Araku's Bamboo Biryani

“You will rarely outperform your self-image.” - James Clear

What YCombinator Wants People to Build: A deep dissection of Y Combinator’s Summer 2026 Request for Startups, and what the list really tells you about where the world is heading. Not a vague thematic outlook. Not a “we’re excited about AI” blog post. A specific, partner-attributed, publicly available wishlist of exactly the kinds of companies they want to fund. They call it the Request for Startups. Drones, agriculture, space manufacturing, hardware supply chains. Summer 2026 is the most “atoms” YC has ever been. The underlying logic is straightforward: sensors got cheap, robots got capable, and AI can now see, reason, and act in physical environments. The previous generation of “software eats the world” has run its course in digital markets. The next generation eats the physical ones.

Araku’s Bamboo Biryani: Generations ago, tribal communities in Araku made chicken and biryani in bamboo shoots as an alternative to expensive pots and pans. They discovered that bamboo is essentially the pressure cooker of the forest—its thick green shoots help food retain moisture while protecting it from high heat. Traditionally, bamboo chicken has been simple fare: chicken mixed with salt and red pepper, placed in bamboo and then set on an open flame. (With rice added, occasionally, to make biryani.) But despite the common misperception that indigenous traditions are locked in the past, Adivasi chefs like Lakshmi are using this ancient cooking technique alongside new and complex spices and flavors.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/bamboo-biryani

What Makes a Great Bookshop: A good bookshop is not defined by how many books it has, but instead by how much character it has. This is particularly true of secondhand bookshops. Look for things like: how quickly the stock turns over, how much thought has gone into what is there, how knowledgeable (and quirky) the staff are, and how often you leave with something you didn’t expect to find. Most great bookshops fall somewhere on this spectrum. Here are a few of my favourites.