singapore on S Anand

Watching videos with a plastic cover

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:00:11 +0800

On the Indigo 1026 from Singapore to Chennai, I saw a passenger two seats in front of me watch videos in an interesting way.

She had wrapped her phone in a plastic cover, wedged it behind the tray table so that it would appear at a comfortable viewing position, and watched an Asian movie (presumably with bluetooth headphones).

At first, I wondered if she travels with a plastic wrapper for this purpose. Then I realized it was from the Indigo safety instructions kit.

Now, that’s either a very experienced flyer (who knows about the wrapper) or a very innovative person (likely both).

I was curious, so I asked her:

Have you done this before? ANS: Yes, many times.
Did you know that Indigo carries these wrappers you could use? ANS: No but flights usually carry a Ziploc bag.
Is it easy to control through the wrapper? ANS: I don’t touch it much while watching. (I was able to control it but fingerprint unlock didn’t work)

It’s fascinating to discover such innovations in the wild!

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:20:15 +0000

What percentage of seats does the #Singapore People’s Action Party win?

Normally, this is a 2-hour programmatic data-scraping + data visualization exercise, ideal for a data journalism class.

Now, it’s a 2-minute question to O3-Mini-High.

Search online for the historical results of all the Singapore elections and show me a table and chart of the number and percentage of the seats won by People’s Action Party.

Chat link: https://chatgpt.com/share/6808314c-542c-800c-843e-4d53ff57768d

It “manually” read the Wikipedia page for each election, then wrote a Python script to draw the chart.

Now, a non-psephologist like me can explore implications rather than process. Like:

Why a 1963 slump then instant sweep?
Four consecutive 100 % victories (1965 - 1980!)
Seat count growth masks percentage dips?
2020 is PAP’s lowest seat share in six decades – which is still 89%!

A big win for #datajournalism

“PS: My stream is filled with posts like these. “Earlier, this would have cost $1000X or taken 100X more time.” The subtler point is, “Earlier, it wasn’t practical.” This isn’t efficiency. It’s alchemy.

My Year in 2022

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 03:12:25 +0000

In 2022, I made 3 resolutions:

Run 50 experiments. I ran ~20 until April (here are some), but stopped (for no reason). I’ll continue.
Speak at 10 global forums. I delivered 10+ PyCon talks. They were pre-recorded, allowing me to scale. But recording videos and no feedback are boring. I’ll explore how to scale enjoyably.
Be 10X more effective. I improved my calendar effectiveness 2X in Jan. But I realized this is actually efficiency. Not effectiveness. Maybe effectiveness shouldn’t be optimized, but discovered. I’ll continue to ponder.

Milestones in 2022:

I completed 10 years at Gramener in February.
I moved to Singapore in August. (Cycling and ComicCon were mind-blowing discoveries.)

2 habits I continued from last year:

In 2023, I plan to:

Run 50 experiments. I’ll learn by disproving my beliefs with measurable tests.
Make 1 change a month in my environment. 90% of our thoughts are shaped by our environment. (Read The Extended Mind.) So I’ll use the remaining 10% to shape my environment.
Calendar integrity. Stick to my calendar. Especially the time I block for myself to work. (This is a 2021 habit I’ve slipped on.)

I’m curious — what’s ONE thing you’d like to do in 2023?

Comments

My Year in 2023 - S Anand 31 Dec 2023 7:22 am (pingback): […] For 2023, I made 3 resolutions: […]
Picking books to read - S Anand 11 Jan 2023 8:50 am (pingback): […] 2023, I’m reshaping my environment. Picking books I usually won’t pick. (Read The Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of […]

Moving to Singapore

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:57:00 +0000

My family and I relocated to Singapore today.

Most of my major life decisions have involved the distance from Chennai.

In 1992, I wanted to study physics at IIT Kanpur or Kharagpur. My father erased the choices from my admission form and calmly said, “Tick anything in Chennai.” I ticked everything except Chemical Engineering. Prof Kalyanakrishnan saw my rank, said “You’ll get Chemical Engineering”, and ticked it for me. No one heard me say, “But I don’t like Chemical Engineering.”

In 1996, I got job offers from Ramco Systems, Chennai and IBM, Bangalore. I chose IBM partly because my mother said, “Move out of Chennai, else you’ll live in your father’s shadow.”

In 1999, I got offers from IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore. I picked Bangalore. “You’re declining the best IIM?” my couseller asked. But it was far from Chennai.

In 1999, I lost a scholarship and was insecure during the internship interviews. I accepted my first offer (from Lehman Brothers), though it was in Tokyo. “Well, you’ve already accepted. All the best,” my father said that evening with concern.

In 2000, I declined Lehman Brothers’ pre-placement offer. Tokyo’s too far from Chennai. (60 days of Subway’s Veggie Delight didn’t help.)

In 2001, my matrimonial profile mentioned just 2 things: “He likes curd rice and plans to settle in Chennai.” My wife, Shobana, ignored it. She had other plans.

By 2005, she convinced me to move to the US or Europe. London’s physically and spiritually closer to Chennai than New York or Seattle. So I joined Infosys Consulting in London.

By 2011, I’d had enough. After 2 months of careful planning, I walked home and told Shobana, “I lost my job. Please don’t tell anyone. Let’s go back to India.” We left 2 weeks later to join Gramener.

In 2019, I attended Landmark’s Forum and told Shobana I’d tricked her. (She didn’t speak to me for a day.) We decided to move again. Not the US or Dubai. Singapore’s physically and spiritually closer to Chennai. She spoke to my father, who was OK to move too.

COVID slowed things down (thankfully), but in 2022, my daughter would start Class 11. That’s a logical time to shift.

So as of 1 Aug 2022, we’re in Singapore as a family. At least for 2 years, until my daughter starts college. After that, let’s see.

Comments

Aman Khan 3 Aug 2022 10:48 am: You should have moved near MSD, nobody is more close to chennai than him as per common perception :-)
Arun 27 Jan 2023 8:28 pm: Thank you for sharing this well-written article. Short & crisp. I enjoyed reading it.
My Year in 2022 - S Anand 8 Jan 2023 10:17 am (pingback): […] I moved to Singapore in August. (Cycling and ComicCon were mind-blowing discoveries.) […]
Somya Jain 3 Oct 2022 2:10 pm: Love the way you write sir
The OLX UPI con - S Anand 2 Oct 2022 10:12 pm (pingback): […] moving to Singapore, we listed our furniture and white goods for sale on […]