16 truths, 1 lie: I have built 20 apps.

World Clock: 🕰 Project:Resume Maker

I'm a Fullstack Developer.
Python, SQL, JavaScript.

" Sowmya is a real gem. She’s fun and super easy to work with in a team, getting pretty complex work done in a short time period. I would hire her again in a heartbeat! "
-- Anne Gibbon, CEO, Matri Design LLC
" Sowmya is an amazing programmer. She wants to dig deep and truly understand what she is working with. "
-- Crystal Ramirez, Technical Success Engineer, CloudFactory
" Sowmya is an inspiration to anyone who knows her. I recommend her to teams that could use a diligent and fearless go-getter. "
-- Jessica Mitsch, CEO, Momentum Learning

My Games

spinning star spinning star

Challenge yourself...

These are simple games that I've built.

Click on the game titles to play them. Have fun!


iGuess

You have to think of a number and the computer has to guess it!


Cows&Bulls

I pick a secret number and you have to guess it!


MysteryWord

You have to guess a word in 8 tries.


MathwithMe!

Work on sets of linear equations and inequalities with me.


Math4U

Use my calculator to do your simple math!


More coming soon!

Learn with me!


Click on the titles to go to the post. Have fun!

girl reading tutorial

Pytest-Selenium

Learn to write tests with the Python-Selenium plugin for a website's User Interface



jQuery-Leaflet.js

Write an app with a jQuery backend and a Leaflet.js frontend



Elementary Machine Learning

What I learnt about machine learning from a single day bootcamp.


hi!

My resume [How I jumped into Python and JS]

It has been a long, strange journey of a dancer, theatreperson, wannabe-cricketer, some-time singer, hiker, typist, film technician, radio announcer, TV actress, journalist, mother, knitter, writer and now, software developer.

It has been fantastic so far, wending through the many curves, catching the curveballs A lot of it has been fun, some, formidable.

The latest twist in this roller-coaster ride is the one from journalist to developer. I loved being a journalist and I still am one, occasionally. Change has come, though and it is time to apply my thirst for knowledge and challenges to another sector.

Technology has always puzzled me the most. And scared me, witless. I felt I was getting out-of-sync with the world and I had to conquer this tech-fear. Then, I wondered. What is the magic behind the screen on my laptop and phone?The minute I got curious, I knew my next step: software.

Momentum Learning gave me the break I needed. Clinton Dreisbach, assisted by Rebecca Conley put us through the paces for three endless months and ensured that I, along with 15 of my classmates, learnt to program apps.

They and Jessica Mitsch taught us the ropes of learning on the go, as technology changes every day. And to love it. Software, you have arrived in my life!

More on that coding journey here. I will, of course, keep adding to this tale. Do come back and keep in touch!

Interested in: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Drones, API design

worm

● Have built 16 responsive and stylish apps for the web and the mobile using Python, Django, Javascript, Angular, React JS, Laravel, CSS and HTML.

● Currently working on: telling stories through data visualization using Tableau, Folium, Python.

● Designed PostgreSQL, SQLite databases in my apps. Used APIs and Ajax for quick and responsive pages.

● Am working with Code for Cary and Code for Durham on two interesting public apps.

Latest project: Cary's historic trees

My first webpage: Poetry For The Soul


My Apps:


getJustice

This webApp and Chrome Extension lets you report instances of injustice on social media to the authorities in 30 seconds. [JavaScript, Python, Django, Bootstrap, external SMTP email server]
Read: How we did the project
Presentation Video
Live App
Full Code


YourCarbonFootPrint

Which country has the highest carbon emissions in the world? Has it changed with time? See my data viz. [Tableau, World Bank Data]

Read: How I built this project
See the visualization


South Africa and India have have highest number of AIDS orphans in the world. Data Viz [USAID data, Tableau]:
Map and bar chart of countries
World bar chart over the years
How various US states consume energy against how much they produce. Data viz [US EIA data, Tableau]:
Statewise energy consumption\production
Climate change and floods [Tableau, Dartmouth Flood Observatory]:
Countries and People Affected
Floods over the years


Sing Along

Here I use the iTunes API to let you listen to your favorite music from this cool web-site, your own compu-radio.[React JS, API]

Read: How I did the project
Live App
Full Code


Snip^pet

This web page provides users with frequently used code snippets for reuse in their applications. [Python, JavaScript, REST API, Bulma, Django]

Read: How we did the project
Live App
Full code


Tracer

If you want to find the best path through the mountains, use my program! [Python]

Read: How I did the project
Full Code


worm

● Each of my novels is a different genre: romantic thriller, literary fiction and political thriller. Fantasy is next. Watch out!

● I've been writing creatively since the age of 10 -- poetry, plays, short stories, serials and novels.


My novels:


Cinderella In Khaki

When minister Sarthak Maadara, charming and suave, walks into a slum in Bengaluru, he sets off deep political intrigue, violent ideological battles, potent gang wars in the teeming life of the unreported and neglected underbelly of India's Silicon city. This gritty political thriller gets as real as it can, living the grim life of the modern-day Cinderella who protects her men and her ideals. Is this a fairy tale that can end well?

Reviews:

Amazon.in
If people like Manjari Gowda and Dhruva live in her book

"Cinderella is a shot of Adrenaline. This political thriller goes beyond being a book and becomes an aesthetic experience. It tears through jobs, errands or whatever that may need your attention. Impossible to put it down however brief the break. Every character steps out of the book live and makes you want to follow her/him around quietly as Sowmya leads them."

Cinder-Ella

"Fairy-tale romance-check. Suspense-check. Adventure-check. Politics, sleaze, kindness, bravery , chivalry- check . And Happy Ending, the most important part of a story-CHECK. This is what happens when a journalist writes a novel. The story writes itself once the lead paragraph falls in place. The traverses the many worlds that lie hidden in Bangalore’s heart, and reveals the human, humane residents of its poor, crime-infested quarters. "

Twists, turns and then more twists!

"It’s a story which makes you speculate and think about people and life around you.. How life is for the untouchable in India... Casteism that is rampant not only in rural areas but also in our political system... how the rowdy networks are intertwined with the government, the police and the citizens.. Though the story is definitely a Bengaluru-Karnataka based one, it still conveys a larger picture of what most of the country is and has been facing! "

But it takes a seasoned journalist who hasn't stopped dreaming ..

"Sowmya hasn't used the word 'secular' anywhere in the novel, though it hugely supports secular nature of our constitution and talks about food rights extensively, especially from economics perspective. The novel is also a tribute to the women power we see everyday but don't recognise."

Vivid, pacy imagination rooted in reality.

"Some scenes and descriptions, especially the disturbing sexual assault incident (won’t reveal more and spoil it!) is wildly imaginative, rings real and transports the reader to the very location where it is set. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read a novel set in the heart of Bangalore, with a flavor of suspense and romance."


The Wall

A stone wall at the periphery of a village somewhere in Karnataka guards a dangerous mystery. Yet, four generations of women from the headman's family helpless and spirited, headstrong and weak with desire have a wayward fascination with it. And with Annaiah who comes, some say, from across the wall. Tradition and subversion coexist with superstitions and the slow advent of modernity in this powerful novel where time is a wilful beast and the gods walk among us.

Media:

The Hindu:
Of myths and fantasy

"One of the challenges I faced was presenting the Kannada sensibility in English. We have had translations of Kannada works in English, but I have attempted something new in The Wall .."

Deccan Chronicle:
The Wall, a Taalamaddale of Romance & Erotica

"We have a tradition in the Malnad region of Karnataka called taalamaddale, which takes the old Mahabharata and Ramayana tales and within their frame, all of the current day's politics, social, cultural and economic issues are debated to great effect. What I have sought to do in The Wall is taalamaddale in writing."

Sakal Times:
What lies beyond the Wall ..

"The storyline subtly draws parallels between the old and the modern world. The story is set somewhere in a remote, unnamed village in Karnataka. India is on the brink of independence and modernisation yet to reach the village. "

Bangalore Literature Festival Live:
The wall and the world of Kamadeva

"Young women in Aji’s book deal with the activity of exploring ‘Kama’ or sexuality. This also runs through the parallels of Feminism. Women trying to find and concern themselves with sexuality means the word has been circulated and soon it will be absorbed. "


Delirium

Even as Anjana is swept off her feet into a whirlwind romance, the reporter within her sniffs out the biggest scoop of the season. All too soon, she is neck-deep in trouble with her bosses and the cricket board, struggling to make sense of the sordid world of steroids and celebs. Will anjana give up the delicious young man she is hooked on to? And does she even want to? Sinful and alluring, Delirium is a heady cocktail of intrigue, temptation and betrayal.

Media:

New Indian Express:
Cricket, Romance and Scandals

"There’s a whole lot of cricket – from BCCI officials, to drug controversies, to green room trash talk to the practice nets. A well-researched book, Delirium will take most readers to real events that have taken place over the course of the last few years in Indian cricket."

The Hindu
An Affair to Remember

"The plot takes time to gather speed, but soon the readers are kept wondering what’s next. The three elements — illicit affairs, cricket and the ‘scoop’ of the season, — make for a good read. Will Anjana reveal her source?"

Flaming Sun: Sundari Venkatraman (blog):
Sports, Love, Steroids... Will love win?

"The affair and love scenes between Anjana and Avinash have been handled very well. It would have been so easy for them to slide into a sleaze fest. I must congratulate the author for presenting them with class. I am so glad that I got my hands on Delirium."

Vanya's Notebook (blog):
I am definitely a small fish in this ocean

"Ha ha! When I wrote the book—completed in 2004—Virat Kohli was probably still in school! It’s not based on any actual person, its imagination! And while we are at it, Kohli is aggressive not charming, surely! :)"

Book News India (blog):
The title was so intriguing for me

"It draws a fine line between how easy or how hard is for females to get the inside out of the stories, stories that are nothing but a bitter truth with ugly faces. It outlines the internal facts and developments, around dressing room and within the Indian sports industry, ‘Cricket’ in particular."


Short story:

Another Time Another Place

He still keeps her letter in his pocket—the letter from his beloved—even though the words in it were clear and final: It was over. So what if he missed her a little too much and had read that letter every single day for the last three years? He tried to go about his daily businesses like any other person—eventually, he would be capable of managing without her, right?—but, every now and then, sadness engulfed him. What choice did he have?


worm

● I've interviewed four former Prime Ministers of India and 12 chief ministers of different states.

● I mentored and trained with five generations of colleagues, worked with diverse and remote teams. Had a lot of fun!


My news reports:


The Times of India

From 2000-2008, I reported and learnt the job at the world's largest circulated English daily, The Times of India. TOI also carried my reports from the sister concern Economic Times, India's top financial daily, from 2014-2018.


First Post

First Post
For a few months in 2018, I researched and wrote a column on President Donald Trump from the US for the Indian website First Post, which pioneered digital news publication in India.


The Economic Times

The highpoint of my career was when I broke political and policy news for India's top 'Pink Paper' from 2014 to 2018. Between March to May 2018, in the space of less than 60 days, I wrote 200 news stories, analysis and interviews on the Karnataka elections travelling over 10,000 kms (over 6,000 miles).


India Today

From 2008 to 2013, I worked for the Living Media group for Mail Today and India's top magazine, India Today. Some of my stories are still available online.


My colorful journalistic journey (still being written!)