This Bug was climbing a thin spider web-thread as if it’s floating in the air. The world is beautiful if you keep your eyes open.

This is only the second edition to the newsletter and I am already feeling lazy enough to skip this. The continuity is difficult to maintain. It’s a hard challenge and will definitely bring many more values than what it seems to offer on surface. And I am ready for it.

This week had been eventful. On Thursday, I had this year end get-together party on Thursday. One interesting thing happened that day which is worth mentioning. The party on in a fancy hotel in Velachery, which is around 8 km from my home. My colleagues and I were going together from our office at the end of the day. So, I went with them. On the way, we stopped at my friend’s house and decided to keep our bags there. We went to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the party. It was pretty fun. While coming back, I observed that IIT gate is nearby. I can go to IIT, and then from main gate, I will go to my home. This route will reduce the distance, or so I supposed.

So I implemented the plan and went across IIT. From IIT main gate, I took the Rapido bike taxi and arrived at my home. And here, I realized that I have forgotten my keys in my bag. It was 10 PM already. I didn’t have the keys and I could not enter the house. Luckily, the bike driver was there. I went to him and explain the situation. He offered me various solutions like, hotel and hostels etc. I just said let me think.

I called my friend and asked him if the keys are still there. The distance between my home to his was about 9 km. I decided to take it. I told the taxi-driver to go there and retrieve the bag and the keys. At 10 PM that day, we went across the Chennai (we also didn’t have helmet; this was over if we were caught. But we didn’t.)

It does’t seem like a big thing right now but I have a number of stories of times when I panicked in this kind of situation and made it worse. I learned a key lesson from this event: The importance of remaining calm, and reason your way through solution. I didn’t have this ability before and now I will use this experience as a motivation for other similar situations.

I also performed in front of my office in the Christmas celebration. It was my first time performing (in terms of non-vocal performance). I was a part of a group dance and a solo dance. I had practiced the steps so many times but I so messed up during the group dance. But when the solo dance came, right after my group dance. I was in autopilot mode as soon as the music hit. I don’t remember anything from that period now. I don’t know how I did, if I forgot steps or not. It has been erased from my memory. I was so nervous before that my heart was pumping blood thrice as fast as normal, and so nervous after the performance upon how I did that it didn’t slow down. Someone said that I did great and that’s when I came to my senses.

On Saturday, I went to dinner with Shardhha and friends. I noticed that putting on some weight and dressing well gave me another kind of confidence.

I had also participated in Secret Santa program in my office. During the four days, I gave many gifts and received some. I gave books only as gifts. One day, I wrote a big eight-page letter from Santa’s perspective, listing his origin, his life, and how the wishes of children have changed over the years. I went on to write a story about a particular wish about a little child which took the Santa months to fulfill. That was the best gift I could have given to anyone.

Quote of the Week

“Do you believe you can change your destiny?’ he (Sajhë) said, seeking an answer.

Alice found herself nodding. ‘Otherwise, what’s the point? If we are simply walking a path preordained, then all the experiences that make us who we are - love, grief, joy, learning, changing - would count for nothing.”

― Kate Mosse, Labyrinth

Book of the week

I haven’t finished any book in this week. Given how busy this week has been. But I could certainly like to recommend a beautiful book as the book of the week: the Old Man and the Sea. Ernest Hemingway’s Nobel prize description mentions this book. I have always wondered what could possibly be so great about this book which doesn’t go beyond 100 pages that leads to the Nobel Prize? You only have to read to find out, i guess. Ernest Hemingway is the master of capturing emotion is few words and this is represented beautifully in this book. It can’t get any better; and if it can, only Hemingway can do that.

Song of the week

It has to be Pagg Wala Munda for how many times have I played this song while preparing my dance. I performed on this song. It has the classic panjabi song with Diljit unique styles gives us just the Bhangra vibe.

Movie of the week

I watched the movie Newton this week. This is based on a boy named Newton, who is given the duty to conduct elections in Maoism effected area in Chhatisgarh. It is a simple story which is shot in the jungle. The authentic representation of the location, the tribal people, the situation and the ground reality is impressive. It just opens up the closed book of democracy. The politics has became abstract now, where everyone is fighting for the hypothetical chair. It is not connected to the ground reality, as I get from the movie. Rajkumar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi were excellent in their respective roles. I liked the overall impact of the movie.

Article of the week

I am currently reading his article about the impact of AI on society and education specially. This is fascinating topic to look at. I have been listening to Yuval Noah Harari on the tour of new book Nexus. He is very much worried about the alien intelligence as he likes to refer it. There are concerns about AI taking over the world, enslaving us, or probably making us go extinct. I can’t resonate with this thought. When I look at AI, I see much of matrix multiplication and partial derivatives. The worst AI can do is to reflect our own evil intentions and our own biases. But I hope this article gives me a better perspective on the other side. You can read the article here

The impact of artificial intelligence on human society and bioethics

YouTube Video of the week

How Language Nerds Solve Crimes. If that’s not intriguing enough for you to click and watch this video, then I don’t know how to convince you. (It’s just here, click and watch, you won’t be disappointing.)

Ending Words

The sun has setting, I didn’t know it takes this much time to write a newsletter. But I enjoyed this process. I took leave from the office today for no reason and I was feeling bad about it. But this achievement of writing a newsletter gives me some sense of accomplishment and makes me feel better.

Merry Christmas everyone. I am saying it at the end, maybe I should put that in the beginning. Anyone that reminds me, if you haven’t read my poem Santa from two years ago, you can read that here. I will write and post the Santa letter also here. Someday maybe.

It also reminds me that today, 23rd December, was the date I created this blog five years ago. It has been five years since I have been running this blog. It was before the trends of reels, YT shorts. I started this blog when Tik Tok was popular in India. I have seen a lot of shifts down the line, many easier modes to express myself but somehow, I have stick to the basic format of sharing my thoughts: writing. Now, it feels magnificent.

I am yapping too much, I will leave you here. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.