Third Week in Sunnyvale/Fremont/Berkeley
The highlight of my third week was that I was able to place my feet on the hallowed turf of "University of California at Berkeley" which probably boasts the highest number of Nobel laureates in a single institution.
Monday, July 9th:
I am thinking that 3 weeks from now on, I would be back at my beloved, not so much really, cubicle in PSPL. As usual we go for the Lunch with the engineering group and then the afternoon session is spent mostly in answering queries from Engineering.
I wish Amit Bhise a very happy birthday, albeit belatedly. Time zones/difference can be killing
Tuesday, July 10th:
You've gottta give me this one, 2+ weeks and not a single statistic from me !! Ameya/Harshu would be nauseated ;) Ok then, here's wishing Sunil Gavaskar a Very Happy 58th Birthday. We are at the fag end of the QH4 cycle and waiting for the handoff the next day.
Wednesday, July 11th:
While on my way to office, I am thinking, one week back I was on my way to SanFrancisco for the I-Day celebrations.Meetings, with Engineering and Bug Triage etc, and the entire morning and early afternoon vrooms by.. We are waiting for the Handoff notification but we receive the same just before 8pm and its way late for us to check its feasibility/stability. Our team in China takes the responsibility and I send a flurry of emails and reach home quite late.Thats two consecutive hectic Wednesdays, one for enjoyment the other for work.
Thursday, July 12th:
I am working from 9am to 11pm most of it very Project Specific. There is the monthly/quarterly meeting at Innopath. I am not a part of it as Company Confidential information is being disbursed. However.., for the disbursed food, I was a front-runner of sorts. But with only one dish each of Chicken and Veg items, there was nothing to be excited about.
Friday, July 13th:
Even though being Friday the 13th, it actually is one of the nicest days I have over here. I have invitations from Ashutosh & Swati, friends from Clemson and on Sunday from the Patwardhan family, family friends for the weekend and I having the nostalgic feeling of those days from Clemson. Work pressure brings me back to reality and I am fighting back the eagerness.
6:30pm -> The best 48-hour period of stay begins with a wait of an hour but the time is spent watching an amazing episode of "Seinfeld", the one with "the BET".
Ashu is here and I treat him to a couple of Baakarwadis. Within a couple of minutes we are in his stylish Nissan-Altima and on the way to Fremont.
Its great to see Swati after a long time. The last image I have of them is them fighting back boredom risen out of countless pictures being taken during their wedding reception. Neither have changed in terms of shape, though Mrs Finance Minister is so-close to being moved from Resident Individual to Institutional Bidder !! And, this time I am real serious.
Mark this: Swati will one day be on the front page of Wall Street Journal.
Ashu's parents are also amazing individuals who are enjoying their post-retirement days at their elder son's beautiful place in Fremont. Faar, faar away from the horrific monsoons of Mumbai. We keep chatting about our Waitressing experiences, the then affairs at Clemson, very few which actually fructified. Dinner consists of very well made Salad, Soup, Cabbage Sabji and poLi (chapaati). In order that kaka-kaku think somewhat highly of me, I avoid to gorge on the food, similar to what I do at Innopath dinners. We chat late into the night about daily stuff and in general, till the upper eye-lid absolutely refuses to leave its twin.
Saturday, July 14th:
Kaka is up about 7am, atleast thats when I first wake up but I decide to keep company to the sleeping bag. By about 8:30am, I finally wake up and then chat with the only up person at the table in between reading the Wall Street Journal. After days on end, I have a nice cup of tea to savour. The rest are up gradually after 10 and then its back to reminiscing in the past. The three of us are able to remember a lot of names, and some faces, but find difficulty in correlating them. Again its time for lunch and then after a layover on the couch for an hour we leave for UC, Berkeley.
UC, Berkeley as I have probably mentioned is a premier educational institution. The campus is simply beautiful, extremely thick foliage throughout. The new buildings coming up or have recently come up, have an archaic, arcane look to them. We must have roamed like half of the campus and we saw atleast 3 different libraries, a separate one for UnderGraduate students !!
(The Cooper Library at Clemson was also great too. However, I have really never understood what people do in libraries. I went to Cooper just for scanning pictures to my mom (and that explain my educational woes in short :D .., Back to Berkeley.. )
There was a huge line for some play/rock show at the famed Greek Theatre and hence we missed having a peak at the stage. We also were just late for a ride up to the Clock Tower as well. But we did capture such nice pictures of all the surroundings. I will try to put them up at the earliest.
We then had a very delicious dinner at a Thai restaurant. The Prawns/Chicken/Egg Rice dish was simply too good to resist and nearly sufficient for 2-3 people :D
The concluding part of the day is like the grandest finale of all, a ride above the SanFrancisco Bay Bridge. Instead of recording the Engineering Marvel, I tried to capture it in images, which did not turn up well as the images were all blurred.Back in Fremont after a wondrous day, Ashu's parents leave us to chat early on. We all discuss our jobs and work profiles, and then about the Stocks/Market.
Sunday, July 15th:
I get up late again after sleeping late, but a cup of tea later, I am very refreshed. I am up and working and getting ready for date with the Patwardhans. Dr Satyajit (junior son) and Dr Neelkantharao (senior) come to pick me up. Their Near-Million Dollar home in Fremont is the nicest home owned by our relatives/friends in the US. A nice 2-storeyed, 4BR, single house with a swimming pool. Lunch was also very tasty, Quiche as a starter, and then Idli-Sambar for the main course. The dessert was the icing on the.., no actually it was unlimited ice-cream on GulabJamun.
After spending too good moments in Fremont, I am back in "Homestead". In between moving my clothes from the Bathroom to the Washer and from the Washer to Dryer, I catch up on old friends and have a long talk with Samya, I hit the kitchen. I also catch up on the ex-colleagues settled - married in the USofA.
Monday, July 9th:
I am thinking that 3 weeks from now on, I would be back at my beloved, not so much really, cubicle in PSPL. As usual we go for the Lunch with the engineering group and then the afternoon session is spent mostly in answering queries from Engineering.
I wish Amit Bhise a very happy birthday, albeit belatedly. Time zones/difference can be killing
Tuesday, July 10th:
You've gottta give me this one, 2+ weeks and not a single statistic from me !! Ameya/Harshu would be nauseated ;) Ok then, here's wishing Sunil Gavaskar a Very Happy 58th Birthday. We are at the fag end of the QH4 cycle and waiting for the handoff the next day.
Wednesday, July 11th:
While on my way to office, I am thinking, one week back I was on my way to SanFrancisco for the I-Day celebrations.Meetings, with Engineering and Bug Triage etc, and the entire morning and early afternoon vrooms by.. We are waiting for the Handoff notification but we receive the same just before 8pm and its way late for us to check its feasibility/stability. Our team in China takes the responsibility and I send a flurry of emails and reach home quite late.Thats two consecutive hectic Wednesdays, one for enjoyment the other for work.
Thursday, July 12th:
I am working from 9am to 11pm most of it very Project Specific. There is the monthly/quarterly meeting at Innopath. I am not a part of it as Company Confidential information is being disbursed. However.., for the disbursed food, I was a front-runner of sorts. But with only one dish each of Chicken and Veg items, there was nothing to be excited about.
Friday, July 13th:
Even though being Friday the 13th, it actually is one of the nicest days I have over here. I have invitations from Ashutosh & Swati, friends from Clemson and on Sunday from the Patwardhan family, family friends for the weekend and I having the nostalgic feeling of those days from Clemson. Work pressure brings me back to reality and I am fighting back the eagerness.
6:30pm -> The best 48-hour period of stay begins with a wait of an hour but the time is spent watching an amazing episode of "Seinfeld", the one with "the BET".
Ashu is here and I treat him to a couple of Baakarwadis. Within a couple of minutes we are in his stylish Nissan-Altima and on the way to Fremont.
Its great to see Swati after a long time. The last image I have of them is them fighting back boredom risen out of countless pictures being taken during their wedding reception. Neither have changed in terms of shape, though Mrs Finance Minister is so-close to being moved from Resident Individual to Institutional Bidder !! And, this time I am real serious.
Mark this: Swati will one day be on the front page of Wall Street Journal.
Ashu's parents are also amazing individuals who are enjoying their post-retirement days at their elder son's beautiful place in Fremont. Faar, faar away from the horrific monsoons of Mumbai. We keep chatting about our Waitressing experiences, the then affairs at Clemson, very few which actually fructified. Dinner consists of very well made Salad, Soup, Cabbage Sabji and poLi (chapaati). In order that kaka-kaku think somewhat highly of me, I avoid to gorge on the food, similar to what I do at Innopath dinners. We chat late into the night about daily stuff and in general, till the upper eye-lid absolutely refuses to leave its twin.
Saturday, July 14th:
Kaka is up about 7am, atleast thats when I first wake up but I decide to keep company to the sleeping bag. By about 8:30am, I finally wake up and then chat with the only up person at the table in between reading the Wall Street Journal. After days on end, I have a nice cup of tea to savour. The rest are up gradually after 10 and then its back to reminiscing in the past. The three of us are able to remember a lot of names, and some faces, but find difficulty in correlating them. Again its time for lunch and then after a layover on the couch for an hour we leave for UC, Berkeley.
UC, Berkeley as I have probably mentioned is a premier educational institution. The campus is simply beautiful, extremely thick foliage throughout. The new buildings coming up or have recently come up, have an archaic, arcane look to them. We must have roamed like half of the campus and we saw atleast 3 different libraries, a separate one for UnderGraduate students !!
(The Cooper Library at Clemson was also great too. However, I have really never understood what people do in libraries. I went to Cooper just for scanning pictures to my mom (and that explain my educational woes in short :D .., Back to Berkeley.. )
There was a huge line for some play/rock show at the famed Greek Theatre and hence we missed having a peak at the stage. We also were just late for a ride up to the Clock Tower as well. But we did capture such nice pictures of all the surroundings. I will try to put them up at the earliest.
We then had a very delicious dinner at a Thai restaurant. The Prawns/Chicken/Egg Rice dish was simply too good to resist and nearly sufficient for 2-3 people :D
The concluding part of the day is like the grandest finale of all, a ride above the SanFrancisco Bay Bridge. Instead of recording the Engineering Marvel, I tried to capture it in images, which did not turn up well as the images were all blurred.Back in Fremont after a wondrous day, Ashu's parents leave us to chat early on. We all discuss our jobs and work profiles, and then about the Stocks/Market.
Sunday, July 15th:
I get up late again after sleeping late, but a cup of tea later, I am very refreshed. I am up and working and getting ready for date with the Patwardhans. Dr Satyajit (junior son) and Dr Neelkantharao (senior) come to pick me up. Their Near-Million Dollar home in Fremont is the nicest home owned by our relatives/friends in the US. A nice 2-storeyed, 4BR, single house with a swimming pool. Lunch was also very tasty, Quiche as a starter, and then Idli-Sambar for the main course. The dessert was the icing on the.., no actually it was unlimited ice-cream on GulabJamun.
After spending too good moments in Fremont, I am back in "Homestead". In between moving my clothes from the Bathroom to the Washer and from the Washer to Dryer, I catch up on old friends and have a long talk with Samya, I hit the kitchen. I also catch up on the ex-colleagues settled - married in the USofA.
Labels: Onsite Visit and Experiences
posted by Vyaktigat_Manogat_Swagat | 10:14 AM
2 Comments:
barely 4 weeks in US, and just check out the number of posts on ur blog... cool na? :)
now dont lose the momentum when u r back :)
hey, i said dont lose the momentum when you are back! :)
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