And You May Ask Yourself , “How Did I Get Here?”
Rewind to the summer of 1991 – as I prepared to leave Bangalore for a stint at business school in Rochester, NY, an astrologer our family was then consulting with (on various matters of considerable cosmic significance, no doubt) made a vaguely portentous announcement to my parents: your son will return to India at the age of thirty five.
My reaction: unlikely, but sure, whatever.
In July 1991, I had only one goal – to get the hell out of Bangalore, and India, before I lost the drive to do it, and instead continued to drift along as a modestly successful software salesman. It was a decent life – it paid for pitchers of beer at Oasis, gas for the bike, cigarettes, and general sustenance. But I also had this nagging feeling that I did not “fit” in this picture, and that change, any change, was an urgent necessity. And so it came to pass – two years in Rochester, an interesting drive across the United States to Seattle (unemployed, with degree in hand), followed eventually by a little over a decade at Microsoft.
Fast forward now to April 2003 – I was back at work as the head of Microsoft IR after a two month sabbatical, most of which I had spent on the couch watching the Indian cricket team reach the finals of the World Cup. At our first one-on-one meeting upon my return, John (my boss) asked me what I had learnt during this valuable time off.
Honest answer: Um, well, like, hmm.
What I blurted out: John, I would like to spend some time working and living in India.
I was wholly unprepared for, and alarmed by, the momentum of what happened next. By the summer of 2003 I had committed to a two year stint in India helping script Microsoft’s strategy there, found a place to live in Bangalore, and we were packing to move. It had not been an easy decision, and Divya and I had debated long and hard about whether this was the right time for a move of this magnitude. In the end it came down to a few simple truths: we were at an age where we could take risks and be adventurous, we both needed to know whether or not living in India was a long term option and this had the makings of a great dress rehearsal, Shilpa would have an incredible time with her grandparents, and there were no restrictions in shipping our dog Simba into India. And so we took the plunge.
On June 21, 2003, at a surprise birthday party that Divya threw for me, I turned 35.
Darn soothsayers!!
To Be Continued...
My reaction: unlikely, but sure, whatever.
In July 1991, I had only one goal – to get the hell out of Bangalore, and India, before I lost the drive to do it, and instead continued to drift along as a modestly successful software salesman. It was a decent life – it paid for pitchers of beer at Oasis, gas for the bike, cigarettes, and general sustenance. But I also had this nagging feeling that I did not “fit” in this picture, and that change, any change, was an urgent necessity. And so it came to pass – two years in Rochester, an interesting drive across the United States to Seattle (unemployed, with degree in hand), followed eventually by a little over a decade at Microsoft.
Fast forward now to April 2003 – I was back at work as the head of Microsoft IR after a two month sabbatical, most of which I had spent on the couch watching the Indian cricket team reach the finals of the World Cup. At our first one-on-one meeting upon my return, John (my boss) asked me what I had learnt during this valuable time off.
Honest answer: Um, well, like, hmm.
What I blurted out: John, I would like to spend some time working and living in India.
I was wholly unprepared for, and alarmed by, the momentum of what happened next. By the summer of 2003 I had committed to a two year stint in India helping script Microsoft’s strategy there, found a place to live in Bangalore, and we were packing to move. It had not been an easy decision, and Divya and I had debated long and hard about whether this was the right time for a move of this magnitude. In the end it came down to a few simple truths: we were at an age where we could take risks and be adventurous, we both needed to know whether or not living in India was a long term option and this had the makings of a great dress rehearsal, Shilpa would have an incredible time with her grandparents, and there were no restrictions in shipping our dog Simba into India. And so we took the plunge.
On June 21, 2003, at a surprise birthday party that Divya threw for me, I turned 35.
Darn soothsayers!!
To Be Continued...
posted by Krish @ Monday, February 27, 2006
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