About

Introduction

My name is Pavan K Murthy (or "p6" to some). This is my home on the interwebs.

grahaṇa (kn: ಗ್ರಹಣ, Devanāgarī: ग्रहण) in Sanskrit/ Kannada means "Seize". Less precisely, it is often used to refer to an Eclipse.

My hometown and base is belongs to the wonderful city of Bangalore, Karnataka.

My twenty-something volatile musings in life include but aren't restricted to:

Musings

Software, Programming and The web

Developer, Nerd, F/OSS hacker.

Like any self-respecting GNU/Linux user, I respect, adore, advocate and evangelize software freedom. I'm a casual contributor to the F/oss world.

Most of my work revolves around web apps in general and the LAMP stack in particular. I speak/read/write Java, C, VB, Python, Perl and JavaScript fairly conversantly. While at it, I enjoy programming.

My mentionable interests are primarily centered around LAMP, Python, Javascript, High performance, Content Management Systems, MVCs, DSLs, RDF, NodeJS and NoSQL (lately).

I also have hobby interest in CS Theory and Mathematics.

Music

I've been interested in Indian Classical Music since childhood. While I enjoy Hindūsthāni music, my cultural leanings are more towards Karṇātaka sangīta.

Apart, I also enjoy Hindi / Kannada film music from the 70's and the 80's, Bhāvagīte, Western classical music (and lately), some Rock Music.

My musical talents are sparse, but I try meddling with the flute (Something I've picked up from Akarsh Simha). The Vīṇa is now learning to bear with my musical pursuits.

Travel

Travel is my true soul-passion.

I've traveled around India for a while now, particularly so in Karnataka and the Himalayas, where I've also trekked quite a bit. Adventure apart, my primary travel motivations have been places of nature, history and temple architecture.

My schedules are usually dynamic (or JIT) and often disorganized in the true spirit of impromptu travel.

Photography

Long time shutter bug. My primary interests include but aren't restricted to Art, landscapes, adventure, travel, temples, culture, people and celestial.

Canon user by choice, with salivating affinity towards good looking lenses.

I've turned slightly lethargic these days, in that the shutter happiness has receded. I've finally found the capability to think outside the viewfinder, enjoy the moment and still be sane.

You can find some of my photographs on this site as well as on Flickr.

Philosophy

I enjoy reading (or talking about) Philosophy. Comparative philosophy and Philosophy Of Science make for my most favored topics.

Most of my reading on and about Western philosophies revolves around Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Schopenhauer and Russell. I've also found interest in various Indian schools of Philosophy - Primarily, Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism (specifically, Dignāga, Nāgārjuna and Dharmakīrti)

My political opinions are quite strong and I'm often inclined incorrectly.

Astronomy

I've had long standing interest in Amateur Astronomy since childhood, with quirky enthusiasm about Physics, cosmology and observing. I'm an observer on and off, with a taste for deep sky and detail. I claim to have fairly reasonable eye acuity, although I'm not great at finding objects. My enthusiasm for observation is normally dependent on the aperture of the equipment available.

Amongst other things, I've also had interest in Amateur Telescope Making and DIY stuff. For the record however, I haven't finished any of the mirrors I've ground.

In April 2006, I started an Amateur Astronomy community on a popular social networking site, which gradually grew into a formal association and what is today a registered non profit institution - The Bangalore Astronomical Society. As a web-centric organization, we've amassed a user base of 7000+ on our web portal, 900+ subscribers on our mailing list and 2000+ members on various social networks. Our work, especially in publicizing and promoting Amateur Astronomy has brought us recognition and media attention.

I was also the (founder) Secretary of this organization till 2009. I continue to be passionately involved with it's activities. I also maintain their website.

The journey with BAS has been an enriching experience at many levels.

Books and Literature

Shakespeare, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Marquez, Kafka, Ayn Rand, Wodehouse, Mark Twain, O Henry, Joseph Heller et al.

Amongst Kannada literature, I've mostly read works of S L Bhairappa, Kuvempu, Tejasvi, B G L Swamy and Shivaram Karanth.

I also read (not necessarily like all the time) Salman Rushdie, Khushwant Singh, Taslima Nasreen, Vikram Seth and other contemporary writers from the subcontinent.

I've read and loved all Tintins and Asterixes.