Anish's Blogs

“What did you expect about America that wasn’t true?” It was a loaded question; Brian wanted to ask me about the lifestyle, culture and the behavior of the people I met in my first 3-4 weeks of my stay in the USA. Brian was an employee of the client company that TCS deputed me to in Florida. I could not answer the question directly, but gave a political answer, “I expected skyscrapers in the USA, but here in Melbourne, I don't see structures taller than 2-3 stories”. Brian went on to become a good friend of mine. In fact, when my parents visited Niagara Falls, his father, a retired Buffalo city cop showed them around in his big Impala. Brian used to discuss how American history is bloody and how steak is the staple diet for all Americans during dinnertime. He had a couple of complaints about me, one that I can't truly pronounce a “w” and a “v” separately and that my English was more formal than his colloquial language. The day I landed in Melbourne was a cool winter day; yes ev...

Today marks the second anniversary of the availability of vaccines for COVID-19! What a tumultuous 3+ year period it was. The first phase of denials, followed by lockdowns, then partial reopenings, and a cautious sense of normalcy, marked the distinct phases of this pandemic. Everything changed after the vaccine was available though. Humanity had finally won the war against this invisible enemy. But it took more than 6 months for the vaccine to be made available to the general public, only doctors and healthcare workers got it in the first phase. After general availability though there was the same chaos which we experienced during early phases of the pandemic where people hoarded stuff, and essentials like disinfectant wipes were not available for months together. There was a beeline of folks wanting to get vaccinated. After about 4 months of patiently waiting, my family finally got the immunity through vaccination. A lot of things have changed during this journey forever. Man...

Day 5 of my mandatory Working From Home (WFH)! My company followed suit of other area companies and mandated a 2-week WFH in the wake of COVID-19. At first, I thought no big deal; after all we are used to WFH in the tech industry, but for 1-2 days, not extended periods. Soon the reality is kicking in. You don’t get to see your colleagues at office and friends and relatives outside. Human beings are social animals and now I feel like we are self imprisoned, well I meant self quarantined! You cannot go to restaurants, theaters, malls, vacation; life appears to be at a standstill. And now the schools have decided to close too! The dark, gloomy, rainy weather is not helping either. If this is the mental state after just 5 days, imagine folks in Italy where the entire country is on lockdown and what about Wuhan where 11 million people are in quarantine for nearly two months! I am sure the initial 2 weeks of self quarantine can easily turn into 2 month long mandate by the autho...

While taking a stroll through our neighborhood mall last week, we realized that one of the anchor stores, Sears, is closed down. Oh yeah! It’s one of the 1500 Sears stores closed since 2013! A retail giant, Amazon of the 20th century is on death bed. A company which at one point enjoyed a revenue equivalent to 1% of US GDP, which pioneered services like the mail-order catalog has lost its luster in the wake of the new online shopping spree! A stark reminder of the fact that businesses not only need strength and stamina but they equally need flexibility. Microsoft on the other hand was faltering in the early part of this decade, but under Satya Nadella’s leadership, they showed the flexibility to invest in the Cloud Business and are now seeing its fruition.  Startups on the other side are very flexible, but without core product strength and the stamina to showcase quarter over quarter growth, many of them don’t see the IPO light. The trio, strength, stamina and fle...

You will get varied answers ranging from “Of course, I am a vegan” to “I am an eggetarian” to “I don’t eat red meat”, all the way up to “I love animals, they taste really good” and “I can eat anything that moves or once moved”. Where the person is in this huge spectrum depends on a lot of factors, broadly categorized into a handful of buckets. Religion A vast majority of folks refrain from meat or at least some types of meats because of their religious beliefs. Muslims, for example won’t eat pork while Hindus typically don’t eat beef. It doesn’t stop there. Some Hindus are supposed to not eat any type of meat, whereas others abstain from meat during a portion of the year, which typically coincides with the rainy season in India. This is not surprising as the digestive capacity of humans during those days may not be the best. Indian diaspora also follows this practice during the same time period although the weather during those months in that part of the World they are living may...

Last month we vacationed in Cancun, Mexico. Like most vacationers in Cancun, we went on a pilgrimage to Chichen Itza, a complex of ruins from Mayan civilization. While appreciating the architecture and the grandiosity of the step pyramid, the Temple of the warriors and other structures there, and the fact that this complex was built some 800-1000 years ago, I realized that this complex was uncovered only in the 20th century. Much of the Mayan civilization and its creations were destroyed by the Spanish as part of their aggression in the 16th century. Felt bad about the destruction of such a highly sophisticated society at the hands of Europeans. On the tour, the tour guide, a man of Spanish descent, introduced us to a native Mayan who was also on the same bus. Apparently, only about 5% of Mexican population is native Mayan, rest of the population is of Spanish descent. The types of jobs done by native Mayan population are mundane, definitely not customer facing and naturally t...

To Eat or Not to Eat    In the World with so many different attributes attached to the food; low fat, trans fat, refined, antioxidants, organic etc.; no wonder it causes a lot of confusion for any person as to what is safe to eat and what is not. Studies after studies show how previous studies are faulty! How long should we wait to have the perfect study which is not invalidated by a future study? How can we guarantee that all studies related to food are over and it’s safe to eat the food prescribed by that infallible study? Not only are the researchers clueless, but so are the doctors! One of my friends’ doctor suggested that he should consume more protein and start eating beef. My friend is a Hindu Brahmin and his ancestors have not eaten beef for centuries (or maybe ever)! Speaking of ancestors; whether you praise or curse your lineage, the fact is you have just inherited their genes. Your body is geared towards eating the same type of food your ancestors have been ...