A Thankful Reminder !!!

It's been a while now since I have faced the writer's block, and somehow had nothing to pen down. Festivals came by and went on their way for yet another year, but there was nothing special to write about them since there was nothing different than the previous year. But then today, I came across a random video (through one of my FB friend) that prompted me to at-least scribble some thoughts and express my opinion. 

Whether or not you believe in God, this post is not about what is correct spiritually and what is correct morally, and I am not here to make a statement. It's up to each individual's nature and the way they can interpret this post and think wisely.

How many times have we seen ourselves standing in front of the God, in a temple, mosque or a church, head down, hands folded, praying for our well-being, asking God for things that we do not have, pleading God to give us more and more, wishing we had this and we had that, or begging not to have this and not to have that. I myself, included, have been a part of this daily/weekly/monthly ritual of walking up to the God and complaining about things in our surroundings, going through our wish list, grumbling about certain short comings, and sometimes blatantly asking for something stupid.

After seeing the video below, I must say, there could be plenty of such videos, literature, news, articles and what not circling the web and many of us might have gone through them, and then carried on with our routine. Most probably, watching this video, and reading this blog, I myself, and you too would just care less and carry on with your daily life, go back to what you do best, and simply forget about this. Most of you would just shrug their shoulders and say what can I do, while on a positive side some of you might just learn something on your own through this post and the video. 

Either ways, I am not here to guide or to instruct anyone with what one should do and should not do. I am here just to share this video, and through that my ultimate aim is to just TRY to see if my message, my blog post and this video, touches even one single soul and if there is something he/she needs to mend in how they live their daily life, and if they do, I would have served my purpose, and in doing so I believe this applies on me too.

My only message after watching this video, is not to ask you for loads of donation, or ask for any kindness, or to walk you through a moral science chapter from school days, but I would surely like to ask you to check yourself the next time when you ask something from God. I would urge you to think about this video when you are about to waste a morsel of food in your plate just because you ended up serving yourself a bit more. It would be worth remembering these unlucky children when you are keeping your water tap running while you are checking your FB news feed on the phone. You would want to check yourself and someone at the table, if you/he/she has a habit of wasting food and make them understand that there are people around the world, who barely get to drink a small cup of milk in a fortnight. There are people, who have to struggle to earn themselves the luxury of a glass of water. For you a piece of cloth might be junk just because there is a mark of pen on it, but for someone that could serve as a cloth to build a tent and live under it. 

Remember this video and ask your self whether you are lucky enough to have what you already have, and whether you should still be complaining, grumbling and cribbing about what you DO NOT have? Would it be fair enough on your part, to always waste what you have, misuse what you have been gifted with and yet ask for MORE and MORE? Would you still consider yourself unlucky if you miss out on some kind of opportunity and curse God for that? Or would you rather be satisfied with what you already have?

Kindly do not forget, you have been lucky enough to live the life that you are currently living, and you have already been gifted, and so instead of sulking about what you do not have, try, simply try, to make an effort of not misusing or wasting what might mean nothing for you, but for the underprivileged unlucky ones, those things mean the world. It's your good Karma that is helping you in this birth, and it would be your good Karma that will help you even further !

Cheers

Samy

Adios Virage Logic, Bienvenido Synopsys !!!

One may come across such a point in his/her life when you feel that the world has come to a stop, as if you are onto a tumbling upside down ride of different emotions and hardly can look through the misty clouds hovering above in your mind. The time for which such events last, varies from some minutes to maybe days and months, but the end result is all that matters.

Something of similar sorts, is what I could describe from last week's pulsating topsy turvy set of events where the nerves got more and more intense with each passing day and ultimately what me and many others went through on a Friday could be hardly paid any justice through words unless experienced in person(which I pray no one has to go through). A day of riveting ups and downs, many anxious moments, lots of deep breathes and a sigh of relief at the end for many, while some disheartened hearts for some, it was all about the Synopsys acquisition of my pre-friday employer Virage Logic.

The entire last week was filled with some fun, food and a tad bit of drama, as ultimately after BBQs, team lunches, Bocce Ball games it all came down to one single day - Friday ! Tension was in the air and everyone could smell something's cooking up, as we all awaited with bated breath for the verdict on our professional futures. For me personally, it was a traumatizing night before, feeling all restless, hardly managing to get some few hours of sleep.

Since Thursday night, the NavkarMantras (Holy scriptures) were on my lips, smiling nervously thinking about what is gonna happen tomorrow. Spent a few quality minutes to my self early in the morning in the temple, and the butterflies in my stomach took some rest, but only for a few moments, as they were up and creating havoc inside as I reached my cubicle. As it happened to be, we were asked to remain in our cubes until our managers/boss comes and tells us whether we have a job or not !

Oh Well ! The tic toc tic toc, the slow winding down of the clock began and it seemed to be ages as the clock hands just would not feel like budging and moving a bit faster. The nerves were intense, and the engineering floor where I sit was observing some kind of a dead silence to an extent, and one can literally hear the sound of the AC vents and some random keyboard clicking elsewhere. An eerie surrounding prevailed as everyone waited for their supervisors to drop by and break the news to them.

Even while this was happening, there were some farewell emails that started popping up in my mail box, and that brought more pressure and tension kept on mounting. On the light side, I must have had so many deep breaths, that I could have easily opened up a profitable balloon shop business inflating tons of them with my deep sighs of breathing. The clock struck 9.30, 10, 10.30, 11, 11.30 and even at noon there were almost no news.

And then, finally some minutes past noon, people around me started heaving a sigh of relief as they were called upon by their managers and given the good news about them being secured. I waited, and waited and even waited more, looking to the Gods I have on my desk every 2 minutes or so, the mantras on my lips since morning, biting my lips all over, trying to stay as warm as I could feel the shivers running up and down my spine, my feet went cold and my mind could not concentrate or focus at all. All these and still no news !

All week long I was joking about why I have kept a small refrigerator in my cube for such situations, where if I would have to face some devilish situations, I would just fit myself into the refrigerator and freeze myself until the evil time passes by. But now those jokes were no more funnier as no one could avoid the inevitable and then after all these trauma, finally, my boss steps by and tells me with a big grin on his face that I am safe !

Phew ! The magnitude at which I let off my bated breath was such that it could have brought a small tremor to the entire building. But wow ! I was like phew ! And so it happened, that amongst this wild whirlwinds, most of us were not affected including me, and I beamed with joy as I was handed the official paperwork from Synopsys. I took a deep breath, for the last time that day, went over the paperwork, took the binder, took my laptop, the car keys, and just went straight out of the office building and drove back home. I could not imagine myself spending even one more moment in my cubicle that day !

My heart goes out to those affected, and for some of my best friends at work, whom I did not even get a chance to say good-bye. It was a painful exercise for everyone, but a new beginning beckons. The feeling is sinking in slowly and steadily, and we are still away from actually migrating to a different location yet, but I hope the new work culture and this change brings more new opportunities and new benefits for me and for everyone else :)))

So it's been a tremendous ride with Virage Logic and our CEO was quite emotional a day before during the company BBQ when he personally handed over the first ever Virage Logic t-shirt to the Synopsys CEO and the keys to the Virage Logic building to the Synopsys VP under whom we would be operating.

So finally, after a plethora of emotions, and a flurry of anxious moments, the wait is finally over and it's time to bid Virage Logic Adios and extend a warm Bienvenido to Synopsys :)

Cheers
Samy

Celebrating Love !!!

Apparently as we all know time flies by, and sometimes it takes it own sweet and slow road, whereas in most of the cases it just whizzes past us in today's fast paced life. No matter how your time goes by, it's the memories that remain, slow or fast, ups and downs, good or bad - all that matters is how you have lived those moments.

Reflecting back upon time, the two most noteworthy events that happened to change my life big time, happen to fall in the month of August. One of them changed how I would end up career wise whilst the second event which is by far the most closest to my heart happened to change the way my heart would beat for the rest of my life.

On the whole the first event happened to add substance to my life while the second love-filled life changing emotional moment happened to add a whole new meaning and an entirely different dimension to my life.

It would deem unfair if I was to jump directly to the second event without mentioning a bit about the first one, only for the sole reason that if it was not for the substantial first event that took place, I would not have got a chance to witness the second one. Or maybe I would have ? God knows ! So not to confuse between the first and the second any more, I would like to mention that 1st of August marked my 6 years in the US. As it happens to be I came for my Master's in USC and that was the first step which changed my life on the career front, added some substantial goals and aims to my life and helped me grow from a 21-year old naive young man to a much more matured and an experienced individual where I stand today.

I still remember those anxious sad moments, those teary eyes and those heart-skipping moments on the Ahmedabad airport when I was about to board the flight. I feel quite nostalgic about it and this has been the same feeling that has crept into my heart every time I have gone home since then and came back. Each and every single time, the feeling of leaving my home and my parents and not seeing them for yet another 11 months has made me gloomy, sad and has given me watery eyes - no matter how hard I try to be strong. It has been a long journey and am not sure how and where this would take me but some things are better left to fate I must say.

Well fast-forward from 2004 to 2008 and rewinding back from 2010 to 2008, 9th of August, marks another important "life-changing" event that took place in my life, which happened to make my heart beat not only for me but it also started singing along the rhythm of someone else's heart beats too. It was this day that I went down on one knee and proposed Dipali to come join me in my quest to fill our lives with love and emotions. The entire experience of that day and how I managed to gather my guts to propose her are composed here :: Click Here !

As I went through that post, one more time today, I still got some goosebumps and would give anything to move back in time and go through it once again ! (PS:: Only this time, I would ask her to be lenient on the drinking limit instead of completely cutting it off for me lol... And of-course would not miss my opportunity to ask her dad for some $$$$ Dowry). No matter how much we try we can never turn back time. All one can do is just relive those moments yet again in a similar yet different way and experience love.

It's been a tremendous journey, filled with lots of love, fights, likes and dislikes, pillow wars and night full of snores, cheeks pulling and hair clinching moments, but at the end, it has been a great emotional roller-coaster ride with my love.

I am sure those who have gone through such love and emotions, would agree with me, that such events do change the way you portray your future, the way you think and dream about where and what you would want to do down the line, now that you have someone to look and care for, and especially how would you want your life's puzzle to play out with your partner by your side. One would definitely have a vision of you and your better half scaling new heights and conquering new fronts in the quest of life.

For me, I see myself playing Poker on the front porch of my home, with a stick in my hand, a little bald, my teeth lying in a glass container, and Dipali putting up a sweet Poker Face, trying to win it all. She would still have that zeal, she has now, to call ALL IN, and go up and down in her chair after winning.

As, for me, I am, and would have already been a winner by then with her by my side :), smiling at her cute little beaming face filled with joy at winning a card game. And a fantastic reality check for me would be when she would stand up, take the coins and pose in front of me, expecting me to stand on my weak feet, take out the SLR and shoot some 100-200K pics, which I guess I would obediently love to do !!!

Love You Jaana !!! Muha !

Cheers
Samy

Happy Birthday - Dad and Mom !!!

So as the story goes, my Dad does make a good point to justify the love that exists for my Mom by saying that he had his eyes set, his heart determined and his future foreseen right from the moment he was born.

When asked the meaning behind this story, he rightly explains it by mentioning that he was born the 18th of July 1958 and my Mom came following his love for her, one and a half day later, on 20th July 1958. So with affection in his eyes, my Dad says, I was falling in love with this cute damsel who was there in the hospital just two beds away from me. And that is how their love began and flourished !!!

I still remember, come July and their birthdays meant special dinner treats outside, and living room filled with fresh roses (which eventually stopped due to religious sin reasons), and delicious cakes all week long :). But one memory that stands out for me personally is receiving money from both ends and scurrying around to find an appropriate "Happy Birthday to a lovely Wife" and "Happy Birthday to a lovely Husband" cards. I still remember riding my bike all the way to far off stores on C.G. Road and buying such cards and facing surprising looks from some old uncle or a crooked lady behind the counter who would look at this boy with curly hair, and wondering as to why is he buying Husband and Wife cards.

The challenge for me would be to bring those cards back in the home base, trying to avoid the sniper eyes of my parents (especially my dad, whom I have known to have possessed not just one but maybe 3-4 set of eyes all fixed around his smart, witty and intelligent head and who always seem to catch me even with his eyes closed for all my mischiefs). I remember tucking these cards in my t-shirts, books, cricket bat covers and what not. Somehow I would manage to slip these cards in the respective person's hands without the other one catching attention. 

I also had the privilege of getting every child's fascination fulfilled - the one where every young gun like me, would love to be a part of a surprise (especially gifts and parties) and somehow have a sense of satisfaction of  being the ONLY one to be aware of which parent is planning what just a day apart. Mom would take me to a store to pick up a gift for Dad and Dad would do the same for Mom. It felt something special to beam with joy and inner superiority of having been a part of both sides gift choosing moments.

Well I have been deprived of those VIP privileges for almost 6 years now since I have been in the US but one thing that has not lost its charm is the dinner outings which Dad - Mom make it a point to definitely go out with. I am sure they are looking forward to having their son (and now their daughter too) with them to celebrate their birthdays, as much as I yearn to have them by my side for mine :).

So here is to a fantastic Dad - someone whom I have always admired for all his mental strength, never-say-die spirit, a fighting warrior with a truck load of patience - who has been by all means the best, the loving and the light-guiding DAD that anyone would always want...

And here is to a wonderful Mom - who by some sorts is the most strongest pillar of my family, emotionally and mentally, and has abundant love and care to shower upon her son (and a part of which is now being shared by my wifey ... Grrrr - I am used to being the ONLY ONE !!!) ...

H A P P Y      B I R T H D A Y     D A D    &   M O M 

I am lucky and I thank God every day for bestowing upon me such wonderful parents who are always looking upon me even as I grow older and they grow older with each passing year !!! World's Tightest Hug to you Both - Maa and Daddu !!! Muhaaa !!! 

Cheers

Samkit - Dipali

A Big Time Change !!!

Well to start with I was facing a big time writer's block, where I just could not figure out what to pen down over the past month or so. There were lot of activities and events that came by and went on their way, but nothing worth noting down up until last week. And just when I was wondering what to blog about, this piece of news flash came by and stirred up a series of new beginnings.

Even as my life was going on at a decent pace, I guess it was not meant to be going like that forever. Change is the only constant and it seems I am due (or forced) for a big time change on the professional front. After all it has been 3.5 years since I joined a bunch of fresh graduates entering the field, securing a job in the semi-conductor industry and embarking upon a career path just like any other individual (read "engineers") here in the Silicon Valley.

Well, as it happened on Thursday the 10th of June, amidst a flurry of small hushed discussions, some nervous laughters and some anxious moments, the news came in that my company Virage Logic (www.viragelogic.com) has been bought by Synopsys (www.synopsys.com) and as the news sunk in, I realized that this was a big time move, and happy or not, it dawned upon me that this could be either the beginning of an another exciting phase, or it could be a traumatizing struggle for a new beginning (and I pray to God this not be true), if things go haywire and don't turn out the way I pray it to be ;-).

The deal is expected to close by Synopsys end of Fiscal 2010, which is somewhere in Sept-Oct time frame, and so I guess the months leading into that final closure days, would be filled with curiosity, anxiousness and a tad bit of nervousness about the uncertainty of Virage employees and their job profiles. Speaking of which, I myself am gonna be in the middle of this whirlwind twisters and only God knows what would the final act be.

Nevertheless, let's hope for the best and stay prepared for the worst. 12 $ a share, a 315 million deal, 28 % premium, with the speculations of the entire Virage staff being moved to a new location near the Synopsys headquarters, this big time change brings in a lot of excitement (and hopefully it stays the same for a long time), but also brings a lot of doubts and insecurities into one's mind about what would the next level be and how would things churn out at the end, especially for the Virage staff.

Oh Well ! Time for a deep breath and let these months pass by. I wish for the best and I just hope for the good, but if not, then I at-least pray for the not-so-bad to happen :).

News Flashes about Synopsys acquiring Virage Logic and the latest updates ::

Link 1

Link 2

Cheers

Samy

Happy Mother's Day Maa !!!

This Sunday, 9th of May, would be just another regular day for some, but we need not forget that it happens to be also one of the most important days for someone special - someone who was born a girl, matured into a woman, became a wife and then God who thought as if it was not enough, he needed  to be at so many places and thus needed someone to represent his own self - went on to sculpt the most wonderful thing - He created Mothers !

Whether it's a new mom, a mom-to-be or a grand-mom, it's a day where we all should stop for a moment, take a step back and wish the moms a very happy Mother's day ! It's the day to give these special ladies the much deserved recognition, a round of heart felt applause and warm hugs only to appreciate a simple fact - that it's the mother who has unselfishly been the center of the spinning wheel of our life. It's a day to treat them to something special and acknowledge the time, efforts and perseverance of our sweet moms who has endlessly committed to doing the very best for the ones she loves, and only expecting to receive that same love in return.

It's worth a thought to realize how the role of a mother has changed over the years. There was a time when a mom was expected to take care of the daily household duties, raise her children, take care of her in-laws, look after her husband's routine - on the whole - dedicate her life to her family - and that would make a great mother. Between the laundry, raising children, cooking 2-3 square meals a day, shopping and even housekeeping to an extent, mom's have had hardly any time to their own self.

Significant as it may seem, the role of a modern mother in today's world has now changed - changed but not to exclude the already mentioned duties, but in fact to include even more on her platter. A 2010 super-mom, as we may want to tag, is someone who alongside her family duties, also is expected, maybe to work, handle a business, seek out and resolve new challenges other than the regular motherly duties.

Put it in a simpler way - Being a mother is in itself a life-time full-time job !

So let's make it a point this Mother's day, if not gift our mom something extravagantly surprising, even if not treating her to something nice (for those away from their moms), but then at-least just wish her from the bottom of our hearts and thank her for a simply "awesome" job she has done all these years in handling kids like us !

Happy Mothers Day to you Maa !

Wishing you a very happy mother's day maa, as I hug you to say a great great thanks for all the wonderful things that you have done for me and for our family, standing firm and confident through the thick and the thin, and more importantly for keeping up with a naughty, hard-to-handle, prankster, debateful child like me !

Cheers

Samy

Connect The Dots - Book Review !!!

The first glance at this new release sequel from Rashmi Bansal, and the book cover strikes a resembling chord with it's predecessor "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" - a book which talked about 25 IIM-A graduates who made it big. Of similar sorts, comes the "Connect The Dots" - a book that talks definitely about people who made it big, but those who actually did not pursue the path of an MBA and still managed to make their mark ! The title "Connect The Dots" has been derived from the same speech by Steve Jobs (@Stanford) where he mentioned about "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish".

People featured in this book are the not-so-well-known big guns of the industry but their stories and their endeavors are worth reading as to how they managed to fight their own way and carve out their own destiny in things that they believed did not need any formal educative knowledge or the accolades of being a MBA degree holder but survived only on one simple fact - Passion, hunger and the desire to succeed - come what may.

Of-course education does matter at some point of time, but the inspiring stories about these 20 entrepreneurs definitely makes one think twice (maybe thrice) as to whether the traditional way of following a path of education and then applying the formal knowledge is more fruitful or is it the unconventional, experimental, fearless option of saying no to a reputed degree and instead practically just throwing one's own self into the world of business turns out to be a more successful venture? 

Prominent names and their ventures covered under this title are:

Prem Ganapathy :: Dosa Plaza

Kunwer Sachdev :: Su-Kam

Ganesh Ram :: Veta

Sunita Ramnathkar :: Fem

M Mahadevan :: Oriental Cuisine

Hanmant Gaikwad :: BVG India

Ranjiv Ramchandani :: Tantra

Suresh Kamath :: Laser Soft

Raghu Khanna :: Cashurdrive

R Sriram :: Crossword

Saurabh Vyas and Gaurav Rathore :: PoliticalEDGE

Satyajit Singh :: Shakti Sudha

Sunil Bhu :: Flanders Dairy

Chetan Maini :: Reva

Mahima Mehra :: Haathi Chaap

Samar Gupta :: Trikaya Agriculture

Abhijit Bansod :: Studio ABD

Paresh Mokashi :: Harishchandrachi Factory

Krishna Reddy :: Prince Dance Group

Kalyan Varma :: Wildlife Photographer

These are real life stories of people ranging from such a diversified industrial background, people from Agriculture and Food, Politics, Photography and Theater, Software and Hardware, Re-cycling and Creative mediums, Cosmetics, Books and Education and even Housekeeping and Cleaning.

A good read I must say in my personal opinion, as Rashmi Bansal shines again with this yet another great book to learn about certain people's success/failure stories ! The book has been categorized in 3 major categories: Jugaad, Junoon and Zubaan !

Jugaad :: "These entrepreneurs have no formal training in business. They learnt by observation, experimentation and application of mind. Because ultimately, business is not 'rocket science'."

Junoon :: "Some entrepreneurs are driven by a particular idea, or passion. Something which is different, ahead of its time. These ventures are about making that dream, a living reality."

Zubaan :: "Creative people need a platform to express themselves. When that talent is unique, the platform must be created. And in doing so, the artist too becomes and 'entrepreneur'."

About the author ::

Rashmi Bansal blogs at :: Youth Curry

Connect The Dots Website ::  Click Here

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish Website :: Click Here

Follow Rashmi Bansal in Twitter at :: www.twitter.com/rashmibansal

Cheers

Samy