Another Phase...

Hi All

It has been more than 2 years in between, since any of us has left any notes here. One of the reasons is that some of us are already in touch with various other ways; for example, Facebook etc. However, I felt that it is important to regroup once again and tell each other some more about what is happening in our lives in general.

I will take the initiative and will tell you some of things (good and bad both) which I could recall from my memory. The stuff...that had left imprints in my life. 

On a high note, we were able to discover/locate few more of our dear SSIC friends on Facebook. The names are:

1) Javed Khan 

2) Sanjeev Dubey

3) Amit Chaurasia

I believe rest of us all have been around since before. Please remind me and/or add to the list if I have missed any. Another good news is that my little sister 'Pooja' has moved to Canada and now lives in Toronto, where essentially all our family is...besides me. Much closer and a lot of happiness to my parents and us all...since we are nearer than before. 

Amit, Sanjeev and Javed all had been with us in Shri S.M. Singh's classes during high school. We all used to play cricket on the road in front of the house. So many memories...some vivid, some fading, but all of them very close to heart.

Two other news I would like to share with you all are the losses we had within this period. Our close friend 'Sanjeev' has lost his father recently. I am finding it hard to express myself or to say anything that would be adequate to explain his loss. Their isn't anything more painful...the only message I have is that we all with Sanjeev and are sharing his pain and grief. 

In my life, recently we also had to bear a similar loss. My 'Mausaa Jee' Thakur Satyendra Pal Singh has passed away last month. I find it hard to believe; more so because he was very young (not 60 even) and full of life. All that period, when I was in Kanpur, I remember how he used to send us loads of those delicious mangoes from his mango farms in native Malihabaad. In recent times, he has moved to live in Lucknow to his new residence but Mango and his Mango farms were still his life, bread and passion. I could say this because even now whenever I spoke to him over phone, he talked about how we should think about importing his 'Dusehari Aams' to Canada...and claimed that there in no better 'Mango' than his....in this world. A fact that I endorsed :-) I will miss him!

As for life in general, last two year has been quite a roller coaster for me...not so much on personal side, but professionally I had to see few ups and downs. 

As some of you know, I was with Blackberry for 3 and half years, working on some of their next generation technology initiatives and introducing some of their products to market on accessory side. However, that changed late last year, when our group was let go. This was during the major corporate restructuring that RIM/BB had to go through last year. After RIM, I tried a position with a local start-up in Waterloo but that did not workout as planned and now I have moved on to another role.

What is interesting here is that my new role requires me to move outside of Canada. From now on, I will be in and around Greater Detroit Area, working back in Automotive. Detroit is not very far from Toronto, ON or Waterloo, ON (around 4 hours of drive) but nevertheless, it is across the border and on the USA side, where I will be considered a temporary resident.

The reason I am sharing this news is to tell you all that whoever is in US (Gunjan, Madhur, Vijay, Deepak, Durgesh..anybody else?) does not have an excuse anymore, not to visit me due to the visa issue (for Canada). This time I am here...a little closer to you all...so, let's meet soon :-)

Other than that, my best wishes and prayers to you all again. Keep shining, keep smiling and stay healthy and happy where ever you are...also, do not forget to leave some notes time to time and keep us posted. And yes, forward this to others who I might I have missed in my list.

Stay in touch,

Shashank