Posts by Govind

‘Dalgona App’ : Trying new things in pairs

Food Life Tech 1 Comment

The lockdown period has brought out the chef hidden in many busy-bodies. Last friday, I saw status update from 7 people in my network, who made Parottas at home. Good to see that people are enjoying their time at home, honing a very important life skill.

An interesting dish that gained popularity this season is a beverage, Dalgona Coffee, probably owing to the ease of making; ie limited ingredients (milk, water, sugar, coffee powder), limited setup (spoon and glass) and almost zero culinary skills.

I’ve been using WordPress for about a decade now, as my primary CMS of choice. I’ve used the wordpress app for atleast 3 years now, mostly to check visit stats of the websites I manage. I’ve never posted anything from the wordpress mobile app.

Today was the day.

This post is being composed in the WordPress Android app, with a glass full of homemade (Govind-made) Dalgona coffee in my coffee table. ☕

Send that ‘hi’

Life

Today is my 21st day of sitting at home. I self-imposed a lock-down much before the government declared one.

The gift of time was precious. In addition to many professional and personal things that were kept aside for quite some time owing to my being ‘busy’, could be fulfilled.

However, ranking above all that, I pinged someone very dear to me. We were not on talking terms for more than 2 years now. We never had a fight, or argument, ever. We just drifted away from each other, getting busy with our own lives. The space between us got filled with ego, preventing either from initiating a conversation.

Yesterday, I decided to conquer the ego. I sent a ‘Hi’. We talked. A day later, we both are happier than we were a day ago.

Not to sound preachy, but here is a fun activity for all of you to do during the lock-down.

  • Take your phone. Open any messaging app.
  • Scroll through your contact list. Find that one person you haven’t talked to in a while. Few suggestions
    • An old friend, from school or college
    • A distant relative
    • An ex, or even better, an ex-crush
  • Send a ‘hi’. Ask them how they are coping up with the lockdown.

It would be angelic to put a smile on someone’s face, during these troubled times.

Eiffel Tower : Lockdown Throwbacks

Travel

The much hyped wonder of the world and its images are in public domain since 1993. However, its illumination is considered an artwork on its own, and is protected by copyright, making it illegal to post pictures of the lit Eiffel Tower.

Hence, posting an incomplete, unlit picture of the tower, in which I look like a con artist trying to sell Eiffel tower for scrap metal. (Not a joke, this happened twice. Read the wikipedia article about Victor Lustig for more info) .

My March Playlist

Music

Except for a weekend in Chennai, I had spend March predominantly at home, owing to the COVID scenes and subsequent lockdown. Following are the songs that frequented my playlist this past month.

  1. Ennodothunarunna Pularikale | Sukrutham | ONV Kurup, Bombay Ravi, K J Yesudas

    The song is an ode of gratitude. The protagonist is grateful to the everything around him, for sustaining his journey of life. ONV’s lyrics ooze positivity, especially the phrase “തളരുമീയുടൽ താങ്ങിനെത്തിയ പരമമാം കാരുണ്യമേ ” is very thoughtful. Set in the soulful Sudha Dhanyasi, it encapsulates the spirit of hope set by the poet.

  2. Amudhangalaal Nirainthen | Aditya Varma | Thamarai, Radhan, Priyanka

    ‘Madhurame’ from Arjun Reddy was catchy right from the first listen, owing to Radhan’s veena + dubstep arrangements, that overlay of melancholy, and catchy voice processing. For some reason, it felt like Priyanka put more life into the song that Sameera.

  3. Aao Aao Sanwariiya | Padosan | Rajendra Kishan, R D Burman, Manna Dey

    Probably the best from an album full of superlative songs. The video is hilarious, Mehmud gets inside the skin of the character and the song simultaneously.

  4. Welcome to Wonderland | Anson Seabra

    Relaxing. Wait for the end.

Food trail @ Pondy

Food

I’ve been to Pondy 4 times now, and each time, I discover something new and cool.

 

  • Pain aux Raisin and Pineapple Juice from Baker Street, Bussy Street
  • Chicken Peri Peri from Rendezvous, White Town
  • Veg Shashlik from Rendezvous, White Town
  • Filter Coffee from Kool Kat
  • GMT Icecreams, Promenade
  • Filter Coffee, KBS Coffee bar
  • Street Barbeque, Promenade
  • Surguru Spot, Near Manakula Vinayagar
  • Chicken Biriyani and Chilly Chicken from Appachi’s Chettinadu Mess
  • Special Meals from Surguru Spot, Near Manakula Vinayagar

Whoever can surprise well must conquer

Life

The package was thoughtfully addressed to “Govind Maheswaran, Room No. 501, Mercure KCP Hotel, Kacheguda, Hyderabad”

Little things do matter, it puts a smile in someone’s face. 

Will hopefully be writing more about the sender.

Talk at MLDS 2020

Talks

I’ll be talking at MLDS 2020 at Hyderabad on a methodology of automating the role of a moderator in the Focus Group discussions using artificial intelligence, where the proposed solution uses machine learning and deep learning to process the video and audio streams of a Focus Group.

 

Update : Done with the talk. 

 

Creating Interactive Presentations | Menti

Talks Tech

Last week, I facilitated a workshop at Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science in Andhra Pradesh. 

The first session was a generic 2 hour introduction to AI, for which the whole college was invited. I could see the annoyance in the faces of the kids, who were forced to attend a lecture. Worse, one of their teachers told me “You should be glad if anyone even acknowledges you”. 

I started the talk, to a bunch of sleepy eyed 20-year olds. In a short while, things turned around. The kids interacted, gave me comments, personal anecdotes. Most importantly, they asked questions. ASKED QUESTIONS. Their own teachers were surprised that their kids would ask these many questions.

 

What did I do differently? 

 

I used this interactive presentation webapp called menti. With menti, my audience could interact with me live and realtime. I could see their questions scrolling in the white screen, projected all the way from my laptop. 

 

Menti window with realtime questions scrolling

Do try our menti for creating interactive presentations.