Uma and Saurav's Personal Blog

Uma's Birthday - 26-Jan-2012 Pics update

2012-01-28T00:34:00.000-05:00

Picture update

2011-09-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

Sharing a picture taken a couple of weeks back

Thanks to Anant for taking this picture

In memory of my mother (1953 - 2011)

2011-06-21T22:43:00.003-04:00

To those who knew my mother, knew her as a woman of immense courage and beauty. She knit many relationships, faced challenges undaunted and always spoke the truth. Her strength of character inspired me and many others. I have learnt courage and straightforwardness from her. I have lived with her guiding voice in my heart and continue do so. It is the only way of paying my respect to her and to say - 'Mom! I love you'

Uma's pictures

2011-05-15T04:00:00.001-04:00

From Picture Updates Feb-May, 2011

Picture update

2011-03-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

A set of pictures taken after work on 11-Feb

Ahshaan and Zaara

2010-12-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

Our 8th anniversary cake

2010-11-21T01:00:00.001-05:00

Saurav, Zaaza, Ahshaan

2010-11-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

Zaara and Saurav

2010-10-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Zaara and Uma

2010-10-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

Presenting the moon

2010-09-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

To Uma,
Here's the moon for you ;-)

Picture Update

2010-09-05T11:26:00.002-04:00

Turning Forty

2010-08-23T07:44:00.016-04:00

So, this is it. This is how it feels like - entering the forties.

Looking back, there are no regrets. I would like to thank God for a beautiful life and the countless blessings - the greatest of those blessings - Uma - my wife, a wonderful companion. Uma has shown me the true meaning of 'living life'. She's built a world for me filled with love and respect. I would also like to thank my parents, for the values they inculcated in me - the part of 'living right'; my brother and sister who support me through thick and thin; my teachers and gurus who had the patience to answer all my questions and yet fuel my curiosity further; and to all my friends. who have always been around. I would also like to thank Amma [ Wikipedia ] for her teachings.

I know six of my friends have birthday's today. Wishing Aditya, Archana, Madhusudan, Nagen, Ram Narayan, and Shahana, a very happy birthday.

As I wander through the journey of life, I look at it in (child-like) amazement and curiosity. I am reminded of the opening lines of the song - 'Higher Ground' [ Wikipedia ] -

Every hour of every day I'm learning more

The more I learn, the less I know about before

The less I know, the more I want to look around

Digging deep for clues on higher ground

Feeling younger! Cheers!

Pictures update

2010-06-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

Sharing a couple of pictures from a colleague's house warming yesterday

Uma and Saurav pictures

2010-03-21T09:23:00.005-04:00

A couple of pictures from Sanshray's birthday party on the 13th of March

Kunsh's birthday celebrations

2010-02-28T07:14:00.002-05:00

Pictures and video from Kunsh's - Puneet and Kavitha's son - 1st birthday celebrations on 28-Feb-2010.

Monday Getaway

2010-01-26T21:50:00.005-05:00

We had a long-weekend vacation from 23rd to the 26th. This vacation coincided with Uma's birthday on the 26th. Wishing Uma a Happy Birthday.

On Monday, 25th, we made a day trip to Innovative Film City, Janapada Loka, and Brindavan Gardens. Here are pictures from the trip.

Dec 2009: Looking back, looking forward

2009-12-31T05:21:00.009-05:00

The last month of the year is usually slower than the rest of the year - unless you have quite a way to go in meeting year-end targets :-) . We think it is the winter or the holidays, which slow things down. This gives time to reflect on the near past - usually the year; and an opportunity to plan for the future.

Looking back at the year 2009 - we had unexpected changes and losses mid-year. We had to cancel on our vacation plan. Now, after 6 months, we think that we took this very well, and are again back to business. We did feel like we were in the middle of a twister when adapting to the new environment. Now things seem to be falling in place - bit by bit.

For the year ahead, we hope to see greater things and maybe, a vacation.

Continuing to share pictures, here is one of ours at Chilli's in Bangalore on Christmas Day.

Wish you all a very Happy New Year!
- Uma and Saurav.

November: Season for thanksgiving

2009-11-26T00:14:00.003-05:00

There are quite a bunch of updates to share with you. First, Uma now has a job at IBM. She started on the 9th. This has also meant a slight adjustment of our daily schedules. 11th was our anniversary. We spent an evening out on the 12th celebrating our anniversary. Here is a picture from the dinner that evening.

On the 21st, we partied at Abeer's (our friend Saleem and Nazneen's daughter) birthday party. A few pictures from that day and a video.

26th is Thanksgiving in the USA. With all the good things this time, we thank God and everybody for this.

My Birthday

2009-09-28T06:46:00.003-04:00

This time my birthday on the 18th and the days following were extremely busy at work. A quick short personal celebration at home caught on picture by our friend.

Team lunch

2009-08-29T08:12:00.002-04:00

Pictures from our team get-together at lunch. Location is Barbeque Nation at Koramangala, Bangalore

Pictures from Bangalore

2009-08-22T07:21:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures after we came to Bangalore.

Bangalore Traffic

2009-07-17T13:58:00.003-04:00

The videos tell all. Enjoy!

Boston Trip: 23-May 25-May-2009

2009-05-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

An introduction using google presentation

2009-05-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here is our attempt at a general introduction using google presentation

Weekend pics 4/25 - 4/26

2009-04-27T08:24:00.001-04:00

Washington DC, Cherry Blossom Festival

2009-04-07T00:46:00.004-04:00

It is Cherry Blossom Festival at Washington DC this spring. We drove down last weekend (4/4). It was a windy day as you can see from some of the pictures. Shebeen and family (Shahana, Ahshaan, Zaara) were with us on this trip.

Yaari.com got hold of my address book

2009-03-25T07:42:00.002-04:00

Yesterday (3/25/2009), somebody sent me an invite to this networking site (Yaari.com), and as I started to explore what this is about, the website got hold of my address book and has sent an invite automatically to everyone in my address book.

My suggestion is keep away from it.

I was later shown this Blog entry - Yaari, Social Network or International Scam? - should have read it earlier. Spreading the news to my friends through this blog.

Get-together with IBM friends at Atlantic City - 3/20

2009-03-21T09:25:00.002-04:00

Uma's Birthday 1/26/2009

2009-01-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

Enjoy these pictures from Uma's birthday.

An afternoon with Sanat

2009-01-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

Vivek, Bharagavi and Aashish Patel were home for a lunch get-together on Saturday, 1/3. Vivek and Bhargavi's son, Sanat was there too. He is a cute baby. See for yourself in the pictures below:

Zaara and Ahshaan's Birthday Party

2008-12-30T04:00:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Zaara and Ahshaan's birthday party on 27-Dec-2008

Amulya - Babu's daughter

2008-11-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

Last week we were at Amulya's birthday celebration. Amulya is now a year old. She is Babu's daughter. Amulya was born on our marriage anniversary. Here is a picture to share with all of you. From L to R are: Saurav, Babu, Babu's wife, Amulya and Uma

Fortune picks Nokia E71 as their choice smartphone

2008-11-20T04:00:00.001-05:00

The Nov 24 2008 issue of Fortune includes a comparison of four smartphones. It is on page 50 of the print edition. The 4 phones compared are the RIM Blackberry Bold, Apple iPhone 3G, Google Android G1, and the Nokia E71. Fortune picks Nokia E71 as their choice smartphone. Fortune says - "Despite a small screen, the Nokia E71 offers a sleek and satisfying experience and stands out from the pack".

Glad I chose to buy the Nokia E71.
:-)

Canandaigua Lake

2008-11-04T04:00:00.001-05:00

We were visiting our friends at Rochester, NY the past weekend. We drove down after breakfast to Canandaigua Lake nearby and had some good winter pictures of the lake. Here they are:

Utah trip 10/19 - 10/26

2008-10-27T11:00:00.001-04:00

In pictures

Around the workcenter:

Krishna Lotus temple:

The Provo Canyon Scenic Byway drive:

Bridal Veil Falls (in the Provo Canyon Scenic drive):

Sundance Resort (in the Provo Canyon Scenic drive):

Around Deer Creek Reservoir (in the Provo Canyon Scenic drive):

Around Provo:

Around the Great Salt Lake:

The Kennecott Copper Mines (the largest man-made excavation):

At the CEU Prehistoric Museum, Price UT:

At the Arches National Park:

My new Nokia E71

2008-09-21T04:00:00.001-04:00

Last week my third Nokia phone in about 10 years began to fail. It is useable, but there were problems with the speaker and it was showing signs of aging. I decide to buy a new phone. As I shopped around, I was drawn to the new Nokia E71. I liked it, and it took about 3 minutes to buy one at BestBuy.

Reading the reviews, only encouraged me that my decision in buying this phone was right and it is perfectly suited to my needs.

My needs are mostly business (phone, text message, internet, and email) with a little bit of media added to it. Below is a thumbnail of a picture taken of a Garfield toy in my car.

The pictures are okay for my use. I like the Wireless LAN and GPS features on this phone too.

I guess I will be filling up this blog with more to come from this phone.

Introducing Pradhan's photography

2008-09-20T04:00:00.011-04:00

I recently discovered that my colleague and friend, Pradhan is a skilled photographer. Check out http://picasaweb.google.com/pradhanpict for more.

Here are some randomly selected pictures

My Birthday chronicles in pictures

2008-09-19T16:00:00.001-04:00

Sequence of pictures during my birthday (18-Sep)

A few more pictures

2008-09-07T04:00:00.001-04:00

These were a few pictures taken by my friend, Shebeen on Aug 24th.

Zaara, Uma and Saurav

Discovering Remember the Milk

2008-08-18T18:14:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I worked on studying this cool web application - Remember the milk. I find this cool because it allows me to update my task list through not just the web, but also offline (using Google Gears) and SMS (through Twitter). You could read more about it here too.

Discovering Twitter

2008-08-10T13:13:00.003-04:00

I recently discovered Twitter and decided to start using it. It is just one day and I am beginning to think this is useful.

You, my friend, have usually asked me "What are you doing?", or "How was your weekend?", etc. I would like to tell you all that I had been doing, but there is a small problem. I can scarcely recall what I was doing 30 minutes ago, let alone the weekend. Now Twitter helps both ways - it helps you know things about me, and it helps me recall my activities.

Twitter does have stuff to work on. A good place for you to know more about Twitter is at this Wikipedia page.

Hibachi dinner with IBM friends

2008-07-19T12:20:00.001-04:00

A dinner with IBM friends at a Hibachi restaurant.

Before starting out...

Chef's skills

Zaara and Ahshaan

2008-07-13T22:00:00.010-04:00

More fun with the kids.

Zaara is excited on meeting us and has loads of fun. A couple of videos and then some pictures

When it came Ahshaan's turn to play, Zaara jumped on too. A phone call from a friend (Aashish Patel) at the same time (helped by Uma), and Shebeen had this fun picture

Ahshaan had his head shaved off. His initial reactions in pictures

When Ahshaan and Zaara came home, they were interested in the TV. Inspite of being repeatedly pulled away from being so close to the TV, they would still get drawn to the TV.

Ahshaan paused for a break and wanted milk, but Zaara was clear she needed chocolates.

Break over... Back to TV

Zaara continues to have fun...

Aashish Patel

2008-07-04T23:00:00.002-04:00

Aashish Patel, before we set out on the July 4th weekend shopping

Minneapolis Trip (6/25 - 6/29)

2008-06-26T16:14:00.007-04:00

I had to travel to Minneapolis for a training on Project Management. Here is a picture log of my travel.

Day 1 (6/25): Flight to Minneapolis

Pictures of Sunset from 36000 feet (as I was told)

Day 2 (6/26):

Wake up and get to training

Evening view from hotel window

Day 3 (6/27):

Smart start of the day

Pictures of Minneapolis downtown during class breaks

Pictures of class mates during breaks

Evening walk around the hotel in downtown Minneapolis

Day 4 (6/28):

Another smart start of the day

Walk to training center

Hey! I studied in class. Here's evidence

After the test (which I passed), Bye, Bye, Class

IBM Picnic at Black Bear Lake, NJ

2008-06-18T19:09:00.005-04:00

Enjoy pics from this picnic on 30-May

Dinner with IBM India colleagues

2008-05-14T09:47:00.005-04:00

Friday evening (5/9) we were at a dinner gathering from work. Dinner was at Akbar, Edison NJ. There were fun events. See for yourself in the pictures below.

April 18th: An evening at the park

2008-05-04T11:03:00.004-04:00

We had an evening walk at the Kennedy Park. Below are pics from that evening.

Uma and Nimisha

2008-03-05T08:56:00.005-05:00

Uma and Nimisha had an evening out on 23-Feb. Before Uma and Nimisha started, Nimisha took a good picture of us.

Thank you Nimisha - here's another good moment captured.

Puneet Aneja

2008-02-22T17:54:00.002-05:00

Puneet has arrived from IBM India to continue work in our application. He reached here on Wednesday, 2/13 early morning. I drove him to office and he could meet Gordon. Puneet appears a young man. I was surprised to learn that he is married for 4 years :-)

Returning Back

2008-02-21T15:39:00.004-05:00

Hi All,

We were busy with a number of things keeping us busy.

Uma's culinary skills are being widely appreciated - that is keeping Uma busy. Friends have been keen to try out and we have been entertaining a few lucky ones.

I have been busy at work as usual. There is nothing new to write about work. However, we have had the opportunity to meet friends in and around New Jersey.

I will try to keep some time in updating this blog with some of the pictures and news from the past few months and going forward.

Talk to you all soon

- Saurav.

Dinner meeting with IBM execs on Friday - 11/16/2007

2007-11-27T20:43:00.000-05:00

We had a dinner meeting with execs from work. The dinner invite was extended to employees families too. Here are some pics from the dinner.

Dinner Meeting with Ravee - Fri 08/17/2007

2007-08-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

On Friday evening, we (Chandra, Arul, Thanga, Jagadish, Kannan, Murali, Nagesh, Naveen, Raju, Ratnesh, Shebeen, Srini Jayanthi, Babu, Arvind, Anurag, Manoj) were invited to dinner at Chand Palace, Piscataway, NJ for a dinner with Ravee. Anurag and Manoj could not make it to the dinner.

It was a fun evening, with good food and drinks. The atmosphere was light and filled with good doses of humor - Murali, Raju, Thanga, Naveen, Arul, Arvind were good sport.

Some pictures from the dinner -

Zaara and Ahshaan - drive away our stress from work

2007-08-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

We had a very stressful day at our work. An evening spent with Zaara and Ahshaan was one of the best things that could have happened to us. All of our stress and worries were wiped away by their sweet smile.

Indian Independence Day

2007-08-14T04:10:00.000-04:00

India's Independence Day is August 15th each year. At midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation.

On a lighter note, this being a national holiday in India, I guess I will be able to get some little extra sleep (). Though, this is not looking likely.

Abirami Sivaramakrishnan

2007-08-13T23:29:00.000-04:00

Abirami (our colleague from work, also called 'Abi') arrived in NJ this past weekend. Got to hear of her arrival from Gordon.

I had to handover a computer to her, so used the opportunity to say 'hello' in the evening. My first impressions of Abirami, on meeting her in person - she is a nice lady. I did not have much time with me to have a longer conversation. Will post later when we do get to sit down and talk about things other than work.

Abi is currently staying at Rinki's home.

Late night work

2007-08-13T16:13:00.001-04:00

Recently, there have been meetings from work which are run from India. As a required participant in these meetings, I have found myself staying awake at late hours to be on these meetings.

Jugnu

2007-08-06T19:19:00.000-04:00

I met Jugnu on Sunday, 8/5. He had shaved off his head. How different he looks now ...

This was how he looked earlier ...

A dinner with friends

2007-08-04T09:11:00.000-04:00

Friday evening, 8/3, we (including Saurav, Uma, Shebeen, Shahana, Ahshaan, Zaara, Prasad, Bala, Gautam, Roopali, Praveen, Prajakta, Jay, Radhika, Neeti) gathered together for dinner. Uma prepared a great dinner, with help from Shahana and a little bit from yours truly (). As you can see in the pictures

Thanks to Praveen for the pictures before we got to the dinner.

Dinner menu was: Rajma, Alu Gobi Mattar Paneer, Alu and Green Chawli, Sambhar, Rice, Roti, Salad, of course, Kheer for desert

Ahshaan and Zaara had some fun time with me before folks started to arrive.

Guru Purnima गुरु पूर्णिमा

2007-07-29T15:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday, 29-Jul was Guru Purnima. On this day, devotees offer puja to their Guru. Our two gurus are Sai Baba and Mata Amritanandmayi.

Clarification on Ahshaan and Zaara

2007-07-27T14:54:00.000-04:00

We have been receiving questions offline on who Ahshaan and Zaara. Ahshaan and Zaara are Shebeen and Shahana's children. Shebeen is a friend and colleague from IBM. He is also our neighbour.

Saravana Babu

2007-07-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

Saravana called us up yesterday (12-Jul) evening, to let us know his return to India is this weekend. As soon as we heard this, we drove down to his work to meet him. Traffic on 287 was bad, but we still managed to get to him before 5 PM. We drove back to his residence and caught up on past times.

Saravana studied at Amrita Institutions, Ettimadai, Coimbatore. We happened to work on the same application at IBM, Bangalore. He has always come across as a direct and straightforward person.

Saravana's wife and child are at Bangalore. His stay here in the US for three months were packed with work. Long distance communication was his contact with family from here. We understand what it means to be away from our family for long durations.

Wishing Saravana a happy journey and joy of being back with his family, as he sets sail for his most awaited trip the past three months.

Bon voyage

Ahshaan and Zaara - 2

2007-07-11T21:07:00.000-04:00

Some more pictures of Zaara and Uma ...

Watch Zaara in Uma's arms, while Uma talks to Shebeen and Shahana. Observe how Zaara tries to follow the conversation going around.

Zaara on Shebeen's back

Zaara chewing on Saurav's fingers. Zaara is teething and loves to chew on almost anything. Uma shot this from her mobile. Could not fix the orientation though.

Our visit to Amma

2007-07-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

On July 11, 2007, Amma was at NYC. Amma's NYC website is here.

We visited her on the same day. Photographs were not allowed. The only pictures we could take were of ourselves.

We purchased a Tulsi sapling for our home, and a piece of sandalwood for a friend. With Amma's blessings, we returned home.

Outside the center, holding the Tulasi sapling, and sacred ash on our forehead ...

The Tulsi plant at our home

Ahshaan and Zaara

2007-07-07T19:48:00.000-04:00

Ahshaan and Zaara - sweet kids

Zaara sleeps off while shopping

Zaara's teething and loves to chew on anything :-)

Zaara ...

Evening walk at Kennedy Park, Sayreville, NJ

2007-07-06T07:50:00.000-04:00

Last evening, 7/5, we found some unexpected time for a walk. A couple of video captures of the water birds at the park --->

4th of July at Philly

2007-07-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Uma and I drove down to Philly to try and catch the 4th of July Parade, and fireworks. A few missed exits and we were late for the parade. However, a few pictures from the Parade --->

These pictures were taken near the Franklin Institute Science Museum.

We then walked the Ben Franklin Parkway towards the Museum of Art.

Me and Uma

When the festivities started, we could only capture a short low-res video.

And then Nature started its fireworks - rain and thunder. We just had to return back.

Rainbow at US-1, NJ

2007-06-22T23:32:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2007, 6:45 PM ET: Rainbow seen from US-1, New Brunswick, NJ

Map is here.

A drive through Pigeon Swamp State Park

2007-06-22T19:02:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2007, 6 PM ET: A Drive through Deans Rhode Hall Road in Pigeon Swamp State Park, NJ

Map is here

A trip to the Delaware Water Gap

2007-06-21T09:14:00.000-04:00

On May 5th, we (Aashish Patel, Ashish Singh, me and Uma) drove to Delaware Water Gap. This was an impromptu trip.

We had planned to visit the Rockaway Mall near Dover, when Aashish suggested that driving to the Delaware Water Gap could be a better way to spend the evening.

The drive was beautiful. Some low-res pictures from the phone ---

Ashish and me were the first to be on the pictures.

Uma joined us for the pictures

Ashish wanted a few pictures to send back to India

Me and Uma take a walk on the grass.

Aashish and Uma discussing about Tiffany diamonds and cajoling me to buy some...

Finally, the discussions end in favor of Tiffany's

Aashish was the one with the camera. And surprisingly, he is not on any of the pics here.