Serendipity, Stupidity and Start-up

 It's been almost six months, since I have resolved my life and given it a new turn. I believe now; that I should perhaps catch on to the things in which I am naturally good at, and be done with the reckless experiments that I had been conducting with my life. So here I am implementing statistics in communication systems and practicing guitar regularly for almost three months. But, somehow wacky ideas just keep coming to me; so I decided I would blog about it this time, rather than raise an in-marketable start up upon it again.

 I have been sitting in IIT Delhi's library for seven hours daily now; and it's here that I often have conversations on life, music and the balance required in it, with one of my friends. So these conversations lead to inception of two rather serendipitous and stupid start-up ideas for apps in my mind.

Rating songs, without user feedback: Every song and every genre follows a pattern. For example, a typical alternative rock song would begin with a really low intensity verse, followed by a chorus which is usually of relatively high energy, it usually falls back to the second verse having the same intensity or a medium intensity with a few variations in the rhythm (which is usually increase in notes per beat, or increase in frequency of the notes on the lead guitar). The song appeals to us if the difference in these intensities are significant enough to push us into a mood. There must be a constant rise and fall in the intensities for the song to be laudable by a significant percentage of listeners. A statistical model can be developed on these songs, to identify verse, chorus, bridge and leads. Furthermore a Markovian modeling (predicts what should a following event/mood be, based on the past information/moods) can be used to predict what should be the suitable time for the rise and fall of the intensities (A verse of fifty seconds followed by a chorus of ten seconds can be rather dull to the ears). Realization of this idea can be pretty useful for upcoming artists; who are looking forward to attract an audience for their songs. 

Forecasts: Even though this idea is not to be believed in (or at least shouldn't be believed in); it may push astrology out of business. Our life is also a function of rise and falls; our emotional states, if we are happy today; we know sadness will follow soon. The faster we climb the ladder to feel triumphant, we crash down that ladder equally fast. For those who believe in 'Karma'; bad things happen to people who do bad deeds to others, and people are rewarded fairly if they work towards redemption. I believe that mostly; we are not able to predict what may follow next in our life; because we can't recapitulate what deeds we did in our past.  The idea is strangely heretic, however if a person fills up a questionnaire with basic yes/no questions on his life, daily (for eg. 'did you hurt someone today?'; kind of a psychology questionnaire); there is a discrete data on his life's past which can be recorded. Based on this past data; and a few other external factors a statistical model can probabilistic-ally predict what mood of events should follow next. This application is as ridiculous as astrology, however it's more logical. And a person who wastes his ten minutes daily reading an astrological forecast, can definitely waste two minutes in filling five yes/no questions.

Memories of Home

At the age of 23 there are very few who would be attached to more than one cities as their home. As it is; we enjoy running around in pursuit of our ambitions. However some exceptions like me feel a plunge in nostalgia, whenever they have to move in and move out of cities which they could call home. 

Hyderabad: Even though I have been brought up in Delhi; I would never cease from calling Hyderabad my home. As a kid I was an introvert, an social outcast among peers; and never got the freedom to roam around freely in the city. As a young undergraduate in Hyderabad, even though my campus was miles away from the city; I discovered a life of freedom, friends, carelessness, love and passion. I happened to run to the city every weekend; especially during my last semesters. Inorbit mall and Hi-tech City has memories of me socializing with friends and acquaintances from other college campuses; which otherwise would be quite confined to online social networks which comprise of a major part of a lonely engineer's social life. La-Makaan, Banjara Hills is where I found connections with like minded people; who have taken up full time into photography, music and film-making. My campus; it taught me how to survive, adjust, rejoice and cry in regular life. My baby; Elan (College Fest) still gives me a tint of nostalgia whenever I think of it. And even though I am really really bad on holding on to my past contacts (thanks to my indifferent nature); the thought of my younger brothers in the campus still brings a smile to my face. I still imagine and smile to myself when I ponder upon, how amazing they must have become in practicing guitar, organizing concert, and taking a leap of faith towards entrepreneurship. It's a city where I grew young, which changed me from an ignorant hi school boy to a bit more matured man. 

Mumbai: Always been an escapade. When I get too tired of Delhi, or Hyderabad, I used to run away to Mumbai. The homely touch comes from staying connected with a lot of people; and still finding idle time to reflect back upon my en-devours and what I have been up to. Mood-Indigo, IIT Bombay; always gave me a feel of the culture I wanted to be a part of. Colaba is the place I dream of dining and hanging out if I actually become rich. Wadala for obvious reasons is indeed my second home. Andheri is definitely where I would want to be if I ever become a film-maker, or set up my own production house. Quite surprisingly; while most people crib about the locals there; I somehow love them! Can't imagine going from Dadar to Andheri or CST to Kanjurbhag in half n hour by road. Somehow the times spent in Mumbai ever since I grew young; have been an important turning point in my life. What can I say? perhaps it's in the breeze there.

Delhi: I never really loved Delhi in my initial years from 5 to 17; for I didn't really know what Delhi is. The School, my home and later my coaching was my life. Yes; I do have memories with friends and family in the times I have spent here, but I never regarded Delhi as a place to feel nostalgic about until quite recently when I came back after graduation in May 2012. Loving Delhi; for me is perhaps hanging out in Hauz Khas Village talking and befriending new people; whom you might have never thought that they would become such important part of your life. It's about the events that take place in India Habitat Centre and Mandi house. It's about the food in Chandni Chawk and beer in Canought place. It's perhaps loitering around in Select City Walk or Promenade. It's a place where I decide to do a few things but there are way more distractions. I never felt empty in stomach at the thought of leaving Delhi until recently.

But what's important is important. I don't know where I will be, a few days; or a few months from now. But I certainly hope it's one of my homes!