Author: biju.abraham

Since the last time I posted, lot of changes happened in my life. I left my previous job because things were getting stagnant, and I wanted a challenge. I decided that the next job I accept would be at an organization that is truly world class, and where I can learn new things. I wouldn’t accept any offers purely based on remuneration, but would look at factors like job satisfaction, work-life balance and the value the job provides for aviation industry. So I applied only to select organizations, where I felt work would be challenging, I would be able to learn as well as contribute. I gave all the interviews my full focus and diligence, I can still remember the feeling of excitement and tension while attending them. The one that I selected would mean relocation from Middle East, where I had spent most of my career. However, life has this habit of jolting us awake when we are sound asleep, and I decided to follow my heart. Though I had got opportunities in the Middle East, and that would have been simpler to manage, I decided it was time for a change. It was a great feeling, having decided to move on to a different place and a different role, still linked to aviation.

I had to face stiff resistance from my family, who always thinks they know what’s best for me, and they know better than me. But this time, I was determined that I will look at the value in the job and where it can take my career to, and so selected the one where the possibilities were enormous.

If I look at my career profile, it is a mix. I started at an aviation technology ot ganization. Spent almost ten years there. Then moved to airlines and spent the next one and a half decade there. Now you understand I am an old man. So be it, however, I now got the opportunity to work for an organization that represents, leads and serves the global airline industry. I really felt that this would give me a 360 degree view of the aviation domain as a whole, from an IT perspective, from an operator perspective, and from a regulator perspective. I leave it to you all to guess where this might be.

Let me share a bit about my job hunt.

First, it was about getting myself prepared. I buckled up and started researching good certifications. Selected four. Got two, two are still in progress. More than the titles, they helped me understand concepts behind Agile product development, and Program management. I had delivered significant transformation programs like Big Data, Refunds Management and RPA, which impacted the whole organization and involved managing senior level stakeholders, their escalations, handling dependencies and various other nuances that are not part of normal project delivery. So I was confident that I had the skills, but needed the exams to attach the abbreviations after the name.

Once I got the certifications, next step was to prepare a good resume and start showing the world my skills. I started learning that its not easy to pen down all you know and all you learnt in 23 plus years, into couple of pages. Nowadays resumes go through automatic reviews by HR bots, and there are specific key words that makes your CV stand out. So I got a good CV created by an agency.

I started researching organizations that I wanted to work with. Since all my experience has been in Aviation Technology, I could only look at airlines and airline technology product companies. I applied to organizations in UK, so I could be near my daughter. I also applied to a couple of places in India since I heard IT is really booming there. If the role was good, location was not a great challenge for me. Since I had a golden visa and also a place of my own in Dubai, I knew I would need to come and go frequently. In this era of mobility and connectivity, it’s not a big deal to hop on to a plane and reach Dubai, from almost anywhere in the world. If the organization also allowed work from home, it would be great. With my daughter in UK and parents in Kerala, this would give me some flexibility to manage family aspects while still fully committed to work. I did apply to some airlines in the Middle East as well. I believe everyone expected me to continue in an airline, since that’s been my area of strength. However, I have never been tied down with constraints in my life, and I believe there’s no fun in thinking along a straight rigid line. I also applied at a dream organization where I have always wanted to work, ever since I started working in the aviation industry. More on that below.

I realized that after applying, there is nothing much I could do. Since I was in a senior role, and the places I applied to may not have such roles readily available, it was a waiting game.

One friend’s contact brought me into a good opportunity, heading country wide IT delivery for a shipping company. I was really keen on that, thought it was a new domain . However, it felt like something I could grow with, and contribute to, and I was really interested. While I was discussing the offer with them, some other offers came and hence this didn’t materialize. However I visited their offices in Chennai, and even came to know that some resources from my last organization were working there. Strange how transportation world is connected.

While applying for a job, especially at this stage in life, we need a strong forgiving and accepting heart. We need to be patient, we need to realize that there are so many applicants and I am one of many. We need to be stoic and heroic about rejections and not rejoice too much about progress as well. I was in touch with a consultant who told me that the next job I get would be through my contacts and not really through him, though he will try. So I reached out to some of my contacts on linked in, but not all. Like I said, I was clear what I wanted.

My friends were always close to me and kept supporting and encouraging me. I dont’ want to take names, they know who they are. They raised my self-belief and made me think that I don’t need to settle for anything equal or less, I can actually aim for something higher. I am forever indebted to them. When I grow in my career and life, it will be because of their unflinching support and I will be there for them always. I salute them.

In July beginning, I went to India. My daughter had finished her first year at college and was awaiting her results. She was trying for an internship at UK which hadn’t worked out so far. Hence, she wanted to intern at some organization in Trivandrum. I took her and my wife to Kerala and we spent some time there. One day, I got the offer from a great Middle East airline. I had given the interviews almost two months ago, and approvals took a long time.

The very next morning, the dream place I had applied at, contacted me and said I was selected! It came out of the blue, when I was least expecting it. Like Maradona’s Hand of God, this truly was my Hand of God. If the airline had got their approvals earlier, I would have joined at least two months earlier. However, due to some reason or the other, the approvals took time, and possibly during that time, God gave approval for my dream to morph into reality.

In this time, my daughter also received her first year results. She was really worried about failing in one subject and had done well in other subjects, but she got good marks in that. So a respectable first year for her. To top it off, she also landed up with a paid internship where she had to create a microservice, learn kotlin (which is similar to java she says). So she earned her salary the last two months, and it was twenty times the salary I got when I joined permanently. I was thinking about how strong the IT sector has grown, and the immense possibilities in the areas of AI and automation. She was working on an AI chat bot.

Of course, this involved moving from Dubai to the cooler and sunnier mountains and meadows of Switzerland. Though one really would need to struggle to find a huge difference between the heat in Dubai and Europe during the summer. The heat wave this time was really difficult. On top of it, there is no air conditioning here. So after I reached here, the nights were a bit difficult but overall I felt excited more than anything. Now weather has settled a bit and I have ventured out quite a bit, learning the community and the roads and facilities. I also took a monthly transport pass so that I can travel around and see places.

Switzerland is where I spent the first few years of my career. So, I am not a stranger though it’s been a while since I stayed here other than as a tourist. I used to visit here often with family, and the sights and even places are quite familiar. However, there is a big difference between being a tourist and working at a place.

The work environment is really pleasant, and the team bonds very well together. I can feel that the working culture is quite different from India and Middle East, with work life balance having a very strong consideration here. The organization also supports work from home, though I prefer working from office, at least till I understand the dynamics and work related nuances.

I rented an apartment and single-handedly moved all the stuff from my temporary accomodation to the new place. Every evening I would take a big suitcase and drag it to cover the fifteen minutes from between the two places. The place soon filled with five suitcases and lot of stuff. On top of it, all my furniture arrived from Dubai two days back. So last couple of days was spent assembling the furniture (the relocation staff did it), storing all the stuff in various places, and cleaning up the place. The rules here are strict when it comes to clearing garbage, and paper needs to go separate, kitchen waste needs to go separate, and bottles, plastic etc separate. I guess this is the level of maturity of a developed nation, when it comes to keeping the environment safe and focusing on the best way of getting rid of waste.

In my office, there is a colleague who is also into photography. Because of that, I revived my instagram page, and uploaded some pictures there for him to take a look at. My instagram id is ba.ab573. However I will upload pictures here as well.

There are a couple of Malayalee colleagues as well. I played badminton with one of them, and two French colleagues. Was nice to see this sport being favoured by Europeans as well. I was aware of Denmark doing well in badminton, wasn’t aware of French or Swiss.

After six weeks of work, I took advantage of a holiday here and made a short trip to Dubai. Since I got the offer and processed travel documents fast, I didn’t get the opportunity to say a proper good bye to my friends. So went there, took them all out and celebrated. They gave me a farewell gift which was awesome and out of this world. I treasure it a lot. I realised that I have made a lot of true friends there, and it’s not easy for me to go away fully away. So I guess I am going to visit Dubai every two months or so. Strong relationships last for a lifetime, and distance cannot break the bond. One of the good things is that some of my friends are now taking Schengen visas and will visit regularly now that they have a good base here. I welcome them with open hands and a happy heart. I am sure it’s good for Switzerland tourism as well 🙂

During the weekends, I walk a lot. There is an old town here, and it’s a blessing for someone like me who loves history. I walk through the old buildings and narrow alleys, thinking of the footsteps that would have passed through the same cobbled stones, and the people who would have lived and grown there. Life has a way of demonstrating to us that we are not really special in this world , and this is one great example. The architecture and strength of design even during the 1700s is astounding. In fact, we carry on from there.

I am able to regularly clock 10000 steps without much effort here. However, in Dubai for me to do that, I had to put in lot of extra effort. It shows how much more we are physically active here, compared to the Middle East. It could also be because I dont have a car yet. But it’s difficult to find parking in most places, so I think even with car, walking is going to be preferred.

There aren’t so many people from my part of the world here. I do miss the Dubai hands and hearts a lot. But life has taken me here, its closer to my daughter’s place, and I am determined to make the best out of it.

Dubai is always close to me, owing to the fact that my thirties and mid fourties were spent there. This is the time when we stabilize our lives, and the relationships we make then tend to last a life time. I have seen it all. Friends who are with me through thick and thin, people who are not sure what they want, people who have left me in times of need, people who have caused difficulties for me. But I have no complaints, and wish everyone a great future ahead. The world is big enough for everyone to live, and if it’s destined, our paths will cross in the future. Our confidence in ourselves is all we need in this life to succeed, though once in a while getting the support of those whom we hold dear is also good.

It’s been two months since I started work. I feel full of passion and energy and the desire to make a significant contribution to the airline industry through my role. God gave me a great opportunity and it’s upto me to make the best out of it. I am confident I will be able to perform at my best. Of course, your prayers are required.

I know my role is challenging, it is to transform the way airlines do financial business, but I equally believe I am now strong enough to face any challenge. I am very clear that God has given me this opportunity, which has allowed me to grow from my previous role whilst giving me an opportunity to lead one of the flagship aviation programs, with the added benefit of being at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is also close to my daughters university, and having only one child, it’s been my top priority to be near her at least till she moves off with her life and job. At a minimum, it will be an eye-opener for me, working among some of the coolest minds in the airline world.

When my friends read this, I want them to realize that dreams can come true, and not just stay in the realm of fairy tales. I recruited several stars who have unfortunately become complacent and lazy and stopped aiming for the stars. Life is about learning and contributing and developing ourselves personally, professionally and socially. I want my colleagues to reach higher places than me and transform the aviation industry. I know that it took a huge leap of faith and courage for me to get out of my comfort zone and seek opportunities that will help me move forward.

I penned some of these thoughts 36001 feet above Europe, while I was flying to Switzerland. I was thinking about a new beginning, a new world and working with an organization that values my experience and wants to transform the aviation industry. Its an executive role and I am going to be meeting peers and seniors from so many nationalities, and really looking forward to growing within the organization.

Its not easy relocating to a new place and not seeing your friends daily. However, I believe in having a small group of mates who are bound closely by the ties of friendship and not impacted by distance. I might make new friends here, but not at the expense of my existing friends. And because of my close ties to Dubai, I plan to be there at least once every four to six weeks. With such good air connectivity, and places only a good night’s sleep away, life is all about discoveries.

I have also taken my camera and three lenses (one zoom, one macro and a standard one) along with me. I want to explore my new home, take as many pictures as I can, and share them through my blog. I am dreaming of walking daily and cutting down my weight to respectable levels. – wrote this in the plane, and it’s happening folks.

Let me put some pictures so you can enjoy what I enjoy as well.

A long wait for my daughter’s Grade-12 results – Check
A long wait for my wife’s passport which is stuck at UK Embassy for 6 weeks today- Check
A long wait for all of us to travel to India and visit parents and family and friends – half Check
A long wait to fill up critical slots in the team, since we are not getting good resumes – half Check
A long wait to get a Remarkable 2 note tablet – Check
A long wait for USD to become stronger (which actually is happening as we speak) – half Check
A long wait for the markets to become bullish – Flop
A long wait to upgrade my educational qualifications (planning in progress – but very expensive) – Half Check
A long wait to bring down my weight to 82kgs (work in progress) – Half Check
A long wait to get lucky on Big Ticket Draw – Flop

Been almost two months or more since I posted. What an eventful period this was! Let me go through the changes one by one

First, my daughter. She got admission to University College London, and her classes started. The past few months were all about waiting for her CBSE results. Thanks to God, she scored enough marks for UCL and Durham to accept her for Computer Science. She chose UCL, I personally felt it was a bit tough on her, since the standards are a bit higher. I for one feel college education should be about academics and fun both. Not just studying. Once she got the acceptance, next step was to apply for Visa. That was a chore, with my wife’s experience of ten weeks to get Visa fresh in my mind. This also took four weeks, but after that tense wait, she got it. There were some of her classmates as well who got through to UK, albeit for other streams of study.

Since she now had almost one month before classes started, my wife and daughter decided to go to India, and see our parents and get their blessings. This was for a week, and during that time I got a whiff of that bachelor life which sometimes I envy. They came back soon, and then it was all about shopping and packing four suitcases full of stuff. My policy was that we would get everything in UK, so, other than electronics and tablets, there is no need to take anything. But they both packed an entire house inside those suitcases. We three would be going to London, and I would return after a week, while my wife would stay on for one more week to help my daughter settle in. It’s an interesting point to note that as far as I can recall, my daughter has never slept alone in a room, let alone a house.

Come Sep 22, we were ready to travel. The flight was in the morning, and I had booked business class. Out of the kindness of my heart, I decided to donate my miles to my wife and daughter, and get them upgraded as well. After a 7 hr long flight on the A380, we reached London Heathrow. I was flabbergasted to see the crowd in the immigration hall. You won’t believe, we stood in the line for four hours before we could get out of the airport. A good thing to notice, was my daughter becoming more confident while talking to other people at airport including the Immigration officers. This was a completely new phase of life for her, and I am sure she would have thought and fretted a lot about it.

The Heathrow Express took us to Piccadilly and from there, we went to Tottenham Court Road, where our hotel was. We stayed at the Radisson, and thought I had friends and relatives there, didnt want to disturb them too much. Also, since the focus was on college admission and associated tasks, I wanted to be near the college as much as possible.

The day after we arrived, we walked to her University. It was a grand view, with a mix of classical Victorian architecture, and Nouveau facades. There was a structure called the Cruciform which must have been at least 100 yrs old. The college itself was very spacious, and various departments spread around. She collected her identity card, and we walked around the college. We saw lot of international students, including Asians. Talked with some of them, and explored the place.

The second day was for collecting the Residence Permit. It was a simple task, and after fifteen minute, she was the proud owner of a permit allowing her to learn and live in UK for the duration of her course. I could only muse about the challenges I faced while growing up, and how much things have changed for this generation. Education is the most important responsibility parents have towards their children, and I am determined to do the best I can for my daughter. After that it’s upto her to make the best out of the opportunities she gets.

We also applied for her Bank account at HSBC. There was a huge crowd and it was raining. The weather was very dramatic, with moments of glorious sunshine interspersed with gloomy and cloudy weather, and sheets of rain. I realized that I had made a huge blunder the first evening itself. I had taken a jacket along, unfortunately realised that it’s just an evening jacket, and was helpless before a determined UK chilly windy weather front. I was literally shivering when the cold winds buffetted me, but I braved it. Some helpful spirits also helped me suffer the cold stoically.

I found the best way for my daughter to walk from the college to the hostel where she was put up. It was a 25 minute walk, and I made my daughter do it herself after giving her company once. There was one route which she wasn’t liking much, because it passed through some shady areas. However, we soon found another way which was more hospitable and calming for the racing hearts. After a couple of days, we realized quickly that there was an efficient network of buses that would take her to university very quickly. So, especially during winter, she wouldn’t have to walk in the dark. From the bus stop it was only a less than five minute walk to her hostel.

The hostel itself was a very lively place, multi-storeyed and teaming with kids barely out of school. However, the vibe was very exciting and my daughter also soon caught on to it. I got the feeling that kids would adjust faster to changes in life, than older people. I also was certain that I would be missing her more, while she would be busy with her studies and assignments and friends.

She had opted for a studio, and it was essentially one small room around 7M by 4M, with a washroom also. Seven kids would share one kitchen. It was going to be a huge difference for my daughter who has been steadily dependent on her parents waking her up, giving her food, washing her clothes and dropping her wherever she wanted to go. I was very interested to see how my daughter would cope with the drastic change. It’s too early to say, but I am sure she will manage it. She’s like me, wont make too much of a fuss about anything even if we don’t like it. It’s what it is.

I gave her ten commandments, and I hope she will follow that. She may not like me posting it, so I am refraining from that. Basically, it’s just some principles I wanted to convey to her, that would allow her to face life confidently, and also to handle issues in her stride. At the end of the day, we are here for her, and whatever happens, she can count on us. London is only 7 hrs away, and working for an airline should have some benefits in travelling to and fro quite frequently.

At the end of the first week, I returned, there was too much workload and I wasn’t comfortable staying in London while my team was slogging it out. We were planning a Disaster Recovery drill, and it was very important. However, it was my first travel after Covid, for almost two years, and I found out how much I missed air travel. I am also sure that now the frequency will increase, and at any opportunity me and my wife would try to go to UK or bring our daughter back here.

We talk daily for at least thirty minutes, and while I am very shoddy in communication, I am determined to correct myself for my daughter.

Another big event in my life, was the handover of an apartment I had invested in. It is in a good location downtown, and I had to decide between moving there, or giving it out for rent. I finally decided to rent it out, because of several reasons. This apartment I am staying in is very spacious and the location is very good. Near the airport, near shopping malls, near Sharjah, almost thirty minutes to anywhere. I have handed it over to a property management firm, and now am waiting for a good tenant. The quality of the apartment construction is awesome, and I felt a pang of regret at not staying there. However, sometimes we need to take such decisions to better our future.

It’s my father’s 80th birthday this Oct 21, and I plan to travel to Kerala. I will be seeing my parents after a long time, and really looking forward to it. Family is important, and as we grow older, we realize the need to spend as much time as possible with parents.

In between I had at least two friends get togethers, one for Onam celebrations and one with classmates. After I came back from UK, I also took on the initiative of spring cleaning my apartment, and throwing out all old furniture, clothes, what not. It took almost four full days to get it in some shape, and a wallet full of money to get new furniture. However, it’s worth it and the apartment now looks clean and tidy. I need to do pest control as well, and then it will be all good.

Workwise, we saw several big projects going live, with several more in the pipeline. It keeps me busy, and I am sure that with my daughter gone, I will be spending more time in the office than before.

Forgot to put some events from the UK trip. Every evening, I met one friend each. Was happy to see that colleagues and friends and relatives are doing well, and that even in a foreign country, there are bonds that I can count on, and if my daughter needs anything, they will be ready to support. Also, we went to a vegetarian South Indian restaurant the first evening of college, since I wanted to both celebrate it as well as ease my daughter’s stress a bit. While waiting there, I looked out towards the road, and was surprised to see an old colleague saunter past, whom I hadnt seen for almost ten twelve years. I was not very sure if it was indeed him, but no pain no gain. So I walked up and checked closely and said Hello. He jumped literally out of his shoes, and it was a great moment that we sealed with a photo that we shared in our what’s app groups.

I took my camera and a gorgeous new lens to UK, and couldnt take much with it. Because most of the time I was walking to and from university, doing chores, cleaning my daughter’s room etc. After cleaning the room for like two hours, I sat on her bed at an angle, and then realized that I couldn’t get up. My back was not supporting, and I realized it could be a problem. Luckily, after some time it eased up, and I took it easy from then on. While we are young at heart, our spine doesn’t know it.

I will share some photos from the UK trip which I took with my phone.

Wait is nothing but the time it takes someone else to do their work…

Yours Truly, 14-Jul-2022

• A long wait for my daughter’s Grade-12 results
• A long wait for my wife’s passport which is stuck at UK Embassy for 6 weeks today
• A long wait for all of us to travel to India and visit parents and family and friends
• A long wait to fill up critical slots in the team, since we are not getting good resumes
• A long wait to get a Remarkable 2 note tablet
• A long wait for USD to become stronger (which actually is happening as we speak)
• A long wait for the markets to become bullish
• A long wait to upgrade my educational qualifications (planning in progress – but very expensive)
• A long wait to bring down my weight to 82kgs (work in progress)
• A long wait to get lucky on Big Ticket Draw

In the meantime, embrace the blessings God has given you, without complaints…

Somebody famous

• I am happy with my family
• I am happy with my work
• I am happy with my friends
• I am happy to help others
• I am happy waking up and facing the day with whatever it brings
• I am happy being me!..

If Summer of ’69 belonged to Brian Adams, Summer of ’22 belongs to flydubai. We carried record number of passengers this summer, especially with the Eid break giving extended holidays to UAE-folks. Everyone was harried, and putting in much more effort than normal. Hats off to the wonderful commitment shown by all.

We had to make sure systems were highly available 24*7 and performing solidly. It is a difficult time to navigate, however, it also is a testimony to the forethought and planning that has to go in, to ensure adequate capacity is procured in advance, and there are no system/connectivity hiccups. If there is a connectivity issue, it’s not just what’s app that won’t work. Reservations won’t get created, payments will fail, flight confirmations won’t be sent out to travel agents sitting in Far East, and there are so many implications.

We still have another two weeks, and then the last couple of weeks of August when people will start coming in after vacations. These are all busy times. Let’s hope we are raking in the moolah, and it transforms into a hefty bonus next year. If wishes were horses….But hey, no harm in keeping my fingers crossed. In reality, more than the revenue aspect, the feeling that we have contributed to our organization’s success, is really enriching and fulfilling. Anyone who has that feeling, however junior or senior, will be real assets to a company.

We are waiting for a long list of projects to be approved, so we can start our software programme for this year. Most of our projects from last year have completed, and the teams have done a great job in delivering the impossible. Now that I have to look after the infrastructure area as well, I am getting a full view of the IT factory, and I am sure it will only help me and the team become more dynamic and productive. There will not be any tendency to work in silos.

I am also looking forward to work with my new CIO who is very dynamic and has a wonderful personality. As always, the first few months of getting to know the professional selves will be difficult. However, I am confident in myself and the team, and in our ability to deliver. The results speak, and being a good leader, I am sure he will give his full support to us. Of course, being a slightly mobile phase, I know I need to be a bit more focused on the perceptions than on the actions. I will do my best, as I always do. I am backed by a super team, where there are no individual stars, but the team is the star.

At last, it happened! My daughter completed her Grade-12 and yesterday was her last examination. She was in Grade-12 for almost two years, I think. Not just her, but all her peers as well, because of the extended exams due to Covid. This has created lot of confusion for those students attempting higher studies abroad, like my daughter. Now, we need to wait for her results, before we decide what to do next. The results might take till July end to be declared, I read in the papers. So, waiting time. Not really. In the next 6 weeks, she has to take one vaccination for Meningitis, appear for two exams (JEEE for Indian Engineering colleges, and KEEM for Kerala Engineering colleges).

The exams for five subjects, took six weeks. Poor kids, from March onwards they have been waiting for the exams, since the school closed. Now it’s June. Normally exams are over in April and results come out by May. This is a two year delay. After the results, they need to confirm their university selection, and then start the VISA formalities. While the kid does this, I need to figure out how to get the money for the higher studies. UK is so expensive! But then, we cannot put value for good education, because I am confident it will repay itself in a very short span of time. As a father, I believe the best gift I can give her, is a good education. When I was a student, getting a degree abroad was something I couldn’t even dream about. So, in a way, she is getting opportunities I never got, and I hope and pray she makes good use of these opportunities. Having said that, college life is something to be enjoyed, and probably the best times of our lives. So, I would like her to enjoy the college life as well.

After her exam, she went to her school (her exams were at a different center), and proudly took some photos in front of the school, in various poses. She has recently been hinting to me, that her friend got offers from UK universities, and the family is relocating to UK. Like we can do that!. But one thing I did tell her, working for an airline, travel is much more easier compared to other parents, and I am sure I can be there to support her, quickly, if there’s a need. My cousins are also there, so it’s a relief.

Lot of changes happened in the office with my boss retiring, and my colleague who was in charge of Infrastructure also leaving. I was asked to take additional responsibility of Infrastructure and for the last two months I have been carrying that out. It’s a different area compared to software, but not completely new. I was involved in discussions and activities related to infrastructure architecture before as well, since the primary purpose of infrastructure is to host applications. In the modern age, the relevance of capex purchase of infrastructure is reducing daily, and moving workloads to cloud where Infrastructure is available as a service (iaas) is catching up steadily. This means that the effort and activities we normally used to do in on-prem data centers reduces a lot. Instead, infra architects are now focused on designing VPCs and logical segregation of systems, applying security controls and policies on servers, baselining server builds through Machine Images etc. There are several cloud providers, however all of them provide the same level of controls to create new infrastructure in the blink of an eye, apply the desired security protocols and access controls, and basically move systems to production faster.

Coming back to my new role, a lot of it is now strategizing how to move our systems to cloud, keeping costs low and ensuring high scalability. A lot of old systems are not cloud friendly, and so simply moving them to cloud doesnt’ achieve much. It can in fact, increase the cost. The cloud providers recommend a shift and then transform policy, in two stages. However, I am completely against that, simply because of the fact that they stand to gain, and we stand to lose, if the second step doesn’t happen. It’s my responsibility to ensure that we use cloud optimally, and so the application should be re-architected before we migrate to the cloud.

We have some of our critical systems running out of a datacenter in Dubai. It utilizes a very novel architecture, which unfortunately, very few know about. As a result, it is difficult to refine it, and our inhouse team is doing a great job keeping it going. However, I am pushing for moving all workloads to cloud, because, quite simply, that’s the future of application deployment. A lot of our efforts now go into simple health checks which take a long time, like patching. If we go to cloud, all these are automatically taken care of, or at least simplified to a great extent. We can save in many ways, if we put our hearts to it. We also need to know the cloud components in depth, to be able to get best use of it. It’s like going to a product site, and selecting the best products. If we know about the products, we can use them efficiently. If we don’t know, then we will end up paying more.

When we look at things in the right perspective, it’s always common sense that drives us forward. It’s the same in infrastructure as well. I had identified some connectivity models, which didn’t make any sense and asked the team to modify them to help in troubleshooting and better control. It was completed, and started giving benefits almost from day-1. It made me re-affirm my understanding that when we take off the layers and get to the bottom of things, everything is logical. And even if it doesn’t do anything else, an engineering course helps us think logically.

My new boss will take over IT in August. It will be a new experience working for him, and I am really looking forward to it. Every leader comes with their own vision, and I believe it’s my responsibility to help them carry out their strategy. I will also know, if the interim role I am playing in infrastructure space will be made permanent. I am proud of working for flydubai, and whatever the organization needs, I will gladly do my bit.

One curious thing we technocrats deal with on a regular basis, is generation and management of technical debt. We have a stable application, and all of a sudden, business will come with an urgent requirement. If we architect it the normal way, it will take time, and we will miss the opportunity. So, what will we do? We will take some shortcuts which allow the features to come out and bring in revenue, however, we will end up putting more effort in future when something needs to be changed. Maintainability could also become a problem. In no time, the ecosystem can be band aids around the core system. So, it’s important that we keep a close eye on this architectural debt, and have a regular program to remove it. At flydubai, we have an opex program which helps keep this at bay, and ensure that the product comes back to the original alignment. But, it needs discipline.

Recently, a team member of another department completed 10 yrs at flydubai. The organization gives a memento for this achievement and her manager was handing it over to her. Surprisingly, she requested me to do the honors, since I was the one who interviewed and recruited her. I was thinking, time flies. And, I am getting older – I must have interviewed and recruited at least fifty team members! One good thing I noticed in the team is that attrition rate is very less, touch wood!. It might be because it’s Dubai and it’s a good company to work for. It might also be that they like the department, and the working culture. I hope it’s a combination of all.

My intermittent fasting has helped me reduce almost 6 to 7 kgs now. But, I am still far away from my goal of 83kgs. Need to reduce another 3kgs. But I am approaching this steadily. There are good days, there are bad days. Some days are very tiring, because after working out, not having food till 2PM is difficult. But i do manage it. One weakness I have is for sweet things, and I daily have a piece of fruit cake. I know it’s bad, but I just can’t resist it. One day, will find the fortitude to stop that as well.

I am now 93% in wordle, and it’s a really nice game. I introduced it to many friends as well, and they regularly thank me for it. Last weekend, my friend and I went to a quiet café, and played rummy online using mobiles, for at least two hours. We had tall teas, and it was nice to sit and just exercise those brain cells. We played for fun, and not for money. Even when the malls are crowded, it’s a very quiet place, and I think of it as my hidey hole when I need to sit for a while and relax.

Now that my daughter’s exams are over, I am sure she’s going to cover all the series and movies Netflix and Amazon Prime has to offer. She’s already watching ‘The Neon Lawyer’ and I am sure Riverdale will follow. I am watching Riverdale now, and I am a bit fascinated by it. Of course, some episodes are silly, however, the way our favorite characters have been transformed into modern personas, is really cool. Everyone is human, meaning they have faults, and some good people in the cartoon are now not so good. I think it’s kind of reading between the pages, and coming up with a hypothesis for the end state. For example. Mr. Lodge is very rich in the cartoon. In the series, he’s rich and also not so good, which is kind of hinting that the only way to be rich, is by knowing to dance along the grey lines. There are some nice songs in the series, some of them I had never heard before. Try out ‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules.

I think a lot if I should buy Remarkable 2 for taking notes. However, I cringe at the price, and I keep rebuking myself that I already have an iPad mini which does the same. With the screen protector which is rough, it gives a pen like feeling when we write too. However, Remarkable 2 is really great in it’s experience. It does only writing, and nothing else that a normal iOS or Android tablet does. So, it might not be worth having different devices for different digital functions, especially when we are trying to make things less complicated. But, I would really recommend a note taking tablet and app, for everyone who attends management meetings and other regular meetings. I have so many pages and sections, and it just allows me to track all action points in a very structured manner. It really boosts productivity. I used to have notebooks, and even made my own notebooks out of throwaway paper with one side blank, but obviously I can’t carry them to serious meetings. This is really top notch. Any tablet which is small and easy to carry around, is good.

We have lot of recruitment happening now, and while most of it is Pilots and Cabin crew, there are office staff as well. I always look forward to meeting new people and getting myself exposed to new thoughts and cultures. In my team also, some roles are vacant and HR is actively recruiting.

A friend of mine wants to bring his Shih Tzu dog from India to Dubai. I am trying to get it done, it’s a laborious process. So many documents are required. There is even a microchip embedded inside the dog, which transmits information! Where technology is taking us. Since it’s a very excitable pet, it is not typically allowed in aircraft, and the airlines won’t take the risk of stressing out the animal and causing severe health issues. However, there are ways around this, and I am checking with our cargo team on how this can be done.

I sometimes wish there was an easier way of blogging from anyplace we want, whenever we want. Today, it’s a chore consisting of several steps. First into my Mac. Then, into parallels and from there into RDP. Of course, I can do it from Mac as well, but I anyway need Windows open so follow this path. RDP into aws server, and then open the browser to edit the site. I wish during weekends, when I am sitting in a quite corner at some mall, sipping my tea or having my brunch, I could easily access the site and note down my musings. I will try it from my mobile this weekend, and see how user friendly it is. I am used to a large screen, and typing on a small screen actually throws me off.

Some close friends from USA are coming down for vacation in July, and I really hope I can meet them in July, in Kerala. I am trying to go down there for two weeks, and spend some time with parents. I hope the covid situation both in India and UAE remain under control, and we wont have any flight restrictions like earlier. It’s really difficult to go back to that state, and I truly hope the boundaries are open, but people will be judicious and careful. In office also, the counts are increasing. In my team alone, recently at least ten staff were infected.

Another friend of mine was telling me today that one of his car tyres almost burst, and luckily he saw it on time and changed it. It’s going to be peak summer and everyone needs to make sure the tyres are checked and maintained. The heat is such that rubber also gets affected ! Next two months are going to be the most difficult. With increase in fuel prices, in my car, when I put on air conditioning, the mileage is pitiful. I do like rolling down the window and feeling the wind against my hair (what’s left of it), even if it’s a bit warm. However during peak summer, esp if I have walked or jogged in the morning, there’s just no way to keep the ac off. Which means, every second day I will need to fill up fuel. Luckily, we are having an increase in our transport allowance, thanks to our company’s staff friendly policies, and this should cover to an extent the impact.

I am watching the stock markets, and how the main indices have all gone bearish. I am sure it will come back. Today I was reading that even bitcoin has come down to 28K USD, I had predicted it will come down to 15K. And then we can invest 🙂 We always think we can buy during a slump, but a variety of factors keep driving the market down, down, down. So if we are not careful, we will lose substantially. So, I follow the advice that when the market is volatile, do NOT trade. Instead, watch cricket or football 🙂

By next week, I hope to have more news on things. Till then, let’s relax, not fret too much, not worry about things outside our control and do our best.

We are in the second quarter of 2022, and things seem very different from 2020 and 2021. The past two years were spent in the shadows of Covid and general economic slow down. However, the world is vibrant once more and lot of economic activities are happening. Of course, because of the ongoing war, oil prices are at an all time high.

Today I calculated my car’s mileage and I realized it’s giving me 6.77Kms per litre of ‘Special’ grade petrol. I can’t help compare it with my second car (the first one I bought with my own money) – the Maruti Suzuki Zen. It gave me 21kms per litre. Of course it must have been 80Hp 1000cc specs. The one I am driving now is 450HP, so no comparison. However, it’s a german car and I am a bit skeptical about the resale value. Its now in its fifth year, but it has covered only 50K kms. So I don’t even feel like selling it.

However, Porsche cars are expensive to maintain, and as the cars become older, the chances of a major overhaul also becomes higher. So it’s a tight balance. Let’s see. On the other hand, my wife drives a VW Polo, and I don’t even recall when I last filled fuel in it. It’s surprisingly sporty as well.

Another element which has gone up in prices, is gold!. In Kerala esp, we have this craving for the yellow metal, and social status is often measured in weddings, by how much gold the bride wears. The truth is, gold prices will always go up just because of the demand. Nowadays, people are more pragmatic, and I think the newer generation prefers a more active wedding ceremony, with less money spent on ornaments, and more on events. Weddings span across multiple days and each day the theme is different. There are carefully rehearsed dances with the bride and bridegroom also participating. These are all new additions to the traditional wedding function, but the entire population seems to have taken it up warmly. I am truly happy I got married before these entrees came in, and my role was limited to shaking hands and standing for photos. In my opinion, be it gold or events, it’s still waste of good money, and if this money was given for a good cause, the spiritual blessings just from that act would make the function happy and memorable.

As we grow older, our perspective and priorities change. I am now less interested in food, and more interested in trying to be healthy. I took up intermittent fasting, I am now into the fourth month, and I have lost close to 10 kgs. I do some brisk walking as well on most days, so it might be the combined effect of both the activities, that has made this weight loss possible. It’s a great feeling to be able to get into old trousers which were very tight and now feel like they are loose around your waist. Of course, it’s tough to maintain, and that’s the difficult part. But, I am sure if we put in the right effort and focus, results will be there. I drink more black tea now than before, and it keeps the hunger away. There’s a good place in Mirdiff mall called So Tea, where I like the Darjeeling tea and can spend one hour or more sipping away in a quiet corner.

During weekends, I spend a lot of time sitting down in these kind of places. One thing I wanted to try out, was to note down some thoughts there, and upload them to the site. However, I am still not sure if editing using a mobile phone is easy, or it is cumbersome. I hope to try it out next week. Something I have seen some of my colleagues use to good effect, is an e-ink reader cum note taker device. It is small, around 8 to 10 inches in screen size, and mono-chrome. In office, I use an ipad mini, with a rough textured screen protector, which allows me to write like into a notebook. However, the effect is not 100% there yet. It still slides a bit, and feels like glass. This is where these e-ink devices come in. The ones I have reviewed are remarkable-2 and Onyx boox. They all have their pros and cons, and they are all expensive. The thought of spending 1000 USD purely for taking notes while sipping tea, is not palatable to me, so I am holding myself back. I wish there were simpler options, I will continue my research. It should be easy to note down details, convert them to text and then upload them to the site as a new post.

Workwise, one big change that has happened is that I am looking now into Infrastructure Technology as well. My colleague resigned, and I am acting as interim head of his area too. It’s an interesting area, and I am confident I can deliver lot of value there, while learning lots too. It’s a world of switches and routers and ISPs and ILLs and dark holes and DDoS attacks and SOC and whatnot. However, I like getting into the details, without making myself a pest for others, and it’s a good path towards widening my horizons as well.

Also workwise, this is going to be a season of transition and change. I will come to the details probably in my next post. Like someone said once, “The only constant thing in life is change”. So, we should be open to change, and believe it’s all for good. That’s the only way to look at and face situations that keep evolving. As a result of change, we can either progress, or regress. I feel it how we accept the change will determine which direction we take in life.

My daughter has two more exams to go, Indian CBSE 12th grade exams are just dragging on. Just imagine, six weeks for five exams. And they already had one public exam in December. When I was a student, I recall having exams in morning and afternoon, and on alternate days. Exams would be over in a weeks’ time or maximum two weeks. The timing of the results also will determine the college plans for the kids, since most universities start classes in September. So for those students planning to study abroad, acceptance of university, application for visa et al depends on the results. I hope they come soon, and I hope my daughter scores good marks. Finally, it’s with her. After CBSE, she has to write JEEE and KEEM. So many exams.

My weekends are spent on walks, window shopping and sitting at Costa or So Tea watching the world go by. My cousin in UK shares photo of playing cricket and drinking beer. Just to make me jealous. But here in summer, these sports are not possible, though there is indoor cricket. However, it’s not the real thing. I recall we guys used to be into sports so much before the lockdown. To the extent I remember at least three of my colleagues spraining/tearing their tendons and needing surgery. The games were that intense. But now I have been so distant from active sports, the only activity is walks/jogs.

I was thinking recently, that this blog is more about I, me, myself. Anyone reading this will think of me as an egomaniac, just running away with my self and its importance. The reality is, I don’t want to put other stuff here online, because then we get into people and perceptions and copy right issues and stuff. My college days and some of my trips etc were so interesting that novels could be written and movies could be made. I would love to write about them too. But the characters of those stories might not like it, and I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone. Similarly, getting too much into office stuff is also not good because again, opinions vary. So, I keep it simple, and I continue this blog just to make sure I write something. Maybe, one day, after I re-wire (not retire, just re-wire), I will write something. There are topics I would love to write about, and in the right environment, I am sure the words will tumble out.

Some happy news is that a very dear friend who was working in Emirates moved back to flydubai. Similarly, a very close friend with whom I had a small tiff came back again, and things are back to normal. Normal is the way to be. Too much expectations are difficult to meet, every day is a learning. However, at this age, it has become clear to me that the friendships that started long back, should be savored and even if it needs effort to maintain it, it’s worth it. Good friends are valuable, because you get criticism for free. The difficulty is to accept that openly, and correct yourself, overtaking your ego. I am getting there. Good friends always want good for you, and they cover your back as well.

This year there are a couple of industry conferences happening, and I am planning to attend them. One is the T2RL conference in UK, and the other is the World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam. I need to get a Schengen Visa, and restart meeting people, and learning new things happening in this world around us. Without learning, what a dull world it is. Without networking, what a dull world it is.

The IPL is going on, and every year it gets more and more exciting. I am a staunch supporter of Rajasthan Royals and Sanju Samson, and I hope they take home the cup this year. It will be a great tribute to Shane Warne as well, who passed away earlier this year. Fingers crossed. Sanju’s story is like the neighborhood boy strikes rich. He’s from my place, and I know his coach also well. In fact, I used to see these boys practicing in the mornings at Medical College ground, when I would go there to huff and puff as part of my run. I recall, there was a young boy who joined our club and started as a wicketkeeper. After sometime, we dropped him because he was too good, and asked him to find a better club. He played well for an A-grade club, and even starred in a couple of local movies about cricket, and also in the Kerala Cricket League.

Last December, I had given up forex trading and I am all the more blessed for it. Just imagine how much I would have lost, if I had continued. I am always optimistic, and would put money into Buy trades only. Would have lost everything. Was reading about crypto and luna losing its value to zero. Just imagine, an asset without value!. I don’t know if it will come back again, to be honest. I was always wary about investing in crypto, but it’s very volatile and fortunes can be made or lost. Of course margin trading is all about the big players and individuals are like grains of sand on a beach. The big banks and traders control the whole market, and we just play along. My experience in trading was kind of balancing out towards the end. I would make money, I would lose money, then make some, then lose some. So I didn’t find it very interesting.

Recently I was reading about a Boeing spaceship docking with the ISS. I was thinking, privatization has worked wonders for Space travel and Space tourism. Just think of the progress. Virgin Galactic, Space X, Blue Origin. Even NASA started outsourcing its rockets. Just imagine, rockets are reusable now, where as earlier they would just burn away millions of dollars. I wish transportation in India would also be privatized, because it just is not upto the mark, when compared to other countries.

Time is flying. How do I measure it? I measure it in terms of memories. Memories of my father and mother when I was young, and they were young too. Memories of me getting my first job. Memories of my wedding. Memories of our own developed PSS system going live. Memories of my fatherhood. Memories of my niece getting a job. Memories of my daughter becoming a teenager officially. Memories of my brother in law retiring. Memories of some of my friends passing away. Memories of Covid and memories of the world slowly getting back.

The more memories fill me, the more nostalgic I become, and the more I realize that I am growing older. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, because there are many milestones I have achieved now, and many more that I hope to achieve, which would seem improbable when I was younger. Working and living in the middle of a younger world keeps my heart younger, my mind wiser and my brains sharper.

Recently visited the Dubai Expo with wife and daughter. Was wonderstruck by the infrastructure developed including the roads, the parking lots, the accessibility to the venue from the parking area, the colossal size of the place and the mammoth crowds thronging the place even on week days. It was a great experience, however, we need to be an early bird, to visit the good pavilions.

We went on the Skygarden which took us some 90m into the sky and gave a helicopter view of the Expo city. The platform rotates so we can see all the countries and their buildings. The irony is that we spent a long time trying to find Hungary, and later on when I viewed the video from the sky garden, I saw Hungary was next door!. We also experienced the waterfall which was really nice and also refreshing. Of course I got my feet wet and it felt great when the moist droplets sprayed all over our skin and I remembered our monsoon rains. Of course that is a deluge, this is spray.

We also visited a couple of countries but nothing special. The queue to get into the popular countries was too much, and I didnt feel like waiting one hour in line to get in. So we mostly walked around and enjoyed the Al Wasl dome and its splendor, as well as some ethnic markets etc.

We spent half a day there and came back in good spirits but painful legs. The walking was too much esp with the temperature picking up. But kudos to the organizers for designing such a spectrum of countries and their culture and offerings. And I could see people of various nationalities among the crowd, which shows that Dubai EXPO is indeed a crowd puller. As part of our marketing strategy, we provide free passes to our passengers travelling into Dubai, and recently it became multiple entry passes.

This year started off on a positive note, with travel demand back to pre-covid levels. Dubai airport retained its title of the airport handling maximum number of passengers, even during these pandemic times. At flydubai, we managed to carry just under 9 million passengers this year, however the yields were high. We posted a good profit and obviously we are all very happy. The organisation took good care of us when things were difficult, and other companies were letting staff go. In return the staff gave their best to the company, and this really helped us come out of the difficult situation of 2020/2021 first half. Hats off to the vision and leadership of our CEO and the rest of the Chiefs.

The year has just begun. The Russia-Ukraine war came out of nowhere, and we have lots of ties to both the countries. We can only pray that the war ends soon. So many people have lost their lives, including children, we can only pray for peace for their departed souls. It has affected so many families and people, it is painful to see the visuals from the war zone. And war affects many more countries, not just the ones in conflict. Millions flee the country, and it brings the neighbouring countries under a lot of pressure to accept them and then rehabilitate them. Prices go up, and trade stops. Share markets tumble, and oil prices reach sky high. Things were just starting to look up, and then this happened. We can only hope the world leaders react in a mature way, and defuse the situation through talks and discussions. I believe that’s the only way to end this.

Personally, I am forced to take more care of my health, because my doctor seriously advised I am over weight, during my post-covid checkup. So I decided to do something about it, and paying heed to my doctors words of advice, started Intermittent Fasting. Also, I have a friend and classmate who is an avid marathon runner and fitness freak. She’s happy to give me all information about IF and encourages me a lot. Special thanks to her, I am slowly getting into the groove. I can see some results, whether it’s due to my morning walks and runs, or due to IF, I am not sure. But as long as its something I can sustain, I am happy. I don’t want to go into a hard diet and then lose weight for two months, then get back into the food world and pile up more weight than I lost. It has happened to me.

My daughter is fully into tuitions and exams, and it pains me seeing her having to study so much. I am also surprised how I never studied so much during my school days. Is it that I didn’t study much, or the portions have really increased? One thing I do know is that I cannot answer any of my daughter’s questions in Maths or Physics. Chemistry I was a flop anyways. It goes on to show that the real education is not in books, it’s through various experiences in life. In another two or three months, we need to find her a good university where she can continue her graduation. That’s the tension now and I hope she gets what she wants.

It’s been a long time since I visited my parents. Last time I planned to do it, I got infected and had to cancel. Hope to go near Easter and see them. There’s nothing like returning to the house you were born and you grew up, and seeing your parents and the love in their eyes. That feeling cannot be explained, and it’s worth cannot be determined as well.

Workwise it has been very challenging, with skilled resources proving very difficult to procure. Like I mentioned earlier in another post, resources will agree to join and then just before day of joining, inform us that they wont be available. This puts into disarray all our plans and there is lot of rework that goes in to get the delivery wheel turning again. However, the factory works tirelessly and somehow will manage to deliver on time. I have that confidence in my team. Running IT systems for an airline is not an easy job, and we all have to rise to the occasion and be innovative to get the results. When I step back and think about it, we have digital touchpoints for our customers and staff, like websites, mobile apps, kiosks, contactless checkin etc. We have back office systems like ERP, Revenue Accounting, Revenue Management. We have reporting systems and platforms like Big Data, BI data marts etc. We have telephony systems like IVR for our call centre. We have lot of Robotic Process Automation running and easing routine jobs. We have logically complex systems like Pricing engines and dynamic pricing strategies. So our technology spectrum consists of front ends, middle ware, apis, microservices, data management solutions, caching solutions, event management platforms, notification engines, queuing solutions and what not. Its a big complex world out there guys. For all the critical system, we have a DR option. We would have close to 100 systems running to keep the airline operating, across various tier levels.

Tomorrow we plan to go to EXPO from office, it will be a different experience than with family. Now wearing masks outdoors is optional, so it’s a bit of a relief to be able to remove it when too many people are not around us. I have all these N95 masks my sister sent across, and while it is of high quality, it’s also very tight and suffocating.

Recently I found the WORDLE game out there, and now play it daily. I like it refreshing and engaging. I expect you also to try it out, if you read this. After the EXPO visit, I hope to add on more to this page. Ciao.

Unfortunately, the visit from office to Expo didn’t materialize because of some work reasons. While many staff visited, I couldn’t. But it’s ok, since I had visited earlier. And work always comes first. Talking about work, I wanted to share a great view from my seat.

From our old office, I had a great view of flights coming in for landing and take off, and sometimes even parking very close to our office. This office, the view is slightly different, but nonetheless spectacular. Seeing this, you might think the office is near the desert or something like that. That’s not the case. There’s the 611 highway near our office, and this is a vast open area to the other side of the highway. Occasionally I can see cars and pickups race by, raising clouds and clouds of dust as they speed through the sandy road. This leads me to believe that maybe there’s a farm nearby and these animals might be from there.

Today had lunch with some colleagues and tried out the Mint Leaf restaurant. I have been there before but today was purely vegetarian. The food was nice, and lot more variety than I expected. It has nice views, esp at night of the bay and Burj Khalifa towering near by.

One of our critical systems has been having some trouble recently, with unplanned downtimes and impact on operations. We are trying to apply an Oracle patch that should hopefully solve the issue, but it’s taking a while. When I think about this, supporting systems in production is a job in itself. Every week there are patches on various software and OS, and if we don’t patch regularly, we fall behind. That’s not a good place to be, because the vendors can stop support, or stop providing new features on these obsolete versions. We take production support for granted, but it’s very serious business. I hope the production issues go away!

A trip to India is on the cards soon. There is a lot I want to take care of, during this trip. First, see my parents and close family. It’s been a while. Then, friends and finally a long overdue visit to a church in the next state. However, it’s been a religious passion to visit this church every three years and due to the pandemic it couldn’t happen. But now that things are opening up in India as well, it’s the right time. I also need to visit my daughter’s tuition teacher and gift him a nice pen, for teaching Joanna so well. I think because of that, while most students found Physics very difficult, she managed to perform well. Always, the fundamentals are important and a good teacher starts with that. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, i was tablet fed regularly academic medicine, without any idea how or where to use it. Listening to her teacher, he explains practical uses of various theorems and formula, and it sticks in their minds.

Then, there is a plot in Trivandrum that I have been trying to sell for some time now. This time I hope to advertise and finalise it when I am there.

Recently watched some of the newly released Malayalam movies. Most of them are average and I believe due to the lock down and general feeling of being constrained, people watch everything now in theatres and make it a hit! In normal times, most of these would have been average films. I haven’t seen a truly intense or strong movie in a long time now, in any language. I also don’t get much recommendations from friends on movies, since they are mostly fans of Mamootty or Mohan lal and blindly follow their movies irrespective of whether they are good or bad. I am all for good movies.

Today it was very cold in the morning and it felt nice going to mamzar beach and having a run. The track there is good compared to other places, thought it might need to be maintained soon. However, the view is spectacular and exercising there with the wind on my back and a good song in my ears and so many others running and walking and working out in some way, really invigorates me. I forget my tiredness and give it that extra effort which normally I find it difficult. My daily morning walks combined with the Intermittent Fasting is starting to have an impact. I am now at 87Kgs and my target is 80Kg which is a long way away. However, I have given time till June to achieve that, and take stock. Let’s see. It is finally going to be a long journey to sustain it, and I would rather lose it slowly and steadily and maintain it likewise, than lose rapidly and gain rapidly.

Another week is starting, and will bring with it its own lessons and learnings and experience. However, as I believe, whatever you feel, however you feel, get up in the morning and do your bit. If the day is bad, hang on there. If the day is good, enjoy it. One lesson I want to exercise more in daily life, is to ensure completion of activities. Often, what happens is that I point of some tasks or strategies to team mates, and then expect them to complete it. However, now a days I am seeing that it doesn’t work that way and it just remains incomplete. So, it’s my new mantra – “If you want it to be done, do it yourself”. I don’t mean all the regular paraphernalia which will get done routinely. I mean the special and important things which will count in the long term, and which gets overlooked due to daily operational things. And if I can complete even one such task in a week, it’s worth it.

Like everyone else, I was also keenly following the spread of the Covid virus, and the various actions health organisations and governments were taking, to curb its spread. UAE especially has been very fortunate that it has a focused government which has a clear idea what steps need to be taken, based on WHO guidelines, and also that it has a well disciplined citizenship that adheres to all directions. These have been two critical factors that have allowed the country to keep its borders open, while ensuring that the infections are kept under control. Of course, the very high percentage of vaccinations and booster doses have played a major role alongside.

Anyways, it was Christmas time. I had taken leave for two weeks, and was planning to visit my parents after a long time. All of a sudden, my wife started getting chills and fever. After a day, she developed dry cough. Alarm bells started ringing. However, I still felt it might be seasonal, since she doesn’t go out much and is always very careful. Plus, a couple of months back, I had developed high fever and cough and it turned to be a normal viral fever. She gave a swab test, and the result came at midnight. I recall her waking me up on the phone and giving me the news that she was positive. Immediately, we isolated her and my daughter and I went into the drawing room.

I was tasked with running the house for the next ten days till my wife came out of isolation. I had very good friends and relatives who made sure they prepared lunch/dinner and left it outside. However, I also had to prepare lot of food by myself, which was a different experience. To be honest, I never thought during that time, if I would get infected or not. It was all about ensuring that my wife was well looked after and got food, medication and all other needs catered to timely. I also thought about all the healthcare staff who must be doing these chores day in and day out, and helping strangers , and how high a pedestal they are on ! My sincere salutations to all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical staff who work day and night to take care of the infected.

I am really indebted to all those good samaritans who brought food without thinking of the risks, and those who remembered me in their prayers. Their support really gave me the energy to look at the situation positively, and to keep saying to myself “This too shall pass!”. My best friend and family also got infected during this time, and I had company to relate my symptoms and situation with.

After ten days my wife came out of isolation tired but ready to start her innings. Because, by that time, I was down with fever. I tested on the fourth day, and turned positive. However, after a couple of days the fever went away and then it was all about taking rest. Because of all the effort the past few weeks, I barely could stay active, and spent most of the time sitting on the bed propped up by pillows and watching movies. Once I was well enough, I started working as well.

Because my wife was OK now, I got good care. So many staff at office got infected, and in most cases, the entire families got infected. Compared to that, I was lucky in that I could take care of my wife and daughter, and then when I was sick, they took care of me. My daughter also developed fever, but it went away soon enough, so we didn’t test.

When I look back now, it all passes by in my mind, like a blur. What should have been a tense time, somehow doesn’t seem that way now. I became a bit spiritual and maybe that helped me a lot. It was an experience that we won’t forget, and it cemented our relationship as a family, caring for each other and taking care of each other.

I restarted office, and work just overwhelmed me. However, it was happy times because the airline was doing well and I hope we post good strong financial results this year. We were opening so many new stations, and after a grim two years, things were looking up. Work was challenging because daily people were getting infected, and then they would be unavailable for ten days. Their close contacts were also quarantined for ten days. So, it really affected work. However, the great team that we are, the boys and girls pulled it back, and delivered miracles over Jan and Feb. Several big projects went live, and others are in various stages of completion.

Aviation business is resuming once more, new airlines are starting up and people are travelling more. In India alone, three airlines are starting or re-entering the market. Dubai is still the busiest airport in the world, and one of the most modern, providing contactless check-in and boarding facilities. IT sector is booming, with high spends reported in areas of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. RPA and Low code platforms are promising enterprises lower cost and higher productivity, keeping their resource costs low while adding more capital and intellectual assets into the Balance Sheet. All these are harbingers of a strong economic growth, however brings challenges in the form of resource retention, upskilling and rewards as well.

There have been lot of post-covid recovery issues reported, and it is advised to take things easy for a month or so. I have started my walks in a mild manner, and hopefully things will be fine. As per doctor I need to cut down my weight and so I am giving it my best shot, being the beginning of the year and all that. This infection also was a wakeup call that if we take care of our health, we can handle any difficult situation. But, if we are overweight and lax about food and other habits, we can be in trouble as well. We also have our long lent coming, so it’s a good opportunity to get onto a vegetarian diet and cut more weight.

Dubai is opening up, and as of tomorrow, all restrictions are being eased. I hope people will still be careful. The variant dominating here seems to be milder than delta. I had lost my sense of smell and taste, and it was very weird. However, they say that’s not a symptom of Omicron, so I am not sure if I had that or the Delta variant. It came back after a week, till then everything from cough syrup to chicken curry tasted like water.

So, the new year has got off to a rocky start, however, I prefer to look at it the other way. Hopefully, good times are coming up. This year is going to be a challenging one for me, with many milestones that will change our routine. My daughter will start her college, and be away from home. We might move to a new house in winter. I will need to make lot of trips depending on where my daughter and parents decide to be. So the regular, steady rhythm is going to be disturbed, and I am a person who likes order in my life. Of course, these are my plans. However, God has his own plans, and we have no control over it. So I hope and pray for a good 2022 for all of us and our families.

After a long time, here’s me back again. Actually, the title is a misnomer, because I wasn’t really sleeping. Far from it. Office work had me so busy, sleep was difficult to come by. After a dull, slow and dismal 2020, 2021 showed signs of revival for the aviation industry. The first quarter was rather slow, but the second quarter onwards, all airlines showed a gradual return to normal operations. Nobody’s yet there at 100% capacity or network coverage, but the yields seem to be higher than pre-covid times. Simply because the fares are on the higher side. Also, people moved more and more towards revenge travel, where they took it on themselves to show they are not afraid of the virus and won’t be pegged indoors. The world seemed to realise that as long as we are careful, wear masks and keep our hands and face clean, we can go on with our normal lives to an extent. Of course, all it takes is one mutation and we will be back to square one. But, for the sake of humanity and economy of all countries, lets hope we dont get back to the state of 2021. I hope medical world has understood the challenges posed by the virus, and we will be in a better shape to face any new variants coming up. The vaccinations have worked well in the UAE so far, with very few people turning up positive during the recent times. And that’s with the EXPO going on, and the Dubai Air show.

A big transition for us in flydubai, was the re-induction of the 737 MAX. After the intense scrutiny, these birds started flying again. The manufacturer got all the necessary certifications, and only after that airlines started redeploying them. Things are back to normal now with respect to these aircrafts, and I hear that our premium business class product is really awesome, esp for five to six hour journeys.

I attended the Dubai Air show, and will upload some pictures shortly. It was a great event, with most of the heavyweights in the aero-defense sector and commercial aviation sector making their presence felt. The aerobatic show by two different squadrons was really cool, and the roar of the engines shook the entire place. There were several fighter jets showcased, as well as the latest A350. Some military transporter jets as well as various types of helicopters completed the sortee. Most of my colleagues from flydubai were there. It was an afternoon well spent, and I clicked away merrily. Unfortunately, I took my macro lens instead of the normal one, and as a result, couldn’t take many pictures on my camera. Had to depend on my iPhone, which also gave cool pictures now. I hear the Pixel 6 Pro camera is cool, and I hope to get one when it’s available.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Another update is that one of the frequent visitors to my balcony garden, a bird, has decided to make its nest on a small ledge in the roof of my balcony. It’s interesting to see the bird sitting immobile, maybe it’s trying to lay the egg, or even to hatch it. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to see if there’s an egg, because it’s high, and also I dont want to scare the bird away. Let it stay in its home peacefully. One thing I am sure of is that it’s the same bird that used to keep visiting the balcony, and digging away at the plants I had pain stakingly grown. At that time, I didnt know whether to shoo it away, or to let it be, after all, this is nature at play!. Anyway, looks like it’s back now, and decided to bring up its young one/s here. Maybe I can capture the hatching on camera, fingers crossed.

We have entered foggy times, and I recently had the opportunity to drive in the fog. It was a different experience, with visibility highly reduced. I could only see as forward as the vehicle ahead of me. Everything to the sides and in front as well as back was covered in a hazy white envelope, and when I put my hand out of the window, it felt very chilly and moist. Because earlier I used to work and stay near the airport, i would start to office only around 8.30 AM, and by the time the fog would have dissipated. Now, since the office is almost 40kms from home, I have to be out early, and that’s how I could experience the fog.

I finished my electronics refresh, and bought some new devices. I am crazy about electronics, and every two years or so, recycle my devices. This year, I returned a lot of my old phones, iPads and macbook. Got very good resale value for this, it funded almost half of my new Macbook Pro. So you can imagine how much I would have got. So, I got a new iPad for my daughter, a new Macbook Pro for me. I also gave away my xBox. These are all ok. I got the shock of my life when I gave my car for service, and it came back with a five digit value ! To be fair, it included one year warranty also, and this goes on to show that we need to consider maintenance of cars also when we go and buy them. Else they will start eating into your pockets. It’s all happening.

In our office, we celebrated the 50th UAE National Day in style. Since we moved to our new head quarters, office programs have got a much better look and feel to them. There is a wonderful courtyard, open to the sky, and the entire office staff can assemble there, with some semblance of social distancing. It’s that huge. All ceremonies like flag day, Diwali, UAE National Day etc are now attended by the entire work force, where as earlier, we were all housed in different offices, and it was difficult to get everyone together. I got some nice pictures this time, during the National Day celebrations. The one with my CEO, Mr. Ghaith Al Ghaith is very dear to me, so is the one with my boss, the indomitable Mr. Ramesh Venkat. I can confidently say flydubai is where it is, because of the vision and clear focus of these aviation pioneers, along with the other Chiefs and top management.

Workwise, several things are changing in the world post-covid. Two most important features of the IT workforce now are Work from Home, and Intense Demand. Work from Home is now not just an option, it’s also a means for organisations to improve their productivity. After all, a lot of infrastructure cost can be saved, if staff opts to work from home. Unless, of course, it’s your own buildings and facilities. In which case the best option is to get all staff to work from office. All said and done, working together enhances productivity, but working onsite also improves mental health, purely because we can see friends and colleagues face to face, have serious as well as goofy talks, and over all increase our feeling of well being and positivity. The second aspect I am facing now is intense demand for IT resources, esp in India. It’s almost like the entire world was saving during Covid time, and now they are all raring to go. We interview resources, select them, and one week before joining they refuse stating that they got a better offer. Bargaining for the best deal is something natural, but one cant help have the feeling that it’s now more about the remuneration than the satisfaction. I recall that when we started our careers, there was no stackoverflow.com, or other google sites where code can be found! Now development is as easy as going to the sites and copy pasting the code. Earlier, we had to make sure our code performs well, no run time exceptions could occur due to Null Pointer/Memory Leak et al. There was lot of happiness and a real sense of achievement when your code went into production. Now I feel it’s all pre-built, we just need to find the right component and plug it in.

During my past life, I had the opportunity to meet and work with two engineers, who developed the original Java source code. Obviously, they worked for Sun Microsystems at that time. Such interactions helped mould our thinking and approach in a different way, I would like to believe.

One buzz word now is low code platforms. There are several such platforms available, which promote faster development cycles and also encourages citizen development. Essentially, these platforms are to empower business units to develop small apps for their use, without too much dependency on IT. I also tried out such platforms in our development shop, and now we have identified some usecases which can be best developed using such tools.

Now, my daughter’s finishing her 12th grade, and wants to pursue Computer Science. Of course, now it’s all about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. All kids want to get into these areas, and it’s a wonderful world out there full of opportunities. I hope they all turn out to be happy citizens and achieve great things in life.

I have a feeling that 2022 is going to be a decisive year for many of us in the aviation industry. As I write this, we have found yet another mutation after Delta, this time called the Omicron. It seems to be very contagious, but there is still no study as to whether it’s more severe or less severe than the other strains. This is why I said next year will be a transformational year. Either we will win over the fear of the virus, and travel will return to normal, or else we will face turbulent times which will test the foundations of our businesses. Time will tell, fingers crossed.

Its been a while since I blogged. Today again felt the mood to pen down stuff, hence back to the drawing board. When I tried to list down the various feelings that coursed through me during the past one year, I found the list very surprising and thought provoking.

1. Fear of the unknown
2. Grief
3. Increased confidence and self-respect
4. Strategic planning to overcome challenges in delivering work
5. Uncertainty
6. Happiness from getting more time for my hobbies and passions
7. Closer bonds with family
8. Need to let go
9. Planning for a better future

Because each of these needed time to identify, analyse and resolve, it took lot of thinking and musing. Maybe that’s the reason why I didn’t find the time to post anything new for at least six months. Or maybe, it’s just sheer laziness.

First my garden. The summer in UAE is very hard for the plants. All my winter plants like tomatoes, some varieties of gourds, some flower plants wilted in the dry heat. Though I tried watering them daily, it just didn’t work. Then I decided to plant some new veggies like beans, bitter gourd etc and they are now shaping up nicely. The Jasmines and Bougainville were able to handle the heat. It is nice to see greens in the balcony, and though it is work, it’s something I would gladly do. I look at it as extra work now because I have to go to office daily and reach back late as well. But it’s my responsibility, so I do it. Even if I don’t feel like doing it, I just do it.

Office started. Well, it has its own advantages and disadvantages. Good to be out and meeting others, though keeping a safe distance. But it is easy to forget such steps when we are in meetings or discussions. I have seen people walking around without masks, sitting and talking without masks. Its not a comfortable situation, unfortunately, we need to live with the masks and steps such as social distancing. I don’t know how long this kind of working will continue. Especially when team mates get infected, it starts a sense of panic and illogical thinking amongst people.  However, looking at work, it’s very easy to see that productivity is very high when working from home, especially in IT. There is advantage of meeting people of course. But with online collaboration tools like Teams, Zoom etc, its not very difficult to get everyone together. Anyway we cannot see the smiles and the grimaces and the emotions even when meeting face to face. So I have a bit of mixed feelings about this.

I got into forex trading. Its something very different from the normal share market trading in equities and bonds and mutual funds and IPOs. Here the trading is so dynamic we can win and lose hundreds of dollars in a matter of minutes. Of course, losing is more common than winning. And I am a living example of that. However, the feeling of analysing the performance and looking at the EMAs and Stochastic curves and trends and RSIs of forex, commodities, index etc is very different from the normal work I do. It pulls me in, and the satisfaction of getting some gains is too much to be described. Of course, I haven’t put too much, so I am not worried about the losses. We should never get into such activities, where the losses will set us back. As my boss says, this should be an activity for so many years into the future. Not for one year or so. So I am trying hard to be a good trader. Let’s see.

Nothing much happened from a photography perspective. Though I got some cool shots of the moon. Once on supermoon day. Somehow I woke up at 5am on both the days I got the shots, and I pulled back the curtains from my bed, and there it was. The beautiful lunar surface, shining and beckoning. I always wanted to try astrophotography with a telescope and camera bundled. But for now, it’s just my telephoto lens.

Since I believe that vaccinations are a defense against this virus, and since I am vaccinated twice, I go out to meet with friends and sometimes have dinner and outings. Though we try to keep the numbers less and only to people we know. However, every time there are holidays, I worry that people will be careless and the numbers will just increase after holidays. One good thing is the availability of vaccines of all kinds, and also good medical care.

Flights from India are still cancelled. There are rumours that by July end they will start. I will wait for it to happen, since I am also looking forward to travel to India and meet my parents. It’s been a long time since I saw them. They are also vaccinated and so I believe a visit is less risky for them now.

On the work front, it’s been a very busy time. Work is back with a vengeance and the company is also willing to spend money to get good returns on investment. There are some interesting projects to be taken off the shelf including some key upgrades to critical systems. I also had to devise some new outsourcing models, to ensure that we retain our cost efficiencies, while keeping our development partners also above the red lines. Everyone needs to win, right? So the last one year was a period when I had to spend good quality time on strategic planning and implementation. While organizations almost shut down their IT departments and laid off staff, I can proudly say that we didn’t lay off anyone, and also completed several key projects during this slow time. It was a good opportunity to show case our ability to manage all IT systems of the airline internally, with a very lean team. Obviously it also brought to the fore some gaps which we need to fill, but overall I was pleased with how the team performed during this time. Attitude, not aptitude, determines the altitude – and that’s what my team is full of.

On a personal front, I suffered several losses due to Covid, including relatives, friend and classmates. I can only pray for their souls, and thank God that we are all safe for now. Some people are taking upto four doses of vaccines under the impression that only some vaccines will be approved in USA, Europe etc. Who knows what the impact of all these least researched actions are. On the other hand, they are living in the moment, so they may not even regret it a bit.

I will sign off with some images from my album. It amazes me what we can capture with the kind of photographic equipment available now, and that too not very expensive. Even a cell phone camera is better than some of the available point and shoot cameras. Other than the moon, the images were shared by my friend in Canada, who wanted me to post them on my site. Glad to do it. Images and memories are meant to be shared.

Just looking at these photos make me feel relaxed and peaceful. We had a long break due to Eid, and i just went for short trips and drives nearby. Normally we would travel outside the whole week. How the world has changed. Maybe in a couple of years it will be back to normal.

Hi Folks,

Welcome to 2021, and I can only hope fervently that it’s a much better year for all of us than 2020. Though I will not downplay 2020, it was overall a year of negative sentiments and poor health indicators, and our hopes for 2021 is very different.

First, the vaccine. The vaccines started becoming available in UAE by Dec end/Jan, and there is an ambitious drive to vaccinate at least 50% of the population by summer. From flydubai, we have registered for the vaccines. Initially it was supposed to be Pfizer, but it is limited in stock, so we don’t know if we would get that or another vaccine. I believe it’s good to take a vaccine so that it helps us in our fight against the deadly virus.

Second, my garden. I had started it out sometime in October. In a matter or three months, it has changed its look from a small garden to a very green environment, with leaves all over and pots densely packed and some fruits starting to appear. I am proud to say that I harvested ladies fingers, cucumbers, coriander leaves, lettuce is growing, tomatoes have started appearing, potato has started shooting up and chilli plants are also taking roots. In addition, there is basil, mint, parsley and many more varities of shrubs that can be used with salads and steaks. I also planted several gardenia plants and bougainvilla, which give the garden a very colorful look. Jasmine and sunflower are also there, which I hope will flower during the summer. Let me share some pictures of the garden as it is now, below.

This is how my garden looked three to four months back (to the left), and how it looks now. Actually, there’s lots more but this image doesnt show it well. I think the image below does more justice.

This is a panoramic view maybe two months back. I have taken a same shot now. You can see it below.

This is how the garden looks now. With flowers along the railings, and kitchen plants in various stages of bloom and growth in pots and potato bags. This potato bag is very ambiguous. While it is definitely closer to nature through bio-degradable materials and stuff, I personally find that the soil is very loose inside. It doesnt settle well, and we cannot grow plants like carrot, lettuces etc in it. It might be good for potatoes, radishes, beetroots and the like. But keep in mind, the soil is very loose. So even when the plant grows, the soil around the root will keep moving, making it unstable. I had to throw away carrots and I think now some spinach also because of this issue. They don’t grow well. On the other hand, the potato (planting experiment from kitchen) is growing very well, touch wood.

Lets look at some fruits that have come up recently.

This cucumber above was the first one to grow, and was hidden for a long time. I despaired for a long time that all I could see were leaves, and there were no fruits. Then, when i casually checked the pot, there it was. Like a hidden treasure!

These are cucumbers that have grown from the plants I planted long back, and they got badly affected by my fertilizer trial. Actually two plants dried up, and this is the only one remaining. These started from the plant below, which was so small.

This photo was taken long back. Now the mother plant looks like this.

I put a net so that the climbers could move up, and grow healthy. I ordered some sticky bases on amazon, into which we could put nails, and i attached the net to these nails. Saved me from drilling into the wall to drive the nails in.

I can also see tomatoes coming up now. They look cute, and I have never seen tomatoes on plants before. So waiting for the day I can see them in full splendor.

This is one of the tomato plants that are growing in the garden. It contains some baby tomatoes as well. I also want to post pictures of spinach and chillies, which are coming up.

I am a bit worried about the chillies. Because, they are growing in this bag and like I mentioned above, the soil is loose. Let’s see. Gardening is a new thing for me, and there has already been several learnings. I don’t have any issues starting from scratch, if that’s what it takes.

One visitor other than me and my family visits this garden regularly. It’s a bird, and it keeps pecking away at the plants. I initially thought of driving it away, but then decided to watch what it was doing. My idea was to take some close up photos if possible with my 100-400mm lens. I soon realised that it’s a young engineering mind that this bird has. It is very clear what it wants. It will peck and search, and find small dry twigs and pieces of leaves it will analyse. Then, if it meets a particular dimension, it will take it and fly away. Unfortunately, it’s flying to the apartment above, where as I wish it would set up a nest in my balcony. Maybe it’s for the best, since it might wreck the whole garden if the bird family also grew up here.

It’s grown quite used to me sitting in the balcony with my leg up on a small table, and has no issues pecking very near me. Who are we to change the order of nature? The best experience is to open up ourselves to nature and become a part of its wonder in whatever small ways possible.

My first harvest (of course, the microgreens and coriander don’t count) was this set of ladies finger. Tasted yummy when cooked, and even though it seemed so little, it meant a lot. Maybe it might mean little for seasoned gardeners and all, but I am an amateur just starting a hobby. And it was a great achievement, made all my hard work seem worthwhile.

Just some passing frames before I wind up this post. Though I wanted it to be generic, it ended up mostly as a gardening post. So not sure if I should change the title itself. I will leave it to you guys to read and let me know what your thoughts are.

During these times of pandemic and constraints on moving around and overall outlook towards life, gardening is really something that has kept me on my toes and harnessed my energies and passion towards a nature friendly activity. While I may not have a lawn or a backyard, I am happy with the limited space in my balcony, and I believe I can arrange it better. Gardening has become a passion for me now, more than a past time. Happy Gardening to all those people out there who are fellow gardeners, and Start Gardening to those people who still haven’t!!!…