Why and how to get OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) for your newborn child What is OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) is a lifelong visa granted to foreign citizens of Indian origin. If you are an Indian citizen with a child born in a jus soli country, like the USA or Mexico , your child is eligible for OCI card. OCI gives your child the right to visit,…
The retroflex L is uniquely Indian but still missing from Standard Hindi The sound ळ is a retroflex L/ल . Garhwali has this sound Haryanvi has it Punjabi has it Rajasthani dialects have it Marathi has it Tamil has it, in fact, it is the last sound in the name of the language itself. 1 Malayalam has it. In fact, in the name of the language, the first l is normal, but the second l is retroflex (…
A 2-day Munich travel guide covering the old town walking tour, English Garden river surfing, and the historic beer hall. Day 1 Start your day with a walking tour of the old town. Afterward, check out the wave surfing at the English Garden. At night, visit Hofbräuhaus . They do have non-alcoholic beer for 5.7 Euros as well. Day 2 Visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site . This was the…
Sub-processor lists publicly leak the SaaS stack of any B2B company. Learn how to read them to uncover the tools your competitors use - and get alerted when they switch. Want to know what SaaS stack a B2B company runs on? You don’t need a data leak or an insider - the company publishes it for you. Look at their sub-processor list . Most B2B companies are contractually required to disclose…
A 2-day Interlaken travel guide covering the Harder Kulm hike, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, plus tips on the Swiss travel pass and costs. Getting from Zurich to Interlaken is expensive; a one-way train ticket costs 73 CHF. I would recommend doing a multi-day trip or getting a Swiss Travel Pass for longer stays. Interlaken is indeed a beautiful town, nestled between two stunning lakes, Lake Thun and…
Buy an EMF meter before buying electronic toys for kids The Electromagnetic Field (EMF) is a health concern. The EMF causes ionization in the body, creating free radicals. These free radicals cause oxidative stress, leading to DNA damage and inflammation. And as with everything else bad, kids are more vulnerable than adults. Electronic toys and EMF Electronic toys, especially with moving parts,…
Explore how the US is run by lawyers, and faces challenges in innovation compared to China’s engineering-driven governance. Lawyer run state of the US The top decision makers in China have an engineering background . The US, on the other hand, is run by lawyers. Policy issues that are decided by voters in other countries are debated in the courts in the US and decided by lawyers. The US has…
An honest one-day Zurich travel guide covering the old town and walking tour, and why this pricey Swiss city is not worth a special visit. Zurich, along with Oslo, Norway is one of the few unassuming expensive European cities that I would not recommend visiting. The joke goes that Zurich whose German pronunciation is tsü-rich/त्सुरिच is “too rich”. The city is entirely unremarkable in…
Do kids need meat to grow tall? Here are some graphs for parents to decide. Vegetarian parents, especially from India, living in the Western world, do wonder if their kids are missing out on something by not eating meat. A perfect proxy of complete nutrition is height. Here are some graphs for parents to decide. Height vs Vegetarianism in India The two graphs below show that the tallest male…
A one-day Luxembourg City travel guide, including a day trip from Brussels by train, a walking tour, and the sights of the world’s richest country. Singapore is hot, humid, and opulent. Luxembourg is cold, windy, and opulent. By some measures, Luxembourg is the richest country in the world. It is also one of the safest. It is the only duchy, that is, a country ruled by a duke (a level below…
My experience with Contagious Interviews (Malware delivered through fake developer job interviews) Once or twice a month, I get a reach out to join as a technical advisor. I got two in the last month, except both were fake and meant to install malware on my machine! Both had a similar script. Someone reached out over LinkedIn to join their team as a technical advisor. Then they share a link to…
Summary of How to Teach Your Baby to Read—early reading, how crawling aids brain development, and why the first years are best for learning. The book presents interesting ideas around early-age reading developments for babies. Physical activity Crawling (with tummy on floor) and creeping (on just four limbs) are both important for the brain development of the baby. A playpen restricts a…
Summary of The Discontented Little Baby Book by Pamela Douglas—soothing unhappy babies with carriers, massage, tummy time, and natural sleep. The book discusses various issues that make babies unhappy. It is a nice (though not great) read for first-time parents. A baby can naturally fall asleep. Hunger for food (milk) and hunger for sensations prevent that. Massages are good, but even carrying a…
Sandbox your tools before they harm you Background I have written about this before , software engineers and now, AI agent users are running a lot of third-party tools on their machines. These tools can be helpful, but they do get compromised. Amazon shipped malicious Amazon Q Trivy, a security analyzer, got compromised and served malicious versions which lead to backdooring of LiteLLM and Mercor…
Few reasons which outsourcing industry gets a bad reputation We outsource chores all the time. We outsource cooking to restaurants. We outsource travel planning to travel guides . We outsource oil changes to auto mechanics. But software outsourcing is unique in that it often gets a bad reputation and causes a loss of expectations. I believe there are a few reasons why software outsourcing gets…
Summary of The Natural Baby Sleep Solution by Polly Moore—the 90-minute BRAC cycle, baby sleep patterns, and when to start sleep training. The natural baby sleep solution is an interesting book on the baby’s sleep patterns. BRAC, Basic Rest and Activity cycle of 90-120 minutes decides the sleep and wake times for everyone. This is especially useful for babies, who would be active for about…
A day trip to Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp is easily accessible from Brussels in about ~1 hour by train or ~40 minutes by bus. Compared to Brussels , Antwerp is small and charming. I would recommend starting the day with Legends of Antwerp tour . One great thing about this tour is that you get to see both a church and a museum for a short time for free. Both of these have entry tickets otherwise. This…
Learn how to grow your online presence and monetize effectively with podcasting, newsletters, communities, and more. Discover key strategies to build your audience! The standard journey of influencers Start with podcasting or video blogging (YouTube/TikTok) It is hard to build an audience when you don’t have one Start with interviewing other podcasters/creators to bring yourself to the front…
A 2-day Brussels travel guide covering the Grand Place, Manneken Pis, the European Parliament, walking tours, and a day trip from Paris or Amsterdam. Brussels is a charming European-style city with cobblestone streets, historic architecture, and a rich cultural heritage. Brussels . I would recommend doing a day-trip to Brussels if you are visiting Paris or Amsterdam . Every street/area in Brussels…
Desire for a shortcut is a state of mind People love taking shortcuts in real life. Ozempic is a shortcut to losing weight. Tanning beds are a shortcut to getting tanned. Summaries are shortcuts to reading books. Few take shortcuts in the activities they enjoy. A hiker in Patagonia or climber on Mt. Fuji is not looking for a shortcut to finish the journey. There is a genuine desire to enjoy the…
Rakhigarhi (राखीगढ़ी), an archeological site in Haryana, is dated to be 3000 BC and might be even older Rakhigarhi (राखीगढ़ी), an archeological site in Haryana, is dated to 3000 BC and might be even older. As of July 2021, the site isn’t ready for visitors just yet. There is a museum, but that’s under construction too. So, if you are planning to visit, wait for a few years.
A 3-day Paris itinerary covering the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Latin Quarter, and walking tours, plus an honest take on the overhyped city. Paris is huge. Paris is spread out. Unlike Eastern European cities, Paris does not have a beautiful old town. In fact, the city is so overhyped that there is a Paris Effect named after it, where tourists expect to see a beautiful city but are disappointed when…
Japan has 9 million empty homes, Tokyo is as crowded as New Delhi, though After seeing the world’s busiest crossing, Shibuya crossing, in Tokyo, Japan , we decided to take a train back to Shinjuku for a nighttime walking tour. The local Tokyo train was packed with office workers heading home. The experience was not very different from the Mumbai local or the New Delhi metro during peak…
GitHub stars have no value on their own. But ask yourself, what would differentiate a project on GitHub from GitLab if not for these stars? Sometimes, a product of a company makes no money on its own, but is the underlying product that enables its other products to be sold. Gmail Consider the consumer Gmail service. It likely makes little money on its own. However, it is how people get introduced…
Sail on the Norwegian Breakaway for 11 days through 8 stunning Caribbean ports. Discover vibrant cultures, but prepare for some cruise-line surprises. We took an 11-day cruise in the Caribbean spanning 8 ports of call across 7 countries. The ship, Norwegian Breakaway, is an old ship. So, the amenities are lacking compared to our recent experience with the Royal Caribbean . Compared to our previous…
The motto of Cyelon Air Force was “Per Ardua Ad Astra”, written in Sanskrit While traveling in London , I came across the church of St. Clement Danes, which is the church of the Royal Air Force. It referenced the history of the Royal Air Force during the period of British colonialism. During the British rule, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. What stood out to me was that the Ceylon Air…
Discover why REST remains practical despite the GraphQL hype, and learn how to seamlessly use Open API specs with FastAPI for efficient backend implementation. For a while, the whole world was trying to move over from REST to GraphQL . Frontend developers loved it because they could get exactly what they wanted. However, implementing a backend for it is a lot of work. So, when I saw a blog post…
The Achilles heel of American capitalism I paid USD 70 for a ride to the airport . I asked the driver how much he got. “Benti-cinco”, he replied. That’s 25 for Spanish! “¿Cuarenta y cinco (45) por Lyft?”, I asked in my broken Spanish to confirm. “Si”, he replied. I could not believe my ears. The story is same with Uber. When the ride-sharing companies…
Discover Costa Rica’s charm: from San José’s urban vibe to Jaco’s beaches and the awe-inspiring Arenal Volcano. Essential tips for a seamless journey! Costa Rica is the most beautiful of all Central American countries. Day 1 - San José Like most Latin American capitals. San José is a bit of a dump. Further, it rains a lot in San José. I would recommend leaving immediately for…
Discover the intriguing history of Sri Lanka’s civil war, India’s influence, and a surprising peacekeeping revelation from an ex-army man in Colombo. We sat for juices and tea in Colombo . An ex-army man ran the stall. He served during the Tamil-Sinhalese civil war that subsumed North Sri Lanka. “The Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandy , thought of Sri Lanka as the 25th state of…
Discover Warsaw’s charm with its vibrant old town and historical treasures, from the Wishing Bell to the iconic Mermaid. A journey through history awaits! After an overnight bus journey from Vilnius, Lithuania , I reached Warsaw, Poland. Warsaw isn’t a typical eastern european capital. It is huge. Compared to Budapest or Tallinn , it is a huge metropolitan city. However, they have…
Best practices for using Python & UV inside Docker I have been watching uv , the open-source Package manager for Python, for a while. Earlier this year, I decided that it would be my preferred Python package manager going forward. I migrated my private as well as public codebases to uv and have since recommended it in my relatively popular article on running Python in production . Getting uv right…
Explore Vilnius: Discover its quiet charm with a walking tour, touch history at the Money Museum, and wander in the artistic streets of Uzupis. Continuing from Riga, Lativa , in a 4-hour bus ride , I ended up at Vilnius, Lithuania. The town feels quiet and small. There isn’t a lot to do here. Day 1 Start your day with a walking tour which gives you a nice overview of this city.…
IntelliJ IDEs are powerful. I love them, but they waste my disk space I love IntelliJ IDEs. I use Android Studio for Android, PyCharm for Python, and GoLand for Go. They are powerful. I just wish they didn’t fill my 500GB disk as if there is no tomorrow. For example, with IDE settings left over from old installations. Bash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 $ du -shc ~/Library/Application \…
Pregnancy is difficult to attain, hard to maintain, and even a successful one is just the beginning of the process of child raising Getting pregnant is hard Seeing that there are 8 billion people in the world makes you think that the process of creation might be easy. It isn’t. Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have. And there is exactly one (yes, one!) chance of conception…
Explore why Indian digital nomads are fewer: weak passports and high living costs abroad deter young travelers, despite tech talent migration trends. Most digital nomads are from the western world. Technology workers and immigrants in the US, Canada, and Australia are overwhelmingly from India. Even then the digital nomads are fewer. I think the reasons are two-fold. The Indian passport is weak -…
Discover Riga’s hidden gems in a budget-friendly Eastern European adventure! From historical sites to thrilling activities, find out what makes Riga unique! Compared to Tallinn or Budapest , Riga is unassuming. Most people end up in Riga while doing an Eastern Europe tour. The bus ride from Tallinn to Riga is only 4 hours and ~ €20 one-way. I would highly recommend the comfortable buses of…
Always run third-party CLI tools inside Docker Let’s say you are running a linter like HTMLhint . It has 27 dependencies , any of those could be malicious. So, when you do npm install -g htmlhint , you are taking a huge risk . And this is not a theoretical risk . Even big companies like Amazon are falling for it . A linter, for example, needs just read-only access to the all the files that…
Both genders propagate their genes, but they do it in a gender-specific way Before we look at how much DNA a child shares with parents, grandparents, and other relatives, Let’s first understand how genes propagate in humans. Reproduction There are about 8.7 million species of living beings in the world. About 1.2 million of them are animals. Virtually all of them (> 99.9% ) reproduce via…
A doctors per capita comparison misses out on the nuances of how healthcare is delivered in different countries There was blood in my cough. The doctor, in India, after a basic analysis concluded that it is a minor infection. On my insistence, he decided to do an X-Ray. 5 minutes later, I had the X-ray in my hand. The staff asked me to wait outside the surgery room as the doctor was busy with a…
Tallinn on foot: a walking tour of the old town, historic tower climbs, hidden tunnels, and the KGB museum’s Soviet history. I started from trip on an evening ferry from Helsinki, Finland . Tallinn, like Budapest , is a charming Eastern European castle town. Day 1 Starting with a walking tour, Tales of Reval is amazing. After the Danish Christian king established his control over this…
Ship tools as standalone binaries Open AI is ditching TypeScript to rebuild Codex in Rust. This is a great example of why you should always ship tools as standalone static binaries using compiled languages. Reddit Comment The biggest advantage of such tools is not speed or efficiency. Rather, it is the ability to not install the full tool chain to just use a tool. Compiler provides additional…
Discover the global journey of fruits in your kitchen, and uncover what’s truly “Made in America” in this insightful tale. Sweet, surprising, and enlightening! The figs are from Greece . The dates from Tunisia . The mangoes from Mexico . The blueberries from Chile . The grapes from South Africa . I explained to my mother while showing her the kitchen. “And what’s…
Discover the secret of Finnish happiness in Helsinki. Explore saunas, a vibrant cityscape, and serene island escapes in just two days. Finnish are considered the happiest people in the world. In less than two days, I learned the secret of that. I spent about two days in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, where roughly 30% of the country’s ~6 million people reside. Day 1 - sauna and walking…
Lessons on maintaining a hobby Android app There was recent news about 47% decline in the number of apps on Google Play Store. As a hobby Android developer, who has been developing MusicSync , a Google Play Music + Podcast replacement for the last five years, I thought I would share my experience of maintaining an Android app. And why this reduction in the number of apps is not surprising to me. I…
Discover the art of salesmanship in America, where standard deals are marketed as exclusive opportunities. Learn how savvy advertising makes the ordinary extraordinary. “The apartment rents are high right now, but we got a good deal”, he said, smiling alongside his roommate. Another friend said, “We got a good deal on a car loan, so, we took the loan, it’s good for building…
Ultimate guide to spending two days in Oslo, Norway. Includes a walking tour, Vigeland Park, and a fjord cruise. Oslo is one of the weirdest Nordic cities that I have visited. It is dull compared to Copenhagen or even Stockholm . Just like Zurich , the Baumol effect of the oil-funded economy makes it a really expensive place to visit as well. Infact, it is one of the few cities that feel more…
Compare FastAPI vs. Flask in Docker: Discover why FastAPI is 3x faster for basic requests and see which is the better choice for new projects. Learn more! If you are running Python in production , you will almost certainly have to decide which web framework to use. Let’s consider a rudimentary Hello world based test comparing the performance of two popular web frameworks for Python - FastAPI…
Even for benign Android-related searches, Perplexity, anecdotally is doing better than Google Recently, after doing some Google mandated updates of MusicSync , my music player Android application, I received the following error in Android Studio during the build process. Plaintext 1 AAPT2 aapt2-8.8.0-12006047-osx Daemon #1: Daemon startup failed I tried to search for the error on Google, and got…
Harness the power of Python for production-grade data analysis and machine learning. Discover essential tools and best practices for seamless deployments. My previous article recommended that one should reconsider using Python in production. However, there’s one category of use case where Python is the dominant option for running production workloads. And that’s data analysis and…