Monday Cup Of Links #39 - Ox Cart Heist, Laws of UX, and I’m On A Real Podcast!
And I'm airing hot takes on Indian Matchmaking.
The past week has been pretty busy, especially in terms of work. I did try sneaking in some writing. India House is now at 33,000 words. It still only feels a third done, and I am still not over the feeling of it being just a string of anecdotes, even as I’m writing the fun, exciting parts involving the lengths you had to go to in 1906 to publish a book the British government wanted banned.
But there’s been other exciting things happening in the world. Onto our links!
I’m a guest on a podcast!!
Arnab Ray, a.k.a GreatBong has been a pretty influential blogger for at least 15 years in the Indian blogosphere, and one of the first I knew of who segued his blog into a pretty successful book of essays. He has since written several mystery/horror books since then, but remains best known for his takes on current affairs and Bollywood.
Anyway. He has a podcast. And his latest episode is on the Netflix show Indian Matchmaking. AND I’M ON IT!!! With hot takes about dating and relationships. Listen away! Now!
It’s my second appearance on a discussion style podcast, and it feels like I have a long way to go in honing my speaking skills. Somehow I manage to do okay when I’m giving a tech talk, but recorded conversation is my Waterloo. Or Panipat, if you will.
I have a lot more to say on Indian Matchmaking, given it’s such a complicated topic. I might write more on it. But I need to commend Arnab for taking this Jackson Pollock painting of opinions and condensing it into something coherent and interesting.The greatest arms heist in Indian history happened in 1914, and involved a group of revolutionaries, one of the richest men in India, and…. A bullock cart! The guns from this heist were used in every anti-British activity for a decade later, and it was a big factor in the British passing the draconian Rowlatt Act. This whole story is riveting, inspite of, or rather, because of the low-tech nature of this whole robbery. What's interesting for me here is one of the people involved was Rashbehari Bose, someone who seems to show up on this newsletter every now and then with some cool tale of adventure. What was this man not involved in?
I love Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It. Imagine my delight when I came across her advice on writing short stories in the New York Times. It’s crisp, short, and incredibly effective. If you’ve been wondering about sitting down to write, follow what she says. She knows what she’s talking about.
Laws Of UX is a really cool little website that summarizes concepts in User Experience design. As someone who routinely struggles with UX, this is an easy way to learn the basics on a surface level.
GIF of the week: A canyon in the American Southwest. I am breathtooken.