Blissful Life

When you apply skepticism and care in equal amounts, you get bliss.

Category: Opinion

  • Is Science The Only Way of Knowing?

     This is continuation of a debate from YouTube. The statement that “Science is the only way of knowing” is correct. But it is also arrogant. The definition of knowledge that we are working with is “justified belief of independent rational observers”. What I argue in the video is that independent rational observers can come to…

  • Why Researchers Who Care About Equity Should Use Zotero (and Not Mendeley)

    If you are a researcher, chances are that you write papers. And if you write papers there is a good reason for you to use a reference manager (also called citation manager?). If you use a reference manager and you care about equity, there is a good reason why you should use Zotero. Why use…

  • How To Stay Sane Online in 7 Simple Steps

    The sheer vastness of information online can disorient some people. Fake news and hate makes it even harder for them. These techniques are what I personally use to keep my mind “blissful” despite what is going around me. And yet I get to enjoy all the goodness of internet too. #1: Be ruthless in cutting…

  • Organizations, Like People, Have Values

    I stole the title from Peter Drucker’s Harvard Business Review article titled “Managing Oneself” [pdf]. It has been 4 years since I graduated medical school and in that many years, having worked with (and escaped having to work with) organizations of different kinds, I have come to the same conclusion. Organizations have values. These values…

  • Don’t Cook Your Meals

    Thanks to The Great Indian Kitchen a lot of discussions are happening on cooking. I wanted to note down a few of my thoughts in relation to cooking, etc. I find cooking boring There might be people who find cooking interesting. I am not one of those persons. I find food boring too. Anything healthy…

  • The Great Indian Kitchen – A Great Movie About the Not So Great Indian Kitchen

    If you know Malayalam, you are better off reading Joshina Ramakrishnan’s review which captures the whole essence of the movie and places it smack in the middle of the collective conscience of Malayalis. The first thing that appears on the screen after CBFC certificate is not a 2D Ganesha idol. It is the words “THANKS…

  • What to Do with Privilege?

     I have had the privilege to think and write about privilege often. I have written about how privilege affects Indian software industry’s ability to innovate. I have written about why the privileged should think about how they’re part of the problem. I have looked at my privileges visible to me. I also felt guilty/responsbile and…

  • Annihilation of Caste

    Jat-Pat Todak Mandal probably wanted to be the #DalitLivesMatter of their time. That’s how they invited Ambedkar to their annual conference in 1936 to deliver a speech. Organization of conferences in that time and today have at least one thing in common – communication gaps. JPTM wanted Ambedkar to talk about abolition of caste. Like…

  • How Can I Be Useful For You?

    I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I haven’t still figured out how to execute this. But here’s the idea. I’m very privileged, purely by the accident of birth. There are millions of people less privileged than me in many ways. I think the right use of my privileges would be to help…

  • Why Wikipedia Is Evil

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of many things about Wikipedia. I have a small number of edits on Wikipedia too. But, I think democratizing knowledge creation is more important than Wikipedia. And that’s why the title. I have written with examples about how Wikipedia’s claims about it being “the sum of all human…