About Me

1

Hey.

My name’s Satya, and I live in Los Angeles. I am a software developer working in data science and full-stack web development. I have worked across multiple domains in the course of a career spanning two decades, including supply chain management, e-learning, application server development, machine translation, and healthcare. 

I like writing. Once upon a time, I did a monthly column on comics and graphic novels for Rolling Stone India. I put up some of my reviews on the blog from time to time, but you can see most of them here. I have also done some volunteer writing for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, about comics and manga.

Once upon another time, I used to be a quizzer and a quiz-master. For those who do not live in India, think of it as the cross between Dungeons and Dragons, Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy. The peak of my quizzing career was between 2003 and 2011, when I spent my weekends visiting different institutes all over India, various IITs and IIMs,  Assam Engineering College (Guwahati), Punjab Engineering College (Chandigarh), the Mudra Institute of Communications (Ahmedabad), Birla Institute of Technology and Science(Pilani) and NIT Warangal. People liked my quizzes enough to call me a “respected quizmaster“. Who woulda thunk?

I collect comic art. These are actual hand-drawn one-of-a-kind pages, done mostly in pen and ink. It’s an expensive hobby, but I find it very very rewarding in more ways than one. They say I am India’s first Comic Art Collector, but I would like to point out that I am part of the post-Internet generation. I know there have been some journalists collecting strip art back in the 1970s; if you know of anyone, please let me know.

Like nearly any other sane person on this planet, I love music. Spotify is my thing, and I also love tracking the music I listen to, and making playlists that capture various time periods of my life, so you will see a lot of that on this blog.

I read. A lot. I used to buy far too many books, but the buying has been pared down to titles that spark joy. I also like to read on e-readers, and love both the Los Angeles Public Library and the Santa Monica Public Library. I try to average a book every two days, and I have an ongoing 150-books-a-year challenge on Goodreads.

About this blog:

  • This is a place where I keep track of changing trends in my own life. Unfortunately for you, that makes me my own primary reader, and a large portion of the blog is therefore too self-indulgent to be considered safe for public consumption.
  • Why does it still exist in 2018 CE? I do not know. It is literally one credit card payment away from being obsolete.
  • The earliest incarnation began as an open letter from me to my future grandchildren.
  • It was originally on Livejournal. But  the site changed owners, policies and lost its early adopters faster than you can say “feature-dry”. I moved to my own domain just when blogging as a fad was replaced by Twitter and Facebook.
  • Feel free to drop me an email at beatzo AT gmail DOT com. Or you could just comment on one of the posts, and I’ll get an automatic email. Isn’t life grand?

6 thoughts on “About Me

  1. rittika chhetri says:

    hey,

    Hi!! I read about u as an excellent quizmaster n a comic collector, but i must tell u, u are a fantastic writer as well..loved ur blog!!keep writing :)

  2. John Mathew says:

    hi Satya,
    I read your article about PK Mishra and was amazed that i had some of my queries and thoughts answered through the article.
    Just like you, Meri Jaan Hindustan is one of my all time fav albums which still plays in my car..
    I managed to find the videos of Anjaani Rahon mei as well and recently found Apna Desh by Hariharan (feat. Nagarjuna). Let me know if you want it. I have been hunting for Kho Jaane Do by MM Kreem as well…i vaguely remember the video being about Deepti Bhatnagar or someone visiting an Art gallery of paintings, etc. Also, remember Baba Sehgal’s Howwzzatt where they are seen playing Gully Cricket and I think a few cricketers features in it (maybe Manjrekar). Love Remo’s song Zindadilli.

    Let me know.
    JOhn

    • Thanks for your comment John. I have been quiet on the blog, but it’s heartening to see older writings still being read. I will email you, would love to to see the videos.

  3. Chandra Mohan says:

    Hi Satya sir,
    I was looking for Pk Mishra or Misra (It’s such a shame that someone, as prolific as Mishra ji’s , has been reduced to an incorrect name in the industry) and came across your Blog. It had all the information and much more than Wikipedia had to offer. I sincerely thank you for your blogs and please do keep writing and inspiring us.

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