But things change. Economy has changed. Priorities have changed. And I’m getting older (shit).

Suddenly I felt like “belonging” somewhere. I applied.  Thankfully, inspite of the economy, I got multiple offers. I accepted an offer from a company that I think is a great place to work for. Honest managers, great people, discount lunches, free beer on Fridays, an office painted with orange and yellow, work flexibility and they pay well.

My new employer — Cramer.

I’m glad I’m an Engineer.

32 days, my longest backpacking trip planned till date (beating scotland in 12 days four years ago)

Amsterdam –> Brussels –> Brugges –> Hamburg –> Berlin –> Prague –> Munich (Oktober fest finahle) –> Budapest –> Madrid –> Valencia/Toledo –> Athens –> Islands of Greece –> <Boston>

I’ve taken a Eurorail Global Pass and can’t wait to even think of writing and traveling on a moving train surrounded by some of the best things in life. Thanks to a couple of my past backpacker friends, who advised me enough tips, from notCarryingYourLaptop to avoidingGypsiesInBudapest, to taking the countrySide compared to the visitorAttractions, I should be all set with my “rough” itinerary along with three guide books, my custom tour guide and new hostel friends that I’m hopeful to meet in this trip.

On the sad side of the story, my current contract at the client gets over this Friday and I’m basically without a job and pay for a *long time*. But if you think about it, what better can it be, when there is no one waiting for you, no phone to answer, no date to fix, no politics and no time on internet.

I think its gonna kick ass.

Watched Before Sunset, yesterday, again. I must say, it’s one of the most intellectually stimulating romantic movies, I’ve ever seen.

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts
Let me sing you a waltz
About this one night stand

You were for me that night
Everything I always dreamt of in life
But now you’re gone
You are far gone
All the way to your island of rain
It was for you just a one night thing
But you were much more to me
Just so you know

I hear rumors about you
About all the bad things you do
But when we were together alone
You didn’t seem like a player at all
I don’t care what they say
I know what you meant for me that day
I just want another try
I just want another night
Even if it doesn’t seem quite right

You meant for me much more
Than anyone I’ve met before

One single night with you little Jesse
Is worth a thousand with anybody
I have no bitterness, my sweet
I’ll never forget this one night thing
Even tomorrow, in other arms
My heart will stay yours until I die

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my blues
Let me sing you a waltz
About this lovely one night stand

— July Delpy (a waltz for a night)

My MBP had a problem, the dvd drive wouldn’t work, my mistake as it fell down. I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store at the CambridgeSide Galleria and here is what they had to say: -

Genius Bar – Alrite, what’s the problem
Me – The drive, I think my mac fell down and the dvd doesn’t come out. I’ve tried everything
Genius Bar – Here, let me see.
(He puts in a thin blade and tries to hack it up. No use)
Hmmm. I think it’s got to be replaced
Me – You’re kidding!
Genius Bar – Do you have warranty on it?
Me – I think I’m almost close, can you check it?
Genius Bar – Sure. Oh oh, it ends on Jan 7th 2008.
Me – (shocked but I knew it), C’mon do something. I’m a hardcore Apple fan, I even bought the Iphone on first day and bought 2 more as gifts!
Genius Bar – Hmm
(Apple Sales associates, I tell you, are incredibly cute looking guys and girls. They always have an attitude and warm sweet smile)
Me – So, how much would it cost, anyways?
Genius Bar – 375$ for the drive and 60$ for labour.
Me – That’s ridiculous man!
Genius Bar – I know …
Me – C’mon man, do something. Please. I’m sure you can
(A 20 seconds silence)
Genius Bar – Ok .. I’m gonna do it for this time only. We won’t charge you anything

He smiles and smiles. And I smile too.

I’m off to Puerto Rico … the Carribean Islands, for an indefinite amount of time. Backpacking alone.

PS: And this is yet another fully paid holiday. More later.

It’s funny how things happen at particular times. I’ve been relentlessly spacing my thoughts in different trajectories for quite sometime. They were mostly personal. And then I visited Sphoorti at Hyderabad.

Life came to a stand-still.

All the kids invited me, shouting “Uncle” with smiling faces. I don’t remember this feeling ever. It is incredible. They don’t want anything from you. I was trying to remember when I saw a smile so freely and genuinely heartfelt, the last time. In fact, I don’t remember. It felt like my entire life only had a fictitious smile forcing itself like a dagger down my throat. The freedom of this place is so beautiful, I think good gets better. I sat with them, spoke to them to see what they were studying. Some danced well, some were good housekeepers, some had a painting hobby and some just sat there doing their homework all evening. It didn’t occur to me that I was visiting some sort of Govt school with endangered species or neglected children. This place was filled with love, lots of it.

Sphoorti is a grass roots level organization in Hyderabad, aimed to raise very poor children who are either orphans or their parents cannot afford education. It’s not really an orphanage. It’s not a shelter for food. It’s not a place funded by a white-collar corporate-ngo-ceo with nationalized-advertisement. Its a small place where children live, eat, play and goto school. I first heard of the guy behind this — Srivyal, his background was something like an educated young guy who worked in the US and came back to start his dream, to contribute to the society in his humble means. When a friend asked me to contribute, I was a little sceptic, like you. Who is this guy? Where will my money go? Is it really helping the society? Will it really light the bulb?

I checked the premises, it was a 6 room house, almost horizontal in structure with a large center-court, where they play, eat study in the evening. I looked at one of the rooms and I learnt that eight kids sleep in that space. I choked. Eight kids? I had a bedroom in Boston which was double the size and had a king size bed for myself, all with plush, two layer mattresses. They slept on the ground with blankets and pillows.

After a long thought, I decided — * everything. I’ll contribute either way, I haven’t done much anyways. The fact that a weekend booze and party can fund a child’s education, complete for one year, made me embarrassed with shame. A weekend party? One year’s education? American Dollar never looked so powerful. But it’s true. A year’s education costs 3000 rupees — a mere 75$. Still, we want to blame the Government and bitch about the inadequacies but honestly we haven’t done much to patch up our neighborhood. There probably are thousands of organizations around the world which probably are doing wonderful things, but why would you care when you don’t have physical contact or transparency. With Sphoorti, it’s a different story. It’s small, 45 children (in just 18 months) but growing and very ambitious. It’s in my neighborhood. I’ve seen the kids. We are planning expansion of land and facilities in the next one year and I’m glad that I’m going to be a part of this. I’ve seen Srivyal and his people working so hard relentlessly and so selflessly to make this a better and a bigger place. And at the end of the day, when I see their sweat and our little green bills convert into something so meaningful in life, honestly I think, life is not impossible.

If you cannot do it or if you do not have time to do it, forgive yourself. Atleast trust one person who does it for you. When you forgive, you love. When you love, God’s light shines on you. Now, I don’t know much about God. But I do know that sometimes, life is like a blind dead stone. You’re nothing but a head, facing with hands stretched apart. And when you extend it in the right direction, even the slightest of gesture is so painfully beautiful, that it’s worth respecting life, for a moment.

Taareen Zameen Par, inspired video of Sphoorti

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbinz_3zA-g

Please donate now, if you can’t make it. You’ll get two postcards from the kids, the one that says — “SMILE.”

For the pics from the Sphoorti Project, click here. They appear in the above video as well

While, it would take some time to write a travelogue, there is one pic which is by far my best shot on photographing people. The guy you see in the pic was the watchman at Jaipur city palace, he had a story written on his face. His smile never existed. His expressions — void. I asked him, can I take your pic? He looked at me, straight into my eyes giving me 3 seconds to react, and he walked away. The result is, this pic.

Jeez, India is expensive!

It’s amazing how seasons can change the perceptions of your own surroundings. The following four pictures are taken from the same location (my balcony, overlooking Charles River), in a 5 month duration – Summer, Fall, Winter.

1. End of July – Summer

2. Start of October – Fall

3. Starting December – Winter

(see the building built in the backdrop, compare it to the one in summer pic)

4. Mid December – Winter (Snow Storms)

(as you can see, entire charles river is frozen)

With an incredible view of the Charles river from my apt, It wasn’t that difficult for me to get down with a tripod and get some good shots of the world famous - ‘Head of the Charles’ - Regatta championships. Over 300,000 people came to visit this spectacular on the weekend. Watch some pics here.

A quick trip to New Hampshire on Sunday with my cousin, uncle & a good ol’ college mate. Added my fall color pics to the collection.

At the other end, I’ve managed to watch a few good movies, some of which has been pending for a while. Babel is my instant favorite now. It’s probably one of those movies which doesn’t categorize as a great movie overall, but some scenes do sweep you away. I particularly like the Background Score by Gustavo Santaolalla. He’s a phenomenal musician. I loved his score in Motorcycle Diaries and ofcourse for Brokeback Mountain, for which he won an oscar (not to mention the back to back Oscar for Babel). If you happen to download his score, do check out the title track for Babel. It’s simply one of the most beautiful, haunting scores in my collection now.

Recently, I was invited by my roommate at a Kickball game. I’m not much of a sports person but the need to get out and socialize and sweat your shirt out has been there for a while. Surprisingly, I played Cricket the other day (after a long gap of 7 yrs). Coming back to Kickball, it’s a fun game, not too difficult and can be played by a newbie to begin with, if you know the normal baseball rules. (Well, for starters, its a variant of baseball where you kick instead of hitting with a “Bat”. And you have a larger than life ball). The best part about the game is ofcourse the socializing aftermath and tons of beer!!! (Perhaps, the only game where we drink and play at the same time)

Signing off to Atlanta this weekend to meet a longtime friend and his wife, should be fun!

The course Syllabus was quite technical and covers a wide array of topics in the elements of fiction writing, mostly focussing on Workshops rather than teaching the fundamentals. Incidentally, I’m perhaps the most inexperienced ‘writer’ in the group, some of the students having publication experience too.

It’s a short course which lasts till the 3rd week of January 2008 and it sure is going to be a lot of fun!

Read more on my tech blog here

Never ever has there been an unprecedented fan following for someone with virtually zero marketing, branding or PR efforts. Russel Peters, a self made Indian Canadian comedian, is truly a phenomenon of sorts. With all the shows being sold out in Boston on his new tour of the US, I managed to get a seat for two for the late night show; it was hilarious! Luckily, this time around he did not repeat any of his older jokes; instead he made a fresh new start on Terrorism, “We are equal”, “Media is overhyped” bashing and finally – surprise, a whole episode on male organ sizes and an obvious reference to Asian community.

Right from the start, it was a roller coaster ride, absolutely enjoyed it. Being Boston, I wasn’t surprised with the multi cultural turnaround from all over the world. Arabs (inc Lebanon), Persians, Blacks from Kenya/Jamaica/Africa, Italian, Chinese, Taiwanese, American and of course Indian. It’s hard to imagine a guy who is so smart and well versed with pretty much every culture around the world.

If you see this guy around town, next time – don’t miss his show!

“Dude”

What?

“I think I have an idea which will change the world”

You’ve said that before but I guess people like you and me just talk, when will we actually do something?

“Hmmm., I think there is a lot of voyeur in dreaming an idea before making it Big. Let me tell you about this idea. It’s something very basic, yet noone seems to have thought about it”

Interesting.

“Ever thought about what one could do with some much of financial data, for instance our credit card, checking account transactions? THINK ABOUT IT. Even if the target audience is America, almost everyone has a checking/credit card. Many have multiple. With years of purchasing history stored in these banks, what have we done with that information? Can you even begin to think the patterns of purchasing power if all this data is somehow made anonymously available holding the privacy of the actual person who spent it?”

I don’t get it. How can you make the data anonymous?

“Simple. You have 3 years transactions in some format (excel, microsoft money, quicken). Simply publish your transactions without an account number or any attribute that reveals the identity. All you care is that you WANT your transactions to be processed, analyzed and help you to manage your money efficiently. By getting tips, by seeing graphs, by sharing transactions with a Community (This is Web 2.0), isolating purchasing powers within regions, age groups, domains etc. The horizon is limitless. Given the purchasing habits of a few million users (even anonymously), we probably have the world’s most sought after information at fingertips. Forget Google adwords”

Sounds interesting but how do you get the Web 2.0 in here?

“Simple. Firstly this website is going to be free. It is WYSIWYG interface which does a few good things. Upload your transactions, you can remain anonymous. We will show you exactly what you need to know. Your spendings/ savings graph and more – We will get you connected with other users just like you. You can tag transactions, share it in a community, Blog about buying secrets. etc. Its a healthy community that wants to help each other, not a corporate bully which wants your money”

That is all fine but isn’t there Quicken already which does pretty much all that and much more?

“Yeah, I used it and it sucks. Firstly I don’t need 75% of it’s features. Second I don’t have the time to analyze on my own with it’s overwhelming analysis of information . Third – there is no community support and Web 2.0. And its not free”

So you think it would work?

“When google wanted to start, people put it off. Apple was put off by HP about Personal computers”

Haha! Right you’re comparing this with the likes of Google?

“I’m not, just saying that good ideas can be simple. Just because it isn’t there doesn’t mean it will not work. In fact it means, it could work”

5 months later, last week I came across this site from a friend’s delicious links.

Wesabe

Ever felt like puking your guts out knowing how badly you have failed in a test you could have scored the max? That was exactly what I felt when I came across this site. This guy did JUST THE SAME idea I had envisioned back then. Boing Boing says – “Wasabe is a damned cool idea” and it’s shortlisted in “Best of the Web 2007″

Like they say, Dreamers only dream, true Visionaries execute. My best wishes to Jason, who started it all.

Read more here on my tech blog.

I don’t exactly remember when I graduated, I guess we were all more worried about the start dates of our campus jobs more than anything. It’s different when you graduate from Harvard though.

Quite a few things to explore and I’ve got my travel books all set from the Library, more on the itinerary later.

Summer has just started and this should be fun. I have a big list of travel plans for the next couple of months, this is just the beginning …

We’ve had hectic week at work with multiple releases in the pipeline this week, thanks to completely migrating to my macbook at workplace! I’ve got 3 databases running parallel on mine and the performance is like never before with MyEclipse Suite running in. Trust me, it feels so bloody good to write code on a macbook. After a long time I wrote over 500 lines of code in few hours and it works without a single error.

Now, did I say macbook inspires you to be a better programmer ?

On the other side, I’m driving to nyc this weekend (been planning for last 3 weeks actually). Good buddy Sanjeev along with his LA friends would be joining from Boston. I haven’t seen the Natural History Museum in NYC, though been to the wonderful Smithsonian history museums here in DC. Thats on the plan and ofcourse pub crawling and hitting a night club with the new friends, towards the night maybe

PS: My macbook is coming with me with all the code. It’s a part of me now.

[Update + 9pm ] We had a surprise corporate party today just around the time where I was supposed to leave, I chose to stay back for the party. With multiple rounds of Margarita & Vodka, Ive decided to drive through midnight.

This should be fun.