Summer in Seattle

TSad that I'm posting this after the summer :) Yeah...summer seems to be gone and Seattle is back with its fresh and contiuous showers! I'm actually loving this too!
I'm happy I enjoyed the summer while it lasted. Camping at Orcas island, Kayaking and picnicing at Lake Kachess, whale watching from a cruise at Anacortes, Zip trekking in Whistler, the sea-fair at Seattle, walking around the waterfront in Vancouver - to name a few.
And yeah, I did attempt my first freeway driving while with Yams. My hands were so wet at the end of it and my legs were shaking....but the good part is I've got rid of a part of the inhibition now. Mukund says the car was trembling due to my shivering hands on the steering :)
To top it all and as an icing to the cake was the Rahman show at Vancouver last week. It's just made the Rahman fan in me more stronger. The man is a genius, his rendition of "Khwaja jee" is still ringing in my ears. With Yams and Harini around, it was like reliving our good old days.....have never enjoyed so much for a long time. :)
Yesterday, I added another new experience to my file - Biking. I biked on the Sammamish river trail with Kat, Chris, Dasha and Yams. It was a beautiful ride and I was feeling fresh and rejuvenated at the end of it. The pain made me toss and turn around in the night, but I was feeling so contented and peaceful!
Last but not the least, things would never have been the same if not for my friends...I take it for granted sometimes but it does take a philosophical moment to realise that I'm lucky to have such great friends, whom I can ask for help without feeling bad about it! Things wouldn't have been this interesting without them!
Thanks a lot guys!

My swimming lessons

....This Friday I completed 3 laps in the 25 yards pool without stopping in the middle. Felt like a kid taking its first step, quite a milestone for me, as I have been scared of water ever since I drowned in the pool as a kid! :)

Its the usual weekend but...

...there's something special. Mukund and I completed four years in each other's company! It has been an adventurous and fun-filled journey for us, that started in Bangalore and has landed us in Redmond now. Mukund has been reading my posts for a while now and he was a bit disappointed that I never wrote about him :D I couldn't find a better time to write about him.

I've been through quite a few transformations ever since I met Mukund. I've gotten over my complaining, pessimistic attitude for the most part and have started looking at the brighter side of things. I've probably stopped crying when I feel upset and more so started attacking the person who upset me! All due to Mukund's influence...he's the most cool headed person I've ever met and am thankful that I met him! And yeah...am looking forward to more adventure in the future years and of course life lessons!

Happy anniversary!

Rahman reuse!

It was a pleasant sunday morning. And I was working while listening to songs on Raaga. I heard this song from 'Yuvraaj' in the new Rahmana CD that I got this time - 'Zindagi zindagi kya kami rah gayi...'. It's a slow and melodious song in the mesmerising voice of Srinivas. I've been listening to this for a lot of times this week and was all the while finding a small bit of music very familiar, reminding me of some other song. Today I reliased which song it was and I couldn't stop admiring the genius Rahman is! I've known and heard from friends before about how he reuses bits of his music in different songs. In the bit that comes in this song, (around 1 minute 45 seconds down the start of the song), I found a stark resemblance to 'En uyir thozhiye' from 'Kangalal kaidhu sei' (Around 3 minutes from start). The tune is very similar with a slightly slower beat.
Anyway, I love both these songs! :)

Monday, the 10th of May, 2010

I've been neck deep into specs the whole day and I reserved this post for the end of the day, so that I have some incentive to finish my work :) It's been a crazy Monday as usual, but special though- the day when I joined the company I work for, six years ago. Ever since, lot of things have changed - the team, the work, the people I work with and even the country- the only constant being the company.
Lot of things to reminisce about - night outs in the office, home drop anytime in the night, a bad dinner at Windows of the World(yes...what name for a restaurant!) with the rotten coconut chutney, movies in the conference rooms, dance practise for the annual party, the late night customer web chats with less participation but good food from Olive Garden, the unforgettable chai time gossip with the girls gang(god knows how many people were victimized!), the sense of accomplishment on getting your tool working after spending the whole night on it, thank you mails from customers who say their job has been saved, difficult times when you figure in the post mortem when things take a bad turn, the adrenaline rush when you break the build when you really shouldn't have, the innumerable team lunches, coffee treats at Barista, the heated discussions around design and bug decisions etc. etc. (I cant think of more right now!)
Hoping that the years to come are as interesting and eventful as the past ones have been.

Happy birthday Appa!

It's my dad's 60th birthday...yes....time flies so fast! I still remember my 'Daddy strongest' running behind me to ensure I don't crash into the bush, as I wheeled away in my new BSA champ bicycle. It still seems like yesterday when my dad dropped me at the bus stop and when I realised that the bus had just left that I coaxed him to overtake the bus and drop me at the next stop (which obviously he couldn't as my dad never drove faster than 30 kmph :))
I am not near him this year for his birthday, and so I let me thoughts flow along about the wonderful dad he has been. Though I feel this all the time, there are very few times when I would have expressed this to him. So here it goes - this post is dedicated to the only man I trust completely - my dad!
My dad has been with me all throughout - whether it was the speech competition at school, or the state board examination or the extremely stressing campus interviews at college and even during times when I had to make important personal decisions - by my side, helping me understand that life did not end with these situations and there was a lot more in store for me to face, and above all giving me the reassurance that he and my mom will be with me throughout, supporting every decision of mine. When in college, I was tired after campus interviews with 6-7 companies and was almost losing hope, when my dad told me "You should never get dishearteaned. These are all mere companies, real life is different from these. The best is always reserved for the future. When you are successful after 10 years and think back, this moment will sound funny to you, funny in the sense that you attributed so much importance to it."
My dad did everything possible to ensure that I and my brother had a happy childhood. Of course, we didn't realise this then, but do realise now the umpteen sacrifices that he and my mom made to keep us happy, the numerous lucrative jobs offers that he turned off with the worry that it might displace us, the frugal-simple lifestyle that they lived to ensure that we could have the best education and life. Every good habit that I and my brother have cultivated was instilled in us by example.
So coming back to the topic. Appa - Wishing you many many more happy returns of this day! And hoping to be by your side for your coming birthdays. I really miss you a lot, Appa!
You are the best and I love you a lot!

Will there be peace?

I really am in a state of shock now. I called my mom for the routine evening talk and she told me that they were caught in the Shimoga riots yesterday while coming back from Manipal. They had to stay inside for 6 hours and then return to Bhadravati at 10 PM, to avoid the mobs.
Being thousands of miles away, I was shaken hearing this. Its true that it hits you hard when you experience it and when the people you dearly love are part of it!
Will there ever be peace?

Can music and perfume really bring memories?

I've always wondered about this and experienced it quite a few times. Have you? Some songs and scents bring back specific memories very strongly, you will remember them wherever you are. I feel the recollection of events so strong that it either makes me ecstatic or extremely depressed. In fact, I stopped using a particular perfume, after I realised that it reminds me of a phase of life that I want to forget about. It would be such a natural process of the memories floating in , deja vus happening, that it seems so normal. I guess I should ask Alex about it the next time I talk to him to see if there is any research going on around this :) probably it makes a good thesis topic for him!

Friday was one such day. I was in my office cabin and it was late in the evening on Friday. The office was relatively empty and I decided to listen to some songs on Raaga. Its been a long time since I listened to good songs. However, I've realised that my playlist doesnt change much. I cannot move beyond a particular period and that is the period of my college days and a little after that. So there it was, one my all time favourites - Dum Dum Dum. As I was listening to 'Ragasiyamai' I felt myself smiling at what I was reminded of. One of my very close friends in college really hates the song. And she used to find this song that I liked, "wicked" - of all things :D Coming to think of it, I think my choice was unique :) Not many people liked that song.
I was grinning listening to the song, thinking about my friend and her desperation when this song would run in a loop, as a sole song in the playlist. Almost naturally, my thought flowed to the fun we had in class around deciding the songs based on the mood of the class. I'm literally laughing to myself thinking of the Maths class in our first semester where the 'strict' mam was teaching about the 'cot' function and the 'tan' function. And she squealed in laughter at the song that I suggested for the class. Hmm...I better not write more as some things are better kept a secret. If X is reading this, I'm pretty sure she'll remember the song and even more sure that she would be laughing to herself. :) :)

BTW, my co-ordinates have changed from 17 deg N and 78 deg E to 47 deg N and 122 deg W :D