A Dorian Afternoon (mp3 here) is the name I’ve given to the solo piano original I’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks. As the name suggests, I’ve composed this rather short piece in the D Dorian mode. The Dorian mode, I feel, exudes a charm that is sedate and dignified in a very stately (even stoic) sort of way. This mode is a personal favorite because of the strong similarities it carries, in terms of musical phrases, to the elegant afternoon raga, Bhimpalasi, in the Indian Classical Music tradition. From a purely structural point of view, Bhimpalasi is Pentatonic Minor going up and Dorian mode coming down. Of course, it is much more complex than that when it comes to the articulation and exposition of its unique character.

Coming back to this particular piece, I’ve attempted to write it as a two section mix of musical phrases. The first section plays both the treble and bass clefs in the higher registers, which combined with its mildly rubato tempo makes it sound somewhat stark, and is evocative of a cold and rainy (even snowy, perhaps?) afternoon! The mildly gloomy air is then broken with the arrival of the second section which brings with it a warmth of expression (probably because it is played in the lower registers) that seems comparable to the sun fortuitously piercing the afternoon gloom, thereby mitigating it! 

That is how the piece ends, somewhat sooner than I’d have liked, in hindsight. My creative inspiration permitting, I might expand upon some of the ideas later!

A few repeated listenings (mp3 here) would hopefully allow the Dorian charm to grow on the listener and sedate her!

I apologize for the less than good recording quality, which I think is a combination of my old rental Hudson piano and my own lack of recording expertise! I’m also terribly slow when it comes to actually writing down my music. I’ll try to post the music sheet for this one as soon as possible!

Sensitivity is what I value the most in an individual. For me, it is the pinnacle of the evolution of life on this planet over millions of years and is, by far, the greatest miracle nature has managed to pull off so far. If it weren’t for sensitivity in its various forms, along with our unique capacity for imagination, we would have neither music, nor art, nor science, nor religion. In short, we wouldn’t be blessed with what I feel is the essence of the human experience!

And yet, despite what sensitivity means to me (and no doubt to millions of others), after close to two days of horrifically insane events in Bombay (or Mumbai as some might insist), this treasured capacity to demonstrate empathy (or even sympathy if empathy seems too much of an ask at times) seems like such a long lost virtue!

Starting with the attack itself, which is as incomprehensible as it seems heartless, sensitivity seems to have a died a slow and painful collective death at the hands of expedient political leaders, who seem ever more eager to exploit any situation toward a personal end, and the opportunistic mainstream media, whose sole aim seems to be shameless self-promotion, at the expense of journalistic ethics, in the race for an even bigger slice of the national viewership.

In this moment, when articulation fails me, I wish to defer to those whom it doesn’t. Here’s Sambit Bal on the subject.

Here’s a quote by Barack Obama (picked from the above article) that succinctly sums up my state of mind (and perhaps those of many others):

My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into another’s heart, cannot penetrate the blank stares of those who would murder innocents with such serene satisfaction.

Then there’s Carl Sagan, the perennial perspective-giver (to whoever seems even the least willing), on the pale blue dot that is our Earth. Such a lesson in humility!

And finally, here’s an old couplet by Rana Sahri:

barson main tere naam pe khata raha fareb

mere Khuda kahaan hai tu, apna pata to de!

Any other way to attempt to justify or rationalize the events of the past two days would only amount to the grossest form of debasing of this wonderful (but, sadly, endangered) gift of sensitivity given to us by the Gods!

What a wonderful day today (a Saturday) has been! For as long as I can remember, Saturday has had a very special place in my heart! It seems to me to be very providentially placed by the Gods between Friday (a day spent in anticipation of the unwinding of a long week) and Sunday (a day spent in dread of the approaching week — a mental condition that has been aptly given the name The Sunday Neurosis by Viktor Frankl). And yet, despite such contrasting emotions that these two days elicit in me, Saturday always seems to be gloriously ensconced between the two, steadfastly refusing to take on the character of either of them! Instead, it invariably seems to be securely imbued with the color of the here and the now — and is, in fact (even literally so!), a bridge from the past to the future. And by this very nature of epitomizing the present, it is gleefully fulfilling to me and is consistently capable of inspiring great feats of transcendence of the human condition.

Today was one such day for me! Having spent the morning enjoying an almost perfect cup of cappuccino at Cafe Del Doge in downtown Palo Alto, and later working on my next week’s Piano assignment, I ended up going to the beach on Highway 1 in Santa Cruz. Although my intention was to soak in the beautiful sunset, it turned out to be extremely foggy there. Fortunately, though, I came across this very nice part of the coast that was set in the midst of a hilly region — one had to actually walk down a trail to get to the beach. Once down there, the fog actually seemed to elevate the place and time to an unusually surreal degree; and so, it turned out to be a very enjoyable and carefree couple of hours! On the way back, my friend suggested we eat at Castro in downtown Mountain View. There, we discovered this really nice Italian place called Pasta?, and I’ve to admit, the food there was surprisingly good! So much so, it makes me want to go back there more often to explore their other offerings.

There, I also tried, for the first time, a 2006 Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina. I found it very impressive — it was medium bodied, had a juicy flavor and left a mildly tannic aftertaste. I’m nowhere near to being an oenophile, so that is as far as I can go in terms of describing it. But it was one of those wines that you know you’re going to remember for a long time and not lose an opportunity to recommend to friends and random strangers alike. After researching a little bit, I found, among other things about it, that it is named after a Hungarian peasant who introduced it to France; that Argentina is currently the chief exporter of wine of this varietal; and that it is commonly used, along with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, in preparing the exquisite and elegant Bordeaux blend. I want to recommend this excellent wine to everyone and am waiting to taste more of it myself the next time I get a chance to do so!

I think this has been one of my longer posts! Time to call it a day and prepare myself for the impending Sunday Neurosis while I wait for another glorious Saturday next week!

For over a year now, I’ve been a huge fan and avid watcher of the videos posted on the TED website. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and is a conference for bringing together creative and intellectual minds from all over the world to share their experiences. The videos are talks given by eminent scientists, artists, psychologists, activists and reformists as they share their collective wisdom on a wide range of topics that, while being extremely relevant in the context of our present, have far reaching implications for our future.

Today, I came across a very riveting talk by Eve Ensler at the 2005 TED Conference. Eve is an American playwright and activist, best known for her play, The Vagina Monologues. In this eloquent talk, she shares the timeless wisdom of insecurity, first proposed, so far as recorded history goes, by Eastern philosophies and reinterpreted in so many different forms ever since!

Eve’s message in this talk, despite its apparent somber connotation, is surprisingly both comforting and exhortative!

It was interesting to catch all the reactions to the usage of this phrase by Obama yesterday. The best way to summarize all of that, in my opinion, is this article by Matt Frei, writing for the BBC. Really, aren’t there more important issues to address for all of us? 

Makes you wonder, would lipstick on a spiderpig be just as sexist to all these people?

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on an original, which I’ve named The Dialogue Within. It is set in what’s known as the ABA form consisting of an A part, followed by a very different-in-theme B part, and concluding with an encore of the A part. The composer may choose to put a different spin on the A part in its second appearance on the musical stage. This difference may be demonstrated using various devices but is commonly accomplished by a subtle change in the key, tempo, mood or expression. In that sense, the ABA form is similar to the much more restrictive and formal Sonata form.

Further, each of the A and the B parts in this particular piece are in a Question and Answer form i.e., structured as a series of questions each of which is followed by an appropriate answer. The answers can be parallel to the question i.e., they start off just like the question but then quickly diverge, or they can be contrasting i.e., they are different from the question but can still be perceived as an appropriate response to it. Overall, the piece can be thought of as some sort of a dialogue, and with the thematic changes from A to B and back to a transformed A, one could even weave a story around it.

I’ve got one of my own, unsurprisingly, but I’d elaborate on that later. For now,here’s the sheet music for the piece and here’s the MIDI recording of it. I got both done using Finale’s Notepad, which, I must mention, is an excellent piece of software that also happens to be free!

I, of course, want to record my own, and will do so, as soon as I get some time. I’m even more excited because I just got my hands on a Blue Snowball and am very impressed with its ease and recording quality. Most of all, it’s probably the coolest looking microphone ever!

Lastly, a few words about the composition. As anyone with even a decent ear for music will be able to discern, my music is still very poor in terms of harmony and richness. It’s only been a couple months that I’ve started learning the piano technique and although my imagination runs wild all the time, my hands have a hard time keeping up with it. Hopefully, in a few years’ time, that will change for the better!

Two weeks ago, I started taking piano lessons, something I’ve been dying to do for a very long time now! But as they say, there is always a right time and place for everything!

As part of this week’s assignment, my teacher asked me to compose an original piece of music. After playing around for a few minutes on my old rental Hudson, I hit upon an interesting chord progression. There are still a couple of chords in here that I don’t yet know the names of; I was very fortunate to have accidentally played them while fooling around!

Here’s the track. I’ve named it Dissonance – the chord progression, for some reason, seemed very agitating and tense to me at certain points.

The recording isn’t that good as I used my Powerbook’s in-built microphone. I should buy a good microphone perhaps.

I recently discovered Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, while reading The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality and have, since, been fascinated by the concept of expressing a momentary experience in poetic form, as simply and minimally as possible, while remaining faithful to the original essence of the experience. In this respect, I think Haiku is to poetry what Impressionism might be to painting. As an example, here’s one that I found in the above book that very succinctly expresses the joy of living in the present:

I am cutting wood,

I am drawing water,

It’s so wonderful!

Last evening, I met up with two friends I hadn’t seen in a couple years. We hung out at the beach until very late in the night, drinking an exquisite Glenlivet, while sitting around a bonfire, amidst the calming sounds of waves crashing onto the shore. (As an aside, it’s amazing how, sometimes, utter chaos, such as that constituted by waves, can actually lead to something that is at once random and beautiful!)

On our way back, we stopped by what seemed like a reservoir. It seemed like a very profound place and time — perhaps the pleasant Glenlivet buzz had something to do with it! So, while my friends were taking pictures, I stood out on the edge of the water, soaking in the beautiful view that was formed in the night. Despite all that I apparently found lacking up until that time, that moment, strangely, felt very comforting!

I have tried to express the experience of all that was around me in that moment in the following haiku, my first one. I’m not sure if it can technically qualify to be a haiku but it, nonetheless, expresses what I had felt:

The rays’ gleeful dance on water in the moonlit night,

The crickets’ chirping, the wind’s gentle caress;

Nature’s sweet embrace is so comforting!

Sadly, as with everything else, that moment, too, passed! And here I am, writing about it as one would about a distant memory at best!

Aster Data Systems has launched and our new website is up! Techcrunch is carrying an article about our technology. A few salient points from the article:

One of its first big customers is MySpace, which is running the database on a cluster of 100 server nodes to analyze what songs and videos are going viral, what features are becoming popular, and what content is being consumed on its service. That comes to more than one terabyte of new data every day that needs to be analyzed.

About the company, the founders and the financers:

Bawa and his co-founders were Ph.D students at Stanford when they founded the company in July, 2005. They raised an angel round of about $1 million in November, 2005 from Stanford computer science professor David Cheriton, Josh Kopelman at First Round Capital, Anand Rajaraman (founder of Junglee and Kosmix), and uber-angel Ron Conway. Cheriton was also one of the early angel investors in Google. Another Google investor, Sequoia Capital, took the entire A round in May, 2007. The company is not disclosing that round, but it is believed to be around $5 million.

Josh Kopelman explains why he invested in our company:

AsterData give companies deep insights on massive data by transforming off-the-shelf, commodity hardware into a powerful, self-managing, and scalable analytic database. Data analysis that previously took days to run (or were impossible to run) now routinely finish in minutes/hours. They already have paying customers today and Aster is in production managing billions of events per day.

Finally, the customer success story! Jim Benedetto, the SVP of Technology at MySpace, has this to say while endorsing Aster:

“With Aster, MySpace has the analytic horsepower and necessary scalability to meet our needs. The platform easily scales with our traffic growth and helps us better understand our users and improve their experience.”

As Mayank has said on our blog, we indeed live in interesting times!

Please visit our new website to learn more about our technology!

A colleague at work had suggested we all contribute to the aid efforts in China and Burma by donating goods and/or money. Previously, while reading up on the disasters, I had come across a BBC article that talked about how one could contribute towards the aid efforts; I thought I should put that information out in the blogosphere, for more visibility, in the hope that people who might across it could then make contributions themselves.

The article makes a valid point, which is that donating money is better than donating goods for transportation and economic reasons.

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) website is a good place to make your donations.

And, they also accept corporate donations. More information can be found here.