On Reading

This post was first sent to my newsletter on December 19th, 2021. You really ought to subscribe :) image, courtesy The Toymaker’s Journal Lots of links in this letter, because there won’t be a work letter later, this month :) This one is all about, drum roll … Reading :) ...

December 26, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza

On Woman Computers, Long Tails & Reasons to Write

This post was first sent to my newsletter on November 20th, 2021. You really ought to subscribe :) Ok, I’m a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short1 :) This work letter is going out to all of you my friends, because there’s not much technical stuff in here. And because I have a spot of good news to share. I got a jobby job! I’ve been trying the past few years, to switch my career to something that wasn’t as taxing, as consulting on hardware and networks and integrating systems. While I loved the work, it was a lot of work, for not enough money and it took a toll on my physical health.2 So writing software from the comfort of my home, is it. And two weeks in, the team’s taken me under their wing and they are guiding me along and I’m loving it! ...

November 26, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza

10

It’s way past our anniversary on the 10th of September. But that day was filled with togetherness. And the days before and after were filled with all sorts of madness, both personal and professional. Dear Abby, it’s been a decade. And it’s flown by us like a quarrel of sparrows. Here now, and vanished in the next instant. And yet when I look back on it, we’ve been through so much. ...

November 22, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza

On Reading News, Remembering, and Why We Write

This post was first sent to my newsletter on November 7th, 2021. You really ought to subscribe :) A few days late, but Happy Diwali, folks! :) A small ask of you, to begin with. Like I wrote in the past, I don’t have any sort of tracking in these mails. There are no ads, nothing to push. Just a labour of love. So I have no idea whether these posts resonate or I’m just howling into the storm that is your inbox. If you like it, hate it, agree/disagree, write me :) All I get to see are a couple of folk leaving, every once in a while, and my list, my tribe in fact is really tiny and it feels a bit discouraging.1 ...

November 14, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza

To my Teachers, With Gratitude

Shoutouts of Gratitude to the teachers who I learnt programming from over the past couple of years … Kushal Das, for bringing me in, teaching me the ropes and assuring me there was a place for me here Reuven Lerner, who unravelled Python for me and made me realise that languages were small, and the reason I was struggling was not Python, but because I wanted to understand all of computer science in too short a time frame.1 ...

October 27, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza

A Eulogy for Mai

I lost my Mai today. Until my mid 30s, I rued the gulf that stood between Mai and me. While my parents insistence on teaching us English, as our primary language has benefited me immensely, in most everything I do, the one thing that I feel sad about is that I speak my mother tongue (Konkani) in a slow halting manner. 1 Which meant that I never could talk well with my grandmother. I am one of her oldest grandchildren, and I never got to have heart to heart conversations with her, the way my other cousins did. And yet … ...

February 24, 2021 · Mario Jason Braganza