Dear Dot....

I cant wait to meet you, you are a child of transition and privilege. Your arrival was not meticulously planned, you were an unexpected gift, a very precious gift. I had imagined that by the time we have you we will be very well set in our ways, but at this moment we are relatively new to the country with no house or vehicle to our name , we still don't have the right kind of visa to stay permanently. None of the above are big factors, just bridges I had hoped to have crossed before we met you.

Now comes the privilege, you are loved, a lot! You will enter a household that is a very happy place. Don't confuse this with happy people, both me and your mum are ambitious, driven people, this inherently makes us miserable sometimes but as a unit we are very happy and we want to share this with you.

You also have 4 unique grandparents that are dying to spoil you. At 'T minus 1 month" from arrival you already own more clothes than I do. That's a good thing. Maybe.

I can safely say you will have more comforts as a child than any of your parents or grandparents had.

You will have some unique challenges like lack local access to an extended family, I hope you will learn to cope with that.

Love

Dad

p.s. I love you more.....

This town will tear you down

It will break your heart

Remind you time and again

Of what you haven’t got

You can play the game

try from the start

But chances are, what it takes

Is what you haven’t got

A million dream

a million hearts

just trying to win

that one spot

I love this town

Its all I got

My 5 minutes of fame

Like you lot

We are who we are

I've become a believer in the philosophy that you are today what yesterday made you, that and a little bit of what you were born as/to be.

As a case in point lets de-constuct me, at least the parts I'm willing to share on a blog.

Why become a pilot?

Two reasons from the past

1. As a child I was both a risk taker and a scardy cat. risk taker - I could happily stand in front of a kid twice my size taking a free kick that hit me right in the face ! the big kids loved me for it and I was always welcome on their football team. Scardy cat - I am not comfortable with loud noises to this day, I was scared of fire crackers, not for the explosion but the resulting BANG. I was always the last amongst the cousins at Diwali. I remember overhearing some relatives (older aunts) talk about how I was so much more scared compared to the their children and the others around.that stuck with me till this day.

2. Pilots and planes are cool - I wanted to be one as long as I can remember. I used to be a very sick child and went to a lot of doctors. there was one particular doctor who practiced homeopathic medicine. I dont remember what he looked like or his name but he was a excellent doctor. I felt good around him and after using his treatment. He sat me down and asked me why be a pilot, its so dangerous! that day I stopped wanting to be a air force fighter pilot. I didn't think about being a pilot again till life bought it to my doorstep.

Why it finally happened? I got a job at Avidyne, they made flight systems. Most people around me at work were pilots. I didn't start flight school. Atleast not until I knew I was going to quit. I did it because I knew I was leaving that world behind. A very 'cool' world. I can honestly say that outside of the few minutes of flying that were truly special and enjoyable I did it because I was determined to prove that I was not just another Finance-IT drone, I was coller than that. But more than that I wanted to prove to myself I was not a scardy cat. An expensive point well made!

Another Monumental Moment

I'm moving to a new city with my wife. I dont know my new boss or the platform I'll be working on. Its definitely a move up the corporate ladder.

Cheers to another risk!

Moving

I've lived in multiple houses and I can honestly say that I haven't looked forward to moving this much, ever! I'm not quite sure why. This does lead me into a very different thought, living well while times are good vs saving while you can.

I've been on the side of saving (right) but I've definitely moved to center right, for anyone on the far right I might even appear to be on the left (living it up). The way I figure, I'm young and I do believe in our ability to stay above water. I dont want to spend the next 5 or 10 years saving for the heck of it. Its time to live a little and enjoy life as a journey and not treat it as a mission. As hard as it can be, habits can change so live the lifestyle you can afford.

On the other side saving early is a logical idea, the more you save now the easier it will be later. the issue is, what is later? at 40 maybe 50 or is it 65 when the government says I can withdraw from my 401K?

For now I side with young and impetuous, I've only worked in industries where times were tough and I managed to grow. Time to hold on, its going to be a bumpy ride.

Recent recommendations

This is simply a feel good post; the first two recommendations are from my Avidyne managers on linkedin. the last one is a quite unexpected email I got from my group manager (he’s currently out on sick leave as he’s battling cancer, GET WELL SOON!)

1) From my manager at Avidyne.

"Rahul is reliable and dedicated worker. While working for me, he contributed significantly in all aspects of the software development process for several software releases, including requirements definition, design/coding, and test development. He is a capable C++ programmer. He has good communication skills and is an excellent team player. I would recommend for a software developer position without hesitation."

2) Top software guy in my group at Avidyne
"Rahul is one of the most reliable individuals I know. I could deliver him an assignment and know he would attack it with great haste, aggressively and with need of little guidance until he solved the problem which he always did in a timely manner."


3) My group manager at SS
“I hear that we are trading on **** with STP in prod and that we have you to thank as pm. Well done! I don't know if it came across during our short time together, but I love my job and I love helping smart people be successful. I really miss working with you. Keep excelling - you have a mark of potential greatness about you that is rare.”

Corporate optional charity

I have an idea and I think it can be big.

The idea is that whenever your company is paying for something(travel/boarding/whatever) you have the option to downgrade your expenditure and the difference is paid to a charity that you believe in and your company approves.

An example, you are based in Boston and you are flying to London on a business trip. You are high enough the corporate ladder to get business class tickets ($1200) and be put up in a top notch hotel ($1500 for 3 nights). All you do is opt to fly cattle class ($800) and live in a more mediocre hotel ($1050 for 3 nights) and the difference($850) is paid to a charity. Or maybe you had a friend in London and you stayed with them in that case you effective contributed ($1900 , $1500 for the stay and $400 for the flight).

Now to be fair not every body would do this but I believe a lot of people would put up with the little extra discomfort. The thought that their this one trip sent a kid to school for a year or fed a family for a month. Imagine the happiness you’ll feel when you on that flight home , I am convinced that this one feeling could offset all the discomfort of sitting in the middle seat all the way.

In our eternal pursuit of happiness a little discomfort might be the best way to get there.

Do they all know? should I tell them? I want to. I want to scream it out ! but I wont. I'll wait like a good child.