String Theory

Updating on my last triathlon. This one was called the Pacific Grove Triathlon (http://results.eternaltiming.com/event/PGT2008). Here's a link to the pictures that Megha's uploaded on her site 

http://picasaweb.google.com/mshenoy/PacificGroveTriathlon#. 

This was an Olympic Distance Triathlon (1 Mile swim, 25 Miles Bike and 7.5 Miles Run). It is considered one of the most scenic triathlons since it is along the famous 17 Mile Drive. 

I love taking part in such distance events... the ones that make you wonder what in the world were you were thinking. Waking up at 4:30 am, driving down to the sea, plunging into the frigid Pacific before the sun comes out, biking with feet that are too numb from the cold to feel the pain and then running without quite knowing whether it is the sea water or your sweat that's got you all drenched... Triathlon, Sir, is a cruel sport! 

And yet, perhaps that's why one does it. It makes the finish line that much sweeter. 

As for me, I like to think that I learn something new each time. This time it was Kelps.

Monterey Bay, where we had the swim part of the triathlon, is the Mecca of Kelps, the trees of the sea. Think of them as these gigantic spinaches with just their noses sticking out of the water. And boy, this was one Kelpy sea! So much so that it was less of swimming and more of wading and plowing my way past these leafy vegetables. 

Not used to so much 'greenery', I struggled at first to swim past these plants.  I was trying to cut my way past them.  And that' s when I saw a fellow swimmer zoom past me. I realised that instead of fighting these plants, he was actually embracing them! He was using them as a bunch of strings, clutching them and then pulling against them to propel himself forward. In a way, he wasn't quite swimming at all. He had adapted his swimming style to pull his way out of the situation! 

I followed suit. Very soon, thanks to these Kelps, I had managed to 'pull' myself to the finish line  and ready to start my bike stretch. 

You know, almost always, it's in deep waters that one learns new ways to stay afloat. I had prided myself in being good at swimming in open water. And yet here, it just took an innocuous leafy vegetable to make me unlearn what I had learnt over two decades! We all have our share of these unexpected randomly floating Kelps... the strings attached to our ocean of life. We can fight 'em. Or we can learn to use 'em...  for sometimes, pulling the right strings might just help you get home faster.  

Circle of life

I’ve been thinking about professions. About the jobs people do. And about how the jobs are all connected to each other. I have been working in the semiconductor industry for quite a while now. And am amazed at the number of people and industries involved in building something like say the iPhone that eventually fits in your pocket. I work at a company that designs chips. Our designs are sent off to a fab in China that turns this design into millions of silicon chips. These chips are integrated with several other of their cousins by guys called OEMs or module vendors. In addition to these chips, which are perhaps worth a couple of dollars each, the OEMs also procure a bunch of 5 cent capacitors and wires from companies that build nothing else but that. The OEMs put this all together on a circuit board. This is then packaged in a bigger box with a “Made in XXX” sticker on it and sold in stores like Walmart and perhaps these days over the internet.

And then you have the ecosystem of software companies that develop all kinds of wonderful applications for the users on these products.

And then, if it is a mobile application, you have all these telecom carriers who come up with equally wonderful plans to make your wallet and head lighter to start using these applications.

Its humbling when you think about it, the role that one plays in building a small fit-in-your-palm sized product.

What intrigues me however, is where this chain ends. And that’s where I am beginning to realize that my industry is connected to a much larger ecosystem; perhaps is a small appendage to it. All the companies involved in the chain above were funded at some point by investment houses. And even for those that were funded and are perfectly operational, we see that they are still controlled by  a handful of private equity companies on Wall Street who can change its course at the drop of a few cents of investor confidence. (eg: The Icahn-Yahoo deal). It’s funny when you think about it; the distant and yet obvious connection a Wall Street banker has with a coder breaking his head over a computer program in the wee hours of dawn.

We all aspire to grow in our profession. To understand the big picture.

The question is how big is the paper that you are drawing the picture on. 

A stroke of insight.

Today was my first day as a swim instructor at the YMCA.

I loved it.

I had to teach swimming to four adults who were barely managing to stay afloat.

I have always loved teaching, but have never got an opportunity due to my limited knowledge in most fields. But perhaps it was in these deep waters that I finally found ground. 

I think we all are passionate about certain things. And given an opportunity, we’d all love to share our passion with others. And I guess that’s what teaching is all about; sharing your passions. I loved teaching my students today; some of whom were twice my age. But that didn’t really matter. For that one hour, I got a chance to relive my time as a fledging swimmer, making all those mistakes that my students were making today.

I am not sure if I was as good a teacher as my coach who first taught me the joys of the water. But I know that if he is reading this blog, he would have the same words to say to me as back then, “Jump in… It’ll be ok.”

Guess he was right… 

Catfish

I took part in the Catfish swim race. It was a grueling 2.4 mile race in the Stevens Creek Reservoir, a man made lake in Cupertino.  I came third in my age group of 30 to 39. For once it felt good to be old!

One interesting part of this race was the Olympians that showed up! The US Olympic Swim team is practicing at Stanford. And today, being a Sunday was their day off. A couple of them who were taking part in the 10Km race at the Beijing Olympics decided to swim with the rest of us as a “warm-up”. Well, their “warm-up” was definitely enough to let them finish well ahead of the pack!

All in all, a memorable experience. Here’s a link to the results. Here’s a link to the photos that Megha has uploaded on Picassa. See if you can identify the Olympians among them. You can verify your guess my checking them out on TV during the

Beijing coverage. :) 

I (am)sterdam

A few more minutes before my taxi arrives. Trying to squeeze in those few thoughts that compete for their place in my mind that’s already crowded with thoughts on whether I checked under the bed and if I left something in the drawer of the hotel room. I have always wondered the chances of finding something under my hotel bed. I barely use the room. And even if I did, what are the chances that things would get cluttered so much that something would find it’s way down, of all the places, under the bed! In any case, as they say, better safe than sorry. So it’s now become a routine check in my checklist of things to do before I leave for home. Speaking of leaving for home, I’ll miss this place that hosted me for the past 3 days.

Amsterdam. What struck me most about this city is the perfect harmony of the young reckless and carefree youth and the elegant dignified history pregnant with thoughts, paintings, music and tales of the past. While the former glows into its finest as the night progresses, the latter announces its own humble yet conspicuous arrival at the wee hours of the morning. The paved roads, the brick-house sloping roof parish like and at times even medieval architecture, the almost fairy-tale parks where proud birds fight for their space among humans, the ever so common cafes by the canals where old men battle it out over a game of chess incited by thick fumes of hashish… these and so many other small things make Amsterdam a city one can’t help but pause. And wonder, often wistfully, if one will ever be able to retire in a place such as this.

Ah well, the announcement for my fight. Managed to write this post during those many pauses in my transit from the hotel to the airport. Gotta board the plane now. Gotta get back. Hmmm…. you know, as much as any new place we travel to holds us in its grip with beautiful mysteries and wonders, yet, deep in your heart, you know that you really belong somewhere else… some place perhaps very ordinary and insignificant, yet a place whose right on your heart can be reclaimed by no other… a place called home.

Let’s start from the very beginning… a very fine place to start.

I have been thinking of blogging for nearly a year since my last post. And it’s nearly year since then that I am writing a new post. Ah, procrastination, thou are the enemy I will never learn from.

So a lot has happened since I last penned my thoughts. As the triathlon season came to an end, I started working on ideas for starting a company in India. And pretty much the whole of last year seems like one blur, a roulette of desirable and undesirable events. There are several thoughts that come to mind about my experiences with starting and running ApneTeachers, which I would like to pen down, experiences which I could best explain as those many draft versions of a story a struggling author tries to write. Well, that author’s still struggling while at the corner sits that humble waste paper basket, littered with dreams.

I will attempt to write about those past few months over the duration of several blog posts. In the meantime, let’s shift back to the present. I have returned back to the Bay Area. The company that I started, www.apneteachers.com is still functioning, albeit the business model has changed. We outsource our internet based education platform to Schools and Coaching Classes in India. I have resumed my work at Marvell. And currently am writing at 4:40 am from my hotel room in Amsterdam where I’m part of the Marvell team that is participating in a new wireless standard called NGmS. Again, I’ll write more about that technology later.

The point of this post was to tell folks, but mostly myself, that I’m back. Often the best way to do something is to declare that you are doing it to others. And hope that if nothing else, your ego pulls you by the collar and drags you through the journey that you started. I’m hoping unlike my last blogging attempt, this time round I live up to these words. And I am hoping I can also teach some other folks back home how to start blogging. For unlike life, our thoughts are too valuable to let them wither unwritten….

Welcome back, me!