Good morning! It’s 3 pm on a cool, cloudy, and wet Bengaluru Saturday afternoon as I write to you. The indescribably wonderful smell of petrichor is everywhere. We’ve just had our first rain of the season!

Right now, the temperature outside is 25.3 degrees (although it “feels like” 34 degrees due to 86% humidity). For comparison, the temperature around the same time the last two days was 32.8 degrees and 34.2 degrees, respectively.

I hope this brief respite becomes the sort of the daily peak summer respite Bengaluru is known for—it gets really hot during the day, but by evening, the clouds get heavy and provide succour with mild showers. I’d even venture out and say we’re in the final stretch of Bengaluru’s peak summer.

The banyan fig next door has started fruiting. Though not fully ripe yet, the fruits have already started attracting birds and squirrels. A few weeks ago, there was even a monkey resting in the tree, a fact that drove Gabru mad (the monkey barely paid heed to all his barking).

Speaking of squirrels, I’ve only recently noticed how Gabru perks up every time the squirrels start their high-pitched pik-pik-pik squeaking. Because, like Pavlov’s dog, he too has figured out that it usually means he’s about to see a lurking cat outside.

Peak summer also means peak mango season. Years ago, I decided that once you were clear about your favourite varieties, it was best to focus all your efforts towards them. So our mango consumption this year has been Imampasands, Alphonsos, Malgoas, and Banganapalli’s in a 70%, 15%, 10%, 5% split. What’s yours?

Here’s today’s lineup:

1. Chekhov’s Gun and Feedforward Loops
2. Chetan Maini’s years between CEO and co-founder 🎙️
3. Monochrome 📸
4. Butterflies, faith, and the Holocaust 📚
5. Interesting reads 🔖

At work, I can often be the crankiest of people to deal with. My colleagues at The Ken will easily attest to that.

“Why are you asking this question to a subscriber if you don’t know yet what you will do with their response?”

“Why are you adding this feature if you aren’t sure how many users will value it?”

“Why are you calling for a meeting when you haven’t thought about what’s in it for the others who attend it?”

The common thread for me across most such interactions is, what do you intend to do with X later on?