These past weeks, I have been as filled as a leaky clay pot would. I can accept all the water I can, but I would and am still leaking and evaporating all the excess water. I would hold to lose, remember to process and forget. It has been a full many weeks! That is what it has been.

I have been working on the Constitutional Observer, packaging for Manesiri, a freelance work for Repair Cafe India and in general the mind has been full with many things.

In the midst of all this, I would like to share with you 2 conversations. Me and Man [3 characters missing] were talking about using AI for coding, and how easy it is to spawn agents and AI tasked with creating scripts and sometimes whimsical concepts. I reflected and then shared something I had been feeling with weeks of using AI for implementing and testing conceptual user interfaces for the Observer. I said I lose a personal and serious connection with the work. I no longer feel it mine, and I lose track of the goal.

I catch a goat in the act of eating from the trash bin outside the Mahmood Gawan Madrassa, in the Old City of Bidar. It is very serious about its goal.

The value of something that you make would be most strongly felt only by you!? Is it not? You must have the conviction and belief to make it real. Along the way, I have been losing some bit of the conviction on the Observer. I consistently criticize the internet in my head. What is the point of a work like the Observer being primarily on the internet only? What work on the ground is it contributing to? That singular thought has been chipping away my heart for the Observer.

This tree at the Queen’s Road junction has had the heart to live this way for a long long time.

The next few weeks, we hope to come up with a manifesto that reflects our values and the outcome we would like to create. A manifesto written by the people working on it presently. It will help me remember and continue with conviction.

I write with so much clarity presently, because as we walk in a grassland in Bidar, me and Harsha are discussing about people motivated to documenting the beautiful grasslands of the region, how many are there now? He says: Dimaag mein kheeda rehena! Translation: The insect, the idea, or conviction must already be in the head!

How can somebody to be trained to ask certain questions? How can you train somebody to be curious about grasslands, butterflies and birds? It is this question I asked Harsha, and he said: Dhimag mein kheeda rehena! This kheeda about kheedas is going to remain with me.

An illustration of the black soldier fly larvae and pupae moving made by me. Kheeda!
  • I have been working in the Church Street BHive, when I have to meet and work with friends from across the city. It is very convenient.

Some kheeda moves thousands of people towards Church Street. Shot from the terrace of the BHive building on Church Street.

  • I saw Mein Vaapus Aawunga. It was a strongly made film, and I was not questioning anything, I was lost entirely in the magical and devastation present in the movie. I watched it at a time I was thinking about what it would be to not focus always on the critical, dissappointing aspects of people and things. You should watch it!

  • I have started reading “Everybody loves a good drought” by P. Sainath. It is a must read for people interested in the development history of India. I had been following PARI’s stories published on Instagram for a long time. And resonated with the diverse stories they brought to light.

  • I have finished the three free services available for my Karmegam (Honda HNess 350), and am realising the cost of maintaining the Honda. They charge 4000INR for a basic service with oil change, air filter change, other consumables and chain cleaning and adjusting! In addition a frequently wearing out brake pad means higher costs everytime. I have decided to source basic parts (air filter, oil filter, break pads) and make an accessible inventory for me to service wherever necessary.

  • We used Sveltia CMS in a new project, it is convenient to setup, and I really like that it does not have to be bundled with the project. My only wish was that it is easy to set up Authentication with serverless websites. Organisationally I am considering setting up a OIDC server.

  • I have been mixing Manesiri Millet Mix in the chappathi dough at home. I have not yet had the courage to make stand alone dishes with it. But friends and customers have been sharing their baking and cooking recipes: Multi Millet Cake, Thalipeeth, Rotis, Soup etc.

In Konmelakunda, Bidar, in a grassland restoration effort, the forest department has removed the plantations it made
Do you see the pattern of concentric rings?
  • I am going to be a fellow in the Creative Peer Program at Srishti for a 3 months, where I will be working on the Constitutional Observer and facilitating a few units. My guiding question for designing facilitation plans is going to be dhimaag mein kheeda kaise daal sakthe? How do you put a insect / idea into somebody’s head? Haha. Thanks to the Nagarathna Memorial Grant and Srishti, I will be able to put in a solid few months of work on the Observer.
M runs in joy after having spotted Black Bucks in the Konmelakunta grasslands
  • My house owner and possible BLA (Booth Level Agent of the party), which is a term I learnt recently asked if I wanted to be on the electoral roll in Bangalore (since SIR in KA has begun). I have been asking the question to myself since 2022, but have not done it yet. I voted in TN this year. I have reasoned that I have not yet found a stable house where I have stayed for >2 years, this is the only house I have stayed in for > 1 year. What brings other people to consider themselves ‘Ordinarily a resident of Bangalore’?