Caffeine

 Caffeine is good. Humanity owes much to it.

Coffee, tea, yerba mate, coca cola - whatever your poison. 

With coffee, we are spoilt for choice - filter coffee, all the espressos and lattes, instant coffee - some of which can be very good. 

But as everything, coffee is about timing. When to consumes as much as what to consume.  Much as it happened in history.

Speaking of history, listen to this - Conquering the Night: The History of Coffee (youtube.com)

Our coffee epiphany happened in Utuado, Puerto Rico. Ergo, I will basically be partial to PR coffee forever. 

Cafe Gran Batey - this shall forever be the benchmark for us. I would go back to PR just to visit this coffee farm, meet the very lovely owner-farmers and buy some of their beans. 

Revenge of the Kadipatta

 One of the first things to hit the hot oil and impart its flavor.

One of the first things to be noticed as “this isn’t the sabji”.

And definitely the first thing taken out of a plate of poha.

Kadipatta has had enough. 

Bring on the mixer grinder and let the bastard grind you down with chilies, coconut and kaali mirch.

Ab nikaal kadipatta, bhosadikey. 

I, the mighty leaf of Indian cooking, have let loose the dogs of war. 

Iska swaad maaney Ranti Nasha. https://youtu.be/V3KVxT0xbMk?si=APrrHar3-bn8hIdA

India's Founding Moment

 This book is frustratingly enlightening. 

Frustrating because it was written by an academic, possibly for other academics - the language he employs does not make it easy.

However, and this is crucial, if you persevere through the academese, the incidents, concepts and people discussed here, give us a perspective that is fundamentally crucial to understanding Indian democracy as it was created. 

So, as we celebrate India’s T20 World Cup win, here is to a better understanding of why the Union exists. 

Make Cycling Great Again

Like the horse, it became an instrument of leisure and not of cheap, carbon free transportation for short distances.

It became the target market for all kinds of specialized merchandise that you could buy to make it more “pleasurable” and “efficient”.

There’s many an app that can tell you all your vitals were jacked up and you were at the peak of human performance while giving the public a view of spandex butt for many miles. 

Does no one just go for a bike ride anymore? In normal clothes? Cheap ass way of getting around like it used to be? Just to get some wind in your hair and enjoy the sunshine? 

I guess we deserve to sink in the rising oceans. Whilst wearing our lycra and checking Strava stats. 

Ridiculous.

Aham Brahmasmi

 Schopenhauer defined the Will as a “blind incessant impulse” that dictated the existence of both organic and inorganic matter. In human beings, the Will manifested itself in the form of a desire. Put simply, the Will is the ultimate, singular, and undefinable object of our most primordial instincts.

This irony, said Schopenhauer, was the root cause of all suffering. In Buddhist fashion, he argued that — in order to be truly at peace with ourselves — we had to break with the Will and the things that made us human.

Music is different from all other artforms because it alone is an expression of itself rather than something else. Notes and melodies, unlike phrases and colors, do not try to represent anything but can instead be appreciated simply for what they are. Schopenhauer believed music was a direct manifestation of the Will itself.

Consequently, when we listen to music, we feel as though we instantly connect with a higher truth, whatever that truth may be.

Well worth reading the original article - Schopenhauer: why music is the greatest and noblest of all artforms (bigthink.com)

Anyone who has grown up in an Eastern civilization and / or been exposed to Eastern schools of thought, can immediately and innately relate to this. 

As Indian Ocean the band puts it, “vileen ho jaaneka philosophy hai ….”. Loosely translated it means being immersed and one with the universe. 

So, whatever piece of music you are listening to, if you have ever had that moment of your stomach knotting, your lips and hands quivering, and tears liberating themselves from your eyes, maybe it is because, it is stirring the primordial soup of whatever it is that drives Us.

Slough

Boston Massachusetts in the US of A has a rich and storied history. Of glories and of fuck ups. MBTA, our home-grown transit system, is one of those massive fuck ups. 

So, to this Hall of Fuck-up Fame, I want to welcome the station of Slough which is far enough away from London that the good habits and standards from London haven’t affected it. Who needs good signage, update maps and helpful staff when you can make do without. 

Slough, I am sure you feel out of place, an outcaste even, in the excellent public transit system that runs greater London. We in Boston with our piece of shit transit would gladly embrace you. 

Whenever you can be bothered, that is. 

Carnival

 Go on the Ferris wheel. It will be fun. 

I was dreading it from the moment his mom had told them they were going to the travelling carnival that had pitched up on the open grounds close to the house. 

Maybe she wanted to get out of the house. Have something different to do. 

You boys go on the giant wheel and then we can get some makkey ki roti and sarson ka saag. 

My dread had started seeping in hours before it happened.

When I and my brother stood in line for the wheel, the diesel smoke reminded me of the fact that I had been thinking about it all day. 

I climbed into the wheel - the small enclosure seemingly like a prison and not at the same time. 

As the wheel got faster and faster, the dread kept rising. 

And then I popped. My lunch and the evening snack were on the floor of the prison. 

My head kept spinning. I had to get hold. 

When the wheel stopped, we jumped out as quickly as we could and ran away. 

Never looked back. 

Found mom - I asked her to take me home and comfort me. Never leaving her side. 

She sat with me as I washed and recovered. 

With disappointment brimming her eyes. The saag and roti that she dreamt of. For days. \

She had no stomach for it anymore. 

Neither of us spoke on the walk back home. We could see it in her eyes. 

The dimly lit streets were familiar and strange - they looked like distant cousins of the daytime view. 

Dad came home from work - tired and weary. Mom served him food and set our plates. She got some too. 

That night she didn't tell Dad everything that happened through the day. Or what happened in the afternoon soap operas. 

She did not ask him for his opinions on the social ongoings. Or the family budget for the week. 

That night she closed her eyes and lay still until sleep found her. 

Thrive to Survive

 So, if F1 is quite boring as a live sport - why are people interested? Where can you go get your fix?

One the former, I don’t have any answers - maybe it is the drama. Given the rise of reality TV and accessibility it brings might explain some of it. I haven’t a clue. 

But I would hazard that most of these fans will eventually leave - you cannot manufacture drama in something that is not based on generating drama. If F1 makes that pivot, I am out. 

One the latter question, there is definitely good news. 

So many race series around the world are thriving and offer excitement - we are spoilt for choice. 

I would proffer World Endurance Championship (WEC) and NASCAR as the leading contenders. 

What makes WEC exciting - traffic. I kid you not. Multiple categories competing at the same time on the same track at different speeds. Traffic is exciting. 

And NASCAR - well - it’s the drafting and the crashing and the fighting and the crashing and the burning and the crashing. YeeHawwwwwwwww!

And if that is not enough to give you your adrenaline fix - try these: Motogp, World Rally Championship, Indycar, Touring cars (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), Japanese SuperGT) and the various junior Formula series - F2, F3, Formula Renault etc. 

Drive to Revive

 Formula 1 has reached a whole new audience because of the Netflix treatment in Drive to Survive. 

And I am happy about that - no question. 

These new fans are now discovering the best kept secret about F1. 

It is boring. It will put you to sleep. 

The races are processions - and you already know the winner. 

We saw it with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton and now with Max Verstappen. 

I have been watching F1 since 1996 and this has been true since then - A big rule change of any kind is followed by a dynastic performance by one team. 

There will be an odd exception here and there - but the fight to be top dog is decided outside the racetrack. 

The team that wrangles the new rules the best - will have a champion. 

So, what keeps me interested? It’s the technology. It’s always been about technology. 

From the aerodynamics to chassis dynamics to electronics to race strategies. F1 is at the pinnacle for each one of these. No expense spared - so far. 

The budget cap might have a small impact on it, but F1 will still remain at the bleeding edge of automotive technology. 

If you find your jollies in the geekery of engineering, F1 is definitely for you. Siempre. 

All Tool, no Futz

 Photography has been a hobby as long as I can remember. 

With time, cameras got better and so did some of the photos. 

My time would be spent wrangling with the camera settings to get it to obey me. Sometimes I almost got it right. Being of limited talent and all that. 

Taming the Manual mode felt like being creative. Setting up the buttons and dials to be just so. Ooh those custom settings and dials work so well. 

More time thinking about gear and acquiring more gear and finding faults with said gear. 

Bob Kramer, a master knife maker and Hugh Brownstone, a street photographer (from who i borrow the title) pulled down the veils on this nonsense for me. 

A knife is a tool - the goal is good food. 

A camera should be invisible - what is important is to capture a moment and realize your vision for it. 

A tool is something i use to achieve an end goal. 

The tool, in itself can be interesting and beautiful and indulgent. Even be a work of art. Like a Hasselblad.

We can argue Android vs Apple till the cows come home and die and become beef to be consumed. 

But that is not the goal. Enabling human endeavor is.

Tools should be invisible and weightless in the pursuit of that goal.

How well can the tool get out of the way - that is the rubric by which any tool should be judged.