About Me

Hi! I’m Vinay Keerthi.

This is me. I love to swim!

I am a software developer based in Bangalore, India. I write about technology, Rust, Python, Raspberry Pi, the Internet of Things, and I also speak at Meetups and Conferences.

I currently work at ChainSafe, where I work on tools and libraries to help further web3 and blockchain-related tech.

Previously, I’ve worked at Merkle Science, where I’ve built tools and ETL pipelines for cryptocurrency-analytics, and at Visa Inc, building tools and internal services that powered the Data Platform team, and before that, I worked at GKN Driveline, helping the engineers automate mathematical calculations that power cars around the world.

The stuff I enjoy building are usually distributed systems, developer tools and the odd automation that no one else usually enjoys. I love making things work like clockwork.

I have a code of values that I adhere to, and I constantly try to adhere to it.

I love to read, swim, and write. I will often write about tech, culture, mental health, and swimming.

I also write about hearing loss and single-sided deafness, and how to cope with it.

You can reach me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Email, though I’d rather you just send me a tweet.

Why Stonecharioteer?

The Stone Chariot of Hampi - Art by Sthuthi Kiran

I was born in Hampi, Karnataka, India, and I often write about it as well. I was lucky enough to find the domain, and the ID in all my frequent portals.

Pets

Dog Tax

Meet my dog: her royal highness “Subbalakshmi” (Subbi). We’ve had her since Sept 2019, and she’s one of the friendliest dogs we’ve met. She’s an indie, adopted off the road when she was a few weeks old. She’s the cuddliest thing ever! My mother named her Subbi, a word that usually denotes a rather cheeky young girl. We turned that name into Subbalakshmi, because Subbi is also usually a nickname for that.

Subbi

Cat Royalty

As of August 2023, I have one dog and three cats. All 4 of these were adopted off the streets, directly and sort of indirectly.

Vibhishana

I got a cat in Jan 2021, and his name is “Vibhishana” (Vibhi). He’s an indie too, and I got tricked into adopting him and becoming his servant. He doesn not love cuddles. My mother named him after Vibhishana, the brother of Ravanasura, because she said he looked like a Rakshasa, but since he was ours, he was a good Rakshasa.

Vibhishana

Ganga

Ganga

I have always wanted more cats, so I adopted this feisty monster in October 2021. Her name is Ganga, and she’s just as naughty as her elder brother, if not more so. I named her Ganga, and this is the only one of my pets that I named, because she would climb the windows at night, get on the curtain rods, and then yowl at me so I’d wake up, get a stool or ladder, and then beseech her to come down. She also had a bad habit of peeing on my feet at night as a kitten. One night, at 3AM, I was tired, she was on the curtain rods yet again, and reminded of Bhagiratha, who beseeched the river goddess Ganga to descend upon the Earth. It was fate that she was named Ganga, and trust me, she is as feisty as the river herself.

The two of them love each other very much.

Exhibit A

Yamuna

Yami, Yamu, Yamuna, Kauveri, Pampa, Tungabhadra, Netravathi, Chandi Chamundi, Kamakshi and Gowri. Somehow, the fact that my friend’s mom named her meant that she gets multiple names. Yami doesn’t get along with the other cats (as of 2023 August), but I’m working on that. She is feisty, loves attention, and loves being among people. She’s indifferent about other animals.

I have joint ownership of her highness with my friend Sri, who told me to look after her “for a week” in April 2022.

And no. I didn’t buy her. Adopt, don’t shop.

Yamuna

And here’s a photo of me trying to socialize these 3.

Cat Family

My Gear

I am a certified geek. I build mechanical keyboards, run Kubernetes on a 4 node Raspberry Pi 4 bramble (a smaller cluster), have about 18 Raspberry Pi boards in all, and I also do a lot of MicroPython and IoT work.

I love Linux, and I enjoy tinkering around it, trying to disassemble how it works.

Here’s a small gallery of my workspace.

Keyboards

I assembled these keyboards and flashed the QMK framework on them, programming them to suit my preferred layout.

Corne Keyboard with Cherry MX Blue Switches

Daisy 40% (Cherry MX Green)

Lily58 Keyboard (Cherry MX Blue)

Workspace

This is my older workspace from my previous house. I’ve since moved into a larger house, where my books are right behind mehouse, where my books are right behind me.

New Workspace and Library

I moved into a larger house near a lake, and I’m glad I did, because I was finally able to buy some IKEA bookshelves and arrange my books all around me. I’ve also bought a gorgeous standing desk from Monarch Ergo, which I use for work.

For writing, I’ve bought a custom made desk that’s mostly commandeered by my cats.