not attached to the luggage. Hope I get to this level of detachment with everything else in life.

Berlin weather report: Last sun I've seen was over the clouds before landing in Berlin. The clouds were creamy white against endless blue and as we descended it was grey, grey, grey all the way down. Welcome to Berlin, where colour comes to die.

Spent 3 hours in the airport baggage counter and some point was sp bored that I started timing people who were at the counters. The average time was 20 minutes, most of which was because people didn't read their ticket conditions and decided to haul a plane's worth of weight in their suitcases.

Patience in long, pointless lines is one of my greatest virtues.

Want this to be the year of doing and not talking. But what to do is still up in the air, worst case scenario I'll throw up in a public park.

Another world but the caste discrimination still lives on.

Also what explains the really cheap looking cinematography and set design? Every other movie advertises itself with a $50 million budget but the output looks oversaturated styrofoam in different times of day.

Telugu cinema actors, producers and fan bases gives enough reason for people with even half a functioning braincell to not considering working there at all. Which explains the cultural output stuck in the late 90s.

"What're they checking for?" "Drunk driving" "So all that crowd of people is caught driving drunk?" "Yes" "What happened next?" "If you want to go on the spot with your vehicle then it's a 10000 rupee bribe, they even give a QR code for digital payments" "India has really developed" "Yes"

Story across India, it's crazy how car dependent this country is becoming.

Watched the biggest Indian hit of 2025, Dhurandhar. Great action choreography and performances and terrible politics, almost bordering historical rewriting. Bollywood propaganda has come a long way.

This made me emotional. the brotherhood is real.

"The mosquito problem has really been terrible this year. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corp. (GVMC) is fogging on that side of the street and the mosquitoes are coming to this side and vice versa" "So it has become Greater Visakhapatnam Mosquito Corporation" "We should fog you"

The sound of India during the day is construction banging and vehicular honking. The sound of India during the night are mosquito hymns and street dog choirs.

A non-Indian friend upon learning about the influence of cinema on politics asked me if all actors became politicians. My reply was that some actors are politicians but all politicians are actors. I think this pretty much sums it up.

Andhra Pradesh is always on the cutting edge of curry technology. Ate a pasta curry yesterday that confounded me just as much as my Italian friends. For the equally confused, imagine a potato curry and now replace potato with pasta. Naturally ate it with rice.

Rebrand USA to USO, United States of Oil.

I thought the new year would be taking me into the future and I feel like I'm re-living 2003 again. Drugs are the Weapons of Mass Destruction of today.

Bombay weather report: Peak winter lows the same as the hottest Berlin highs. Damp, humid and a thirst and thousand ice creams can't quench.

Day 1 in Bombay: I can imagine living here for the rest of my life Day 2: I can imagine living here for a few months Day 3: I need to gtfo on the next available transportation and never look back. Positives: No Delhi Belly yet though the wrath gods of the intestines are promising to show up.

The absolute contempt for pedestrians in Mumbai is mind boggling. The one way the city changed post-pandemic is the anti-pededtrian architecture at every single monument, crossing and street while the traffic seems gnarlier than ever.

Wanted to do something touristy in Bombay. Saw the crowds, noped out and seeking shelter in a cafe, paying for it with half my kidney.

Letterboxd reviews of Indian movies is basically just trying to ragebait Indians who use that app. Basically racism hidden in big words. I sincerely wish that the app gets "infested" by Indians in droves. They were already throwing up when 2 or 3 Indian movies made it to top 250,we need to show

Berlin weather report: Tshirt and iced coffee, sweaty feet and stinky socks. Shower twice a day and air-conditioner on full blast. Body in Bombay but brain is still in Berlin.

Looks like this and smells like regurgitated sourdough while crotches hug gently on rush hour S-Bahn run.

The censored 60 Minutes' segment, Inside CECOT, is now available. Download from @ddosecrets.com: data.ddosecrets.com/Inside%20CEC... Download/stream from @archive.org: archive.org/details/insi... The original video was recorded by @jasonparis.bsky.social, and cleaned up by @emma.best

Dunkin' Doholes. The friend of every cop in town.

Want to open a shop that only sells doughnut holes. Vegan and sugar free.

Doughnuts are such a scam. You pay a kidney for a piece of sweet dough which comes with negative space. Why am I buying a hole? I demand all that hole sized doughballs be given with doughnuts going forward. No more empty promises.

I often watch movies I intensely disliked or I knew didn't get through my attention rewatches across time and I often find new gems in the process. Dislike is temporary. Today's favorite, "The Death of Stalin"

2026 goal is to be a Linkedin Bro. Lot of untapped potential there.