We let ourselves be carried by a full stomach’s tug. It was a cheery sunday morning after breakfast in Ulsoor. Like a broad piece of paper in the wind, we swayed through a few streets of Indiranagar, two friends of mine and me. We came across this fallen tree or what looks like 4 or 5 trees that have blended their lives together. This phenomenon is apparently called inosculation by botanists, or as this blog puts it - love trees. I’ve seen many trees fallen and trunkless in this monsoon. Their fates parched of a future by our love - concrete.

  • This week, Aman and Vivek’s work with the Censor Board Certifactes, brought Vivek to archiving Censor Certificates on Archive.org. This prompted me to suggest that we archive Lok Sabha records outside of the state owned site. This was a few reasons: They are vulnerable sitting within silos, and can often disappear when administrations change or modify digital locations. They sit in silos and are not available as indexed material to search and find, and thus do not contribute to public knowledge easily. Old LS debates pre 70’s are not reliably available…This prompted Vivek to start archiving both the LS recordsand began looking at Vidhan Sabhas (State Assemblies). Starting with Karnataka, Kerala and theKarnataka State Archives. This prompted me to look at the TN legislative Assembly records. Did you know that TN has a unicamarel parliament? There is noupper sabha…no RS, no legislative council. You can see this happening here: at my profile. Vivek says that the Archive.org API can be better documented, upload speeds appear slow and collections can only be created by Admin.

    The sheer variety and topics of Questions asked in Question Hour is new knowledge to me. Knowledge that I could have not come across in other ways. Thedebates and the positions of representatives (elected or not, since the Madras Legislature was not elected) tell much

    The goal is to index this within the Constitutional Observer to make a cross India indexed and searchable database of Parliamentry documentation.

  • I’ve begun running 5Ks as a way to keep myself sane. The past few weeks, I have continued to write and think of routines for sanity, something I’ve been writing on past few week’s notes. Vidyaranyapura’s lakes are gladly not paved over. I wish I understood Chennai’s system of lakes like I did Bangalore’s.

    The panaromic concreteness of Shivaramkaranth. From a run. Left.
    the panaromic concreteness of Shivaramkaranth. From a run. Right.
    This lake was being desilted a few months ago

  • I’ve not been taking Karmegam out on long trips, but I’ve been thinking about her. I write of why I named it karmegam, and Ayush got Karmegam some company.

    மழையை காற்றுடன் அழைத்து வரும் கரு மேகங்கள் போலவே… நகர்ந்து கொண்டே, நெய்தல் மணலிலிருந்து குறிஞ்சி குளிருக்கும், முல்லையின் ஒலிகலிள் இருந்து மருதத்திள் வாழும் ஊர்களுக்கு என்னை எப்பொழுதும் அழைத்து சென்று கொண்டே இருக்க வேண்டும் என்ற ஓர் கனவில்… கார்மேகம் என்று வைத்தேன்…

    Beside Utse on Kamaraj theru, I learnt of Utse thanks to Naveen
    Ayush’s bike. Unnamed as of now.

  • Hanuman has increasingly taken violent forms and has been depicted angrily in many places, objects and photos. I have been noticing it for many years now, read this Quint article (although Quint washes its hand of any authorship).

    Notice the Hanuman in this Kaavad which was on display at the Indian Music Experience Museum in JP Nagar. Contrast it with the Hanumans you see without any context on rear windows. Read about the Kaavad tradition here, at this Sahapedia article

  • I have been looking, searching for and being curious about holes on the streets. Borewells is now a tag on this blog: adhavansivaraj.xyz/tags/borewells

An indica full of cocunuts. A small shop owner in AMS layout says they can’t afford to hire a truck, so indica it is.