Sujith Abraham

What goes up must come down.

[Supra | スープラ @supurasensei]

When I tell people I'm from India, I usually get one of three reactions.

The first is usually something along the lines of "Oh, I'd really like to visit someday" with zero or close to zero enthusiasm. It's palpable. You know they're full of shit. They know that you know. They've seen the videos. They've seen the memes. No one particularly wants to spend their time and money flying to a giant, garbage-lined obstacle course where they might get sick, scammed or much, much worse.

"Oh, cool," I say, also without enthusiasm. The subject changes.

The second kind of reaction, less common these days, is much more sincere. "Ooh, I am dying to visit! In fact, I was planning to go sometime next year!" they exclaim. I then do the honourable thing which is to dissuade them from doing the cursed Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) and steering them gently towards Kerala, Sikkim, and Ladakh instead. "Look at this!" I exclaim, showing them the best that Google Images has to offer, while assuring them that the Taj Mahal is indeed wonderful, but probably not wonderful enough to warrant a trip to the hellhole that is Agra ("Trust me, it looks better in pictures," I lie, for an extremely good cause).

The third kind of reaction is the one I appreciate the most.

"I'm from India."

"Oh, cool. Which part?"

"Mumbai. Or, well, Bombay."

"Cool. I love Indian food."

"Yeah? I can recommend a few restaurants if you'd like."

"Oh yeah! Absolutely!" (pulls out phone)

Fin.

[𝙍𝘼𝙅𝙀𝙎𝙃 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙄𝙆𝙃 @imacuriosguy]

One of my strongest takeaways and observation from Norway came while standing in a queue to buy an ice cream in Bergen.

A little girl, perhaps 5 or 6 years old, was standing with her father. Excited by all the flavours on display, she instinctively stepped ahead of me to get a better look.

Very gently, her father reminded her:

“Your turn will come. Please stay in the queue.”

I smiled and offered them my place.

The father politely declined.

What struck me was not the child’s behaviour. Any excited child would do the same.

What struck me was the lesson.

“We wait because everyone else is waiting. The rule does not change because someone is being kind.”

From a very young age, children are taught to respect shared public spaces, rules and the rights of others.
Not through punishments.
Not through lectures.
Through thousands of small corrections like this by their role models who happen to be parents, the best role model a kid can have.

High trust societies are not built by governments alone.

Thousands of such tiny corrections, repeated over years, create societies where people automatically queue for buses, stop at pedestrian crossings, return library books on time and generally trust strangers.

In India, children are also taught kindness, family values and hospitality exceptionally well, but public space behaviour receives far less emphasis.

I wish that would improve.

#norway

[Gaurav Sabnis @gauravsabnis]

Bonuses of always saying please when ordering something.

[Sujith Abraham @sujithabraham]

One thing missing in this is revenue. Without control or committed revenue streams this governance reforms will not work. Property taxes are municipal revenue source in North America. In India it’s a paltry amount; not sufficient to match the amount of work needed to be done.

[bumblebeediaries @bobinsg]

നീതി ആയോഗിന്‍റെ February 2026, Moving Towards Effective City Government ലെ പ്രധാന ശുപാർശകൾ നഗരഭരണ സംവിധാനങ്ങളെ കൂടുതൽ ഉത്തരവാദിത്വപരവും കാര്യക്ഷമവും ജനകീയവുമാക്കുന്നതിന് ലക്ഷ്യമിടുന്നതാണ്. (1/8)

[Sujith Abraham @sujithabraham]

@xah_lee Understood. It was nice to see it answering your question on why trigonometric functions were not used and pointed back that in fact they are used. Early ChatGPT will be like “You are right, I’m sorry…”. Don’t know how they handle it now.

[All The Right Movies @ATRightMovies]

Perhaps the greatest celebrity story ever here, about ROGER MOORE. Give yourself a treat if you've not read it.

[corkythedog @corkythedog1]

I once read a thriller, can't remember who by, where the main character was called John Powers or something. The author/editor decided to change all references to 'John' with 'Powers', and they just did a find/replace. I know this because later on it mentions the famous musician Elton Powers.

[Vij Van @van_vij]

@shrutammegopaya whatever the criticisms of colonialism, the individuals were exemplary in their curiosity, urge to explore and understand the world - social and natural, as well as institutions for intellectual transmission. They were the opposite of Gazni type invader whose purpose was to loot

[Sujith Abraham @sujithabraham]

Old immigrants, new immigrants, all are same.

[Gaurav Sabnis @gauravsabnis]

"Gaurav, look what I found in an old drawer!😁"

White neighbor held up a glass jar with a bunch old 50 paisa coins.

Me: You've been to India?

"No! Worked at a coin op laundry 25 yrs ago. We got a lot of these back then. India discontinuing this coin helped US laundries a lot!"

[Rishi 🌐🗽🏙 @RishiJoeSanu]

I moved to Frankfurt in 2015 during the peak of Syrian refugee crisis when Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof was the epicenter of refugee arrivals. Germans used to line the platforms with flowers & food welcoming refugees, sometimes even into their own homes.

This is ungrateful behavior.

[Nico @NicoHQ1]

When you decided to trust your wife with DIY projects 😅🔨
What could possibly go wrong…

[Sujith Abraham @sujithabraham]

Local govts handle water, roads, waste, police. They actually have the funding & power to do it.

In India? Local govts are starved of both funds and authority.

Prop taxes which funds local governments abroad are laughably low in India, so basic service delivery stays broken.

[Rishi 🌐🗽🏙 @RishiJoeSanu]

iNdIa iS a uNiOn oF sTaTeS

[Keifer @DannyVegito]

thinking of this anecdote about the first McDonald’s in Russia

[chests @chests]

@DannyVegito reminds me of

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

In 2003, Jack Nicholson won a Critics Choice Award but admitted he was too drunk to give a speech, so he asked Robin Williams to accept it for him — and deliver the funniest acceptance speech of the night.

[Old Hollow Tree @OldHollowTree]

Still thinking about the time twenty years ago I suggested to my beautiful, WASPy grandmother that we order a pizza.

“Oh no, WE do not like ethnic food.”

[Crypto !! @crypto_pinapple]

എന്റെ ആദ്യ ജോലിയിൽ 5 ലക്ഷം വരെ 2% പലിശക്ക് ലോൺ എടുക്കാൻ ഉള്ള വകുപ്പ് ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു.

അന്ന് എന്റെ കൂടെ ജോലിയിൽ ജോയിൻ ചെയ്ത ഒരുത്തന്റെ പെങ്ങടെ കല്യാണത്തിന് വേണ്ടി അവൻ എല്ലാരോടും കടം ചോദിച്ചു. ആരും കൊടുത്തില്ല. വിശാലമനസ്കനായ ഞാൻ 2 ലക്ഷം രൂപ ലോണിൽ നിന്നും എടുത്തു കൊടുത്തു. അടുത്തമാസം തന്നെ ഒരു ലക്ഷം രൂപ തിരിച്ചു തന്നു.

എന്നാൽ ബാക്കി ഒരു ലക്ഷം തരാൻ ഭയങ്കര കാലതാമസമായിരുന്നു. അതിനിടയിൽ ആശാൻ വേറെ ജോലി മാറിപ്പോയി. തോന്നുമ്പോൾ 5000 - 10000 ഇടും. കുറച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ അതും ഇടാതായി.

അതിനിടയിൽ പുള്ളി ഒരു ഉയർന്ന ഉദ്യോഗത്തിൽ കയറി. ഏകദേശം ഒരു ലക്ഷം രൂപ സാലറി. എന്നാൽ എന്റെ ബാക്കി കാശ് മാത്രം തന്നില്ല. ചോദിക്കുമ്പോൾ ഇപ്പം തരാം നാളെ തരാം പറച്ചിൽ മാത്രം.

ഒടുവിൽ സഹികെട്ടു പറഞ്ഞു എന്റെ ബാക്കി കാശു പോയാലും കുഴപ്പമില്ല നിന്റെ ഓഫീസിൽ നാളെ എല്ലാരുടെ മുന്നിൽവച്ച് ഞാൻ ബഹളം വെക്കും.

ഇത് കേട്ടതും അരമണിക്കൂറിൽ ആശാൻ ബാക്കി കാശ് സെറ്റിൽ ചെയ്തു. എന്നിട്ട് എന്നെ ബ്ലോക്ക് ചെയ്തു.

രണ്ടുമാസം കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ അവന്റെ കല്യാണമായി. പണ്ട് അവനെ തിരിഞ്ഞു പോലും നോക്കാത്ത എല്ലാവരെയും അവൻ ക്ഷണിച്ചു. അവനെ സഹായിച്ച എന്നെ മാത്രം വിളിച്ചില്ല. ( അന്ന് കല്യാണം പാർട്ടിക്ക് പോയ കൂട്ടുകാരൻ അവനോട് പറഞ്ഞു. ഇപ്പോൾ നിനക്ക് മനസ്സിലായില്ലേ നിന്നെ ആരും എന്താ അന്ന് സഹായിക്കാതിരുന്നത്. നിന്ന് അന്ന് സഹായിച്ച ഒരേ ഒരു വ്യക്തിയെ നീ പിന്നിൽ നിന്നും കുത്തി. എന്നാൽ തിരിഞ്ഞുപോലും നോക്കാത്ത ഞങ്ങൾക്കെല്ലാം നീ കള്ളും മേടിച്ച തന്നു 😂)

[Sujith Abraham @sujithabraham]

Lebanon President President Joseph Aoun and Brigadier General Imad Nabha

[Interesting things @awkwardgoogle]

Rankings and salaries may change, but true friendships never change.