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Ashish Bhatia
When Americans say spicy, they usually mean chili. For some weird reason, other spices that are more aromatic like Turmeric, cloves, cardamom, etc. do not seem to fit the definitely of “spicy”. That’s why in a typical Indian/Thai restaurant in the US when they ask how spicy, they mean “How much chili should I put …The post Spicy vs Chilli first appeared on ashishb.net.
Writing a blog post in plain text isn’t fun. Neither is writing it in a bulky word processor like Microsoft Word. The former is too constrained, the latter too unbridled. Writing in Markdown is fun. It has sufficient features without creating bloat. Building a backend in lambda functions has a strong lock-in. On the other …The post Sometimes the middle ground is most empowering first appeared on ashishb.net.
Joshua Tree National Park, about a three-hour drive from the city of Los Angeles, is home to Joshua Trees. If you have a day to spend, I would recommend a hike followed by the viewpoints. We started from the south entrance and went northwards, here’s what we did Lost Oasis Trail – An easy ~7.5 …The post A day at Joshua Tree National Park first appeared on ashishb.net.
Guatemala is a hidden gem in Central America. Just like its English-speaking neighbor Belize, it is a picturesque country worth visiting. Day 1 – Ride to Antigua After landing at the Guatemala International Airport, I took a taxi to Antigua. It’s only an hour away and is much safer than the capital city, Guatemala City. …The post Guatemala in 8 days first appeared on ashishb.net.
गाँव में रहने वाला लड़का घर में “नींबू-पानी” पीता है । शहर में जाता है तो उसको “शिकंजी” बोलने लगता है । फिर फ़ाइव-स्टार होटेल में जाता है, और “लेमोनेड” ऑर्डर करता है । विदेश-यात्रा पर जाता है, तो उसी नींबू-पानी को “व़र्जिन-मोहीतो” कहना सीख जाता है । – कुमार विश्वासThe post Virgin Mojito (हिंदी) first appeared on ashishb.net.
I stared at the clothing in the souvenir shop. “Cancún” is written on the cap. “Cancún” is written on the chest. Cancún written on the derrière. In myriad fonts and sizes. I wondered who buys all these souvenirs. I have occasionally purchased souvenir clothing in the past. But it is usually lower quality, overpriced, and …The post Souvenir Clothing first appeared on ashishb.net.
An expensive place full of tourists is considered a popular destination. While an inexpensive place full of tourists will be called a crowded one. An expensive place lacking tourists is termed an exclusive destination. While an inexpensive place lacking tourists is considered deserted. It is never about other tourists, it is always about how much …The post Crowded or Popular? Exclusive or deserted? first appeared on ashishb.net.
A few years back, I wasted time on Duolingo trying to learn Spanish. I no longer do that and you shouldn’t. Here’s why it’s not effective… Language is primarily an oral activity. The written language evolved later, primarily, for bureaucracy and tax collection. Any app that emphasizes the written aspect first is splitting your learning …The post Duolingo is a waste of Time first appeared on ashishb.net.
Indian passport remains weak, as per Henley’s 2021 index, India has visa-free access to only 59 countries and that obviously excludes the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Schengen zone. Before ruminating on that, it is worth asking, why China, which is 5 times richer than India in terms of per capita GDP is … The post Why Indian Passport remains weak first appeared on ashishb.net.
There are several nightmare stories on the Internet regarding Google’s poor handling of payment issues related to Google Fi service. Most problems arise because people buy a phone along with Google Fi SIM. Don’t do it. Google FI SIMs are free. Just buy a good phone without lock-in separately. The offers you see usually show … The post Don’t buy Google FI SIM with a phone first appeared on ashishb.net.
The northern part of Bengal known as Gorkhaland and Sikkim is the Nepali-speaking region of India. This part is known mostly for its mountainous beauty. If you are flying in, Bagdogra is the closest airport. The airside of this airport is congested, so, I would recommend not to check-in too early. Day 1 – Bagdogra … The post 5 days in Gorkhaland (West Bengal) and Sikkim first appeared on ashishb.net.
A new Indian restaurant had opened within walking distance of where we live. We, actually, discovered it on the day of its inauguration (Muhurta). The owner politely told us to come back the next day. We did. We were fifth in the queue on a long line outside the restaurant. A phone call came in … The post The Terrible Economics of running a Restaurant first appeared on ashishb.net.
There are positive jobs and then there are double-negative jobs. Positive jobs when done well increase the revenue of the company. On the other hand, double-negative jobs when done well, prevent the loss of revenue. Consider HR, lawyer, physical/information security personnel, all are double-negative roles. If they do their job well, you won’t notice any … The post Double-negative jobs first appeared on ashishb.net.
Then Seed/Angel Series-A Series-B Series-C IPO Now Pre-seed Seed – If a seed round is too big, it is called a mango seed. Seed extension Angel Series-A Series-B Series-C … Series-Z Venture round Growth round IPO Also, why isn’t pre-seed called a pollen round? The post Fundraising rounds then and now first appeared on ashishb.net.
If you are planning your first trip to the Caribbean and you want to decide where to go to then this post is right for you. If you are looking for something very touristy, international, and easy to access then pick between English-speaking Belize and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. Both of them have all the … The post Where to go on your first Caribbean trip first appeared on ashishb.net.
Every resource that I came across tries to teach Spanish to English speakers. Those who already know Hindi/Devanagari have certain advantages. Both in terms of producing the correct Spanish pronunciation as well as being able to read/speak the Spanish language. Like Hindi, Spanish is much more phonetic and rule-based than English. Alphabet set Many alphabets … The post Spanish Pronunciations for Hindi speakers first appeared on ashishb.net.
The Dominican Republic is probably the most touristy Spanish-speaking Caribbean island. In my experience, it can be aptly called the tout capital of the Caribbean. We went there in the shadows of COVID-19. The island has pretty good intra-city and inter-city public transport. The local currency DOP, Dominican Pesos, is about 1/60th of the US … The post Dominican Republic in 5 days first appeared on ashishb.net.
There are several caves at Lava Beds National Monument of varying levels of challenges. I would recommend starting with a few easy ones first before taking it to a higher level. The caves do get really shallow at times, sometimes, less than a foot in height, so, don’t go in if you get claustrophobic. Gears … The post Cave Exploration at Lava Beds National Monument first appeared on ashishb.net.
Does raising the education levels to lead to wealth? Should we bail out banks? Is an irregular diet better than a regular one? How complex systems differ from complicated ones? The post Book summary: Antifragile by Nassim Nicolas Taleb first appeared on ashishb.net.
I love taking public transport while traveling. One, not only, gets a chance to see the lifestyles of the locals but also becomes more familiar with the new area. So, when can one count on public transport while traveling? Peru and Ecuador had great public transport, both short and long-distance. Dominica had mediocre, Aruba had … The post When can you count on public transport while traveling? first appeared on ashishb.net.
Digital Minimalism is a philosophy of technology in which you focus your online time on a few carefully selected activities that support the things you value. Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in the use of a substance or in s behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to … The post Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport first appeared on ashishb.net.
About 50% of Indians use Hindi as their primary language. Hindi/Devanagari is fairly phonetic except when it starts to import foreign words. And that’s why many Indians, with Hindi as their primary language, end up with incorrect pronunciations of foreign, mainly English, words. Let’s look at a few specific categories of mistakes. Approximating English sounds … The post Indian accent first appeared on ashishb.net.
Aruba, a small Caribbean island 29 km north of Venezuela, is a part of the ABC islands – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, which form the Dutch Caribbean and is a part of the Netherlands. It is famous for its white-sand beaches. Where to stay Aruba Downtown is far from the impressive beaches in the northwest. … The post Things to do in Aruba first appeared on ashishb.net.
Google Play Music was great. Apart from one missing feature about the inability to upload music from the phone to the Google Play Music library, I had no other complaints. Then it was forcefully shut down. Google provided YouTube Music as an alternative. Unless you pay for the premium version, you can’t listen to the … The post Why I built an alternative to Google Play Music first appeared on ashishb.net.
There are tons of hyped-up claims surrounding React Native that are worth addressing. The reasons why companies run for React Native are usually, We already use Javascript for the website and now, we can build apps in that as well. We can use one codebase for Android, iOS, and web apps. Or at least, Android … The post React Native first appeared on ashishb.net.
On Android catching Java exceptions is easy via UncaughtExceptionHandler. Catching NDK crashes is a bit more convoluted. Since the native stack is probably corrupted, you want the crash handler to run on a separate process. Also, since the system might be in an unstable shape, don’t send the crash report to your web server or … The post Android: Catching NDK crashes first appeared on ashishb.net.
Indic-origin names should not use “v”, the sound is entirely non-existent in Indic origin languages. Consider a word like a wave, a Hindi speaker might pronounce it as वेव but that’s incorrect. The first consonant “w” is pronounced just like व in Hindi with the two lips touching each other. The second consonant though involves … The post Hindi: The missing “v” sound first appeared on ashishb.net.
Egypt, locally known as Misr (मिस्र) is world-famous for its pyramids and ancient polytheist temples. I made a trip to Egypt in Nov 2020, during the COVID-19 era. Given the general lack of tourism, it was a great time to travel since I didn’t face any queues and in many temples, I was the sole … The post Egypt in 8 days first appeared on ashishb.net.
After I wrote my previous post, some suggested that I can cut down the image size further by using a “scratch” image. And that’s true, “scratch i”s a reserved 0-sized image with nothing in it. And utilizing a scratch binary image did cut down the size of the final Docker image from 13MB to 7.5MB. … The post Docker: Be careful about the scratch image first appeared on ashishb.net.
Glacier National Park, Montana is considered to be one of the most gorgeous national parks in the US. We went there in September 2020. It wasn’t snowing but the weather was still pretty erratic with random cold showers during the day. So, I would recommend going no later than August. Also, the east side, which … The post Glacier National Park in 4 days first appeared on ashishb.net.