Stand-up Paddleboarding!

Off late, we have developed a curious obsession. It's made our weekends much more awesome and active (physically).

Most people here either hike or bike on weekends to keep themselves physically active. I hated hiking mostly because it was sweaty and i just was not physically cut for it. I have tried it a bunch of times in the past and failed to develop any liking towards it whatsoever.

Stand-up Paddleboarding (SUP)!

Gayathri is a huge fan of water related activities. We started out with basic kayak'ing in a near by lake. As we did that, i found that to be super fun. It was literally like sitting on water. We could go at our own pace and it was awesome. As we did that, we started awe'ing at people who did stuff which seemed even more fun - like Stand-up paddleboarding, Wind surfing and Kite boarding.

We decided to give Stand-up Paddleboarding a shot (SUP) as that was the activity that seemed the most fun with the least learning curve. And boy, it was really one of the best decisions we have ever made in life. It was like kayaking, but way better. You were further closer to water, you could stand, sit, kneel, lie down (and even do some yoga while you are at it). You were figuratively walking on water with something easily maneuverable. It was amazing.

Who needs life jackets in the middle of a ~30ft lagoon ...

We are still looking forward to paddleboarding in the pacific ocean (so far did only in lakes and lagoons where the water is fairly still). We are also looking forward to learning the more harder water activites like Wind Surfing and Kite Boarding.

You can literally sleep on water ...

Until then, I highly recommend trying out SUP. Just go to a near by lake this weekend and rent one. I promise you, it will be totally worth it.


-Vignesh

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