Onions

(You are probably thinking - this girl has lost it big time... ONIONS???)

This place I am working at over summer has some collaboration with a bank somewhere and the people who own the bank grow onions (or something like that! Don't ask!).

So every year there is an 'Onion Day' when all the employees at this company get a huge bag of Walla Walla onions (yeah - even I hadn't heard of this 'brand' of onions).

Apparently these onions are amongst the sweetest onions around. So the employees take this Onion Day very seriously and are very emotional about the onions. My boss apparently has received complaints in the past over how 'his onions are bigger than mine' (I swear I am not kidding!)

I brought home a huge bag of these "sweet" onions last week. I am very fond of onions and use them pretty liberally in my cooking - I haven't exhausted my stock of old onions at home, but I am waiting to try these new ones out and figure out for myself what the fuss is all about :-)

Big company vs. small company; Digital vs. Analog

The Bay Area (Silicon Valley as its popularly called) has a huge number of opportunities for EE and CS graduates and it's obviously a tough decision for most graduating students whether to join one of the big, well-established organizations or to join one of the start-ups.

There are pros and cons of both, which probably everyone reading this would very well know about.

Most of my friends, just like me, went through this kind of dilemma at some point or the other. They all, at the end, I am sure, took a very well thought out and wise decision one way or the other!

I am fortunately not on the job market yet, but last summer, I interned at one of the big semi-conductor manufacturing firms, where I primarily worked on digital logic and microprocessor timing issues. The first few weeks were just amazing - lots of new concepts and tools to learn, lots of new people to interact with, my first exposure to the industry etc etc! After a month, I started getting a little tired of my work. There wasn't that much new stuff I could learn however hard I tried. I signed up for a Shakespeare independent study at school just to challenge myself intellectually and I still felt like I wasn't getting stimulated enough. The other problem I had is that I didn't quite like that feeling of not being recognized enough.

This summer, I am interning at a little family run company near campus. It manufactures audio products and I am working on the Analog ciruits that go into the back-end systems they design. I have been enjoying the experience a lot more than last summer. There is so much more freedom and flexibility, so much more of a personal touch. My boss brings me lunch everyday and drops me to the bus station (because two weeks ago I fell while running to catch the bus and wounded myself pretty bad), takes immense interest in my research - even helps me with ideas and guides me, takes great pains to understand Indian culture, the Indian society etc.

So then, does it matter more to have one of the big names on your resume or is a pleasant and satisfying experience more important? Maybe it's just a personal choice at the end of it! I guess, based on my limited exposure, I would go in for the latter. Actually... I dunno :-) All I know is that each of these experiences forces one to pause and redefine what one really needs to be truly satisfied on a personal and professional level.

I am liking this!

A nice barbeque afternoon... and a brief rendezvous with Jim Williams

Two students from my research group defended their PhD thesis last quarter and we had a little barbeque today in their honor at this really nice park in Palo Alto.

Some of my group members are married - so they brought their families along. The kids were thoroughly enjoying themselves!

Turns out Jim Williams of Linear Technology fame happened to live right across the road from the park and happened to know my advisor really well.

So my advisor invited him to join us for lunch. He came over to the park, talked to all of us about his work, about analog circuit design and about his current projects. Our group is obviously a great fan of his - the coolest Op-Amps, the best Switchers, the nicest temperature sensors that our lab uses all come from Linear Tech!

Since alcoholic beverages were prohibited at the park, one of our group members cut open a little hole in a watermelon and injected vodka into it and let it soak over-night. It tasted really yummy. The portion of the melon right near the hole obviously had the highest concentration of vodka and Jim Williams merrily enjoyed and relished it.

I notice that I am really beginning to love Analog circuits!! :-)

Commencement 2007: Not an ordinary one!

I sat in the newly renovated Stanford stadium amongst the rest of the audience as all my batch-mates and closest friends took the commencement walk last week-end. I had teary eyes as a deluge of old memories and emotions overcame me.

The orientation sessions at the beginning of our masters program, those late nights that we studied together, those walks to Starbucks, those end-quarter exam phases when we stood by each other through the stress and anxiety, the parties and birthdays that we planned and attended together, the cooking and shopping that we did jointly.... everything that was to end now! They all go their separate ways and I go mine! I will miss all the times I shared with them and all the happy and sad, stressful and fun-filled memories that they have left with me.

I wish them all the very best in their future careers and hope they find all the happiness and satisfaction that they might ever hope and pray for!

I love you all and will always be there for you! Stanford wouldn't have been the same but for you!!!

Congratulations to the graduating Class of 2007 (as President Hennessey put it!)

Madness that's Mumbai...

I received this message from a friend through Orkut and found it very relevant to my last blog and thought of pasting it here. It's HILARIOUS!!

(For those of you who find it difficult to visualize what's being talked about, here are some pics - courtesy http://www.viveksawant.com/Photos/India/bombay/ and mumbai.metblogs.com )



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D mega polis of Mumbai holds many a challenge 4 d 'rookie' who lands here unaware of d hurdles & challenges that he or she might have 2 face.

A recent incident saw 1 such hapless victim falling prey 2 d overenthusiastic nature of Bombay's local train commuters.Our hero,a man from Pune,wanted to go to Matunga,but as luck & trains would have it,boarded a fast train not halting at his destination.He panicked on realising his mistake but by then d local hd started moving.

On seeing his plight,a sympathetic co-passenger decided 2 come 2 his rescue. It seemed that he hd been commuting by that particular train (6:03 pm Kasara Fast) for d past 6 years & had noticed that d train always slowed down just before Matunga station and crawled at a snail's pace while passing through it.He told d man 2 jump out of d running train as it slowed down & that with a little bit of fleet-footedness,he would make it safely on terra firma.

However,knowing d man's inexperience,he added some words of caution: "Keep running d moment you jump or you'll fall.Just keep running."He stressed d word "running" lest d man not know d laws of motion.

D train did slow down just before Matunga station &and at d prompting of his mentor,our hero jumped out of d train & started running as if all hell had broken loose.What he didn't realise,was that he was running parallel to d train instead of running away from it.

Meanwhile,d train slowed down further,now our hero was running faster than d train.In d process,he reached d door of d next compartment & d footboard commuters there pulled him in thinking he was trying to board d train!To his agony d train picked up speed & sped past Matunga & his new co-passengers started 2 congratulate him on how lucky he had been,until he told them that they hd actually undone what he hd done with great difficulty.

Those standing at d door of his "ex-compartment" had witnessed d whole drama & just couldn't stop laughing at d poor man,while he grinned sheepishly.

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:-)

Incidentally, another friend had blogged about Mumbai city around the same time as I had written my last post and I thought it was just such a wonderful coincidence that both of us had described exactly the same thing at roughly the same time! Here's a link to Taral's blog:

http://alightlessordinary.blogspot.com/2007/05/aye-dil-hai-mushkil-jeena-yahan.html

My Lifeline....

... Mumbai City!!!! I love you!!

It's one place you'll see the juxtaposition of the most conflicting natures and sights! The tallest of skyscrapers right next to the low lying slums in South Bombay; the high-class Taj Lands End alongside the stinky Bandra Sea Face fish-market; college girls and guys wearing the most fashionable designer clothes and the poorest of street kids wearing single ragged pieces of dirty cloth; the most stately Mercs parked next to pavements lined with poor, handicapped beggars who cannot even walk; the "rocking" nightlife at the best of nightclubs and people shivering in the cold chilly rainy nights with nothing covering their bare skin; the over-stylized, anglesized babes haggling in fake-accents with the paani poori walaas at chowpatti.


What I like most about this city, though, is its resilience! Rains, floods, riots, bomb-blasts.... name it! Two days! And I guarantee the city will be on its feet again! Nothing can stop or muffle the spirit of my city! The chai walas and naariyal paani walas will be back in action! Those BEST buses will swarm the city again. My beloved subarban trains will be overflowing with people! Literally!!! Oh you have to see and experience this atleast once in your life! The 8:10 AM Churchgate local on a Monday morning! Ah! The sauna of your life! :-)

Can't wait to come back to you, my life! :-)

Brought back memories....

One of my all-time favorite poems from high school is 'She Walks in Beauty' by Lord Byron. I just remembered it reading a fellow-bloggers most recent blog (I was startled at how wonderfully he had conveyed the same idea through his blog - great description, Aseem!)...... so here's the poem:


She Walks in Beauty

-Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!