Month: August 2021

Ciao JU!

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19th August 2021 was my last day as a Master’s scholar at Jadavpur University. The spell at JU was rather very short (23 months) and it was a path which I never thought I would be taking. But in hindsight, I feel, it has shaped me for the better.

One thing, which I solely believe is we all experience the same thing in a different manner. JU was something like that for me. My daily routine was quite ordinary and at times, very mundane. A reason for that can be attributed to Covid too. I would reach the University within 10:30 AM. Sometimes even before the opening of my department building. Most of my time would be spent in my department lab. And then, I would leave after 4:30 or 5. I hardly attended the University for 6-7 months but it was something I really liked.

The greatest thing about JU is the campus. I am sure, anyone can easily call it their home. Few of my relatives often have asked me how it is like going to JU? Is there an atmosphere of political unrest all the time? And these questions have really shocked me. The JU campus is for everyone! Do you want to study peacefully? There is a place. Do you want to chill out with friends? There is a place. Do you often feel like not doing anything and just passing the time like me? There is a place! JU campus has a place for everything and everyone. And no one, I repeat, no one will ever bother you for anything at any time.

Another noticeable thing about the JU campus is the difference between the atmosphere around the Arts section and the Engineering section. This is something that I can’t quite fully explain through words. This is one of those things that you can only feel once you’ve visited the campus.

This was an experience which I have really liked and which I had hoped to enjoy more profoundly but couldn’t. I would be lying if I say that I have too many memories of this place with all my classmates and friends but still there is a soft corner, there is a sense of belonging. Probably it is one of the characteristics of this University and this place. She welcomes you with open arms, without any judgement and tantrums.

Thank you, Jadavpur.

I have been listening: Analysing my Last.fm stats

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Last.fm is a great website for anyone who listens to music (which I guess is everyone) and loves Data. I have been using the site to track what I have been listening since May 2020. So after almost using the site for a year, I decided to decode how I have been listening. This article is mostly focused on the question of ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ because the website pretty much tells you what any user listens. If anyone is interested in extracting any insight of their listening habit then refer to the link provided below. I am sharing the link for my R Script file at the bottom. Only thing you have to do is to download the data from this website. The timeframe considered for this study is June 2020 to May 2021.

Distribution of songs per day:

As it can be seen the distribution for number of songs listened to per day is right skewed. A right skewed data generally suggests that the lower bounds are very low with respect to the whole data. For this case, it will be translated into something like this: There have been many days when I have listened to very few songs. Very few here signifies a number that is very less compared to the daily mean and medium.

Distribution of songs per month:

This graph is also right skewed but it has also an added feature: it is multimodal. We have one peak that is larger than the other two. The other two are similar. This explains that the number of Scrobbles per month has 2-3 groups. One group where the number might be high, one medium, and one low. These high, medium and low distinctions are obviously with respect to the whole dataset. It can be summarised better if we take a look at the number of songs per month for one year:

As it is evident: the number has varied hugely. From 2000 in June to less than 750 in February.

Listening habits based on the time of the day:

Next up: I have gone a bit deeper and tried to decipher whether I have listened to more songs at day or at night. For that, I have classified Day and Night in the following way:

  • If the time is after 5 am and before 5 pm then it is day
  • If it is after 5 pm and before 5 am then it is night

Based on this assumption, this is how I have listened to songs with respect to each month:

Nothing is very obvious from this plot but few points:

  • For most of the months, the proportion of songs that were Scrobbled in day is higher.
  • The proportion of songs for night is higher for June and July. It makes sense, because during the lockdown in 2020, I used to stay awake for long!
  • For February to March, the proportion for night is lower than other months. During this time, I started going to the University, then had Covid and the got the Job. So, it is also expected! I try to follow a routine, you see.

From the box plot for the day and night it can be seen that median number of total songs listened during that time is higher for the day than for the night. There have been also many outliers for night compared to that for day. It suggests, there have been many nights when I have listened to more songs than I usually do at nights. Don’t we all have those nights where we immerse ourselves with the melody of our favourite artists, and lost the track of time?

GitHub link for the file: https://github.com/shibaprasadb/LastFM

A day in the Life

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Most of the time, I try to look at a day like this: If it went great, there is no need to be overjoyed, it was just a day in the life. If it didn’t, then also there is no need to be upset. It is just a day in life. Yesterday I turned 25 and in hindsight, I feel, it was a nice day!

I had always wanted to do something special on my birthdays. And yesterday, I think, I finally did. I went to a Girls Home in Kasba where I sponsored the lunch for the day. The menu was a typical Bengali meal: Rice, Daal, Alu Bhaja (which is called French Fries for PR purposes), Chicken Curry, and Rosogolla. I also distributed dry food items like Cake, Biscuits, and Chocolate.

I think I got one of my precious gifts from the kids too. They drew a cute Birthday greetings card for me and I loved it! I will keep it as long as I can as a cherished possession. Here I am holding the card.

The card says something like this:

“Dear Brother, wish you a happy birthday. Thank you for coming here. We are very happy to see you. Many many happy returns of the day. This day is very special for you. Thank you for your help and support. Lots of love”

Every-time I read this, it puts a smile on my face. The 25th wasn’t bad at all!