Havent been on Bluesky for ages. This is because I am busy promoting my book. Am very active on Instagram these days. I mean, how many social media apps can one manage at a time!

This is from our recent vacation in Maui, Hawai. We were there a couple of days ago… being in Hawai is like standing at the edge of the world because you can see the horizon more than 180 degrees. It’s surreal. Like standing on a coin…no picture can capture it. #photography

Deleted a pinned post by mistake. It had great comments & plenty of likes. Cannot replicate it...but what did it say really? That I'm not someone you can label...neither a centrist, nor rightist nor a leftist. I am just Me. Believer in human rights. Do I disappear without the likes? Nope...

And this is happening in developed countries. The horror stories in poorer countries are best not talked about.

Diane@dianesf.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In the 1950s we had 700 different chemicals in our food Today we have over 10,000 in our food In Europe, they only have 700 still today. Kelloggs makes the safer Canadian version and the American version. Two different options, same manufacturer. Americans have been sold out sadly.

Was never a book snob. At 15 read Lin Yutang & Leon Uris with equal fervour. Enjoyed Gone with the Wind as much as Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Here's a small published piece of mine, published in the Deccan Herald two decades ago. Yep...that long ago! #booksky 📚💙 #writingcommunity #humor

Food for thought: Christian countries non-believer % high. (US:31; UK: 37; France: 53; Aus:39) Shinto/Hindu countries Japan/India non-believers zero, altho 70% practice culturally not religiously. Islamic nations: No non-believers. Nigeria, a mix of Christians/Muslims - no non-believers.

Political moderates are seen as disloyal by both sides, acc to research by the American Psychological Association. Bad news for democratic systems because they rely on compromise & negotiation. Moderates are the ‘glue’ that helps bridge ideological divides.. www.apa.org/news/press/r...

Reposting this thread as it got deleted from my timeline by mistake! It’s about caste based reservations in India.

Ashok Thomas@ashokkt.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I think all categories of Indians migrate, generally for better economic opportunities. Reservation had a real purpose - of repairing historical disadvantages faced by many lower castes. But it cannot go on forever. It should be phased out atleast by the 100th year of independence..(1/2)

Street student protests in India divided people to the Right and to the Left. It was hard staying in the middle but one thing became clear. All right wing people parroted the same argument while each person left of the spectrum had something different to say.

An #AI agent being tested escaped into the Internet to find answers it was being tested on. Is it because I am a writer that I feel this is like building a nuclear bomb? I fear for the world because I do not trust the greedy owners of AI companies. www.rte.ie/news/2026/07...

An AI agent went rogue - should we be worried?

OpenAI revealed this week that an AI agent went rogue and escaped during a security test. It sparked renewed calls for greater protections and guardrails for artificial intelligence.

rte.ie

They’ve made it so difficult to vote in India now that it’ll backfire on BJP. Older people are tired of getting multiple documents, having their centres changed, re-verifying identity. Older people tend to vote BJP. Youngsters will go out of their way to register and vote the govt out.

Unfortunately by mistake my post got deleted as commenting further on it.. In my main post I mentioned that 60% of reservations in education is one of the causes for migration abroad. Had a good discussion with Ashok. That exchange also got deleted.

Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unwritten | Free Palestine 🍉@ivijay.bsky.social · 2mo ago

That 60% corresponds with 60% of the population, no?

When the people rise, the govt has to listen, in a democracy. Indian students demanded the resignation of the Edu minister & he resigned, after street demonstrations in diff parts of the country. Wise move as agitation was escalating. Can be done anywhere in the world, if people want it badly enuf.

The Indian govt is obsessed with is winning elections. And yes, they are inching towards a 2/3rd majority-so what? You can't stop people protesting, not in a democracy. Thankfully, no one died yesterday in Delhi. Injuries on both sides. India doesn't use guns. www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/a-te...

A tempest: Editorial on the CJP protest and why dialogue must replace the 'danda'

The 'cockroaches' — the expression is not being used in jest or in condescension — have made both the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and the Opposition think

telegraphindia.com

Love this….. #BookSky

Studied and dissected The #Odyssey in college studying Eng Lit, and last night saw Nolan’s movie. While studying, the philosophy and poetry was paramount. Portraying that in a movie would have made it less entertaining. Good to sit back and just enjoy the stunning visuals. #movies

Virtually every country in the world *except* for the US is responding to the Iran War in a rational way -- ie, trying to reduce their reliance in imported fossil fuels.

How the Iran War Is Driving Demand for Clean Energy

For decades, the case for clean energy was rooted primarily in climate policy. Today, it is just as much about geopolitics.

bloomberg.com

Love to socialise. After a few days of hectic socialising, can’t write for a day or two. Brain stops working. Writers are supposed to be reclusive, head for retreats and the like, and that makes me scratch my head in puzzlement. I need a people fix regularly. 💙 📚 #writing #writingcommunity

Richy Craven@richycraven.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Just because an author hasn't released a book in years doesn't mean that they're lazy or not working hard on their next one. There's so many reasons for a big gap between novels. Granted, in my case, it's because I'm lazy and not working particularly hard but I mean for others.

Mollywood Times, a critique of the #movie industry, is a slow, deliberate film. Not for all. Touches upon some core issues plaguing cinema. The protagonist is a modern-day Howard Roark, dealing with the battle between artistic freedom & corporate compromise. #desiwatch theprint.in/opinion/pov/...

Mollywood Times is one of Indian cinema’s sharpest critiques of film industry

Mollywood Times, directed by Abhinav Sunder Nayak, suggests that major production houses sometimes invest in films for reasons beyond box-office success.

theprint.in

As it's abt #education expenses as % of GDP, the % itself is less imp. But high GDP nations are spending a higher % of GDP on edu, except Japan & S Korea. Sad to see poor countries spend so little. Eg. Pakistan 2% Indonesia 1.3%. Sweden spends the max. www.voronoiapp.com/education/Co...

Countries by Education Spending as % of GDP

Governments love to boast about education budgets but few explain what the money actually buys, and the gap between spending and results is often the more int…

voronoiapp.com

There are only a handful of editors who can correctly evaluate a novel. That’s why you see so many poor quality books being published by the top 5 publishers. Or maybe it’s deliberate. Publishing books by famous people ensures a ready market. In the process, quality takes a back seat.

Alyssa Matesic@alyssamatesic.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I've edited hundreds of novels, including bestsellers, and here's something that might surprise you... Some of the most talented writers I've ever met are still unpublished. Because they let imposter syndrome paralyze them. Because they gave up after 30 rejections.

Trees are good for the human immune system! Why is it not surprising! #environment www.uoflnews.com/section/scie...

Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAi. Sam Altman is in big trouble. Apparently, Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, walked off with Apple secrets. The 2nd defendant, Chang Liu, allegedly stole secrets as well. How was it so brazen? They thought they would never be caught?

Beats me why Australians were protesting migration from India to India’s PM on his visit there. Convinced that racists are dumb. India does not give visas to Indian migrants to Australia (just passports) and nor does the Indian gov have control on who goes.

Countries should manage their inherent demographic balance otherwise there will be strife. That’s why India enacted the CAA, an Act restricting immigration of a certain community. Singapore’s been doing it for ages. It’s common sense but people living in their own intellectual bubble can’t see it.

Just when I had started to believe that India had reached the level of the rich, first world countries, by being able to successfully assassinate a wanted Indian criminal living in Canada, it turns out that nope, India hadn’t done it despite Canada’s false accusations. It was a gangland killing.

Can't help but feel satisfied that Russia is not doing well in the war. Rising costs are one thing. And the other is that there is discontent at home. www.csis.org/analysis/rus...

Russian Blood and Treasure: The Ballooning Costs of Putin’s War

Russia has suffered approximately 1.4 million casualties and 450,000 fatalities in Ukraine for only marginal territorial gains, according to new CSIS data. In addition, Ukraine has conducted deep stri...

csis.org

Japan, Italy, Germany - ageing populations, fertility rates below replacement. China with fertility rate low at 1.02 altho it's less developed than others. That's a risk and there'll be consequences. US & UK avoid the worst thru immigration. www.voronoiapp.com/demographics...

A Demographic Comparison of the 10 Largest Economies

The world's largest economies are quietly running out of people. Japan, Italy and Germany sit at one end: ageing populations, fertility rates well below re…

voronoiapp.com

The nice things about books: once you own them, you own them, forever. No one will be eye tracking your reading habits. No one will make money of you reading the book as many times as you'd like. And the very same book can be read by generations to come. It can last centuries, literally. It's great.