Music Memories - Wish You Were Here

The problem in life is that we don't have background music. But can we? I have one right now.
Playing in the background is a cover of Wish You Were Here By Pink Floyd. Here:

Go ahead, let it play and read further.

I remember the first time I picked up the guitar. I just wanted to play a Jal (The Band) song. It meant everything back then. The hurt my fingers felt was inspirational. The more I felt pain, the more I wanted to play. It was like a constant battle between my pain and my wish to play.

Times passed and I have played a lot of songs, over a thousand maybe. But there are songs that sweep you off your feet. You want to take a moment to absorb it, you want to sit back and go into a different world. This song has never failed to do that for me. I wish I could just see David Gilmour coming up with that riff and humming on that. And maybe Roger Waters coming up with the lyrics. It's heavenly, it's a lifetime success to be able to create something as magical.

Lot of people would not get it. It's just a song, right? But it's not.
It's a lifestyle, it's a choice, it's love, it's mistake, it's everything we do in life.

I hope there comes a time, people don't abuse music for fame and money. It's more precious, let it be clean. Let it be a symbol of purity and you will see how it will mend your soul.


I often tell people:
"I wish you could listen to the music in my ears, our hearts would do the rest."

I just remembered that I used to blog!

So, I had a little (not so little) chat with a friend, thanks to the custom of people wishing each other a Happy New Year. But in that little conversation, I remembered that I used to blog and loved it too. So I had to write one.

2015 was a blast. Definitely a year worth remembering. But what we learn over time is that it is not a good idea to ponder over the past and think about it. What is ahead is what matters.

Though this year will be special because I have had a decent share of music playing/listening this time. Including a cover with some new people who have turned out be my best friends. Read +Krithika S  And a cover with my best buddies in Goa (Read +ankur saxena  +samagra singh ). And for that there has to be a song of the year. And after a lot (not so much) of detailed analysis of all the brilliant songs that have come out this year, I choose: Ruby by Tejas Menon.

So, go ahead, play it before you read more.

Done? Let's continue then.

2016, What have you got for us man? I hope it's something really nice. Years have come and gone very swiftly. Some of them I don't even remember, so useless they were. Don't be one of them.

2016, Be a year of character. Even if you are not so nice sometimes, make sure you make it up to us. Even if you hurt us, even if you do us apart from our loved ones. Make sure we find new people whom we can love.

2016, Be a year of success. You will fail us sometimes, that's okay. That is what we want because that helps us learn and improve. But make sure you give us success too. At the end we work hard, we could use some motivation.

2016, Be a year of inspiration. We make resolutions which we don't keep. Inspire us, so that we can do what it takes to be one step closer to our dreams.

2016, Be a year of fun. We get tired of our everyday lives man. Do give us some trips with our friends so that we can have a little fun. Get drunk, Sing in public, Eat. And then drink some more!

2016, Be a year of pain too. We need to understand that we have to learn to live with pain. We have got to be strong. We have to learn how to handle tough situations. Don't let us be fragile.

2016, Be a year of kindness. Some of us could just use kindness, you know. Talk nicely to us when we need it.

2016, Finally, be a year of self-respect. Be a year we could all proudly say that it was the best year we have ever had till date. So that we also try to be the best people we can and respect ourselves. Because before respecting someone else, we need to do things to be able to respect ourselves. And after that, respect time. And that's you 2016.

Because time is all we've got. 2016, you are all we've got.

Make it count.

Hey! I know a few things!

So this was pending since long! And I thought, I will give it a fresh start.

Stories are always more engrossing as a reader, they keep you involved. But there is a story in our everyday lives too.

And some of those intricacies, I have noticed recently. And I am going to put them in a random fashion for you, because you know, randomization always helps.

1. Level of unpredictability in life: A girl's mind < Bangalore Traffic < Sensex. #HugeLoss :/
2. As the cars are becoming more expensive, roads are becoming even more cheaper. #StoryOfBangalore
3. I am usually awake till 3 A.M. People tell me they miss their dear ones or think about old times during the silence of the night. I miss Maggi. #BeBackSoon
4. Guitar sounds better tuned one step down. Sounds much warmer, try it.
5. Bangalorians are awesome. At least some of them.
6. Aug 15, 1947 - Our country got independence. But citizenz, not so much. #PeopleWorkOn15AugToo
7. A.R.Rahman to perform in NH7 Weekender. #BestNewsOfTheYear
8. Songwriting is exhausting. Start with chords or lyrics or melody, and you end up no where.
9. 7 Years are worth the wait. #GotACallFromMy7YearOldBestFriend
10. Microsoft Next for Android is the best lock screen app. Period.
11. Finally hangouts gives option for status update on Android. #CollegeMemories
12. Hukkah is back in Bangalore. #2ndBestNewsOfTheYear
13. I think there are more BITSians in Bangalore than there are in BITS. Took me 30 minutes just to reach the top floor of Barleyz. #BITSianDay
14. One who would have invested 1 lac in Equity in 1984, Would have made a whopping 1 Crore today. Don't think this will happen with you in 2045. Refer to point 1 if you are confused.
15. No Matter how big a fan I am of Microsoft and it's OS. I've got to admit Apple does a better job at almost everything!
16. Satya Nadela for Microsoft, Sundar Pichai for Google, What's next? Manmohan Singh for Facebook? #OneBadJokeIsAMust
17. In I.T. industry, projects are expected to be delayed, deadlines expected to be missed and software engineers: expected to give meaningful excuses.
18. Now I understand why facebook never migrated away from PHP. #DcMigration #Flipkart
19. Dance Reality Shows: Dance+ > Jhalak Reloaded > Dance India Dance. Yes, I watch them all. #KismatPalatteDerNahiLagti
20. Flipkart to go app-only by September end. Apparently, m-commerce is the next big thing.


P.S. Again, this is a desperate attempt to keep my blog active. You can criticize me as much as you want, because you know what.

Why do I prefer Bing over Google!

I have been meaning to write this post from quite some time now but didn't get enough time. But now I am free and here it goes.

I have been using Bing for the past 6 months now and haven't felt a need to go back to Google.

One thing that I would like to mention in the very beginning is that I'm not saying "Bing is better than Google". It is not. It is very difficult to directly say which Search Engine is better because there are so many criteria you can measure upon.

I am here to explain why I switched to Bing.

1. Bing has done a fantastic job considering it has been only 4 years since it was launched. Tell me how good was Google when it was 4 years old i.e. in 2002. I am pretty sure it wasn't better than what Bing is today. One should appreciate this fact. A search engine could only be made better if it learns quickly and apparently Bing does learn quickly.

2. Better search results for the most searched queries on the web. Yes it is true! Try it for yourself. I'm not saying Google doesn't give good results but Bing is way better specially in terms of ranking the web pages. I did a web search for "Ramoji Film City" since I had been there recently. And here are the results for both:

Now seriously! Why in the world is Google showing innovative film city video! And Wikipedia page comes after mustseeindia.com. Sucks for me!

Your opinion might differ but then I guess you are stupid. And if you think it is just a coincidence, try searching other things (which you think are searched on web quite often) yourself.

3. Better image results. I can say this without a doubt that Bing understands more than Google when it comes to images. Google only considers the url or the written content but Bing understands what you really want in the image.

Another random example: When you say food what images do you want to see? Let's see what Bing and Google have to offer.

 

 

Results say everything themselves I guess. Bing wins for sure.

P.S. The new interface for images that you might have seen on Google is straight forward copied from Bing. At least it seems so.

4. Better Video results. Recently Google has removed searching for videos instead you can only search on youtube. Is it fair? I don't think so. Bing provides you results from all over the web including youtube and best part is that it let's you play the video without navigating to the actual website. For me, It's a win for Bing.



5. Unbiased results. The best thing about Bing! It will never show you results that are biased towards one website. Try searching anything that includes "buy" as the first word on Google. You'll always get some ads first and then first result will always be flipkart. Because flipkart pays Google for this. But is it good for the user? Sometimes maybe but definitely not always. What user is interested in is the price he gets and that is what Bing takes care of. You'll get results which you would not go through when searching with Google.

6. Facebook connectivity.  Again another useful feature. You get relevant results from facebook just along the right side. They can be really helpful sometimes.

 6. Fast. I can assure you Bing works just as fast as Google. It might be a little slow but not noticeable for a human being.

7. Bing wallpaper. Another very beautiful feature. Not only does you get to see some beautiful images but you get a lot of information that you might not get otherwise. For each wallpaper you'll get some 4 small boxes appearing on the screen. Hover over it to get brief info and click on it to know more. Also you can integrate it with Windows as "Bing Desktop" which looks extremely beautiful on your desktop. (For this you might need to switch your country to United Staes by going to settings tab on the top right hand corner of bing)

I'm just trying to make you aware that Google is not the only option you have. Try Bing and other search engines (AOL, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Blekko etc.) and decide for yourself. Don't be so rigid that you lose the good part of the web.

Don't let a single company rule the web. Web can be made beautiful only if everyone contributes and help each other.

One more fact: Today Bing has a share market of 16.5% when it comes to search queries over the web which is a very significant number considering Google has been in the market for last 15 years now.
source: http://searchengineland.com/comscore-january-2013-search-rankings-148478

There is no such thing as right or wrong!

Times of Trouble. Times of Chaos. Times of Failure. Times of Fear.

Somebody once told me a story. I wish to share it with you.

......

There was once a father in a Church. A place where people expect to find peace and solutions to their problems. And it helps. Indeed.

One day, a group of foster kids had come over to the church searching for some peace and happiness like every other person in this world. And the father was expected to tell them something that would make them feel better, make them feel they are worth more than what they think of themselves.

Father thought a lot but could not figure out what to say to them. The kids were hopeful. Hopeful that they will find a solution to their misery. Finally father looked at Jesus and he suddenly knew what to say to them.

Father stood up and asked a 5 year old to come up to him. And he said...

I don't know exactly what Lord Jesus would have said to you, had he been here but I'm pretty sure it would have been something like this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 I Love You my child
You are special my child
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the boy had tears in his eyes. Tears of Joy.

That evening the father just keep repeating this mantra to every child in the church. And all the kids found happiness and peace.

......

Something makes you feel better now. Doesn't it?

Was it right or wrong?

Right. As we believe that God always loves his children and it was just a reminder to let them know that they are special.

Wrong. As it does not change the reality that their parents have still abandoned them and their life hasn't change even a bit. It is nothing different from giving them a false hope.

I don't know. But what I know is that it made them happy, at least for a few moments. And being happy is always right, it can never be wrong. Can it?

Everyone goes through difficult times in life. And doing something which will actually make you happy at those times cannot be wrong.

Goodbye 2012

Another year comes to an end. But this was not just another year in my life. 2012 was probably the most important year of my life. I've lived some the best moments and some of the worst moments of my life this year.

From a student to a graduate, from a coder to a software engineer, from Pilani to Bangalore, from senior (in BITS) to junior (in Industry), from legacy (phone) to smart (phone), from HP to SAP to Oracle, from zero account balance to a quite decent account balance...I've experienced a lot in this year. Though I like to believe everything happens for good, I'm still trying to overcome the drastic change my life has seen in this year.

I don't want to concentrate on what has happened in the world in 2012 because I'm sure you will find a lot of articles on it. Be it technology, politics, terrorism, crime, education, innovation, science, astronomy, pharmacy or anything else, just bing it and you'll find something relevant of your interest.

I want to tell you what all things I started/learned this year so that maybe you could take something from it for 2013.

Though there were some good and some bad moments, I just want to share the good times because it is easier for everyone if one forgets the worse times and remembers only the good ones.
Someone has truly said: "Everyone faces good and bad times in life but your future will depend a lot on what you choose to remember."

With this I'll start off my list:

1. I started recording music this year at my home. I have recorded about 14 tracks till now and uploaded them on soundcloud. This is one of the things I'm most proud of. I have learnt a lot because of this. I never thought that recording and playing live would be such different art. Thanks to all the people who appreciated my effort. And yes none of this would have been possible without my very good friend +Vaibhavi Rangarajan.

2. I started earning. It is probably one of the happiest moments of your life when you get your first paycheck. And it was because of the job that I was able to buy equipment for recording. No matter what you want to do, you'll always need money to get to it.

3. I started solving problems on codechef i.e. competitive programming. Though it is a little late for me but "better late than never". And I believe that it has seriously helped me to improve my programming skills and has played an important part in me landing up in Oracle.

4. I started reading books. Though in the whole year I would have read only 4-5 books but it is a big deal for me. Books are the ultimate source of knowledge. I really respect all those people who read books whether it be fiction, non fiction, biography, magazine or anything else. Reading is a good habit and everyone should try to develop it.

5. Learned C# and Java. It was really good to finally move from C to some other language. It definitely helps you in programming if you know more than one language.

6. Started reading a few technology related stuff mainly related to Microsoft. But in the end it leads you to read a lot of other stuff as well.

7. Started a few courses on Coursera but unfortunately couldn't complete it. But whatever part I completed, it was very informative and I hope to do at least one course next year.

8. I cooked for the first time this year. And from what I felt, I would say cooking can be great fun and it is an art in itself.

9. Uploaded by first guitar solo on youtube. Again a big step for me. But I'm glad that people enjoyed the video and appreciated my effort. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ8jYxA-09E

That's it I guess. Though there is nothing special in what I've done but I believe that one should feel proud in achieving success in even the smallest of things.

For 2013, I don't have anything specific in mind. I just hope to learn a lot in all areas of life and stay happy, healthy and wealthy.

Mind Games!

Don't take it literally.
Everything has a hidden meaning. Right?

For example: An "all the best" smile from a fellow mate who is competing with you for a job opportunity. In his mind he must be thinking about the 100 ways he would want you to screw up your interview.
#ItsTheTruth

Well I hope you will be able to think of several such instances now.

Mind is the most difficult thing to have control over. I had heard it a million of times before in my life but I have really experienced this in the past year. And yes, it is indeed the most restless and fickle part of one's self.

For example: Sometimes we feel happy on getting a seat in a bus during the rush hours but we do not feel happy even after getting a full time job at a MNC.
Sometimes our body wants us to sleep but the mind does not let it. It plays games with us, doesn't it?
At times we are happy without no reason and at times we are sad without  no reason.

If only there was a way to have control over it, one could be truly live a happy and peaceful life.

P.S. I have been through a lot in a past few days. Frustration is at its peek. Don't Mind.