Why Am I Doing an MS?

So it's been about a month since I landed in the US. University of Colorado. Graduate Studies. Masters in Computer Science. Hoping to specialize in Artificial Intelligence. Insert Other Fancy Words Here. All Starting With Capital Letters.

Looking beyond that, I have my first career fair tomorrow, I have my assignments due and I need to turn off the stove. It's now that I decide to make a blog entry. Since I don't have much time anyway, I need get back to more productive work before the guilt of procrastinating becomes to much to bear.

This post will be rambling, trying hard to be philosophical. So I came to do an MS from Bangalore, leaving a cushy job and good people behind. Why though? What makes it worth it?

So apparently I'm attracted to this abstract concept called RESEARCH. I honestly don't think I know what it is. It's the name I give to the void inside me, the discontent. The feeling that I'm not living up to my potential. So when I start doing "research" I'll be content and life will be completely satisfying.

I've given corporate life a shot, in the best of working environments no less. It wasn't satisfying. The college environment is what I love. Everyone's so smart, there are people great at everything. Corporate life, in all modesty makes you complacent. You aren't stretching. Maybe I'm too idealistic.

I know I can't be in college forever, I'll have to go out. "Research" is not going to be a bed of roses either. This whole passion thing is overrated. I definitely know that I enjoy college more than corporate life. While the social life isn't as good, it's something I really don't pay too much attention to.

So why am I here? I really didn't think much beyond the much better education system here. The urge to stand out has never been stronger and all I have no idea what I need to do. 

Advaita: The Silent Sea Review

Though they've been around since 2004, I and a lot of people around me first heard of Advaita only after the release of their first album 'Grounded in Space' in 2009 and were instantly hooked. It was fresh, seamlessly integrating the schools of Indian Classical and Western music. There must be few bands consisting of so many members (8 is a large number in a band man! One has trouble even remembering all of the guys names!), where there is so much cohesion, without any of the members dominating or getting sidelined at all. After the stellar debut, Advaita released their second album 'The Silent Sea' in Feb this year.

An Evolving Band
Advaita hit an impressive and very successful formula with their previous album, but they haven't stuck to it for this one. The good thing is, everyone in the band so ridiculously talented that this makes for an equal, if not better  listening. This time around, the bands sound seems more progressive, the Porcupine Tree  influence especially discernible  in the songs 'Dust' and 'Words'. The band though, also figured out the winning points of their hits last time. The electronic ambiance is lush, with the keyboards(Anindo Bose) doing a consistent job throughout. The punch in many songs though, is Suhail Yusuf Khan's sarangi. The way the instrument croons, it can build and modify the entire mood of a song. 


On the downside, a couple of songs on the album such as 'Tremor' had nothing new to offer and seemed to be included only as filler songs.

The Top Songs

My personal favourites in the album are-

1. Mo Funk- Perhaps the most easily likeable song in the album, the energetic track starts with a great Bol-Taal by Ujwal Nagar and Mohit Lal. This time around the Hindustani classical is traded for a beautiful rendition of the carnatic  'Swaminatha Paripalaya'. This was the song where the percussion department did the best job. Chayan Adhikari's vocals kick in unexpectedly at the end of the song, but are in no way unpleasant.
2. Words-  The dark and tense song starts with a slow arpeggio, before Adhikari's vocals begin. Along with the vocals, the unusual sounding chord progression was the most appealing. An excellent sarangi solo in the middle of the song slowly builds up the tension and the song climaxes into one of the best "releases " I've heard with Nagar doing what he does best.

Rating- 8.5/10

Work Music

The concept of "work" music has always been somewhat of an enigma (to me atleast). I prefer listening music while working, studying or any brain intensive work for that matter. But the stock music is usually ruled out. First, if the song has lyrics it's really hard to actually concentrate without drifting away on a tangent, especially if the song is a sad one that for some weird reason you relate to (Relating to song lyrics should be made illegal, but more on that later). And if the song genre is metal, I break into that evil grin as I look at the mirror (did i tell you the mirror is right front of my table in the room? Makes it insanely difficult to actually study).

No, what you need here is a song that refreshes your mind , without actually grabbing your attention. In comes ambient music. I started listening more of this type of music after coming here. It has those atmospheric layers in the music that is actually soothing. I don't know how to accurately describe it right now and it doesn't help that i'm freakishly sleepy. So anyone who wants to know more :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_music

So coming back, even ambient music has a lot of sub-genres, some of which have disturbing, creepy music to say the least. But the good side is some of the other genres actually make for great work music.

Case in point: The Social Network Soundtrack

Composers Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor with Best Music Score award

This is the best piece of ambient music let alone work music that I've come across! Made by Trent Reznor (the "nine inch nails" guy) and Atticus Ross, this work consisting of 15 tracks is what i put on repeat and listen to again and again and again when i'm doing just about anything. It's classified as "dark ambient" and "industrial ambient" by last.fm, I have no idea what that means (I do actually, but that'll make the post even longer than it already is). So this soundtrack is greatly recommended if you have some long boring work to be done. Be warned though, this album (It shouldn't  be called a soundtrack, it's as good as any of those albums out there) takes it's own sweet time to grow on you.

There're also other good artists like God Is An Astronaut (instrumental ambient+ rock band having a really cool name) and Explosions in the Sky (ditto). Do check them out.

What to you listen to while working? Post it in the comments!

And I really need to sleep now.
Until next time,
KK

Update 6-10-2011: Lifehacker has a section dedicated to work music, do check it out here.:

VIT,Common Bathrooms and the Works

Ah well, VIT.

It's a kind of a bittersweet experience. It certainly is better than what you read about it on the net, but then there is something, forgive the cliche, missing. Maybe it's just that Kolkata raised the bar way too high(Cheers KVB mates!) or something.

When i was at home, the one thing that scared me (a delicate darling who'd never left home alone ever before) most about hostel life was the whole concept of common bathrooms. Fortunately, i don;t have a problem with the common bathroms here. No, not even when my current block ("E - Blaak") doesn't have those rods to hang the clothes from. One can hang clothes on the door. What i do have a problem with is people leaving their underwear behind (Even the lizard here says "Tch Tch"). I mean , How the hell does one manage to take all his clothes and leave the Jockey behind? Another pet grouch is unflushed toilets. But there's always a safe cubicle where one has written on the door- "Whoever doesn't flush the toilet is a Fothermucker". Talk about proactive.

On a completely unrelated note, have you ever noticed in moderate to large stations how the announcer(usually female) has a amazingly cool voice that sounds stitched together from different words(somewhat like the president speech in Die Hard 4, if you get my drift)? Always manages to cheer me up!

Until next time,
KK

Missed me?

Hey everyone!
Phew it's three years since i last wrote this blog!!
a lot has happened since 10th standard and me coming to kolkata...
11th and 12th were like full on pagalpanti years... 12th boards etc ho gaye... Then came admission time... after 2 years of FIITJEE coaching i was sure of only one thing... "IIT hobey naa".

And the IIT exam... Questions paper se nikal ke thappad maar rahe the.

Anyway jinka IIT nahiin... unka VIT hai!
So yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm a sophomore at the Vellore Institute of Technology.

Right now if you guys are realy bored i suggest you google "VIT reviews" or "VIT hostel life" or something like that.

So i was like completely freaking out.... But on a serious note, VIT ain't that bad.

And thus begins the second phase of my blog.

Farewell Mhow

OK everyone this post is being written from KOlkatta...i've shifted!
so this is the farewell summary of mhow in NFS carbon language.....
Things never change around here..... this place is a battlefield
PJers, dumbos and smokers..... all battle for territiory....
and it all gets settled in the classroom .....which u willl never survive....


Anyways kal ki baat chhodo I went to Kolkata in a kingfisher flight... yeh armaan dil mein the ki there will be a mini TV... music systems...wi-fi....and then we went out into the runway mere saamne woh badi si plane thi...and then...
bhaisaab aapki plane bagal waali hai....
plane? kaunsi plane? achha.... woh dibba...heh heh heh heh... help!
andar gaya and pop all the dreams just...matlab sheesh!
kuchh nahiin thaa kuchh nahiin.....boohooo!
chalo anyways... abhi tak kolkata itni achhi tarah dekha nahiin hai... ill have a luk and let u guys noe
cheers!

my Trademark Tune!- Tickle.com test

Karthik, your trademark tune is Destiny's Child's "Survivor"

From clothes to cuties, you know just what you like, and you always go after it. Your independent spirit is what makes you so unique and always guides you in your pursuits. And what makes you that much more of a survivor is your ability to bounce back, even when things don't go your way.

You probably don't have to get a lot of opinions about what to wear or where to go to college — you think for yourself and trust your gut. A healthy dose of self-confidence, combined with your work ethic, helps you make decisions and stay on the right track. Beyoncé would be proud.