2 hrs before take off...

 The change from Working professional to Entrepreneur was not something I was averse to but the way it happened was unplanned!  The days spent meeting customers and pitching the company are very demanding & exciting at the same time. It also gives a sense of gratitude every time you make meaningful progress however small it might be The Sabarimala trips have resumed for 2 yrs back to back now & I am happy about that. There is a small music gig coming up :-) Sahana sang with her guitar in hand recently at a family wedding & she was a hit!! 

Its been 4 years since I wrote a line here. 2020 has been mostly peeping out of my window in Bangalore and nothing much!  I feel the urge to change- shake it up a lot these days. The mind tells me I haven't found what I am looking for... Discovered Chris Martin and Cold play :-) Yaay! Feels like the real life starts after 40. The optimism and adventure of younger days  have given way to accepting life's realities

I would not say that I have been under the pump as far as career goes over the last 13 odd years. However the last 6 months have been the most stressful to the extent that my health charts have gone off the normal. Need to take some life lessons and get wise :-) Going off the Social media and sugar have helped. Keeping focus on what really matters and filtering out noise seems to be the trick. Also realized that I don't take well to close T20 matches especially if India is playing. Looks like watching the Ind-Oz match on Sunday may be a bad idea

Heard the song 'Malare' from Premam a few times times today. Felt a lot younger at heart, light and happy :-) Made me recollect life events from days in Chennai, Mangalore and Coimby.  It's as if i have forgotten how to feel light and free spirited. Music awakens my soul for sure and yes I am finding time to practice what i love here in Bangalore

Been up since 4.40 am today watching the test match at SCG. India making heavy weather on a road like SCG wicket :-) . The vacation to Cyprus proved to be a welcome break from the winter gloom that set in Delhi around this time of the year. Loved the 2 days at Casa Panayiotis village! Have managed to run on 3-4 days last year and that was one tick in the box in my to do list. I would like to add more variety to the workout plan and maybe do some free weights and floor exercises to the mix. The next goal for the year is to stay calm and not lose my cool. This one is real tough and its a bad habit that has crept in over the last 3-4 years. Music where are you?

4 years almost since the last post here. Lots of plans still remain on paper. Read music, finding a job i love etc. Rashi and I have a new love. Sahana turned 2 in April :-) Feels wonderful when i look back at the last 2 years. Coimbatore and the south keep calling in my dreams. The nanny has aced the sambar recipe a few times. Achan and Amma are enjoying their social life in Coimby. Have to keep up the momentum on the early morning runs this year..at least one goal for the year has to get ticked

Leaving chennai was not an easy decision. The weather in chennai was the best last week. Ironical that it happned to be my last week in the city of music and arts.I like Delhi for its parks that have great jogging trails, the wider roads and better infrastructure. The extreme weather and driving have been challenging so far. I need to get in shape, focus more at work ( get back to 1994-1997 mode) and strike a balance. Reads vague i guess but i know what that means. It's gonna be a great experience and I need t prove a point!

Well 2009 was great wasn't it? Yes the Goa trip was a nice way to end the year. Hope to spend the next year doing better work in all spheres of life. Learn't a new song last year , felt nice singing it to mom and dad. Kutchery season was a wash out this year. The Job market seems to be looking up . I hope to get a move on.

Landed in Denver, Colarado yesterday evening. It's been raining all of yesterday and today morning looked nice and sunny. I had planned to do some outdoor running during this trip. So first thing this morning I woke up at 4.30 a.m got a cuppa black coffee and changed into running gear. It was quite chilly outside and the I stepped out into the empty pavement outsde the Mariott tech centre. I took my first leap and my leg slipped , twisting my ankle damnn!!! Can you believe how things can go sour when all looks rosy :-( . Neways the lump is not too bad , and I am busy doing ice pack and resting the left ankle now. Hopefully i should be able to run after a week

I have been down with a viral attack this week. Saturday didn't have anything interesting to offer.A routine visit to the doc, some very tasty glaxo pills to chew and tons of bread to eat were some of the things lined up. Naturally I was sulking and looked out of the balcony in hope. Pushpavanam colony ( read as: Garden/Forest of flowers) , is the name of our neighbourhood in Chennai. BTW, I am yet to spot any of those flowers in the last 6 months :-) .The colony is a narrow by-lane with some 20 odd families living on both sides. Today morning the by lane turned into a cricket field with some interesting talent. Here is a profile of the players involved: 1. Kid1 - 12 yrs old , right hand bat and bowl,big hitter 2, Kid2: 10 yrs old - quite thin, right hand bat ,wristy stroke maker 3. Man : 35 yrs old - Left hand bat and chinaman , needless to say big hitter,dressed in banyan and nice Zari veshti/dhoti The match was action packed. Kid2 started the proceedings when i reached the balco...

Our rented place in Alwarpet is quite nice. I have most of things that I love at stone thowing distance. The music sabhas, coffee world , gym et.al . The Fitness one centre near my house draws a lot of celebrities . It is nice to see Sanjay subramanyam and Sudha raghunathan frequent the health club.I guess it does not hurt to keep those lungs healthy if you are a Carnatic vocalist. The wedding was a pretty fun affair especially the cocktails arranged by Missus' folks. Some of my close high school friends and grad school colleagues attended the function to make it memorable. The coimbatore reception was well attended too.My high school principal, hindi teacher, neighbours from chidhoood were there to wish us. That's when it struck me that a well attended wedding is like a potrait that stays in your memory forever. Missus has been having a hectic time at work. Even my workload has gone up quite a bit after the wedding. I have started driving regularly in Chennai. Needless to stay...

As yet another year draws to an end, things are changing in my life. Feb 15'th and 16'th are the dates for my wedding. When i came out of B-school i was hoping to learn a lot on the professional front. Like everything else in life there was a surprise , I took more decisions on the personal front and learnt a lot. I am happy that the families finally agreed .I must thank my better half for being so understanding and keeping the calm in the midst of chaos. Now its time to get in shape to look dapper on the D-day.The Golds gym in Temecula has motivated me to run at higher speeds. The pulls ups count has gone up too . Yesterday i went to attend the Christmas mass at the local methodist church. I really enjoyed the choir and the words of wisdom advice from pastor . He rattled off some scary stats on the rate of foreclosures in the US ( one every 10 secs) . I am flying back to India in a couple of days. I can't wait to get into the wedding frenzy and enjoy my last few days o...

I am back in chennai after a 5 month break. This is the first time i am starting to feel the pinch of this double digit inflation. I realize that my pay hike has been nullified by the rising prices. Hovewer there is a bigger challenge at hand now. I need to shed close to 8 kgs that i gained during the US trip ; My cooking is not all that bad . I started running again but the effects of the weight gain are showing . I struggle to cross the 6k mark damn!! There were a few weddings( those of close school and high school friends) that i never wanted to miss . Made it to 2 of those, had to miss Natchi's thanks to the Detroit trip in April. Still can't believe that the bunch of us who rode bicycles and played together have graduated in life . I keep thinking of those great times and wish each of them the great life ahead. This weekend i am planning to do my annual Sabarimala trip. The Chennai music season is coming up , I hope i can attend a good number of concerts this year too. ...

Just finished watching Al Pacino in 'Scent of a Woman' . The final speech on integrity by Col. Frank W Slade reminds me of people who stood up for me in life. Not an exact analogy , but Mr .Ananthakrisnan my Math tuition master in Saibaba Colony Coimbatore fits the bill. He for one believed that I could pass in Math .Through his unique style of coaching rather than instructing ,made me believe in my abilities. Somehow everytime i pass his house in Coimbatore my eyes search for that nameboard. Its not there anymore , I dunoo where he is or even if master is still alive. I still remember you Sir! Have to get a strong Starbucks cappuchino ,the LA heat is a barrier to the walk.I 'll do it for the double tall cappuchino:-)

Have done some crazy travelling in the month of April. I like Lufthansa more than Singapore air. Saw a lot of potholes in the roads at Detroit;that was a surprise! As i sit staring at the San Bernadino valley from my 16'th floor seat in LA ,i am reminded of one such lazy friday afternoon a few yrs back when this blog got created. I was in downtown Sacramento then. I think coming back to the US was a never an option for me,when i left this country in 2006. Makes me think a lot. I also visited my office in Coimbatore before i flew out to LA. The office is located at a very quiet spot in the backdrop of the western ghats. Its a nice place for a picnic . Oh yeah i saw Harold and Kumar -part 2 - not as good as the first one. I liked the bit when the FBI guys interrogate the parents , that was a laugh riot. Iron Man was super cool.

I have been in Coimbatore for the most of March. I decided to take a walk instead of my routine run today. Somehow i found my way into the Forest College campus . Every step i took reminded me of those bicycle rides Sundar, Hari ,Shibu ,Ganesh and I took to school through the dense greenery on the campus. Somehow everytime I think of childhood i wonder and exclaim "wow! i wish i could just relive those moments" . The cricket ground is stil there , I sat there to watch a few overs of a game. Every path in the campus reminded me of some day or some incident from my school days. I missed the company of my high school buddies. It left me with a great feeling . Sometimes I feel all that we take forward in life are memories. Heck, lemme me get a shower!

Balamurali , my music class collegue called me a few times this morning. A few missed calls later i picked up the phone . My music guru Shri Reji George expired yesterday night. I spoke to him last saturday morning. May his soul rest in peace. The student in me still longs for all those golden words of musical advice he gave and promised ! I am yet to recover , this has been a really forgettable week in my life .Somehow death is one event which brings everyone back to ground, reminds us that all that's created has to be destroyed eventually.

Today is a highpoint my career as a Indian cricket fan! Totally Totally Super Victory. Some great exhibition of swing bowling and team work by India. A victory at the WACA esp for a team from the sub continent is special . Special it wil be till we find the next Tendulkar hahaha!! Lets see how the Aussies come back at Adelaide and if the Indians press on the gas from here Still recovering from the moment

A very happy new year !! I watched Tare Zameen Par today. Brilliant movie and as usual Mr Aamir Khan has hit a home run. I am lost in thought , the movie made me ask a lot of questions. Humans have created a very complex world out there, and the incentives are only for those who understand these complexities:-) . Most of our academics, at least in India focusses on training the mind not to pursue those streaks of madnesses we experience as a child. Instead it makes us understand only those aspects of life that our past generations have unearthed.We focus our energies trying to build on theories and concepts already engineered.What about the unknown ?? . Maybe we fail to understand the world of the in-sane, the retarded and the mad fellas out there...

Jai and I went for a carnatic concert featuring the Ranjani-Gayathri combo. The queue outside the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan hall clearly showed thier fan following. The rasikas consisting mainly of 'mama-mamis' with thier trademark filter coffee flasks made the evening lively. The highlights of the concert were the 'Thodi' kirthanai ,the meera bhajan and the tukaram abhang in that order. I thought the crowd lacked discipline , quite few cell phones ringing and people leaving the concert before the mangalam piece. My dad told me about the mylapore 'mess'(mess= restaurant) culture. We went to Mylai mess that was opposite to the B.V.B hall for dinner. The place has hardly been renovated and maintains its old legacy even today. The menu card is also very typical of the Madras tiffin culture . I had Badam halwa , Kichadi and podi dosai for dinner. As usual I must elate... it was Yummm!!! Not the most cleanest place but yes i felt the place has preserved its soul :-).The...