Happy Anniversary !!

5 long years in a company is reeeaaally reeeeaaallly looooonnnngggg time. The Place where my career as a software engineer started. Should I say ‘Sigh’?
It feels like I just came to Bangalore to join Intel few months back. Its been 5 years since then, time just flew away so fast. Looking back, this is one of the best that I ll always feel proud about. There is a lot that has happened over these years. Many different learning experiences, interesting people, wide variety of work, funny email exchanges, so many releases, team outings, quarterlies. It seems like I have conquered the unconquerable, it took me so many hours, months and years to taste this. There were moments when I felt like getting out of the politics at work and late night work schedule, moments when I felt I need to put an end to my technical career and find something else interesting, moments when I wanted to just sit at home and do nothing. Those first few years remind me of many bitter-sweet moments. Unpleasant words, nasty emails, unnecessary escalations, unrecognized work were the only ones during those times. Believe me; each experience helped me come out stronger and wiser. Now, nothing is impossible. Its all about solving problems and resolving difficulties and not letting ur professional life affect ur personal life. I got the hang of all of these after few years. Amidst the variety of work that kept me engaged over these years and task focused working lives, there are many interesting personalities who made this a great place to work, things that can never get off my memory. The interpersonal relationship prospered out of positive and supportive attitude from such people. The personal and professional success was so much interwoven that the quality of these relationship was something that showed how we enjoyed being in each others’ company. I enjoyed my time here in these last 5 years, loved the people around and have always been thrilled to get to work each day to experience something new and interesting, more so because of the emotional bonds between people driven by passion and inspiration.
When good things touch our life, we hardly recognize their presence, we only enjoy the rewards. Yes, Intel is once such thing that touched my life, the rewards of which im enjoying for the past 5 years and I hope I can continue to live in this enjoyment for long. Although I have never worked for any other company, I can still say Intel is the best place to work. Im happy to have been in this comfort zone for really long time.

Wishing Rajeev, Bala, Pradeep & Vidya a very happy anniversary as well !!

The birthday cake ..

It was my mom’s birthday today. Every year I remember it a week later. Surprisingly this time I was reminded of it a week before. To celebrate the sharpness of my memory and to celebrate her day in a different way, I was thinking on what kind of surprises I can give her on her b’day. But the fact that its me and I cant plan any surprises for anything was still something to think about. That apart, I was wondering what I should do for her for the special day. And it struck me that I can surprise her by baking a cake for her. I was sure its going to be unforgettable for her if not disastrous, considering I hardly know to bake cakes. I don’t know how in the world did I think of this, but I was totally excited. Now comes the bigger problem. How do I get the recipe for the cake from her? How abt this “Amma, im planning a surprise for ur b’day. Can u please tell me the recipe for baking a cake so that I can surprise you ?”. Going by my nature, Im pretty capable of doing it. For once I decided I ll act little smart. I did ask her the recipe for the cake but then added a disclaimer “Note: VJ wants to know how to bake a cake”. As if she is so dumb to accept that VJ did want the recipe. So sweet she was that she did not question me on anything and just gave me the recipe. Ok, problem #1 solved. And now the next major problem. I need to make this cake in my home without her knowing that Im doing it. Ha ha ! What a joke. She is a home maker and I cant get any time alone at home to make it without her knowledge. So, I need to do some more extra planning for this. The t20 WC match was a blessing in disguise. I told her I was planning to watch the complete match that night while at the back of my mind I had planned to make the cake over that time. I bought the needed ingredients and hid it so that she doesn’t spot those and guess what im upto. So all set. Clock stuck 10. Time for her to get to bed. And yes she did get to bed. I gave abt 5 mins time for me to complete what ever I was doing and then start the “making of the cake…”. 5 mins later she walks out of the room and says “Im not feeling sleepy”. Of all days why is it that she isn’t feeling sleepy now. I gave her ideas on how to sleep even when u r not sleepy. She listens to all those and goes to bed again. In the next 5 mins, she is again out of the room and now with a different dialogue “Who was that guy who played for Deccan chargers in IPL and is now in that Netherlands team?”. At 10.30pm what sort of important question was this. I knew she was talking abt Dirk Nannes. In the next 15 mins, she wants to know if I booked the ticket to travel home over the weekend. For a moment, I thought I ll give her Avil and put her to sleep ;-) After about half an hour, I saw she was having a sound sleep. Finally the time came. I got off to a splendid start and by the time I finished the process it was 2 am. I was too lazy to clean the containers used. So I hid it under the table and put the cake in another safe place. I just sat on the bed after all this and I suddenly heard her talking “Innumma thoongalai” (haven’t u slept yet?) . I thanked god for the timing.
I got up the next morning at 8am and I saw her already busy in her cooking activities. Wished her, presented her the gift that I had got and showed her the cake finally ! Phew !! She was totally taken aback. She had lot of questions in mind on how and when. And I narrated the entire “making of the cake.. “ process. Im sure she enjoyed it. And the cake did turn out to be good – looked good and tasted good as well. After all it was made out of so much of love and care ..