Boson https://rant.li/boson/ Blog for bubbling brain's bizarre banter! Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:05:29 +0000 Books analysis using AI https://rant.li/boson/books-analysis-ai <![CDATA[ blockquotetldr: Figuring out myself from books I read using all kinds of data analysis methods. Things does get interesting/blockquote !--more-- --- I always wanted to do this analysis, but the data of my shelf wasn't big enough before and since I paused reading for summer let's do this finally. We will start with 2024 read books so far, but will go onto my whole read bookshelf as things get interesting. Note: This is still a high level napkin plan, but we will figure things out as we go. This is also a testbed for my upcoming two large scale free opensource AI projects for books. stay tuned 😉 --- part 1: data processing get covers from google books using book ids import requests import time import random with open("googlebookids2024", "r") as f: #file containing ids ordered as per genre and series gids = f.read().splitlines() for i, gid in enumerate(gids): crawlcoverurl = f"https://books.google.com/books/content?id={gid}&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1" coverimage = requests.get(crawlcoverurl) istr = str(i).zfill(3) with open(f"{istr}{gid}.jpg", "wb") as f: f.write(coverimage.content) antiblock = random.randint(1, 5) time.sleep(antiblock) Now lets make a collage with imagemagick to see our covers !/bin/bash files=($(ls .jpg | sort)) magick -size 1000x1 xc:white collagebooks2024.jpg for ((i=0; i<${#files[@]}; i+=9)); do # my preference of 9 for row, as i love trilogies and this fits best batch=(${files[@]:i:9}) magick "${batch[@]}" +append row.jpg magick collagebooks2024.jpg row.jpg -append collagebooks2024.jpg done rm row.jpg 2024 books collage part 2: standard book covers analysis Now, we start by getting all color pixels from all these book covers and try to see aggregate color pattern. We work with hsv image space since it's intuitive and do the colors plot radially in 2d by collapsing the value dimension and sticking with hue, saturation to denote. We will do k-means clustering to cluster points and plot according to levels for easy demarcation. I chose 8 here as a way to get 8 radial circles but seems the clusters are more than that, instead of doing elbow curve and selecting best cluster size, we will skip it for more interesting part in part 3. Let's go process those 3.179 million pixels now. import numpy as np import cv2 from sklearn.cluster import KMeans import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from mpltoolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D from collections import Counter import os import glob dirpath = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(file)) imagepaths = sorted(glob.glob(os.path.join(dirpath, ".jpg"))) images = [cv2.imread(path) for path in imagepaths] np.random.seed(42) histograms = [] totalpixels = 0 for img in images: img = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLORBGR2HSV) pixels = img.reshape(-1, 3) hist = Counter(map(tuple, pixels)) histograms.append(hist) totalpixels += img.shape[0] img.shape[1] print('Total Pixels:', totalpixels) combinedhist = sum(histograms, Counter()) pixels = np.array(list(combinedhist.keys())) hue = pixels[:, 0] / 180.0 2 np.pi # Convert hue to range [0, 2pi] and opencv hsv hue range is [0, 180] originalpixels = pixels.copy() pixels[:, 0] = np.cos(hue) pixels = np.columnstack((pixels, np.sin(hue))) # Adding sin(hue) as a new dimension to consider conical periodicity of hsv weights = np.array([3256, 1, 1, 3256]) # more weight to hue as with human perception and scaling as per max value of all channels weightedpixels = pixels weights kmeans = KMeans(nclusters=8, randomstate=42) # 8 clusters chosen to represent 8 radial rings for planets in solar system did i just invent astrovisualization? :P labels = kmeans.fitpredict(weightedpixels) print('distortion:', kmeans.inertia) saturation = pixels[:, 1] / 255.0 clustersizes = np.bincount(labels) sortedclusterindices = np.argsort(clustersizes) labelmapping = np.zeroslike(sortedclusterindices) labelmapping[sortedclusterindices] = np.arange(kmeans.nclusters) newlabels = labelmapping[labels] normalizednewlabels = newlabels / (kmeans.nclusters - 1) saturation = saturation + normalizednewlabels saturation = saturation - np.min(saturation) normalizedsaturation = saturation / np.ptp(saturation) #scaling to [0, 1] x = normalizedsaturation np.cos(hue) y = normalizedsaturation np.sin(hue) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) for i in range(kmeans.nclusters): clusterindices = (labels == i) clustercolors = originalpixels[clusterindices] clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) clustercolors = cv2.cvtColor(clustercolors, cv2.COLORHSV2RGB) clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 #scatter takes rgb in [0,1] plt.scatter(x[clusterindices] , y[clusterindices], c=clustercolors, alpha=0.5, s = 10) plt.title('HS(-V) plot with KMeans Clustering') fig.savefig('bookshsscatterplot.png') Now let's create rorschach preliminary image from same data because why not and it's pride month. originalx, originaly = x.copy(), y.copy() y = y /2 x,y = y,x rotatedx = y rotatedy = x mirroredx = -rotatedy mirroredy = rotatedx separation = 0.18 rotatedy += separation / 2 mirroredx -= separation / 2 fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) for i in range(kmeans.nclusters): clusterindices = (labels == i) clustercolors = originalpixels[clusterindices] clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) clustercolors = cv2.cvtColor(clustercolors, cv2.COLORHSV2RGB) clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 plt.scatter(x[clusterindices], y[clusterindices], c=clustercolors, alpha=0.7, s=8) plt.scatter(mirroredx[clusterindices], mirroredy[clusterindices], c=clustercolors, alpha=0.7, s=8) plt.ylim(-1, 1) plt.xlim(-.5, .5) plt.grid(False) plt.axis('off') fig.savefig('booksrorschachplot.png') The 2d plot above collapsed the color count into 1d. We also want to look at how popular a particular color is, so let's create a density height map plot. I love those population density plots of cities. 3d density x,y = originalx, originaly xy = np.vstack([x, y]).T xyunique, counts = np.unique(xy, axis=0, returncounts=True) xyunique, indices = np.unique(xy, returninverse=True, axis=0) uniquecolors, colorindices = np.unique(originalpixels.reshape(-1, 3), axis=0, returninverse=True) clustercolors = np.zeros((len(xyunique), 3), dtype=np.uint8) for i, index in enumerate(indices): clustercolors[index] = originalpixels[i] clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) clustercolors = cv2.cvtColor(clustercolors, cv2.COLORHSV2RGB) clustercolors = clustercolors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 fig3d = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) ax = fig3d.addsubplot(111, projection='3d') xunique = xyunique[:, 0] yunique = xyunique[:, 1] zbottom = np.zeroslike(counts) dx = dy = 0.01 dz = counts ax.bar3d(xunique, yunique, zbottom, dx, dy, dz, color=clustercolors, alpha=0.8) ax.xaxis.setpanecolor((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.yaxis.setpanecolor((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.zaxis.setpanecolor((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.setxlabel('hue cos') ax.setylabel('hue sin') ax.setxticks([-1, 0, 1]) ax.setyticks([-1, 0, 1]) ax.setzticks([]) ax.grid(False) ax.viewinit(elev=25, azim=-47) plt.title('HS color density plot') fig3d.savefig('bookshsdensityplot3d.png') We will do basic photo affects for final filter and hand smudge to make the rorschach my own. Shoutout to my fav photopea Well, well, well. So how does my data look like? let's make the collage, already ordered via filenames. find . -type f | grep '^[0-9]' | xargs -I {} sh -c 'convert "{}" -resize 720x720! miff:-' | montage -geometry +0+0 -tile 4x4 miff:- bookspart1collage.jpg Part 1 covers plots The seventh image was inspired from Rashid rana's War within artwork I saw at knma last month. Now, let's combine pfp with filter. convert pfp.jpg -modulate 88 -level 0%,70% \( filter.png -resize 140% -geometry +60+40 \) -gravity center -compose blend -define compose:args=65 -composite pfpwithfilter.png Pride month pfp filter Now we have to understand that context matters a lot in data. blockquote Even if we didn't know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed. Everyone on earth, they'd tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance. - Michelle Obama, Becoming/blockquote And aggregating entire color set as above did make things easy, but without the context it's missing a lot. I recently read art research on how our saccadic eye movements with right colors spatially connected can make Piet Mondrian paintings superior sub concsiously. So, we need to dig deeper in next part. stay tuned! part 3: more color playing clustering the books based on color similarity and do standard network analysis and Graph Neural Networks. font size and textual placement data patterns on covers lets now do a color transfer between book covers based on similarity of their descriptions such that color palette intuitively shows similarity graph part 4: book description analysis get description from google books using book ids We will do word clouds, topic modelling with latent dirchlet allocations and hierarchical dirichlet process, genre analysis, sentiment analysis and moods possible with read books using LLMs. Stay tuned! part 5: more nifty visualizations and insights radial dendrograms, heatmaps and ... part 6: generative imagery segment the covers and create kandinsky themed artwork with popular motifs using description of all books to generate* a succint new master image, supposedly what ai brain imagines from its standpoint from all the books with their color transfer final questions: is there significant correlation between color palette and genre of books? do we notice a temporal trend in the color palettes used in book covers? ofc some genres could have surged up at different timelines and I am biased on certain genres from certain years and I am selecting one color variation out of probably dozens of cover variants of that book, but still we can locate some patterns I hope Also check this interesting romance cover analysis by Alice liang in pudding ---]]> tldr: Figuring out myself from books I read using all kinds of data analysis methods. Things does get interesting --- I always wanted to do this analysis, but the data of my shelf wasn't big enough before and since I paused reading for summer let's do this finally. We will start with 2024 read books so far, but will go onto my whole read bookshelf as things get interesting. Note: This is still a high level napkin plan, but we will figure things out as we go. This is also a testbed for my upcoming two large scale free opensource AI projects for books. stay tuned 😉 --- ### part 1: data processing ```python # get covers from google books using book ids import requests import time import random with open("google_book_ids_2024", "r") as f: #file containing ids ordered as per genre and series gids = f.read().splitlines() for i, gid in enumerate(gids): crawl_cover_url = f"https://books.google.com/books/content?id={gid}&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1" cover_image = requests.get(crawl_cover_url) i_str = str(i).zfill(3) with open(f"{i_str}_{gid}.jpg", "wb") as f: f.write(cover_image.content) antiblock = random.randint(1, 5) time.sleep(antiblock) ``` Now lets make a collage with imagemagick to see our covers ```bash #!/bin/bash files=($(ls *.jpg | sort)) magick -size 1000x1 xc:white collage_books_2024.jpg for ((i=0; i<${#files[@]}; i+=9)); do # my preference of 9 for row, as i love trilogies and this fits best batch=(${files[@]:i:9}) magick "${batch[@]}" +append row.jpg magick collage_books_2024.jpg row.jpg -append collage_books_2024.jpg done rm row.jpg ``` ![2024 books collage](https://images-boson.vercel.app/collage_books_2024.jpg) ### part 2: standard book covers analysis Now, we start by getting all color pixels from all these book covers and try to see aggregate color pattern. We work with hsv image space since it's intuitive and do the colors plot radially in 2d by collapsing the value dimension and sticking with hue, saturation to denote. We will do k-means clustering to cluster points and plot according to levels for easy demarcation. I chose 8 here as a way to get 8 radial circles but seems the clusters are more than that, instead of doing elbow curve and selecting best cluster size, we will skip it for more interesting part in part 3. Let's go process those 3.179 million pixels now. ```python import numpy as np import cv2 from sklearn.cluster import KMeans import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D from collections import Counter import os import glob dir_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) image_paths = sorted(glob.glob(os.path.join(dir_path, "*.jpg"))) images = [cv2.imread(path) for path in image_paths] np.random.seed(42) histograms = [] total_pixels = 0 for img in images: img = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2HSV) pixels = img.reshape(-1, 3) hist = Counter(map(tuple, pixels)) histograms.append(hist) total_pixels += img.shape[0] * img.shape[1] print('Total Pixels:', total_pixels) combined_hist = sum(histograms, Counter()) pixels = np.array(list(combined_hist.keys())) hue = pixels[:, 0] / 180.0 * 2 * np.pi # Convert hue to range [0, 2*pi] and opencv hsv hue range is [0, 180] original_pixels = pixels.copy() pixels[:, 0] = np.cos(hue) pixels = np.column_stack((pixels, np.sin(hue))) # Adding sin(hue) as a new dimension to consider conical periodicity of hsv weights = np.array([3*256, 1, 1, 3*256]) # more weight to hue as with human perception and scaling as per max value of all channels weighted_pixels = pixels * weights kmeans = KMeans(n_clusters=8, random_state=42) # 8 clusters chosen to represent 8 radial rings for planets in solar system # did i just invent astrovisualization? :P labels = kmeans.fit_predict(weighted_pixels) # print('distortion:', kmeans.inertia_) saturation = pixels[:, 1] / 255.0 cluster_sizes = np.bincount(labels) sorted_cluster_indices = np.argsort(cluster_sizes) label_mapping = np.zeros_like(sorted_cluster_indices) label_mapping[sorted_cluster_indices] = np.arange(kmeans.n_clusters) new_labels = label_mapping[labels] normalized_new_labels = new_labels / (kmeans.n_clusters - 1) saturation = saturation + normalized_new_labels saturation = saturation - np.min(saturation) normalized_saturation = saturation / np.ptp(saturation) #scaling to [0, 1] x = normalized_saturation * np.cos(hue) y = normalized_saturation * np.sin(hue) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) for i in range(kmeans.n_clusters): cluster_indices = (labels == i) cluster_colors = original_pixels[cluster_indices] cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) cluster_colors = cv2.cvtColor(cluster_colors, cv2.COLOR_HSV2RGB) cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 #scatter takes rgb in [0,1] plt.scatter(x[cluster_indices] , y[cluster_indices], c=cluster_colors, alpha=0.5, s = 10) plt.title('HS(-V) plot with KMeans Clustering') fig.savefig('books_hs_scatter_plot_.png') ``` Now let's create rorschach preliminary image from same data because why not and it's pride month. ```python original_x, original_y = x.copy(), y.copy() y = y /2 x,y = y,x rotated_x = y rotated_y = x mirrored_x = -rotated_y mirrored_y = rotated_x separation = 0.18 rotated_y += separation / 2 mirrored_x -= separation / 2 fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) for i in range(kmeans.n_clusters): cluster_indices = (labels == i) cluster_colors = original_pixels[cluster_indices] cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) cluster_colors = cv2.cvtColor(cluster_colors, cv2.COLOR_HSV2RGB) cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 plt.scatter(x[cluster_indices], y[cluster_indices], c=cluster_colors, alpha=0.7, s=8) plt.scatter(mirrored_x[cluster_indices], mirrored_y[cluster_indices], c=cluster_colors, alpha=0.7, s=8) plt.ylim(-1, 1) plt.xlim(-.5, .5) plt.grid(False) plt.axis('off') fig.savefig('books_rorschach_plot_.png') ``` The 2d plot above collapsed the color count into 1d. We also want to look at how popular a particular color is, so let's create a density height map plot. I love those population density plots of cities. ```python # 3d density x,y = original_x, original_y xy = np.vstack([x, y]).T xy_unique, counts = np.unique(xy, axis=0, return_counts=True) xy_unique, indices = np.unique(xy, return_inverse=True, axis=0) unique_colors, color_indices = np.unique(original_pixels.reshape(-1, 3), axis=0, return_inverse=True) cluster_colors = np.zeros((len(xy_unique), 3), dtype=np.uint8) for i, index in enumerate(indices): cluster_colors[index] = original_pixels[i] cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 1, 3) cluster_colors = cv2.cvtColor(cluster_colors, cv2.COLOR_HSV2RGB) cluster_colors = cluster_colors.reshape(-1, 3) / 255.0 fig_3d = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10)) ax = fig_3d.add_subplot(111, projection='3d') x_unique = xy_unique[:, 0] y_unique = xy_unique[:, 1] z_bottom = np.zeros_like(counts) dx = dy = 0.01 dz = counts ax.bar3d(x_unique, y_unique, z_bottom, dx, dy, dz, color=cluster_colors, alpha=0.8) ax.xaxis.set_pane_color((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.yaxis.set_pane_color((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.zaxis.set_pane_color((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)) ax.set_xlabel('hue cos') ax.set_ylabel('hue sin') ax.set_xticks([-1, 0, 1]) ax.set_yticks([-1, 0, 1]) ax.set_zticks([]) ax.grid(False) ax.view_init(elev=25, azim=-47) plt.title('HS color density plot') fig_3d.savefig('books_hs_density_plot_3d_.png') ``` We will do basic photo affects for final filter and hand smudge to make the rorschach my own. Shoutout to my fav [photopea](https://www.photopea.com/) Well, well, well. So how does my data look like? let's make the collage, already ordered via filenames. ```bash find . -type f | grep '^[0-9]' | xargs -I {} sh -c 'convert "{}" -resize 720x720! miff:-' | montage -geometry +0+0 -tile 4x4 miff:- books_part1_collage.jpg ``` ![Part 1 covers plots](https://images-boson.vercel.app/books_part1_collage.jpg) The seventh image was inspired from Rashid rana's [War within](https://rashidrana.com/portfolio_page/war-within-1-2013-14/) artwork I saw at knma last month. Now, let's combine pfp with filter. ```bash convert pfp.jpg -modulate 88 -level 0%,70% \( filter.png -resize 140% -geometry +60+40 \) -gravity center -compose blend -define compose:args=65 -composite pfp_with_filter.png ``` ![Pride month pfp filter](https://images-boson.vercel.app/pfp_rorschach.png) Now we have to understand that context matters a lot in data.
Even if we didn't know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed. Everyone on earth, they'd tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance. - Michelle Obama, Becoming

And aggregating entire color set as above did make things easy, but without the context it's missing a lot. I recently read art research on how our saccadic eye movements with right colors spatially connected can make Piet Mondrian paintings superior sub concsiously. So, we need to dig deeper in next part. stay tuned!

part 3: more color playing

  • clustering the books based on color similarity and do standard network analysis and Graph Neural Networks.
  • font size and textual placement data patterns on covers
  • lets now do a color transfer between book covers based on similarity of their descriptions such that color palette intuitively shows similarity graph

part 4: book description analysis

  • get description from google books using book ids
  • We will do word clouds, topic modelling with latent dirchlet allocations and hierarchical dirichlet process, genre analysis, sentiment analysis and moods possible with read books using LLMs. Stay tuned!

part 5: more nifty visualizations and insights

  • radial dendrograms, heatmaps and ...

part 6: generative imagery

  • segment the covers and create kandinsky themed artwork with popular motifs
  • using description of all books to generate a succint new master image, supposedly what ai brain imagines from its standpoint from all the books with their color transfer

final questions:

  • is there significant correlation between color palette and genre of books?
  • do we notice a temporal trend in the color palettes used in book covers? ofc some genres could have surged up at different timelines and I am biased on certain genres from certain years and I am selecting one color variation out of probably dozens of cover variants of that book, but still we can locate some patterns I hope
  • Also check this interesting romance cover analysis by Alice liang in pudding —-
]]> https://rant.li/boson/books-analysis-ai Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:06:03 +0000 Asli purani dilli https://rant.li/boson/2024apr27 <![CDATA[ blockquoteSolo historical walk of the First city of Delhi - Mehrauli, Mehrauli park again, diverse religious places and Forts /blockquote !--more-- --- Check about the previous walk tours here, here, here and here In my diary, you may have noticed that I was rereading Delhi's history this month. If you tour Delhi alone, read Swapna Liddle. Ofc, there are heritage walks, but the thrill of exploring a place at your own pace is sometimes appreciated alone. Now, I am a person who believes curiosity is the single best thing anyone could aim for and especially by parents who can impart to their children from childhood (Shoutout to my Mom - I love you). If you have noticed my earlier articles, I try to do the same; instead of layering every minute detail myself (There is a lot I have to process during these walks), I give a tidbit. Hence, you pass the threshold of curiosity and go on researching. Many of my friends called me a good salesman in convincing them to use a service or go somewhere, but I disagree as the best salesperson should work much more subtly. However, my curiosity leaks out whenever I talk. So, I was to go to the booksonthedelhimetro scheduled meet, but I felt this urge to bunk that after rain and go on another historical walk. The problem today is my phone display broke a few days back(I use scrcpy now), so now I have to plan everything before I go, but I am a huge fan of improv behaviours, too. To make matters interesting, I drew a rough Google Maps view of every place I wanted to visit today (around 30) with directions and even public bus numbers for places not connected to the metro. Keeping the spatial view in mind (I recently read in art research that this comes relatively easier for math and sci theory students) of Google Maps satellite view and ticking off places is so astonishing as long as you don't miss the places, recently I was reading Alignment problem of Brian. The two things I still remember in basic reward design are negative feedback and continuous feedback, aka just adding more intermediate places in the map that assure you towards your next goal and also negative places ahead in routes that help you in backtracking when you make a mistake (I only made once today but that is for failing to read a map properly on hostile place). Sorry, the map is personal, and I won't share it as we friends used to love doing graphology in university (The other handwritings you saw on this blog are not original and even deliberately masked) Also, I fucking hated hundreds of mealybugs spread everywhere in the walk from yesterday's rain, I think. AHHHH... Morning: Lately, I have felt the zeal to go on spiritual trips, maybe from childhood nostalgia or life crises with age or needing a different timeout. So, today I did add religious places to map - even though I would still lean on science where it supports - and I love juxtaposing things and experiences so that we will cover every religion. The day started with Chattarpur mandir in early morning, early morning temples are different vibe altogether, the design of the temple and surrounding complex is expansive and very much similar to what temples anywhere in India would look like. I then entered Mehrauli, the oldest existing city in Delhi, before Shahjahanabad, aka Old Delhi. If you remember my first walk when all these walks started on happenstance, I have been to mehrauli but it's a short trip with no objective to watch surroundings consciously, besides I was so confused that half the time I have to look at google maps at that time. The hand-drawn treasure map on paper (hey, reused paper) helps - try it. So, this time the sad reality is mehrauli isn't maintained well as the usual Delhi is, there is a stark contrast you will notice whether it is waste or civic sense on one side of Mehrauli. The Qutub Minar side of Mehrauli, where the economy is more fluid, has a different vibe. But I entered from the south, and the first stop was Hauz Shamsi, the oldest rainwater harvest reserve which served the people of that time. There are a lot of emotions you can get from that place, whether it is plastic waste(it's everywhere in today's walk) or history or pathogens of this era. I circled it to enter Jahaz Mahal. There is Jharna nearby, whose route is full of litter. Here is the only time in the day I have to backtrack in failing to read hints (I should draw distance estimates next time), but the place I entered is one of my favourites. Zahaj Mahal. Just as I was looking at its facade, I was lucky that the ASI official unlocked the inside, if I had been early I would have thought the place is restricted. Climbing up to the top of the Hathi gate makes you realise how incredible the weather and view are, and you will wonder about the times of the old and new. No wonder it is a summer palace and distinctly combines multiple styles of architecture owing to its development by multiple emperors. I loved standing here on the canopy and appreciating the day ahead. There is a marbled moti masjid to the left. Next, I walked to Kaki Dargah, one of the oldest Muslim dargahs. His spiritual successor's successor is Nizamuddin Auliya, whose dargah is near one of Delhi's main railway stations. From there, I went to Bahadur Singh's Gurudwara to appreciate Sikhism; both dargahs and Gurudwaras require your head to be covered, but no worries, both these places provide coverings. Walking to Bhool Bhulaiya and appreciating the motifs, whether it is hexagrams you see everywhere today or distinctive changes in architecture, is what you should keep an eye out for—then walking to Yogmaya temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples in Delhi and with the unique festival "Phool Walon ka sair" history still connecting Muslims and Hindus in Mehrauli. The nearby Sai temple (I have been surprised not many are aware of Shirdi Sai in Delhi, who has both Hindu and Muslim followers from his knowledge and service) is quintessentially sai temple by having pot water (I hate plastic water bottles, and you should read wasteland by Oliver, even if you are content on disposing such plastic properly in wastebin the end journey is very bleak). Next is distinctly neo-Mughal architecture imprinted on the oldest St. John's Church. The blackest water of Gandhak ki baoli, again filled with plastics on the way to Mehrauli Park, makes you sad. Enter Mehrauli Park again. I noticed Baoli, Pathan's tomb, Jamali Qamali, and I realised from Liddle that one of the pics I took the first time was of a horse stable. You should get a 360-degree view of the city from the Metcalfe canopy, whether it's a view of Qutub Minar or the park; the place is so cool. The Balban tomb lies to the side. Walking to the boathouse, I realised that to get closer; I had to pay 30 for a ticket; I chose to pass the only place in that area for now - Quli Tomb. Maybe I should have visited for its architecture, but I had this urge to rebel against ticketing for that monument from my last time experience of Purana Qila Lake. Before you judge me hastily, the ticket isn't for ASI but for the horticultural division. So, I exited the park to Enter Ahinsa Sthal, a Jain temple containing a statue of the last Tirthankara. Yeah, read the mythology of all religions. Azim Khan's Tomb is on the back, with a good city view. Next is the Ashoka Mission, a Buddhist place gifted by Nehru himself to one of the Buddhist monks. Very peaceful. Afternoon: My favourite lunch was Rajma Chawal, and then I tried a surprising dish that I saw the first time - Moth Chawal, with the same base gravies but a distinct taste. Then walked to Madhi Masjid. Sad to see my phone battery died here, I was listening to Genius of birds audiobook when walking on dull areas, judge me for hypocrite of hating phones but still using it. Also, I recently heard Delhi is the second city in the world to have diverse bird species after Nairobi. Check ebird if you are interested in birds, and read Jennifer's book to see how birds are not dumb. Next walking to Jain Mandir Dadabari, one of the oldest Jain place in Delhi, the temple was built recently though because of some interesting story, and if you have never been to Jain temples, you will notice the first time that there is a mix of gods borrowed from Hinduism too. That is the main message: when you juxtapose multiple spiritual places, you will notice all the architectural influences and beliefs of one another. There was a cute Jain dance going on with cute kids when I visited it. Love them. Now, I should have walked to Qutub metro and gone to Saket, but after drinking water in the Jain temple (I love when these places offer water and the same with some museums), I was back in a walking mood to the Lado Sarai bus stop. I have the bus numbers, and luckily, the right bus stopped just when I went to the bus stop. Evening: Deboarding the bus at Tughlaqabad Fort and entering the place in the middle of the brightest sun isn't one of my brightest ideas. But as a human, you also like imparting meaning to random events and creating stories. So, just at the exact time I was roaming the central part of the fort, a large cloud came smiling, holding the umbrella for me, and hey, I got to enjoy a crowd-free experience too because not many in the right mind will enter with the sun at this time. Walking through the Meena bazaar is eerie, and I still fear lurking bats with my encounter in childhood and, recently, David Quammen's book. The fort viewpoint is the best place to stand and appreciate. Just live in the moment. As you read from my last articles, I have lately been trying to strike up a conversation with random people when I felt the urge, and this time, I met cool guys who were working with Tata 1mg. Experiences and stories matter, not all from books. Also, they are fantastic at giving me their water. Oops, I should carry my water bottle and refill to help others. Walking next to Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's tomb, a unique place with distinct architecture. I struck up a conversation with two art students from Delhi University who were on their walk, and we discussed mihrabs, octagonal designs and domes stability, Cenotaph designs (Male ones have ridges), Corbels and lotus finials. The words help, as James says. blockquote You don’t see something until you have the fitting metaphor to let you perceive it - James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science/blockquote Next is Kaya Maya Park, then walking to Adilabad Fort and enjoying the sunset view. Finish the day with an excellent, healthy dinner of eggs and Sattu parathas. The day ended with walking almost 20km - Yay, getting near my bucket list Item 32 and also I feel fine after walking even in this climate - in 11hours duration and under 300rs budget with priceless memories. Sorry, there are no pics, but I wanted to share this awesome pic from r/delhi of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's Tomb sunset, which captures the essential part of life. br ToysImage]]>
Solo historical walk of the First city of Delhi – Mehrauli, Mehrauli park again, diverse religious places and Forts

Check about the previous walk tours here, here, here and here

In my diary, you may have noticed that I was rereading Delhi's history this month. If you tour Delhi alone, read Swapna Liddle. Ofc, there are heritage walks, but the thrill of exploring a place at your own pace is sometimes appreciated alone. Now, I am a person who believes curiosity is the single best thing anyone could aim for and especially by parents who can impart to their children from childhood (Shoutout to my Mom – I love you). If you have noticed my earlier articles, I try to do the same; instead of layering every minute detail myself (There is a lot I have to process during these walks), I give a tidbit. Hence, you pass the threshold of curiosity and go on researching. Many of my friends called me a good salesman in convincing them to use a service or go somewhere, but I disagree as the best salesperson should work much more subtly. However, my curiosity leaks out whenever I talk.

So, I was to go to the booksonthedelhimetro scheduled meet, but I felt this urge to bunk that after rain and go on another historical walk. The problem today is my phone display broke a few days back(I use scrcpy now), so now I have to plan everything before I go, but I am a huge fan of improv behaviours, too. To make matters interesting, I drew a rough Google Maps view of every place I wanted to visit today (around 30) with directions and even public bus numbers for places not connected to the metro. Keeping the spatial view in mind (I recently read in art research that this comes relatively easier for math and sci theory students) of Google Maps satellite view and ticking off places is so astonishing as long as you don't miss the places, recently I was reading Alignment problem of Brian. The two things I still remember in basic reward design are negative feedback and continuous feedback, aka just adding more intermediate places in the map that assure you towards your next goal and also negative places ahead in routes that help you in backtracking when you make a mistake (I only made once today but that is for failing to read a map properly on hostile place). Sorry, the map is personal, and I won't share it as we friends used to love doing graphology in university (The other handwritings you saw on this blog are not original and even deliberately masked) Also, I fucking hated hundreds of mealybugs spread everywhere in the walk from yesterday's rain, I think. AHHHH...

Morning:

Lately, I have felt the zeal to go on spiritual trips, maybe from childhood nostalgia or life crises with age or needing a different timeout. So, today I did add religious places to map – even though I would still lean on science where it supports – and I love juxtaposing things and experiences so that we will cover every religion. The day started with Chattarpur mandir in early morning, early morning temples are different vibe altogether, the design of the temple and surrounding complex is expansive and very much similar to what temples anywhere in India would look like. I then entered Mehrauli, the oldest existing city in Delhi, before Shahjahanabad, aka Old Delhi. If you remember my first walk when all these walks started on happenstance, I have been to mehrauli but it's a short trip with no objective to watch surroundings consciously, besides I was so confused that half the time I have to look at google maps at that time. The hand-drawn treasure map on paper (hey, reused paper) helps – try it. So, this time the sad reality is mehrauli isn't maintained well as the usual Delhi is, there is a stark contrast you will notice whether it is waste or civic sense on one side of Mehrauli. The Qutub Minar side of Mehrauli, where the economy is more fluid, has a different vibe. But I entered from the south, and the first stop was Hauz Shamsi, the oldest rainwater harvest reserve which served the people of that time. There are a lot of emotions you can get from that place, whether it is plastic waste(it's everywhere in today's walk) or history or pathogens of this era. I circled it to enter Jahaz Mahal. There is Jharna nearby, whose route is full of litter. Here is the only time in the day I have to backtrack in failing to read hints (I should draw distance estimates next time), but the place I entered is one of my favourites. Zahaj Mahal. Just as I was looking at its facade, I was lucky that the ASI official unlocked the inside, if I had been early I would have thought the place is restricted. Climbing up to the top of the Hathi gate makes you realise how incredible the weather and view are, and you will wonder about the times of the old and new. No wonder it is a summer palace and distinctly combines multiple styles of architecture owing to its development by multiple emperors. I loved standing here on the canopy and appreciating the day ahead. There is a marbled moti masjid to the left. Next, I walked to Kaki Dargah, one of the oldest Muslim dargahs. His spiritual successor's successor is Nizamuddin Auliya, whose dargah is near one of Delhi's main railway stations. From there, I went to Bahadur Singh's Gurudwara to appreciate Sikhism; both dargahs and Gurudwaras require your head to be covered, but no worries, both these places provide coverings. Walking to Bhool Bhulaiya and appreciating the motifs, whether it is hexagrams you see everywhere today or distinctive changes in architecture, is what you should keep an eye out for—then walking to Yogmaya temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples in Delhi and with the unique festival “Phool Walon ka sair” history still connecting Muslims and Hindus in Mehrauli. The nearby Sai temple (I have been surprised not many are aware of Shirdi Sai in Delhi, who has both Hindu and Muslim followers from his knowledge and service) is quintessentially sai temple by having pot water (I hate plastic water bottles, and you should read wasteland by Oliver, even if you are content on disposing such plastic properly in wastebin the end journey is very bleak). Next is distinctly neo-Mughal architecture imprinted on the oldest St. John's Church. The blackest water of Gandhak ki baoli, again filled with plastics on the way to Mehrauli Park, makes you sad. Enter Mehrauli Park again. I noticed Baoli, Pathan's tomb, Jamali Qamali, and I realised from Liddle that one of the pics I took the first time was of a horse stable. You should get a 360-degree view of the city from the Metcalfe canopy, whether it's a view of Qutub Minar or the park; the place is so cool. The Balban tomb lies to the side. Walking to the boathouse, I realised that to get closer; I had to pay 30 for a ticket; I chose to pass the only place in that area for now – Quli Tomb. Maybe I should have visited for its architecture, but I had this urge to rebel against ticketing for that monument from my last time experience of Purana Qila Lake. Before you judge me hastily, the ticket isn't for ASI but for the horticultural division. So, I exited the park to Enter Ahinsa Sthal, a Jain temple containing a statue of the last Tirthankara. Yeah, read the mythology of all religions. Azim Khan's Tomb is on the back, with a good city view. Next is the Ashoka Mission, a Buddhist place gifted by Nehru himself to one of the Buddhist monks. Very peaceful.

Afternoon:

My favourite lunch was Rajma Chawal, and then I tried a surprising dish that I saw the first time – Moth Chawal, with the same base gravies but a distinct taste. Then walked to Madhi Masjid. Sad to see my phone battery died here, I was listening to Genius of birds audiobook when walking on dull areas, judge me for hypocrite of hating phones but still using it. Also, I recently heard Delhi is the second city in the world to have diverse bird species after Nairobi. Check ebird if you are interested in birds, and read Jennifer's book to see how birds are not dumb. Next walking to Jain Mandir Dadabari, one of the oldest Jain place in Delhi, the temple was built recently though because of some interesting story, and if you have never been to Jain temples, you will notice the first time that there is a mix of gods borrowed from Hinduism too. That is the main message: when you juxtapose multiple spiritual places, you will notice all the architectural influences and beliefs of one another. There was a cute Jain dance going on with cute kids when I visited it. Love them. Now, I should have walked to Qutub metro and gone to Saket, but after drinking water in the Jain temple (I love when these places offer water and the same with some museums), I was back in a walking mood to the Lado Sarai bus stop. I have the bus numbers, and luckily, the right bus stopped just when I went to the bus stop.

Evening:

Deboarding the bus at Tughlaqabad Fort and entering the place in the middle of the brightest sun isn't one of my brightest ideas. But as a human, you also like imparting meaning to random events and creating stories. So, just at the exact time I was roaming the central part of the fort, a large cloud came smiling, holding the umbrella for me, and hey, I got to enjoy a crowd-free experience too because not many in the right mind will enter with the sun at this time. Walking through the Meena bazaar is eerie, and I still fear lurking bats with my encounter in childhood and, recently, David Quammen's book. The fort viewpoint is the best place to stand and appreciate. Just live in the moment. As you read from my last articles, I have lately been trying to strike up a conversation with random people when I felt the urge, and this time, I met cool guys who were working with Tata 1mg. Experiences and stories matter, not all from books. Also, they are fantastic at giving me their water. Oops, I should carry my water bottle and refill to help others. Walking next to Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's tomb, a unique place with distinct architecture. I struck up a conversation with two art students from Delhi University who were on their walk, and we discussed mihrabs, octagonal designs and domes stability, Cenotaph designs (Male ones have ridges), Corbels and lotus finials. The words help, as James says.

You don’t see something until you have the fitting metaphor to let you perceive it – James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science
Next is Kaya Maya Park, then walking to Adilabad Fort and enjoying the sunset view. Finish the day with an excellent, healthy dinner of eggs and Sattu parathas. The day ended with walking almost 20km – Yay, getting near my bucket list Item 32 and also I feel fine after walking even in this climate – in 11hours duration and under 300rs budget with priceless memories. Sorry, there are no pics, but I wanted to share this awesome pic from r/delhi of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq's Tomb sunset, which captures the essential part of life.


ToysImage

]]> https://rant.li/boson/2024apr27 Sat, 27 Apr 2024 20:37:25 +0000 Saturday solo date to stimulating museums https://rant.li/boson/2024mar30 <![CDATA[ blockquote Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, Prime Minister Museum, Gandhi Smriti, Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, National Museum, Bikaner House, National Gallery of Modern Art, and India Gate /blockquote !--more-- --- Check about the previous walk tours here and here Morning: After a quick breakfast of paneer puff and fruits and doing a fairy job of dropping the book on Delhi metro, I reached Lok Kalyan Marg metro. I walked to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum precisely by the time the museum opened its doors. I was not a good student in history and civics during school, so seeing how power is wielded in different forms is an eye-opener. The place was the house of Indira, and the various rooms and objects are preserved to show the character's growth. I then walked to Prime Minister Museum, which was recently remodelled to Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya showcasing the various vital political decisions in India's growth and lives of prime ministers. The toshakana containing gifts to prime ministers neatly augments the Rashtrapathi Bhavan Museum, which houses the President's gifts. Ramp walks containing key events timeline with background Indian music is the best part for me. Be prepared to read and watch a lot of information; I wonder now, if I had gone to this museum as a school kid, would my perception be as good on social as science and math? Don't bother going to the adjacent Nehru Planetarium, I would instead suggest National Science Center, which is far better in content and scope. Afternoon: While eating fruits, I walked to Gandhi Smriti, Gandhi's last home, where he was shot. The museum houses his objects and showcases his beliefs. If you have read his autobiography, you will notice the overlap with reality. The first floor houses modern multimedia installations inaugurated recently by Manmohan Singh. If you like to buy Khadi clothing products, a store is available. Next, I walked to Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, which showcases his living style and various personal objects. The best part of these prime minister museums is my belief that every house should have separate reading rooms and book collections. Keep an eye out for a family Holi photo of Lal Bahadur. The next stop is National Museum, one of my favourite museums. Although this is my second visit, you will notice new things every time, not just due to the rotation of some objects, but also because it is the ihighest density/i museums in world. Also, some galleries get closed occasionally for maintenance, and some of your perceptions change with life and wisdom. So, I recommend visiting it every year. I'm not sure if this museum will get shifted to new blocks during the Central Vista project and what may get lost or damaged in the transfer process. Also, the Buddha Gallery has shifted to a new building near the food court. Evening: Then, walking on the Kartavya Path to the Bikaner House, which is also hosting Rajasthan Utsav now. The three art exhibitions are The Human Form: its Context and Spirit by Debabrata De, Our Conspiring Hosts: Of Rivers Vines and Microbes, and Accumulations by Alexander Gorlizki. I loved Alexander's artworks and laughed at a few for their surreality. Next, I walk to my favourite Art museum and my third visit - National Gallery of Modern Art. The museum houses a perfect display, and the building design suits the artwork perfectly. Although I visited NGMA, Bangalore, I still liked the Delhi selection. We should see what the NGMA, Mumbai experience would be like. The ground floor usually exhibits rotating artwork, while the top floors house relatively stable works. The exhibition currently houses Shakti: Fair and Fierce and Ramayanam: Chitra Kavyam for a limited time. Seems yesterday was its foundation day, too. Walking back to India Gate and taking the itouching grass/i too literally, I took a nap on its grass lawns during sunset to wake up to the perfect night view of India Gate. Be sure to visit National War Memorial if possible. All days must end only to start another, so walking back on Kartavya path to the President's house side and entering Udyog Bhavan metro to finish the 15KM/11hours walking journey of the day; but hey, look at the plus side, it's hard to do the same walk in subsequent months with summer going to strike hard in Delhi.]]>
Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, Prime Minister Museum, Gandhi Smriti, Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, National Museum, Bikaner House, National Gallery of Modern Art, and India Gate

Check about the previous walk tours here and here

Morning:

After a quick breakfast of paneer puff and fruits and doing a fairy job of dropping the book on Delhi metro, I reached Lok Kalyan Marg metro. I walked to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum precisely by the time the museum opened its doors. I was not a good student in history and civics during school, so seeing how power is wielded in different forms is an eye-opener. The place was the house of Indira, and the various rooms and objects are preserved to show the character's growth. I then walked to Prime Minister Museum, which was recently remodelled to Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya showcasing the various vital political decisions in India's growth and lives of prime ministers. The toshakana containing gifts to prime ministers neatly augments the Rashtrapathi Bhavan Museum, which houses the President's gifts. Ramp walks containing key events timeline with background Indian music is the best part for me. Be prepared to read and watch a lot of information; I wonder now, if I had gone to this museum as a school kid, would my perception be as good on social as science and math? Don't bother going to the adjacent Nehru Planetarium, I would instead suggest National Science Center, which is far better in content and scope.

Afternoon:

While eating fruits, I walked to Gandhi Smriti, Gandhi's last home, where he was shot. The museum houses his objects and showcases his beliefs. If you have read his autobiography, you will notice the overlap with reality. The first floor houses modern multimedia installations inaugurated recently by Manmohan Singh. If you like to buy Khadi clothing products, a store is available. Next, I walked to Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, which showcases his living style and various personal objects. The best part of these prime minister museums is my belief that every house should have separate reading rooms and book collections. Keep an eye out for a family Holi photo of Lal Bahadur. The next stop is National Museum, one of my favourite museums. Although this is my second visit, you will notice new things every time, not just due to the rotation of some objects, but also because it is the highest density museums in world. Also, some galleries get closed occasionally for maintenance, and some of your perceptions change with life and wisdom. So, I recommend visiting it every year. I'm not sure if this museum will get shifted to new blocks during the Central Vista project and what may get lost or damaged in the transfer process. Also, the Buddha Gallery has shifted to a new building near the food court.

Evening:

Then, walking on the Kartavya Path to the Bikaner House, which is also hosting Rajasthan Utsav now. The three art exhibitions are The Human Form: its Context and Spirit by Debabrata De, Our Conspiring Hosts: Of Rivers Vines and Microbes, and Accumulations by Alexander Gorlizki. I loved Alexander's artworks and laughed at a few for their surreality. Next, I walk to my favourite Art museum and my third visit – National Gallery of Modern Art. The museum houses a perfect display, and the building design suits the artwork perfectly. Although I visited NGMA, Bangalore, I still liked the Delhi selection. We should see what the NGMA, Mumbai experience would be like. The ground floor usually exhibits rotating artwork, while the top floors house relatively stable works. The exhibition currently houses Shakti: Fair and Fierce and Ramayanam: Chitra Kavyam for a limited time. Seems yesterday was its foundation day, too. Walking back to India Gate and taking the touching grass too literally, I took a nap on its grass lawns during sunset to wake up to the perfect night view of India Gate. Be sure to visit National War Memorial if possible. All days must end only to start another, so walking back on Kartavya path to the President's house side and entering Udyog Bhavan metro to finish the 15KM/11hours walking journey of the day; but hey, look at the plus side, it's hard to do the same walk in subsequent months with summer going to strike hard in Delhi.

]]> https://rant.li/boson/2024mar30 Sat, 30 Mar 2024 01:52:40 +0000 Me being grateful for everything so far in life https://rant.li/boson/grateful <![CDATA[ blockquote Now we flip the coin to see both sides of thinking./blockquote !--more-- This is a mirror post to opening-up. So, keep both posts open or read them before coming here. But my mom is ecstatic to get pregnant after seven years of marriage and dozens of temples. My name is borrowed from the temple she went to before I was born. I am grateful for my mom fighting to keep pregnancy against my dad. My maternal grandparents died before my birth, too. We thank the core "maternal" family for helping us in everything during those days and for care. Phototherapy saved me. They should be lucky, considering the scenarios and existence of devices in rural areas at the right time. I'm grateful that the cut was only a few millimetres deep, and I can still talk. The doctor laughed and said, everything is fine anatomically with me, and just asked her to wait Mom is also the same one who never went to school, but she learned the English alphabet and basic math to teach us - I was in the first standard in school when I was three. Kudos to Mom for letting us go to the public library. Most days are spent in public libraries reading stories and science books. Also, the first time I realised I had artistic skills was when I realised there was a thing called Google in 9th standard. Being bullied may be a worse thing, but it made me so different in picking the right friends and being conscious of saying the right things; of course, I am still not perfect, but I am a bit more humble than average in humanity. I still don't care about fashion; imagine a family of three children only being financially cared for by mom; so often those clothes are cheapest or from relatives. There have been no complaints from our side for the majority of life. Being isolated from male sports and bullies, although with few close friends, gave me so many sisters in school. Girls used to invite me to their games, and my hands were tied with dozens of rakhis from them. Fractures at least made me avoid some meaningless summer homework. But I still would not have wanted the pain and hospital visits. How lucky I should have been to have access to such malaria medication on time. Malaria is a severe disease with the top 5 leading deaths in the world. A relative afforded the treatment in time. The only thing mom taught us is to mind our studies, for that is the quickest way to lift out of caring these silly things and think big. High school has been the most beautiful years of my life so far. Hundreds of hours on Discovery TV, the internet, and awesome friends from humble backgrounds since it's a community college. Wonderful and understanding batchmates, too. We got 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19... in state Engineering en rance exam. Yep, prime numbers. Yes, I was the aberration. lol I still love math and can see things on my own. But, good math expertise requires practice to be aware of the patterns I shirked off. All that crying still made people see me as a kid, and I made my close friends who even accepted my silliness just because I was a kid to them. Love them. Visiting IIT Madras Shaastra Fest made me think bigger about where I want to end up next. AI entered my mind during those days, and I was an uber follower of the MIT CSAIL webpage daily. One day, I decided to let go of EE masters for AI and computer science. Realised GPA is more important when you want to change stream and with admission decisions—moved from flat 7.5- to 9-pointer. Best challenge I took upon myself and loved every day of it. I studied every computer science textbook on my own and understood the fundamentals, even with none of my classmates aware of my attempts to study CS. Although I did pretty well, I haven't joined anywhere since I want to study only AI and only in one of the five universities in India. Hilarious days with me walking with the cast in university and grateful to the friends who used to pick me up from home to campus and back by even taking detours for me. I tried to reach out to a person I felt was a friend on other platforms, but I made them club me with usual stalkers and lost the friendship I could have made or avoided the pain I caused them. Lesson learnt - Never reach out if they don't want you to, especially not via other channels. I found reading various things to be an escape mechanism. Although I feel awful for escaping many times, reading for it is the best thing, not to reduce guilt, but to think broadly and generally. She don't want to be friends, mainly because I was immature to not approach her properly. My first feelings were blinding my most cringeworthy moment. Lesson learnt - never use a cold approach without knowing the bare minimum details about them. Not too much to research or stalking, but simply be aware of the person enough to consider whether you should approach. Even now, I use it every time, partly to face my awkward social skills and anxiety. I stay silent until I know a friend of mine enough to decide whether to jump in. Looking back to those days, those assignments or problems seem silly to my current self, and I could have performed much better in those grades. I tried my best to build up the skillset in my master's, too. I took the time to deal with these irrational fears and escape mechanisms, but I will still be passionate about things if I focus. Most cried days, painful weeks and completely clueless future; but mom is always supportive and able to recover almost fully without necessitating surgery. The only reasons the days are good are mom, Korean dramas, reading dozens of books, IRL friends, campus staff, and me being back on Discord to talk with new friends. One crush got married in a few weeks, but she is still a good friend. One crush lost feelings because I was not showing enough feelings. We were not even in a relationship, and I cared just as much as I could and should. All these fears are irrational when analysed using neocortical thinking. Still, the amygdala pathways are so severe by now without proper care that I finally decided to consider psychiatrist medication, of course, with everyone's encouragement and after trying CBT for a few weeks. The days have been trying to look positive in the last few weeks as seen in the diary, but the diary doesn't include hardships; I was only showing one side in the diary to myself and others in trying to be grateful and changes that I am trying to make for myself. The net effect moves slowly, even if it's not a strictly upward curve. Escaping via reading (not just books, but research and blogs and anything and everything) and escaping via sleep has always helped me in the short term. The single most painful thing for me is losing a friend—a friend I value and for reasons messed up. I got distanced from two such friends in life. By being angry, I did the same thing again with the third friend. To understand the gravity, the words I wrote became the sharpest trigger for their trauma. I know I should not distance myself from people in these situations; maybe I should have let them understand me better, or perhaps I should have just been available even if they felt it was better that I should never talk to them. Maybe I would have, but with my previous experiences above, I am also aware that I should never disturb anyone when they do not want to, not out of ego, but especially when I don't understand myself and the current situation with my other stressors better. Whether you are a friend or not, and have read both posts until now. Thank you. Maybe we will talk again in future, or maybe never. Don't try to stalk my profile; I have almost zero connected digital footprints unless I choose to give you email or other details. Feel free to message or call me as a friend, but if I don't respond, please understand and give me time to travel to your side soon. I am sure I will try my best. I value all relations, people and life. I could not hate anyone, even if you are a flat-earther. I wish you all the best on your life journey and lessons, and I would love to hear your story someday if you ever consider me a worthy friend to know about you.]]> Now we flip the coin to see both sides of thinking.

This is a mirror post to opening-up. So, keep both posts open or read them before coming here.

  • But my mom is ecstatic to get pregnant after seven years of marriage and dozens of temples. My name is borrowed from the temple she went to before I was born. I am grateful for my mom fighting to keep pregnancy against my dad. My maternal grandparents died before my birth, too. We thank the core “maternal” family for helping us in everything during those days and for care.
  • Phototherapy saved me. They should be lucky, considering the scenarios and existence of devices in rural areas at the right time.
  • I'm grateful that the cut was only a few millimetres deep, and I can still talk.
  • The doctor laughed and said, everything is fine anatomically with me, and just asked her to wait
  • Mom is also the same one who never went to school, but she learned the English alphabet and basic math to teach us – I was in the first standard in school when I was three.
  • Kudos to Mom for letting us go to the public library. Most days are spent in public libraries reading stories and science books. Also, the first time I realised I had artistic skills was when I realised there was a thing called Google in 9th standard.
  • Being bullied may be a worse thing, but it made me so different in picking the right friends and being conscious of saying the right things; of course, I am still not perfect, but I am a bit more humble than average in humanity.
  • I still don't care about fashion; imagine a family of three children only being financially cared for by mom; so often those clothes are cheapest or from relatives. There have been no complaints from our side for the majority of life.
  • Being isolated from male sports and bullies, although with few close friends, gave me so many sisters in school. Girls used to invite me to their games, and my hands were tied with dozens of rakhis from them.
  • Fractures at least made me avoid some meaningless summer homework. But I still would not have wanted the pain and hospital visits.
  • How lucky I should have been to have access to such malaria medication on time. Malaria is a severe disease with the top 5 leading deaths in the world. A relative afforded the treatment in time.
  • The only thing mom taught us is to mind our studies, for that is the quickest way to lift out of caring these silly things and think big.
  • High school has been the most beautiful years of my life so far. Hundreds of hours on Discovery TV, the internet, and awesome friends from humble backgrounds since it's a community college.
  • Wonderful and understanding batchmates, too. We got 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19... in state Engineering en rance exam. Yep, prime numbers. Yes, I was the aberration. lol
  • I still love math and can see things on my own. But, good math expertise requires practice to be aware of the patterns I shirked off.
  • All that crying still made people see me as a kid, and I made my close friends who even accepted my silliness just because I was a kid to them. Love them.
  • Visiting IIT Madras Shaastra Fest made me think bigger about where I want to end up next.
  • AI entered my mind during those days, and I was an uber follower of the MIT CSAIL webpage daily. One day, I decided to let go of EE masters for AI and computer science.
  • Realised GPA is more important when you want to change stream and with admission decisions—moved from flat 7.5- to 9-pointer.
  • Best challenge I took upon myself and loved every day of it. I studied every computer science textbook on my own and understood the fundamentals, even with none of my classmates aware of my attempts to study CS. Although I did pretty well, I haven't joined anywhere since I want to study only AI and only in one of the five universities in India.
  • Hilarious days with me walking with the cast in university and grateful to the friends who used to pick me up from home to campus and back by even taking detours for me.
  • I tried to reach out to a person I felt was a friend on other platforms, but I made them club me with usual stalkers and lost the friendship I could have made or avoided the pain I caused them. Lesson learnt – Never reach out if they don't want you to, especially not via other channels.
  • I found reading various things to be an escape mechanism. Although I feel awful for escaping many times, reading for it is the best thing, not to reduce guilt, but to think broadly and generally.
  • She don't want to be friends, mainly because I was immature to not approach her properly. My first feelings were blinding my most cringeworthy moment. Lesson learnt – never use a cold approach without knowing the bare minimum details about them. Not too much to research or stalking, but simply be aware of the person enough to consider whether you should approach. Even now, I use it every time, partly to face my awkward social skills and anxiety. I stay silent until I know a friend of mine enough to decide whether to jump in.
  • Looking back to those days, those assignments or problems seem silly to my current self, and I could have performed much better in those grades.
  • I tried my best to build up the skillset in my master's, too. I took the time to deal with these irrational fears and escape mechanisms, but I will still be passionate about things if I focus.
  • Most cried days, painful weeks and completely clueless future; but mom is always supportive and able to recover almost fully without necessitating surgery.
  • The only reasons the days are good are mom, Korean dramas, reading dozens of books, IRL friends, campus staff, and me being back on Discord to talk with new friends.
  • One crush got married in a few weeks, but she is still a good friend. One crush lost feelings because I was not showing enough feelings. We were not even in a relationship, and I cared just as much as I could and should.
  • All these fears are irrational when analysed using neocortical thinking. Still, the amygdala pathways are so severe by now without proper care that I finally decided to consider psychiatrist medication, of course, with everyone's encouragement and after trying CBT for a few weeks.
  • The days have been trying to look positive in the last few weeks as seen in the diary, but the diary doesn't include hardships; I was only showing one side in the diary to myself and others in trying to be grateful and changes that I am trying to make for myself. The net effect moves slowly, even if it's not a strictly upward curve.
  • Escaping via reading (not just books, but research and blogs and anything and everything) and escaping via sleep has always helped me in the short term.
  • The single most painful thing for me is losing a friend—a friend I value and for reasons messed up. I got distanced from two such friends in life. By being angry, I did the same thing again with the third friend. To understand the gravity, the words I wrote became the sharpest trigger for their trauma.
  • I know I should not distance myself from people in these situations; maybe I should have let them understand me better, or perhaps I should have just been available even if they felt it was better that I should never talk to them. Maybe I would have, but with my previous experiences above, I am also aware that I should never disturb anyone when they do not want to, not out of ego, but especially when I don't understand myself and the current situation with my other stressors better.
  • Whether you are a friend or not, and have read both posts until now. Thank you. Maybe we will talk again in future, or maybe never. Don't try to stalk my profile; I have almost zero connected digital footprints unless I choose to give you email or other details. Feel free to message or call me as a friend, but if I don't respond, please understand and give me time to travel to your side soon. I am sure I will try my best. I value all relations, people and life. I could not hate anyone, even if you are a flat-earther. I wish you all the best on your life journey and lessons, and I would love to hear your story someday if you ever consider me a worthy friend to know about you.
]]> https://rant.li/boson/grateful Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:55:55 +0000 Me being honest and completely vulnerable https://rant.li/boson/openingup <![CDATA[ blockquoteEverything I generally try to guard on personal problems and challenges./blockquote !--more-- Usually, I never show my vulnerable side to people; no matter how bad the situation is, I either cry alone or with family and show a smiling face to everyone else. It's partly from my mom's teachings. Every friend or person who met me knows me only as someone who always smiles. Now, I am aware that everyone faces hardships, and there is not one smooth ride for any life in the universe. I am neither shy nor try to feel strong by not showing my vulnerable side to friends and others. It's simply that I don't want to bother others with my perils and trauma. It's not that Boson is leading rosy days every day, not that there are no panic attacks, not that there are no palpitations, not that there are no insurmountable ache that overwhelms all other things often that make me think it's better to sleep more and forget all this reality. Okay, let me open up everything I have done wrong so far, not to find closure or forget them after writing, but to own up as a character, face them again, and move forward, taking lessons from each case. After facing these in this post, we will talk of grateful things here. But sit back, get popcorn, enjoy the stories, and let's laugh and cry together; it will be long. Note: This post is more challenging for me to write personally; I have to sleep through to control the palpitations and shivers, just rethinking some things, but I know I have to do it. I have to face them all and let them pass over me and through me for the sake of myself and everyone I care about and will have to care. --- My birth was unwanted by my dad. It's as simple as that. If I have to talk about my dad in one simple sentence - "He has a fear of the future and kids not supporting parents, so he doesn't want kids nor not consider any family responsibility that comes from it". So, Mom raised us, fed us, and taught us, with whom we share everything, even though she raised my dad too without him spending anything from his salary for decades. Yes, I know, nobody wants to believe it. 1 week after birth, newborn Jaundice. On my first birthday, while everyone was posing for photos, I cut my tongue with a steel knife. There could be a correlation between my current tongue sensitivity and gash on the tongue from that day. Late talker in life, my mom seriously doubted and took me to the hospital, thinking if there needed to be intervention. I was not a big thinker or a topper in school days, and I often cared only for simple science and math curiosity. The easiest target for a bully in school is often the youngest in class, the shortest, having no fashion sense, and usually being isolated. Lucky me, I was a perfect match for bullies. Four fractures in school days in four years on both hands. Maybe food habits or maybe a vicious cycle of weak physiology and no strengthening. Mostly healthy childhood except for a lung issue once, which required a few days of hospital admission. Malaria in high school. Plasmodium falciparum variant. Intravenous injections for a week saved me. The weakened immune system then had to face a dozen more hits because of this. There are two groups in those days which are a constant toll on mental health - ofc with reasons being our property and money. Engineering math is the most significant sudden change for me. Somewhere along the way, theoretical math has lost meaning to me, unlike applied math and science. I was sensitive and used to cry at university for silly reasons. I still do lol. I heard about IIT at this point in life and was down for weeks because I missed the chance to try it. Always was a fan of robotics and electronics, after losing interest in public sector jobs, mainly from the internship experience in hundreds of megawatts power station when 16 years old. Planned to go to Germany for a Master's in Electrical Engineering and thought of PhD in same field. I never bothered about my GPA as long as I learned something new every semester. A sudden change of mind made me choose GATE in CSE, with no background in AI or much in coding. Primarily, Assembly and MATLAB at that time. Ankle fracture in university before exams. I got called a stalker for the first and last time. First panic attack in life for no reason. Did watching Suits TV panic attacks make my brain vicariously imitate the actions, or are such things innate in my body from genetic and epigenetic predisposition? I had to take pills to recover Had a first crush, maybe because of her hair. After months, I faced her one day and realised she has a boyfriend, or perhaps I scared her to lie too. I joined the master's program without going to the industry for experience or understanding the concept of coding projects. Only understood theory from textbooks and typical algorithm implementations. So, I had a second panic attack when facing assignments. Some of those days are so stressful that mom has to hug and pat me so I can get sleep. Some days are too much for me to wake up from the bed. Knee fracture in masters university. It's the most severe fracture in life so far. It made way for the harshest physiotherapy and ligament issues because of three months in the cast and bed rest. Another two crushes for a few weeks. Mutual crushes this time. The core cause still exists, and the degree has yet to be finished. Research work is still pending. Often days, I give up doing anything and am not able to think, not able to reach out for help, not wanting to talk to not just friends but not even family for weeks, not able to change the habit loops, not able to control the panic and anxiety, not able to push through fully. Not everything is as rosy now as shown in the diary There were suicidal thoughts but never to the extreme; analysing the options, the heat of a moment thoughts when the situation is too severe. The escape mechanisms should not be perennial, for they never solve the underlying root cause. I have recently been angry at someone for no reason and wrote things I would not have even thought of, adding severity to show my silly anger. Maybe I have changed during these months; perhaps I am just immature and socially awkward when it comes to feelings, or maybe I am projecting other issues onto an innocent person for no reason and victimising them for my issues. Perhaps all of these. But I know I did something serious. I cannot guess the full effects of my words, but I can at least see the pain if someone uses the exact words on me. Yes, I cried for my behaviour towards them; maybe I am still sensitive, but I deserve to feel bad for what I said and made them feel. I have decided to push more on my work and reading, which is never a healthy step from what I am reading on mental health and physiology, but I have decided to leave Discord after months. I have a bucket list, but those have to wait until I finish the more urgent research. I have close friends to talk to, but I don't approach them for the same reason I said at the start. All the issues I ever do are dealt with by myself or the direct person (even if late). After finishing this work and thinking more clearly, let me see if I have become the true me. Maybe it's time to test the medication limits finally, given they should have started taking effects by now after weeks.]]>
Everything I generally try to guard on personal problems and challenges.

Usually, I never show my vulnerable side to people; no matter how bad the situation is, I either cry alone or with family and show a smiling face to everyone else. It's partly from my mom's teachings. Every friend or person who met me knows me only as someone who always smiles.

Now, I am aware that everyone faces hardships, and there is not one smooth ride for any life in the universe. I am neither shy nor try to feel strong by not showing my vulnerable side to friends and others. It's simply that I don't want to bother others with my perils and trauma. It's not that Boson is leading rosy days every day, not that there are no panic attacks, not that there are no palpitations, not that there are no insurmountable ache that overwhelms all other things often that make me think it's better to sleep more and forget all this reality.

Okay, let me open up everything I have done wrong so far, not to find closure or forget them after writing, but to own up as a character, face them again, and move forward, taking lessons from each case. After facing these in this post, we will talk of grateful things here. But sit back, get popcorn, enjoy the stories, and let's laugh and cry together; it will be long.

Note: This post is more challenging for me to write personally; I have to sleep through to control the palpitations and shivers, just rethinking some things, but I know I have to do it. I have to face them all and let them pass over me and through me for the sake of myself and everyone I care about and will have to care.

  • My birth was unwanted by my dad. It's as simple as that. If I have to talk about my dad in one simple sentence – “He has a fear of the future and kids not supporting parents, so he doesn't want kids nor not consider any family responsibility that comes from it”. So, Mom raised us, fed us, and taught us, with whom we share everything, even though she raised my dad too without him spending anything from his salary for decades. Yes, I know, nobody wants to believe it.
  • 1 week after birth, newborn Jaundice.
  • On my first birthday, while everyone was posing for photos, I cut my tongue with a steel knife. There could be a correlation between my current tongue sensitivity and gash on the tongue from that day.
  • Late talker in life, my mom seriously doubted and took me to the hospital, thinking if there needed to be intervention.
  • I was not a big thinker or a topper in school days, and I often cared only for simple science and math curiosity.
  • The easiest target for a bully in school is often the youngest in class, the shortest, having no fashion sense, and usually being isolated. Lucky me, I was a perfect match for bullies.
  • Four fractures in school days in four years on both hands. Maybe food habits or maybe a vicious cycle of weak physiology and no strengthening.
  • Mostly healthy childhood except for a lung issue once, which required a few days of hospital admission.
  • Malaria in high school. Plasmodium falciparum variant. Intravenous injections for a week saved me. The weakened immune system then had to face a dozen more hits because of this.
  • There are two groups in those days which are a constant toll on mental health – ofc with reasons being our property and money.
  • Engineering math is the most significant sudden change for me. Somewhere along the way, theoretical math has lost meaning to me, unlike applied math and science.
  • I was sensitive and used to cry at university for silly reasons. I still do lol.
  • I heard about IIT at this point in life and was down for weeks because I missed the chance to try it.
  • Always was a fan of robotics and electronics, after losing interest in public sector jobs, mainly from the internship experience in hundreds of megawatts power station when 16 years old.
  • Planned to go to Germany for a Master's in Electrical Engineering and thought of PhD in same field.
  • I never bothered about my GPA as long as I learned something new every semester.
  • A sudden change of mind made me choose GATE in CSE, with no background in AI or much in coding. Primarily, Assembly and MATLAB at that time.
  • Ankle fracture in university before exams.
  • I got called a stalker for the first and last time.
  • First panic attack in life for no reason. Did watching Suits TV panic attacks make my brain vicariously imitate the actions, or are such things innate in my body from genetic and epigenetic predisposition? I had to take pills to recover
  • Had a first crush, maybe because of her hair. After months, I faced her one day and realised she has a boyfriend, or perhaps I scared her to lie too.
  • I joined the master's program without going to the industry for experience or understanding the concept of coding projects. Only understood theory from textbooks and typical algorithm implementations. So, I had a second panic attack when facing assignments.
  • Some of those days are so stressful that mom has to hug and pat me so I can get sleep. Some days are too much for me to wake up from the bed.
  • Knee fracture in masters university. It's the most severe fracture in life so far. It made way for the harshest physiotherapy and ligament issues because of three months in the cast and bed rest.
  • Another two crushes for a few weeks. Mutual crushes this time.
  • The core cause still exists, and the degree has yet to be finished. Research work is still pending. Often days, I give up doing anything and am not able to think, not able to reach out for help, not wanting to talk to not just friends but not even family for weeks, not able to change the habit loops, not able to control the panic and anxiety, not able to push through fully.
  • Not everything is as rosy now as shown in the diary
  • There were suicidal thoughts but never to the extreme; analysing the options, the heat of a moment thoughts when the situation is too severe. The escape mechanisms should not be perennial, for they never solve the underlying root cause.
  • I have recently been angry at someone for no reason and wrote things I would not have even thought of, adding severity to show my silly anger. Maybe I have changed during these months; perhaps I am just immature and socially awkward when it comes to feelings, or maybe I am projecting other issues onto an innocent person for no reason and victimising them for my issues. Perhaps all of these. But I know I did something serious. I cannot guess the full effects of my words, but I can at least see the pain if someone uses the exact words on me.
  • Yes, I cried for my behaviour towards them; maybe I am still sensitive, but I deserve to feel bad for what I said and made them feel.
  • I have decided to push more on my work and reading, which is never a healthy step from what I am reading on mental health and physiology, but I have decided to leave Discord after months. I have a bucket list, but those have to wait until I finish the more urgent research. I have close friends to talk to, but I don't approach them for the same reason I said at the start. All the issues I ever do are dealt with by myself or the direct person (even if late).
  • After finishing this work and thinking more clearly, let me see if I have become the true me. Maybe it's time to test the medication limits finally, given they should have started taking effects by now after weeks.
]]> https://rant.li/boson/openingup Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:55:51 +0000 Day off for book meet and Delhi walk https://rant.li/boson/2024mar16 <![CDATA[ blockquoteCrosswords, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, booksonthedelhimetro meet, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, Humayun's tomb, Purana Qila, and Bikaner House/blockquote !--more-- --- Check about the previous walk tour here I am very private and was hell-bent on privacy and guarding personal details. With time and awareness, I realised there should be openness to build trust in friendships, so unless they are very close friends, I still guard everyday personal things. I won't even add contacts on social media until I meet them in real life. The only exception to maintaining an anonymous place, even a guarded self, is "Discord"; I joined Discord via an international book club invite and met many wonderful people on different domains, but I never tried to meet anyone. This is the first time I tried to meet someone after becoming online friends. We share many common values and curiosity and feel the same pressures on global issues. With their interests in public health and policy, which I deeply care about, the meeting is bound to happen someday. Morning: After talking about books and a few severe things, we went for breakfast and had paneer paratha and coffee to prepare for the long day. I usually don't drink coffee. The first stop was a crosswords store in a select city mall to check the available books. Still, I only realised after entering that the store was seriously downsized and just stocked with fast seller lists, considering the inventory costs. We made a quick detour to enquire about PVR QR code booking, and whether they realised people are taking advantage of no booking fees from QR or it's just migration to the new tech stack, they stopped the service for now. We then went to the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art for the "Thousand Lives" photographs exhibition by Raghu Rai, showcasing the often overlooked sides of humanity. The juxtaposition and contrast in multiple photographs are so stark that we have our wow moments. We then walked to Greater Kailash with multiple detours on Google Maps bailing out, and finally entered Kunzum book store for the booksondelhimetro meet whose mission is to drop books, from donations and author copies, in metro stops for anyone to pick up for free and let them drop back for others after they read. It's an exciting idea with dozens of volunteers trying to meet monthly to make the books travel and touch the lives of people we don't even meet. Kunzum-GK is a perfect store with diverse books and no wifi, and they offer free coffee for every book purchase. Afternoon: We then took the metro to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and visited Dargah. It's the month of Ramazan, so the place is vibrant and colourful. This is my second time visiting Dargah, but it was the first time I realised the Wudu. You must cover your head with a cloth to revere the saint and higher power. We had lunch in a nearby restaurant, and this was my first time tasting nihari stew. We also ordered Kebabs, Korma, Tikka, and Khamiri rotis. The bill is just 300rs for eating to the maximum. I also love Delhi for its diversity in food and cost. We then walked to Humayun's tomb, and trust me, everyone seeing it for the first time, including me, said, "Woah". ASI perfectly maintains the place and designs, and this is my favourite monument in Delhi after the President's house and Qutub Minar. Take your time to observe the intricate details. Evening: We then walked to Purana Qila; I know we are clocking 10km+ in walking by now. We confused checkout time with check-in time and were half an hour late. We convinced the head officer to let us enter; I would have gone away and not tried to face such a situation if I had been a bit younger. Lately, I have realised the power of persuasion and letting others understand your valid side. Do yourself a service, and don't book Purana Qila Lake tickets. The Hauz Khas lake, which is free to visit, is far better. Our final stop is Bikaner House, where we can visit "Gestural Intuition" by Anwar Khan at the Living Traditions Center Gallery. It is an abstract art of lines, shapes, and colours usually ignored. We could have sat on India Gate lawns, but the night is already knocking us down. So, we boarded the Khan Market metro and said goodbye at our stops. Our legs were aching by the end, but I at least made him look forward to our next long day off. Hahaha, thank you @DrNobody; it is a pleasure meeting you.]]>
Crosswords, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, booksonthedelhimetro meet, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, Humayun's tomb, Purana Qila, and Bikaner House

Check about the previous walk tour here

I am very private and was hell-bent on privacy and guarding personal details. With time and awareness, I realised there should be openness to build trust in friendships, so unless they are very close friends, I still guard everyday personal things. I won't even add contacts on social media until I meet them in real life. The only exception to maintaining an anonymous place, even a guarded self, is “Discord”; I joined Discord via an international book club invite and met many wonderful people on different domains, but I never tried to meet anyone. This is the first time I tried to meet someone after becoming online friends. We share many common values and curiosity and feel the same pressures on global issues. With their interests in public health and policy, which I deeply care about, the meeting is bound to happen someday.

Morning:

After talking about books and a few severe things, we went for breakfast and had paneer paratha and coffee to prepare for the long day. I usually don't drink coffee. The first stop was a crosswords store in a select city mall to check the available books. Still, I only realised after entering that the store was seriously downsized and just stocked with fast seller lists, considering the inventory costs. We made a quick detour to enquire about PVR QR code booking, and whether they realised people are taking advantage of no booking fees from QR or it's just migration to the new tech stack, they stopped the service for now. We then went to the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art for the “Thousand Lives” photographs exhibition by Raghu Rai, showcasing the often overlooked sides of humanity. The juxtaposition and contrast in multiple photographs are so stark that we have our wow moments. We then walked to Greater Kailash with multiple detours on Google Maps bailing out, and finally entered Kunzum book store for the booksondelhimetro meet whose mission is to drop books, from donations and author copies, in metro stops for anyone to pick up for free and let them drop back for others after they read. It's an exciting idea with dozens of volunteers trying to meet monthly to make the books travel and touch the lives of people we don't even meet. Kunzum-GK is a perfect store with diverse books and no wifi, and they offer free coffee for every book purchase.

Afternoon:

We then took the metro to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and visited Dargah. It's the month of Ramazan, so the place is vibrant and colourful. This is my second time visiting Dargah, but it was the first time I realised the Wudu. You must cover your head with a cloth to revere the saint and higher power. We had lunch in a nearby restaurant, and this was my first time tasting nihari stew. We also ordered Kebabs, Korma, Tikka, and Khamiri rotis. The bill is just 300rs for eating to the maximum. I also love Delhi for its diversity in food and cost. We then walked to Humayun's tomb, and trust me, everyone seeing it for the first time, including me, said, “Woah”. ASI perfectly maintains the place and designs, and this is my favourite monument in Delhi after the President's house and Qutub Minar. Take your time to observe the intricate details.

Evening:

We then walked to Purana Qila; I know we are clocking 10km+ in walking by now. We confused checkout time with check-in time and were half an hour late. We convinced the head officer to let us enter; I would have gone away and not tried to face such a situation if I had been a bit younger. Lately, I have realised the power of persuasion and letting others understand your valid side. Do yourself a service, and don't book Purana Qila Lake tickets. The Hauz Khas lake, which is free to visit, is far better. Our final stop is Bikaner House, where we can visit “Gestural Intuition” by Anwar Khan at the Living Traditions Center Gallery. It is an abstract art of lines, shapes, and colours usually ignored. We could have sat on India Gate lawns, but the night is already knocking us down. So, we boarded the Khan Market metro and said goodbye at our stops. Our legs were aching by the end, but I at least made him look forward to our next long day off. Hahaha, thank you @DrNobody; it is a pleasure meeting you.

]]> https://rant.li/boson/2024mar16 Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:24:02 +0000 My longest walking tour of Delhi for Cosmos https://rant.li/boson/2024mar01 <![CDATA[blockquoteTemples, museums, monuments, and vocal symphony/blockquote !--more-- --- I like walking without complaints; my mom made us walk when possible, especially to the farms and places where any transport is a luxury rather than a choice. The place I was born is also a close-knitted and finding the optimal shortest path to the next destination was always futile with the increasing chances of a mom stumbling across some X generation relative and her trying to catch up on everything with them, while we three siblings bicker on silly things among ourselves. My mom never went to school to study but easily won where Emotional Quotient is a metric. One example is the memorable movie days of our school, where her tactic is if we finish our homework and everything, we three siblings get to choose three movies all day. If you are aware of game theory, she simply created incentives among ourselves to work and help each other towards the Nash equilibrium of everyone finishing in the least amount of time without needing to supervise anything. It is not just limited to movies; it could be exhibitions, carnivals, exciting places or games to relax; every such day has a familiar pattern of waking up early and returning home late at night while enjoying food in restaurants throughout the day. So, today, I decided to do it for myself - Morning: My math alarm is still at 6 AM, but these days, I take it as a challenge to wake up before it does. So, I was out of campus by 6 AM. I may be agnostic, but I like going to temples in the early mornings, especially with no other thoughts. Partly, this may have to do with the habit of mom dragging us three to the temple at 4 AM in winter, where we would be the only kids. I still reminisce about those moments whenever I go to the temple, so I started the day with Birla Mandir, Kali, Buddha, and Venkateshwara temples after getting out of the metro. It's not a stroke of luck, but these places marked on my map feel natural to thread through while aiming for the next place. I walked through Talkatora Garden and eventually ended up near gate 35 of Rastrapathi Bhavan. This is my third time visiting the place, but I have different objectives each time. Today, it's the president's museum. I was pleasantly surprised, and it's as good an experience as a national or dolls museum. Most objects are exquisite gifts conferred to presidents by states and countries. There is the constitution, signatures of India's first leaders, artworks, and replicas. I got a few postcards from the museum for Item #73. Plan for a minimum of one hour if you are going, and in feb-mar, with the blooming season, the president's garden will also be open to the public, which is my next destination. The garden houses thousands of plants, with varieties spanning tulips, roses, hyacinths, dahlia, kale, stock, pansies, California poppies, petunias, marigolds, chrysanthemums, daisies, daffodils and many more. no surprise - Anthophile Item #61. Maybe I should consider the option of becoming president seriously which me and my mom joke about. Next is Gurduwara rakab ganj; don't forget to cover your head; breakfast is the prasad from all these temples. The Parliament Museum was closed, so I visited the Philately Museum to get unique stamps. Carry cash. Afternoon: I have already walked 10km by now, and the strain is showing up on my legs; I think this is the longest I have walked after a knee injury, even with my daily exercise routine, but I like to push the limits. Next is the Jantar Mantar; I just finished reading the longitude book last month, and with that perspective, I can appreciate time measurement, a beautiful and confounding concept that we take for granted in this era. Next is Dhoomilal Art Gallery, but they are closed today for some reason; I walked into Connaught Place with a new eye on things thanks to Swapna Liddle's Delhi history books. I had Chole Kulcha for lunch and went to the Charka Museum. It's a small one, but I can rest thinking about Gandhi, whose My experiments with truth I have already read in university. Retook the metro to visit Triveni Kala Sangam for art galleries. Half the galleries are preparing for the following installations, so it's a short stay, but that gave me time to visit the unplanned place - Agrasen ki baoli, which you may recall from Amir Khan's PK movie. I just sat on the top steps, enjoying the view while everyone was busy finding the next best pose for their Instagram posts and reels. Evening: Walked back to Max Mueller to see the art installation Critical Zones. The reason for this day's journey. This has exciting themes connecting nature, environment, and climate. I was surprised to see James Lovelock's Gaia research papers with Lynn Margulis in the installation, whose book I have recently read. I especially liked the film For the Love of Corals. Ever since I read Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, corals have always been in the back of my mind as with Item #14, and I am scared of the consequences of climate change, but this is a bit hopeful film in regards to that for future. There is another exciting project, Cloud studies, that does machine learning data analysis on videos, sensors data, and satellite imaging to analyse the climate and political issues, thus providing new tools of argument - which have already impacted thousands of people in legal cases by providing substantial proofs with this AI approach. By its impact, this is a fresh breath of air, both literally and figuratively, when AI already has a bad name for bias in recidivism or job screening applications. The night ended with Song of the Cosmos, a live vocal symphony connecting the cosmos to the exhibition. The costumes of a half-dozen characters (Nebula, Sun, Desert, Ice, Ocean, and Dark Energy) and the lyrics are worth watching. There is a complimentary red wine, but I skipped it because it was not the right setting for me - Item #51. Next stop is Delhi's metro museum. I took up an electric traction course in college, it is interesting to see it from that perspective on 25kv voltage system, standard vs broad gauge decisions, driverless train operation, bombardier flying coaches made from Germany via eight air trips for free, and the man who made it all possible - Sreedharan who got India's second highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan for this. The funny thing I learned is there was so much rush in the first week of operation that DMRC had to recruit volunteers to handle and teach passengers the new systems and issue a public announcement that the metro is here to stay, asking people to skip joy rides. So, back to campus and night mess - gobi paratha and eggs. All in all, it's an 18.4 km walk, and my legs are paining like hell, which is still short of Item #32, but we are getting there. Good night for 11 hours. I earned it.]]>
Temples, museums, monuments, and vocal symphony

I like walking without complaints; my mom made us walk when possible, especially to the farms and places where any transport is a luxury rather than a choice. The place I was born is also a close-knitted and finding the optimal shortest path to the next destination was always futile with the increasing chances of a mom stumbling across some X generation relative and her trying to catch up on everything with them, while we three siblings bicker on silly things among ourselves. My mom never went to school to study but easily won where Emotional Quotient is a metric. One example is the memorable movie days of our school, where her tactic is if we finish our homework and everything, we three siblings get to choose three movies all day. If you are aware of game theory, she simply created incentives among ourselves to work and help each other towards the Nash equilibrium of everyone finishing in the least amount of time without needing to supervise anything. It is not just limited to movies; it could be exhibitions, carnivals, exciting places or games to relax; every such day has a familiar pattern of waking up early and returning home late at night while enjoying food in restaurants throughout the day.

So, today, I decided to do it for myself – Mom's movie move. I like marking places on maps so it would be easy to plan in future or whenever I am in that locality to see what other things I could do. So, the day started with a plan to visit the Song of Cosmos vocal symphony at night, and it's easy to build a bottom-up travel itinerary from there.

Morning:

My math alarm is still at 6 AM, but these days, I take it as a challenge to wake up before it does. So, I was out of campus by 6 AM. I may be agnostic, but I like going to temples in the early mornings, especially with no other thoughts. Partly, this may have to do with the habit of mom dragging us three to the temple at 4 AM in winter, where we would be the only kids. I still reminisce about those moments whenever I go to the temple, so I started the day with Birla Mandir, Kali, Buddha, and Venkateshwara temples after getting out of the metro. It's not a stroke of luck, but these places marked on my map feel natural to thread through while aiming for the next place. I walked through Talkatora Garden and eventually ended up near gate 35 of Rastrapathi Bhavan. This is my third time visiting the place, but I have different objectives each time. Today, it's the president's museum. I was pleasantly surprised, and it's as good an experience as a national or dolls museum. Most objects are exquisite gifts conferred to presidents by states and countries. There is the constitution, signatures of India's first leaders, artworks, and replicas. I got a few postcards from the museum for Item #73. Plan for a minimum of one hour if you are going, and in feb-mar, with the blooming season, the president's garden will also be open to the public, which is my next destination. The garden houses thousands of plants, with varieties spanning tulips, roses, hyacinths, dahlia, kale, stock, pansies, California poppies, petunias, marigolds, chrysanthemums, daisies, daffodils and many more. no surprise – Anthophile Item #61. Maybe I should consider the option of becoming president seriously which me and my mom joke about. Next is Gurduwara rakab ganj; don't forget to cover your head; breakfast is the prasad from all these temples. The Parliament Museum was closed, so I visited the Philately Museum to get unique stamps. Carry cash.

Afternoon:

I have already walked 10km by now, and the strain is showing up on my legs; I think this is the longest I have walked after a knee injury, even with my daily exercise routine, but I like to push the limits. Next is the Jantar Mantar; I just finished reading the longitude book last month, and with that perspective, I can appreciate time measurement, a beautiful and confounding concept that we take for granted in this era. Next is Dhoomilal Art Gallery, but they are closed today for some reason; I walked into Connaught Place with a new eye on things thanks to Swapna Liddle's Delhi history books. I had Chole Kulcha for lunch and went to the Charka Museum. It's a small one, but I can rest thinking about Gandhi, whose My experiments with truth I have already read in university. Retook the metro to visit Triveni Kala Sangam for art galleries. Half the galleries are preparing for the following installations, so it's a short stay, but that gave me time to visit the unplanned place – Agrasen ki baoli, which you may recall from Amir Khan's PK movie. I just sat on the top steps, enjoying the view while everyone was busy finding the next best pose for their Instagram posts and reels.

Evening:

Walked back to Max Mueller to see the art installation Critical Zones. The reason for this day's journey. This has exciting themes connecting nature, environment, and climate. I was surprised to see James Lovelock's Gaia research papers with Lynn Margulis in the installation, whose book I have recently read. I especially liked the film For the Love of Corals. Ever since I read Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, corals have always been in the back of my mind as with Item #14, and I am scared of the consequences of climate change, but this is a bit hopeful film in regards to that for future. There is another exciting project, Cloud studies, that does machine learning data analysis on videos, sensors data, and satellite imaging to analyse the climate and political issues, thus providing new tools of argument – which have already impacted thousands of people in legal cases by providing substantial proofs with this AI approach. By its impact, this is a fresh breath of air, both literally and figuratively, when AI already has a bad name for bias in recidivism or job screening applications. The night ended with Song of the Cosmos, a live vocal symphony connecting the cosmos to the exhibition. The costumes of a half-dozen characters (Nebula, Sun, Desert, Ice, Ocean, and Dark Energy) and the lyrics are worth watching. There is a complimentary red wine, but I skipped it because it was not the right setting for me – Item #51. Next stop is Delhi's metro museum. I took up an electric traction course in college, it is interesting to see it from that perspective on 25kv voltage system, standard vs broad gauge decisions, driverless train operation, bombardier flying coaches made from Germany via eight air trips for free, and the man who made it all possible – Sreedharan who got India's second highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan for this. The funny thing I learned is there was so much rush in the first week of operation that DMRC had to recruit volunteers to handle and teach passengers the new systems and issue a public announcement that the metro is here to stay, asking people to skip joy rides. So, back to campus and night mess – gobi paratha and eggs. All in all, it's an 18.4 km walk, and my legs are paining like hell, which is still short of Item #32, but we are getting there. Good night for 11 hours. I earned it.

]]> https://rant.li/boson/2024mar01 Sat, 02 Mar 2024 11:40:52 +0000 Yummy gummy's journey in my tummy https://rant.li/boson/food <![CDATA[ blockquoteLet's focus on my eating habits and talk about the science and art of cooking/blockquote !--more-- --- I was always a picky eater. During school days, Mom was always hopeful that I would get to finish the full lunch box one day, but more often than not, I would bring it back with leftovers. It is not that I hate food or eating; I love food and the science of cooking, but it's just that my palate craves new things in smaller quantities. It used to be a silly competition where I surreptitiously added food from my lunchbox or plate to my siblings. Did I say I am the eldest? 😂 . I used to justify to my friends that a buffet is still a worthy deal for some users given that their utility is measured towards varied tastes in a meal; it does not matter how much they eat if all they crave is sampling the food of dozens of varieties. Anyway, I have become wiser in choosing food not to waste. Now, picky doesn't mean completely idiotic; we still had days of rice with just salt water, or chilli powder and hot oil, or tamarind broth or some other varieties which are just for survival instead of made for palate, as research shows, when you are hungry, every food tastes better than it can be. Either way, more frequently, it is spicy Indian snack food such as samosa, chaat, pani puri, and bakery cookies, ... that enticed me during those days, not the sweets, which partly has to do with the fact that my mom is crowned as kind of star chef of making traditional Indian sweets among all the people I know. But if I have to say about my favourite foods, cruciferous Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli are my all-time favourite foods. I have tried dozens of recipes for these and can safely live with them for weeks. Then comes the pasta, and my favourite is spaghetti, although I have only tried a few other varieties - Macaroni, penne, fettuccine, farfalle, tagliatelle, conchiglie and orecchiette. I want to hand-make Lasagna, ravioli, tortellini and cannelloni soon in this decade. I also love thin-crust pizzas, although I am unsure whether I will like Neapolitan similarly; I love making it from flour and yeast. Pizza making is a soothing pasttime for me. I also love Mushroom Puff and Quesadilla. Delhi made me love Rajma rice, tandoori rotis and soya chaap. Mom stopped cooking rajma after she failed once in my school days, and I taught her back the Delhi recipe now; it's too good to leave it out of the kitchen for past errors 😋 Pani Puri and Samosa, as I said, are favourite snacks after school, and mom always used to get them home whenever she got the chance. We tried cooking only once at home; it was successful, but it took too much time to fold the suitable shapes; if only it were as easy as topology and knot theory. Malabar Parotta, Paper plain dosa, Idli and Puri - Although preferred as breakfast in general, we used to have them all the time for days on straight (especially when mom became furious that we wasted food yet again) Of course, I also love Biryani, especially with Prawn/Shrimp instead of chicken, and I'm not much of a mutton fan. I also have a share of weird foods that I like Spiny Gourd (for its crunchy seeds) and Chicken Gizzard (I hate rubbery overcooked chicken, and this is much better in texture) In the desserts and sweets - Ice cream, chocolate, Puran Poli and rasmalai. Among the foods I hate, or more bluntly, nausea inducing ones to me, are plain milk, curd(Indian yoghurt), ghee, dahi balla, dahi papdi, shrikhand, misti doi, buttermilk, raita boondi, malai kofta, lassi, bitter gourd, ... Yep, not typical south-Indian taste is it? But hey, at least there is no comparison among siblings, as we have the same love-hate foods. There is a hilarious story on bitter gourd in school. One afternoon, my mom was feeling daring to try to impart healthy food habits to us. She had the idea that if she cooked bitter gourd directly and brought it to school (yes, we had a shared lunch place for all students in school, and some parents used to stay during those hours, as you can guess, for making the kids finish in time, by even resorting to forceful hand-feeding). So, we were ready for lunch as usual, and she force-fed one handful of bitter-gourd rice to all of us and - we cried for one whole hour with the same bite in our mouths 🤣; Mom says one thing she is grateful is we don't vomit the food once it enters our mouth since as babies, but also we cannot gulp it not to make her feed another bite during that lunchtime. So, yeah, there was a one-hour crying session among hundreds of students and parents for that bitter gourd, and our teacher sided with us, saying we could eat what we liked but study as she wanted. It was worth it; she never made bitter gourd for us again. Now, coming to cooking, the context is always there, from days of going to the market and relatives' vegetable farms for all those school days to hundreds of hours of food factory and related shows on Discovery Channel. The one time I decided to try cooking pasta for the first time, I vomited. Fast forward a few years, and Harvard's freshman course, Science of Cooking on edX, made me try again. You need not consciously use science all the time, but knowing the right metaphors, principles and reasons for why it works makes you fearless to do things you would not have perceived otherwise. I loved the course and the reason for making me love cooking, with later influences of Michael Pollan, Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria and Nathan Myhrvold here and there. div class="video-container" iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APT-OhaWlu0?si=u7JANCGvdzcM3tHy" title="Harvard science of cooking" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen/iframe /div Of course, it can be sinful or silly for some to make cooking a scientific experiment when it could be a personal, natural or intuitive experience for them. I agree. Cooking is fundamentally a social affair; whether it's a family recipe carried on for generations or the cultural events and stories as a context that evoke such recipes or tastes, everything is raw human experience in it. Some may use precise scales, while moms can intuitively decide the proper ratios, temperature and timers on the fly. One is not superior to another when, in the end, everyone feels the need to cook repeatedly, often with the family and for family or friends. A recipe you cook shows your inner self much more than we think, whether they used ample spice or being conservative and playing safe, whether they prefer precise placement on plates or gobble straight from the pan, whether it's readymade packs or careful attention to picking each produce, I feel everything shows itself in the recipe at the end. Even if you never cooked before, have just started, or feel there is not enough time in life (you read until this, I am sure you can spare a few minutes for your food), please reconsider. Try something simple or help in the kitchen with the people who cook daily for you. Give them what makes them happy - just a small token of appreciation for the food they so eagerly cooked for you. If I ever give you my address, feel free to invite yourself to my home, and we can cook anything adventurous. Ofc, there is no promise on curd things, though 😉 Oh btw, fresh black pepper powdered is my favourite spice --- Current diet includes mainly: Carrots, grapes, oranges, bananas, cucumber, boiled eggs, spinach - eggs omlette, spinach-banana-milk-yogurt-honey smoothie, flax, green tea, idli sambhar, medu vada, sprouts, litti choka, gobi - sattu - paneer parathas br ]]>
Let's focus on my eating habits and talk about the science and art of cooking

I was always a picky eater. During school days, Mom was always hopeful that I would get to finish the full lunch box one day, but more often than not, I would bring it back with leftovers. It is not that I hate food or eating; I love food and the science of cooking, but it's just that my palate craves new things in smaller quantities. It used to be a silly competition where I surreptitiously added food from my lunchbox or plate to my siblings. Did I say I am the eldest? 😂 . I used to justify to my friends that a buffet is still a worthy deal for some users given that their utility is measured towards varied tastes in a meal; it does not matter how much they eat if all they crave is sampling the food of dozens of varieties. Anyway, I have become wiser in choosing food not to waste.

Now, picky doesn't mean completely idiotic; we still had days of rice with just salt water, or chilli powder and hot oil, or tamarind broth or some other varieties which are just for survival instead of made for palate, as research shows, when you are hungry, every food tastes better than it can be. Either way, more frequently, it is spicy Indian snack food such as samosa, chaat, pani puri, and bakery cookies, ... that enticed me during those days, not the sweets, which partly has to do with the fact that my mom is crowned as kind of star chef of making traditional Indian sweets among all the people I know.

But if I have to say about my favourite foods, cruciferous Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli are my all-time favourite foods. I have tried dozens of recipes for these and can safely live with them for weeks. Then comes the pasta, and my favourite is spaghetti, although I have only tried a few other varieties – Macaroni, penne, fettuccine, farfalle, tagliatelle, conchiglie and orecchiette. I want to hand-make Lasagna, ravioli, tortellini and cannelloni soon in this decade. I also love thin-crust pizzas, although I am unsure whether I will like Neapolitan similarly; I love making it from flour and yeast. Pizza making is a soothing pasttime for me. I also love Mushroom Puff and Quesadilla. Delhi made me love Rajma rice, tandoori rotis and soya chaap. Mom stopped cooking rajma after she failed once in my school days, and I taught her back the Delhi recipe now; it's too good to leave it out of the kitchen for past errors 😋 Pani Puri and Samosa, as I said, are favourite snacks after school, and mom always used to get them home whenever she got the chance. We tried cooking only once at home; it was successful, but it took too much time to fold the suitable shapes; if only it were as easy as topology and knot theory.
Malabar Parotta, Paper plain dosa, Idli and Puri – Although preferred as breakfast in general, we used to have them all the time for days on straight (especially when mom became furious that we wasted food yet again) Of course, I also love Biryani, especially with Prawn/Shrimp instead of chicken, and I'm not much of a mutton fan. I also have a share of weird foods that I like Spiny Gourd (for its crunchy seeds) and Chicken Gizzard (I hate rubbery overcooked chicken, and this is much better in texture)

In the desserts and sweets – Ice cream, chocolate, Puran Poli and rasmalai.

Among the foods I hate, or more bluntly, nausea inducing ones to me, are plain milk, curd(Indian yoghurt), ghee, dahi balla, dahi papdi, shrikhand, misti doi, buttermilk, raita boondi, malai kofta, lassi, bitter gourd, ... Yep, not typical south-Indian taste is it? But hey, at least there is no comparison among siblings, as we have the same love-hate foods. There is a hilarious story on bitter gourd in school. One afternoon, my mom was feeling daring to try to impart healthy food habits to us. She had the idea that if she cooked bitter gourd directly and brought it to school (yes, we had a shared lunch place for all students in school, and some parents used to stay during those hours, as you can guess, for making the kids finish in time, by even resorting to forceful hand-feeding). So, we were ready for lunch as usual, and she force-fed one handful of bitter-gourd rice to all of us and – we cried for one whole hour with the same bite in our mouths 🤣; Mom says one thing she is grateful is we don't vomit the food once it enters our mouth since as babies, but also we cannot gulp it not to make her feed another bite during that lunchtime. So, yeah, there was a one-hour crying session among hundreds of students and parents for that bitter gourd, and our teacher sided with us, saying we could eat what we liked but study as she wanted. It was worth it; she never made bitter gourd for us again.

Now, coming to cooking, the context is always there, from days of going to the market and relatives' vegetable farms for all those school days to hundreds of hours of food factory and related shows on Discovery Channel. The one time I decided to try cooking pasta for the first time, I vomited. Fast forward a few years, and Harvard's freshman course, Science of Cooking on edX, made me try again. You need not consciously use science all the time, but knowing the right metaphors, principles and reasons for why it works makes you fearless to do things you would not have perceived otherwise. I loved the course and the reason for making me love cooking, with later influences of Michael Pollan, Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria and Nathan Myhrvold here and there.

Of course, it can be sinful or silly for some to make cooking a scientific experiment when it could be a personal, natural or intuitive experience for them. I agree. Cooking is fundamentally a social affair; whether it's a family recipe carried on for generations or the cultural events and stories as a context that evoke such recipes or tastes, everything is raw human experience in it. Some may use precise scales, while moms can intuitively decide the proper ratios, temperature and timers on the fly. One is not superior to another when, in the end, everyone feels the need to cook repeatedly, often with the family and for family or friends. A recipe you cook shows your inner self much more than we think, whether they used ample spice or being conservative and playing safe, whether they prefer precise placement on plates or gobble straight from the pan, whether it's readymade packs or careful attention to picking each produce, I feel everything shows itself in the recipe at the end. Even if you never cooked before, have just started, or feel there is not enough time in life (you read until this, I am sure you can spare a few minutes for your food), please reconsider. Try something simple or help in the kitchen with the people who cook daily for you. Give them what makes them happy – just a small token of appreciation for the food they so eagerly cooked for you. If I ever give you my address, feel free to invite yourself to my home, and we can cook anything adventurous. Ofc, there is no promise on curd things, though 😉

Oh btw, fresh black pepper powdered is my favourite spice

Current diet includes mainly: Carrots, grapes, oranges, bananas, cucumber, boiled eggs, spinach – eggs omlette, spinach-banana-milk-yogurt-honey smoothie, flax, green tea, idli sambhar, medu vada, sprouts, litti choka, gobi – sattu – paneer parathas


]]> https://rant.li/boson/food Sat, 17 Feb 2024 19:28:08 +0000 Day with too much grass https://rant.li/boson/2023dec02 <![CDATA[blockquoteToothsi rant, more AI ideas, reading in Metro, Art galleries, 100+ acre park, toys, Qutub minar/blockquote !--more-- --- So, the clock already caught up to 12:30 PM while I was catching up with my sleep deficit of the week by sleeping the second time of the day. There was a call, and "toothsi" informed me gently that they could not fabricate a retainer for me as I was not under their complete treatment plan; well, it may save them from additional costs of upfront free scans, although they already did scans for me before rejecting. Well, I would say get better "toothsi"; businesses also lose potential long-term customers due to negative perceptions. Case in point: I have never used Flipkart for years with their mishandled shipping. Well, anyway, it's time to hunt new dentists, and after calling dozens with a price variance of 1000 to 5000 for Essix 1.5mm upper jaw retainer, I selected 1000₹ for one as if it gets broken soon, at least I would not be staying broke that time. Also, why is there no simple AI company for these querying appointments yet? There is Google duplex for specific cases, but no general agent. It's entirely possible to make one with predefined goals for each call GPT agents, listen and understand what they are saying whisper and GPT, using my own cloned voice for AI, log the call transcript, use a search engine to dynamically understand what new questions to ask if new information found in a call; if required, handing over the call to me with those transcripts on screen, or the AI waiting for a text reply from me to speak while it informs callee to stay on hold, auto pin these transcript logs on top of a google maps embed, and make a travel map with directions and public transport routes, auto fetch my "want-to-go" places from google maps and recommend drop by places if they are on route, make a single image filled with all the details of summary of selected call log and map directions. What is the biggest benefit? Of course, the power of parallelization. Spin a dozen AIs at a time with a dozen VoIP numbers rented, and voila, we got the answer in five minutes, while I may not even get a chance to speak if I am in a crowded place, which could have taken 50 minutes for those dozen calls. Seems there are some trying, but it's time to extend Project Roo someday. If you know me as a friend, you know I take a book everywhere. Restaurants, mess, parks, travel, museums... Quote 143. I love the Delhi metro, and more than that, I love reading in the metro. A few small art galleries popped up in my "want-to-go" list. So I visited those. I love seeing those unique ideas and how they evoke different things and memories. My lucky day to go to the dentist is through 100+ acres of Mehrauli Park, which I also wanted to visit. The trip could have been shortened by me just going directly in the cab to the dentist and returning, but these walks and places have some innate historical aura. When you take another step in the middle of a cricket sound, while there is no sunlight and trees everywhere around you, if I were 10, I would have shouted "Mommy" as I used to do for a pee in the middle of nights to not stay alone in the darkness. But today, I realized I embraced it. You have to look up to see that the same darkness helps lift the veils of dozens of stars. I got two new miniature toys. I have loved miniature ones since I was kid, as mom bought one for each of us after every exam, totalling hundreds. Did you see my tiny bicycle and Gojo ones? I have a miniature wooden sparrow at home. I got a rabbit this time and a lizard, of course @47. I am happy to say it is already doing its job hehe. Although I went qutub minar last month, I wanted to go solo this time. I noticed more details of stones this time and read for an hour while sitting in a corner. The best discussions happen when you strike up a conversation with contrastive viewpoints. If everyone conforms to the same idea or culture, there is nothing magical to learn. Granted, we may all disagree with flat earthers, but dismissing them scientifically is a worthy endeavour instead of altogether dissing. So, I struck up a conversation with a few people from Mizoram. One of them did a PhD in history, and if we pay attention, we always see these different metaphors for the same concepts based on the area of expertise. I firmly believe listening is more important and just as well be a lost art to keep reminding ourselves these days. These are surreal memories; while we casually talk about movies, travel, food, and life, that majestic monument stays in front, looking down at us and reminiscing from its 800-year-old history of people it listened to in the same place. br ArtGalleryImage br QutubImage br ToysImage]]>
Toothsi rant, more AI ideas, reading in Metro, Art galleries, 100+ acre park, toys, Qutub minar

So, the clock already caught up to 12:30 PM while I was catching up with my sleep deficit of the week by sleeping the second time of the day. There was a call, and “toothsi” informed me gently that they could not fabricate a retainer for me as I was not under their complete treatment plan; well, it may save them from additional costs of upfront free scans, although they already did scans for me before rejecting. Well, I would say get better “toothsi”; businesses also lose potential long-term customers due to negative perceptions. Case in point: I have never used Flipkart for years with their mishandled shipping.

Well, anyway, it's time to hunt new dentists, and after calling dozens with a price variance of 1000 to 5000 for Essix 1.5mm upper jaw retainer, I selected 1000₹ for one as if it gets broken soon, at least I would not be staying broke that time.

Also, why is there no simple AI company for these querying appointments yet? There is Google duplex for specific cases, but no general agent. It's entirely possible to make one with predefined goals for each call GPT agents, listen and understand what they are saying whisper and GPT, using my own cloned voice for AI, log the call transcript, use a search engine to dynamically understand what new questions to ask if new information found in a call; if required, handing over the call to me with those transcripts on screen, or the AI waiting for a text reply from me to speak while it informs callee to stay on hold, auto pin these transcript logs on top of a google maps embed, and make a travel map with directions and public transport routes, auto fetch my “want-to-go” places from google maps and recommend drop by places if they are on route, make a single image filled with all the details of summary of selected call log and map directions. What is the biggest benefit? Of course, the power of parallelization. Spin a dozen AIs at a time with a dozen VoIP numbers rented, and voila, we got the answer in five minutes, while I may not even get a chance to speak if I am in a crowded place, which could have taken 50 minutes for those dozen calls. Seems there are some trying, but it's time to extend Project Roo someday.

If you know me as a friend, you know I take a book everywhere. Restaurants, mess, parks, travel, museums... Quote 143. I love the Delhi metro, and more than that, I love reading in the metro.

A few small art galleries popped up in my “want-to-go” list. So I visited those. I love seeing those unique ideas and how they evoke different things and memories.

My lucky day to go to the dentist is through 100+ acres of Mehrauli Park, which I also wanted to visit. The trip could have been shortened by me just going directly in the cab to the dentist and returning, but these walks and places have some innate historical aura. When you take another step in the middle of a cricket sound, while there is no sunlight and trees everywhere around you, if I were 10, I would have shouted “Mommy” as I used to do for a pee in the middle of nights to not stay alone in the darkness. But today, I realized I embraced it. You have to look up to see that the same darkness helps lift the veils of dozens of stars.

I got two new miniature toys. I have loved miniature ones since I was kid, as mom bought one for each of us after every exam, totalling hundreds. Did you see my tiny bicycle and Gojo ones? I have a miniature wooden sparrow at home. I got a rabbit this time and a lizard, of course @47. I am happy to say it is already doing its job hehe.

Although I went qutub minar last month, I wanted to go solo this time. I noticed more details of stones this time and read for an hour while sitting in a corner. The best discussions happen when you strike up a conversation with contrastive viewpoints. If everyone conforms to the same idea or culture, there is nothing magical to learn. Granted, we may all disagree with flat earthers, but dismissing them scientifically is a worthy endeavour instead of altogether dissing. So, I struck up a conversation with a few people from Mizoram. One of them did a PhD in history, and if we pay attention, we always see these different metaphors for the same concepts based on the area of expertise. I firmly believe listening is more important and just as well be a lost art to keep reminding ourselves these days. These are surreal memories; while we casually talk about movies, travel, food, and life, that majestic monument stays in front, looking down at us and reminiscing from its 800-year-old history of people it listened to in the same place.


ArtGalleryImage
QutubImage
ToysImage

]]> https://rant.li/boson/2023dec02 Sat, 02 Dec 2023 20:21:21 +0000 Project Roo 🤖 https://rant.li/boson/roo <![CDATA[ blockquoteHow AI can help more as a great voice buddy/blockquote !--more-- Roo is a hobby project I made for myself and is a long way from maturity for everyone to use. --- Current: Uses off-the-shelf trained neural models for voices - Piper bash script to pipe the text on the terminal to the model and the virtual audio device State of the art Whisper tiny-en for auto-transcription of others voices. Google's Flan-T5 LLM to generate possible auto-responses to others voice Personal factual data and repeated greetings are auto text expanders and replied to by voice model. For example, typing ;intro will make the model speak pre-defined introductory greetings of Boson, and ;bio will say what I am doing currently ... Give auto heads-up of saying "Roo" before sending a whole speech of what Roo has to say Repeats the previous message with one key. Respells letter by letter when a word Roo spoke earlier was confusing Eleven labs integration for multilingual and fallback inserts random words or phrases into the speech - pig Latin for voice! can play music files funny sounds - laugh, cry, blow a raspberry, song lines, dialogues, ... --- Immediate: migrate to Coqui tts v2 or LLVC Integrate dictionary for pronunciation correction on the tricky words [maintain a cache of audio] Combine all Piper, Whisper, and Flan-T5 in a single pipeline. Auto-pause and repeat the voice at interruptions [auto detect on headphones output] - kind of TCP backoff Keep single instances of models pinned in RAM for inference - How? :cries: auto typos correction in the typed text; personal dictionary that constantly updates auto word completion options while typing - basic or tiny LLM 🤔 --- Next: sentence predictions with optimised LLM fine-tuned on Boson's previous text patterns - FlanT5 or dlite Add integration for [Indian](https://github.com/Open-Speech-EkStep/vakyansh-tts ) [languages](https://github.com/Open-Speech-EkStep/vakyansh-models ) Auto Google translate to speak directly in other languages while I chat in English Auto translation of other languages in VCs back to English for text on my screen Indian models from Google API again Occasionally insert a joke, meme, or pun into the conversation. --- Longterm: integrate API calls to the wiki and knowledge DB API and fact-check typed messages. Toolformer or GPT assistants Add pose-detection from the camera and rig motions onto a 3d avatar of myself Diatirize transcription to make replies personalised from my past chats with each user Train on my voice Ask LLM something within the same server VC with a trigger word. hey roo, who solved Fermat's last theorem? prank others. Switching voices between LLM voice replies of Roo, Boo and mine. clone others in real-time. on consent. AI understands video and screen-shared content while making replies Crossword buddy as it types automatically on the website, given all the above capabilities, while everyone talks and enjoys. sell it and make millions. :rubs-hands:]]>
How AI can help more as a great voice buddy
Roo is a hobby project I made for myself and is a long way from maturity for everyone to use.

Current:

  • Uses off-the-shelf trained neural models for voices – Piper
  • bash script to pipe the text on the terminal to the model and the virtual audio device
  • State of the art Whisper tiny-en for auto-transcription of others voices.
  • Google's Flan-T5 LLM to generate possible auto-responses to others voice
  • Personal factual data and repeated greetings are auto text expanders and replied to by voice model. For example, typing ;intro will make the model speak pre-defined introductory greetings of Boson, and ;bio will say what I am doing currently ...
  • Give auto heads-up of saying “Roo” before sending a whole speech of what Roo has to say
  • Repeats the previous message with one key.
  • Respells letter by letter when a word Roo spoke earlier was confusing
  • Eleven labs integration for multilingual and fallback
  • inserts random words or phrases into the speech – pig Latin for voice!
  • can play music files
  • funny sounds – laugh, cry, blow a raspberry, song lines, dialogues, ...

Immediate:

  • migrate to Coqui tts v2 or LLVC
  • Integrate dictionary for pronunciation correction on the tricky words [maintain a cache of audio]
  • Combine all Piper, Whisper, and Flan-T5 in a single pipeline.
  • Auto-pause and repeat the voice at interruptions [auto detect on headphones output] – kind of TCP backoff
  • Keep single instances of models pinned in RAM for inference – How? :cries:
  • auto typos correction in the typed text; personal dictionary that constantly updates
  • auto word completion options while typing – basic or tiny LLM 🤔

Next:

  • sentence predictions with optimised LLM fine-tuned on Boson's previous text patterns – FlanT5 or dlite
  • Add integration for Indian languages
  • Auto Google translate to speak directly in other languages while I chat in English
  • Auto translation of other languages in VCs back to English for text on my screen
  • Indian models from Google API again
  • Occasionally insert a joke, meme, or pun into the conversation.

Longterm:

  • integrate API calls to the wiki and knowledge DB API and fact-check typed messages. Toolformer or GPT assistants
  • Add pose-detection from the camera and rig motions onto a 3d avatar of myself
  • Diatirize transcription to make replies personalised from my past chats with each user
  • Train on my voice
  • Ask LLM something within the same server VC with a trigger word. hey roo, who solved Fermat's last theorem?
  • prank others. Switching voices between LLM voice replies of Roo, Boo and mine.
  • clone others in real-time. on consent.
  • AI understands video and screen-shared content while making replies
  • Crossword buddy as it types automatically on the website, given all the above capabilities, while everyone talks and enjoys.
  • sell it and make millions. :rubs-hands:
]]> https://rant.li/boson/roo Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:04:16 +0000