deviationz

The weekend was spent doing some sightseeing with my parents, Anu and Arya. I don’t need to tell anyone how bad traffic is in India, but I just realized how it gets compounded when you have a chauffeur that makes you feel like you are a bobblehead. Let me explain…

There are two kinds of drivers (excluding women drivers). The first kind is one that has spatial awareness, one who can sense an impending event and be prepared for his next move. Such a driver is able to anticipate what will happen next and smoothly steer/apply brakes/accelerate as required for optimum passenger safety and comfort.

The other kind is one that has “blinders” on, just like horses that pull carts. These drivers react to situations rather than anticipate, and sometimes rather abruptly. As a result, they apply brakes so frequently and so awkwardly that it feels like you are horseback riding. Or a bobblehead.

Time to get myself a Hans device. At least I will look cool like in an F1 car. Vroooooooooom.

With great power there must also come…..great responsibility

The advent of Google and its search algorithms have simplified life beyond imagination. The search result are so precise that you almost always find your answer within the first page of search results. Keywords do play an important part in tricky searches or to get targeted results, but for the most part Google searches have become easy even for the less technically-inclined. So much is Google used these days, that it has become a *verb* synonymous with searching for answers.

I am a *victim* of the syndrome. While it has definitely made getting answers quicker, I find myself not seeking the knowledge. In the past, you would be forced to read more extensively in order to find the answer. This was because keyword search was non-existent, e-books were not popular and finishing a term paper was harder. I am used to saying, “…..if the information exists in the public domain, I will find it”. I always knew the downsides, but did not do anything to rectify it. It is a slippery slope.

This is where responsibility comes in. You have be cognizant that although you are getting the information very easily, the onus is on you to make the effort to read the chapter or few paragraphs related to the subject to have the well-rounded knowledge.

If you agree/disagree with this, please share your views.

Okay mame…..notes eduthuko, appadiye snacks eduthuko.

So here is what happens in the second half of 2011. Just like a movie usually takes an unexpected turn after the intermission, our lives were about to change as well. A major decision, which only time will tell as to being good or bad, was made towards the end of June/early July. Just as we thought we had settled down in our new home and lives, circumstances which I would rather not make too public [for privacy reasons] made us take a decision to head back to India. I took up a new job with Baldridge and Associates, a company based out of Hawaii with offices in Chicago and Delhi. The opportunity to be close to home and family was something difficult to pass up on. The job involved a stint in India helping out a large multinational contractor in their design-build ventures. A secondary role would be to help establish BASE’s presence in India, where there is a mini construction boom.

It was extremely difficult to bid goodbye to my close friends at BNI, with whom I had spent that first six years as a Structural Engineer. I have some amazing memories of the place, the days and the nights spent on projects dear to my heart. Your first [job] is always precious……and will be.

So there we were, two months after we moved into our brand new home, packing away and bidding adieu to beautiful Miami. July was a month where neither me or Anu had a good night’s sleep. Luckily for us, a lot of things fell into place magically, all in the last minute. We are blessed to have a lil’ one that is extremely non-fussy. Anu and I always discuss as to what must have been going through his head seeing us in disarray.

The long term goal was always to return back to the US, by God’s grace and some careful planning [well, mostly God's grace]. All the winding down was done with that in mind. We were able to rent our house to a family that we knew in real short notice, move things to storage in Chicago and book tickets to India. Anu and Arya were packed off to her cousin’s place in Wisconsin and I undertook a 2 day road trip to get to Chicago. It was by far the most boring drive, since I had gotten used to having Anu in the front seat on most long drives, either awake or asleep. I showed up to work on August 8, worked for 5 days and took a flight to India on August 13. Most people who know me at BNI know my affinity to the number 13.
: All significant and large projects that I have worked on while at BNI had a 13 in the project number 08M13, 06M13, 09W13 just to name a few.

Anyone that knows Arya will tell you that the kid has trouble sitting still. He likes to constantly be on the move. Now imagine a kid like him in a confined pressurized cabin at 33000 ft above sea level on a 15 hour long flight to India [co-passenger's nightmare?]. Anu and I were having panic attacks thinking about the flight. Luckily for us, Air India moved us to a different seat minutes before take off, giving Arya a seat as well. He was mostly asleep during the flight, kept his father out of major embarrassment. It was one of my only long haul flights to India/Dubai where I did not sleep for 90% of the flight duration. My old boss George and Anu can attest to my in-flight sleeping habit.

India……incredible India!!

It was a grand welcome in Delhi. We were literally mobbed, just like superstars. Except this was by taxi-drivers and porters who were more than glad to *help* us with our transportation needs in exchange for dollars. I was bad at keeping track of all the happenings in India when I was in the US, but I could have sworn that Rupee was still the currency in India. In typical India fashion, my accommodation arrangement had fallen through the cracks, but luckily there was still enough daylight and I had a working phone. We moved into the company guest house for the next 3 weeks as we figured out where to live. It was an interesting first few days. Things that I had missed were back……. great food, local TV channels [including 3 cricket channels], car horns, 8 lane traffic on a 4 lane, dust [and my allergies], bureaucracies just to name a few.

A lot of things that were pretty simple to get started in the US were rather difficult here. Opening a bank account needed an address proof, which could only be through “approved” paperwork. This meant a delay of at least a month. Thank god for Traveler’s Checks. International credit cards were not accepted universally and I had to get used to carrying cash in my wallet. No more easy swiping of plastic.

The new office is rather nice. We share space at the contractor’s main office in Gurgaon and the best thing is that there are two Coffee Day vending machines to get ummmm-limited supply of tea/coffee. A 15 minute walk to work is not bad either. I love the option of being able to walk back home during lunch and grab a hot meal.

Work was busy during the first couple of months as there were plenty of projects that were being worked on simultaneously. In addition, being in a contractor’s office only a few feet away from anxious people that want answers yesterday is not always fun. Thankfully, there are a really good bunch of people, expats and natives, with whom working has been a pleasure [mostly at least].

Sadly, in the end of September we had to say Goodbye to my dear paati [grandmother]. She had been living with us since I was a year old and I have fond memories of my childhood with her. She had lived a contended life and was also able to see her great-grandson and spend time with him. She will be missed by all of us. The rest of the year (October-December) was rather uneventful, for which we are grateful. Arya and Anu joined an interactive parent-toddler program and that keeps them busy.

November had beautiful weather and we did some sight seeing around Delhi, including a trip to Qutub Minar. December started getting really cold. Surprisingly for a place like Gurgaon where temperatures can drop significantly, the insulation in houses is non-existent. Coupled with brick walls and non-airtight rooms, the temperature inside the house is sometimes worse than outside. It should be good baptism for eventual relocation to the windy city.

2011 ended with us celebrating Anusha’s birthday and welcoming 2012 at Agra [photos]. How fitting that we were in a city filled with cemeteries and tombs…………isn’t 2012 the year the world is going to end?

It is time for the obligatory year ending post. It is usually around this time of the year that my AMEX card gets charged with the domain hosting fee. Around the same time is when I regret not having posted enough. What started off as a very good way to spend extra time when I was a graduate student slowly became a step-child when more important things came up in life i.e. wife, child, TV, job etc.

2011 was a very exciting year in many respects. The year started off with me and Anusha spending available weekends trying to figure out if it was the right time to buy a house. The market was right in so many respects and it seemed like the best time to invest in a property. Countless time was spent in searching properties we liked and in the price range we could afford. One of key criteria was proximity to work and being in a good school zone for Arya. Many different permutations and combinations were made in picking that ideal spot and we thought we were “genius”, but as you keep reading, you will see how life throws curve balls at you.

All the math was done, along with contingencies. Getting qualified to get a house was rather simple, primarily because we did the homework on the price point we could afford. [Tip] Know what you can afford and strictly search in that price point. It is very easy to fall in love with homes you can’t afford. All in all, we saw 25 houses. There were some that were in very good neighborhoods and school districts but were slightly far from work. Houses close to work, in Coral Gables or nearby, were obviously too expensive. The one we settled on finally was the first house we ever saw. At one point in time, we were so overwhelmed that we almost called it off. But after a brief cooling down period, we decided to put in an offer. The house was in a very good neighborhood, not terribly far from work and in a very good school district. And so on a fine afternoon in March, we signed the loan documents and officially became proud owners of a house. Another to-do item ticked off in our long laundry list of things to do.

In the following weeks, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to furnish the house, what colors to paint the wall, what lighting fixtures to buy, what new appliances to get etc. Anusha always wanted a nice kitchen. The house we bought came with a lousy fridge, but brand new cooktop and microwave (or did at the time of putting in the offer). At the time of signing the contract, the microwave had disappeared. So the executive decision was made by yours truly to move the “white” cooktop to the garage (oh yes, one of the perks of not living in an apartment). We then picked up stainless steel appliances to spruce up the kitchen and it looked infinitely better than before.

All this was pleasantly stressful. With a lot of TLC, the house work was complete and we moved in. It seemed like we would never get done with all the things that needed to be done, but every weekend we managed to chisel away at it one piece at a time. Arya had his first birthday celebrations there and a month before that he took his first steps.
Arya Walking

Part 2 of this post will talk about the second half of 2011 (aka “Curve Ball”)

Here is my hate don’t like list:
1. I hate don’t like people who pretend to be your friend, but stab you in the back every chance they get.
2. I hate don’t like people who sympathize with you, all the while feeling so overjoyed that you are shit loads of trouble.
3. I hate don’t like people who do not value time.
4. I hate don’t like people who don’t own up to their mistakes, and make it even worse by trying to blame someone else.
5. I hate don’t like people who take credit for someone’s work.
6. I hate don’t like people who give lame excuses.
7. I hate don’t like people that do a half-assed job.
8. I hate don’t like people that always figure out a way talk about themselves.

I hate don’t like people…………………….?????? No, I am a very amicable person. Don’t push my buttons though. I do not know to sugar-coat things.