Uplifting

Attended Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra's concert today. It was, to say the least, mesmerizing. Hearing them touch the high chords with the lower ones with such an elegant finesse and consistency was very refreshing. I was in such a meditative trance that I almost felt that I was riding those chords with them. I always wonder how much practice/riyaaz and focus/sadhna do such performances require. One almost feels humble in the presence of such greatness.

More on their concert here.

At the same time, I was aghast at the snobbish attitude of some in the audience. They were there only because it was it was almost like a ritual for them to attend an indian classical concert just because there was one in the area. Their purpose there was to let people know that they have a discernible ear to differentiate between raag nand and raag durga. Granted its a difficult art to master, however, I think somewhere in their pursuit, they have forgotten the first lesson of Indian classical music, and that is humility. To prove my case, I am presenting an example of that great (and therefore humble) vocalist, Ustaad Amir Khan. They were giants, and as Carl Sagan would say, in comparison, we are nothing but a speck of dust:

In other words:
"laalayeet adhRoN se jisne haaye nahiN choomi haala
harshit kampit kar se jisne haay madhu ka chooaa pyaala
haath pakaD kar lajjit saaqi ko paas nahiN jisne kheencha
wyarth sukha Daali jeewan kee usne mahdumay madhushaala"

Leap of Faith

Following a relatively moderate success at the Duke start-up challenge 2007, I have now decided to take the start-up idea head on. My absence from this blog may, therefore, be considered as deep breath before the plunge.

Together with my advisor, Dr. Ehsan Samei, I have now founded a company: AcuMage, LLC. The company is presently based on an x-ray multi-view stereoscopic imaging system that can provide a complete 3D view of an object (or anatomy) . But lets not focus on that. This post was meant to log my trials and tribulations with the bureaucracy of establishing a business in a country largely touted to be "entrepreneurial-friendly". By logging my experience, I am trying keep a record for myself, and at the same time, also hope to provide directions to a budding entrepreneur looking for tips on the internet.

1) The first step is to of course finalize a name for the company. After dabbling with 3S (acronym for 3D Stereoscopic Screening Systems), Advanced Imaging, and later AcuteMage, we iterated to AcuMage. The next step is to decide if its going to be an LLC or Inc. This decision is simple since an LLC provides tax benefits that Inc. does not. But if VC funding is sought, the business has to an Inc. However, an LLC can later be changed to Inc. without much ado.

2) At this point, the owners and their percentages need to be decided. It is required that at least 51% of the company be owned by a US citizen. Since I am an Indian citizen, I own 49% of the company. I am not sure about the implication of this ownership but I understand that this matters when we are trying to take an exit from the business.

3) Contact a lawyer and have him register the name with the secretary of state. This is a surprisingly easy task, but may get expensive if the company has to be founded in a rush (as was in our case).

$150 to the state, $125 to the lawyer, having your own company: priceless!

Duke Start-up challenge

We are one of the seven winning teams to make it to the finals of the Duke start-up challenge! It has been one heck of a roller coaster ride. Ah the academic world! Once more unto the breach...

Pink Floyd: the 23rd day of september 2006

"And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?": Went to Roger Waters Concert this weekend. I still can't believe I saw him in flesh and blood. The venue was huge and my first guess of the turn-up would be around 20000! In the first half, he performed numbers ranging from different albums, animals, wish you were here and I guess a couple of his new songs chiding Bush on the war on terror and what not. These were topped off, in the second half, with the dark side of the moon- the whole works! The music accompanied with the characteristic floydian background images and pyro-works had transformed the whole atmosphere. I think I was in trance and the rest is really history!

On a related note, here's a video of David Gilmour live in concert:

A big day for me

wrote my first pitch as an assignment for a business course that I am taking in Fuqua, appropriately named Medical Device Commercialization. The pitch is for a a new device that I am working on for my PhD. Hope it sees the light of the day.

On other fronts, got my IRB. I am officially working on my Army grant now! Also started a conversation with Christ-al.

Birha Da Sultan

The legendary, Jagjit Singh, was here in Raleigh recently. He has a shorter stature than I always imagined him to have. It was great to see him in flesh and blood and be soaked in live transcendental music.

IRB Certification...almost there