BrownPhantom https://prashantdhanke.com Essays, stories, small-town memory, corporate absurdity, technology, music, and occasional cricket. en-IN Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Forbes X Under X https://prashantdhanke.com/forbes-x-under-x https://prashantdhanke.com/forbes-x-under-x Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT A guide for the rest of us, who missed 30 Under 30, 40 Under 40, and possibly basic compounding.

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]]> BrownPhantom AI Can't Be Stopped, But It Can Definitely Be Misled https://prashantdhanke.com/the-ai-and-i https://prashantdhanke.com/the-ai-and-i Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT AGI is at the door. Humanity, having failed at wisdom, may still have one weapon left: majestic nonsense.

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]]> AI Technology Internet Absurdity BrownPhantom Bloody Indians in Vegas https://prashantdhanke.com/bloody-indians-in-vegas https://prashantdhanke.com/bloody-indians-in-vegas Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT As mentioned in the previous post, here’s another twisted tale of telephony. First, the disclaimer: Unlike other incidents on this blog, this one is not autobiographical. It happened with three guys whose identity shan’t be revealed. Being trustworthy has many benefits in the lon...

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]]> AI Refurbished I Still Don't Know https://prashantdhanke.com/i-still-dont-know https://prashantdhanke.com/i-still-dont-know Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT A short story about hell, embarrassment, and the bureaucratic efficiency of terrible endings.

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]]> Fiction Absurdity AI Refurbished It Really Doesn’t Matter https://prashantdhanke.com/it-really-doesnt-matter https://prashantdhanke.com/it-really-doesnt-matter Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT A menu-card confession for people whose strongest preference is outsourcing the decision.

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]]> Food Absurdity AI Refurbished Stupid Tit-Bits https://prashantdhanke.com/stupid-tit-bits https://prashantdhanke.com/stupid-tit-bits Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT 1. Phantom Fetish Long ago, when there used to be not more than a single hit per day on this blog, I would check each visitor’s location and referring URL on Sitemeter. So, one fine day there was a visitor all the way from Denmark. Pleasantly surprised to have a guest from a deve...

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]]> AI Refurbished Goa Trip : Introduction https://prashantdhanke.com/goa-trip-introduction https://prashantdhanke.com/goa-trip-introduction Mon, 08 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT So how was the trip ? Words one expects to hear are : "Awesome", "Fantastic"," Disaster" ... I am going to use similar words in a chain of posts devoted to Goa, but if there has to be an answer in as little word as possible, then I needn't utter a single word. The trip was planne...

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]]> BrownPhantom Five Whatevers https://prashantdhanke.com/five-whatevers https://prashantdhanke.com/five-whatevers Wed, 05 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT 1. Object Thou shalt not steal. Else, you are a thief. And the object, Stolen. 2. Work Rose, “I shall have the glory”. Thorn, “I too, will be in the story”. Leaf, “Damn fucking photosynthesis $&@ ”. 3. Geometry Everyone’s self centered, it’s the radius that matters. 4. Playing Go...

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]]> BrownPhantom The Tailor's Box https://prashantdhanke.com/the-tailors-box https://prashantdhanke.com/the-tailors-box Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMT A village, a tailor, a box, and the kind of secret that keeps fitting long after everyone else has changed size.

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]]> Fiction Memory Small-town BrownPhantom Shadows of the mind https://prashantdhanke.com/shadows-of-the-mind https://prashantdhanke.com/shadows-of-the-mind Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT Since last quarter of an hour I’ve been wondering about the value of right hand. When no amount of money succeeded in luring me into parting with it, I turned to other body parts. So if on a cold dark night, I am captured by a seasoned sadist and he offers the choice to either pa...

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]]> BrownPhantom In Praise Of Routine And In Glory Of Life https://prashantdhanke.com/in-praise-of-routine-and-in-glory-of-life https://prashantdhanke.com/in-praise-of-routine-and-in-glory-of-life Tue, 12 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT The skin is getting its colour back. The blood is pure red now; gallons of alcohol have drained off. Sometimes though, the eyes yearn for the watery horizon. The waves bring a million messages from the end of the world. The meanings and interpretations they represent are overwhel...

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]]> BrownPhantom The Alchemistress https://prashantdhanke.com/the-alchemistress https://prashantdhanke.com/the-alchemistress Fri, 04 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT Stella was on the hospital bed. Her left leg plastered. This had to be the worst day she has had in years. She slipped over the stairs as she was leaving the school after checking out the result for a test which was very important for her. Her mind wandered to the scene in cantee...

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]]> BrownPhantom For Chameli, whenever I may find her https://prashantdhanke.com/for-chameli-whenever-i-may-find-her https://prashantdhanke.com/for-chameli-whenever-i-may-find-her Wed, 11 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMT Terror is what I was craving for last night. It had been quite a long time since I woke up in the night fear struck with a nightmare. I live alone . The unconscious mind sometimes create too vicious scenes to be ever imagined by even an immensely fertile brain. I didn't have the...

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]]> BrownPhantom Her Diary https://prashantdhanke.com/her-diary https://prashantdhanke.com/her-diary Fri, 23 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT Everyday life for a female is never easy in a conservative society. Being a werewolf doesn’t help. Waking up naked beneath the park benches, even if only twice a month, belongs firmly to the class of experiences better not had. Digging out the box of clothes and dressing up while...

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]]> BrownPhantom We The People https://prashantdhanke.com/we-the-people https://prashantdhanke.com/we-the-people Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT Scenario 1 : Two kids with their Mom Mom : Sonu, Monu ! Come let's go to the Tagore Academy. There's an exhibition on Chola dynasty sculptures. Sonu : Would there be any puppet show ? Monu : Mom, why can't we go play football instead. Kids sulk and then escape to the playground....

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]]> BrownPhantom Ten Years in Industry https://prashantdhanke.com/ten-years-in-industry https://prashantdhanke.com/ten-years-in-industry Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMT This June 17th, I will be finishing 10 years in industry. The duration is almost a dog life. A kid born 10 years ago would have learnt to eat, talk, read, write and walk, and must be in 5th standard; probably would have had a crush or two by now. My learning fall short in compari...

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]]> BrownPhantom God's Own Child https://prashantdhanke.com/gods-own-child https://prashantdhanke.com/gods-own-child Fri, 11 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMT There were impatient knocks on my door this morning. I stopped Eminem swearing loudly on my Laptop, opened the door and found the delivery boy from Gas Agency carrying a ripe red Cylinder with a unbroken seal on it. "Sir, Where do I put it ?" I was speechless. This was nothing le...

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]]> BrownPhantom Please Vote For Me https://prashantdhanke.com/please-vote-for-me https://prashantdhanke.com/please-vote-for-me Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMT I need your votes for the 'Chief Blogger' Contest for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 'Chief Blogger' gets to travel with the team and blog about the team during the forthcoming Champions League. Based on the quality of application, number of votes and references, 9 Bloggers wou...

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]]> RCB & Cricket Mother https://prashantdhanke.com/mother https://prashantdhanke.com/mother Sun, 16 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMT Mother, do you think they'll like this song? Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls? Mother, should I build the wall? $1

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]]> BrownPhantom Things a man endures every morning https://prashantdhanke.com/things-a-man-endures-every-morning https://prashantdhanke.com/things-a-man-endures-every-morning Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMT $1

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]]> BrownPhantom Bee and the Beast https://prashantdhanke.com/bee-and-the-beast https://prashantdhanke.com/bee-and-the-beast Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT I saw brightness shimmering through the window glasses of his house on that rainy night. Then he opened one of the windows to smell the wet soil; the fragrance rushed inside & luminescence squeezed outside. I flew inside towards the tube light, my wings feeling the strong wav...

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]]> BrownPhantom The Bribe https://prashantdhanke.com/the-bribe https://prashantdhanke.com/the-bribe Mon, 10 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT Kharagpur, a speech-controlled toy car, a ten-rupee note, and the kind of misunderstanding that deserves preservation.

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]]> Kharagpur Campus Memory Absurdity AI Refurbished Helpless https://prashantdhanke.com/helpless https://prashantdhanke.com/helpless Sun, 29 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT I have come to accept that no matter how much I reason, I am not immune to the whims of surroundings. How else to justify the Bournvita milk I have been drinking after dinner for over a week now. Last week, while shopping for grocery at a food mall, the Bournvita bottle caught my...

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]]> BrownPhantom Trip Home https://prashantdhanke.com/trip-home https://prashantdhanke.com/trip-home Tue, 24 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT Lull is a funny word. And that’s what this place has been going through for a long while now. I have forgotten how to structure a post to the level this blog has been used to so far. Staccato shall be the norm in whatever drivel that follows. So I went home for two weeks to celeb...

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]]> BrownPhantom How we learnt "English" over the last few decades. https://prashantdhanke.com/how-we-learnt-english-over-the-last-few-decades https://prashantdhanke.com/how-we-learnt-english-over-the-last-few-decades Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT Year 1958 . Well, first the basics . Movie : Dilli ka Thug C.A.T. Cat, Cat Maane Billi, R.A.T. Rat, Rat Maane Choohaa Matlab iska kaho tum kya huaa. M.A.D. Mad, Mad Maane Paagal, B.O.Y. Boy, Boy Maane Ladkaa N.O.S.E. Nose, Nose Maane Naak, C.R.O.W. Crow, Crow Maane Kauvaa G.O.A.T...

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]]> BrownPhantom The Happening https://prashantdhanke.com/the-happening https://prashantdhanke.com/the-happening Sun, 03 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT Wednesday evening. Around 9 PM. I called up Chitto to discuss about the Goa trip that we three (third one being Pravu) had planned for the first weekend of December. Tickets were booked, researches were in progress to have some serious kick ass fun and my intent for the call was...

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]]> BrownPhantom A Word Game https://prashantdhanke.com/a-word-game https://prashantdhanke.com/a-word-game Sat, 02 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT I’ve got almost three hours left, as these very words are typed, before I default on the grand promise made to myself of writing at least one post per ten days. So let me hurry up and write about a word game I used to play quite often, long ago. It’s about getting from one word t...

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]]> BrownPhantom A Tree, A Lizard, And A Dementia https://prashantdhanke.com/a-tree-a-lizard-and-a-dementia https://prashantdhanke.com/a-tree-a-lizard-and-a-dementia Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT This is not a “proper” post, in a sense that it is being done just for the sake of discipline. Am working on something interesting (hopefully) which is taking time. However, I would hate to break the “at least one post per week” rule. Can’t let the weekend go dry. Be careful what...

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]]> BrownPhantom Dilli Ka Thug : Part 2 https://prashantdhanke.com/dilli-ka-thug-part-2 https://prashantdhanke.com/dilli-ka-thug-part-2 Mon, 12 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT Here goes the analysis of the first incidence in the Tricks of Trades series. I turned. It was him. Statistics: When I look back, I think he had me even before I left my cab. Trying to talk to me in Marathi sealed the deal because you don’t hear that language a lot in Gurgaon whi...

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]]> BrownPhantom Riders On The Storm https://prashantdhanke.com/riders-on-the-storm https://prashantdhanke.com/riders-on-the-storm Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMT I had a shocker today morning while driving. As soon as the radio was turned on, these were the words that fell on my ears: Into this house we're born Into this world we're thrown 91.9 FM playing Doors at 9.30 in the morning! And that too Riders on the Storm! The best ever. “Ther...

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