I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m calling collective memory. A social action that helps the self remember, one that builds memories between people, friends, communities. It is this that has brought me to write publicly: on the internet, to help me remember my own days and weeks. My thoughts and writing is often about disparate things, which is why I’m chosing this format of notes. Weekly notes, largely inspired from Thejesh’s writing. And so I begin this!
My Digital Ocean - Github Education subsidized subscription ran out, because I’m no longer a student and their prices are too high for me to keep the Constitutional Observer Semantic Search Server running from their droplets. I tried running it on a Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB RAM), but it was too slow. the indices are hosted in-memory for FAISS search, and they themselves are multiple GBs. I ended up self-hosting on a ThinkCenter at our Aruvu, Yelahanka Nodal Center.
The Constitutional Observer has been running for 6 months now, but I have not found the time to work on the long list of data-prep and data-discovery possibilities. Like cleaning the dataset so that badly parsed PDF junk do not show up. I must schedule it/ hope somebody out there is interested in contributing.
I wonder if there is a database of RTI responses that we can collect and put together. I am reading Aruna Roy’s Memoir, The Personal is Political, where I came across a small portion that narrates the history and origins of the RTI struggle. I wonder how many RTI queries come from urban vs rural concerns. https://rtionline.gov.in/webservice/
- I realise that a lot of conversations/debates around Veganism that happen around me take on a human-tradition perspective. Cruelty, when not necessary is an ignored topic. I’ve been thinking of reading more on the anthropomorphic understanding of animal reactions to cruel conditions, jails, torture, calves taken away from mothers, after reading Mother Cow, Mother India, by Yamini Narayanan. It is a deeply moving book, for much like many of who might read this, priviliged and urban, there is very few opportunities to look into the realities of Indian Dairying. Many peers/family members do not realise that Cows have to be pregnant all the time to give milk!
நான் சென்னையிலிருந்த பொழுது ஒவ்வொரு வருடமும் YMCA வில் நடக்கும் புத்தகக் கண்காட்சிக்குச் சென்று வருவோம். என் அப்பா ஒவ்வொரு வரிசைக்கும் சென்று வர வேண்டும்னு என்ன இழுத்திக்கிட்டே செல்வார்.அப்பொழுதெல்லாம் நான் ஆங்கில புத்தகங்களையே படிப்பேன், பள்ளிக்கூடத்தில் தமிழ் படிப்பதே ஒரு நட்ச்சமாக இருக்கும்.
கல்லூரி சென்றபிறகுதான் நான் தமிழ் அரசியலிலும், தினந்தோறும் உரையாடல்களுக்குத் தேவையான வார்த்தைகளையும், முறைகளையும் கவனிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன். என்னுடைய கடைசி செமெஸ்டரில், என்னுடைய அறிவுரையாளராக நிகழ்ந்த அபிஷேக் ஹஸ்ரா அவர்களுடன் தினந்தோறும் பேசும் வழக்கில் நான் தமிழ் அரசியல் மற்றும் முற்போக்கான யோசனைகளை படிப்ப தில்லை என்ற பேச்சு அடிக்கடி வரும்.
இந்த முறை புத்தகக்கண்காட்சியில் தமிழ்ப் புத்தகங்களை மற்றும்மே ஆர்வத்துடன் தேடித் தேடி கண்டேன்.I learnt of Vinoba Bhave because i picked up a small Tamil book that was titled ‘We need a revolution in education’, ‘கல்வியில் வேண்டும் புரட்சி’. I was curious, and turned to a chapter titled ‘வரலாற்றுப் பொய்கள்’, ‘Lies of history’. I bought it without much research into the writer, and only googled the writer when there were curious mentions of the Gita and the Upanishads.
I discovered QGIS Atlases as a feature while making a large 2A0 print map for Samagra Arogya at Aruvu. I also learnt of Meters at scale as a relative unit that i have been searching for, for months! The canvas and the print composer otherwise show widely different things when using mm / pixels, i must find more resources on this.
- I visited Ajji House by Subko (Sub Ko, ‘for everybody’ as the name is registed). The irony of that phrase being transliterated in other languages that Subko uses on its branding material and productions is not lost. What distinctly threw me off were the large framed portraits of farmers and features of construction workers in a magazine at their premises. It seemed distastefull that class differences are so clearly highlighted and put up for display! Would these people ever visit this shop and have their Lattes? Or are they comfortable having their portraits looking at a table full of food that is sold at many times over their daily wages?
- I walked from Chikpet Metro to Ajji House, which is when I came across shops predominantly selling saffron flags of various kinds. I wonder if these shops also sell other flags.