The Next Chapter Begins
And so, at long last, the long reckless weekend comes to an end.
After more than 9 months of dijjing/vegging/bumming/vela-ing around, I am getting back on the treadmill.
This afternoon, I accepted an offer to join Amazon as Finance Director for all of their non-media businesses.
It is a cool role – Finance Directors tend to be very COO-like at Amazon, which feels (for better and for worse) a lot like a startup compared to Microsoft.
So why not Microsoft, you may ask.
It was a tough choice – MS was the default choice, and I spent a ton of time talking with them.
I also spent time hanging out with an unfunded entrepreneur, a funded startup, a public small business – pretty much covered the spectrum of companies.
But in the end, the opportunity to do something different, at a larg-ish company, learning operations, as a bigger fish in a smaller pond, tilted the scales.
As the song by Styx goes, “Don’t let it end, I’m begging you...”, I wish I could continue the life of a, well, how do I say this, bum.
But sobriety comes in many forms, in my case, watching a bank balance count backward like a ticking bomb in a James Bond flick.
So what were the highlights/memories/lowlights of this break – since you are all dying to know – I will ramble on just a bit longer, in no particular order:
Reading more than a dozen books in 4 months, including a bunch of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (the surest way to escape reality without resorting to restricted substances)
Mid morning dates with the wife in Bangalore – lunch at McDonalds in the Forum Mall, followed by a matinee in the multiplex. No better way to spend half a day.
Pre lunch naps.
Post lunch naps.
Squash, squash, squash.
Cricket on TV every day – the best way to get from one nap to the next.
Watching India play Pakistan in Bangalore – Inzy’s 100th test, and where Sehwag’s batting was worth the price of admission, until..... ...Day Five, when India folded pathetically.
Watching India thrash S.Africa live in Bangalore after approximately 17 glasses of beer – 6 before the match even started...
Flying to Chennai in pouring rain, with the ridiculous expectation that the India/SA ODI would happen – such was the extent of our delusion that Krishnan uncle and I actually sat in the pouring rain at the stadium for a couple of hours, hoping for a game. We reluctantly gave up when the ground staff flung their buckets to the four winds and swam off the field. Dad-in-law got a nap, I read some Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... (no beer in Chepauk)
Ice cold kingfisher on the lawn on a sunny day, scrabble with Dad/Mom/Rajiv/Divya, hot fried seer fish (coated with rava – yum), nap. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Rafting on the Ganga, flying off the raft into The Golf Course (a Class 3+ rapid), drinking copious quantities of freezing water (and god knows what else), freaking out.
Starry nights by the Ganga, hot paranthas, and vodka + sprite – my friend Sanjay Rao and I spent a week out in those parts, just us boys. As he would say, “Superior”.
Driving Shilpa and her friends to school every morning – three 4-yr old girls playing psycho mind games on each other, one 4-yr old boy banging his head maniacally against the seat while trying to open the car door, asking if I could, please, just for fun, smash into another car.
Driving Shilpa to school most mornings in the Mini (back in Seattle), with her singing lustily along to her favorite Heart, Indigo Girls and Foo Fighter songs.
Three nights in the Maldives with Divya’s parents and Shyam (this was before my time off, but too magical not to mention) - the most amazing place on earth.
Three nights in Kumarkom with Amma/Appa – again magical, seeing the pictures makes me want to weep.
Chai on the front porch most evenings with the Bishts (our next door neighbors)
Laphroig with Anil Bisht most evenings, after the chai.
Ripping 500+ CDs onto my iPod.
Sleeping well every night, and realizing that I really had not done that for most of the prior ten years.
Catching little Tanvi as she came kicking and screaming into this world – it’s amazing to consider how that one instant, when the baby enters the world, is so incredibly intensely moving.
You get the idea – I can keep going on an on.
In any event, it’s been a great time, and I strongly strongly strongly recommend it.
After more than 9 months of dijjing/vegging/bumming/vela-ing around, I am getting back on the treadmill.
This afternoon, I accepted an offer to join Amazon as Finance Director for all of their non-media businesses.
It is a cool role – Finance Directors tend to be very COO-like at Amazon, which feels (for better and for worse) a lot like a startup compared to Microsoft.
So why not Microsoft, you may ask.
It was a tough choice – MS was the default choice, and I spent a ton of time talking with them.
I also spent time hanging out with an unfunded entrepreneur, a funded startup, a public small business – pretty much covered the spectrum of companies.
But in the end, the opportunity to do something different, at a larg-ish company, learning operations, as a bigger fish in a smaller pond, tilted the scales.
As the song by Styx goes, “Don’t let it end, I’m begging you...”, I wish I could continue the life of a, well, how do I say this, bum.
But sobriety comes in many forms, in my case, watching a bank balance count backward like a ticking bomb in a James Bond flick.
So what were the highlights/memories/lowlights of this break – since you are all dying to know – I will ramble on just a bit longer, in no particular order:
Reading more than a dozen books in 4 months, including a bunch of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (the surest way to escape reality without resorting to restricted substances)
Mid morning dates with the wife in Bangalore – lunch at McDonalds in the Forum Mall, followed by a matinee in the multiplex. No better way to spend half a day.
Pre lunch naps.
Post lunch naps.
Squash, squash, squash.
Cricket on TV every day – the best way to get from one nap to the next.
Watching India play Pakistan in Bangalore – Inzy’s 100th test, and where Sehwag’s batting was worth the price of admission, until..... ...Day Five, when India folded pathetically.
Watching India thrash S.Africa live in Bangalore after approximately 17 glasses of beer – 6 before the match even started...
Flying to Chennai in pouring rain, with the ridiculous expectation that the India/SA ODI would happen – such was the extent of our delusion that Krishnan uncle and I actually sat in the pouring rain at the stadium for a couple of hours, hoping for a game. We reluctantly gave up when the ground staff flung their buckets to the four winds and swam off the field. Dad-in-law got a nap, I read some Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... (no beer in Chepauk)
Ice cold kingfisher on the lawn on a sunny day, scrabble with Dad/Mom/Rajiv/Divya, hot fried seer fish (coated with rava – yum), nap. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Rafting on the Ganga, flying off the raft into The Golf Course (a Class 3+ rapid), drinking copious quantities of freezing water (and god knows what else), freaking out.
Starry nights by the Ganga, hot paranthas, and vodka + sprite – my friend Sanjay Rao and I spent a week out in those parts, just us boys. As he would say, “Superior”.
Driving Shilpa and her friends to school every morning – three 4-yr old girls playing psycho mind games on each other, one 4-yr old boy banging his head maniacally against the seat while trying to open the car door, asking if I could, please, just for fun, smash into another car.
Driving Shilpa to school most mornings in the Mini (back in Seattle), with her singing lustily along to her favorite Heart, Indigo Girls and Foo Fighter songs.
Three nights in the Maldives with Divya’s parents and Shyam (this was before my time off, but too magical not to mention) - the most amazing place on earth.
Three nights in Kumarkom with Amma/Appa – again magical, seeing the pictures makes me want to weep.
Chai on the front porch most evenings with the Bishts (our next door neighbors)
Laphroig with Anil Bisht most evenings, after the chai.
Ripping 500+ CDs onto my iPod.
Sleeping well every night, and realizing that I really had not done that for most of the prior ten years.
Catching little Tanvi as she came kicking and screaming into this world – it’s amazing to consider how that one instant, when the baby enters the world, is so incredibly intensely moving.
You get the idea – I can keep going on an on.
In any event, it’s been a great time, and I strongly strongly strongly recommend it.
posted by Krish @ Friday, May 19, 2006
1 comments
