Articles by properlypurple

New site

Long time no see. 😬

If you have been on this site before, you'd notice that it looks different. Well, it not only looks different, it's also built in a very different way.

A few months ago, I started exploring something called static site generators, mainly for building the website for …

Automattic

A little more than 4 years ago today, I was going through the most rigorous interview process of my life. I didn't know that this would lead to a whole world of possibilities for me. Today marks the 4th anniversary of me joining the most fulfilling job of my life …

Twenty nine

Birthdays are weird. You're essentially celebrating making a whole revolution around the sun, and yet you get closer to your ultimate demise. I don't think about death much, but birthdays are a good opportunity to reflect on our time here.

I turned 29 yesterday, last day of pride month. It …

The future

Every step I took, 
brought me closer to today. 
Every step I take, 
takes me closer 
to the promise of a tomorrow, 
where the clouds are silver,
and the mist hugs you 
like an old friend of cold fire. 

Every moment of today, 
is another step to that far-flung future …

Cathedral

St. Patrick's cathedral in Manhattan. Taken with a Fuji XE2S

  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Aperture: f/2.8
  • Shutter speed: 1/1629 s
  • ISO: 200

Coffeee

Cup of Vietnamese coffee at Pagdandi book cafe, Pune. Taken on a shitty Moto Z2 force camera.

Love and carbon

I realized this poem has never been shared on this blog, so here it goes. It was first written in 2011, and published in August 2012 on my Deviantart profile. Posting it here for a full circle. Thank you for reading :)

What are we?
 Just a bunch of Carbon atoms …

Nineteen, and beyond

Photo of blurry landscape seen through a wire fence

It's that time of the year again. 2018 passed by so quickly, and still felt like the longest year of my life ever(don't you hate it when that happens every year?😒). I have grown a lot this last year, maybe more than all previous years combined. 2019 brings me …

Freedom to publish

WordPress.com VIP coffee mug

  • Focal length: 50mm
  • Aperture: f/2
  • Shutter speed: 1/70s

Buddha

Statue of Buddha in a glass box, near large Buddha statue in Phuket, Thailand

Press for green man

Instructions to use pedestrian crossing signal switches in Singapore. Somebody needs a better translator 😂

Fall fall waterfall

Beautiful view of Attukad Waterfall near Munnar, Kerala.

Another random Indian palace

Taken at Vinay Vilas Mahal, in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. Keeping in line with other palaces in the state, it's also known as the city palace of Alwar.

Winblows

Old Windows logos on a passenger vehicle. Taken at a parking place in Kochi, Kerala.

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Shutter speed: 1/1502s
  • Focal length: 4.67mm

Climb

Digitally processed panorama taken near Choolgiri temple, Jaipur.

Random road trip

Taken during  a random road trip to my native village

I heart WP

Taken at WordCamp Udaipur 2017.

  • Aperture: f/4
  • Shutter speed: 1/50s
  • Focal length: 55mm
  • ISO: 200

Sunrise

Sunrise from a hill right outside Jaipur, India. Taken with my Nexus 6p during one of my random trekking adventures.

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal length: 4.67mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/123s
  • ISO: 60

Noir

Taken at Cafe Noirwood

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Shutter speed: 1/82s
  • ISO: 300
  • Focal length: 4.67mm

Petrol pump

Remains of an ancient, hand operated, petrol pump. Taken in Sikar, Rajasthan, India.

  • Aperture: f/2.8
  • Shutter speed: 1/178s
  • Focal length: 3.5mm
  • ISO: 59

Temple of a thousand bells

Taken at a temple in Angul, Odisha, near my mother's native place.

  • Aperture: f/2.6
  • Shutter speed: 1/100s
  • Focal length: 2.78mm
  • ISO: 50

Shaker

Random slat and pepper shaker. Taken at my friend's Cafe (Cafe Noirwood).

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal length: 50mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/3s
  • ISO: 200

Stepwell

This is a stepwell, around 10-11 km from my native village, in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, India. If you don't know what a stepwell is, read about stepwells on Wikipedia.

Taken in 2012 with a puny Samsung phone running Bada OS, slightly edited  on Google Photos for colour correction.

  • Aperture: f/2 …

Ground floor

Taken from the 20th floor of a random building I went to, using Fuji's miniature mode.

  • Aperture: f/22
  • Focal length: 34.3mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/20s
  • ISO: 800

Lamp

As pointed out by my dear friend and colleague, this is one of the most hipster pictures I have taken. Shot at Hilton Whistler, BC, Canada.

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal Length: 50mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/170s
  • ISO: 200

Okayama

Taken at Okayama friendship garden, Pune. Interestingly, they don't permit taking cameras in there, and if you have one, they keep the batteries at the gate. Totally stupid rules in the age of cheap smartphones :D

This is a digitally processed panorama, so the metrics don't really matter.

Toys were us

Random toys on a friend's desk, taken with my Nexus 6p

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Shutter speed: 1/10s
  • Focal length: 4.67mm
  • ISO: 200

The Palace

Part of the palace seen from a window, taken at City Palace, Udaipur, near WordCamp Udaipur 2016

  • Aperture: f/4
  • Focal length: 55mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/140s
  • ISO: 200

Laptop

Just a random click of my friend's laptop

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal length: 50mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/20s
  • ISO: 800

Dodge

Taken outside a Dodge dealership in Vancouver

  • Aperture: f/3.2
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/340s
  • ISO: 100

On the road to Vancouver

Taken on the way to Vancouver from Whistler, after the Automattic Grand meetup 2017

  • Aperture: f/3.6
  • Focal length: 34.3mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/1700
  • ISO: 400

Thorns

  • Aperture: f/4
  • Shutter speed: 1/45s
  • Focal length: 55mm
  • ISO: 200

Indian wedding

Fully decorated mare at my cousin's colourful Indian wedding

  • Aperture: f/4
  • Focal length: 55mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/350s
  • ISO: 400

Hole in a wall

Just feeding my obsession with holes in old walls :D

  • Aperture : f/4
  • Focal length: 48.4mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/28s
  • ISO: 200

Fries

I don't always share food photos, but when I do, they're awesome(both the food, and the photo :P )

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Shutter speed: 1/45s
  • Focal length: 50mm
  • ISO: 200

Taken at Cafe Noirwood

Product review: USB gloves from China

A lot of people have asked me to start writing reviews of weird things I order from different online shops. Let's start with this.

While browsing random things on AliExpress, I stumbled upon this really cheap pair of gloves:

Photo of package

Even though I was a bit skeptic, I ordered a pair …

Theme updates, Gutenberg, and more focus

Some of you might know that I started working for Automattic as a Happiness Engineer, about 17 months ago. Since then, I haven't been able to find a lot of time to update my existing themes. One of my new year's resolutions was to focus more on my existing open …

Despicable thee

Happy New Year

Another year has passed... another instance of "This flew by way too quickly"... another set of unfinished resolutions... another bunch of unfulfilled desires... and one more "this time I'll totally do it". Every 365 days, we do this dance. We run around, go through the motions of life, trying to …

Coffee

Taken with my Nexus 6p

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal length: 4.67mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/25s

Tea time

  • [Aperture: f/2]{.sprMUb}
  • [Shutter speed: 1/15]{.sprMUb}
  • [Focal length: 4.67mm]{.sprMUb}
  • [ISO: 100]{.sprMUb}

WCNashik slides progress

After finishing up the speaking notes and content on paper, it is time to be working on the actual slides for #WCNashik

Presentation app being used is 'Spice Up' by Philip Scott

WordCamp slides on paper

Photo of notes in a small diary

Working on slides for #wcnashik. Trying out actually writing stuff on paper; truly rewarding and surprisingly helpful.

Coaster

A glimpse of my unhealthy obsession with coasters :P

  • Aperture: f/2
  • Focal length: 50mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/56 s
  • ISO: 800

Man's best friend

  • Aperture: f/5
  • Focal length: 55mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/250 s

Way up high

Taken from the top floor of 1-Altitude, Singapore.

  • F-stop: 5.6
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Shutter speed: 1s
  • ISO: 800

Bananananas

Bananas - Aperture: f/2.8 - Focal length: 18mm - Exposure: 1/2 s

Life in plastic

  • Focal length : 39mm
  • Aperture : f/5.6
  • Shutter speed 1/70 s

Chinese fishing nets at Fort Kochi

Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi

  • Focal length : 48.4 mm
  • Aperture : f/4
  • Shutter speed 1/500 s

Out to work

  • Focal length: f/2
  • Aperture: 4.67mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/120
  • ISO: 71

An open letter to all young women everywhere

Hi there!

I have many things to say to you. But there are two things that I want to say the most.

First, on behalf of the completely fucked-up thing called the human society, I am sorry.

Second, you are beautiful, inside and out, and don't let anyone else tell …

Death

  • Focal length : f/3.2
  • Aperture : 21.4 mm
  • Shutter speed 1/320 s

Another Sunrise

Sunrise

  • Focal length: 55mm
  • Aperture: f/10
  • Shutter speed: 1/420 s

Pillars

A long verandah near Taj Mahal, Agra, India.

  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Aperture: f/3.2
  • Exposure: 1/20 s

Home

A bird's nest found in a small tree, at a restaurant in Udaipur.

  • Focal length: 48.4mm
  • Aperture: f/4
  • Exposure: 1/45 s

Altitude

Taken from the 62^nd^ floor at 1-Altitude, Singapore, using the miniature mode in Fuji X-E2S

Greeen

Coloured glass window at City Palace, Udaipur

Emotion

Old man playing traditional Indian musical instrument, at one of the shores of Lake Pichola, Udaipur

Reign of fire

Whistler

Sunrise from a hill

Almost there

The colour of music

My experience at GUADEC 2016

GUADEC, which stands for GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, is an annual conference for and by the members of GNOME community, and is held somewhere in Europe every year. This year's GUADEC was held at Karlsruhe, Germany.<!--more-->

::: content-box-yellow A big part of my trip to GUADEC was sponsored …

When in Rome…

…do like Romans do. Time and again, someone is going to give you this advice, and most people don't think of it as a big deal. In fact, this might be one of the most common advices flying around, and one of the most common advice to be completely ignored …

If you only do what you can do, you will never be better than what you are.
<cite> Master Shifu</cite>

Attending GNOME Asia 2016

I'm just back from the GNOME.Asia Summit 2016, and I must say that I'm equally exhilarated and humbled by the whole conference. The summit was a 3 day event, organized by the GNOME Asia team, and supported by the GNOME Foundation. There were a lot of GNOME Foundation members …

An old poem

This poem has been moved from my old blog. I wrote it maybe 6-7 years ago, when I used to be in the existentialistic teen-age. :) Enjoy, maybe..

Take my life
Or give me a reason to live
For all these years I’ve lived
are like stones in a lake …

Fathers' Day

People are posting  pictures, writing stuff on twitter and Facebook, and digging out old photos of their fathers; all the while I'm waiting for these few hours in a depressing train coach to pass, so I can go see him. When I think about Fathers' day, I find it a …

Speaking at WordCamp Mumbai 2015

So I came back from WordCamp Mumbai 2015 with a lot of great experiences and learning. I got to meet awesome people from Automattic and Woothemes, and a lot of developers, designers and creative people. All in all, it was an awesome event :D<!--more-->

For those who are looking …

I'm Going to WordCamp Mumbai, Are You?

How can I not. I went last year, and I learnt a lot. But this year, I'm going to be a speaker, and my topic is "Better WordPress Development with Vagrant". Yay :D

Now for those of you who don't know about WordCamp(WHY??), here is a small description

WordCamps …

Hello world!

Welcome. First post, not much to say. Well, I suppose more awesomeness coming up :D

gnome3 and gtk3 themeing

Lately i've been indulged in understanding and porting gtk2 themes to gtk3, the latest versoin of the awesome Gimp Tool Kit.. Have a look at the gallery http://grvrulz.deviantart.com/gallery/30060312

Trisquel 4.0 LTS "Taranis" strikes!

Trisquel GNU/Linux, one of the best looking FULLY FREE(as in free speech and beer) GNU distributions and endorsed by the GNU and FSF, announced its LTS version 4.0, codenamed Taranis. This release packs a new look, with elementary inspired icons and new bootsplash. Read more here

The blog may seem to be dead; but I'm not

its been long since I've posted....... There have been a number of personal problems, family obligations, some emotional fits, etc... but now i'm back.

I dont think many people read my blog, but still I write, for me......... till eternity.

How to view Youtube videos without flash player!!

Many times it happens that you dont have the latest version of flash player and youtube doesn't work on the older one. Well here's a trick that lets you watch them without flash player installed. Moreover, it gives you the options to directly view the HD/HQ version of a …

Poetry

Hello all!! I thought I would just write some of my poems here. Hope you enjoy.

This one came to me while driving.....its strange,, poems come to me while driving

Dard ki aukat kya jo tod kar rakhde mujhe
gode me faulad ki,
jalna seekha hai maine..

Ishq ki …

Hello world!

This is my first post. Written at 0851 hrs IST on Sun, 21 Feb 2010, on my ACER 5738 laptop running Fedora 12 with Gnome shell, with Firefox as the browser. This is a geeky, virus free, stable, state of the art system. Well why am i writing this. After …

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