Editorial goes fully in-house. Format direction: 100 to 150 pages, a strong lean to hardbound, mixed paper stocks, engineer's-notebook dimensions in play; Raghav brings the mood board tonight. Open call blessed, with commercial terms kept privately. Enough interviews for now; follow-ups get targeted after the story pass. The 48-hour decision turnaround stands through August.
The BLF email went out on the 3rd; Srikrishna replied on the 9th. That action item is closed. The TII team recorded three more interviews: Satish, Mike Watson and Paul Koch. Private administration stays in the project files.
The information sheet (now a Google Sheet) is due back today. Sessions pending handover into the shared folder now number seven, counting the three new interviews. The artefact hunt continues: Santosh, Narayan, Sharada's email folder, the locked bullock-cart original.
A short call: a quick update, then Raghav on the book's visual direction.
The accounts register, contributor details and commercial terms are maintained in the private project files.
The TII team recorded three new sessions since the last call. Two are Dallas voices, a side of the story the archive has been missing. We're excited to add them.
| Voice | Why it matters | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Satish · facilities | The last founding department on tape. His session already produced one surprise: Hegde's visit during construction, now in the claims register. | TO PROCESS |
| Mike Watson · Dallas | The most-cited Dallas name in the corpus, including the shutdown ultimatum. He was top of the interview wish list two weeks ago. | TO PROCESS |
| Paul Koch · Dallas | Already named on tape (Sattam's session). A second Dallas-side view to set beside Watson's. | TO PROCESS |
These join the four sessions still queued for handover (the 30 Jan group discussion, Praveen's 1:1, CN Kumar, and Charlie's third sitting), making seven sessions inbound. Each will be transcribed, coded twice, and folded into the registers; a script then refreshes the archive numbers on the dashboard. Until then the coded corpus stands at its 2 July state: 30 sessions, 25 voices, 38.0 hours.
We pitched BLF on 3 July; Srikrishna replied on the 9th. The book still launches at BLF in December.
A 45–60 minute panel with the ex-TI engineers who made this project, joined by a contemporary who watched the impact from outside, plus the book's launch at BLF 2026, 11–13 December.
"TI in India is a great story and we'd love to showcase this at the Festival." Programming for the 15th edition filled early, so there is no standalone panel. Instead, BLF will feature the book and one of its writers in a broader conversation on the businesses of Bangalore. We accepted and offered to fill any programming gaps that open later.
The book still debuts at BLF, inside a bigger conversation rather than its own panel. Which writer sits on that panel gets decided with the manuscript. The bookstore side gets coordinated with Atta Galatta directly. Print date unchanged: October.
Raghav presents the format options he promised on the 2 July call. The aim tonight is to narrow them down and plan the in-person session with reference books. Bring opinions.
Two or three format routes, each with reference books, paper choices, and a plan for how the notebook system, the photographs, and the graphic interludes fit together.
100–150 pages (Arun: 100 reads in one sitting, and it should live on a coffee table). Strong lean to hardbound. Mixed paper stocks. Dimensions possibly keyed to the engineer's notebook. Price gets set with format.
A shortlisted direction (or two to prototype), a date for the in-person session where everyone holds the reference books, and a clear path to the 30 September design freeze.
Print in October means design freezes 30 September, which means the manuscript locks 31 August. The dates hold if decisions keep coming inside 48 hours and the seven inbound sessions land soon.
Decisions (a) to (d) taken, homework assigned, open call blessed, M1 reconciled in full, BLF email cleared to send.
Featured in a broader businesses-of-Bangalore conversation at the 15th edition; standalone panel didn't fit their programming. Action item closed.
Statement of accounts reconciled (eight contributors). Info sheet due back. Three new interviews announced. Raghav's visual direction on the table.
Anchor chapters drafted in-house; commissions in flight; the open call harvesting photos; the seven inbound sessions coded into the corpus; quote sign-offs begin.
Full manuscript assembled. Every chapter drafted, every quote signed off or substituted.
Design system and graphic interludes in production; proofreading; fact-check pass two on final layouts.
Print-ready files. After this date, changes put the production window at risk.
Printer trials, paper, binding. The physical book gets made.
The book launches at BLF's 15th edition, featured with one of its writers in the businesses-of-Bangalore conversation. Bookstore side via Atta Galatta. Forty years and two months after the first export left Sona Towers.