Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam

On a bright sunny day (yes, it really was!), we started from Srinagar, got into our white Maruti Suzuki Dzire cab and readied ourselves for the two and half journey ahead. On the way, we stopped at a seemingly well-known and popular spot on the side of the highway and bought dry fruits. At the shop, the salesman’s portrayal of kesar was tempting – pure, high quality, aromatic, premium, handpicked and what not. Convinced just a wee bit, we bought a small packet and got back in the car.

Next stop was a small apple farm and shop. Amidst more than 15 varieties of apple trees - including Royal Gala, Gala, Amritbani, and a golden yellow cultivar - planted in a geometric pattern, there was a small clearing with some chairs and tables. As we got comfortable, came the trays - trays and trays of jams, pickles, chutneys, juices and mixes. We drank a refreshing glass of freshly juiced (plucked and juiced right in front of us) apples each and sampled a veritable array of apple, lotus stem, cherry, and fig-based jams, chutneys, and pickles. With two big bags to show for the visit, we left the apple farm behind and climbed back into the car. 

Collective Force of Good, in Action

We live in the age of AI and disruption, where technology advancements are aplenty and not very far apart either. But they feel almost recursive in some sense. Don’t get me wrong, am sure the iPhone 17 will be “the fastest ever, best ever” iPhone Apple has ever made (pun intended). Am sure the next iteration of OpenAI’s LLM - GPT 4.2 or GPT 5 will break all the benchmarks of the earlier versions. But all these “breakthroughs” feel incremental to the sane, logical man and moreover these are from individual corporate behemoths or deep tech companies on their path to becoming the behemoths. 

When was the last time you recall multiple sectors of society coming together to achieve something phenomenal? The true power of the human race, so to say.

Glimpses of my Solo Trip - 2Ps

By air, bus, car, train and ferry, my latest trip covered a solid 4,700-odd kms (alright now, yes, bulk of that distance is through air). What follows is a spotlight on that part of the journey where I travelled alone; these are a peek into those experiences in chronological order, covering two Ps - People and Places.

It’s trip time, folks!

This piece is a recollection of my first trip with fresh faces all around. I booked it on a whim, not really knowing the organizers, the peer group or what to expect. Was not disappointed, to say the least. Here goes: 

Revving the senses

I missed watching most of the last five/six F1 races. Red Bull taking podium after podium started becoming the trend and that somehow piqued little interest; yes, it seemed like the rise of Ferrari in the early races but that clamour died down as time went by. Winners and losers aside, I was recently reminded of why I really like the sport – all it took was a trip to the race tracks recently with a few friends.

This served as the circuit: A short straight, followed by a sharp swerve to the right opens the track to a broad hair pin bend, after which comes two right and left swerves in quick succession serving as a chicane and the final right turn to the pit entry.

Changing Landscapes

There was a four-decade old one-story house right next to where I live. With a pale green paint and a matching pale green banana tree at the back, it was not your modern city home. It was built for a different time; in fact, the backdoor opened into a well.  Where does one find city houses with wells these days?

A Goal for the World

Capitalism and socialism fought it out in the Cold War and after the fall of Soviet Russia, it might seem that capitalism emerged as the one ideology that is truly successful. It is successful, yes, but only to some and in wildly differing degrees- concentration of wealth by a select few is a shining example. The richest 1% own 43% of the world’s wealth, says a Credit Suisse report.

An exception to the capitalistic spread is China, which follows what is called Chinese socialism, which is in some sense a mix of calibrated capitalism and state control. Though ideologically tagged as socialism, extremities of wealth and poverty are not unseen in China. And this is exactly what the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) seemingly wants to target. It advocates for an olive shaped societal income distribution, where lesser and lesser people are at the fringes of poverty and wealth. In other words, this means that the middle class outweigh the rich and the poor. Accordingly, Mr. Xi Jinping has renewed the CPC’s focus on “common prosperity”, envisioned to narrow the yawning gap between the different economic classes.

As the Tamil adage goes “Ore kallu la rendu maanga” or as does the alternative in English “To kill two birds with one stone”, “common prosperity” achieves more than one purpose. First, it provides a solution to the moderating economic growth of China. The Chinese engine, thriving on investment and export, is looking to shift towards consumption. A consumption based economy flourishes only when a majority of the population has sufficient spending power. Common prosperity might just hit the bulls eye here.

Second, it helps rein in larger than life private enterprise which is seen to have amassed a little too much of clout in the internet era. Xi has initiated a crackdown aimed at some of the most successful companies in China like Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan. He has also indicated that it is time for these mammoth companies to pay their share. Since then, Alibaba and Tencent have made announcements of plowing $15B each to further the “common prosperity” agenda.

It feels like a brilliant step in the right direction. Though the true intentions behind the second line of reasoning may be convoluted, no one wants all powerful tech companies. They already control half our mind share and more of our time share. On the other hand, if policies end up in wealth redistribution, yes, give me more!

The CPC does not run a democracy and has its share of controversy but some of its policies are worth noting. With income inequalities burgeoning after the COVID waves and the brunt of climate change being disproportionately borne by poorer countries, “common prosperity” should be a goal for the world, not just China.

My trip to Matrimandir, Auroville

Right off the bat, does it sound awfully like the “My trip to the zoo” essay you wrote in 3^rd grade (I honestly have no idea what grade that was, excuse me for growing up 😜 ) ?  To answer the question, it is a bit like that but it is also a grown up version of that. So, here it goes:

I reached the parking lot of Auroville where the guard was quite taken aback when I informed him that we had reserved a spot online. Rolling in to the lot, I see almost all the shady (I mean trees and shade, not crackheads) spots taken. I do a round, and another until I find one with reasonable tree cover. Why, you ask? It was hot out there, scorching hot.

A balancing act, at 300 kmph

There is no denying that motorsports and F1, specifically is dangerous prima facie. Hurtling through space at 250kmph-300kmph is no amateur feat. It requires immense physical and mental strength. The level of speed naturally brings in an element of risk. The risks involved are one of the main factors that draw drivers and fans alike to the sport.

But human life is paramount and F1 has seen numerous advances in driver safety over the years, regulations have also been moulded and re-moulded to penalize drivers who overstep limits. The modern monocoque is a true testament to advances on safety. Not just technology, F1 culture itself has evolved to prioritize driver safety from the Prost-Senna era.

Yesterday, Verstappen and Hamilton collided in the British GP, sending Verstappen scurrying towards the barriers. It was later known that Verstappen took a 51G impact as he hit the barriers. A big, big hit. Verstappen was understandably winded. Thankfully, Verstappen is alright now and hasn’t been injured, which is an immense relief.

Not Tomorrow’s War

Yes, the globe is warming up. No, don’t trust Trump on this.

Yes, there are multiple efforts to counter climate change. No, they aren’t doing enough. But at least there is widespread acknowledgement of the scale of disastrous effects of climate change and remedial steps are being purported.

Global warming is already upon us. News bulletins shout out “never before” droughts, rains and floods from time to time. There is something that is still in a nascent stage, that might have just as deleterious effects as global warming. Am talking about electronic waste.

E-waste is piling up, quite literally, in dump yards. The Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), which counts the UN and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as founding members, predicts e-waste will reach 74 metric tonnes in ten years, double the number in 2014.