transcripts on S Anand

Transcript AI-ded interviews

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:09:04 +0800

Priyanka was ghost-writing an interview request from PC Quest for Ankor. Two questions were a bit technical:

Straive combines data engineering, analytics, AI, and content services. At a technical level, how are enterprises stitching these capabilities together architecturally and operationally when addressing complex business problems at scale?
GenAI systems tend to behave unpredictably when exposed to real workloads. What engineering patterns, monitoring approaches, or runtime safeguards are becoming essential to maintain reliability, performance, and cost control in production settings?

… and she asked if I could review.

These days, “rewrite” is easier than “review”.

STEP 1: Copy all my meeting transcripts with Ankor. Below is my process, but copy-paste or a coding agent works even better.

1a: Download transcripts with rclone
1b: Convert Word to Markdown with pandoc
1c: Combine using uvx files-to-prompt and copy

STEP 2: Pass Gemini (which accepts 1MB!) this prompt:

Based on the documents below (transcripts of my calls with Ankor),
and the contents of my Google Drive where you'll find material about Straive,
how would Ankor answer this question to PCQuest -
in a way that's aligned with their audience?

Q: Straive combines data engineering, analytics, AI, and content services.
At a technical level, how are enterprises stitching these capabilities together
architecturally and operationally when addressing complex business problems at scale?

(Paste the transcripts)

The answer was a bit long and not very insightful. So I added 2 prompts:

Share this as a 150-word summary suitable for a PCQuest audience.

Then:

Frame this in a way that's insightful and evocative for a business audience.
Think about an approach that would make them think,
"Oh, yeah, that's insightful, and wasn't obvious until Ankor mentioned it."

The final result was quite a good one, reflecting some of our recent conversations:

Most enterprises are making a critical mistake with AI right now: they are treating foundational models like marriages, when they should be treating them like batteries.

If you hardwire your data and content pipelines directly to today’s best LLM, you are accumulating massive ‘AI Debt.’ When a better model drops next year, you’re stuck. The true enterprise differentiator isn’t the model—it’s building an agnostic orchestration layer. This middleware lets you swap out backend models instantly, without breaking your business.

Once you decouple the model, you must stop trying to make legacy, linear assembly lines run faster. Instead, we use AI to ‘squish’ the assembly line entirely. AI co-pilots extract metadata and trigger multiple agents to execute tasks in parallel, not sequentially.

This fundamentally shifts the workforce. We are no longer putting humans in the loop to do the heavy lifting; we are elevating them on the loop as auditors. The AI executes the work and provides the citation trail; the human manages the risk. That is how you bypass theoretical six-month roadmaps and move from ideation to a secure, live enterprise deployment in just eight weeks.

STEP 3: For the next question:

Think about how Ankor could answer this question -
applying the same process, style and approach.

Q: GenAI systems tend to behave unpredictably when exposed to real workloads.
What engineering patterns, monitoring approaches, or runtime safeguards are
becoming essential to maintain reliability, performance, and cost control in production settings?

It again needed some tweaking:

Rewrite: about 150 words, slightly different style
(to make it avoid looking like too close a clone of the earlier answer),
but just as evocative and insightful.

… and the answer, again, was quite close to some of our discussons:

“Most leaders try to fix GenAI unpredictability by endlessly tweaking prompts. That’s like trying to tame the weather instead of just building a stronger roof.

At Straive, we assume models will hallucinate. The true enterprise differentiator is the engineering harness built around them.

We secure workloads through Verifiable Autonomy. Instead of testing in live production, we run agents through simulated environments governed by strict policy-as-code. If an agent can’t deterministically pass the simulation, it doesn’t touch real data.

To scale without exploding headcount, we use AI to govern AI. We deploy a ‘Maker/Checker’ architecture: a creative model generates the work, while a cheaper, constrained model instantly audits it for compliance and accurate citations. Humans only handle the exceptions.

Finally, we stop treating every task like a real-time chatbot. By shifting latency-insensitive workloads to asynchronous batch processing, we bypass rate limits and slash compute costs by half. Reliability isn’t a model feature; it’s an architectural choice.”

The trick to re-purposing content quickly is:

Keep data / docs handy
Learn to quickly search & copy-paste
Learn to quickly judge and give feedback to AI

Extracting AI advice

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 09:52:19 +0800

This weekend, two people asked me, roughly “How do I use AI better?”

This is a frequently asked questions. I document my FAQs, e.g. time management, career advice, etc. and it was time to add AI advice to this list.

I often record online calls and transcribe them. I asked Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT for the best way to summarize 400 transcripts of ~40K each.

Claude’s suggestion was the best:

Use Gemini Flash (1M context, dirt cheap) to process calls in batches of 20-25
Each batch → extract advice themes
Aggregate batch results with Claude Sonnet for final synthesis

But I ignored it because it was too much work. (See my AI advice: “Ask for easier output”)

Instead, I listed all my transcripts and used Simon Willison’s llm CLI tool to run:

llm -m gemini-3-flash-preview --system "Summarize ALL AI-related advice from Anand this call transcript into 1-sentence bullets" -f file-1.md > "extract/ai/file-1.md"
llm -m gemini-3-flash-preview --system "Summarize ALL AI-related advice from Anand this call transcript into 1-sentence bullets" -f file-2.md > "extract/ai/file-2.md"
...

(A for-loop is smarter. Copy-paste is easier. I optimize for ease.)

This took a little over an hour and a dollar. Then, I combined all the extract/ai/*.md files into one big file:

uvx files-to-prompt *.md | xclip -selection clipboard

… and pasted it into Gemini 3 Pro, which could comfortably handle the 750KB of context and prompted it:

Here is the summary of AI related advice I provided in discussions to various people.

What is the most common advice I provide to people that is relevant to people looking to use AI for personal use and productivity?

The result was a good list along the lines of:

### 1. The "50 Conversations a Day" Rule (The Core Habit)

You frequently tell individuals that they cannot learn AI through theory. To build intuition, they must force themselves to use it for everything.

- **The Advice:** Aim for a volume target of **50 interactions per day**.
- **Why:** High-frequency usage forces you to find "micro-use cases" you would otherwise ignore. It moves you past the "novelty" phase into the "utility" phase where you instinctively know which tasks the AI can handle.
- **Application:** Don't save AI for big projects. Use it to fix grammar in a text, explain a joke, plan a menu, or debug a single line of code.

… which I condensed into:

- **Have 50 conversations a day with AI**. High-usage forces you to find tiny use-cases you'd otherwise ignore.

Here’s my current AI Advice.

Another advantage of creating an extract/ai/ folder is that I can pull out technical AI advice, governance-related AI advice, etc. later.

In fact, this “map-reduce” style pattern is clearly powerful. For $2 and a little time, I get very useful synthesis. I plan to use it more.

India Poised

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

India Poised: a video featuring Amitabh Bachchan. Here's the transcript.

There are two Indias in this country. One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been recently showering upon us.

The other India is the leash.

One India says "Give me a chance, and I'll prove myself."

The other India says "Prove yourself first, and maybe then, you'll have a chance."

One India lives in the optimism of our hearts.

The other India lurks in the scepticism of our minds.

One India wants.

The other India hopes.

One India leads.

The other India follows.

These conversions are on the rise. With each passing day, more and more people from the other India are coming over to this side. And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic India is emerging.

An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure.

An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods, but buys out the companies that makes them instead.

History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it's taking a turn.

This is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page.

For over half a century, our nation has sprung, stumbled, run, fallen, rolled over, got up and dusted ourself, and cantered, sometimes lurched on.

But now, in our sixtieth year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of time's great precipice.

And one India, a tiny little voice at the back of the head, is looking down at the bottom of the ravine, and hesitating. The other India is looking up at the sky and saying, "It's time to fly."

Comments

Iqbal 19 Jan 2007 6:24 am: visit www.indiapoised.com for more Bachchan, Gulzar, etc on India Poised
Saurabh 20 Jan 2007 10:40 am: An initiative from TOI, Read more here at http://www.indiapoised.com/outline.htm
yogesh sharma 27 Jan 2007 10:39 am: the video was fentastic, both in hindi as well as english, when i listen it first time i was shocked that this thing i was realising before 1 month ago and now appricate this video so much
MJ 28 Jan 2007 4:18 pm: This was really great. I heard it on a desi radio channnel ini Toronto Canada…..I loved it and decided to search for it…. Thank you for putting it up……I am going to passthe link to many….
NJ 10 Feb 2007 1:09 am: Can someone please put the lyric for shankar mahadevan’s versio.. Phalak pakad… please
Titiksha 10 Feb 2007 2:14 am: Excellent lyrics, Words flowing from deep-rooted sesitivity of the poet, Masterly rendered by the born actor in his deep, resonant voice creating the precise impact. HATS OFF.
Arindam Dey 10 Feb 2007 3:08 pm: Send me this
shaishav 17 Feb 2007 12:06 pm: hats off to the words they r written n said so wonderfully tht they touches the inner heart n soul……… salute once again
Concerned 19 Feb 2007 5:41 am: All this India Poised nonsense is pure marketing bullshit
Rohan 7 Mar 2007 8:12 am: Mr.Bacchan is fantastic,and the way hes prested it ,its jus wow!!!!!
subadra 18 Mar 2007 12:51 pm: it s good
Deepa Sairam 22 Mar 2007 7:41 pm: Very Inspiring.
harsh selarka 10 Sep 2008 9:11 am: very inspiring & fantastic job done by amitabh bachhan
gaurav kumar 22 Jan 2009 5:25 pm: very inspiring..too goodddddddd
Male Sosa 31 May 2011 4:16 pm: It´s not only inspiring it´s been writen with love and pride, with humble & honest words. It reaches the heart & the soul.
Riya 14 Aug 2012 11:12 am: @Concerned it is only a hard heart that isnt moved by these lovely words

Friends script

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 12:00:00 +0000

The complete ‘Friends’ scripts

Comments

A 9 Aug 2005 3:03 pm: thats new..the place that I usually check is http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/friends/

I adopt a 6-year old

Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:00:00 +0000

This is one of the funniest conversations I’ve had.
funkymishti79: hello
funkymishti79: anyone wanna chat
anand_m26blr: Sure Funky.
anand_m26blr: Are you from Mumbai?
funkymishti79: where r u from
kunu122: hi
anand_m26blr: Mumbai. Actually, I didn’t quite think anyone would use this room.
funkymishti79: hi kunu
anand_m26blr: I had dropped by to practise some Yahoo emoticons
kunu122: is there any 1 there in room
anand_m26blr: which were not listed.
anand_m26blr: Good to see so many join in.
funkymishti79: lol
kunu122: u
kunu122: how r u
anand_m26blr: Hey, did you all know about the secret emoticons?
funkymishti79: i am fine kunu
kunu122: please tell me how
anand_m26blr: Well, for the rose
kunu122: a/s/l
funkymishti79: whose?????
anand_m26blr: you’ve got to type @ } ; -
anand_m26blr: Yours, I suppose, Funky.
kunu122: u funky
funkymishti79: sharon r u theres
anand_m26blr: Mine is obvious – M 26 BLR.
anand_m26blr: Hi, Kunu.
kunu122: how r u
funkymishti79: 6/f/mum
anand_m26blr: Good. Where are you from?
funkymishti79: u are old enough to be my father anand
kunu122: r u just 6 yrs
funkymishti79: yes kunu uncle…..
anand_m26blr: Always wanted a kid, Funky. Shall I adopt you?
kunu122: 16/m/mum
anand_m26blr: Hmmm… between us, we’re in arithmetic progression
kunu122: anand a/s/l
anand_m26blr: M 26. Right now I’m in Mumbai.
funkymishti79: glad to be ur daughter…by the way are u fussy about late nights and chocolates????
funkymishti79: r u not frm mumbai
anand_m26blr: I’m EXTREMELY fussy about late nights, but not chocolates.
kunu122: yes i m from mum
anand_m26blr: Unless you prefer dark chocolate.
anand_m26blr: How about you, Kunu? What’s your preference of chocolate?
funkymishti79: r u adopting kunu tooo…..i don’t want a brother
anand_m26blr: Well, Kunu can be your uncle
funkymishti79: where is my mommy….(tears)
anand_m26blr: These days, you need to learn to cope with having a single parent, dear!
funkymishti79: naa…i wnat mommy and no uncle…
anand_m26blr: Well, Kunu, I don’t know your preferences, but
funkymishti79: unless he is handsome
anand_m26blr: could you become Funky’s mommy?
anand_m26blr: Uh, oh.. I think he’s gone!
funkymishti79: i want kunu mommy…..(laughing with one tooth)
anand_m26blr: Scared him, didn’t you?!? Very bad girl!
anand_m26blr: Shouldn’t scare mommy away.
funkymishti79: vinay r u frm delhi????
funkymishti79: no i want mommy…daddy help
anand_m26blr: Guess I’ll have to get you another one, child.
anand_m26blr: Lots around.
anand_m26blr: Hello everyone.
anand_m26blr: Anyone wants to join me in parenting Funky?
anand_m26blr: Gender irrelevant.
anand_m26blr: She likes late nights (I don’t) and chocolate (I do)
funkymishti79: parents invited for interviews…open now…rush for it
anand_m26blr: Application: 79 year old. Plenty of experience.
anand_m26blr: Retired in 1980.
funkymishti79: help i want a mommy…u fool…not a nani
anand_m26blr: Well, why not both?
anand_m26blr: Application: 79 year old with 50 year old daughter
anand_m26blr: AND a 25 year old grand-daughter.
funkymishti79: i said only mommy and not the whole fuckin family….
anand_m26blr: Good lord, you have such vile vocabulary. Wash your mouth!!
anand_m26blr: Otherwise no chocolates tonight.
anand_m26blr: Do you really like chocolate that much? I’m a white chocolate fan myself.
funkymishti79: i heard u saying these last night with the barely clad woman daddy
anand_m26blr: Well, Funky, you and I should have a little chat about birds and
anand_m26blr: bees in about 6-7 years from now.
anand_m26blr: But till then, sleep early!!
funkymishti79: no i want to stick to daddy and do what he does…
funkymishti79: with the birds and bees
anand_m26blr: I don’t think you can do what daddy does, sweety pie. A bird cannot do what a bee does.
anand_m26blr: (At least, not as well)
funkymishti79: me a delhiwali and u….daddy (blinking eyelids)
anand_m26blr: Daddy has been all over the country
funkymishti79: me likes new daddy….now the chocolates…heh heh
anand_m26blr: Chocolates will be served only after dinner. First, brush your teeth.
funkymishti79: how can i eat chocolates after brushing my teeth u moron!!!!
anand_m26blr: Moron!?!? That’s not the way you speak to daddy, child! Now, spank yourself and
anand_m26blr: pretend daddy really beat you up.
funkymishti79: kids r smarter these days daddy
anand_m26blr: And what’s wrong with eating chocolates after brushing your teeth?
anand_m26blr: You can always brush it again after the chocolate
anand_m26blr: I’ll go with you on the kids getting smarter. The time’s come when I think I know
anand_m26blr: less than my 12-year old cousins.
funkymishti79: lets get brushing outof the scene whats the use????
anand_m26blr: Point. All other things being equal, I’d rather never brush.
anand_m26blr: And, of course, hog all the chocolate and ice cream I can get.
anand_m26blr: But Daddy never said that, OK?
funkymishti79: what do u do for a living daddy???? i mean i have to know the money source
anand_m26blr: well, OK, you might be a prodigy.

funkymishti79: no such luck…i am spoilt brat kinds
anand_m26blr: Daddy works as a consultant. And don’t EVER ask what that means.
anand_m26blr: Daddy makes a life out of conning poor companies off their wealth.
funkymishti79: smart daddy
funkymishti79: naaaaa…me got a sis
anand_m26blr: Well, that makes me the proud father of two, then! Wonder when I got the time away
anand_m26blr: from all these clients!
funkymishti79: interesting so no family jhanjhat
anand_m26blr: None at all.
anand_m26blr: Incidentally, is my daughter fending off a whole array of PMs?
funkymishti79: save me dadddy
anand_m26blr: Kyaa hua bitiya?
anand_m26blr: Kaun tujhe tang kar raha hein?
funkymishti79: duniya bhar ke ladke
funkymishti79: pappa
anand_m26blr: baat karo na? taras rahe honge
anand_m26blr: bichare na jaane kitne door se aaye hein tumse baat karne ke liye.
anand_m26blr: Aur agar koi pasand aaya, let me know. I’ll start worrying about him 15 years from now.
funkymishti79: anand u r damn cute
anand_m26blr: With all due respect, I am NOT cute. I may be a hunk,
anand_m26blr: I may be powerfully attractive,
anand_m26blr: but I am NOT, repeat NOT, cute.
anand_m26blr: you promise not to call me “cute”.
anand_m26blr: Such a ridiculous word.
anand_m26blr: Do you promise?
funkymishti79: sorry daddy…i thought my daddy will be more appropriate
anand_m26blr: Hmmm…. that’s better.
anand_m26blr: Just keep showing me this kind of respect, and I’ll treat you to chocolates.
anand_m26blr: Maybe even let you stay up late on Saturdays.
funkymishti79: cute…cute….cute…anand is cute
anand_m26blr: HRRRMMMPPHHH!
anand_m26blr: Bad girl!
anand_m26blr: Sssshhhhhhhhh….
anand_m26blr: Koi sun lega. What will happen to my reputation!?
funkymishti79: no daddy don’t be greedy now
anand_m26blr: Nothing greedy about not wanting to be “cute”!
anand_m26blr: (Yuk, what a word!)
anand_m26blr: Can I PM you, if you don’t mind? Wouldn’t want Kunu to track me down and propose to me…
funkymishti79: jaydeep are u sharon’s friend
anand_m26blr: Hmm, who’s Jaydeep? Hi Jaydeep! Why don’t you join us?
funkymishti79: daddy…thats is for me….parents stay away
anand_m26blr: This place is a bit of madhouse, but its OK, I’m sure you’ll fit in…
anand_m26blr: OK, OK, dear.
anand_m26blr: Incidentally, I know it’s a little late to ask, but what’s your real name?
funkymishti79: daddy can call beti anything
anand_m26blr: Funky sounds too ‘funky’. Mishti’s better. OK, mishti?
funkymishti79: yes daddy….as long as u feed me
anand_m26blr: Strict diet of chocolates and ice cream, I suppose? No way!
anand_m26blr: Daal chaval and roti is what you can expect.
anand_m26blr: Maybe the occassional bhaingan bharta.
funkymishti79: gotta go…will call u tomorrow
anand_m26blr: See you. And now I can go back in peace to my emoticons