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  • 1 min read

2024 12 01

Started Advent of Code 2024. The first problem was not too bad. This time using just python and not experimenting with other languages. I think for the rest of the month this will keep me busy. I also plan to visit my mom over the winter holidays. It isn't exactly holidays, but I things will be slow at work and I should be able to work from home. Also I think I am far more productive in hotter climates than in Korea. Sub-zero temperatures make me ultra lazy. When the sun goes down at 5pm and it is super drak, it seems like the day is over.

Working out at home is also a pain during winter. I prefer running outside, but that is not possible these days. So I look forward to running when I visit my mom.

  • 2 min read

2024 11 24

Manufacturing in India is pretty hard. The access to a makerspace is pretty limited. Recently the Telengana government announced a makerspace in the state. I am not sure how good it is, but it is a good start. Having access to a prototyping lab is a game changer.

While setting up Tenx Farm we had to make a lot of things from scratch. We would get the raw materials like sheet plywood, aluminium, galvanised steel, etc. and then we would cut them, drill them, weld them etc. It was a fun learning experience. But making things for the farm had the luxury of being able to make mistakes and a high tolerance for errors in design. We would often do what in India is called "jugaad" to make things work.

But when it comes to manufacturing products for a B2C market, the tolerance for errors is much lower. And the cost of making a mistake is much higher. So we need to be much more careful with our design.

These days I think a lot about getting into the manufacturing space. I want my next startup to be making some physical product. I am kind of sure on the idea: a product that makes it easier to grow plants in the outdoor garden of a villa. The product should take care of the water and fertiliser needs of the plants. It should be able to sense the moisture of the soil and the moisture and temperature of the air and then decide how much water and fertiliser to give to the plant. It should also be able to alert the owner if it detects that the plant is not doing well.

I believe growing food will get more local and with the suburbs expanding like they are and the villa culture catching on in metros, there should be a market for such a product.

  • 1 min read

2024 10 09

Back in India to take care of many things. It is also going to be about an year since my dad passed away. There are many rituals that need to be taken care of. So it is going to be a busy month.

  • 1 min read

2024 07 07

I have been terrible at keeping this blog alive. But then again, I don't want to add pressure on me to write something everyday. I already have a huge list of things to get done by end of 2024.

Recently, I have first hand experienced what happens when you over-hire people in an org. To justify their head count, people start making everything complex and a blackbox. People start using statements like "we have to check if it is good", "I don't think it is working" etc. Nothing irritates me more than when people use vague statements. I always ask them, to their annoyment "what do you mean by good?", "why do you think it is not working?".

Nothing drains me more than a big team.

  • 3 min read

2024 03 24

I started playing Chess when I was 6 years old. I didn't start on the board. I am not sure I would have persisted playing chess had I started playing over the board.

My first experience with chess was on a computer. Back in early 1990s, my dad got a DOS based computer. It had four games on it: Prince of Persia, Dave, Gorilla (a game for two players to throw banana over some sky scrappers that deeply got me interested in geometry) and then Chess.

Since there weren't many choices to play on the computer, but there was a deep desire to be on the computer, I ended up playing Chess a lot.

I never learned Chess formally and hated theory until high school. From 9th grade to 12th grade I almost played Chess regularly over the board with a bunch of intellectual friends discussing random math/science/philosophy topics. It was a regular affair. Everyday after school I would bike down 5km to go to my friend's place which was by the sea, play an hour or 2 of beach football, then go up his apartment's terrace and play chess and discuss math/physics etc.

The friend whose place we played at used to go for chess classes. The other friend was a nerd who strongly believes in training and learning. I was the lazy one. I neither took classes, nor did I bother putting in the hard work of research and studying openings. I resorted more to trash talking and making my opponents feel they missed something and cause them to make unforced errors in their meticulous play which I would then go on to exploit.

As my strategy/theory was weak, I preferred to exchange off all the pieces and bring it end game. And I was pretty strong in end games. So even without training, without practice my scores against my friends were pretty good.

In college I got into Go. I played Go a lot. first with friends. When finding people who could spare 2-3 hours to play a game got tough, I started playing against the computer. One can't trash talk to a computer. I had to really think strategy. This is when I got deeply interested in theory and later when I got back to Chess (during the chess.com and lichess.org boom), I focused a lot on theory. My openings were solid. My end games were top notch. But I started to platue. I would play likes 10-15 games a day and yet my chess never improved.

So I have finally stopped playing games and now I focus on just solving chess puzzles. When I get a few minutes free time I just play survival or 5 minute puzzle rush on Chess Cup. I know even chess.com and lichess.org has puzzles, but then I get distracted and play games or tournaments or some other things on them. Chess Cup keeps it simple.

Right now my highest puzzle run in 36. It is not bad. I usually come up in top 10-15 in daily rankings. I want to continue this for at least a few months, till I consistently hit 40+ scores in the puzzle rushes.

  • 1 min read

2023 12 25

Back in the 2010s, when ever I left Singapore I would feel like I am traveling and that I need to get back home. Even when I left to some place for a long time, like doing my MBA in China or Korea, I would always feel Singapore is home. And that I have to get back home. Even when I worked in Korea in 2017-2020, Singapore was always home. I would make regular trips to Singapore. stay there only for 15-20 days. But those days felt like I was home. And when I returned back to Korea from the trip, it would feel like I am on a trip and that I need to get back to Singapore.

Singapore in many sense was home no matter where I lived.

Today I am traveling out of Korea to visit mom and brother. But I don't feel like I am going home. For the first time it feels like I am going on a trip and that I need to get back to Korea. And that my house in Korea is my base.

And then it struck me. Home to me was dad. Where ever dad was I always felt that is home. Since my dad passed away, suddenly I feel homeless and my house in Korea is what remotely resembles a home.

  • 1 min read

2023 10 06

  • Get rid of things and simplify possession. Keep house super organised and clean, and get into a routine.
  • Complete Advent of Code 2022
  • Finish reading the Elon Musk book by Walter Isaacson
  • Work on an App or some software project
  • Work on a hardware or physical side project
  • Get done with chores
  • Learn Korean Language (Complete Pimsleur Korean A by end of October)
  • Bike as much as possible
  • Fill up second brain when ever bored
  • Get back to blogging regularly
  • 2 min read

2023 05 28

Have started playing correspondence chess with a friend. It is casual chess with 24 hours per move. I prefer this more than playing with random strangers. There is some fun and banter. Hopefully, I can convince my other friends to also play correspondence chess with me.

Running has been steadily picking up. I doubt I will ever get back to my peak running form (2010-2015), but I do hope to do some Ultra Marathons in the near future.

Have taken up a rock climbing gym membership. Pure bouldering. I have figured, I don't like climbing as much as I like bouldering. Bouldering is non-nonsense. Go there alone, solve some problems and get out. And you can always make friends there. There are always people your level, who struggle on the same problems as you do and overcome it just like you eventually do. When you find such people, you instantly connect. Even if you don't know their language and they don't know yours, you play dumb charades and connect with them.

Have picked up about 10 interesting books on math. So the summer is kind of packed with a great reading list.

Played around with Bard from Google. It certainly seems to be quicker than ChatGPT for coding help, but the quality is not very good for complicated requests. I am going to get some of the weekend projects done. The only issue with Bard is I am not able to figure how to go access my previous chats with Bard. Which means, after I start a conversation, I have to complete the project one-shot.

  1. Words - A list of 10 random words to help improve vocabulary.
  2. Proximation - A math approximation game, where a person can choose between 0-20% precision and then pick a randomly generated problem set that is either big number addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentage or reverse percentage.
  3. Airbnb Chat clone - A chat app that auto translates messages between two people who type in different languages.
  • 1 min read

2023 03 17

I have always wondered if there is any use for managers at all. I have in my life had the experience of working in big MNCs, high growth startups as well as starting my own businesses. And in all my stints, I have purely been successful by being a leader.

There is a big difference between being a manager and a leader. A manager focuses on proxies for performance by the team. They care about compliance. When people come to work. Do they take leaves. Do they sit in their seats. Do they attend the meetings. They enforce policies.

In my opinion, all this is not required if you can inspire people to do better, leading by example. I have always done work independently and people around me look at me and they do better. And this has worked out pretty well all these while.

So, what is the real need for managers? If managers are so critical for efficiency in large organisations, how come the military doesn't have managers?

Every manager I have met are idiots. They aren't leaders. They know less than their subordinates and so have trust issues and are always threatened about their position. They can't inspire people to be better. And hence resort to compliance and policies to make sure their subordinates work. Most of them try to control information flow to hold on to their jobs.

  • 1 min read

2023 02 21

Today at the metro train I spotted a grandmother with 4 grand children. All under the age of 5. She quickly tried to find the kids seats. She got them to sit. She stood. The kids did offer her to take their place. But she was like "no you all sit comfortably" and she kept standing. The beauty of the moment can only be appreciated by those who understand these same kids in a few years won't remember this aspect of their grandmother and only be irritated to talk to them.

I remember the many mini-sacrifices my grand parents and my parents did for my brother and me. I miss those times. I wish, while I was a teenager, I was more closer to them and hung out with them more. But somehow, at that age, I preferred to hang out more with my friends, play a lot of computer games and in general be anti-social with parents/grandparents.

I was reminded today of my fond memories of my time spent with my maternal grandparents. All the stupid things we would do. And how they would act our age to be with us. I would give anything, to go back to the 1990s to those summer vacations spent completely with grandparents. It was the highlight of my growing up years.