Blogging from the Bay area

It is more than a month since I came to the famous Bay area in California, US for an assignment.   While all my previous trips were short either on a holiday or function or a business meeting, this is the first time I experienced "living" in this place for a while now. It has been quite good so far though I have been largely confined to my hotel and without my family.  The week days are quite a routine with a nice short 4 minute walk to the office and back and with late night calls and Skype sessions with home.  I did get some time to observe people's lives, their routine, their habits, the weather, the traffic etc.  One thing that struck me most in this part of the US is its diversity.  There are people from multiple ethnicity and background all over the place and that makes this place a little special.  The other thing is the way our lives are structured and organised.  As one of my cousins famously told me long back - when he tried convincing me to move to the US - "Life is hard and work is easy in India; Life easy and work is hard in the US".

You tend to admire with awe the life style, the comfort and the relative ease with which we are able to accomplish many things - both personal and official here.  You tend to focus a lot and there is hardly any distraction or diversion that is unwarranted.  But still the element of uncertainty, the vibrant aspect so typical of India is missing here.  As my mom used to comment - there is no life here ! Quite a harsh thing to say but it sums up the feeling of a temporarily dislocated Indian - as I would like to call myself !

It has been some good time I have had over the past 7 weeks so far.  I have caught up with old friends both from college and from work, come across new people, learnt a lot, reflected a lot which has helped me be more confident professionally.  I guess I should have made that important decision in 92 / 93 to move to the US somehow.  However looking at the sheer range of exposure and experience I have had across geographies and industries, it is great to be in a situation when you can actually begin to enjoy life and take it as it comes.

There have been some intresting changes to my personal life style.  I talk much less - more because there are not many people around after work ! I also eat healthy food - salads and juices and much less fried stuff.  Missing my family much more and realising the value of good family time more now than anytime before. 

It is going to be an interesting 4 months after I return from India in a month to be here for almost 4 months.  I am looking forward to some interesting times when I may perhaps be prompted to take some crucial decisions personally.

Summer Times in CA

It has been a very busy summer time this year.  I have now spent almost 130 days in California this year and that was neither planned or expected. What was initially a 45 days to kick off an assignment turned into an extended stay of almost 6 months.  This time around it has been a slightly different experience.  I have had enough time to observe, reflect and understand life here in this part of the world. Initially there was this awe on everything around you - be it the system that you see working - which we are not used to taking it for granted - and the fine little things that are attended to to make the citizens comfortable.  Professional life is pretty good. un hindered. "just do your job and move on" kind of attitude.  Life after office hours has been good so far. Let me recap.

I have been staying in a studio suite very near the office and just taking a stroll to the office which is not more than 3 to 5 minutes away.  There are many super markets nearby - all at walking distance. Have a  nice lake nearby where I go out for walks after office.  During summer the sun stays on till almost 8.30 pm and so we get a lot of time to go out, do some walking, jogging and enjoy the nice weather before coming back for dinner.  This summer has been excellent in CA. While most parts of the US have been reeling under extreme weather conditions from record high day temperatures hitting the mid west and the east to flash floods and tornadoes upsetting normal lives across the country.  California has been great. Temperatures have never gone up to make us uncomfortable and evenings and nights are cool with occasional strong winds prompting you to pull out your jacket. 

Watching Live Cricket

Cricket is a national obsession in India, more so in Chennai and I am no exception.  With so much live cricket being telecast on TV one does not get too many chances to watch matches live in the stadium.  I got a rare opportunity to watch a match today at Chepauk today with a colleague who had come from the US to watch a world cup match live.  He was new to Cricket and so I had to teach him the rules and nuances of the game.  I was going there after a gap of around 2 years.  The stadium has been revamped with modern canopy covered high stands making way for those staid dull stands.   It is more airy and the ground view is top class. Coloured foldable bucket seats have been installed permanently. They are more comfortable to sit and there is enough room in front for the legs. I understand they have spent close to Rs. 200 crores for doing up a part of the stadium.  I felt it was money well spent.  There were some good appreciative comments from many English and South African fans.

I initially felt a bit let down watching the match live without the usual drama, commercials, expert comments etc.  But then I started enjoying it when I realised this is how all the cricketers out there in the ground saw it ! The only trouble we had at times was not being able to spot the ball at times.  This was more so when fast bowlers came in and bowled and were smacked by the batsman for a four.  It all seemed to have gone in a flash.  There were plenty of English and South African fans around.  The English were in their usual jolly good mood when the match began and slumped into a grouchy mood when the team was not doing well.  When many Indian spectators backed the English team cheering them on, it was as if they wanted them to do well but realised they could not ! I felt good when the match was finally won by England. Chepauk crowd was very appreciative and encouraging good cricket and sportsmanship.  They cheered both the teams equally during the initial stages but when they realised England was doing badly started backing them and encouraged them.

I was with a colleague from the USA who wanted to watch a Cricket World Cup match live even though he did not know much of Cricket.  It was therefore left to me to explain to him the laws and nuances of the game.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Interestingly he was to meet our clients who were from England this evening.  They were also watching this match but in a different location within the stadium.  It was important for England to win as we wanted them to be in a good mood so that we could have some good business discussions! My colleague wanted to understand the game well so that he could talk about it during their meeting in the evening.  He began to enjoy the game. It was during my explanation to him that I realised that the game was more of a thinking game more than just athleticism and physical strength.  It was about strategy, good judgment, smart thinking, proactiveness and team work.  Aren’t these traits that we follow in our professional lives? Well then professional life is like a game. You play it fair and well you succeed. That may apply to our personal lives too I guess.  In the evening India was playing a match against Ireland in Bangalore and we were getting to watch it on TV.  That was a perfect way to end a wonderful warm, breezy, quiet and sweet Sunday.

The New Year - 2011

It may sound a bit odd that I am writing this a good 35 days after the new years' day. I just wanted to reflect on the first few weeks which in my opinion sets the mood for the entire year. It has been hectic first month for me this new year. I travelled across the globe for a meeting during the first week of Jan - for which I had to prepare the whole of last week of December..something terrible to do especially during a holiday season ! When I look at the news and happenings since the beginning of this year, it is strange. This are changing around us. Secret bank accounts are no longer becoming secret; Former cabinet ministers being arrested for corruption; Revolution in Egypt and Tunisia reverberating across the Arab world; Computers are shrinking in size and so on. It seems like a long time. Some time back I was getting this nagging feeling that my generation is increasingly becoming a minority in the world. It Today it just confirmed my feeling. Today's paper says that the Echoboomers - i.e. those born between late 70s and 90s are three times more than our generation - the Generation X. I guess we need to be unique to make some impact or perhaps change. Quite a message for the new year. I guess being comfortable with the digital world, moderately conforming and not really bothered about the generation gap would perhaps make me comfortable with this generation! The year also promises to change a lot of things in my career. I hope to learn new things, travel a bit and end up being a little different - and be better prepared to survive..and even thrive..

A unique wedding

August 2010 was a special month.  After being quite used to seeing phirangi relatives landing in style to attend desi weddings, we did something different.  A desi wedding was being conducted in California US and we were planning to attend…yes it was of our dear niece Sandhya.  She got married to Zachary Brachio, a fine gentleman from New York.  We all were quite impressed and overwhelmed by the openness and warmth with which Zach and his family gelled with our family made us all wonder – cultural and racial differences are just incidental – when people respect and love each other, it is such a beautiful experience.  

The wedding itself was a nice confluence of ethnic indian and America-Indian mix with a dash of Anglo-American added to finish it off in style. Ramya and I were the official couriers for the bride’s family carrying a lot of stuff purchased from Chennai –  sarees, kurtas, gift articles, sweets etc.  We ourselves had a small luggage for ourselves !  The weather at California was just perfect in the mid 60s (Fahrenheit) and sunny and bright most of the time.

One aspect about weddings or for that matter any function there is that you do your own stuff.  You do not get the luxury of contractor taking care of everything, casual labour available to do a lot of errands etc. We hired a U-Haul and took a lot of items from San Rafael where we were staying to San Ramon where the wedding took place.  A lot of planning went into it with Radhika and Sitaraman doing most of the planning and guys like me helping out in execution.  Ramya was helping out with Rangoli, decorations, assistance to the bride etc.  There were some wonderful gentlemen I got to interact this time.  Sitaraman’s brother-in-law Narsi aka Babu and Ramya’s cousin Meena’s husband Narayanan.  These two were very quiet that you could mistake them for being reserved and withdrawn.  But it was a pleasant surprise to see them volunteering and helping out a lot – including lifting things, arranging the hall, transporting people between the venue and the hotel etc.

The warmth and affection from Zach and his family was infectious and that spurred us on to really make this function a grand success.  They were not just curious about the various ceremonies – the Pondugal, Mehndi, Kasi Yatrai, Oonjal, Vratham etc but were very particular that none of these were compromised because of their not being familiar with it.  It was a wonderful sight seeing Zach’s mother doing the paaligai  during Oonjal with great care and Zach’s lovely nieces – Abby and Lily feeling at home and comfortable in Silk Paavadais and Bindis and running about and enjoying themselves.  The typical south indian wedding with children enjoying themselves running around was not missed at all.  Zach’s father Brian called himself Anglo Indian! He was born in India and he is quite familiar with Kolkata, Rasagollas and Pani puris ! Even with a double doctorate in Physics and math and an engineering degree he was full of humility and appreciation for all things around him. 

I acted as the MC trying to explain the various ceremonies conducted during the wedding. The evening function was also quite unique.  It was a mix of bollywood music and American showtime with the bride, groom, the bride’s maids, best man and the parents making grand entries and making some lovely speeches and dancing to some nice music.  It marked the beginning of the coming together of two great families – each one keen to learn more about each other and their cultures with the basic foundation being love and affection.  It made me a bit philosophical.  I guess this marks a new beginning of Indian emigrated families and their next generation starting a very different life in the US.  It was surprising to see Sandhya – with most of her education in the US at MIT and San Diego university – keen on following some of the indian traditions for her wedding. It just reflected the refreshing attitude of the Millenials as we would call them. They like their new life but are also keen to have some part of their tradition…

Ramya and I had a nice break after the wedding with some relaxed time and sight seeing in and around San Francisco. It was a wonderful trip and we just loved America and California in particular.  Ramya – who is usually very practical in her approach started saying she longed to migrate to the US making me wonder if I should seriously start planning. I guess it is not just the place that gives you this feeling.  People getting together in a function having great fun enjoying each other’s company with only positives in their mind about each other and the beauty of the wedding itself…that is the uniqueness about weddings…and the indian ones especially…

Raavanan...I want my Mani Back !

I saw Ravanan....finally....After all the initial media hype and the subsequent brickbats that the movie faced from the same media I was quite curious. For once the media weren't exhaggerating. In fact even while I was & still am a Mani Rathnam fan, I think the media were quite benevolent !

Mani Rathnam is no doubt a very talented director of our times who has given some great films over the years. But he should realise that the script is not one of the things. It is everything ! It was quite funny to hear the actors talk about his large canvas, extravagance, technical brilliance etc. Not many talked about the quality of the script. Or may be I missed. That is because there wasn't any ! The public generally view films as a medium to hear a story handled visually well. If there is no story - or nothing worth the money - any amount of "handling brilliantly" is just a gimmick. We hear comments about exotic locales, brilliant camera, a powerful star cast etc. All those are wasted if enough attention is not paid to the script.

In the name of being different, why portray Rama as a villain? While Ravanan grunts, laughs, stares, makes funny sounds and applies all kinds of things on his body, what does he do to add credibility to his character? We only hear from the villagers that he is great, he is talented, he does this, that etc. There was not a single scene to show his skills. The Ravanan from Ramayanan was known to be an excellent administrator, an artist, well versed in music, an ardent devotee of shiva and a character admired and respected by his subjects. What did this character in the movie do to win over his people? You can't just put in a group of tribal men around and just say they will give their lives for him. It was funny. If there were any parallels attempted, then the climax was a joke. Why send Ash back and that too alone to ask some questions? and Ravanan does n't even bother to suspect before wasting his time on some meaningless dialogues?

Coming to dialogues, what language was it? The tamil film industry seems obsessed with the Tirunelveli dialect. But no one has handled it as well as K Balachander. Why choose dialects which the majority may not follow? Just as a friend mentioned, why not just have some simple tamil spoken slowly so that people can understand? Would speaking fast in short phrases be reality? would like to know how many of us do that every day.

Finally the technicians and other members of the cast. Karthik as forest officer need not have jumped around to painfully portray the parallel between him and hanuman. Cameramen were great but it seems like they were all the time hunting for misty cliffs and beautiful waterfalls. We all know that A R Rahman is a brilliant musician. But he needs some serious apprenticeship under some of the former masters for background scores. It was irritating to hear western violins with a female voice shreaking when the scene was in a mountain in a tribal village ! He also needs to realise that when there is no dialogue some times it is just ok to just have the sounds carry the scene. You do not have to plug in some unnecessary sounds and strings.

Finally the director. I wonder where he was during the entire shoot. He is just not capable of taking such a movie. We hear media reports that this was his most difficult movie.....to make it this bad ?!! Multiple releases, big budget, mega stars, pre-release hype etc will get his money back....but we need our "Mouna Ragam Mani" back!

Feb 2010

The month of February began with a lot of travel.  I was travelling to Mumbai, to Bangalore, to Pune and then to New Jersey.  All these within a span of 15 days and that really took a toll on my health.  Was down for more than a week with flu and bronchitis. 

February was also a sad month with the passing away of a very dear member of our family – my chittappa – P S Sundararaman. It was a sad end for some one who epitomised the spirit of cheer and positivity throughout his life.  The very presence of PSS in a family gathering brought in smiles and laughter.  He was a very wise man, well informed and an earthy logic and intelligence in dealing with worldly issues.  He was an ideal mentor for youngsters.  His obsession with cleanliness, order and a clear thinking certainly influenced all of us during our childhood.  It was very sad to see him suffer due to multiple complications and my dear cousin Suresh had to go through some tough times before seeing his father’s end.  We all pray for Chittappa’s soul to rest in peace.

Professionally it was a very interesting month.  I had to lead the business proposal presentation to a one of the largest banks in India for an integrated payment hub.  It was good fun interacting with some of the experienced bankers and I should say it went off much better than we expected.  I also flew to New Jersey to our headquarters for a business meeting with a client.  It gave me the chance to interact with some of the senior folks in the company.  Quite strangely for all the aura and hype surrounding the names, each one of these leaders came across as a normal, simple & smart individuals.  It did a lot to add to my own confidence levels.

I also had an interesting appraisal discussion with my boss and it lead to my introspecting and thinking of a change of role within the company to meet my own career aspirations.  As I have always done in my life, in times of uncertainty, I go with the decision first and then adapt.  That is much better than pondering over a lot of factors – most of them unknown, coming to a judgment based on incomplete information and wishful thinking.  It has taken me so far and has not been too bad and I hope that will continue.

Jan 2010

It has been an interesting month.  If it is any indication of the year ahead then it must be a very interesting year ahead.  The weather at Chennai has been cool and pleasant.  Ramya and I have been taking that extra effort to avoid noise as much as possible – either by keeping out windows closed or just by avoiding any activity that has noise – including switching on the idiot box.  That has really helped us have a relaxed mind.  I also travelled a lot – first to Delhi, then to Tiruchi and then to Bangalore for Campus interviews and to Hyderabad and Mumbai.  My experience has so far been very disappointing.  Guys in premier B schools are well short of our expectations  - which are very minimal and I get a feeling the schools are not doing much to shape these guys up.  May be we were like this long back when we came out of college !

The company is doing well and there are indications that I may be seeing some change in my role / assignment which could possibly result in my relocating elsewhere. 

On the home front, appa and amma would be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and Ramya and I our 15th.  It is a landmark year – more so with Shruthi going into her 10th grade.  Sandhya is getting married in Aug 2010 and Bharat finishing his under graduation at Stanford.  So a lot of action expected over the next few months.