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

All That Started Good, Ended Greatly - 12th Dec 2009 !!!

So once again, continuing from my previous post taking you through to my entire wedding ceremony, one of the most important and most cherished day of my life, here I am with a short one on how the celebrations ended with a formal Wedding Reception Dinner Party on the 12th of December.

The venue, Kalhaar Exotica, true to it's name was exquisitely beautiful with plenty of natural surroundings and away from the hustle and bustle of the city noise and pollution. Not that far as the original Kalhaar Bungalows Scheme, the party plot is the common plot for the residents living in Kalhaar Exotica. Palm trees and lot of naturally grown plantations alongside the swimming pools and the entrance added to it's beauty.

After so many tiresome days and phone calls of planning, when we finally walked down that red carpet laid for us to reach the stage, the view that the floral backdrop gave, simply struck us in awe. The entire beauty of the flowers with the lights and the aura was just simply jaw dropping. The decorators had definitely done a splendid job, and so did the people from our factory in setting up the base, the columns and the framework for the entire wall filled with flowers. As expected the pictures came out to be simple gorgeous. I had amazingly fallen in love with the stage and so did Dipali.

But even before we went to the take our places under the lights, our photographer met us half way through and with Dipali's constant urging (now that she was my wife had to listen to her), we went through a painful round of almost all the poses once again, repeating some from the marriage, while also adding some new ones. With Dipali adding some of her own poses, the camera men were delighted to take the pictures even more enthusiastically. I was grumbling at that point of time, only to smile right now after I saw the results. (The most painful was me trying to get Dipali on my shoulders, trying to do a piggy back, but finally pulled it off)

Live music band playing all sorts of strictly happy songs, fun songs and vintage oldies made the event even more graceful and in spite of the chilly cold night, all those invited definitely seemed to be digging into the luscious and delicious Havmor food, while me and Dipali were trying to remember almost everyone that we met on the stage, as the night wore on and so did our hunger. Our faces and jaw bones literally ached with the smiles that we had to pose for the pictures.

But as we sat on the coveted thrones watching people watching us, I heaved a sigh of relief, all happy inside, watching my mom dad, all beaming with joy, grinning from ear to ear, Dipali too, enjoying her 15 minutes of fame, under the lights, grabbing little chances instructing the photographer to shoot some snaps, in between when no one would come on stage to wish us, and it seemed all that had started well, finally did end, and the end, a start to a new beginning as I always say, had been the best memory of my life.

Finally as we got down from the stage, sat down to dinner, feet bearing the pain of our weights, jaws bearing the pain of our dropping smiles at the end, I just literally jumped into the food without realizing that I have someone by my side whom I have to first ask whether she is hungry or not ;-) ! But when I glanced sideways, Dipali was already with a mouthful of sweets and chaats of all sorts... Phew ! I had just escaped a reprimanding, first of many to come that I expect !!!

Click Here for some Reception Pics !
(More on Facebook / Orkut)

Oh Well, we were headed to Maldives for our honeymoon, in a couple of days, and I was definitely looking for some quality time, away from the hectic life of the US, by the ocean, my feet in the sand, and the cool breeze in the hair ... Well more of Maldives in my next post guys ;-) ..

Till then Adios and if you have gone through the same marriage rituals as I did, just take out 5 minutes and relive those moments from your own marriage today :)
It's definitely going to bring back those lovely memories and more importantly would make your day with a great smile on your face !!!
So, go on and grab those pictures and cherish those moments with your soul mate :) :) :)

Cheers
Samy

Marriages are Made in Heaven - 11th Dec 2009 !!!

[PS: Warning: This is going to be a long one ... Come on fellaws, it's about my marriage after all ;-)]

A person in his/her entire life, comes across many such events, experiences a lot of such occasions, wherein some of them are truly mesmerizing and some undoubtedly life changing moments. These series of events, these Kodak moments are truly and fondly remembered for the rest of the life and talked for many years to come and go.

One after other a person goes through such important deviations of life, walks through such bends round the corner entering a different lane across the long journey that he/she has already begun since their birth. As the saying goes, there is always a first time to everything, and an auspicious and important moment that took place in my and Dipali's life was also one of those first time things [ and with everyone's blessings will be the first and the last for both of us :) :) ].

In continuation to my previous post, the pre-wedding celebrations had just ended the night before the D-day and I was lazily loitering around my house wondering about the next day. People have been there for tons of generations before me, and in spite of marriage's own sweet bitter taste of symphony, people are still going for it :) :) :) !! Well the entire week had been exciting, fun and exhausting too. But what was to come would definitely have it's own new fresh set of zeal and enthusiasm of celebrations.

11th Dec 2009 - The day dawned with a fresh stroke of sunlight only to find me sitting in my shorts and a sleeveless tee, in the middle of the room, with about 15 ladies around me, smearing my face, hands and legs with what is said a typical entity made out of Turmeric and Flour, yellowish in color and definitely the worst aroma it could have E V E R !!! No one left a tiny patch of skin neglected as these lovely ladies put their best effort in to perform the ritual of "Pithi" on me. This brings a great shine to the face - that is what everyone seems to instruct me whenever I would refrain from getting this done over and over again for 30 minutes or so. I was just dreaming about a hot shower with a floral essence while all this was happening.

I heaved a sigh of relief right after a nice bath and adorned the clothes of the groom with pride and instantly felt goose bumps coming and going. With a lot of hustle and bustle going on outside my room, the cameramen setting up the living room with their studio lights and people chatting and bantering, trying to have their own little fun amidst the event, I was sitting quietly, all dressed up, wearing the best possible outfit that a male could ever get blessed with (for once and for all in his lifetime lol), thinking about the life ahead. Well you must be thinking is he insane or what right ... To be true, I was not at all thinking of my life, but only thinking about my wife to be ;-)

Well the entire wedding procession was suppose to be in 3 parts.. The first was at Champnivas my home, as per the auspicious time, the second one at Amaltas, where every one was officially invited to be a part of my celebration, and then the third one at Rajpath where the actual ceremony was going to be held. After almost a 100 clicks at my home in all kinds of Bollywood, Hollywood, Gollywood and Kollywood poses, I finally was allowed to tap my feet with my cousins and a couple of friends at the beats of a "dholi". Thereafter a long trip along with two of my sisters to Amaltas felt like never ending, especially when those two kept on talking endlessly about 50 different topics and I was lost somewhere else. (No offense sisters, but try n understand a groom's feelings lol .. lots of love ... ;-) )

The break at Amaltas felt nice, and I got some time to have a breather from the hype and hoolah of the entire event. All my friends, relatives, cousins and dad's friends were present at the venue. The police band was playing all the famous tunes and the dance lovers were leaving no stones upturned as they swayed to the beats and my aunt (Mrs. Ila Jagdish Dalal) made sure that all of them had their hands, hips and legs tapping to the music. I just could not resist and in spite of some big no-no from a couple of people, I just pushed myself into the crowd to give it a go for 10-15 min. That was all, when the right time came to move on with the "Jaan" and proceed to the final destination.

Once again, as we approached Rajpath's Diamond Hall, the auspicious place for the marriage, the music started again, and this time, it was not just us, but for a brief period of time my in-laws joined in too. After the Pandit's interruption only, the band stopped playing, and as I stepped out, my Mother-in-Law approached me for the rituals. Well now, this is the moment that no son-in-law would never ever want to go against him. In this small ritual the bride's mother while performing the rituals tries to grab hold of the son-in-law's nose and tries to squeeze it. The groom definitely has to save his nose and for that, my good friend Vivek Patel did a nice job, as he literally blindsided me with a napkin to cover my nose. At the end it came through nicely and I held my nose high with my mother-in-law staring at me and Vivek lol.

The bride was already waiting with a garland in her hands as my friends made sure that it's gonna be difficult for her to simply put the garland around my neck. Kunjan and Aditya lifted me on their shoulders and all I could do was tell them to hold me carefully and not cause any harm to my sensitive parts of the body ! Well Dipali was not be left out either, as two people ushered her up too, to be face to face, and put the garland around me !!! With that, we the boy's side were given a warm welcome into the hall and the marriage rituals had begun.

The ceremony in Jains lasts hardly 30-40 minutes as after a couple of other rituals, the time came when both of us were instructed to get up and take the rounds in front of the holy fire. With that, came an instant bombardment of almost all the flowers, petals, leaves etc etc etc that my friends, Dipali's friends, cousins could get hold of, and Dipali was literally blinded by that attack on us. There were hardly any strands left on stage which might bear some flowers in them.

Putting garlands onto each other, and with the rings exchange, the entire ceremony ended as we were declared Husband (Has-Bandh - stop laughing) and Wife ... Well, I wondered if I had got married as per the American way, I might have got the opportunity to kiss the bride too, but alas, that would have to wait ;-)

Fast-forward ...
With plenty of blessings from the old members of the family, with lots of hugs and love from the younger ones, and after about 100s of camera clicks, the time came when my in-laws would be bidding Dipali farewell, and I was waiting to see the sad scenes :( But, as my luck would be, Dipali did not shed a tear as people around her were almost down to a bucket full of tears !!! Even her brother managed a few (might be thinking that it's a compulsory ritual lol) ...

With that, we came back home, for a last ritual, where both of us would have to dip our hands in the auspicious red water and hunt for the coin/ring. It's like a game, best of 5, the winner is supposed to dominate the other half for the rest of their life. Well, as it was supposed to be "naturally", I won 4 times and let her win 1 time for the sake of just not calling her a loser 5 times in a row :)

Phew !! Even as I am writing this, I am just smiling and grinning from ear to ear, remembering all those flashes and missing home even more !!!

Thanks to each and every single person, for being a part of the most important occasion of my (our) life, thanks for being there physically and/or remotely and sharing my happiness and joy, and for all your well-wishes and blessings !!! For those who could not make it to my wedding due to unavoidable circumstances I have uploaded some very few pics to share and I hope my description above did made you feel as if nothing was missed :) :) :) !!!
(Sorry due to privacy issue I am not uploading a whole bunch of other pics, but if you have not yet seen those just drop an email to me : samkit.s.shah@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to share those with you !!! )

Click Here for some very very few Pics at a glance !
(The rest on Facebook / Orkut)

More coming up in the next post, but a short version, of the Reception Dinner and how much our haw line bore the pain of smiling through the entire event :)

Cheers
Samkit-Dipali

Its just "I" and all about "Me" !!!

This is something I read in Neha's blog and thought of putting it up here too ...
Its all about "me", and I am not sure how much true it would be ;-) lol !!!

Click "READ MORE" to read the entire post ...

i am: What I Am, but at the end I would turn out to be, what my God wants me to be ...
i think: Not ALL of us out here are "that" lucky, so try and make the most of what one has in his/her platter of life - good or bad without complaints...
i know: I will make it big some day !!!
i want: to educate poor children in the future ...
i have: lived 25 % of my life, committing sins, and it will take another 75 % to wash those sins away !!! So I have cut a deal with God to let me wash my sins till I reach 100 !!! ;-)
i wish: I can own a big business !!!
i hate: hypocrats, liars, people showing false attitudes...
i miss: each and every moment of past life so far and so i keep on trying to recreate those again and again ....
i fear: the God's stick which might come down any moment to punish me or warn me for my sins...
i feel: i am living in a dream world of my own (typical piscean trait) ...
i hear: my own voice, when I am at the lowest point in my life ....
i smell: great with Ferrari Black, Blvgari and Davidoff Cool Waterg !!!
i crave: to give a great life to my parents !!! (i m giving them a hard time right now lol ;-) )
i search: for wisdom and positive points in others ...but I rarely find the latter....
i wonder:what I would do without friends !!!
i regret: lot of important things which I did and without which my life would still have moved on if I had not done those ...
i love: to driveeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!
i ache: for love from someone special !!!!!
i care: for everyone who I feel is worth caring for ....
i always: will remember one motto "Fight On" from USC !!!
i am not: able to control my emotions when I really have to ...
i believe: in Destiny !!! "One's story has already been written up there above, no matter who we are and what we do, we are just puppets at the end, controlled by our destiny"
i dance: alone in the bathroom...
i sing: when I feel people need to hear something soothing !!!!lol
i cry: only if I want to, not if someone makes me cry !!!
i don’t always: try and be emotional... I have learnt being practical too....
i fight: with almost anyone who sparks me off due to wrong reasons....
i write: in my blogs, some personal notes, some poems(newly found talent lol), some funny paras for friends ....
i win: when I have to - No matter what !!!
i lose: my appetite when I am under pressure...
i never: want to lose anyone or anything in life close to me, due to wrong reasons....
i confuse: people with my "Ha Bhai" style replies .....
i listen: ONLY to what my Parents have to say and not to anyone else ....
i can usually be found: pulling people's legs (people who know how to be funny and not react to it and are capable of enjoying the jokes.....)
i am scared: of being caught up in controversies !!!!
i need: to do sky diving, go to Europe, drive my car in the US at 100+ speeds, go on a cruise to Alaska etc etc.... the list goes on ....
i am happy about: this post as I never knew so many things about my own self !!!!!

Cheers

Samkit