Life Moves On

Sitting on the Bench thinking about the days gone by
Things that have gone their ways and I wonder why
Wonder where those days did go
Those morning dews, I need to know

Those long summer days in the sun
Chasing butterflies and fighting for fun
Coming home to hear your Mama shout
She did have Dads support ‘No Doubt‘

Those carefree days have just rolled by
And I sit here and I wonder why
Life has taken a whole new turn
Each new day giving new lessons to learn

Life just races through the fast paced lanes
Rushing thru the long summers and the wet rains
I think abt the future and take a huge sigh
Sitting on the bench thinking abt the days gone by.

- Venkat Narayan

Just a Thought

The loss is inevitable, the gain is unachievable
The dream is unrealizable, the pain is unbearable
The path is impassable, the destination is unreachable
But the dream lives on and the path is covered with each new day

The Defeat is unacceptable,the competition is unmatchable
The Odds are unthinkable, the evens are unattainable
The support is unreliable, the fight is undefeatable
But the fighter lives on and the odds are attained with each new day

The future is unpredictable, the past is unforgettable
The love is unnamable, the obscurity is undeterminable
The beauty is unmatchable, the desire is impossible
But the hope lives on and the future shapes up with each new day

- Venkat Narayan

Its music that shatters the barriers of silence

Sitting in the patio watching the rain drops drench the thirsty earth, a silent tune walks into my mind. A tune making me a part of the rain, a tune that brings a ray of sun shine in the wet atmosphere, a tune to make my day.

‘Its music that shatters the barriers of silence’… this is one saying that I totally adhere to. Music has always been an integral part of my life and deeply rooted into me. Well so much so that I associate each and every stage of my life with a song. Guess this is true with each and every one of us.

When feeling blue with no one around you, just hook up to a nice tune and there you go, getting lost into the rhythm with having no need of anyone to comfort you.

Music has evolved over the ages with new technologies creeping in. Here when I talk about music what I mean is the style of making the same. It’s amazing the way a simple tune can sound so complicated with all the additions thrown in.


If you ask me about the wonder of the world, music is the top in my list. It has so many languages; so many millions of tunes that it makes me stand in awe of the fact that all these compositions have been created just by using an octave of tune. ‘Sa re ga ma pa da ni Sa’, or if I may put it ‘do re me fa so la te do’.



When I say that each and every stage of my life is associated with a song I really mean it. It takes a remote tune to take me back by 5 years of my life or maybe 10. I hear a ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ being played and all of a sudden I am in my Final year of engineering.



I hear a Maeeri being played by one of my favorite bands ( Euphoria - in the pic ), and suddenly I find myself in the canteen of my undergraduate school with my buddies singing and banging the table till I have swollen hands. A ‘Heal the World’ (forget the singer) takes me to my 8th grade…

Similarly the whole journey of my engineering was just awesome which I know many of you’ll would agree since each of our journey to achieve that coveted degree is so memorial that you always want to be a part of it. Talking about degree how can I miss my journey through my Masters.

Had come to Ohio for the same and was thrilled to see SNOW for the first time, had heard people say “ snows depressing !!” .. But for us it was like seeing something for the first time, the excitement overtook the depression… short lived though. Must have been a month before the depressing moments had to start and there was this Song from the Movie ‘ Kal Ho Na Ho’ to add to the Snow ( that rhymed ) which made the whole environment Killing…... Sonu would go ‘ har ghaadi badal rahi hain’ and we would go ‘ Snow Snow Go away’. Well the plus point to this is even when I’m stranded somewhere in Hot Arizona just have to play this song and I have snow all around me ( at least psychologically!!)

And of course don’t wanna miss out on the party scene of WRIGHT state.. Babuji zara Dheere Chalo-Remixed. Well this was a MUST have song in all the parties. But hey am I not talking a lot about my masters here. Shall write a separate blog for that journey soon..



So coming back to Music, nowadays I am avidly following sa re ga ma pa ( Zee TV ) and Indian Idol ( Sony) so that gives me an incentive to be back home from work early. Do keep boring my room mates every now and then by just starting to hum a tune.

So in this off tune phase of life there is at least so many different tunes to look up to, tunes that take you back to the memorable lanes of life , tunes that are etched in our hearts forever.. And this list is just gonna increase with each day to come.

So what’s the tune for this blog ??

GAATA RAHE MERA DIL… OR ‘My Dil Goes Mmmmm’.. Well it’s on you to decide.

A Day to remember in CRICKET

March 12th 2006, a Sunday, my day starts off as usual. Well I had to get up early as had to go for a cricket match, but thanks to the rain gods, it got called off. And so after completing my morning chores I as usual log on the my notebook. My first hit in the day is always either my blog or http://www.cricinfo.com
Well I was feeling a bit sleepy but as soon as I saw the headlines I didn’t find a need for coffee to get me going. There it goes; it had to happen one day. The way the game is shaping up it had to happen. What had to happen? Well, crossing the landmark of 400 runs in a One day. The headlines read ‘South Africa wins the Greatest game’. Well firstly here there was the India-England series going on to keep you hooked up and parallely there was this great clash going on between SA-AUS. Two of my favorite teams in the circuit (prefer SA more though). This was the last match of the 5 match series, and AUS decided to bat after winning the toss. This was the same ground (Johannesburg) where the 2003 world cup was played and like then it was Ricky Pontings day at least the first part of the innings.

He went on to score a magnificent 164 runs and was ably supported by Kathich, Gilcrisht and Hussey (well I wonder what took Hussey so long to make it into the main team). Anyways Australia posted a mammoth 434 runs, 434 well the first thought that came to my mind ( though unrelated ) was that isn’t this the total wicket tally in tests by the all time greatest Kapil Dev. Well that apart, but seeing a team post that amount of score in the first innings itself is seeing the other team give up, but that was not to happen here especially under the leadership of Graeme Smith. This man has such a great head on his shoulders and is the best leader SA has got after Cronje.



There it goes, the chase started off in a typical fashion, first look of it gave the impression that SA were just playing to salvage some lost pride, as winning was far far away. To add fury to the fire Dippenear was out cheaply for 1 run and there enters Hershelle Gibbs.
Gibbs though a prolific batsman and one of the greatest fielders in the game today, is more famous for the crucial catch drop of the great Steve Waugh in the 1999 world cup that blew away SAF’s chances. I have always been a huge fan of SA and want these guys to win the world cup once. They had nearly made it in the year 99, but for the dropped catch by Gibbs. Well the importance of the catch lies in the fact that Steve Waugh walked up to Gibbs after the match and told him ‘Son, you didn’t drop the catch, but the World Cup’. Well that was past but im sure one person who can never forget that Is gibbs himself, and will always want to avenge that defeat.
Did he do that yesterday or what!!!!. He came into the crease as a different man, a man leading an army in a battle , a man who looked equipped to save the world from a calamity (Aussies winning time and again is a calamity for me). Well those massive hits are going to be etched in the hearts of Aussies for years to come. And to make matters worse for Aussises, he was dropped on 130 by Bracken ( Well 130 isn’t that a decent score in itself to get out , not exactly , looking at the way gibbs was batting I wanted him to go on and on… who didn’t ??



He scored 175 in 111 balls recording one of the greatest innings in the history of the game. South Africa saw the game through winning in the 50th over with just one ball to spare.
This was an answer by one of the greater teams in the circuit to the greatest in the league today. Gibbs, u are the name to watch out for in the next world cup.

I quickly downloaded the highlights and saw the whole match. Phew !! what a start to the day…

Reflections

The whistling of the wind reminds me of a long lost moment, a moment lost in transition, lost in between the fast lanes of life, a moment I wished would last forever.
Life has changed dramatically in the past two and half years, from the moment I landed into the ‘land of opportunities’, the land which welcomes everyone and has room for virtually everyone.
Waking up in the morning to mamas tunes have changed to a beeping sound of my alarm clock, the lunch breaks from work at ICH(Indian café house) Seepz, have changed to Thai, Mexican and soups and salads cuisines. The freshly prepared filter coffee by mom is now replaced by Latte in Starbucks.
Evenings back home were usually spent with my locality friends, just simple bantering or gathering along for a game of cricket. Well, evenings are still spent with my friends, whom I meet online that are occasionally if I can call it.
Life seems to be running speedily towards a destination that’s unknown to me at this point of time. Wake up each day with a thought. A thought as to, what’s there to look forward to today.
My days since I have landed here has been a part and parcel which ,well I cant say can be totally forgotten , but yes except for moments that are gonna be with me forever the rest should be termed as History.
Have gone through a lot of ups and downs, used to be days when I wondered ‘is this what I am here for’.
Well I would like to mention here what I gave up back home to achieve a Masters degree here. After having completed my Bachelors with a major of Electronics I got through a job in one of the reputed firms ( PCS- if that rings a bell). Well, job was not bad but didn’t give me the kind of satisfaction I was looking for. I always wanted to achieve my MBA degree and my friends also used to think that I am a prefect marketing guy. But other things were in store for me (thanks to me).
Hence after being there for over a year I decided to work towards my Masters degree. Wanted to always major in the field of my liking if I am gonna pursue Master’s i.e. and it has to be Electrical. Hence, before actually coming to US wanted to gain enough experience or rather mould it in a way to get a RA or a TA (research/teachers assistant). Hence on that pretext I took up a teaching job in my undergraduate college.
Quit that 2 months before I got that visa much to the disappointment of my family members. Well couldn’t sit idle at home and hence set out to work in a BPO (well have this habit of experimenting stuff with life and career). Did that job for a couple of months before the day came when I got my visa. Well the worst part of all this process (application and visa processing) is that time flies of so fast, u hardly have any quality time left to spend with ur parents. Boarded my suitcases and set out one fine day chasing a dream unknown.
My thoughts were constantly centered on the fact that it would be so great in doing a research under a renowned professor.
Now comes WSU into picture (WSU?? Well what’s that) aren’t there a thousand other WSU’s here, exactly and I was lucky (that’s wat I thought then) to get into one of them called Wright state university. Walked in to find thousand others like me who pursue the same dream as me. To add to it I realized that there are no RA’s offered for students in the first quarter or at least till they have covered 4 quarters (but then don’t we need 5 quarters to graduate!!).
Well my teaching back home did help me out as I got a TA with the physics department, but here again an assistantship with no assistance (financially- if I may call it). All this compelled me to take a job I was always reluctant on taking up, well a job in a gas station.
Had heard that this is the typical journey taken by all the Master students and now I was a part of it. Here is where my nights were spent as day time was for schooling. Amidst all this tight schedule somewhere deep down my heart was hidden my dream for which I was here. A dream to top my university, to get a good GPA and to land up in a good job.

Being an international student the only credential I had, was to maintain a good GPA to get a good job. Well I did manage to get an above average GPA and started applying to all my dream companies.
With not even one reply coming back for my thousand emails sent the frustration level was bound to increase and then came a day when I decided to move on and join a consultancy.

I did join a consultancy and am currently a part of it, got myself a job in San Francisco and am working as a java developer. Well have heard that life is a full circle, am sure have not lived the whole of it as yet but seem to land back to where I left from. A software job at the end of the day.



So Intel and qualcomm have taken a back seat for the time being with java and struts leading the way. Well I know that I have the aptitude and confidence to take me through any new challenges, and I guess that what is driving me here too.
But still there are days that end up with the sulking feeling and with a dream that lives on. A dream to work in the field in which I have spent 9 years of my precious life. A dream with a destination unknown…