• I continued my exploration of Extism and wrote an initial blog post. I am using it in an actual implementation. I will write the details later.
• Except for three transfers, all the NMG/2026 transfers are complete. I am guessing we should close this by the end of this month. I am also planning to do a BoF session on microfunds at IndiaFOSS/2026 in Bangalore. Ping me if you are interested.
• Updated the Exploring Digital Technology course page with all the slides I used in class as reference. There were quite a few lab classes on Linux Basics, Bash, Git, etc, which are not fully covered by these slides but should be good enough to get a taste. I also finalized the class’s grades. They have done well.
• The special anniversary event for IndieWebBlr is on the 30th of this month. I am not able to attend, but you should if possible.
• One of my favorite web apps, Arena, has introduced metadata at various levels (blocks, channels, and connections). You can have multiple key/value pairs. This is a great addition to the data model, allowing one to extend and build on Arena. I also updated my sync code to CouchDB. It’s working well now. At some point, I will make it open. My apps use CouchDB as the source of truth. But the data editing happens on Arena. I have a Flipper One (reminder to blog more about it). It’s a versatile, hacker-friendly device. And this new plan makes it much more interesting. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical political movement, seems to have grown so fast that the IB of India considers it a national threat and censors it online, inadvertently triggering the Streisand effect.

But as a developer or builder, it’s not easy to build such a feature securely. I have tried it before with embedding Lua with some restrictions. But it isn’t great in sandboxing. I’ve always had an eye on the WASM-based implementation because browsers have decent sandboxing. Very recently, when I was updating Navidrome, I came across its plugin system, which uses Extism and is based on WebAssembly. Ideally, at some point, even WordPress can do this, allowing us to sandbox plugins.

So I wrote a simple plugin to try out this infrastructure. I wrote a plugin with internet access to a given URL. Its only goal is to test the plugin’s ability to make web API calls in a controlled way. And to explore how plugins work. The language I chose for the plugin is Python, but there are many better supported languages. I tested it using CLI. And it’s not difficult to call it from a host language.

I installed and used Extism CLI, version 1.6.2. Direct binary download from the repository. I wrote a simple Python script that, as a plugin, expects a JSON input containing URL and payload for a web post. There are other ways to pass the data to the plugin, but JSON seemed most flexible.

Inside the plugin, I read the JSON input, parse the parameters, and make a web POST request using Existims Http. Remember, you need to use the Python PDK (Plugin Development Kit). Those PDKs can have some limitations of their own. So be mindful when choosing a plugin language.

Also as you can see, a plugin can have many functions. The ones annotated with @extism.plugin_fn can be called from the host environment. The code is easy to understand.

#webhook.py
import json
import extism
from extism import Http

@extism.plugin_fn
def post_json():
    params = extism.input_json()

    url = params["url"]
    payload = params["payload"]

    response = Http.request(
        url,
        meth="POST",
        headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
        body=json.dumps(payload),
    )

    result = {
        "status": response.status_code,
        "body": response.data_str(),
    }

    extism.output_str(json.dumps(result))

To call this plugin first I need to build it. To build use the extism-py which is installed as part of Python PDK. Then run

extism-py webhook.py webhook.wasm

That will produce webhook.wasm, the plugin code that one would probably ship. You can call or invoke it via the CLI for testing. As you can see, I have to grant internet access to the WASM by allowing access to the url webhook.site.

extism call webhook.wasm post_json \
--allow-host "webhook.site" --wasi \
--input '{ "url": "https://webhook.site/0b757518-7120-4919-a12f-252d3dfbc8b5", "payload": { "name": "Thejesh from inside the sandbox", "seq": 1 } }'

But in real world you would be calling it from host code/program. Let’s say your host language is also Python, then you can call this WASM plugin using the following piece of code. Again, it’s not that difficult.

# host.py
# /// script
# dependencies = ["extism"]
# ///

import json
import extism

wasm_file = "webhook.wasm"

input_data = {
    "url": "https://webhook.site/dc895b92-0b21-46db-a9c0-766dd87e8b0f",
    "payload": {
        "name": "Thejesh from inside the sandbox",
        "seq": 1,
    },
}

manifest = {
    "wasm": [{"path": wasm_file}],
    "allowed_hosts": ["webhook.site"],
}

with extism.Plugin(
    manifest,
    wasi=True,
) as plugin:
    result = plugin.call("post_json", json.dumps(input_data).encode())
    print(result.decode())

All of a sudden, safe plugin implementation doesn’t sound that difficult, isn’t it?

• We have a new playlist for Uma’s radio. Now they are full-fledged songs. She can now sing songs in Malayalam, Kannada, and English.
• It’s been a busy week at work. Though I have closed most tasks, it’s been tiring. I will have to rest well this weekend and not do much. On NMG/2026 from, about half of the fund grants have been transferred. The rest should happen in the next few weeks. It usually takes two to six weeks after the announcement. So not bad. I will be in Chennai for a couple of days next week. Mostly to meet folks, otherwise working as usual.
• Two workout sessions and one pickleball session this week. We played singles on Saturday. It was tiring but equally fun.
• I had a quick online Coffee Meet with Mihir this week; it was mostly about working style and time management. This speech by Federer came up during the conversation. He has won 80% of his total singles matches, but in those matches, he has won only 54% of the points. The 54% figure makes it seem possible and human. I think small things compound, so keep doing what you are doing; don’t lose your mind over one small failure. You can still win the match. Thanks to MK for pointing me to this speech during a pickleball match.
• I have not upgraded to 5G yet. I think 4G itself is not up to the mark, and we are just overpaying. I hardly get 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, which are way below the promised speeds from any major telco in India. It would be okay for general phone video watching (which I think is their use case) or a video call. But as soon as you tether from a computer and start your work. You hit the limits. I am not going to talk about the bandwidth or daily limits.
• The first anniversary meetup of IndieWebClub Bangalore is on 30th May. I am going to miss it. But if you are in Bengaluru, please go meet people. Also, give a talk about your blogging experiments.
• I got the Yamaha washed and filled the Petrol (E20) to the brim before we left for Thrissur. I am worried about rust and the burns that E20 might cause to the bike. Once I return to Bangalore, I will find an XP100 petrol bunk and use only that petrol. I also plan to use Yamalube/Milex fuel additives to keep the carburetor clean. Let me know if you have tried them? While I was getting the motorcycle washed. I got a picture of Lingarajapuram PO for OpenPostBoxIndia.
• OpenArchiver is a self-hosted FOSS email archiving and search system. It can do continuous sync and store emails in standard .eml format. If you are interested in knots, functional or decorative, then you might like animated knots. Animations have been very useful to me. There is a lot of discussion about Mythos and security testing, including some panic actions by the NHS; in that regard, the Curl team’s experience with Mythos is interesting. Overall, industry feedback seems like a good addition (I don’t have access to it), but nothing spectacular (in public yet). Also, check notes by the AI Security Institute and the NCSC’s advisory on Mythos. She has been riding a beautiful motorcycle since 1968. I want to be her when I am her age. Over time, IoT has been used to take control away from consumers rather than to deliver information and control. This Bamboo Labs case is just another example. Any IoT device that doesn’t run on open protocols, doesn’t allow you to run without their cloud, and is not owned by you. It’s the same reason I don’t like connected cars or vehicles. Sadly, many electric cars fall into this category. An interesting AI policy by Ghostty takes the middle path. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to eliminate obtrusive technology in motor vehicles. It’s one of the reasons I love old, simple tech. Easy to fix and run.

• I met friends for a quick lunch at Maverick & Farmer Coffee. I have come to love cold brew with tender coconut water as a summer drink. I love cold brew and have been making it at home. I usually drink it without any additions. But Coconut water is a good addition in summer.
• I have caught up on various pending tasks on the personal front, such as renewing insurance and agreements, paying premiums, etc. There are some more on that list, but I have time to close them.
• I went to PT twice this week. I am doing well. Also did a half-yearly blood test. They look good. I didn’t get to play this week. We are planning to play tomorrow, let’s see.
• My 30 Days of DXing is going very slowly. On the positive side, I made a long wire antenna for SWL, and it’s working very well.
• We will be in Thrissur for the next three weeks. Ping me if you are around. I hope to catch Radio Ceylon on my SW Radio from Thrissur. It has not rained in Bengaluru for last couple of days, its gone back to being hot. Thrissur is generally much hotter than Bengaluru. I hope it rains.
• Updated the home installation of Navidrome to the latest version. I am updating my music database with MBIDs (MusicBrainz IDs). Once I do, I will fully integrate it with ListenBrainz and its playlists. The new plugin system on Navidrome is WebAssembly-based and runs inside a WASM sandbox provided by the Extism runtime. There are a couple of interesting plugins for my use cases, such as syncing Daily Playlists from Listenbrainz and getting lyrics. Extism as a technology looks very interesting and useful, especially if you want the user to extend your system.
• All the work related to NMG/2026 is complete. Now just tracking transfers and marking them as complete. This phase usually takes 2 to 4 weeks to complete. The kid who is part of NMG/EDU has completed her B.Com with good marks. Her final semester results are yet to come. She wants to be a CA. This week’s high point was registering her with the Institute of Chartered Accountants so she can start her Intermediate journey. We also got her registered for offline coaching classes at ICAI Bhawan in Bengaluru. I knew nothing about becoming a CA. I am learning so much. It feels like hidden knowledge.
• Martin Fowler has a hybrid of short notes, a link log, and til called fragments. It’s worth subscribing to if you like his blog in general. This MastoReader, a Mastodon thread reader, is a simple but useful tool. There is a ground invasion of Lebanon by Israel; during this time, Apple has removed the names of villages in Lebanon. Tech companies are never to be trusted. Ashley MacIsaac is suing Google for an AI-generated summary. It is a genuine case of harm caused by AI (if you call it AI).  
• I wanted to write a longer post about how India (and, indirectly, us the Indians) has lost its voice internationally on anything that matters to us and the world. For a long time, India had a strong voice that was heard not because of its muscle power but because of its strong ethical take and actions. But today, we are not just silent when it matters to speak; we are also going in the opposite direction. Trying to water down the criticism of Israel during BRICS is one such example. The post needs more time and research. If you have thought about this in any form, ping me.

I spent a bit of time organizing the NMG/2026 introductions and making them. It’s almost done except for three. More coordination is required there. There was also one small change in the NMG; one of the grantees couldn’t receive the funds, so I granted them to the next person. Also, I had missed adding Ganghadhar’s contribution to the pool. Ganghadhar has been a long-term supporter of NMG and a good friend. Thank you, Gangadhar. With that, we could award a bigger grant. All in all, good.

• Update the Idly Dose Vada Coffee price survey to have 2026 values represented on the graph. I have not added a year-on-year comparison chart. I plan to do that.
• I continued with my two days of P.T. I want to make it 3 days of workouts a week. I need to make changes to include it in my schedule. I couldn’t play this week, mostly due to the rain.
• I have been playing pickleball for more than 6 months, so I thought it was a good idea to buy a pair of paddles. I got a pair of Vinsguir Graphite Pickleball Paddles (the ones with colorful doodles). It’s an entry-level, affordable paddle. I have used them before; I found them decent, so I got a pair. I also got a pair of Impakto barefoot shoes and a set of Supersox No Show socks, mostly for gym use. Both are practical, affordable, and easy to pack.
• I rode Manju’s HD x440 for the first time. It rides well. It felt a bit long, especially on sharper turns, but it’s a comfortable ride even for my height (163 cm). It’s heavier than a CB350, but I didn’t notice it while riding.
• Added Weeknotes by Jon Sterling and Liam O’Connor to my list. Both are from academia. I also like the platform they use for writing online. It’s called Forrester. It’s a FOSS tool for authoring, exploring, and sharing scientific and mathematical hypertexts. BirdNET-Pi is a FOSS software system for the Raspberry Pi that does real-time acoustic bird classification. You can easily set one up at your home or office. Locus Sonus Stream Project offers a worldwide network of “open mikes” that permanently stream local soundscapes to a dedicated server. The resulting live audio can be used in a wide variety of artistic and scientific projects, including bird identification. Unrelated but similar audio project where, in the center of San Francisco, a microphone listens to the street and uses Shazam constantly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• SourceGit is a FOSS Git client. It’s not on Flathub, but they have deb, AppImage, etc. It’s really useful if you are new to Git or you want to explore a complete repo. Honker is an SQLite extension that provides durable queues, streams, pub/sub, and a scheduler. I would like it to be integrated with Dramatiq. I think it will be a great combo, though it can work on its own. One of the MAGA “Influencers” is an AI character created by an Indian Student to earn money. I wonder how many Indian influencers are AI characters. Talkie is a vintage model trained on historical texts from a specific period. It’s fun and also a way to see if they can predict the future. I introduced 32-Bit Cafe community, Codeberg, and Neocities to my class this week.

• It’s been very hot; I used to think 35°C was the hottest, but now it’s consistently crossing 35°C. It is also very dry heat, the type that makes you tired, drowsy, and thirsty all the time.
• We had lunch with niblings at YouMee. I think it was okay. But kids loved going around, as there were lots of kids due to the holidays. Uma has been spending a lot of time with them this summer.
• Fixed a couple of pairs of Levi’s jeans that were at least a decade old. Started wearing them again. I love how they fit.
• A new 30 Days project called #30DaysOfDXing, where I am trying to receive various radio wave transmissions and listen to them.
• I was introduced to a new band, Peepal Tree, by a gymmate. Songs Chetana and Tangi are on my playlist now. I watched Vaazha -2 (Malayalam) and  Second Case of Seetharam (Kannada) this week. Both are one-time watchable.
• We have a new workout plan now. We will follow it for the next six months. My personal strength goal is to squat 1x bodyweight. Currently, I am at 18 Kgs, which is roughly 1/3. This was a good week, three workout sessions and a game session. We also got to hang out a bit at the Dolphins after the game.
• You might like The Creative Independent if you are looking for articles, interviews, and how-tos that can help you lead a creative life (according to them! ). I have found them useful.
• The union government tried to Trojan Horse the delimitation through the new women’s reservation bill. It wasn’t an honest effort, and it failed. If you didn’t know, there is already a reservation bill that was passed in parliament, but is not yet operative. On the other side of the world, people are getting arrested for sharing something privately on WhatsApp. I am no longer sure about E2EE on WhatsApp, following Signal’s E2EE being broken via a notification flaw on iOS.

Here is the big list of grantees in no specific order.

You should receive an email with the details by tomorrow. Congratulations to all the grantees, and a huge thank you to everyone who applied, shared, and supported.

Join our moderated Friends of NMG email list to connect with like-minded people and stay updated. You can go to main project page for all the details.

Additional Notes #

1. 2026-04-30: One of the grantees couldn’t receive the funds due to personal reasons, so I reassigned the grant to the next person in the short list. Also, I had missed adding Gangadhar’s ₹25K to the pool earlier. With that included, we were able to offer a larger grant. Thank you, Gangadhar. I have also updated the original post and this post.

I am a radio enthusiast and also an E&C engineer. Though fields and waves, or antenna theory, were not my favorite subjects in engineering, I love radio waves and listening to them. I think if I had more practice-oriented classes during my engineering studies, I would have loved those subjects much more than I do now that I practice. May be something for me to remember when I teach or share.

DXing, taken from DX, the telegraphic shorthand for “distance” or “distant”, is the hobby of receiving and identifying distant radio or television signals, or making two-way radio contact with distant stations in amateur radio, citizens band radio or other two-way radio communications. – Wikipedia

If you are new to Short Wave Listening (SWL) or the HAM radio world, DXing generally means listening to distant signals. Still, I am not limiting myself to only the “distant” signals in this project, nor to radio or television signals. I am going to try local signals as well, for example, Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) from Bangalore Airport is a fair game. I might also do local FM stations, just to learn. The focus is on learning and trying new things.

My plan is not to spend more than 30 minutes a day on this. I should be able to achieve it. I have already started logging them at #30DaysOfDXing, along with all the details. If it interests you, contact me. Maybe we can do it together.