The July Notes
Of Uneven Months, Cafes, and Finding a Groove
For those who are new to this publication, this monthly roundup post lays out its four pillars.
Hello Everyone! I am back with a monthly roundup. It has been an uneven ride.
I unintentionally arm-wrestled a heavy printer and lost. My left arm got so mad it refused to speak to me for weeks and still expects constant TLC in the form of rest, meds, and physical therapy. Who knew the arm was so critical in typing?
While recovering, I tried voice-activated notes, but I discovered it is super difficult to write creatively through speech. Voice-assisted features work well for simple texts, emails, and some generic tasks online. GenAI-based voice-activation software may bridge the gap between rendition, comprehension, and translation compared to an editor’s simple voice-to-text rendering. But that is a topic for my other publication,
!Has anyone else successfully written their stories using speech?
During this time, I focused on a narrow range of wisdom stories, all of which I have grouped on the main site as the ‘Wisdom Series.’ However, the Substack ‘tag’ feature has developed a bug, causing some tagged stories to be included, some to be excluded, and others to be duplicated! 🤷
On a lighter note, I also wrote about the peculiarity of Indian English.
The weather is cooler in Bangalore, with occasional showers, unlike other cities in India, which are being deluged by the monsoon and handling it poorly - a bane of growth and short-term infrastructure planning. This often makes daily life hazardous on the roads.
To an observer, it may seem simple: fix the issues, so it is better in the future!
But the transactional nature of Indian systems gets in the way of longer-term thinking. Most solutions are patch-worked to resolve a temporary situation depending on how irate the public gets, how close elections are, and how focused the media is on the issue.
So, people rock from issue to issue, tragedy to tragedy, hoping that the Gods will be kinder, and that short-term memory will win until the next unfortunate event.
Of course, there are rare exceptions to the rule, like in any other aspect of India.
In the technology industry, the campuses for overseas companies and businesses oriented towards overseas export cope well under different scenarios. They adhere to international best practices and fail-safe processes.
Now, if we could just extend the scope of those campuses to cover the entire city, we would be in good shape! :-)
Nevertheless, Bangalore boasts many outdoor cafes as its California-style weather allows for a pleasant eating experience. Here are some choices - fine-dining and casual - you can try if you are in town.
One of the fun things to do in the city is wander through different neighborhoods to discover their history, charm, and the small outdoor cafes that abound.
These cafes offer free Wi-Fi and varied fare - American, European, Indian - with a wide range of coffees and teas, making the visit worthwhile.
One of my favorite spots - Maverick and Farmer’s cafe - is attached to a soccer field where Adidas sponsors soccer training camps for children. You can watch the children joyfully attempting plays on the field, or the more serious adult matches, while sipping your favorite brew. Just remember to steer clear of the times when parents congregate to pick up their little ones!
On that visual, I bid you adieu until next month, with an invitation to explore some of my older stories.
Read my other monthly roundups under ‘Musings.’
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Incredibly helpful
Hope you are feeling better by now. I don't fancy AI typing. It doesn't capture my emotions and feels so forced, haha.