A very stylish Vada Pav

Is that a five-star restaurant serving a Vada Pav? No it's just the local IKEA's food court having a very good lighting and wooden interior. I think this was one of the cheaper, and value for money Indian snacks I have had in the Bay Area.

A Shift in movie preferences

I used to enjoy dark-gritty thrillers, and serious subjects a lot. Some of my favourite movies of the 2010s were Omerta, Gangs of Wasseypur, Raman Raghav 2.0; my favourite shows included Mindhunter and Westworld. I was admittedly a sucker for anything dark and thought provoking. There was a certain kind of thrill to these movies.

My dad--my frequent co-participant in movie nights, absolutely hated these movies. His favourites were old-school actioners like Raees, or love stories like Dil Toh Pagal Hai or even Jab Tak Hai Jaan. It's not like he didn't like anything dark, but his threshold for dark was Drishyam or perhaps Talvar. I remember this one time, we went to watch Tamasha together, and his reaction in the first half was absolute disgust! :D (It wasn't a dark movie, it was just way too preachy for him)

I always wondered, how come my dad who was practically as big a movie buff as I was, never really enjoyed serious cinema. I asked him once, and he told me it was age; at my age he, too saw the niche Hindi and (some) international films. But something changed a few years ago. After his passing, gradually I drifted away from the kind of movies I enjoyed a few years ago. My favourite genres now are the entertaining crime capers and old-school actioners; I seldom watch anything too dark now. While I do like the occasional serious movie like Gargi, or more recently Stolen. I just don't feel the same urge to watch them as I did when I was a few years younger.

Am I turning into my dad? Most likely not. But to me, I understand his perspective way better now. At some point, the tumultuous nature of life catches up. Life itself can be so grim and gritty at times, that watching the same when you're desperately trying to unwind feels like a chore; at that point you want something light hearted, something fun, something that makes you forget the quotidian troubles. A dark-crime drama about a stolen child, no matter how good it is, hardly satiates that appetite.

Patterns in a Bollywood musical

This year I've been watching a lot more older Hindi movies, early 2000s, late 90s cinema; back when songs used to be a big part of every Hindi movie, regardless of the genre. Something I've discovered during the process is that each film has ~5-6 songs that fit a pattern. The pattern being:

Song 1: Introducing the male lead
Song 2: Introducing the female lead
(Optional) Song 3: Introducing any other main character, who plays a significant part
Song 4: Pre-Intermission act change : This is an up-beat song where; in love stories this is just before the conflict is introduced
Song 5: Post-Intermission song : The only purpose of the song is to act as a loo break for people who weren't able to go to one during the break
Song 6: Pre-Climax song : Raising the beat of the film before the final act. Usually happens 30-40 minutes before the end of the film.
Song 7 - 9 : If the filmmakers are feeling particularly generous, they'll add different songs at the beginning and credits too and maybe add another song post-intermission if the film is longer and needs a change of acts.

Some examples:
Movie: Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
1: Opening Credits : Tu Bole Main Bolun
2: Introducing the Male and Female Leads Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi
3: Pre-Intermission, change of act: Pappu Can't Dance
4: Post Intermission song Nazrein Milana
5: Additional Conflict Song: : Jaane tu Mera Kya Hai
6: Pre-Climax: Kahin Toh


Movie: Kal Ho Naa Ho
1: Introducing the Male and Female Leads Pretty Woman
3: Pre-Intermission, change of act: It's the time to Disco
4: Post Intermission song Kuch toh Hua Hai
5: Additional Conflict Song: : Kal Ho Na Ho
6: Pre-Climax: Maahi Ve

Bagel Art

Boichik Bagels is excellent btw.

The Berkeley clock has been fixed

A few days ago, I discovered that the UC Berkeley Campanile clock on one of the faces of the tower was broken. Happy to report that as of this week the clock's been fixed. I walk by the campanile almost every day, and it's so fascinating to see that it took them this long to see the broken clock and fix it.

July 7, 2025: The clock facing the North Gate shows incorrect time.

July 18, 2025: The clock is now showing the correct time.

Provocation

When you have a new idea, you're bound to have provoke people. You're bound to get a strong reaction, because it's new and unheard off; so people don't immediately know what to say to it. Sometimes I feel it's important to have that, because the opposite of this is no interest, indifference, i.e. the idea having no impact at all.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's a very natural thing. When people hear new ideas, there'll always be some that connect with it, there'll be some that disagree, and then sometimes there'll be people who feel attacked by the idea and a strong visceral reaction to it. Such a strong emotion to me is the validation of the idea. For something that results in such strong an emotion, is actually forcing people to think about things, including their axioms and assumptions. To me that's a win, if what you've got to say, is a result of well researched, honest, and disciplined practice.

My Desktop Organization Strategy

So the way I organise and keep my desktop clean is, I take all the desktop files and store them in a folder titled Desktop Files followed by the current year, month, and date; I then move that folder to a folder called "Desktop Files" in my Documents directory. Creating this rather temporal map of all my files.

Essentially something like this: Documents > Desktop Files > Desktop Files 2025 07 17...



The funny thing is, I was talking to a friend yesterday, and they mentioned that they use the same strategy for cleaning their own desktop. And I have heard this from at least one other person (whom i can't remember right now). What a funny coincidence that two people independently reached at the same organisation concept.

Curious if anyone knows if this filing system has a name. If not, maybe I should write a design thesis on it and name it after myself. :P

Perks of daily public transport commute

Just finished a book in less than 7 days. This is the fastest I've been reading in a while. I've read 8 books this year, and gonna start my 9th book tonight. IMHO, that's just been possible this year because I have spent so much time on BART and Caltrain this year. Commuting for work, commuting to network, commuting to save money. Public transport is great for just sitting and reading.

Atlantic Hotel's the name of this book, written by João Gilberto Noll and translated by Adam Morris. IMHO it's an "OK" book, it tries to be dark and mysterious, when it's really just a meandering tale spoken from a first person narrative. I liked how the first person narrative is followed in such a disciplined manner. Sadly, don't have much opinions on this book. Good read, may make for a fun crime caper, but I wasn't particularly blown away by it.

Why hustling is not important to Mastery of Craft

So Zomato (the Indian food delivery company) launched a new ad campaign recently, very much styled visually like the Crazy Ones ad. They got some of my favorite icons to present in the ad, and they had some cool visuals. It's all fine and well, but their messaging was rather disappointing. They seem to be promoting people to "Hustle" to be successful.

Now this seems like a common misconception amongst people, the idea that if you work yourself to the bone, if you devote your life to your work, have sleepless nights etc, i.e. you hustle, only then can you master your craft. As someone who has tried doing that and as someone who has seen the downside of the hustle culture, I can tell you that this is a bullshit practice.

What makes you master your craft is not hustling, it's hardwork combined with humility, patience, perseverance, and sanguinity. It's the willingness to be humble enough to recognise that in the grand scheme of things our work is insignificant, but how we conduct ourselves, how we are with the people around us, and how we show up when the chips are down; that makes us be better at who we are and what we do. Doing this repeatedly, is what makes us master our craft, not, living in the hubris that the more work one puts in, the more it makes them entitled to successes in life.

Ad in question: