New Office

I joined my new office on March 18, 2010. It was fun there. First, we didn't have parking lot. So, we put our car on the road. Coming from Cypress, this was a little different experience. After coming in, we couldn't carry our bags and our tiffin boxes to our places. We had to put it in a locker and come down to our places.

The place we were sitting in didn't have cell phone coverage. It was even more fun. But, new office and a startup would have these teething problems.

Ireland roam

On saturday, I have taken a rental car for roaming in and around Cork. The car I got was a Toyota Avensis. Not at all a good car.

Anyway, first I went to Ross castle. I had to wait for about 45 minutes there because the guided tour starts at 10:30 AM in the morning. I happen to be the first and only visitor at that time and therefore could get the full attention of the guide. It's a nice place to visit. Photography is prohibited there. I don't know for what reason. However, they allow you to take a photograph in the top most accessible floor seeing outside of the room and not the interiors.

Then I went to Muckross house. Parking at the nearest place, I had to walk about 2 - 2.5 Kms to get to Muckross house. I really didn't go into it. I just watched around it. Going into it is really costly. It costs about 7 Euros, which I didn't want to spend there. Torc Waterfall is about another 2 Kms walk from Muckross house. I didn't go there.

Next, I went to Ladies view. I went to some view point (I think!!!), could get a glance of beautiful valley and lake. Then I went to Blarney castle to kiss the Blarney stone. The castle is much smaller than Ross castle. But, the kissing of Blarney stone was something of a fun. The castle guys themselves take a photo. You can see it in the store and if you want can take it or leave it. All in all, Blarney castle was very very costly (10 Euros for entry and 10 Euros for photograph).

At about 5:00 PM, I returned my car and came back to the hotel room. The whole of the day was pleasant, actually cold, but manageable.

Colorado Again

I got a mail from Paul Ruths, with whom I have been working since I started my design career. The following are the mails between us:

Chaitanya,

Thanks for your comments. You struck me as a bright and quick learner! I'm sure you are going to do well in the future given the capabilities and knowledge I've seen from you and the results of your hard work.

I will keep a copy of this email for future reference...

Best wishes at your new employer!

Cheers!

Paul

Just in case, my home email is mtn_man@mailmcafee.com

Chaitanya wrote:

> Paul,

> It has been wonderful 6 years for me at Cypress. I have worked with you for almost 4 years till now. All throughout, it was a fantastic experience for me, working with you. I learnt from you, how to get energy even when things are not going in the right way. I learnt, how to debug chips from you. I learnt, how Flash works. "YOU" are my mentor for all of these. I learnt what it takes to become like you. I personally respect you for your technical capabilities and problem solving approach.

>

> I am going to miss you at my new company. I sincerely hope, some day our paths might just cross again. I justed wanted to let you know that my last day at Cypress would be on 15th March, 2010. I would still like to be in touch with you. If ever, you are in India or require anything from me, you are most welcome to contact me anytime of the day, throughout the year.

>

> My personal mail ID : chaits@gmail.com

>

> Cheers,

> Chaitanya

I got a call from Shiva Prasad again to ask me to work at least as a contractor for the next 6 months as they are desperately looking for me. Again....this is such a nice feeling to know that Cypress values me a lot.

Nostalgia

Today, I started becoming nostalgic about the time I spent in Cypress. "The" company, that made me what I am today, the company which got me lot of life long buddies like pradeep, two satishs, kalyan, srinu, rao, murali, the company which taught me technical aspects, the company which saw me through my personal ups and downs, the company which had unique culture. I am leaving it on Monday.

The reason for this might be the mail sent by Kalyan:

"Hi all,

Looking at the last day emails from our former colleagues who left us in the past 1 year, I wondered when I’ll get such an opportunity to thank all those people who have supported and stood by me throughout my 4.75 year period here. The day has finally arrived and Today is my last day with Cypress. I feel sorry for not being able to continue my journey with Cypress. It required an external push in order to overcome the CY-inertia proving the Newton’s I law once again in my life. I have finally decided to part with Cypress and move forward in my life. This is the toughest decision in my life till date and it took couple of days for me to come in to terms with it.

I still remember the day when Pidugu called me up into his room to give the offer letter. As a fresh-grad just out of college, I was really thrilled to get an offer and signed the copy immediately without even having a cursory look into the offer document. I went and looked into the figures only when one of my friends queried about the offer details. I loved the work culture a lot and most importantly the fellow team-mates here in INDC-H and I am sure I’ll really long for such work-friendly atmosphere after leaving this place. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the assignments that came in my way, my sincere thanks to Pidugu for showing confidence all through. I really admired the way Pidugu used to get technically involved with the team during any crisis and I loved all those brain-storming sessions we had in his office. He is no doubt a role model and huge inspiration for all of us.

I’ve had an opportunity to work for 3 different managers in my short-stint here and loved working for each one of them. Madhuri (KOD) was my first mentor when I was an intern working on NSEs verification. I sincerely thank Murali for all his support both technically and personally. I am grateful to both Pradeep and Srihari for the technical assistance and personal guidance they provided as and when needed. It was my pleasure working with most of the people in INDC-H and it has been an enriching experience for me. The team-mates here are wonderful to work with and the commitment & attitude of guys is something that I really liked. One of them just thinks that any programming language is nothing but "if, for and while" which just shows the way to look at new unconquered things and the other just accepts any work that comes in his way and finishes it with utmost zeal and dedication, even though if it was THE first time (this is about me!!!) and many others have their own unique special skills. Its so satisfying to be part of most of the successful projects executed out of INDC-H.

‘Wherever you go in Life, Leave your mark’ is my favourite tag-line. Don’t know if I was able to leave any sort of mark at Cypress, but I can confidently say that it was Cypress that left an indelible mark in my life. It's really tough to leave this cute little world.

It was really nice knowing you all and I wish you all good luck in all your future endeavours. Please do stay in touch. My contact number is: 9885265104 and my personal mail-id is kalyan.kanni@gmail.com

I am going to miss you all and this wonderful place of work a lot!!! Thank you all for your patience.

INDC-H just ROCKS……

SIgning off for now,

Kalc aka XKC

(INDC-CYberabad) "

It was truly touching mail from him. Cypress allowed me to buy a car, a series of watches and cell phones. It was fun working at Cypress, leaving the minor inconveniences. Maybe, one day I may be back in Cypress again. But, I know, no other Cypress design center is as different as what it is in Hyderabad.

Last day at Cypress

I composed a mail to be sent on March 15th for my last day at Cypress:

All,

This is my last day at Cypress. It is very painful to say this, but I have to. Through the 6 years at Cypress, I have worked with all of you in many different ways. It was pleasure working with you and sharing knowledge with you. I am grateful to Cypress, which turned me from an ignorant NCG to a wide-eyed professional. It was a good roller coaster ride for me at Cypress. I had promotions, DP wins, Engineering awards and appraisals on the high side. I had to attend RCCAs which are not really good, on the low side. But, throughout the ride was exciting.

I had the opportunity to work with stalwarts in various fields like: Ryan Hirose (RTH), Paul Ruths (PFR), Murali (DNM), Rao (RAO), Pidugu (PLN), Hans van Antwerpen (HANS), Bert Sullam (BSU), Tim Williams (TIW) and Michael Amundson (MBA). I am sorry if I had missed any names.

Especially, I want to thank Murali (DNM), Paul Ruths (PFR), Pradeep (VPU) and Rao (RAO) for believing me, for bearing with me, for understanding me and above all for mentoring me even when they were quite busy. I am sad that I would be leaving my long term buddies, Mallik (MFY), Satish (TZA) and Srinivasa Reddy (RQI). But, world is so small and I am sure I will meet you all again. If you wish to contact me:

My personal ID is: chaits@gmail.com

My phone number is still the same: 91-9866222381

Ireland Trip

It had been good 4 days since I arrived in Ireland. It's a very very very cold place. I thought Seattle in USA was very cold in the whole civilized world. But, Ireland beats it by a huge margin.

The Irish people are really good right from taxi drivers (or what you call cabbies in USA) to engineers at Cypress Semiconductor. First time, when I went to USA, I had tough time getting a taxi to go back to my hotel from Office. First of all, the admin assistant at the reception says "Oh! Is it my duty to book a cab?". What the f$#@? I had to literally plead her to get one, as I didn't know how to book it. Neither were the engineers there at Cypress, Lynnwood especially helpful.

When I came to Cork, Ireland, I was invited with a Mercedes Benz taxi waiting with my name as placard. Wow!!! It's a good feeling. I came to the hotel. Though the hotel people had little difficulty with my accent and my name, they lived through it and gave me a room.

Here, I have to tell you about my hotel. The hotel's name is Clarion Hotel at Lapp's Quay, Cork. It's the 2nd best hotel in the whole of Cork. Excellent hotel, good food and marvelous treatment. You feel as if you are the only guest they care about. This is something which you miss totally in USA.

Next, comes the people whom I work with. The first day when I went to Seattle, nobody even knew me. I didn't know whom I supposed to talk to. I didn't know where I should be seated. But, ultimately a manager showed me around.

Here in Ireland, a day before I started from Hyderabad, the guy with whom I was supposed to work with mailed me asking if there is anything what he could do. I understood then, that this was the guy with whom I should work for the rest of my trip at Ireland. He immediately showed me the cafeteria, rest rooms. The other guys with whom I have worked with previously talked to me very nicely and treated me properly. When I wanted a taxi back to my hotel in the evening, one guy has given me a number which is Cypress account and therefore I need not pay for it and they would know where to pick me up from.

When I called the taxi company and ordered a taxi, they talked very politely and arranged a taxi within 2 minutes, which was amazing. Today, I booked my rental car for this saturday so that I can see some places around Cork. I am leaving back on Sunday morning. I am too lazy to go around places every evening. But, I would compensate them this Saturday.

Especially Brendan O' Regan, David Keating, Stephanie O' Leary were very helpful. Not to forget Kieran Kelly who is the Design Center Manager here.