What does being free in the digital world look like? Here’s my fork of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song Imagine, extending their utopian sense of freedom to digital technology.

Imagine there’s no Meta,
it’s easy if you try

No copyright chains below us,
above us

Hello again webmates!

Below are some notable things I’ve read, written, and consumed lately. Click links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. ☕️

Reading

* The colors of my heart by Faiz Ahmed Faiz: A collection so good I can neither comprehend nor soak its intensity

Click for curiosity.

June was an incredibly productive and good month for me.

* I taught my parents how to do some basic things on a laptop I gifted them. It’s their first laptop. It runs Android so they can easily adapt their familiar touchscreen interactions from their phones over to a touchpad

Click for curiosity.

I’ve been attending IndieWebClub community meets in Bangalore for about nine months now. In every session, there are several fascinating links mentioned. Here are some of them I didn’t know about:

* aprilcools.club
* painscience.com
* web.badges.world
* links.net, which was apparently the first blog on the

* Inspired by NASA’s 404 page, and ESA’s 404 page too, I edited my space blog’s not found pages to show something nerdy and lunar themed: jatan.space/404/ 🕳️

* I watched Project Hail Mary this week, partly because of all the hype surrounding it. The movie was alright.

* Written clickbait articles. It’s harder to avoid than it may seem
* Cared for celebrity anything
* Sent or engaged with WhatsApp forwards
* Believed in Astrology, Homeopathy or any Pseudoscience
* Engaged in nationalism
* Been a “fanboy” of any person, company, product, or brand ever since becoming a working adult. I’ve

April is Global Poetry Writing Month. Everyone participating from around the Web is encouraged to write a poem a day, optionally based on each day’s prompt. It was my first time participating in this challenge. My goal was not to pen a poem a day for the sake of

Strip it down
make no sound
touch the truth
feel its fruit

Here brevity
retorts on humanity
with sobering clarity
and bittersweet gravity

Telling terse truths
of our bare beings

Here speaking skies
and its lent hand and eyes
make the Moon walk
and its tides talk

They preserve love

Original in Hindustani, as English transliteration and in देवनागरी, followed by an English translation (not as lyrical):

Muskān

Maa teri muskān
Kaisi hain itni nādān?

Ekdam saral si
bacche jaisi

Narm si behti huin
nadiyon jaisi

Chaandni si khilne vaalīn
suraj ki kiranon jaisi

Is muskurāhaṭ
me naa

Bent, not broken
twisted, not turned upside down
dragged down, not drowned

Trembled, not tamed or tattered
weathered, not withered
hurt, but holding up

Agonized, but alive
traumatized, yet tender
lingered on, yet loving

Agitated, yet aspiring
exhausted, but full of ember
burnt, but blazing.

Notes: This poem is for

They care
not because they have to
but because they want to

They converse
not to reply
but to listen

They mediate
not to tighten their connections
but to save and foster existing ones

They employ leverage
not to be blatant
but to be subtly considerate

They accept
your shortcomings

For every child that dares to dream
and every spark of curiosity within

For their bold endeavors in jest
and that one kid’s flying quest

Persist your passion to build their nest
for the world rumbles them in unrest

Swivel their failings with your empathy
and rivet their pursuits

The Moon still exists dear,
Earth’s still blue as rivers cry
while the avians still fly.
Not a single day goes by
when they don’t try, so can you.

Notes: This poem was written for the Global Poetry Writing Month. The Day 1 prompt encouraged posting in the

1. Introduce people to RSS readers in an accessible way and link to such an explainer on your /feeds page. Both cases shouldn’t assume people know or understand the term. When introducing people you know to RSS readers, don’t assume how or what they read and consume on

* This quarter I met an 👨🏽‍🚀, one whose flight I’ve previously written about. 🌏

* I also gave a talk about lunar exploration at a concert space in BLR for Pint of View because let’s be frank the Moon rocks. 🪨

* I picked up a paint brush after two decades, thanks to

Most people who know me know that I write this blog & newsletter called Moon Monday every, well, Monday. Since the day is etched in the name, I plan every week around it. Here are places I’ve completed working on and publishing Moon Monday editions from, other than my

🚉 🛺 🥔 ☕️ 🌊

Love listening to Khudi by The Local Train. They are like the Pink Floyd of India. The lyrics carry a distinct aspirational energy:

Likh de ye fasana
Dekhe jo zamana
Taaron se aage ho
Khwaabon ka thikana

I visited the Museum of Possibilities in Chennai in 2024. I love that the museum is centered around accessibility, and what catering to it makes possible for people with certain disabilities our society is not built for. One of the display themes was tech tools which bridge accessibility gaps for

Read for free at book.micro.blog or download the Epub (official link)

This book is a good history of publishing and sharing on the Web, particularly through blogging, and how related web technologies evolved. It also places them in the context of social media. The author Manton, creator of

February is a sane time to set new year resolutions and goals instead of January. During my year-end break in December, I’ve had a good opportunity to muse about where I want to steer my writing at large, and where I want writing to steer me. Here are the

Alt text:

I will go on nurturing the tablet and the pen
I’ll go on recording what the heart goes through

I’ll go on providing wherewithal to love’s passion
I’ll keep being kind to the desolation of the times

No doubt, the harshness of the times

After musing over having my social web presence on my own domain thanks to the book Indie Microblogging, I’ve decided to try having such a profile on the Fediverse for a year. But Mastodon and the most of the Fediverse platforms are too noisy by default, having borrowed likes,

The world is hard, and tech bros are here to make it easier, and there is a price for progress: loss of jobs, loss of friendships, loss of purpose, and loss of meaning. You either agree with this, or you are outdated; an old man rumbling about the good times

I’ve been reading the book Indie Microblogging by Manton Reece, and really enjoying it. It’s an interesting view into the history of blogging and related web technologies. Among other things, there’s a chapter on the intersection of having a blog and it also being your social web

I’ve been trying to expose myself to Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) poetry lately, and so I picked up this collection of poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz called ‘The colors of my heart’. One poem in particular resonates, as it captures a timeless call to action against misuse of power in the

Read at pluralistic.net

All the EU has to do is repeal Article 6 of the Copyright Directive, and, in so doing, strip Apple of the privilege of mobilizing the European justice system to shore up Apple's hundred billion dollar annual tax on the world's digital

And you might too. 💻