Tarun Chandrayadula

@modularform @jbrous41 But Upenn also has a top liberal arts program no ?

@jbrous41 They used to sell "Penn not Penn State" tees on campus. 😀

Nobody even knows UPenn is an Ivy League school. They think you go to Penn state. Lol

@viggnesh90 ‘Cardboardish’ … yes that is what I thought

No sooner Malabar is not legendary. It’s pure crap, cardboardish in taste. Except commodity traders it elevates the quality of no producer.

@modularform @AnushkaSharad I am typing my notes in the hope that I will make a book out of it

@AnushkaSharad Beautiful notes. I had some of the worst notes as a student. Now, as a professor, I am not any better. I teach without notes. :-)

Sometimes when I am lost listening to the professor and cannot write everything down in time, I quickly take a picture of the board before it gets erased. Occasionally my professor catches me doing it and instead of minding, he poses for the picture. Those photos end up in my notes. One day when I look back at them, I know I will be grateful that I made the most of every moment in my classes and with my professors.

@puram_politics My thoughts too

I used to love that country, the United States. It was frequently immoral. Sure. But it always had a capacity for high-minded idealism that enabled course correction. That part, heartbreakingly, seems entirely vanquished.

@gauravsabnis @ShashiTharoor Beside the larger point of writing clearly, there were some awkward instances with choice of words. Once I wrote 'this study will throw up interesting ..' My advisor circled 'throw up' as wrong word choice ! We use 'throw up' in other contexts too.

We Indians raised thinking @ShashiTharoor types are the peak of good writing are told to do the opposite. We are told to use long little known words as a signal of knowledge and seriousness. Even now Tharoor is most celebrated for using long words, endless paragraphs.

Same. I used to be considered a good writer by my teachers, profs, editors in India. First sem of US PhD when Gary Lilien gave me comments on my paper draft full of red comments, I was shocked. Wasn't for grammar/spelling but verbosity. And unnecessarily long words Tharoor style

@gauravsabnis @SaibBilaval I learnt to write better while studying in USA, most of the craft while repeating my papers or technical reports. You are right in that the Americans write in short sentences, and care a lot for where the punch lands.

Reading Ketkar 1909, i noticed that much like Ambedkar, his writing has a very American academic style. Very Strunk & White. Shorter punchier sentences. UK/Europe trained Desi scholars tended to use longer words & complex long sentences. @SaibBilaval

@puram_politics Great

Ratio of Manufacturing Jobs in Tamil Nadu when compared to India, year on year.

@puram_politics While you do this voluntarily and should be thanked for that, I request you to post plots with xlabels, ylabels, .... that are readable. I cant read them... too tiny.

Ratio of Women in Formal Manufacturing Workforce (1991–2025): Tamil Nadu vs India.

@viggnesh90 What do you think is the best way to brew coffee ? I had an aeropress, but sometimes feel that it is too strong.

Coffee story continued: How does one improve the quality of coffee ? Is it by adding more nutrition to the plant ? By converting to Organic ? Is it by adding flavours to it ? When i started working with farmers directly the first important conversation we had was where they stood interms of the global scale in quality, only if they wanted to go global. If they were happy finding local buyers i would never interfere in changing or upgrading practices as in the end its the sale that matters. Quality of coffee post this discussion goes through a lot of factors, plant genetics play a vital role, so does soil health and nutrition, then comes the science of post harvest processing which includes drying, storage etc. Post harvest processing was included as a certification by agencies in the west so that they could get standards in quality of coffee and also charge a bomb to the farmers who aspire to take the course. Its the easiest way the white can create institutions in the name of non profit yet make millions in profit and feed their non profit CxO's a lot of money. Mind you, world over coffee farmers were producing exceptional quality of coffee without these certifications in the first place. Working in tandem with the farm (not only the farmer) can deepen your understanding among a lot of practical issues. Climate and its impact, wildlife and their impact, labour challenges, availability of electricity, storage limitations and infrastructure challenges. Thinking of increasing the cup score of coffee without considering practical challenges is one among the gaps in the indian specialty coffee scene right now. Every roaster has a pack of coffee that says specialty and some fancy process but in the end they all dont taste what they claim to be. When people are really educated to understand what really increases the quality of coffee considering its one among the available substance that houses 1200 chemical compounds in itself which can be converted, unlocked at various stages proves the gift of nature waiting to be experienced at its peak. I was behind a lot of laurels, working to create one of the best coffees from India, winning roasting competitions, developing blends that no one has ever done, working with some of the rarest growing regions in the country, bringing back geisha to plant in india etc. Over the last few years i have grown to realise that if i dont make drinking good coffee easy for people none of the above actually matters. When more people drink good coffee and it can be consistently made available at a larger scale with ideal pricing, that can change the optics of the industry and bring balance to the trade. Farmers dont have to depend on the market prices determined by white supremacies who dont understand an ounce of what it takes to grow and process coffee.

@viggnesh90 Please let us know when you launch the coffee. Is there an email list to get on ?

Specialty and craft coffee need a lot of variables to be correct before it reaches the consumer. I don’t think adding an expensive value to it justifies everything that goes behind it, if it doesn’t justify the taste to the consumer. For example to process coffee and bring in the quality that I want the farmers and workers have to do 1.4x of their regular labour and also risks associated with the market. I ensure I cover both and see how the value chain can co exist without burdening only one end of the spectrum with the cost. It can be either. It’s a wonderful problem to solve, I bet every single coffee brand in the country has not solved this. It’s solvable for both internal consumption and exports. There are two coffees I am launching this month, limited packs with a special something along!

@SriramMadras It still makes me cry ... every time I see the movie.

This should be the definition of true love: set them free when they want to be free, and never, ever regret that moment. Mouna Ragam is one of the finest movies in Tamil cinema. The music, screenplay, casting, and locations—everything was stitched together so beautifully.

@gauravsabnis Is that a Tilapia?

One of my quickest meals is a Fiery Fish Fry! Just salt, turmeric, New Mexico red chili powder, and thin rice flour coating (I hugely prefer it to rava). On cast iron at medium high 2 minutes each side. Most divine with onion & childhood favorite Maggi hot & sweet.

@LOLrakshak Interesting. My kids and us love baked meals .

I'm loving these meat and veggies meals baked in paper. I layer cooked rice, raw veggies, seared chicken and top it with a mustard lemon cream sauce. Wrapped it and baked it for 20 mins. Simple, healthy and yum.

@NedBertz No Indian stores in HI for namkeen?

It's so nice to be home in Hawai'i, although a piece of Delhi always stays with me when leaving – unfortunately this time in the form of a persistent cough and eye infection. Okay ok, and loads of spicy namkeen and books, too.

@sandeep_PT Hmmm …

Looking at his work from June 2024 till date, Rahul Gandhi's title should not be LoP (Leader of Opposition) but LPO (Leader of Photo Opportunities). Foreign jaunts, lackluster andolans, no rigour, no mass connect, no organizational involvement, no sangathan work, nothing nothing. Regular absences from public view. Team equally lacklustre and laidback. Just chilling, and cruising coolly, hoping for the best. But to be fair to him, the man warned everyone multiple times in advance: "I am not after power, power is poison, I am after truth". Indeed. Dikh hi raha hai maha-aalsi aadmi.

@Pavan_KumarGV Thank you for posting this

A small sampling of Raman’s publication. These papers are related to light scattering, and form the foundation on which he made his famous discovery. Raman wrote more than 400 research papers in his lifetime (apart from monographs, lectures and public talks). Writing such a series of papers on a particular topic can be observed throughout his career. A note to young scholars: intellectual monuments are built this way: thought after thought, day after day, paper after paper. Never underestimate what can be achieved with consistent, honest effort.

Really? I thought Gauss did Least Squares … not FFT. ?

All the news of the executions in Iran. All thoughts with my Persian friends from GMU, and their families back home. Regardless of the US, and Israels' purported intentions in the region are, we must support the Iranians' fight for freedom.

@gauravsabnis I made it and found it too spicy. So did my wife from Vijayawada. But yes it has a great taste otherwise. Buldak is popular around here it looks like.

@tkchandr It's spicy for sure but not too spicy for an Indian palate.

I don't make instant noodles often but when I do, go full gourmet. Buldak finished in cast iron with added gochujang, onion, bok choy, peppers, asparagus. 😋

@MadrasMobile Wow.

A reading of Isaac Tyrrel’s 1904 book on Madras gives great insight into prison conditions here in the 19th century