The Beginning

This is how it happened, a long time ago.  Once upon a time, I was working in Silicon Valley.  The days were long and the nights were restless.  One weekend, I decided to take a trip towards Big Sur, California, by the pacific coast highway.  It is truly one of the most spectacular places on the planet.  The pristine air, crashing waves, seagulls, greenery and beautiful surroundings will soothe any nerves.  Felt like paradise.

There I saw an RV parked in a picnic spot.  An old couple was sitting in vintage chairs, reclining comfortably, wearing sun hats. On the back of the chairs were these words – on one “No Hurry”, and on the other  “No Worry”.  I can visualize it even now, almost 20 years later.  My heart had almost stopped.  Really? Is that possible? May be someday.  Little did I know at the time that one day this memory will would out to be a life changing experience.

Well, that someday arrived in late 2016.  I left high-tech and I and my wife moved back to Janesville, Wisconsin.  It was like déjà vu.

I had attended University of Wisconsin for eight years from 1984 to 1992.  I had also met my wife there in 1990.  We got married there a year later in 1991.  Internet was just born.  There wasn’t even a web browser yet.  The first web browser Mosaic was developed at University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign in 1994.  The internet gold rush was about to begin.  I had just graduated two years ago with an MBA in Decision Support Systems.  A lot of stuff was beginning to happen in Silicon Valley.  Even the first web browser inventor Marc Andreesen was moving there near Stanford University.  That’s where the future was for someone like me.  So, we moved there in 1996, after a little sojourn in Colorado.  California was great for 20 years.  But, seasons change.  Now it was time for slowing down and No Hurry No Worry.

Janesville is comparatively a small hamlet of 68,000 people, as compared to Bay Area’s millions, eight lane highways in each direction, traffic jams, long commutes, and not to mention stratospheric prices.  Janesville is easy.  It brought back old memories as well.  We hardly even get on highways.  The nearest big city is Madison, which is about 40 miles away.  It has been rated several times as number one on the list of best places to live in America.  We often go there to shop at Costco and to get away from small town some times.  We take the back roads and state highway 14 to get there.  It took some time to get used to the slow pace.  But now it feels peaceful, though a little boring at times.

We have wonderful neighbors and a beautiful backyard.  I have set up my vegetables and herbs garden here.  I was born and raised in big cities.  I had lived all my life in such places until now.  I didn’t even know that carrots are root crops and grow below ground.  It was all new to me and I was loving it !  

It took me at least two seasons to get the hang of it.  But now I grow all kinds of wonderful vegetables and herbs.  All kinds.  I grow long sweet Italian peppers.  One of them turned out to be nearly 14 inches long, see blog post for pics, and a tomato weighed over a pound.  

In my first season, my garden didn’t have a fence.   My tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, and peppers were growing nicely.  I was really excited.  Then one day we went out in the morning.  When we came back a few hours later, and my garden was gone!  I was shocked.  What happened.  Didn’t know what to think.  I was really upset.  My neighbor came by and immediately knew.  He said one word, deer.

We live by a creek.  Apparently, some deer had crossed over and had a nice breakfast.  Well, that was that.  A few days later, I researched, and thought through.  Then I went over to Menards, got some fence posts, fencing, gate and whatever else was needed.  Then I put up the fence.  Did everything myself.  It turned out really  well.  It was such a joy to work with my hands and successfully finish it.  It gave me immense satisfaction.  It has been up for four seasons now and working out very well.  We haven’t had a deer incident since.   

Wisconsin is spectacularly beautiful state.  We have so many lakes and rivers.  There is lush greenery everywhere.  Our City of Janesville is actually called the garden city.  Our own backyard runs into a city park and makes it look much larger than it actually is.  But there is only one problem – winter.  It starts getting cold here in November.  It has sometimes snowed as early as October, but not often.  Then the winter lingers on often through March.  Many people from Wisconsin go to Florida and other warmer places for winter. We call them snowbirds!

But Florida is not for me.  Too humid and too many mosquitoes.  So, I thought through and decided to start coming to India in winters, especially the beaches in Kerala. I have been coming to Varkala, a small seaside city in Kerala, for short visits for many years. Now, that I am retired, I can perhaps spend more time there. Enjoy the beautiful views, the sea breeze, lovely sunsets, great food, and making new friends from somewhere in the world, every year.