Inspiration Incorporated

Writing about the summer from airline lounges seems to have become a tradition. As I write this, I am sitting in the Austrian Lounge in Vienna. I thought I would do a sort of verbose montage of all that occurred during the this summer as I did everything. But laziness got the better of me and I am resorting to a summary like the one I did last summer. Although I interned at NVIDIA again, and stayed at the same place, this summer was certainly more eventful.

I had a different team at work this team – GPU Architecture – but the work was as enjoyable if not more than last year. But I won’t talk much about work. It is the other stuff that was much more fun. Poker/Top Gear nights, meeting amazing personalities, going to the CEO’s house again and getting around California in the two cars that define pop american muscle – the Mustang and the Camaro. Both convertible. I don’t know if it was just the fun I had over the summer, but I think the Bay Area seems like a good place to start right out of college. But I think it isn’t just the fun. NVIDIA is a great place to work, especially as an intern. You get a lot of freedom to explore, and talk to other people, in various teams, who have achieved so much about which they are ready to share. Yes, interns get a good amount of work, but it is rewarding work, stuff that really matters and not just a button or a feature on a huge app. They also don’t distract interns with what I call bling. Something that MS and Google do. Something very similar to the work ethic people have at CMU, which is why I think there are so many Tartans at NVIDIA.

Talking of CMU, there was a great alumni/student summer event. Great food, great people and great organization. But what really left me awestruck was the sheer number of CMU alums that have moved to the Bay Area, especially from ECE and CS. I think CMU must have the most alums in the area after Stanford.

Abrupt ending but it is time to board. More later.

The last time I was on a plane and it was dusk outside:

The sky bled
Under the Sun’s red gaze
As I skid across the clouds
Like a pebble in a daze

What is my destiny I wonder
As I pass over this bloody sea
I wish I knew just as any other
Who wonders what he is to be

When such seas I must cross
I seek his sheltering hand
Like a child seeks his father’s words
So with unbowed shoulders I may stand

When all else around me withers
And my body screams for me to stop
I pray for his guiding light
To shield me from the sheer drop

But he rewards not hymns or prayer
Only effort and will can sway him
I wonder how many seas I can cross
Until I too become one with the dim

But just as evening gives way to night
Just before the day steals the dark away
I hope that this sea I cross
Will show him and make him say

That I have earned my peace
And nothing can steal it away

Although it has been more than a couple of months since I started this blog, I have deliberated long since about writing one. I do like to write. I write books in my spare time about all sorts of things. But a blog is different. A post doesn’t have the liberty of length to develop into something truly marvelous. Only a few paragraphs must contain the coconut’s juice.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to write this blog was to elaborate on my experiences so that I am spared the agony of repeated and long telephone calls to everyone (particularly to my mother) who wants to know what happened today, yesterday and everyday. Besides, it gives me a medium to opine about anything and everything that is going on around me, from the exhilaration of driving at almost 200kmph to the flatulent boredom of waiting in line to pay for the speeding ticket.

Writing gives me great joy and even greater joy if I inspire you with it!