This book describes the journey of a Hi-tech immigrant through
various part of United States including Silicon Valley, Seattle,
Nashville and Southern California.
The book starts in 1987, at University of California campus in
Davis, where it all began, where Artificial Imagination was
conceived.
We then fast forward by 15 years to 2002. Our main character, a
Executive in the Software industry and working in Silicon Valley.
Soon, he is heading to Seattle to work for Amazon.com at a lower
level management position.
We read one lively story after another about the life in the
Northwest and learn about his lovely wife and two daughters.
Our adventurer then heads to Nashville to work for a software
company, and then heads back to Southern California to get caught
in the infamous wild fires of 2007.
Kudos to the author to be able to find humor in the middle of
the Inferno -----------------------------------------------
A Review by John Lehman, the author of Everything is
changing
I was half way through this book when I realized it is almost
poetry in the form of prose. I am not just referring to the short
paragraphs, but the imaginative leaps, stunning imagery and most
importantly, words which hook us in, make us think this is our
story . . . . We see them on the page but live them in the theater
of our imagination.
This book reminds us that we share the mysteries of the human
mind and soul, no matter what our occupation, no matter where we
were born. "Why I am here may appear to be a simple question, but .
. . is there a deeper purpose of being where we are?" We know that
the question applies not only to the location where we spend our
lives, but also to overall existence, and our place in the time
continuum.
Just as the author who traveled from New Delhi to Silicon Valley
felt he has traveled forty years into the future, so do I, sitting
in the agricultural landscape of Wisconsin felt that I have had a
glimpse into the vitality of the Hi-Tech worlds of California and
Seattle.
I feel I am in the hands of a good guide. Here is what it means
to do research in Computers: "Rip apart an electronic system and
you see nothing moving, nothing vibrating, it's almost a
make-believe world, a child's fantasy, a writer's imagination."
and what it means to yearn for acceptance:
" "I looked at Seattle's glistening skyline on one side and its
beautiful waterfront on the other and asked it the same questions I
had asked San Francisco 16 years ago: will it accept me? Or will
its people treat me as someone different, not one of the? And will
I accept it, call it my home? Right then, she appeared from no
where, as if the city had sent her to answer my questions . . ."
"
I loved the section addressing Seattle's slacker sun, that comes
late to work, like at 9 AM and goes back home at 4, the observation
that for males, until the age eight, we want every young woman to
be our mother, then for the next thirty years our friend and when
we have daughters, we feel like bringing every young woman a glass
of warm milk and cookies.
His first day in Nashville, the author looks out of his window
and sees snow. The conclusion he draws about the snow flakes very
fittingly describes his life and the message we can take with us
from this hip, funny, poignant, beautiful book:
""the snowflakes descend slowly, floating in the air, allowing the
current to carry them with it, letting it change their paths. They
have chosen not to confront their destiny, choosing instead to
enjoy every second of their short lives, their journey to the
ground.""
Welcome home, Kalpanik ------------------------------------
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
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