My mailbox is full of Greetings — this is that time of the year. Paper greetings have been replces largely by these electronic ones.
These greetings remind you of the structured calendar and how it affects us. It reminds you of symbols and their roles in life. Ultimately, this time of the year is really just a discontinuity due to the way the calendar is structured — these dates have no other significance. They become very significant because they are a discontinuity and represent a new beginning. And much of human activity is controlled by such structuring mecahnism — Humans create structures for convenience, then structures start taking larger than life role in human society.
In any case, I can not help but think that 2005 is almost over. It was an eventful year. I started by joining UC Irvine. New place is always a challenge, but UCI turned out to be easier transition in many ways. I taught two interesting courses — both were very well liked by my students. I am starting to build critical research activities at UCI. Utz Westermann’s coming to work with me was a great help. Interactions with Rescue center (Sharad Mehrotra) will be rewarding. The biggest change possibly was selling the house in San Diego and moving to Irvine. Currently I am living on campus in a very cozy and nice house.
This year I also got involved in starting SEraja which is progressing well. Interacting with Rajesh Jain is always exciting and Seraja has been fun in that respect. SEraja brings many ideas that I have been thinking about at one place in a product. I am very excited about the prospects. The team is growing and is really taking very good shape. Arun Katiyar is leading the effort as the CEO and is building the team very effectively. The first version of the product is going to appear soon and 2006 is likely to bring the EventWeb to USA after India.
Another product company may take shape soon — that is also started on paper and in some early activities here in Nagpur. I will play mostly advisory role in this but it is exciting. THis company is a spin-off from Lambent and will start with mobile games.
On family side, we had a nice addition — Tarah — in our family. She is becoming a cute little girl with demanding personality. Jay is growing well and they are keeping Swati and Frank busy.
Sudha, Neil, Suzi, and Adolfe are here in Nagpur with me. In fact today we will have a nice get together of family and friends.
After the most drammatic year 2004 that started with the News that I have Gastro-esophageal cancer and resulted in my spending most of my year in cancer treatment and learning a very interesting lesson in life — about the importance of life — 2005 brought some changes in life — mostly rewarding. I need to continue my focus on important things in life.
We live in a society and much of our joy comes due to interactions with many people. I am thankful to so many people who made my 2005 so rewarding. Wiothout help of so many friends and family members, my year would not be the same.