Singing a Vote of Thanks

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:56:28 +0530

Lyria (Gemini’s new “Create Song” feature) is helping me in new ways. Earlier this week, it created a jingle for my talk.

Yesterday I ran an AI Workshop for IAS officers. As part of that, I asked Gemini:

Create a soulful vote of thanks (with patriotic Indian music playing in the background) naming each of these people.

… and listed each person in the workshop.

The song began…

(Listen to the song)

… with these lyrics:

The morning sun rises over the secretariat corridors,
illumining the echoes of long nights spent in duty.

… it began. Then, it went on to their names.

To Ms. Vatsala Vasudeva, for steady hands in every storm.
To Shri Shyamal Misra, for the silent strength of leadership.

It was in a western accent, but by now, the audience were looking at each other, pointing out as names were mentioned - with surprise and delight.

To Shri Amit Rathore, for the vision that breaks through the haze.
To Shri V. Shashank Shekhar, for the quiet pursuit of excellence.
To Shri Pankaj Kumar, for building bridges of progress.
To Shri Robert L. Chongthu, for the pulse of the hills in the heart of the city.
To Shri Sanjeev Hans, for the clarity of purpose in complex paths.
To Shri Subodh Kumar Singh, for the resolve that never falters.
To Shri Asheesh Sharma, for the foundation laid with integrity.
To Shri Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu, for the spark that inspires the team.
To Shri Kaling Tayeng, for the voice of the frontier in our council.
To Shri Manish Thakur, for the wisdom that informs every decision.

We stand as one, guided by the compass of our republic.
Each name a pillar, each service a prayer for the nation.
For the republic we serve, for the people we honor.

For a minute, I thought it was done, but we were only mid-way through.

To Shri Devesh Kumar, for the dedication beyond the call.
To Ms. Aradhana Patnaik, for the grace of leadership under fire.
To Ms. Himani Pande, for the brilliance of thought and action.
To Shri Rahul Sharma, for the steady hand on the rudder.
To Shri Rajeev K. Mital, for the legacy of selfless work.
To Shri Ranjit Singh Deol, for the grit that transforms challenges into victories.
To Dr. Sirra Karuna Raju, for the healing touch of administration.
To Shri Anandrao Vishnu Patil, for the roots that hold us to the soil.
To Shri Sudhir Kumar, for the light that guides through the complexity.
To Shri Subodh Yadav, for the courage of conviction in every file.
To Dr. Richa Bagla, for the wisdom that creates space for growth.
To Ms. Indra Mallo, for the spirit of the Northeast in our hearts.
To Shri Nilkanth S. Avhad, for the depth of knowledge that serves the many.
And to Ms. Mugdha Sinha, for the innovation that shapes the future of our service.

It had covered them all. In well under three minutes.

The comments were personalized and felt accurate, somehow. Not sure if it’s real - it might be like fortune-telling, where we find non-existent patterms, and totally enjoy it!

Thank you for the years of service. May the path forward be as bright as the morning sun.

Jai Hind.

At “Jai Hind”, I had goosebumps. And the audience broke into an applause.

We should all do this sort of thing more often. 🙂

UPDATE: 14 Apr 2026. Here are several ideas on where else we might use songs:

Celebrations. Personalized birthday songs. Or anniversary. Or a celebration - like graduation, promotion, closing a deal, delivering a project, thanking team members, etc.
Tough situations. Before a difficult conversation / meeting, an apology, firing someone, a couple’s argument, a protest anthem, etc.
Updates. As an earnings call, status update, project update, contract summary, etc.

I used it to narrate a data journalism process using Gemini with this prompt:

Narrate a summary of this process for creating Statoistics for the Times of India in a light, engaging way, as if you were explaining it to a friend.
Think about the most important points, structure it logically so that the narrative is easy to follow, then generate the song.

… followed by:

Narrate, don’t sing.
Less music, more focus on the voice.
Far simpler narrative - EXPLAIN to someone who doesn’t understand ANYTHING of the context.

The result is pretty good!

UPDATE: 16 Apr 2026. This is proving more useful than I thought.

A colleague shared a song thanking his team for their contributions.
Another colleague converted classroom videos into rap songs summarizing the session - making this more memorable.
I created a narrative songs sharing (rhythmic) feedback for teachers based on their transcripts - making this a less scary process.

Turning Generic Gifts Into Joy with AI

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 13:18:34 +0000

In 2001, I received a campus interview invitation from BCG. It opened like this:

Dear Anand,

We’d like to invite you to an interview on … We were impressed by your …

… and went on to share 2-3 phrases about what they liked about my CV. A dozen of us got similar letters – each personalized!

That was cool. Two decades later, I still remember it. It showed care and competence – care enough to personalize for each candidate, competence to pull it off at scale across campuses.

Recently, I got a desk plaque unlike any other award I’ve received. It was personalized not just with my name, but with an AI-generated comic-rendering of me!

Our HR team uploaded my photo to an AI image tool and generated a comic version of my face. I loved it! I’ve thrown away every plaque I’ve received. This one stays on my desk.

That got me thinking. A thoughtful gift turns generic swag into something memorable. My plaque isn’t décor; it reflects my love for comics and AI.

Using AI research and image generation, AI can personalize at scale. That’s not just efficiency. It’s a new level of care. A personalized gift says, ‘We see you.’ (Weird that we need AI care at scale, but…)

We can do this with custom T-shirts, mugs, stickers… We juts need bots in parallel: scan profiles, extract interests, render images, review, design something personal. Something that brings a little more personality and delight into our lives.

My next step: AI-designed T-shirts for my daughter and me. Manga-themed for her; I’m still deciding mine.

Findory

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Findory. Their site says:

Just click on the articles which interest you. No signup required.

The more you click, the more personalized your Findory homepage will be.

Enjoy a great Personalized newspaper!

personalization on S Anand

Singing a Vote of Thanks

Turning Generic Gifts Into Joy with AI

Findory