Ananth's Blog

Recently I created my first GitHub repo . During those precious moments of flow, I felt like a teenage programmer - a prolific creator back in college. Sometime during my stint in Isha IT, I had this thought that creativity, the act of creation and the what we call creation itself can have multiple forms. That it need not all be direct, physical, visceral - it can be of higher order - one can "create" teams, products, culture. Then last few weeks, I got the experience of being the direct creator - without those pesky layers of management and indirection. It was something practical too . It was something that I could use - It allows the user to upload NSDL statements and allow you to create portfolio trendlines. This excites me - enough to believe that I will be able to complete my planned tenure at Salesforce. More than anything (more than the Salary at least), this learning potential excites me - I notice that this excitement about learning stems from two very different thin...

Leaving our Shivapadam house at the end of Mahashivarathri, I found myself contemplating the curious phenomenon of tribal detachment. Not a complete severance—more of a self-imposed exile, a deliberate step away from the collective heartbeat. Yet the Tribe, utterly indifferent to my absence, continues its relentless forward march. It recruits fresh blood, elevates new heroes to its pantheon, and advances its grand mission with mechanical precision. The proper response from someone who still claims tribal identity (albeit from a comfortable distance) would be pride, connection, enthusiastic cheerleading from the sidelines. But this isn't about proper responses or should-be feelings. This is about the messy reality beneath the socially acceptable veneer. And articulating what I actually feel requires a certain brutal honesty I'm not entirely comfortable with. Yes, I genuinely desire the Tribe's success. Yes, I experience what appears to be authentic happiness when my fellow...

For the second time, in the last year or so, I am poring over another book from Richard Dawkins - this one is called The Greatest Show on Earth. This is my second book of Richard Dawkins. It’s far more breezy and compared to the earlier book that I read: "The Ancestor’s Tale". Like the previous book, it makes me wonder at the emergent sense of what can only be called Intelligence. This intelligence - seemingly unconscious and purposeless but which nevertheless powers the process through which animals or plants - Life - evolves to its rich eventual tapestry.  Each of the chapters are essentially arguments against the so-called Intelligent Design or Creationism. These chapters are enlivened by amazing stories of various life forms. These stories are what create a sense of wonder. These stories evoke a sense of disbelief, make me marvel at the sheer unlikeliness of the specific way life evolved the way it did. It also evokes a sense of kinship with all the creatures which endure...

I recently started reading The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman, a book that vividly explores how transformative technologies like AI, robotics, quantum computing, and biotechnology/genetics are reshaping our world. Suleyman’s vision is both fascinating and unsettling, painting a future where the open-sourcing of large language models (LLMs) and the commoditization of AI redefine the fabric of society. While the world is abuzz with speculation and hype around AI, I’ve realized that many of us have yet to internalize its true potential or understand its profound implications. For me, this realization hit home when I used Windsurf.AI to co-create a fully functional utility program for testing and experimentation at work. I had a clear idea for a utility program that I can use for testing/experimentation at my work. And then I took the plunge of actually using the system instead of reading or watching yet another breathless post about AI. Rediscovering the Joy of Creation The 30–40 mi...

Don't overplan Show up and see what happens Talk to people Trust Existence Allow randomness and serendipity to happen. Avoid tourist to-dos like a plague Travel through People - traverse their minds - be curious. Travel through Food - don't order what you recognize - ask what is good. Meditate in every new place - feel the place through meditation.

I have been open about my obsession with America. I recently visited US after 7 years. Revisiting US was like discovering an old T-Shirt which was hiding at the bottom of your wardrobe for many years - feels alien initially but then it fits like a glove but then again, you sneer at your own juvenile fashion choices. I feel I resonate with US because it has some of the growing pains and dual identities that I have. It was interesting to see how some of my reactions to it have changed over the years. In a way, revisiting was an act of looking yourself into a time-machine mirror - feeling and juxtaposing your feelings with what you felt so many years ago. I went to the US for the first time in 2005 when i was a graduate hire for  Microsoft. Its been almost 20 years since i first set foot in the US. So a few things changed. America's juvenile antics amuse me less and less - I feel so sad/ridiculous that a country supposed so far ahead on so many things can get such basics twisted arou...