Notices by Thejesh GN (thej@social.thej.in)

Today was my first encounter with moral police, though I wasn't his target—a teenage[1] couple in the park[1] was. As I entered, I noticed a young couple hugging, maybe even kissing, but I couldn't see clearly as I was not paying much attention.

Then I saw a man with a toddler approached them. At first, it looked like a polite conversation, so I ignored it.

But then he started yelling: "Go home!" “maa bap nahi hai kya?” and “chutiya log”

I usually mind my business, but his tone and choice of words bothered me, so I stepped in:

Me: "Why are you shouting at kids?"
He: "Did you see what they were doing?"
Me: "Kissing?"
He: "It's bad for your kid to see as well."
Me: "I wouldn't use those words in front of a toddler."
He, irritated: "I'm not talking to you."
Me: "Well, we are all strangers here."
He, fuming: "Calm down."
Me: "I'm not the one shouting at kids."

Him, louder: "Mind your own business."
I couldn't help but smile: "If you had, I would've."

He turned and left with his toddler.

I'm generally non-confrontational and avoid public arguments[3], but I couldn't hold back this time. Part of my Bangalorean/Kannadiga heart broke a bit today.

What would you have done?

[1] They looked like 19 or 20; folks can elect a PM at 18 in India.
[2] Not a children's park or children's part of the park

#dogsofmastodon

Informal DataMeet-up at Starbucks on Church Street/Bengaluru this Friday!

Date: Friday, 10th May Time: 6:00 PM Location: Starbucks on Church Street, Bengaluru

Rukmini will be kicking off the discussion by shedding light on DataForIndia, a fascinating initiative focused on leveraging data for meaningful insights.

Following that, I'll be diving into a discussion about surveillance in Bengaluru.

@2ISqzrInoBl5P67ueROxD

I don't like most new smart electric cars/bikes. They have unnecessary cloud connections. You don't know what happens when the cloud part falls apart or the company goes down. I think the "smartest" cars and bikes are the ones that don't need an internet connection to run.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68935522

NMG – 2024 – Results | Thejesh GN

https://thejeshgn.com/2024/04/12/nmg-2024-results/

> Finally, I am on time this year, and the results are here. There were 350+ applications this year. I spent a lot of time in the last two weeks reading and filtering them. There were many eligible and exciting applications, but I am limited by our total funds.

Data For India is a public platform to expand the understanding of India through data for everyone.

Data For India uses public data from the Indian government and multilateral agencies like the World Bank to produce research-backed data-driven insights and charts on socio-economic issues.

https://www.dataforindia.com/

by a member of DataMeet Community

Finally I launched the bot to post "ಇಂದಿನ ವಚನ". It should post every morning 11:30 AM IST. Bot is here

https://social.thej.in/@vachana

Vachana is picked from https://vachana.sanchaya.net

CC: @omshivaprakash

You can keep track of internet shutdowns in India at https://internetshutdowns.in/ we have already seen 17 instances in 2024.

https://internetshutdowns.in/

Its run by @sflcin

Also donate to the project https://sflc.in/donate/

Nagarathna Memorial Grant – 2024 Open for Applications

Started in 2018, Nagarathna Memorial
Grant is an yearly, no strings attached grant of one lakh rupees (~$1400). It's a micro-grant targeted at everyone. The reason for grant could be anything as long it's meaningful to you and the people around you. Though I prefer free and open source or creative commons projects. It's not a must.

https://thejeshgn.com/2024/01/15/nagarathna-memorial-grant-2024-open-for-applications/

#NagarathnaMemorialGrant

@mastodonindians @microgrants

@nitin if you see this on your timeline. Can you do a quick reply?