About Me

Why do I feel like this section could be the opening for a Match profile? Let’s see? I’m 5’9″ about 175 lbs depending upon the humidity. I’m the oldest of immigrant parents from India, having been born on the side of a terraced hill lush with rubber trees and coconut trees speckled with cows and goats and chickens with a snake here and there (a hill, which was still a hill before and after Hugh Grant climbed up and back down its side) outside a small village, Mallapally, then raised there and in Cochin, later New Delhi, sandwiched around a couple years in Leeds, England followed by hopping a bird across the pond to a small town in Eastern PA near Trenton, NJ before finally settling in Lafayette then West Lafayette, IN which spawned such icons as the frontmen for Guns n Roses and Blind Melon. None of us live there anymore. My folks spend their days in Indianapolis. My brothers and sister in Phoenix, Chicago and DC all married with children. (There’s an Oasis song and TV show that’s popping into my head this very moment.) I’m carrying the torch for bachelorhood, though at times it seems more like a tiny candle, as I am meant to be with my one true love.

I started this blog in August of 2013. The previous twenty years I lived in a city (Chicago) that I loved, the last ten of which working for a company (CareerBuilder) that I loved, all the while enjoying every bit of time I could with my family and friends. I met some incredible people, did some incredible things, and had no intention of leaving. And then a city (San Francisco) that I had loved since college made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Well actually a company that I came to love (Glassdoor, based in Sausalito, CA) made the offer and almost two years later, another company (Glint, based in Redwood City, CA) that I love. Sensing a theme? And now I am closer to a sports team (the 49ers) that I have loved since I was a little boy. And just like that, I left everything that I knew for the unknown. So my dog Taylor & I packed our bags and drove 2800 miles due south then west, seeing some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer. Moab, anyone?

I took a sabbatical for a year, that saw me travel the country, road tripping everywhere it seemed – up and down the California coast, up the Oregon coast to Seattle and back down – and then another epic journey driving from San Francisco to Washington, DC with my dog visiting family and friends along the way having lived one adventure after another. I spent New Years and much of that month all over Thailand. The highlight of my sabbatical was a thirty-day adventure throughout India, culminating in the Rickshaw Run, where two of my best friends and I raced a tuk tuk 2500 miles from one end of India to the other.

An amazing company (Upwork, based in Mountain View) brought me out of retirement to address the ever-growing freelancing market that makes up the gig economy. We provide people from all over the world with a means to fulfill their dreams by doing meaningful work on their own time in their own way, providing food for themselves and their families. I have teams in San Francisco and Chicago, flying back and forth every month, where we work with companies to advertise their projects for freelancers to bid and complete. I love my job. I love the people I work with. I love my company.

I appreciate the wonderment of life moreso now than I ever have before; each and every moment a gift. Still young at heart, but with the perspective of age. I love to live, which may seem quite obvious, but after a couple near brushes with the other side, I’ve learned to love living even more than I ever did. I am always nostalgic for my yesterdays. I always love my todays. And I always look forward to and in anticipation of my tomorrows.

I’ve been writing in a journal since I was a junior in high school having written in mounds and mounds of notebooks (fancier looking as I blew out more candles and earned more money), and thought it was finally time to put my thoughts — past, present and future — onto this new-fangled interwebs. I credit my Advanced Composition teacher in high school for getting me to start writing. Dr. Burch, you forever changed the destiny of a shy little Indian kid with horn-rimmed glasses. Who knew later that horn-rimmed glasses would one day become cool? Who knew that Dr. Burch’s first name wasn’t Dr? Some mysteries are best left unsolved.

In an amazing twist of fate, the company that I love — Upwork — brought me back to Chicago. While I loved Chicago, I had no intention of ever moving back; twenty years was plenty of time to live in one place. However, fate had other plans. While I was part of the team that built Upwork into one of the best places to work, fate and a dear friend with whom I’d work together at Glassdoor brought me in touch with Grace. Before our first date was done, I knew I had met the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. As I turn to the next chapter of my life, I realize now more than ever how everything that had happened before, and everyone that I had ever met, led me to this very moment.

Our future’s bright. Gonna wear shades.

Thank you for reading.

Next chapter, please.

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