2015 - The Year of World Travel

This year took me on a roller coaster ride in life. International trips, my wedding and my first job change. I ended up buying my most expensive toys, going on my wildest trips and even getting married. This is probably my most delayed year-end post, happening only in February of 2016. The entire year has been spent in MathWorks, working on the Simulink Design Verifier. A few things which my 2015 eventful: a coast-to-coast train ride across America, walking tours of Istanbul, Fort Kochi, road trip across coastal Andhra, serious astronomy, startups, acrylic painting, a new planted tank aquarium, death of my lovely hamster and Srivani's entry into my life.

My January began as usual. I was in MathWorks for about 2 months then and was ramping up. I also moved into a new house in Bellandur and was getting used to staying alone in a single bedroom flat. Mukund was a close neighbour and supported me on a daily basis. I started looking for a new telescope, having made the decision to shift to an all-refractor collection eventually. I had sold my 5" reflector to Prahlad and was upgrading to a 5" SkyWatcher refractor, which was supposed to be purchased in the following month. I observed my first comet this month as the Lovejoy 2014 Q4 became bright in the night sky.

The two most important developments in Feb were my US visa and the 5" refractor. I got my B1/B2 visa to visit the US for BPO the next month. Also, the 5" SkyWatcher refractor finally came home, along with an alt-az mount to hold it in place. I ended up imaging the Orion nebula, Pleiades, Hyades, Sirius and the five planets observable with the naked eye. Perhaps the most stunning shot of them all was of the planet Saturn with its entire ring system. Interestingly I also imaged the optical doubles, Mizar and Alcor (Arundhati in Indian mythology). Amogh left MathWorks by the end of February. He has been a great mentor in the first 3 months of my career!

March saw me fly to US. I visited the US for about 4 weeks, two of which were spent at MathWorks. I flew by British Airways, shooting very detailed images of central Asia, the Caspian sea, Iran, Europe, the British Isles and the North Atlantic. I visited my cousins in Washington DC during my first weekend there. My cousin, Aravind took me to visit the Smithsonian institution, Lincoln memorial, Washington monument and the Capitol. We drove around the city, visiting the various departments of the US government the following day. I spent the night in NYC, visiting the Times Square at 2 AM. The next weekend saw me take a train across America. I got into Boston South station and chugged all the way to Chicago, where I got time to visit the Willis tower and the Grant Park. The train from Chicago to California went across the buffalo-rich great plains, Rockies, Rubies and the Sierra Nevada. I spent a week with family in California, visiting Stanford and the Valley, before returning to Bangalore.

I purchased my tickets to Istanbul on 10th April. A more exotic international destination, compared to the US. It was always in my dream destinations, thanks to it being a centre of great geopolitical significance throughout history. I began building my first CCPM helicopter this month out of spare parts from RC Bazaar. It's still under construction and has done only tethered flights till date. MathWorks held its MATLAB Expo in April, which showcased some of the customer projects using our tools. I upgraded my roadbike's drivetrain to MicroShift R9s from the US visit.

The rest of the Istanbul planning got done in May, including the forex, hotel bookings and planning museum visits. I cycled a bit this month as well, catching up with Rahul Bhagwat. I spent most of the month working on the CCPM helicopter and playing Tomb Raider. Mostly an uneventful month, I just sat home doing my hobbies and playing with my hamster.

June 12th saw me get engaged to Srivani. Was an abrupt thing in my life when it happened and I'm still trying to come to terms with having another person in my life. Our first lunch date was in hotel Marriott on the Tank Bund road. Rest of June went by in texting her and being on call with her. Gifted her a Pebble smartwatch, which Janaki got on her return from US. I fabricated a PC cabinet for my PC out of balsa wood. This was an open cabinet, where the heatsinks are cooled by the surrounding air. This month also saw my onset of allergic rhinitis. I initially thought it was common cold, but it came to stay. Adding an air filter to the house later made my life better.

I went on a long ride with Nivedita during the first weekend of July. A half day ride to Nandi hills followed by lunch. The second weekend I travelled to Pune to meet Srivani. I picked up a friend's bike and we went around the city and then rode on to Lonavala and onwards to Mumbai. We had a great dinner at The Dome on Marine Drive and stayed there for the night. Visiting other landmarks such as Gateway of India and the Taj, we rode back to Pune the next day and I caught my flight back home. Two weeks later, she came over to Bangalore on a secret trip and we roamed around the city. She caught a flight to Pune and I to Istanbul on 27th July. The Istanbul trip with Amogh was a fun experience. Had a great bunch of roommates in a dorm and ax exceptionally great travel companion in Amogh. We visited Ottoman palaces and mosques, Byzantine fortifications and churches and ancient Roman artifacts. Best of them all were the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Blue mosque. The Bosphorous cruise was an amazing experience. I brought back a piece of the famous triple walls of Constantinople after breaking it with another stone. It remains one of my most prized possessions.

I lost my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in Istanbul and bought a Galaxy K Zoom in Qatar airport on my way back from Istanbul. I got home a lot of Turkish artifacts, including a stained glass chandelier. The presence of a phone with 10x optical zoom meant I could now shoot a lot of aircraft operating from the HAL airport from the cafeteria of my office. I also restarted a long lost hobby in August, painting. I painted my first acrylic painting in a long time this month. A red cherry, with basic shadows and glazes. It came out well and was recognizable as a cherry!

I went on another 100Km ride in September with Rahul. I got the IR sensor on my K Zoom removed and the phone now started behaving like an IR night vision camera. Srivani came to Hyderabad for some shopping and we went out during the third weekend. We went to the Zoo and Indira Park, amongst other places. We had many amazing photoshoots with dad's EOS 400D. I painted many more things by now. I even gifted a painting of a rose to Srivani.

October saw us getting ready for the wedding! The invitations were being made. We met again for shopping in Hyderabad. I started interviewing with companies for a possible shift from MathWorks after work became boring and monotonic here. I shipped a Galileo EQ-4 mount to Hyderabad and brought my 5 inch refractor home. The plan is to establish a home observatory, complete with the imaging equipment. The plan is still being realized. I gifted yet another painting to Srivani this month, this time a photo that I shot near Athirapally falls, Kerala.

November began with IMAB being held by MathWorks and then the company anniversary. I began working with Vijender this month on his startup, WaterWala. We started prototyping several experimental ventures and it proved to be fun working with him on them. I bought the game, Assassins Creed Revelations, which first inspired me to travel to Istanbul and started playing it. I finally flew home for my wedding on 20th November, spotting the massive Antonov An-124 parked in the Hyderabad airport. My wedding took place on 22nd November and Roshan, Amogh, Salke, Mukund and Vijender attended it from amongst my friends. After a few days at home, we flew to Visakhapatnam on 26th November. We roamed around the coastal city, doing shipspotting and visiting naval museums and lighthouses for the next few days.

We travelled a lot in December. We went across coastal Andhra by road, steamed up the river Godavari through Papikondalu and chugged up all the way to Araku in 3 days. It was one intensive week. Rest of the time in Vizag was spent spotting ships such as LSTs, corvettes and destroyers from the beach. I flew back to Bangalore directly from Vizag and immediately shifted to a new house in BTM Layout. I resigned from MathWorks on 21st December to join a more happening team at Gwynnie Bee. Srivani moved to Bangalore on 24th December. We booked our tickets to Singapore in the second week of this month. This was to be the third leg of my journeys, having visited the West, the Middle East and then South Asia. But first, we travelled to Cochin to spend the new year's weekend in Fort Kochi. The 31st of December was spent in a bus enroute to Ernakulam from Bangalore.

This has been quite an eventful year. I'm looking forward to the excitement this year brings to my life!