Just another year ...

We keep saying "time flies" , "gosh I did not realize we are in 201X " , "wow we are already half way through the year, just feels like it started a few days ago". I have used this many times and have always got "I know right" or something on similar lines to indicate the other person also totally agrees with that thought.  To best of my knowledge, earth still rotates the same way it used to and goes around the sun the same way it used to ... but we are losing track of how things move, despite them moving as fast as they used to.

Speaking of things moving fast, it just seems like not so long ago that I moved to US for an year or so as I explained to others. I really had visa for just 8 months, so that was the story I went with  as one is never sure if visa will get renewed or not. Once it did get renewed, it was granted for exactly another 1 year. The story changed to just another year more. Somewhere in the middle of April this year it actually has been 5 years since I relocated from India. The milestone date, came and went without much fanfare. I should really be more surprised as I never expected to stay here so long really. Yes, really!

When I managed to land a project in the city of my first preference - Seattle, it was a great feeling. I knew I was going to a foreign land of unknown to take up a work assignment which was new to me in a new team and in totally new place. So many folks asked me why are you going away into such an unknown when I was doing really well at that point in my role and was in a good team and was primed for fast growth in India.  I somehow felt that for the industry I was in, it was very valuable to get an experience working in US for career progression.  So once my project and start date was confirmed, I called up my friend Ramki who was living in Seattle and was with the same company as me but worked for a different client. During our conversation on life in Seattle and how to adapt, what to get from India etc.. I think I must have mentioned a few times that this was a short visit and I meant to stay only for an year or two at max to pick up some international experience. Ramki stopped me there and added with a hint of smile in his voice, "Anush, no one who moves here goes back within an year. How much ever you insist that will be the case or you are different, I personally don't know anyone without visa issue or urgent personal issues needing them to be back in India ever going back voluntarily despite what they claim at first, and knowing you I don't think you will either." It did turn out to be prescient any way!

This is something I have heard from several others as well that they never thought they will be here so long, but ended up staying. So many friends mentioned that they never enrolled in 401k savings ( retirement fund to which employer also contributes) because they thought they had come for just an year or so and why take time to set-up all these things. That includes me as well, we all just left money on the table by not enrolling in retirement plans.  Another interesting conversation I had a few years back on this topic was when I traveled in a cab once in Dallas and the driver was from Nicaragua and we were chatting in general and he told me he had also come to US  a few decades back with exactly the same thoughts that he will come here for an year or two and make some money and head back home to be with family. He said every year he used to tell himself that just another year and he will go back to his home country. Apparently that was more than 30 years back. Now there is no immediate family left in his country to even go back to.However I told myself that he had come from a troubled country where there was not much prospects unlike my situation where the country I left is moving ahead rapidly.

This is a topic I bring up often when I meet up with old friends or have long conversations with them . Almost all of my friends are folks in IT who came to US on work visa from India and were working here . Most of them own and live in their own homes here in US. When I ask whether they intended to settle down here, the answer was either no probably not or I'm not sure. But they clearly don't have any immediate plan to wind up and head back to India even though it is there somewhere in the back of the mind somewhere. I don't own a home here, avoided that as that could be a huge grounding factor but no clear plans on return as of now either. So we all continue in a limbo, with no clear plan to stay or settle down anywhere. Which I think is fine and we keep saying just another year and then we will see!  

The Winter Solistice

Right from my childhood, I have always been a trivia buff. I knew what summer solstice was and what winter solstice was and the date it falls on June 21/Dec 21 respectively ( oh yeah it does vary by a day at times). I had an idea what it was but never quite realized what it meant and why it mattered. The first quarter of my life was in Southern India and the two terms I mentioned above hardly mattered over there as the variation of day was not much. You read in news papers about Winter Solstice or Summer Solstice when the date approaches but it dint really register or mean much to me.

Just for illustration, June 21 in 2015 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu my hometown had Sunrise at 6:00 AM and sunset at 6:47 PM and that's like 12 Hrs 47 min of daylight. Dec 21 in 2015 in the same place the sunrise was at 6:35 AM and sunset was at 6:04 PM and that's around 11 hrs 28 min of sunlight

Of course most of Southern India or India/ South East Asia / Middle east ( other places I have lived in) are somewhat similar there might be slight variation as you go norther but most of the tropical places we don't have too much variation between longest and shortest days. Or at least I didn't really notice it much. Well during my last 5 years in India I lived for 3 years in Mumbai and 2 in Chennai both of which don't have any winter and just have a very hot season and not so hot season

Only after coming to Seattle, I was able to witness 4 clear and distinct seasons and in Seattle for the same dates - June 21 in 2015 the sunrise was at 7:55 AM and sunset was at 4:20 PM and that is 8 hours and 25 min of  winter sunlight. Meanwhile in June 21 2015 the sunrise was at 5:12 AM and sunset was 9:11 PM and that's almost 16 hours of summer sunlight.  The contrast was too stark especially when winter comes. For a month or so in winter there would be no sunlight when you start for work around 8 AM and it will be dark when you get back home even though I would be back home by 5 PM. To add to this it would be mostly gloomy weather with rain and cold winds would keep appearing every now and then and that was indeed a depressing combo. You really missed those warm summer months with those long days of beautiful weather when most people would spend lot of time outdoors. Winter Solstice marked the day when you turn a corner and the world starts getting back to brightness a little more with maybe 1-2 minutes of extra sun a day gradually and in a few months you stop noticing the darkness, the cold winds, constant rains and the general gloom. The winter will still be there for a few more months, but at least the days slowly start getting longer
After my first year in Seattle, I was very sure there is some connection between sunlight and warmth and general cheerfulness and in the next year you would really wish for Dec 21 to come soon and for Feb middle when things start getting better/brighter. Also you sort of understand why they packed a set of holidays and family/social events during this period as the lack of sun does get to you at times

After a few years of that, now while living in Dallas, TX there is 10 hours of sunlight even on winter solstice and there is still sunlight when I step out in morning  for work and when I'm getting back in the evening so it doesn't feel that bad and I'm back to not paying that much attention. Sure it is winter and yes the day does feel slightly shorter but still it doesn't feel so bad as to wish for Dec 21 to come and to just get past the worst!

Yet another move!

Having a fixed address for a long period  is something I have never had in my life, in essence change or moving has been the only constant. Right from childhood since my parents had transferrable jobs we kept moving between towns/cities and even when within a town we changed houses multiple times. At times I would envy some of my friends and cousins who have always lived in 1 or 2 localities throughout. I would wish always that how would things be if we didnt move houses and we stayed in same place.

But again it was not just my parents who were to blame, when I grew up I was also doing the same thing at even more rapid pace. I lived in 5 different houses in Bangalore in 3 years I spent  there to give you an idea. Post 2008 I have lived 6 major global cities and moving is something that is a norm

Anyways what I want to write about today is not about those missed childhood experiences of a single familiar place or lack of something constant  though my parents eventually settled back in my hometown to the house they built around the time I was born and for last 15 years my hometown / permanent address is same.  So in a way I finally did get that. On the positive side whenever we moved we would meet new people, there would be new school, school mates , new neighbors, new neighborhood which I usually explored alone. It was always a huge fun going out and discovering the place you lived in. I think that's the reason why this movie is a huge personal favorite of mine

Moving in childhood was always easy and huge fun, because I basically did nothing. My parents along with some folks from my dad's office would come in and do all the actual moving. Subsequently during my student days I did stay for short periods in multiple places but all I had to carry was a mattress and couple of suitcases. Even when I had started working my worldly possessions were very minimal and could be carried in 2-3 suitcases.

Only after my marriage I actually started 'settling down' and started buying household stuff like furniture, household electronics, cooking utensils etc. So when I moved from Chennai to Seattle there was quite a lot of stuff to be moved to my hometown. Again as I had to leave quickly I just left and my efficient better half took care of it all.  We hired a professional movers and packers, but it was still exhausting for her and she was certainly not happy but having never really been involved in a move I still had no idea how hard it was.

Then we settled in Seattle and everything seemed fine for a while we lived in the same apartment for an year and half. Even though the apartments here are equipped with household necessities like Fridge, heater, washing m/c, dryer and dishwasher with time we did accumulate enough stuff.

So when we had to move to another part of the city so that we can be near her workplace, finally there was a 'Move' which I had to co-ordinate. As with most things in US the 'do-it-yourself' attitude extended to even household moves. With a fair bit of planning using internet and more importantly with inputs from a local cousin who enlisted himself as volunteer#1 we decided that we will do it ourselves. Moving on your own is certainly something that needs to be done once in lifetime it certainly was a good experience to remember later

Overall it was simple and straightforward  : hire a truck get lot of boxes and tape and then put stuff in, take it out and before you do that just let the word around in office floor and friends circle. So many helpful tips and inputs came my way.
Essentially there was lot of initial planning and getting boxes to pack and identifying the right truck. With services like U-Haul renting truck and getting any other necessary stuff is very easy. Couple of folks my office team who lived nearby also offered to join and in fact they did most of the hauling.  The previous evening we had to start putting stuff into boxes and taping it up and it was a long night. Next day early in the morning when the store opened I went and picked up a U-Haul truck. It was my first time driving such a big vehicle and the old guy at the store mumbled some instructions and I didnt understand a single word and decided to proceed to the truck. I tried a while but couldnt figure out the gears and luckily the guy had followed me slowly and he explained how to start it. It was smooth sailing until I had to put reverse gear and park in my apartment community and once again a quick google search solved it and the truck was parked and ready. It took us an hour or so to load up the truck and then I set out  on the truck with my friends all whom were new to US and had recently started driving cars. It was really good experience driving the full truck through multiple highways and luckily we reached and parked with no issues. The actual move itself took only like 4 hours and by late afternoon we were ready to unpack. My entire furniture was from IKEA which meant it could be easily dismantled and assembling back was also easy. By evening along with my cousin who stayed back till late evening we had assembled all the furniture. Since we moved from 1 Bed apt to 3 bed one laziness took over quickly since there was lot of space to keep the boxes and my initial plan was to just take out immediately the most necessary stuff on Day1 and then gradually over the week slowly do the other boxes.

But it always never works according to plan, always! Most of the time the things we need will be in the boxes kept in spare bedroom and even though the boxes were marked appropriately almost always I had to open 3 boxes before I found the right stuff  Within a few days we got rid of almost all the boxes and moved everything to correct places but it did take  another 3-4 weeks fully settle down

Our new house was simply fantastic, it was on a hill and there was greenery all around. There was a small stream right outside and the place around had all the amenities you needed. We had sufficient and more space inside and for rent we were paying it was a steal. All this lead to the thought that we had a perfect place and we are not going to move anywhere for a while. Things indeed looked fine for a while and then in another 6 months we had to move again. This time we were moving to Texas about 2000 miles away in another corner of US and this time the Do-it-yourself was ruled out not only because of logistical issues also because my wife's employer was paying for the whole thing.

So this time we got a professional packers and movers, again there was same dread and pain but in lesser magnitude. We had to do some amount of planning on what stuff we will carry with us and what will go in truck and also on how to manage once they picked up the car which was moved by a different company. But the actual work was fully done by the Movers and after 2 weeks of survival in a hotel once we moved in to our current apartment in Dallas we had the movers bring in our stuff which was kept in Storage until we were ready. Getting the stuff in boxes to apartment without any damage is one thing, but setting up the home is another major challenge and it again took us well over a month to make it into our home again!

Given the nature of our jobs and our willingness to be ready to move if needed means those empty boxes will always be there in my storage room. Since we had very little time to find an apartment and most homes look spacious when empty it was very confusing. Only when we started unpacking we realized how small our kitchen is and the pantry shelves are tiny. So I guess its only a matter of time before those boxes come out again