- Aug 2026From outside the fenceA first-person account of moving from Bangalore to the Auroville bioregion — Sripriya's decade-long pull, the banyan tree turning point, and the children's health that finally tipped the decision.
- Aug 2026The Laxminarayan brothersHow a chain of coincidences — a friend's classmate's husband, a shared office floor, three improbable projects — shaped a decade. The story of the Laxminarayan brothers.
- Aug 2026The Third House — Valour & SiblingsIn Jyotish, the third house is Sahaja Bhava — valour, siblings, the hands, short travel, and hearing. Brothers, cousins, the first death in my lap, the banyan tree at one in the morning, and what curiosity becomes when it doesn't yet know it's courage.
- Aug 2026Forty-five, and reading about myselfAn email from a UK journalist, three months later The Times distributed the piece. The back-story behind the back-story — what 1,200 words of newsprint couldn't hold.
- Aug 2026A foreigner in an Indian bodyDad at the Shiva temple at 4 am, Nair Uncle reading nakshatras, the Art of Living year, Aksharji and Kulantakpeet, Vikram and Jyotish. A spiritual journey told as a lineage of teachers.
- Aug 2026Tanu — The BodyIn Jyotish, the first house is called Tanu Bhava — the house of the body, the house of the self. I have lived in this body for over four decades. This is me, making a start.
- Aug 2026The Second House — FamilyIn Jyotish, the second house is called Dhana Bhava — the house of voice, family, and what nourishes you from the beginning. I was born on December 18, 1980, into the Koundanya house. This is that story.
- Aug 2026The Fifth House — CreativityIn Jyotish, the fifth house is called Putra Bhava — the house of children, creativity, and what flows out of you into the world. Two children, many babies. This is that story.
- Aug 2026The Sixth House — Service & the Enemy WithinIn Jyotish, the sixth house is called Ari Bhava — the house of daily work, service, illness, debt, and enemies. The hardest house to write. A broken leg, a hermit's outhouse, a hernia reversed, and the slow recognition that the enemy is within.
- Aug 2026The Seventh House — Partnership & the Fear of CommitmentIn Jyotish, the seventh house is called Yuvati Bhava — the house of the partner, the spouse, the business counterpart, trade, and marriage. The other across the table. On vibing with people, being poor at trade, and a man afraid of commitment who accidentally stayed for a decade.
- Aug 2026The Eighth House — Transformation & the HiddenIn Jyotish, the eighth house is called Randhra Bhava — the house of transformation, the hidden, inheritance, the occult, and sudden change. The house I come most alive in. On reading people in thirty minutes, an occultist guru, a Tantra lineage, and astrology as the ground beneath it all.
- Aug 2026The Twelfth House — Release & the ForeignIn Jyotish, the twelfth house is called Vyaya Bhava — the house of release, foreign lands, isolation, dream, and moksha. The last matchbox. On leaving Kerala at twenty, looking at India through a foreigner's eyes, a house at the edge of the jungle, and a life lived among foreigners.
- 4 Sep 2026Twelve who know the wayFor Janmashtami, Prakash Anna penned a piece on the twelve Mahājanas of the Bhāgavatam — the ones Yamarāja himself says know the way. Sree looks for each of the twelve in an ordinary week: the connector, the one who holds the poison in his throat, the child who teaches the parent, the auditor who keeps the ledger.
- 24 Aug 2026Krishna decided to come to the officeA brass Krishna gifted by a business partner's mother, a table found in a shop that was closing, a pooja that turned into a prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā — and Rani, who says hi to Krishna before anything else each morning.
- 24 Aug 2026Amma wakes the house firstTen days of Onam open with a pookalam. My mother is past seventy-five, unwell — and still the first one up, getting the house, the pooja room and the kitchen ready. On Mahabali, a three-state family, and loving a complicated mother.
- 24 Aug 2026Maybe they're not following the rulesA Delhivery truck on the highway with two different number plates — one on the truck, one on the trailer. Our first instinct was that someone was cheating. Thirty seconds of curiosity said otherwise.
- 22 Aug 2026Languages have passportsTwenty-five years ago I noticed that programming languages carry cultural identities — PHP's come-as-you-are welcome, Python's strict grammar, Ruby's Japanese craftsmanship. Meeting the AI models now, I'm standing in the same moment again.
- 22 Aug 2026Some past-life connection, it seemsMadhya Pradesh has no birth claim on me — it arrived through marriage, through two close friendships, through a 1912 map on a hotel wall, through my son's questions. My tradition has a word for accounts that stay open across lifetimes.
- 12 Jul 2026Too soon to judgeA thirty-minute conversation put me in touch with something deep about my own humility — how quickly I judge, and how someone else's journey deserves to be seen through their lens, not mine.
- 23 Jun 2026A screen full of equal squaresAdam Grant and his Wharton colleagues studied six years of leaders and found the thing predicting return-to-office mandates wasn't productivity or culture — it was ego. A LinkedIn thread sharpened it into a question I couldn't put down: am I designing work for output, or to reassure myself that work is happening?
- 10 Jun 2026Consultant by contractA PE recruiter's post on why a strong candidate was passed over — 'felt like a consultant, not an operator' — gave me words for something I'd long noticed: why many Indian companies flinch at consultants and trust only a full-time badge. And why, for most of my own working life, the badge was the wrong thing to read.
- 8 Jun 2026The number I'd been feelingAnthropic says Claude now writes more than 80% of its own code, and calls the next step by its name — recursive self-improvement. I'd felt the shape of this in my own work for months without a word for it.
- 3 Jun 2026The skills no one taught meDaniel Pink lists sixteen skills every functional adult should know. I watched it as a leader of people — and the list of how to be a grown-up turned out to be almost the same list as how to lead. Nobody taught me either.
- 1 Jun 2026Learning to nurtureMy default is action — get it done, reward the doing. Sitting with a quieter dimension inspired by Chandra, the moon, and taught by my sister: how do I become a better nurturer, of myself and the people around me?
- 1 Jun 2026When no one is watchingThe world rewards being the best when everyone is watching. Yogi wisdom asks the opposite — can you be number one when the only person watching is you?
- 27 May 2026I'll find you the PMAn Airbnb PM writes a love letter to Google Chrome PMs about all-blue tab icons. A Google PM replies with the perfect comeback. Two brands helping each other in public, with grace.
- 24 May 2026Words better than silenceSpeak only when you feel that your words are better than your silence.
- 24 May 2026Problems or potentialWhen I look at myself — or at someone else — am I seeing a bundle of problems, or am I seeing potential? Naming the shadow, and asking whether the other lens can be practised.
- 22 May 2026The MCA QuestionA family, six lakh rupees, and an MCA decision I can't yet give. My instinct, the question I put to my network, and the advice converging from what came back.
- 22 May 2026Layers and compoundingMy mentor Vikram said we learn in layers. Venky talks about the power of compounding. Watching Claude connect the small tools I built over many years, I'm finally learning both — through AI system architecture.
- 21 May 2026Thought to execution speedAs I think about AI, it's not about tools or process. As a leader, my thought to execution speed is now in minutes and hours, not weeks or months. That's the real shift IMO.
- 20 May 2026The story before the numberPlaying a founder in a senior compensation conversation taught me something: operational stability is table stakes. The hook was never the salary. It was the story.
- 20 May 2026What is Peliqan and where does it sit?Peliqan is not another connector. It's the operational data layer that sits between your AI and your live business systems. I'm trying to understand what that actually means.
- Aug 2026Today's PanchāṅgaA living almanac that teaches while it tells: today's tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vāra, with Rahu Kāla, Yamaganda, Gulika and Abhijit drawn on one day-strip — and the significance of each, in plain language.
- Aug 2026The Eight LakshmisAshta Lakshmi reframes prosperity as eight forms — abundance, wealth, nourishment, power, family, courage, knowledge, victory. An essay on why money is only one of eight, with a simple tracker to check where you are in life.
- Aug 2026The Nine Masks at the TableNine archetypes from the Vedic avatāra tradition, translated into the people you actually meet at work and in life. A first-year-of-Jyothish field guide to noticing them inside yourself and around you.
- Aug 2026One Sky, Three FramesWestern circle, South Indian square, North Indian diamond — three chart notations that are the same strip of sky folded three ways. An interactive explainer: one marker, three charts, moving together.
- Aug 2026Strong opinions, loosely held — with Rajesh ThiagarajanTwenty years of memory lane with Rajesh Thiagarajan — engineer, product thinker, ex-Infosys, ISB alum, long-time Equal Experts consultant — on the mosaic of experiences that shaped him, and what it takes to be a consultant people actually listen to.
- Aug 2026Before and after AI — with Sriram NarayanSriram Narayan on what the full software lifecycle looks like after AI — story quality scoring, outcome-aligned teams, and why the real friction is career anxiety, not tech resistance.
- Aug 2026Science and self-awareness — with Anil GrovorA conversation with Anil Grovor — IIT engineer, founder of Atmatva, and first-year student of the All Things Vedic programme — on the inner microscope where yoga therapy and Jyotish meet.
- Aug 2026Devil and sage, both — with Kanika KohliA Saturday morning conversation with Kanika Kohli on tier-2 origins, groundedness, and what AI-era leadership is quietly asking of us.
- Aug 2026Go slow to go fast — with Robin DhanwaniRobin Dhanwani on being consciously delusional, why the top 20% of designers have never been more valuable, and what he'd tell anyone starting a design career right now.
- Aug 2026The long innings — with Venky ChandragowriA long, unhurried walk through Venky Chandragowri's life — Madurai under-12 cricketer, BITS Pilani mechanical engineer, Infosys, a Michelin kitchen in Sorrento, a decade as a restaurateur, and the practice of treating life as an infinite game.
Peoplepages with and for others
- Aug 2026From my networkBuilders from Sree's network — people back at the frontier, making things from scratch. If you connect with any of them, tell them Sree sent you.
- Aug 2026PartnersA short list of people and organisations I've worked with closely enough to put my name beside — BrainQuest for employee engagement and learning, Ashvini Mahadev Architects for design, and Anil Grovor for leadership coaching. If one's right for you, I'll make the introduction myself.
- Aug 2026BrainQuest — Knowledge is the GameWhy I'd recommend BrainQuest — the team that turns employee engagement, learning and knowledge-sharing into something genuinely engaging. I've seen their work up close. Reach out and I'll introduce you to founder Sekhar Krishnan.
- Aug 2026Ashvini Mahadev Architects — spaces that hold youWhy I'd recommend Ashvini Mahadev Architects (AMA). Ashvini was one of the architects who shaped the office I work in every day — and she's now an independent practice. If you're building a space, reach out and I'll make the introduction.
- Aug 2026Anil Grovor — holding up the mirrorWhy I'd recommend Anil Grovor — executive mentor and systemic coach, founder of ATMATVA. I met him as a fellow student of Jyotish; he's since been my own mentor and coach. If you're building a leadership team, reach out and I'll make the introduction.
- Aug 2026Birthday wishesA corner of the site to wish the people who helped me become who I am — professionally and otherwise. A little gratitude, on the right day.
- Aug 2026For Sreenath G — a birthday wishMy first senior engineering hire, who grew into head of engineering and quietly built the capability of every team he touched. On his birthday — deep gratitude.
- Aug 2026For Kanika Kohli — a birthday wishCoach, seeker, Krishna bhakt — and the constant companion on every Tamil Nadu temple study trip. A birthday wish for Kanika Kohli, complete with her own newspaper.
- Aug 2026For Chris Storey — a birthday wishThe PM who showed me what a great partner looks like — and who is building something new with me still. On his birthday, with gratitude.
- Aug 2026Across a GenerationRecorded, anonymised conversations across a generational divide — a builder-turned-operator sitting down with younger builders to understand how a different generation thinks.
- Aug 2026A builder, looking for a home · Across a Generation · Part OneA recorded, anonymised conversation with a young builder — about why building got cheap, why distribution got hard, and where a maverick mind fits in a world that runs on stability. Part one of a series.
- Aug 2026Venky & SreeA corner of the site for the conversations I keep having with Venky — about AI delivery, teams, and the practice of building in 2026. When Venky speaks, I listen.
- Aug 2026Made by many hands — a lineage, 1980 to nowI did not make myself. A chronological accounting of the hands that did — family, teachers, friends, and a few market crashes — from a Kerala village in 1980 to now. A paramparā.
- Aug 2026Every wave starts smallA horizontal timeline of the great technology waves — desktop, mainframe, mobile, cloud, social, and now AI. Each one starts small, gets championed, explodes, and stabilises. Where am I standing on the AI wave? Right at the early-adopter edge — watching the future with wonder.
- 25 May 2026AI won't replace you — butA two-voice take on where to actually start with AI. Sree on doing it yourself before HR catches up. Venky on going back to school, on weekends, with your own laptop.
- 25 May 2026Skip Claude Code. Start with Cowork.A conversation Venky had with a product person on our team who's running four projects and can't find time for AI. He gave her — and now us — the actual sequence. From a 6-to-9 morning ritual to the local folder that becomes superhuman by week four.
Practicehow I build, what I ship
- Aug 2026Which camera? — a five-question guideFive plain questions, one clear answer. A small guide for anyone in an Indian housing group trying to pick an all-weather outdoor camera — where the power point is, whether WiFi reaches, and what it will actually cost over three years.
- Aug 2026How I BuildHow Sree Balakrishnan builds on the web — voice, agents, review, live. A note on the workflow behind sreebalakrishnan.in.
- Aug 2026Connect with Sree BalakrishnanThe quickest way to reach Sree Balakrishnan — WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Substack, YouTube, or email.
- Aug 2026Choosing an accelerator in IndiaA mentor's field kit for early-stage Indian founders: ten questions to clarify what you're actually buying, a verified map of the accelerator landscape as of mid-2026, and a way to match your answers to one or two programs.
- Aug 2026SignalsPieces from senior leaders and thinkers I've never met, but whose thinking I find worth carrying.
- Aug 2026PromptsWorking prompts I've written and actually run — kept at stable URLs so they can be copied, corrected and reused rather than pasted around in screenshots.
- Aug 2026Recreate a survey sheet — a briefA brief for Claude Code: turn photographs of an old printed map into an interactive page — trace what's checkable, stylise what isn't and say so, and make detail arrive with zoom the way paper rewards a magnifying glass.
- Aug 2026Debug a Git auto-deploy that quietly died — a promptA prompt for Claude Code: find why a merged change never reached production — fingerprint the last-deployed commit, walk the token → webhook → clone → pull chain, and prove the fix with an invisible marker.
- Aug 2026From voice note to published page — a promptA prompt for Claude Code: shape a raw voice-note transcript into a published page that still sounds like you — fact-checked, registered everywhere your site requires, with every correction shown.
- Aug 2026SEO for AI answer engines — a promptA prompt for Claude Code: audit a site the way a crawler sees it, then fix what it finds — content hidden behind JS, metadata, JSON-LD, robots and llms.txt.
- Aug 2026Unedited · One thought, three stagesAn honest submission of why I'm excited about AI. One thought — caught on a walk, cleaned of my grammar, and given a shape. Hear the raw audio, then read it move from raw thought to AI-edited to final outcome.
- Aug 2026The coworker, the lobster, and the scout — a field guide to the agentic desktopThe AI tools on our desktops have stopped chatting and started doing. A field guide to the new agentic assistants — Claude Cowork, OpenClaw, Microsoft Scout — and the wider landscape around them, as of mid-2026.
Closer inlife, family, place
- Aug 2026Who this site isIf this website were a person, who would he be? A character sheet for sreebalakrishnan.in — the curious chronicler: six tensions, a portrait, and the one line underneath it all.
- Aug 2026Sort It! — the waste segregation gameA fun waste-segregation game for children — sort real household items into the wet, dry, sanitary and garden bins, and learn the why behind every answer. Based on DECORA's government-approved reference chart.
- Aug 2026NowWhat Sree Balakrishnan is doing right now — where he is, what he's building, what's on his mind. Updated August 2026.
- Aug 2026Our first beetroot kvass — a fermentation afternoon with MatildaWe spent a weekend afternoon at a Coffee Ideas fermentation master class with Matilda — and made our first beetroot kvass. Twenty years of quiet wisdom, two hours that flew, and a drink from little more than water, salt, sugar and pepper.
- Aug 2026Pachmarhi and Environs · a 1912 sheet, recreatedThe framed 1912 Survey of India sheet at Pachmarhi, recreated as an interactive map — pan, zoom, tap the Key to Names to fly to each site, and learn to read contours, triangulation stations and the four kinds of roads.
- Aug 2026Madhya Pradesh · a family atlasAn illustrated atlas of Madhya Pradesh in the style of the old pictorial maps — every place we visit as a family lights up. Six glow so far — the Aug 2026 circuit from Balaghat, home, plus Kanha and Pench — and the rest are the plan.
- Aug 2026Dr. Shankaran Nair — 26 Years · The Monsoon DriveFor 26 years, Dr. Shankaran Nair has quietly handed school bags, umbrellas, and notebooks to children in remote Palakkad villages when the monsoon arrives. ₹1,200 sponsors one child for the year ahead. Zero overheads.
- Aug 2026Come, PuttaIn loving memory of Kadambi aunty — who entered our lives through a To Let board in Defence Colony and became family. A remembrance.
- Jan 2026The Krishna trailBorn in Mathura, a student in Ujjain, a king in Dwarka, a charioteer at Kurukshetra — and then carried across India by the people who loved him: a child in Guruvayur, a brother in Puri, a merchant's lord in Nathdwara, the one who waits in Pandharpur. One Krishna, nineteen addresses, on a map.