Escher got it right. Men step down and yet rise up, the hand is drawn by the hand it draws, and a woman is poised on her very own shoulders.
Without you and me this universe is simple, run with the regularity of a prison. Galaxies spin along stipulated arcs, stars collapse at the specified hour, crows u-turn south and monkeys rut on schedule.
But we, whom the cosmos shaped for a billion years to fit this place, we know it failed. For we can reshape, reach an arm through the bars and, Escher-like, pull ourselves out.
And while whales feeding on mackerel are confined forever in the sea, we climb the waves,
My last job was at Beckon, Inc in San Mateo, California in 2015. It was a Silicon Valley startup. We were developing cutting edge marketing analytics technologies. It was very exciting. The promise and expectations were huge. We were hoping to be either acquired by a big player like Microsoft or Adobe for big money, or go public on our own. There were about 40 employees in the company. We were all dreaming of becoming millionaires in a couple of years, at most. Then quit the rat race. Things move fast in silicon valley. Instant riches. That was the dream and whole mantra of the startup culture. It had worked for quite a few, but not all.
The days were long. If you couldn’t work 14 hour days, it was hard to cut it. I was also 62 years old. The next oldest person in the company was 20 years younger than me. I was not getting enough sleep. I had to get up at 5 am or earlier in the morning to field conference calls from various international regions. Often three from different theaters for 45 minutes each and 15 minutes to get ready for the next one. Then hurrying to get to the office from my home in Redwood City to San Mateo, about 10 miles away in heavy traffic on highway 101. It often took 20 minutes just get to the highway from my home due to heavy traffic and traffic lights. It was brutal.
My wife was getting worried. She was noticing my stress and declining health. Then, all of a sudden, we got the news one morning that the company was folding. We were not generating revenue fast enough. Investors were losing patience and we were not getting any more funding to carry on. The company was going down in a fire sale. We were all being laid off.
First it was a shock, and then relief. The uncertainty was over. We can finally get off this horse. I tried to get another gig but it didn’t happen. There were several factors. I was getting old and didn’t have the energy. Also, technology was changing too fast and it was hard to keep up. And finally, I was getting burnt out.
So, I did a lot of soul searching. It was time to make a change. My wife is from Wisconsin. I went to school there before moving to California. We decided to pack up and go back home. My wife still had a lot of family there and the cost of living was much lower also.
We left California on October 16, 2016, in our Highlander, for a long drive to Wisconsin.
Janesville Arrival
We drove for over 2,000 miles from Redwood City, California to Janesville, Wisconsin over five days, stopping in various places on the way. It was a beautiful drive. We both like road trips, and this was the longest one we had ever done.
There were no deadlines any more. No Monday blues. No plans. Future was a mystery. We were looking forward to the change and hoping for the best.
When the decision was made in around May 2016 to move, we began to planning for it. There was a lot to be done. We had lived in California for 20 years and had accumulated a lot of stuff. We had to figure out what to take and what to leave behind. Also, we had to decide where to go.
My mother in law, Irene, was still living alone in Wisconsin in her own home. She was 92 years old. My father in law, Don Hoague, had passed away a few years earlier. My wife called her and explained the situation to her. She asked her we could temporarily move there to begin with. She agreed. We really had no idea what we were going to do going forward, whether we will even stay there or move somewhere else.
We arrived in Janesville on October 21, 2016 around 6:00 pm
When I was a child growing up in India, Yoga was all around us. It has been a part of our ancient culture through the ages, for thousands of years. We were taught Yoga exercises in school. I remember, when I was maybe 10 years old, our school started daily with a session of prayer, dharma lecture, and a few Yoga exercises. The name of my school was Sanatan Dharam Senior Secondary School. As we grew up, it became part of us, and we didn’t think anything special of it.
In fact the term Yoga is misspelled. The actual Sanskrit word is Yog, without “a” at the end. The ancient Yog teachers were called Yogi.
Yoga became popular in the west in the 60’s, in the days of great discontent when many young people from the west travelled east to explore Indian spirituality and mysticism. It was then that the groups like Hare Krishnas and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became popular. Somehow, Yog became Yoga and that’s what it is called now all over the world. So, I have also adapted and call it Yoga, so as not to confuse or be confused. I am also moving along with the times!
So, what really is Yoga? It has essentially two parts – meditation to train the mind to be calm and peaceful, and physical stretches for optimal conditioning of the body.
In modern times, Yoga focuses mainly on physical stretching exercises. There are Yoga studios all over the world. It has become a huge industry. A mystifying variety of Yoga programs have been developed, to differentiate from one another, many of which have little resemblance to traditional Yoga. Meditation seems to have been separated from Yoga and there are organizations that offer meditation retreats which are usually very expensive. These retreats often include Yoga practice lessons as well.
Traditional Yoga has two key branches – Meditation for calming the mind, and Stretches for physical fitness. Yoga can be practiced at any age. But one has to be very careful in selecting and practicing the appropriate exercises, based on their own body strength, condition, and capability. The golden rule is – First Do No Harm.
I have been going to Yoga and Ayurveda Ashrams in India once every year for the past 20 years or so. From my learnings there, I have developed a concise program for myself, that is both age and strength appropriate for my age and capability.
In this program, I will share with you what I have learned and is working for me. You may be able to do quite a bit more, or less, depending on your own inclination and capability.
I also try to keep out unnecessary jargon from my yoga discussion as it only creates an exotic aura but does not serve much more useful purpose. To benefit from yoga, one has to simply practice and keep it simple.
Yoga practice begins with learning to breathe correctly. Breathing is after all the essence of life. Life is literally defined by breathing – from our first breath to the last.
But most people do not breathe correctly. For example, people’s breathing may be shallow, deep, uneven, labored, or hurried. Due to incorrect breathing, people develop many types of cardiovascular diseases, such as Asthma, Arrhythmia, COPD, and a variety of other illnesses.
Yoga practices for learning to breathe correctly are called Pranayama. It is a combination of two words – Prana (Breath) + Ayama (Practice or Exercise).
Therefore, I have developed this program that begins with getting ready to breathe correctly, a few breathing exercises, followed by simple stretches.
Happiness is a state of mind. It is influenced by four elements. I call them Four Pillars of Happiness. These are – Health, Money, Relationships, and Mindfulness. Happiness rests on these four pillars. When either of them is unbalanced, it effects our happiness. No one in this world is completely happy, all the time. Things happen. Life happens!
But all of us can improve upon our happiness, a little bit at a time. Overtime, we develop skills to cope with unhappy elements and work on them – to be a little bit happier.
As with anything, in order to fix anything, first we have to know what to fix! We need to identify the source of unhappiness, diagnose it, understand it, analyze it, and figure out the solution. Then we need to have the courage to fix them. Most problems in life can be fixed – if not completely, but at least a little bit. We can improve most situations, if we try. So, let’s try to understand these four pillars.
Four Pillars of Happiness
Good Health – This is the most important pillar. If we are in any kind of physical pain, from minor headaches to a life threatening illness, it is difficult to be happy. Staying healthy is the key, before we get sick. Prevention is always better than cure. This includes eating healthy, exercising on a regular basis, and engage in positive activities. When we do get sick sometimes, most often it is temporary, sometimes it may be chronic, and in some cases, it may be worse. But, in any situation, we can learn to adapt and improve our chances and happiness.
Financial Freedom – I was trying to think of a better word for this, but there is no substitute. Bottom line is, living costs money. Food, shelter clothing and everything else costs money. If we don’t have it, even for the basic living, it is not possible to be not worried and unhappy. Here also, something can always be done to improve. At least we can try!
PositiveRelationships – This is often the biggest cause of unhappiness. We the humans deal with relationships every day. At work, at home, everywhere. We have to deal with co-workers, bosses, spouses, children, while shopping, restaurants, everywhere. Some are fleeting encounters, while others are unavoidable. People can both make us happy, and unhappy. We need to understand each relationship we have and develop coping strategies.
EngagedMind – In fact, I wanted to call this pillar Mind Engagement. But it may be difficult to grasp without some explanation. Mind Engagement means having something to do and something that we enjoy doing. As the old saying goes, an idol mind is devils workshops. When we have nothing positive and interesting to focus on, we get bored. Negative thoughts creep in. Mind wanders. Anxiety and depression after creep in. It becomes especially difficult after retirement. Therefore, it is important to find something to get interested in, that we enjoy doing, and offer us an opportunity to engage with other people.
Workshops
I conduct workshops on how we can be a LittleBitHappier. I walk through each pillar and help you analyze your situation. I suggest strategies how to work on improving on each pillar. But, I DO NOT offer any solutions. No one can. No one can make anyone else happy. Only we can make ourselves, or a LittleBitHappier. It is often said, happiness is a choice. After careful analysis of my own life over 50 plus years, I have come to realize and accept this fact. Most often unhappiness came in my life, it was due to the choice I made in the given situation. Looking back, I could have made a different choice. Why we make the choices we make, that is a very complicated question. Some choices are unavoidable; they are imposed on us. But we can do something about many others, if we chose it It often takes courage and effort.
I have spent my entire life in data analysis. Therefore, by nature, training, and experience, I take a data driven and fact-based approach to most things, both consciously and sub-consciously. The program I have designed for LittleBitHappier also works well with this approach.
Please do check my professional profile on LinkedIn at the following link.
If you are interested in attending a Workshop, please let me know in comments below. If enough are interested, at least ten, I will organize a workshop.
DISCLAIMER
I am not any kind of LICENSED THERAPIST or a PROFESSIONAL. I do NOT offer any solutions. I simply share my life experiences, thoughts, and ideas. I only help people think through in a guided manner to discover their own solutions.
Two years ago, I had installed a wire basket on my patio to hold a wi-fi mesh pod for extending internet reach. It looked nice and worked great. I could roam around anywhere in my garden and stay connected.
In Wisconsin, where I live, winters are long. Every year we look forward to the end of winter in March and beginning of spring. We can come out on the patio, breathe fresh air, feel soothing warmth of the morning sun, watch grass grow, see flowers bloom, and hear birds sing.
One morning in early May, I noticed a few twigs hanging from my Wi-Fi basket. Next day, there were some more. We soon realized that a finch has discovered the basket and decided to build a nest in it. We started watching her progress every day. Finch parents work together to setup nests. It is a small bird and so are their nests. They can put 3-4 eggs in one.
I was curious to know what happens inside the nest. I figured out a way. I stood on the edge of patio door from where I could raise my iPhone selfie camera and position it above the nest. It worked. I could see in there.
I googled to search for birds nesting and hatching process. There was plenty of information. Males and females work together to create nest. Then female lays eggs and incubates them. Male obtains food for the young who fly in 14-16 days.
For the first couple of days, there was nothing in our bird’s nest. Then eggs appeared on the 4th day. I did not look inside for several days as mama was sitting on eggs all the time. Papa bird was also hanging close by.
A few days later, mama started flying around. I suspected something has changed inside. I saw an opportunity one day and looked. Eggs had hatched and there were three tiny babies inside. I could make out yellow beaks and some feathers. We were wondering how long it will be before they get big enough and fly away.
Then, one day, tragedy happened. A Blue Jay had discovered the finch nest. Blue jays are known for raiding nests.
My neighbor saw him first and called me to tell that a blue jay is lurking and may attack the nest. I tried to put a protective screen around it, but could not do it. There was no way to attach it without disturbing nest. So, we just sat on the patio to keep an eye on the predator. But we couldn’t do it forever.
Blue jay waited patiently. After we left patio, he attacked the nest. He grabbed one baby and took it away. Other two were also wounded and lying in there. I was horrified and really upset. I took the nest down and buried it. Mama bird came and sat on a branch close by. She kept staring where the nest was and cried for the longest time. She kept coming for 2-3 days, looking for her nest. Her wailing was really disturbing. Then, she was gone.
I myself could not sleep for several days. I felt helpless and frustrated that I couldn’t save the babies. It reminded me of the time almost nine years ago when I had to let my beloved cat, Princess, go. She was eighteen years old, and the time had come for her.
My neighbor tried to comfort me. He has been a farmer and has seen it all. He said, “Anil, this is the circle of life. That’s the way it goes. Move on.” And so I did.
But this is not the end of story, only a brief pause, then continuation.
After the tragic finch nest incident, I covered Wi-Fi basket with a flat top so that birds couldn’t get in it.
Therefore, I was surprised a few days later to see twigs dangling again from the top of my Wi-Fi basket! What is going on, I wondered. The basket was completely sealed with the flat top.
It seems, a Robin had this time discovered this spot and liked it to build her nest. Robin is a bigger bird than a Finch. Their nests are constructed different as well. They need to be sturdier to accommodate more weight. Robins add mud to their nests along with twigs to make them stronger. Also, they build their nests on a flat surface. Obviously, she liked this spot.
Once again, I started my daily watch to monitor the new nest’s progress. In a way, it was redemption – a second chance. It took Robin 3-4 days to build the nest. It was almost five inches high and four inches in diameter.
I googled to check Robins’ nest building process. I discovered that Robins build
nest in 3-4 days and then lay 3 to 4 eggs in it over a period of 4-8 days. I waited. I did not want to peak in too early, and wanted to be extremely careful in doing so.
About a week later, I positioned my iPhone selfie camera on top of the nest. I saw two beautiful blue eggs – the famous Robin’s Blue. The feeling is hard to describe, a combination of serenity, peace, and joy.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could live our entire lives feeling that way? I suppose it is possible if we really want to and can stay away from temptations and desires the world lures us into.
You must be wondering what happened next. Unfortunately, it did not have a happy ending either. One day, Robin just disappeared and didn’t come back. She had abandoned the nest. We don’t know why. Again, google research suggested that sometimes Robins do that, if they think eggs or the environment is not viable. We waited and waited. Finally, we had to take this nest down as well.
There are lessons too in this story. This is the reality of life. We cannot control its flow. It goes, the way it goes. It gives us moments of anticipation, excitement, joy, exhilaration, and heartaches as well at times. We can’t pick and choose. We have to take it all, the way it comes. We should not get too attached to anything. All comes and goes! Live every moment. Find peace in it. Enjoy it. We never know what may happen next.
I had started writing a small blog post about my one week visit to Pench to see my friend Gary. But soon after I began, the flood gates opened and the good old memories started gushing out. My mind went back in time and I realized that I am, in fact, reliving the good old times, like a living dream. I did not want to wake up or stop. I let my thoughts flow and go wherever they would.
Old wines take time to mature. They must prove themselves and withstand the test of time. If they are truly worth their essence, they excel, and their taste is exceptional.
Sometimes it takes me a while to put my pen on the paper. Either the business of life interferes, or the chaos of it tempers the mood.
I had a wonderful visit with Gary and Rashmi at their resort in Pench, from Feb 25 to Mar 5th this year. This was my 2nd visit there; the previous one was five years ago in 2019. At that time, I had not seen them for almost twenty years. We have been friends for a long time – since 1980. In 1984, our lives took different paths. But throughout the years we moved parallel like two stars in the galaxy, on their own trajectories.
Suddenly, we reconnected in April 2019. I had a phone call from another mutual friend, Sudhir Gupta. The three of us have a long and magical history. We truly lived in the good old days from 1980 to 1984. Then our paths diverged. I came to America to resume my studies, and Gary and Sudhir got busy with their business ventures. I did not connect with anyone in India for 10 years, until 1994. Why did that happen? That is another story, for another day.
The Beginnings
Today, I am reminiscing about the good old days. In 1980, both Gary and I were working at Lintas in Mumbai as market researchers. Those were golden days. We travelled all over the country conducting marketing surveys. When we were in Mumbai, we enjoyed simple things like street food, old monk rum, or hanging out at 5-star hotels Oberoi at Nariman Point, or Taj Mahal in Colaba. One of my favorites was Shamiana Coffee Shop at the Taj and their South Indian Brahmin coffee. There was something about that brew that was special. I am a coffee fanatic for over 50 years, but I have not been able to find the same South Indian Brahmin coffee anywhere again. That taste still lingers in my memory.
We hardly had any money those days. The research work we were doing was freelance and on projects basis. I did not pay much. But no one could have guessed it! We were living like princes on top of the heap, full of hope and promises, and amid the excitement of life.
Every so often, we went to Delhi on research projects. Gary’s wife Rashmi comes from there. Sudhir Gupta is her cousin. He lived at 877 East Park Road, Karol Bagh, in a beautiful old bungalow, facing a park. When we visited Delhi, Gary stayed there. This was an old family home inherited from the grandparents. It had a very nice roof top terrace to hang out. We often got up there in the evenings, had few drinks, and enjoyed the cool breeze. Sudhir’s dad and one of his brothers lived in that large house, and other family members often visited and stayed there as well. At that time, Sudhir was still studying in Delhi University at the Hindu College. We immediately took on to each other and formed a close bond.
From then on, 877 East Park became the center of our universe. Whenever we were in Delhi, all of us spent time together there. After finishing our business during the day, we got together in the evening. We spent many wonderful evenings there. We enjoyed lots of whiskey, kebabs, Rogan Josh, ghazals and laughs. Not a single care in the world.
Then, as always happens, things change. Here, it happened unexpectedly. The forks appeared in the road, and we all went in different directions. Gary and I did not have a permanent job in Mumbai. Suddenly, different opportunities came for both of us. I ended up taking a job in Saudi Arabia, and Gary found an opportunity in Iraq. Sudhir also started his own ventures in India.
Anil 2.0
All this happened in 1982. I spent two years in Saudi Arabia. While there, I decided to return to school. I had always wanted to earn an MBA degree but couldn’t do it in India for various reasons. This time, I decided to pursue it in the USA. I applied to many universities there and was accepted in several. I ended up coming to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater in 1984. This ended up being a turning point in my life. It was, as though, one life was ending and a new one was beginning. It was the beginning of Anil 2.0.
I arrived in the USA on August 23, 1984. I landed at the Chicago airport. From there, I took a bus to UW-Whitewater campus. It was a difficult transition to return to school as a freshman at age 31, after already having lived a working life for many years. But I was committed. There was no going back. I burnt my canoe. I had to succeed. I cut off contact with everyone in India and my previous life. I did not go back to India for 10 years, until after completing my studies in 1992 with a Bachelor in Marketing and a dual MBA in Decision Support Systems.
I had made plans to visit India in the summer of 1994. I had a good job with US West, a major telecommunications company in Denver, Colorado. I had already booked my airline ticket. Then, 10 days before I was to arrive in India, my dad passed away. I had not seen him in 10 years. We had a lot of unfinished business and issues. They probably would never have been resolved anyway, but it was a very sad ending, nonetheless.
I moved on with my life. I immersed myself in my work. I got married and settled in the Silicon Valley in California. I worked there for 20 years until 2016. At one point, I was regarded one of the best database marketing experts in the country. My work was well rewarded. Now it was time for a change, again. Everything was changing. Internet was firmly embedded in business. New technologies were replacing the old ones everywhere. Web marketing was replacing the good old direct marketing as well. Google and Facebook had appeared suddenly and were now everywhere. It was time for change.
Another Chapter Begins
Now, it was time for another big decision. I had just turned 63. Should I continue working or change course and do something else. Perhaps, move to another place with a slow pace, travel, pick up a hobby or something. I have been studying the subject of happiness and positive psychology for a long time. Maybe do something in that area.
My wife and I decided to leave California and its fast pace of life. In October 2016, we returned to Wisconsin, where I had started in 1984 and my wife comes from. Having lived my entire life in the big cities and hectic pace, I was getting used to the slow pace of life and open spaces of a small town. I took up gardening and learned to grow different vegetables, herbs and flowers. I started enjoying listening to the birds every morning. I was enjoying change of seasons. Time kept moving.
I also began spending more time in India every year. Instead of a few weeks, I was now spending a few months there. But I do not spend much time in Delhi anymore. Other than my family, I do not have any friends left there. All of them seem to have moved away. Instead, I spend more time in the South. I go to Kerala every year. I do annual ayurvedic body cleansing routine and massage therapies at Poonthottam Aurvedasram or other such places. I also spend a few weeks on the beautiful beaches in Varkala.
I have another dedicated post on Varkala on my blog. Varkala is a very special place. At least, I feel that way. It is a throwback from the hippie days of the 60’s. It is a small seaside village, set on a cliff about a half-mile long, facing the Arabian Sea. There are many oceanfront restaurants and cafes. People come here from all over the world. Some are annual regulars. They come from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Morocco, Israel and other places. I have made many friends there over the years. When I am there, it reminds me of James Michener’s book, The Drifters. Experiencing counter culture and in a world of our own. You really have to read the book to fully understand. Nonetheless, I have been enjoying it for many years. Sadly, even that also seems to be changing. Now, hundreds of young people hop on trains from Chennai or other cities on the weekend and descend like swarms of locusts on Varkala. They spoil the tranquility. I will still continue to go there, until it gets really bad
Few years ago, I had met Farhad Cariapa on one of my ashram visits. We liked each other and got to be friends. Farhad owns a coffee estate in Coorg, the birthplace of coffee in India. Sometimes I go there to visit with him. Coffee estate visits are quite an experience, especially for a coffee lover like me.
Reconnecting with Gary
Now, getting back to that fateful day in 2019 – I got a call from Sudhir Gupta in Delhi. I was surprised because he hardly ever calls. We had reconnected in 1994 in Delhi on my visit there after 10 years and had kept in touch. On this call, after a few pleasantries, he said, Gary is here. I said, oh! I was quiet for a moment, then I asked Sudhir – I don’t know why – “how old is he now?”. Sudhir laughed and said, “Gary says, I am younger than you, you bastard!”. He handed over the phone to Gary. We talked for a little while.
He told me that he now lives in Pench. He owns and runs a resort called “Machan” in the Pench Tiger Reserve Park. He invited me to visit there. I promised to do so and went there a few months later.
Pench 1st Visit 2019
My first visit to Pench was in November 2019 for five days. Gary came to Nagpur airport to receive me. When you have not seen someone for a long time, you naturally wonder what they look like now. We were meeting after 20 years. We must have immediately noticed that we look a little different. Gary has always been very handsome. In early 80’s, he had great wavy hair and debonair personality reminiscent of Omar Sharif and Gary Cooper. He still retained the same elegance and physique but was a little thinner on top and dawned a beard. All the thoughts of appearances vanished in moments. As soon as we spoke the first words, the reconnection was complete, as though we had never missed a beat in twenty years.
We arrived at his resort a few hours later. There I saw Rashmi. She did not seem to have changed much. Time has been kind to her. She had retained the same trim and beautiful appearance. The same thing happened again. We reconnected instantly as though no time was lost. I spent five wonderful days there. Gary arranged a Tiger Safari for me. We were accompanied by several staff who arranged and laid out a royal picnic. It was a memorable visit. We promised to do this again, soon.
Pench Visit 2025
The ‘soon’ took another five years. I visited Pench this year from Feb 25 to Mar 5th for a week. My flight was very early in the morning. Gary sent a car to pick me up from Nagpur airport. I arrived at his place a couple of hours later, with anticipation and excitement. We met again, hugged and picked up where we had left off five years earlier.
Gary had set me up in one of his best cottages at the resort. I settled in, cleaned up, and then we met for lunch in his residential quarters. Rashmi was there as well. We started catching up since my last visit. A lot of water has flown in the river since.
Gary told me that they have made some new friends and have gotten very close to them. They are about the same age as us and they get together with them almost daily. They are Jagmohan and Amrit Sethi. I will be meeting them soon. They will be joining us for dinner.
Sethis arrived a few hours later. They are a very distinguished and elegant couple with a great sense of wit and humor. I discovered something else in common very quickly. Mr. Sethi is also a fan of Urdu poetry, like me. Living in America, I very seldom come across anyone to share Urdu poetry with. It is an art form that needs to be enjoyed in company in repertoire. Soon we were exchanging Urdu couplets back and forth. Gary served fine drinks and kebabs. It again brought back memories of good old times in Delhi in the 80’s. Evening progressed leisurely and concluded smoothly. We planned on connecting again the next day.
Wellness Center Inauguration
My friend Gary and Sethi belong to Sikh community. Sikh community is known to be the most philanthropic and charitable sect in the world. Service to the community is ingrained in their faith, beliefs, culture and practice. It is an essential part of their daily lives and rituals. Also, they serve everyone, especially those in need, without any restrictions or regard to their religion, caste, creed or culture.
Gary and Sethis were starting a community wellness center in their area. The next morning was the opening ceremony for the facility. We went there in the morning. The priest had come to perform puja and bless the new project. It is very comforting to participate in such activities. It nourishes the soul. After the ceremony, we came back to the resort. We enjoyed a sumptuous lunch with Gary and Rashmi in their cottage and then I retired for siesta in the afternoon.
Mahendra Godbole Visit
We got together again around 5 pm in the evening. Gary had told me that there will be a small get together a little later. They had invited another friend, Mahendra Godbole, to join us for the evening. Sethis will also be there.
There are over 50 resorts in the Pench Tiger Reserve area. Mahendra had opened one of the earliest ones there. Gary and Rashmi are good friends with them.
Mahendra and his daughter Nivedita arrived a little later. He is a very soft spoken, very respectful and mild-mannered man. Nivedita works with gourmet teas. I have been a connoisseur of fine teas and coffees for a long time. Among teas, some of my favorites are Darjeeling first flush, Jasmine Pearls, Lapsang Souchong, and Pu-erh, which is known for its healing and digestive properties. When I mentioned Pu-her, his daughter was surprised and said that I am the first person she has met who knows Pue-ehrs.
Gary, as usual, was the perfect host. We enjoyed several rounds of drinks, kebabs, and शेरो शायरी. The evening progressed and concluded on a beautiful and slightly tipsy note. Godboles invited us to their place the following evening. We all agreed and called it a day.
The Coffee Ritual
I have been a lifelong connoisseur of coffee. My love affair with coffee began way back in 1968 or so at the Indian Coffee House in Connaught Place, New Delhi. (There is a separate post on my blog on that subject). Anyway, that affair intensified after coming to America and gaining access to coffees from all over the world. My absolute favorite is Yemen Mokha, which is difficult to get these days due to political instability in the region. I also like coffees from Indonesia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, as well as India varietals Mysore Nuggets and Monsoon Malabar. I usually get green coffees and roast myself to my personal intensity preferences.
So much so, that when I travel now, I carry my whole coffee paraphernalia with me – best coffee beans, grinder, dripper, pour over filters, USB kettle, and even my favorite coffee mug.
I invited Gary to join me in my morning coffee ritual. He came over around 9:00am. I brewed Ethiopian Guji Natural and we enjoyed a mug of coffee together. The coffee was great, but only symbolic. What we really enjoyed was our togetherness. We continued this ritual, uninterrupted, for the rest of my stay there.
Visit to Godboles
Next day, we went over to Godboles in the evening. It was a little after sunset. The light was just fading out. They had set up tables outside under trees. Colorful lanterns were hanging from the branches, as if for a celebration or a festival. The air was fragrant. We started with drinks, refreshments, and pleasant conversations. Then we had a sumptuous dinner.
After a while, the party moved indoors. Mahendra Godbole loves music and singing. He has a karaoke room set up. He performed a few of his favorites. We all enjoyed the easy flow and leisurely evening. After a while, we marked one more down for the memories and then said goodbyes.
Sonia, Kabir and Uday
Sonia is Gary and Rashmi’s daughter. I first saw her in 1980 when she was maybe three years old, soon after I had met Gary and visited their home in Bandra, Mumbai. It was the beginning of our lifelong friendship, and it just took off from there.
A year after the first meeting, Gary and Rashmi moved to Delhi and settled at 877 East Park Road. I spent a lot of time and many evenings there. I often stayed there as well on my visits to Delhi, even though my own family lived not too far away. Sonia was a delightful and beautiful child. Everyone loved her. I remember putting her on my shoulders many times and spinning around. Those were great days.
In 1984, I left India for USA. On my way to Chicago, I stopped in London for three days. Rashmi and Sonia were also in London at the time, visiting family. Rashmi’s brothers are settled there. I visited with Rashmi and Sonia for a few hours. Then I carried on to the USA. I would not see them again for another ten years, until 1994, as I had stayed away from India all that time. I saw them a few times after 1994 on some of my visits to India in following years.
Then, life moved along. Sonia got married. I was graciously invited but couldn’t attend. In time, she had two sons, Kabir and Uday. I had seen her once more when Kabir was probably 3-4 years old, about the same as when Sonia was when I first met her. I lost touch with them again for many years and didn’t see them for a long time.
As it happens, Sonia and her sons had also planned to visit Gary and Rashmi at the same time as I was there. So, our visits coincided. They were arriving the next day after me. When you have not seen someone in a long time, you wonder how they might have changed. Soon I saw them. The big surprise was seeing the boys. They are now grown up young men, engaged in their own global ventures in online education. It was a very pleasant reunion.
Pench Tiger Safari
Gary had arranged a safari for all of us the following day. Weather was just right these days for Tiger sightings. All of us left for the Safari early next morning. This would be my second experience, first being on my last visit there in 2019. Safari is about a three hours ride in the forest on designated routes. A Guide accompanies each group. There are a number of Guides in the park and they have their own communication network. If anyone spots a tiger somewhere, they let the others know the location so that others can get there as well and hopefully see the tiger or leopard. It’s a hit or miss.
We were fortunate on this day. Soon, a message came of a sighting. A tigress named Laxmi had just killed a wild boar and was moving the kill. We managed to get there in time. We saw the tigress, but not the kill. That was ok.
It is interesting that we the humans find killing experience exciting and entertaining, even though it’s the way of life for animals. I will leave it at that, without pondering further.
We had a nice picnic through the middle of Safari. I was just enjoying the forest experience. This is about as close as we get to being in touch with nature. After picnic, we started our trek back home.
Another Evening with Family and Friends
I realized afterwards that it was a farewell get together of my trip, though it was not planned that way. Evening was beautiful. The temperature had cooled down a little with some nip in the air, perfect for warming up with a nice drink.
Gary’s family and I met by the pool. Soon, Amrit and Jagmohan Sethi came over and joined. We had a wonderful evening. We enjoyed a few drinks, great food, and easy conversions.
Then it was time to call it a day. This was my last evening there. I was leaving for Delhi the next day.
Last Day
Next morning, we did our Coffee ritual. Then, Gary had some errands to run. I was hoping to visit with Sethis once more before leaving, but that didn’t happen. My flight was early in the afternoon. I started packing and putting my stuff together.
Last day of leaving friends are always difficult. Somehow, time seems to stall. As if mind wants to stretch the time to enjoy it for as long as possible. At the same time, parting is painful. You want it to be over with quickly. I had started pacing back and forth an hour before departure.
Finally, the moment arrived. Gary’s family got together to bid me goodbye and wished happy travels. We took a few last-minute pictures. They turned out really good too! Another chapter and a few more memories to add to the book of life.
We promised to keep in touch and visit again soon, as and when destiny makes it happen. Until then I have memories of this visit to cherish.
I was walking in my garden yesterday and noticed that one of my drip lines has somehow become detached from the mainline and water was gushing out from it. Water was scattering everywhere and getting wasted. When the dripline was connected, it was providing lifeline to my flowers, and they were blooming. Now, deprived of their lifeline, they were beginning to wither.
A thought suddenly sprung in my head, that writing is also somewhat similar to this. Ideas and thoughts keep bubbling in our head all the time. But most of the time, they don’t get used and wither away. But when directed to writing, they become like seeds, paper or devices their ground, ink their blood flow, and words their flowers. Done properly and with passion, beautiful words bloom.
Also, as with anything worthwhile, practice builds perfection. Even if not a bestseller, if I enjoy reading my own words, it is reward enough and gives a sense of accomplishment.
I attended a writers group meeting today at a Senior Center in Milton, WI. It is appropriately called, The Gathering Place. It was my visit there. It is a beautiful place and has over 700 members.
Our writing group was attended by about 20 people. Most were in their 70’s, a few years older than me. They came from various backgrounds. Four of them stepped up to the podium and read from their memoirs. One gentleman narrated from his writing, When Farm Got Electrified. It was in the early 50’s. He vividly narrated farm life in those days. Another lady remembered a one room school and how boys bullied and played pranks. Somethings never change. It was all very fascinating. I couldn’t help but think how much more primitive the life was in India in those days, where I come from. But we didn’t know or think that it was primitive. To me, I still have beautiful memories from those days.
Coffee, Computers and the Internet: How They Have Changed Our Lives and the World
Anil Aggarwal
The Indian Coffee House
I started writing a story about my life long romance with coffee. Soon, computers came into it. It couldn’t be helped. So, this is a story about both. Take your pick. This story evolves as the worlds of coffee and computers have evolved over the past 50 plus years.
My romance with coffee began in 1967 when I was 14 years old. I lived in old Delhi, about a mile away from the Connaught Place in New Delhi. I lived on the periphery of these two cities which were like conjoined twins, but with very different personalities. There was a place called the Indian Coffee House in the very heart of Connaught Place. This is where this story begins.
For many years, I visited this Indian Coffee House almost every day and it literally shaped my life. I can say with absolute certainty that my life would not have been what it is if this coffee house did not exist. This place has a fascinating history. It was opened in 1955 and located in literally the very heart of New Delhi in Connaught Place, which itself is designed as a circle with an inner and an outer ring. It’s a wheel and spokes design with six roads emanating from its center, hexagonally, in both directions. At the very center is a park with a radial road around it. Indian Coffee House was situated at the inner edge of one spoke and right across from the park. The road to its right was Parliament Street, which led to the Parliament, about a mile away; and the road to its left was Janpath that housed many upscale shops and a cottage industries emporium selling arts and crafts artifacts from all Indian States. This road also led to the India Gate and Rajpath, leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace.
This coffee house was the fulcrum of Indian life. People from all walks walked through this place every day, some many times, in between their other activities. Some lingered there all day long from opening till close. Many luminaries including no less than nine prime ministers, union ministers, lesser politicians of all stripes, intellectuals, journalists, artists, students, foreign tourists from all over the world, and even the bus loads of hippies looking like Beatles came there in VW vans in late 60’s to early 70’s. The flower children, as they were called.
Some of them were adventurers, some were tourists, and some simply confused young people, weary of the draft and disenchanted with the ongoing Vietnam war. Many others were exploring spirituality, yoga, Hare Krishna, OSHO and movements of many other flavors in vogue at the time. Many were simply trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives, just as I was. Charles A. Reich explored this phenomenon in his 1979 book, The Greening of America. It attempts to explain the counterculture of the 1960s, their values, and why so many young people were doing what they were doing, including rock n roll, drugs, and fascination with the east, especially India.
As an impressionable young kid, I absorbed a variety of experiences from hanging out at this coffee house and meeting lots of people from all over with different perspectives – social, political, intellectual, cultural, and even global. This would make me the man that I will become in future. Needless to say, that I do not know of any other person from the community where I was born and where my home was who turned out to be like me. Home was a place where I went to sleep at night. I lived and grew up somewhere else, and my real life was shaping and happening there.
In 1971, I entered Hindu College. This happened after an interlude of three years in which I had to drop out of school due to a glitch in the system. One had to be 16 years of age to take the Higher Secondary, or pre-college exam. I was only 14 when I reached that point, so I could not take that exam. There were other factors as well that kept me out for another year. So, in a way, I attended Indian Coffee House for three years. As it turned out, I got some very valuable real-life education and experiences there.
Hindu College was and remains one of the best and most prestigious institutions in Delhi University. I loved my years there. I was on the debating teams. Several of my fellow students grew up to be future business and political leaders of India. Shashi Tharoor across the street was at St. Stephen’s College is one of them. He went on to become a diplomat at the UN, a Union Minister, and is now a Member of Parliament. Hardeep Puri from Hindu is a Union Minister now and several others gained prominent positions in industries, arts, and other areas. All of them frequented Indian Coffee House regularly.
Mumbai 1977 – 1982
In 1977, I left Delhi and moved to Bombay, now Mumbai. There I worked at Lintas, a premier advertising agency. It was a really fancy place and was a gateway to Bollywood for many. They started here as models for advertising commercials and many found a breakthrough into movies. Lintas had beautiful offices in Express Towers at Nariman Point. My own office had a window overlooking the rooftop swimming pool of the 5-star Oberoi Hotel and the Arabian Sea beyond. Those were the heady days. In the evenings, we went over to the Shamiana coffee shop at another iconic hotel at the Gateway of India, the Taj Mahal.
At Shamiana, they served a South Indian brew they called the South Indian Brahmin Coffee. I don’t know what it had got to do with Brahmins, but the taste was exquisite and still lingers in my mouth even 50 years later. I have been coming back to south India for many years now, but somehow not been able to find quite the same taste. Perhaps, it is just my nostalgia that won’t let go!
My love of coffee has taken me to diverse coffee dens all over the world. I have been to coffee houses in Saudi Arabia, Cairo, Morocco, Istanbul, Paris, London, Rome, Vienna, and Berlin. All of these places are steeped in culture, traditions, and history. The coffee preparation and consumption ways vary as well.
Coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia in the 15th century. From there, it was brought to Yemen a few decades later. To this day, Yemen Mokha (or Mocha), remains my favorite. But it is hard to find these days due to war and political turmoil in Yemen. Coffee was originally used by Muslim Sufis to help in concentration. So, it is said. It was served in villages and by Bedouins in deserts of Africa and Arabia as a welcome gesture and hospitality drink to the visitors. In early 80’s, I spent some time in the Middle East. I visited many Kehwah and Hookah shops in Saudi Arabia, Casablanca, and Istanbul. In each place coffee is brewed differently. People in African and Arabian villages still roast their beans in clay pots or aluminum pans over open wood fire or coals and hand grind it in stone mills. Then it is brewed in traditional vessels.
Coffee came to the Europe a century later than Arabia. It was brought to Hungary by Turks in 1526 when they invaded the country. From there, it quickly found its way to Vienna, then to Paris and other parts of Europe. Many iconic cafes emerged in major European cities, especially Paris and Vienna.
Cafe de Flore still remains the most well-known cafes in the world. It has had an outsized influence on many social institutions and culture. It is said that French Revolution may not have happened if there were no Cafes in Paris. True or not, it highlights their importance in history.
Cafes were breeding grounds and workshops of thinkers, philosophers, writers, artists, politicians, radicals, and even revolutionaries. Cafe de Flore, and its adjacent Les Deux Magots in Paris were in a class of their own. Many historical figures of the time including Hemingway, James Joyce, Andre Breton, Jean-Paul Sartre, Picasso, and many more were regulars and found a home and community there. It was also a hub of expatriate writers and artists from all over the world. Many a literary career began there. A popular coffee brewing method, the French Press was also invented in Paris in 1852 by Jacques-Victor Delforge.
Coffee is now prepared and consumed in many different ways in different parts of the world. Methods range from simple drip to French Press, AeroPress, Chemex, Pour Over (my favorite), Siphon. Pods, Capsules and others.
At the extreme end, there are sophisticated machines that can precisely control every aspect of coffee making including coffee grounds measured in microns, moisture, calcium content of water, precise temperature, relative humidity and even compensate for the air breeze flowing around the coffee machine, and produce the ultimate cup. These machines cost thousands of dollars.
Coffee Comes to America
This brings me to the most significant coffee revolution in its history and modern times. The seeds of this revolution were planted in 1966. Alfred Peet came to the United States from the Netherlands in 1955. He was 35 years old. He loved his coffee, but couldn’t find it here. Coffee in America was really bad back then. America did not have a coffee culture, whereas Europe had it there for more than a hundred years. Peet missed it. Badly!
So, Peet decided to introduce ‘real’ coffee to America. He opened Peet’s Coffee store on April 1, 1966 at 2124 Vine Street, Berkeley, California. He only sold high quality coffee and beans. The venture was an immediate success. There was a ready and eagerly awaiting clientele for something like this. The famous University of California – Berkeley was literally next door, a few blocks away, with thousands of students and an upscale sophisticated community. Peet could have easily expanded, but he was not interested. He was more passionate about coffee than coffee business. The store still exists and is a famous landmark. I spent 20 years in California Bay Area and used to visit this place often.
Around the same time in 1969 or so, three students from the nearby University of San Francisco started coming around to Peet’s Coffee. They were originally from Seattle and saw a potential of starting a similar high quality coffee beans store there. They discussed the idea with Peet and he agreed to help them. Peet taught them all about coffee.
Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker, the three students, went back to Seattle, Washington, and opened their first coffee store at 2000 Western Avenue, on March 30, 1971. They named it Starbucks.
Five years later, in 1976, they moved the store to its now famous location at 1912 Pike Place, Seattle. For the first few years, they bought their green beans from Peet, but in 1973, Peet stopped selling them beans and trained their own roastmaster Jim Reynolds instead. Now, the three musketeers were truly on their own.
A few more years went by. In early 1980’s Peet indicated that he wanted to retire. In 1984, Starbucks purchased Peet’s Coffee business altogether. It took them some time to absorb it and open a few more stores. By 1986, there were six coffee stores operating under Starbucks name. All in Seattle. They had also started selling espresso by then. All stores were doing very well. The three former college students had come a long way and were very happy.
Howard Schultz Dreams Big
Howard Schultz, the president of Starbucks Coffee Co., says high quality has gained loyal customer base. July 1988 photo by Gilbert Arias, Seattle P-I
In 1982, Starbucks had hired Howard Schultz as Marketing Director. He visited Italy for the first time in 1983 on a buying trip. He was fascinated by the coffee culture there. He imagined huge opportunities to do the same in USA. When he came back from the Italy trip, he prepared a big presentation to Starbucks owners about huge growth opportunities. But the owners were not interested. They were happy with what they had. They did not want to expand. Howard was very frustrated. Every day that went by was a risk of losing to someone else. So, after a while, Schultz parted ways and went out on his own. He started another cafe nearby in 1985. He called it Il Giornale. It was successful, but Howard had big ideas. Really BIG!
Starbucks Revolution – That Almost Didn’t Happen
The opportunity came in 1986. It began with a sputter, and how it finally happened is fascinating. Starbucks probably would not be what it is today if William H. Gates Sr., father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates did not help Howard Schultz to acquire it.
In 1987, the founder of Starbucks, Jerry Baldwin, was looking to sell the six stores company for $3.8 million. They offered an exclusive deal to Schultz and gave him 90 days to raise the money. Schultz was obviously ecstatic. But in the next two months he had been able to raise only half the money.
In the meanwhile, some other forces were working in the background against him. One of the investors from his current venture from Il Giornale had reached out to Jerry Baldwin and made a counter offer of $4 million cash. Schultz was shocked and panicked. He knew who had made the offer. It was one of the three big business titans in Seattle at the time, one of whom had invested in Il Giornale, and tasted the potential.
At that time, one of Schultz friends and attorney Scott Greenberg mentioned that he might be able to help. Greenberg knew Bill Gates Sr., who was a towering figure in Seattle, both in person and stature. He was six-foot-seven and a force to be reckoned with. He listened to the entire story and told Schultz, “We are going to take a walk.” Schultz heart was racing. He said, “Where?” He said, ‘We are going to see the man’. They went to see the competitive buyer, the titan. Bill Gates Sr walked into this person’s office and said to him: ‘you should be ashamed of yourself that you’re going to steal this kid’s dream. It is not going to happen. You and I both know this is not going to happen.’ “With in 10 minutes, he told him to stand down, we’re walking out of this office and this kid’s buying this company,” That’s just what happened. In August 1987, Schultz bought Starbucks for $3.8 million. End of story. Or, is it? Turned out, it was just the beginning.
On October 19, 1987, the first Starbucks outside of Seattle opened in Chicago. At that time, I was a student at the University of Wisconsin, about 100 miles from the Chicago Starbucks. A few weeks later, I, along with a group of my friends, went to see this Starbucks. I still remember my first foamy coffee there, called Cafe Latte.
Starbucks Grows Big
The rest is history, as they say. Chicago still holds the distinction of having the largest, four stories high, Starbucks in the world. It is located on Michigan Avenue, also referred to as The Magnificent Mile. The store is operated under their exclusive line called – Starbucks Reserve Roastery. The centerpiece of this store is a 56-foot steel cask, the company’s tallest, where coffee beans go to rest and de-gas after being roasted. It is a beautiful sculptural blend of form and function.
As of March 2023, Starbucks was operating over 38,000 stores and serving over 10 million customers a day in 84 countries. It had an annual revenue of over $32 Billion, as of 2023. Starbucks has announced that it plans to double this number worldwide, enter new countries, and further expand product lines.
The Third Wave
The Starbucks success spawned many other coffee brands and chains all over the world. In the United States, other brands that took off include Gloria Jeans, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Lavazza, Blue Bottle, Philz, Allegro, Collectivo, Slumptown, Counter Culture, Third Wave, and others. They serve many more millions of customers every day, everywhere.
This revolution is continuing. The next level of coffee shops, beyond Starbucks and Costa Cafes layer, are beginning to emerge. They are like the micro-breweries of the beer industry. They are also referred to as The Third Wave. These artisan shops are taking coffee passions to a new level, from obscure specialty farms beans to precise roasting, brewing, and the ultimate cup.
There is another important element to note here. It is somewhat sad as well. In spite of enormous success of Starbucks and other chains, the people who make it all possible, the coffee growers all over the world, have not benefited in equal measure, or anywhere close to it. Starbucks buys about 800 million pounds (360 million kilograms) of coffee from farmers all over the world. It spends about $960 million on buying green beans, and pays about $1.2 per pound, ($2.65 per kilogram), or just about 3% of total revenue. One would hope that coffee growers would do better.
As of 2023, there were approximately 25 million families involved in coffee growing and production all over the world, producing roughly 10.4 million tons (10,400 kilograms tons) of coffee per year.
The Dawn of a New Age: Computers, Internet, and Web
As enormously successful Starbucks and coffee story is as a business, however, there is another subtle fact that is often overlooked that made the coffee revolution possible and so pervasive in our lives. It was the convergence of several forces that were changing and homogenizing the lifestyle of an entire new generation all over the world. These were computers, internet, web, social media, online shopping, offshore sourcing, foreign workers insourcing, and globalization of an entire new generation worldwide. This generation was living and working the same way everywhere, and coffee shops became a big part of their lives.
The new way was replacing the old institutions. United States is a perfect example. There, the shopping malls, once the hub of life, and downtowns are dying or decaying, whereas online institutions are thriving. In 2023, many stores closed doors on Market Street in San Francisco due to lack of business and vandalism. San Francisco Center, an upscale multistory shopping mall shut down as well. The area now looks like a ghost town and is saddled with homeless people in makeshift tents. This would have been unthinkable a few years ago. The reasons for this are many and complex. But a key aspect is changing lifestyle of the new generation and their purchasing habits.
Microsoft and Apple were founded around the same time in 1975 and 1976. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were both working on moving beyond Atari 800 and Commodore 64, the two 8-bit home computers at the time, introduced at the 1982 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. But two companies had different focus. Microsoft was working on developing computer operating systems that will be licensed to computer manufacturers and software applications like word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and database management. Apple had a different approach. Jobs wanted to control the entire range of their products from end to end including computers, operating system, and software applications. They did not want to license their technology to others. These different approaches will have significant impact on the company’s future.
In 1985, Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple, due to disagreement with its CEO at the time John Scully. Both wanted to take company in different directions. Jobs left and founded NeXT Inc. The name NeXT probably had dual connotations. It was next generation of computers and/or a next gig for Steve Jobs, after Apple Computers. NeXT was designed as a diskless computer. Jobs vision was that in future all computing will be networked. No one else saw this happening and its huge potential that will permeate every aspect of human life on the planet. Internet had not yet emerged. How correct he was! It is happening now and we call it cloud computing.
In 2007, when he was once again at the helm at Apple, Jobs changed the company name from Apple Computers to just Apple Inc. It was a strategic move and emphasized that Apple was a consumer electronics company and not just a computer company. We all know the results. The company was reborn and has become world’s most valuable company by selling iPhones, iPads, Watches and other devices.
In 1981, IBM released its first personal computer called IBM PC (model 5150) on August 12, 1981. This became the de facto PC standard, produced later by many companies. They are still called PC, decades later.
Apple 1 was first released on April 1, 1976. However, the first Macintosh with a built-screen, GUI interface, and mouse for navigation did not arrive until 1984. These two inventions – GUI, and mouse – probably had the biggest impact on computers industry, until the arrival of the internet a few years later.
Internet is Born
The internet was started in the 1960’s as a government research project in the United States. In the beginning, computers were large clunky machines, and there was no standard way for them to share information and talk with each other. This was a huge limitation and led to the formation of ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). This will later evolve in to what is now called internet, and the development of a standard protocol for all diverse computers to be able to connect and work with each other. This protocol was called TCP/IP. TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet. It was on January 1, 1983 and this date is considered the official birthday of the internet.
Internet dawned slowly in the world around 1990. But it grew fast. Really fast! In the beginning, there was no easy way to access the internet. People had no idea what to do with it beyond the academics who exchanged research papers and collaborated with each other. Even that was very tedious. There was no bandwidth. The modems were crawling slow with the original ones with a speed of just 64 kbps. When 256 kbps modems came around, they were marketed as blazing fast!
Even computers were very slow. They didn’t even have a hard disk! Data was stored on flexible floppy disks that had to be inserted in one or two available slots on the computers. The largest disks could hold a maximum of 1.2 megabyte of data. The maximum installed RAM was one megabyte for a long time.
There was no GUI interface. One still had to type commands on dot prompts to do anything. Then lines scrolled down painfully slowly. Sometimes, everything on screen suddenly disappeared! It was called, “Blue Screen of Death”.
It was still magical though. No one had seen anything better yet beyond the typewriters. The first computer applications to emerge were word processors, followed by spreadsheets and database applications. In early 90’s, if one knew how to use Lotus 123, a spreadsheet software, and dBase lll, a database application, one could write their own ticket in corporate America.
By mid 90’s, computers had penetrated the corporate world completely. All Fortune 500 companies had internet presence. Things were moving very fast. Search engines started popping up. Yahoo was the first one, way before Google. Online America, a categorized information search application came next. There were message boards. Email came around. First email service that people could sign up for was Hotmail, launched by Sabeer Bhatia, an Indian entrepreneur, in 1996.
Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, social media, and e-commerce had not arrived yet. But it won’t be long. Seems like all these apps were waiting for one door to open. An easy-to-use web browser with visual interface, a mouse, and network bandwidth. All of that happened within months to a couple of years.
World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee
The World Wide Web system, later simply called just Web, was invented at CERN in Switzerland by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. But hardly anyone knew about it beyond the academics.
In 1993, a student named Marc Andreesen at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne created a user-friendly web browser called Mosaic. This was the true beginning of the internet revolution. Soon enough, Mosaic became Netscape, then Mozilla Firefox. Both Microsoft and Apple released their own browsers. Then internet just seemed to explode overnight. The invention of the web browser made it possible for the world to access the world wide web with ease, and everything else that came after it. This literally was the door that opened the Web to the World.
There was another phenomenon emerging to coincide with the two – A New Generation. Literally. These 20 somethings were ready to change the world. Some of these 20 somethings had already started it and more will come.
Internet vs Web
People often do not make a distinction between the internet and the web and think they are the same thing. In reality they are two completely different things. Internet is just a network of computers, millions and billions of them, connected to each other. Whereas, web is the actual content that we see on the screens, or web pages. Another way of describing this distinction is to think of internet as a network of roads, without any vehicles on it. The vehicles travel on the network of roads and get from one place to another. Similarly, information travels on interconnected network of computers and from computer to computer.
All the information on the internet is collected in distinct pages. Each of these pages have a unique identification address. It is called URL. These unique URLs hyperlinked and connected with each other create distinct websites and their content. And all of these pieces of information residing on the internet are collectively called the web or World Wide Web of information as it was originally called.
Internet Pioneers
Tim Berners-LeeMarc AndreesenDavid Filo / Jerry YangLarry Page / Sergey BrinSabeer BhatiaPeter ThielJack DorseyJeff BezosMark Zuckerberg
These names include: Tim Berners-Lee (WEB), Marc Andreesen (Web Browser Mosaic), Jerry Yang (Yahoo Search Engine], Larry Page, Sergey Brin (Google Search Engine), Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail), Peter Thiel (PayPal), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (facebook).
I had a restless night. My cough is not going away. I can’t fully enjoy even sitting on a beautiful table in the restaurant overlooking the ocean. Wind seems to trigger cough. My chest feels congested and uncomfortable. Research on the internet says that cause is likely GERD and/or post nasal drip. Or could be something else like COPD or Asthma which needs to be determined through proper testing. I should set up an appointment with Dr Tuck as he is hard to get to.
I also did some research into natural remedies. Apparently, Yoga and Ayurveda has suggestions. They propose a series of Pranayama exercises that include Bhastrik, Anulom Vilom, and Kapalbhati. I have started them today and plan to continue. In addition, they suggest ginger lemon honey tea, eating small meals, and dinner no later than three hours before sleep. I went to bed last night thinking about all of these things. Talked with Bootri a little bit. That was further irritating as the connection was really bad and kept breaking. Finally, we gave up and decided to talk another time.
I got up this morning, still feeling down and lethargic. Not motivated to go even for my morning walk on the beach. I made my pour over coffee, brought it on the balcony and sat down. It was already 6:45am. The sun had already come up a few minutes ago. I was still debating if I wanted to go for my walk. Then phone rang. Ginny was calling. She was concerned and wanted to check up on me. We talked for a while. That made me feel better.
I talked with her about applying my theory of 4 Pillars of Happiness to how I was feeling. My issues were falling mainly on two pillars – health and mind engagement. I was concerned about my cough and my mind was preoccupied with it. So, applying my own theory, I needed to do something about both.
Health – I went for the walk, did Panayama exercise. Had a nice breakfast in a restaurant on the beach. Had ginger lemon honey tea too. They were playing beautiful meditation music. That helped as well.
Mind Engagement – I decided to write this post! This shifted my attention from negative thoughts and made me feel better. As if I managed to push the depression demons away. ⁃ Now, I am already feeling better and looking forward to rest of the day.
