India, Marriage and Bahamas

Sitting drained, yet somewhat content on the floor carpet of Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport at 2 AM Eastern Time, as I long to get back into my routine, my workplace, chair, car, sofa, coffee-table, I attempt to recollect the frenzy of past two months, and look back at the year 2006 which has given me so much and yet taken back lot more than I could afford.

First half of November vanished at lightening pace, in an effort to complete sufficient work so as to be able to put a pause for coming few weeks. Late November in India, confused with the change in time zones, caught up in jet lag, lived like an owl for a week, sleeping through the afternoons, awake through the nights, browsing and reading. I wouldn't complain though considering it was a much needed rest after almost a year of hustle.

Early December was the time to meet up with old friends and family and to attend two marriages. Time just flew by. And then it stopped. Only my heart didn't. The worst shock of my life to learn that one of my uncle [a close family friend] passed away, whom I was supposed to visit in a few days, and should have visited a few days back. Not meeting him will remain a burden on my soul all my life. There is no moving on. The world could not have existed without him. But somehow it does. And I wonder how and why. And the thought remains.

My cousin's marriage was all exhausting affair, as I tried to pull through the emotional drain, and enjoy, but I hardly could. Moreover the tiring, frustrating, all non-sense rituals and traditions of a typical Hindu marriage bored and angered me no end. Nevertheless, I could hardly do much about it.

Totally unsatisfied with the short [25-days!!] visit [Guess home visits are always short.. ], I left India to reach back my present home, only to get prepared for another vacation. Ten days in Bahamas. through the Christmas and new year. Journey started with delayed flight and delayed baggage, to reach a place which in the first sight dismissed all the exhaustion and strain of 36 hours. Such a wonderful condo overlooking the beautiful green-blue waters, and beach running for miles. Staying here for seven days would be just amazing. And it truly was. With the overwhelmingly friendly, all-time-partying town, time ran a little too fast. End of the tour though was bizarre, a very cheerful start of the new year on another island [Nassau], with the traditional Bahamian festival of Junkanoo and a sight of a man executed in the same place 12 hours later, supposedly in some drug related shooting. Never mind.

As the holiday season nears its end, there are wonderful memories to relish and hopefully another charming year to come, probably with lesser pains. Godspeed.

Dandiya Night.

Weblog is Diary style. Saturday Sep 30, 2006.

Day started as a usual weekend at around 11 [ok.. for me every day starts at 11]. But this was a forced one, as my cellphone rang to bring me back to the real world. have to get up and get ready to go for a lunch at one of my friend's home. Nothing like having friends, who can be made to invite us, for home lunches, they cooking we eating, fair distribution of effort, right !! So, as usual, I hate driving to the city, but my flatmate, who seems to getting more evil each day [induction effect, huh??] puts a running-nose pose, to forces me to drive.

Weather is cold, drive is smooth, we are leaving the sunny south bay to enter cloudy San Francisco, smart us !! Search for parking was unexpectedly easy, though we figured we didn't have enough quarters to feed the insatiably hungry parking meter. Got change from a bar, fed the meter, climbed 3 floors to find the dear sweet friends sweating. Now its our turn. So we start eating the Yummy vada-sambhar-chutney. [these folks have some talent I must say]. On the side we are playing old fast-paced Hindi songs loud enough to be heard throughout the building [free entertainment for all, unasked!!]. All in all ideal afternoon. Ended with a walk to do some shopping, and trying to find a photogenic face/place. [My friends frown upon my SLR after the debacle at Yosemite. High hopes crash loud, dudes !!]

So here starts the best part of the day. We had plans to go to the dandiya , organized by the ever-enthusiastic group of Indians in bay area. After the usual hassle of coordination between 3-groups, driving down, we finally manage to reach the venue.

We enter the huge hall, full of charming girls donning traditional indian costumes, dancing to the tunes of remixed-garba-songs. All-I-mean-all of we guys are dance-challenged, and all girls with us are pros. We meet another friend-of-friend and his friend there. All we guys except "P" line up beside the gate of the hall watching the girls mingle into the dancing groups. [It was a funny sight, I tell you]. With the music, or possibly discomfort of being mocked upon standing, Vikas [thats me], decides enough is enough. He goes out buys few sets of sticks and pulls the group together to join the girls.

Now the fun multiplies as the the girls are trying to give us crash-course on dandiya. We somehow manage the pull some right moves, Ah.. whoever stays coherent after 10 whirls !! So guys starts to flounder and this friend-of-friend-of-friend [lets call this phrase fofof] girl is really mad at this guy [fof], for not focusing enough to learn the steps, she marches away furiously and stands in the corner. A little of cajoling to get her back to senses, and she is back with us. Another round of swirls, treading, flying sticks, fury, alienation, coaxing. During the break, everybody is exhausted and having a good laugh. One friend names this fofof-girl lady-Hitler !!! [oops.. she is gonna kill me if she reads this.. but then whom am I kidding..google analytics predicts 2 hits on this site, one from my office, other from my home :D].

At the end of the dance, she [fofof] lauds me to as fast learner. [Hehe.. she missed that flying stick !!]. I sheepishly [hard practiced look] accept the honour. At last some recognition !! Day ended with the usual late night dinners at Danny's and the jokes and leg pulling. Another day to remember !!

Winter in The Bay Area

Commencement of Winter in the Bay area is as much ceremonious as dawning of summer. For many reasons. One being Foggy noons.

San Francisco as seen from a ferry travelling across from Alcatraz in Dec 2005.

A foggy afternoon as seen on the hills of Calaveras in Milpitas.

Stumbled down 15000 Ft.. !!!

Last saturday, I happened to be in the air at 15000 ft on a 10 seater aircraft, and as the fate would have it, I stumbled near the incidently open Exit door of the aircraft!!!


Soon I was pulled back to the beloved earth, but a little too fast for my comfort level. Fortunately I was strapped to an instructor



who was kind enough to pull open the parachutes after 60 seconds of FREE FALL, after travelling 11000 ft. Mind blowing and heart pounding journey down to the earth was suddenly cut to calm and smooth descent on a beautiful evening, near the monterey bay. What a wonderful Day !!

What a .. L..a..zy DAY !!

Wow !! Finally. Once again today is the day when I feel a LOT lighter. No I didn't get a hair cut, or did jogging, or went church for confession, not even one of those space adventure cutting down gravity, or visits to north pole.. !!! Just that my 5 month long project ..i so hate this word, finished. Well kinda finished.. still a week more of clean up after base release.

So today, I took it easy, watched back-to-back episodes of ER in the morning, reached office after noon, and browsed and played and read. Caught up with the world, which doesn't seem to have changed much since the last time I checked !! Same old stories. Conflicts, accusations, attacks. Boring.

Ah.. I feel like cryogenically freezing myself for a century and wake up hopefully in a world more "mature". Where its not "survival" but "excellence" we strive for. But then on a second thought.. who knows whether world would even exist after a century. Better not risk.

And between those crazy thoughts, and lazy afternoon chat, suddenly I came across somethings which woke all the cells and tissues on my mind, heart and body wide awake. ****Shoooot**** I didn't release the latest one, because the top level db got locked, didn't show up in errors, and it was a stale release.. Damn !!! And then next hour went in frantic grind to make sure things can be fixed in the upcoming release next week. Supposedly they can be. True.. its ain't over till its over !!

What a bugging life of techie. One small thing overlooked makes the whole design a crap. Worst is the case with a techie in chip design.. one wire wrong makes whole chip scrap . But then living on the edge has its own rewards, hasn't it !! And forget excellence, survival first :P

Cheating the End..

All of you who missed Agassi-Baghdatis Saga at US Open this evening are simply unfortunate !! For here, I just witnessed one of those astonishing and rare moments of sports and life.

Agassi declared to retire after this grand slam. I came home early today to watch this match, expecting it to be end of Andre Agassi, given that he was up agaist the 21 year, World No 8, him being unseeded, aged 36.

Strangely, match started quite strong for Agassi and soon he was leading by two sets to nil. Marcus Baghdatis never looked like fighting for it until now. Here comes the third set, heating up the rallies, and Baghdatis getting his "touch" back, fighting for each point. After saving two break points, the Cypriot pony-tailed man started firing. And third set was his. Fourth set started with Agassi breaking Baghdatis twice, taking four games in a row, and it looked like time to shut the lights. But just not yet. As Baghdatis broke Agassi twice straight to fight back 4-4. Almost drove the next Agassi game for yet another break, served huge and broke the next Agassi game to serve for the set. With smashing deep forehands he held his serve and set [7-5]. Clean slates here, last set decides the match.

Steffi is tense and emotional, biting her lips, walking up and down the lobby. Man!!! whenever I see her I just go mad, she is so wonderful. And here I cheer for the man she loves, whatever makes her happy !! Isn't what they say true love is all about !!

First game of fifth set, Agassi couldn't hold, looks tired. Just then, comes yet another turning point in this already bizarre match. Baghdatis asks for medical time-out and got his thighs massaged. Sitting on his chair Agassi was beginning to realize that this may as well be his last match of career. Tears wet his eyes, while his mind tries to regroup and fight till the end. I remember watching US-open-2005 final between Agassi and Federer, where Agassi gave the champion run for his money. After the refreshing break, re-assured Agassi breaks Baghdatis in the second game, holds third and they are even. In the ninth game, Baghdatis sprains his thigh muscles and limps around the court. It was a freakish mess. Somehow Baghdatis held 5-5, Agassi managed 6-5 and the last game was little bit too tiring for old-21-year , against the young-36-year, and its all over.

Surely it wasn't one of those wonderfully played game, with hoard of unforced errors from both sides, yet, it proved a perfectly balanced one, with loads of effort, emotions, noise, and some wonderful rallies, providing for all the entertainment one can ever expect. I was so nervous in the forth and fifth set, I could even imagine how these guys handle it.

You know, now a days they let you challenge the line calls, two times in set. Post match, John McEnroe [Yeah... the angry young man of Amitabh times] asked Agassi.. 'whenever I used to challenge Umpires, they used to boo me, and here they cheer for you, they want you to challenge the calls, how did you pull that off ??.. Agassi says.. John..you have to be wrong sometime, the problem was you were always right !! ..McEnroe goes glad-glad.

I have never seen noisier crowd in a tennis match, as was there last night. It was as if sachin in india. They cheer for any of his movement or the lack of it. Agassi was tearful, knowing well that these people in New York stay put at 12.30 in night, to watch him play. Sentimentally he states that "watching you guys..reassures my belief in Human Spirit and Life". Same here mate. It doesn't get any better for the Legend's final few pro days.

"Its fun to cheat the end", as one of the commentator puts it.

Exposing Me.

"I have been tagged..yippie yay yippie yay" *imitating somebody perky*, who has passed me this wonderful, thoughtful, expose-all tag. So people, here I am. [Or at least a "side" of me, out of my n-dimensions]

I am [a] thinking machine. If only I could sell my thoughts, one penny a piece, I would be a millionaire. :D

I said Stop pretending and Simply be yourself. Not for anybody, just for your own self.

I want to live a life, I could be proud of. Of course I am my best critic and judge.

I wish for different things at different times. But above all, world peace. Noooo.. I am not making my girl [ok!! the girl in my dream] prepare for Miss World, just that peace is so damn required at this moment. Shrug the paranoia, and trust people. As one of my sweetest friend puts it, lets work for "A Borderless World" [page under construction right now]

I miss HOME and associated luxury.

I hear myself all the time, most of the times saying, NO..that's not the right way. Damn Me !!

"I wonder why, I wonder why,
I wonder why I wonder,
I wonder why I wonder why,
I wonder why I wonder." -Richard Feynman [So true]

I regret nothing for too long.

I am extremely moody. So much so that I loath and love the same things in different moods.

I dance "mentally" !! For the lack of harmonic muscle movement. :)

I sing almost all the time. Aha.. that's the reason why don't find many people around me :D

I cry mostly only in my heart [and mind], and almost all those times when situation demands. Be it real or reel, fiction or biography, dream or reality.

I am not a good loser. I abhor loosing. It pains me no end.

I write because sometimes I fancy to, and other times I have to, for I sure express "better" that way.

I confuse empathy for affection, obsession for love, dreams for reality, career for life. I am basically confused ..OR am I ?

I need nothing and everything. Something, rather Anything between them, just to keep me occupied [Just like a Genie]

I should get more social !!

I finish nothing, never. The urge to improve makes me put no full-stops [I guess I would keep changing even my old posts if I could do them better]

Finally, if I were to write this tag all over again, it would be whole lot different, hopefully not contradictory !!

I Tag ..... looking around .... all of you. Go ahead, know yourself and be Known !!