Tis The Season - 2014!

Hola!

This is me with another attempt in vain to remind myself that i should write more.

2014 has been wonderful. Lot of memorable moments. First full year as a married person. A wife who loves you more than the world. A job that, well, i really have no words to describe it, it's that good. I could not have imagined a better life.

The year started just like any other. The first big moment was in March where we celebrated our first anniversary.

And then along came a pretty sweet moment at work. I got an opportunity to give a recorded-talk at Google I/O, Google's annual developer conference. It was a big deal as developers from all over Earth tune into it.

Then thanks to my girl we got to spend the summer in Seattle as she was taking up an internship there. It was three awesome months that encompassed a wide range of cool things like living across the street from Space Needle, flying on a sea plane, an awesome trip to the island capital of British Columbia. Not to mention, getting away from the heat of California's summer.

Along came October where there was a really fun filled party for her birthday.

Then came the holidays where we did crazy things like reaching 130ft beneath the Pacific Ocean on a submarine.

126ft beneath the Pacific Ocean!

I am writing this as we pack our stuff headed to celebrate the dawn of 2015 in random parts of the California West Coast.

Until then, Mahalo & Happy new year 2015!

To end this post, a random quote from Phoebe that always makes me laugh - "If you wanna receive email about my upcoming shows, please give me money so that i can buy a computer".

-Vignesh

P.S.: I cheated in this post by including more pictures than words. Although, i really hope that i will write more in 2015!

Our Story!

Circa May 2005 - The Characters

Boy - A 10th standard student in Coimbatore, who moves to Madurai for higher secondary schooling.

Girl - A 10th standard student in Chennai. No prizes for guessing where she moves for her higher secondary schooling!

May 2005 to June 2007 - The Beginning

As many would anticipate, they both ended up being classmates in their new school. Despite that, sadly, nothing interesting happened in this period of time (we know, they were such idiots back then!). They just looked at each other on random days and barely spoke.

June 2007 - The Actual Beginning

The girl moved back to Chennai and the boy moved back to Coimbatore for college. As with most couples of this generation, they started conversing with each other in the form on SMS'es and phone calls. Few days after that, they felt they were really close to each other. Few months after that, they realized they can't live without each other.

Few Months (or years) Later

The boy was on a late night train journey and as it was always, they were talking over phone (despite the annoying train noise). He felt something spontaneously and popped the question. It took a while for him to get an answer, but it was an answer that he rejoices till today!

P.S. The time frame of the above paragraph is omitted intentionally. ;-)

September 2011 - LGTM

The girl told about her life choice to her parents and the boy did the same to his parents. Both of them were genuinely happy instantaneously. No hesitation, No fuss, Pure happiness. It was then they realized how gifted they were to have such wonderful parents!

September 2012 - Its Official

The boy and the girl got engaged on September 2nd, 2012. It was a small but wonderful ceremony with family and friends.

December 2012 to March 2013 - The Present

We are writing this draft over a video chat (damn you geography!). We are really excited about the brand new phase of our lives that we are about to step on to. So please mark your calendars and try to be there on our special day, as your wishes would mean a whole world to us!

By the way, the girl's name is Gayathri and the boy's name is Vignesh! :-)

March 2013 and Beyond

We are undergoing our "Happily ever after" phase. :-)

P.S.: I didn't write this now. I am just copying this from my wedding website. Since that domain expired, I wanted this to live somewhere on the internet.

-Vignesh

The Last One by Myself!

Before you start reading, I really would like to warn you: Stop, Do not read. What follows is utter crap.

It has been almost 5 years now since i fell in love with this amazing girl. It’s almost time now. I am literally counting the last few days of my bachelor life. The 7 and odd years that i have known her has just swung by very fast. It just seems like yesterday that I was a small school kid. I honestly can’t remember how college life went on so fast. Here I am now, sitting in a totally different part of the world, still unable to believe that I am actually here.

When I look back at the past 7 and odd years, there are various wonderful moments which I would say have made my life what it is now. Not to brag, but not many people in life get almost everything they want, especially at such an early point in life. I am indeed one of the lucky ones. I am surprised at so many things that I do these days. It just seems like yesterday (literally like yesterday) that i went around nagging people for career advice. Yet here I am today, talking to many of my friends about building their career, etc. I really am surprised at the way I have turned out.

I am in this state where i ponder upon looking for words to express how my life has turned around to what it is now. There has been unexpected twists and surprises, expected happiness and so many other feelings which words cannot describe.

If I sit back for a moment and think about why I am writing this post, I honestly have no clue. I just felt like I should write something that will forever remain as the last post I ever wrote as a bachelor. Not that it is a big feat or anything, but blogging was something which, despite many resolutions and swearings, i could not keep up with. So, not to feel bad about myself that I hardly write anything these days, I started out writing this particularly pointless post.

I am flying out to India tomorrow. It’s gonna be the most #epic trip of my life. Loads of things to look forward to. Girl of my dreams, getting together with her. Life is fun. Hopefully I write something meaningful sometime soon (of course after I am back from the India trip).

-Vignesh

I'm Feeling Lucky!

I have completed my college life. No more exams, no more results, no more bunking first half and sleeping and lots of other things will be no more. At this point, I want to take some time out, share the experience of my amazing roller coaster ride and thank the people who mattered and have helped me get where I am today (and where I will be in a few months :-P).

The Dream

Just like every computer science student, I had a dream too. My dream started along a bit early. Right from my school days, I had two role models. I had only one dream. I found a few 6 year old messages in my gtalk log where i was cribbing to my friends about my dream of working at my dream company at its headquarters.

The Start

I got through a really good job during my on-campus placements. It is at this point most people get carried away, but somehow i managed to not fall into that trap and thereby miss my dream. I chose to do my final semester internship in another company so that I will have bandwidth to explore other options. Btw, the workplace where I am doing my internship is awesome (this place is so awesome that I just can't stop boasting about it whenever I talk of internships).

Ok coming back to the topic, naturally the first step was to prepare for other companies' interviews. I started doing that and decided to apply to a company by end of March. Thankfully, one of my friends knew a person there who could refer me and get me an interview (btw, my friend happens to be a really wonderful human being who has helped me whole heartedly whenever i needed any help. He also happens to be my college senior and i am heavily indebted to him!). Off went my resume into the company and i got an automated "thank you for your interest in us" email.

The Phone Call

Then the recruiter called me and was ready to set me up with interviews beginning with a phone screening. I was told I would get a call by 11 AM. The interviewer had some issues in dialing in my number so it got delayed by 10 minutes. One of the worst 600 seconds of my life where I was tensed to the core. Once the interviewer called me, time flew off. Einstein was right.

I felt quite confident. Eventhough i didn't nail the interview, I felt it was far away from being tagged along a tweet as #pathetic. Few days later, I got an email from my recruiter stating that I have cleared the phone screening and will have to visit their office in Hyderabad for on site interviews.

The Visit

I was plagued with sickness and was in a severe low health for a few days before the interview. They flew me from Chennai to Hyderabad on the evening before the interview. I have been informed that I would be picked up by a cab as soon as I landed at Hyderabad. That was the first "awe" moment of the trip. The cab driver was standing at the arrival lounge with a placard that had my name.

I couldn't have dinner that night, couldn't have breakfast on the day of the interview. Somehow i reached the office. The first thing I noticed was the sheer enormity of the Hyderabad office. It was just too good.

Thankfully Air India was flying that day!

Once I reached the office, I had to have a sticker with my name printed on it (a temporary id card sorta thing). Since it wouldn't stick to my t shirt, i had to stick it around my arm like a watch!

And then there were 6!

Then started the interview process. There were 6 rounds each comprising of 45 minutes to one hour. I had a lunch break in between for half hour and eventhough i couldn't eat much (because of my illness), i was totally mesmerized by the food court that they had. The interviews were over around 6 o clock in the evening and I came back to Chennai the same night. It was a long day and i was totally down with illness at the night.

The Wait

Next came the worst part, waiting for the results. I don't know what to write in this column, but there a few things and people that helped me overcome this strenuous period. My work at internship gave me some distractions but night times were a nightmare where I barely slept for 2 or 3 hours.

The Surprise

Then came the call on 17th May, stating that I have gotten through and that I will be intimated about the work location in a day or two. I was wonderstuck, I had no words to describe what it meant to me. I mean, it was my dream ever since from when I was at school. Fortunately, I was with the people I love when the call came and I could not have been more happier.

As it turns out, the call on May 17th wasn't the happiest moment in my life. That came a few days after, when I received my offer letter. It was a totally unexpected freaking surprise. My salary was mentioned in US dollars. I was searching the letter to know my work location (as I was most eager to know whether the work location would be Bangalore or Hyderabad). When I found it, my heart just froze, I mean, it just froze. It was my dream location. It was what I dreamed about in my school days. It was whose pictures I posted in Orkut years back when it was my dream.

It was a DREAM COME TRUE !

The People

None of this would have happened if not for the really supportive people around me. I have an amazing set of F.R.I.E.N.D.S from college and school. I really owe them for all their support over the past howmanyever years I have known them.

Another bunch of people whom I really owe a lot are my friends in twitter. It was one of the main reasons why I was able to achieve my dreams. Every discussion (the technical ones) I had in twitter had been a value addition to me. When I think of it, few people come to my mind immediately. Thanks a lot guys, eventhough we've hardly met in person, you are a vital part of my life.

Thanks are due to my parents who have been alongside me for every single decision I took in my life. They trusted me totally and I hope I have justified that trust to a certain extent now.

Apart from them, I sincerely thank all of you who have been a part of my life over the past 22 years. Without you people, I will not be where I am today.

Conclusion

I am joining my first full time job in a few months. I am living in dreams when i think of the fact that i am going to be working in the same place where people like Prabhakar Raghavan, Matt Cutts, Guido van Rossum, Joshua Bloch, Robert Love (and not to mention Larry Page and Sergey Brin) work. My life cannot be more close to perfect than it is now. Once again, I sincerely thank each and every one of you!

I'm Feeling Lucky!

-Vignesh

P.S.: I have not mentioned about one very important person in this post. That is completely intentional and the reason for that being lack of words to describe what that person means to me. :-)

You'll never walk alone!

Whenever i was in a distress or my mind was away from being normal, there's been one song that would always revive me whilst running on a continuous loop. I always loved each and every word of the lyric and it amazes me how a bunch of words can change your whole mindset to a very great extent.

I just felt like sharing the lyrics of the song. Try listening to it and it may help you too like it did to me.

When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high..
And don't be afraid of the dark..

At the end of the storm,
Is a golden sky..
And the sweet silver song of the lark..

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Though your dreams be tossed and blown..

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone..
You'll never walk alone..

You'll never walk alone..
You'll never walk alone..



-Vignesh

Madarasapattinam and Me !! :-)

I was sitting all alone in podanur railway station (podanur is to coimbatore is what tambaram/perambur is to chennai) awaiting my train to chennai. I had arrived an hour early than the scheduled time just to know that the train was late by half an hour, leaving me a solitude wait of one and half hours. I really liked the peaceful environment with gentle breeze flowering across my face. If I was like before, I would have just been irritated that i would have to wait alone for one and half hours. But then, I had all the feelings about the past awesome six months rushing up to me. And I was involuntarily forced to open my blog and start sharing them. As the title suggests, people who aren't interested in me lamenting about stuff I like and stuff I'm gonna miss, please feel free to press Ctrl+W (frankly I know that you don't really care if I miss velachery railway station or not)

Long story short

Past six months have been awesome and I have really been at the efficient frontier of my life. But sadly, everything has to come to an end. The internship is about to end in a few days and I already couldn't stop feeling bad about the things I'm gonna miss. On the whole, I will miss chennai, I will miss efficient frontier and I will miss everything that has been keeping me going for the past six months.



Short story long

It just seems like yesterday that I stepped into the seventh floor of chamiers towers (well known as satyam building), but all of a sudden, six long months have passed in a jiffy. There have been many life cheering moments over the course of this internship.

I have had many wonderful moments. A bulleted list won't hurt after all:

• The daily bike rides to office! (13 kms one way)


• Breakfast at the near by mess!


• Velachery Sangeethas T20 (the offer still continues as T30 - velachery folks, dont miss it!)


• 5 working days = 5 different cuisines for lunch (Andhra, Punjab, China, Italy, Delhi, Tamilnadu)


• Heavenly mini noon naps in bean bags!


• Non-stop free flowing discussions about work!


• Non-stop fun in the entertainment area (more on the upcoming post..)


• Besant Nagar Beach with friends in the evening!


• Dinner daily at some random shop!


• Maintaining accounts (thinking before every swipe of the card and every rupee out of the wallet)


• And of course the work!


• Fighting online for tatkal tickets to and fro home for long weekends!


• Listening to songs almost 8 hours a day

Another such lamenting is coming up soon!

-Vignesh

Happy Friendship Day (Poem) !! :-)

Friends have always been a part and parcel of my day to day life. Today being world friendship day, i wish you all my friends a very happy day. I am where i am because of all your support. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for have being with me all the time.









Here I go, dedicate this rubbish poem (really??) which i have written, to all my friends !! HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY :-)

HAPPIEST ON EARTH...

Somewhere i was born,
Somewhere i was christined,
But was it God's grace,
Or was it fate's good face,
Or my favoured fortune,
That i met you...

Somewhere i was brought up,
Something i was doing,
And When i met you,
I forgot the whole milky way,
And just turned up in your way,
Which made us the happiest in the galaxy...

When i was jumping in joy,
Your uttered, "I'm with you"...
When i was in weeping in sorrow,
Your sweet voice said, "I'm still with you"...

Who are you to me?
Friend..??
I don't find thy words in this langua,
That suits you the bestest...

I have kept you in my heart,
Tell me if it hurts,
When i breathe,
I'm ready to halt thy...

The earth is so small,
The world has shrunk,
But never our friendship did!!!
The way we move it through our hearts,
Made others say wow with an awe...

Our hearts know nothing,
But only purity,
And trustworthy,
And also thinking sweetly...
As we count the hours, minutes and seconds,
Our feelings move in a healthy way...
For we are the HaPpIeSt FeLLoWs...

-Vignesh

Isn't This Life !! :-)

Okay guys, here we go. Get ready to hear some lamenting. This was a poem that i wrote after a series of bad incidents in my life. Hope you like reading it :-)

DEDICATED TO...
All (2 year) friends who behaved in a way, so that I was able to scribble something...

HAPPY ARRIVAL...
I came here as a alien...
Though I didn't really know you,
You made my world here brand pure...
You were my friend...

When I didn't know what to do...
You were with me,
Making me to find out myself...
You were my friend...

When I imagined about life without you...
You just whispered,
"Shut up dear, I'm with you"...
For you were my friend...

We were tearing the world apart,
Captivating all we wanted to,
Beating all the odds together,
And having fun round the clock...
You were my BEST friend...

MY MISTAKE?...
I never knew, that I upset you,
Suspect I'm a fool to weep and help...
Was it my mistake?

When it came to heart and heartache,
You ought to have uttered genuinely,
Which you no way did...
Was it my mistake?

Not daring to speak at my face...
You wore the damn mask,
Which was the cause...
Was it my mistake?

DISMAL DAYS...
And now...!!!:-(
What had happened to you???
No Heart, No Memories???
My emotions slowly fading away...


Think of the memories which we have had…
How can you ever be without me…?
Guess you are heartless and feelingless…
My emotions slowly fading away...

Slowly and steadily day by day,
My care for you is being reverted...
And my feelings getting averted…
For the reason that,
"My emotions slowly fading away"...

DESPERATION TO LEAVE...
Not to spread the talking with your friends about me,
But Hiding past, just let it rest in peace...
Forget Me...

But not you sponge these tears,
Till your memories run sapless...
Forget Me...

Not to leave the days isolated,
And not to point out anything to you,
But to try and wipe out the actuality that we had all...
And thus to let me slip well out of your soul,
Forget Me...

Cause I'm repressed to forget and forgive,
So just enact as if we not ever met...
I ask you only one thing now,
And that is to...
Forget Me...

Hope life will be the best for you,
When I'm gone...
So please please please,
Forget Me...

RECONCILIATION...
Its not so poor, I'm not so worried...
I've crossed the distress,
And I'm lively once again...
I'm the HaPpY FeLLoW...

Don't imagine that I'm weeping all time,
There is no cause to worry...
And I'm really okie now...
For I'm the HaPpY FeLLoW...

I'm not gonna look back any more...
Wherever you are,
Still your happiness is mine too...
I'm now the HaPpIeSt FeLLoW...

FINAL LOOK (With a smile on the face)...
And now when I turn back...
All I can do is,
Just give a smile to my face and to my lips...
It's all part of life...

I'm really a brainless,
That I took crores of toiling seconds,
To understand that...
"Its all part of life"...

Verses of Frost flashing in my mind,
And Miles to go before I sleep...
And Miles to go before I sleep...

-Author
Do you really want to know who scribbled all such rubbish...??
It's me...My name is ViGnEsH....And I'm the HaPpY FeLLoW...

F.R.I.E.N.D.S (I'll be there for you !!)

"So no one told you life was gonna be this way, Your jobs a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.

Looks like you're always stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or even your year...

I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour,
I'll be there for you, like i've been there before,
I'll be there for you, Cuz you're there for me too..."

Life would always have been very different without friends. Taking me to where i am now, there have been a substantial contribution from all my friends right from elementary school to higher secondary school to college. If there is something that i have learnt from my past experiences, this is it. Friends are always an essential part of anyone's life. Everybody needs someone to be around them all the time. Though i might prefer ode in solitude, it can never beat the fun of even just hanging out with friends.

So now, i take this time out, to write a small (but meant) paragraph about my various pals who have been there through all my happiness, sorrowness, craziness, sleepiness, joblessness, etc, etc. P.S.: I am not mentioning any names.

To begin with, I start with a person who is often called kannadi (not very famous, but by some), who has been there althrough my elementary schooling. We were typical childhood friends who use to hangout all the time together. We went to school together, we went to play together, we went everywhere together. I cannot forget to mention this, we went to computer classes together (which my college mates used to kill me for). Nevertheless, we had all the best times together. It has been amazing how well we have grown up to be friends till now even thought we weren't the kind who used to talk/sms daily, etc. We hardly talked once a month (or once in two months may be), but we still have that wavelength that is keeping us together. Hope it remains the same forever.

Next, aargh, a tough choice, he's a short little guy whom i have known for probably from my very young age of say seven or eight (!!!). Well there's not much to write about him as he is the most cooolest one i have ever been with. Very reasonable in everything he does. To give a hint for ppl who are wondering whom i am talking about, he's currently undergoing training with cognizant (mentioning the name is a violation of corporate policy i guess :P). No wonder things with him will never end.

Next, yeah, from short little guy to a short little girl. She got introduced to me during her higher secondary schooling (some ppl may be knowing it was in madurai). Wierd about the fact that i first talked to her in orkut (orkut was the craze among ppl at that time). We talked and thanks to my cousin's cell phone at that time, which got us close. From then on its no looking back. We have had all possible incidents happening between us that could possibly happen between two friends :-) (nothing to regret for though). All the times i have been with her has been really wonderful.

Whose next? Yeah, it will be the guy from college with whom i spend most of college time with. The one thing about him that i need to mention is that no matter what the situation is, he is always ready with a response before even the question is asked. Trip to delhi, All the iv's, Login trips can never be forgotten. Especially all the saturday night walks without even knowing what we are talking about, will always be cherished in my everlasting memory. And yeah the so called project, i could not have had more fun in anything in college other than that.

Following is another guy from college, (who hails from the same city (village??) of vellore as the previous one), he is a conceptual friend of mine whom i came to know very well during our project (??) days in madurai and from then on we hit it right along. Again, the saturday night walks without knowing what we are talking about are indispensable. And the operation concepts concepts, we will never forget in life.

I cant miss the girl whom i tell as my cousin to everyone. Actually she isn't, she's just a close friend who calls me as bro (and whom i call as sisy). Again, we've known each other through online and sms from where we built a huge fort of friendship. Every moment with her has been awesome and there's always something more coming up. She has recently had her happiest moments in life (will be a point to talk later i guess !!). Nevertheless, she has been a great company whenever i needed one (i used to call her whenever i walk to a bus stand, railway station, shop, etc. :P). Fun aside, she has been laughing even at times when i pricked her nerves and pulled her legs to the extent possible (she probably got used to it).

I cannot end this post by saying thats it. Because i have not listed about everyone here, i have just listed about people in the time i got. Doesn't mean that nobody else has influenced mine. Apologies for all those about whom i have not written here and thanks for making my life happier.

Oh dear god, wait a minute, how could i end this post without mentioning one person who mattered the most. We were friends once (past tense intended). But now, hope you would have guessed it right by this pause. Anyways, i did my higher secondary schooling with her. Didn't know much of her during the school days. Got to know her through a mutual friend. Thats when things went well and we became good friends. We got into the exact same wavelength (though we realised later that we were 180 degree out of phase in everything). We were really the best and closest. I'll always cherish those wonderful moments i have had/having with her. To end this post, its not always being just F.R.I.E.N.D.S will do. There is always one step more in life with someone really special :-)

-Vignesh