Thoughts of a Dreamer

(Originally typed on 14 July 2016, posted today on 28 Dec 2016) One of the purest souls I ever knew passed away today. We called her 'Paati' (tamil for grandmother), and she has played a major role in my early childhood. She was one of the very few people I'd trust blindly, and I'm damn sure that paati has never wished anything bad for anyone ever in her life. Early in my childhood, I was quite a troublesome baby, crying through most of the day and causing a great deal of stress for my mother. To ease her troubles, paati used to take me away to Chembur for 3 days every week. She'd come to Kalina on Thursday and take me with her either by 312 or 374. 312 used to go only till Sion those days, and she had to change buses to go to Chembur, carrying me all the way. 374 used to go near Chembur station, and she had to walk home from there, again carrying me all the way. I don't remember much from those days, but I do remember pati carrying me in the bus to Chembu...

The T20 WC 2016 has had quite a few thrilling games. Quite surprisingly, a majority of the really exciting games so far have involved India. India vs Pak, India vs Bangladesh and India vs Australia have all been really exciting games, where the outcome of the game was decided only in the very last over. England's spirited chase of 230 against SA and Chris Gayle's brutal innings against England were the 2 other games that made great viewing. Most of the other games have been one-sided. It's been 2 months of T20 cricket, starting with the Asia Cup, the Aus - SA series and now, the World Cup. Through this period, India have won several hard fought games, and in almost each one of them, Virat Kohli has had a major hand to play. In the last 5 or 6 games that India have played, he has played some really memorable innings. When Mohd. Amir was wreaking havoc in the Asia Cup, Kohli was the only one who stood up to him and saved the day. He repeated the performance against Pak in ...

When I moved to Delhi in 2011, we had to move out of our first flat (Sundew CHS, Raheja Vihar). At that time, I didn't know that we'd never come back to that house again. We ended up buying a bigger flat (Maple Leaf CHS) before we moved back from Delhi. All the same, leaving Sundew was a very very sad event for me. It was the flat we set up post marriage and converted into the little space we called home for 3 1/2 years. In 2015, I again relocated out of Bombay, this time to Bangalore. We had to vacate our flat in Maple Leaf. Last time, when we moved to Delhi, I always knew I'd return to Bombay some day. This time, that isn't so certain. I've joined a company which cannot offer me anything  meaningful in Bombay, but is a company I really like, and plan to spend a long time in. I wasn't so sad about leaving this flat so much as about leaving Bombay, probably for a very long time. Perhaps, the attachment to this flat wasn't as much as to our earlier flat be...

I wish I had written a blog about 2013, because it was perhaps the most life-altering year of my life. I'll maybe come back to 2013 some other day, but for the moment, I want to chronicle the year of 2015, which has been another major landmark year of my life. A cricket analogy - 2013 was the Saurav Ganguly of my life, which set the foundation for a better future. 2015 has been the MS Dhoni of my life, which took that foundation to a higher level. To begin the year, I was in a fairly responsible role at Jio Money which gave me a lot of learning, and the opportunity to lead product development like a business owner. I was obviously waiting for an opportunity to come up in Amazon, where Manesh was looking out for roles for me. In December, Manesh had told me that there might be something coming up in his team in a month or two. Reliance was always going to be a stopgap arrangement as far as I was concerned. Since the work was good, and the learning was good, I did not have a pro...

Rishi will turn 2 in 3 months' time. It's unbelievable how time flies. Before we know it, he'll start going to a playschool, and then kindergarten. As he grows, what we clearly see is that his habits, expressions and interests keep changing quickly. He is by nature a very curious child, and I really do hope his curiosity develops into a thirst for learning as he grows. Any new toy, gadget or object that he manages to get hold of is thoroughly inspected by him. Anything with wheels interests him more. He seems to be fascinated by cars, much like his dad at the same age! When I take him for a stroll in our building complex, he spends a good deal of time inspecting the parked cars - their wheels, tyres, tail lights, logos, the works. For some reason, he likes to touch wheels and tyres of cars and bikes. One thing I noticed when he visited me in Bangalore was that he no longer opened his mouth wide when Deepa made him wear her sunglasses. That seems to be one habit he'...

We all age. It is the realization of ageing that somehow eludes us. I recently did this exercise - just guessed the number of years since I've passed out of engineering college, without doing any calculation, i.e, get a gut feel of how many years I think it's been. Instinctively, without calculating anything, I felt it must be about 10 years. The correct number is 14! Similarly, I find it hard to believe it's 9 years since I graduated from B-School. It feels like about 5 or 6 years. I really find it difficult to digest the fact that had I restarted my education from kindergarten the year I passed my SSC, I'd have completed my engineering this year!!! Over the last 4 or 5 years, I can visibly feel the difference in my own body. My appetite is no longer what it used to be, waking up with a sore back happens more frequently these days, and while I've never been the swift, athletic types, it seems that I am even less nimbler and agile now. Some more crazy facts w...