Weeknotes - 2025-W19
Cover image for 2025-W19
This was one of those weeks that started so promisingly but ended so anticlimactically.
A most dear friend (We will call him G for the purposes of this Weeknote since he will be referenced multiple times) came to town on Monday. My most favourite part of his work is that the company has its HQ in Chennai and he therefore has much more reason to come here once in every few months.
I went to pick him up at the airport and he came home for dinner and harate. We all went and had some ice cream at Amadora post dinner.
Spending time with him just wakes something up inside me. I don’t have much of a friend circle in this city - those that I can be myself around, without judgement and every part of my body looks forward to having him in the city, even if its only for a few hours. The time we spend with each other never feels “enough” but it always feels beautiful when we’re in it.
I was having a conversation with another friend yesterday and the topic veered to relationships and I told her this:
ALL kinds of relationships are hard, but ONLY SOME relationships make sense to put that effort for.
⤴️ This thought is one of the strongest pillars of my life. The few people that I consider mine are people I would do a LOT for.
He is a HUGE fan of the beach and we ended up going to the beach and walking the shoreline for sometime followed by some good food at Vishranti before he headed back home.
The war is finally here (?).
The attack in Pahalgam was brutal to say the least and I am glad that India was able to show Pakistan that it knows how to deal with terror. In addition, the world needs to see that India can hold its ground and that it won’t sit quietly and just take everything that it is given.
However, this is something that I am still thinking through deeply and I think that this article from Nitin Pai is the one reading this week that I aligned the most with: Operation Sindoor sets the new normal.
Note: That this does not mean that I am in support of war. I am not.
I will be the Emcee for Rootconf 2025 for the Platform Engineering track. Its been a long and interesting journey from my first Hasgeek Conference in 2011 as an attendee - Droidcon to being the emcee at one of their premier conferences.
I co-wrote the script for this with Gemini - which again has been a rockstar experience. I think when we start to treat it like a co-worker and not a question & answer machine - the value that LLMs can offer just becomes 10x. I look forward to helping folks separate the signal from the noise and lay on them, my stupid geek jokes and games. If you’re into systems engineering and security, buy a ticket and come attend the conf.
Also, just to connect the dots, At Droidcon 2011 - G, me and another friend put up a “Cyanogen mod” booth (IYKYK) where folks could come and flash CM on their phones. Such a rock and roll this experience was. I still remember the panic when we tried flashing it on one person’s phone and it almost got bricked. And then later he told us that he was playing with us. Phew. Scary.
Also, that’s how long we have been friends, see what I meant by that quote? 🙂
This week, we booked an AC badminton court to play at and the experience was ✨magical✨. I think its safe to say on behalf of all 5 of us that played that day, that it will be the default choice going forward. We can play for longer, play stronger and not be dead tired by the end of it.
When I recall this, I still get a high at how awesome it was. Just chef’s kiss.
I was supposed to be in Bangalore over the weekend, to attend a very important function in the G household but my stomach played spoilsport. On Saturday morning, I had a sharp stomach ache that wouldn’t go away (along with its accompaniments).
Despite this, I decided to go to the station and see how it feels but it got worse there and as a result I had to cancel the trip and come back home. I am just on the edges of feeling better now, as I write this at 19:56 on 11th May. But it sucks big time that I couldn’t go. It was an important milestone.