Hello Everyone. My name is Chandra Sekhar Devavarapu.
I was born – Graduated – Made it to the US (Living my Dream)
– Did my Masters – Got a Job.
Somewhere along the way – I got married (Still living my
Dream J
)
Allow me take you to different time lines of my Life in no
particular order.
It was spring of 2007. I landed in the United States of
America. The place I have always dreamt
to live. Cleveland, Ohio was the first place I lived in the US. I still
remember how I felt experiencing the low 40s for the first time.
I lived in a Small Studio - Study and campus job during the
weekdays – part time job over the weekend – 2 years fast forward – Graduated
from Cleveland State University with a GPA of 3.84. Master of Science in
Information systems.
Since we are talking about educational qualifications let us
go back to my undergrad days.
I am a chemical engineer from JNT University from
Hyderabad. Graduated with 79.8 % in
2006. I love chemistry which made me choose chemical engineering among many
other fields. It did not take much time to realize chemistry has nothing to do
with chemical engineering.My engineering degree lead to this job many
young engineers’ chemical engineers aspire in one of the leading Oil refineries
in India called Reliance Industries. It was world’s largest refinery at a
single location. I worked there for
close to one year. I realized my dream of higher studies in the US and I
pursued it.
I had a wonderful childhood.
I hail from a middle class family from a small village in south India.
My father is a farmer and my mom is a house keeper. We have a coconut farm. I am always grateful to my parents for all the
hard ships and sacrifices they made for me and my elder sisters upbringing.
Eight years in the US. I’ve worked with several clients as a
Business Intelligence Consultant. I have lived in many places. (East coast,
West coast, Mid-west and South). SD is the best places I have ever lived.
My Interests and hobbies:
I love food. I love photography. Not just photography, I
like working with HDR imaging. Photo editing software’s like Light room,
Photoshop. I love traveling, going to
places experiencing different cultures. Traveling to the UK seeing some places
of England and Scotland got me a travel bug. I want to see other parts of
Europe.
I like running. I am not fast but got some endurance. I ran about 1000 miles did 8 half marathons so
far. Am doing another half in March and will do a marathon this year. There is
a growing optimism that I will be an
ultra-marathoner soon. Video Link
We heard little
about our next speaker Mr. Chandra on his ice breaker speech. For those of you
who were not there on his first speech, He is environmental engineering
master’s degree holder, a runner, peace lover and he loves traveling. He is a reserved and shy guy but once you
break the ice, he is not only fun to talk to but his experiences are worth
listening. He is here to share an experience from his life.
Speech:
“That’s
why a bomb can’t beat us. That’s why we don’t hunker down. That’s why we don’t
cower in fear, “We carry on. We race. We strive. We build, and we work, and we
love.”
Mr. Barack Obama
said at the peak of his speech; during an interfaith service at the Cathedral
of the Holy Cross In the commemorative speech post Boston bombings.
There
is a reason for me to quote this. I was
one of the half million spectators for the Boston Marathon April 2013. My
cousin Ravi who is an elite runner, my inspiration ran that year. As an ardent
lover of the sport, I went to Boston to cheer for him. This is my experience.
My brother and his family, I and some of our family
friends gathered in one of our relatives place the day before and all of us
went for a good sightseeing. Boston! What a historic town. I loved the place.
On the race day morning I dropped my brother at the
pickup area where all the runners will be picked. I came back, got ready and
started again with my brother’s wife, his daughter and couple of other friends.
We had to park the car and take the train to downtown. There is no way you can
reach downtown on your car. We parked our car very far and walked to the
station. We got down at one of the stations in the middle
We
waited at the mile 16 of the marathon course to spot and cheer for my brother.
Waited for almost 45 minutes but spotted him. Identifying runners in
a pool of 26K people is quite tough. But we spotted him, cheered him and I took
a picture too.
We
moved forward and took another train station to reach to finish line. The train
was full and it did not have even space to squeeze in even one person. Nisha
took my phone and played Ninja fruit game and drained all the battery. I
got off one stop before the finish line to cheer for Annayya called Kenmore and
rest of the guys went to finish line. Looked for him but could not find him. He
passed already and finished the marathon. I might have missed him by minute or
so. I started walking towards the finish line to meet him at the finish. It was
a 25 minutes’ walk towards finish line. All of us met at the family meeting
area. We suddenly saw people running towards us. All of us stepped into this
restaurant by the road. Then we got a
call from another cousin from Sacramento to check if everybody is fine. Until then we do not know about the couple
bomb explosions near the finish line. I missed the explosions in less than 10
minutes.
We
could see the things live which are two blocks away in the TV. Phone signals
were okay for some time and later they got blocked. Sent messages to near and
dears saying we are fine. My phone was dead very shortly. I could charge my
phone a bit with the help of a waitress.
I have
asked the attendant of the restaurant the best way to go to airport. He gave
some direction to go to train station. I am not good in directions and of
course I am in panic mode. Gave good bye to everyone.
Boston downtown was like
a hassle. I could see fear in everybody’s face. Police and emergency Siren
everywhere. With the little charging I got from the restaurant I called you
walking towards the train station. People are talking like public
transportation is closed. Walking towards the train station which is like 6 or
7 blocks away. So much drama (police, siren and traffic) even during the
way to airport.
Somehow I made it to the
airport. Can you imagine a power
loss at the airport. I have gone through the security check and
finally made it to my plane. You must know that Boston airport is very complex
that there are at least 200 feet elevation escalators. Finally I took my plane
and made it to San Diego.
My thoughts are with my
brother and his family for their safe return.
Later, I came to know 3
people died and nearly 300 people got injured badly.
Like the rest of the world, I have been angry,
confused, and saddened. I wanted to do something. Anything!
All I could do is to run.
I ran harder for those who could not run. I
dedicate my 1000 miles to the deceased and the victims of this incident.
Incidents like this will show the world how
strong Americans are, how supportive the Bostonians were during the operation
to catch the people who did this attack. Twenty six thousand people ran the
race in 2013 and 36K people ran the race the following year. I could relate this with a quote from a
famous writer. “How do you
defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.”
“Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up
into a bubble and live inside it forever?” Well I do!
Last weekend I camped at Joshua tree national park with my
wife. We were having a casual conversation and she asked me to share
a childhood memory which I never told her before. I gave her a wooden face. I thought I told her everything from my childhood days
to the time I met her. I stretched my brain muscles and finally I got something
simple yet effective story from my child hood.
I was about 9 years old. I remember this particular visit to
my farm at my village on a hot summer day during holidays. On that day I became an early bird all of a sudden.
Reason being the previous night, my dad told me that I had a job to do
at the farm. He said “when you do a Job, you get paid” He has not
disclosed what I will be paid or what my job was. This statement from my dad
was resonating in my mind like a stretched string from the moment he
said it to me. I was excited, enthusiastic and eager.
Since it was very early in the day, I can hear the roosters
crowing and the pigeons cooing. My dad took on his bicycle and I sat on the
back carriage. We were heading on this narrow and unpaved road. Along the way,
I observed several people doing several different jobs like milking cows,
Bringing water, cleaning utensils, people selling breakfast etc. I thought to
myself “when
you do a job, you get paid”
It was about 30 minutes ride on the bicycle and we reached
our farm and I became the most observant kid in the whole wide world trying to notice each and every person doing his/her
job. We have 20 acres of coconut farm.
We have to park our cycle at some point where we need to cross a small
canal on which a coconut tree trunk was placed for people to cross it. My father holds my hand and helps me step by step to cross this canal. We have
to walk another half kilometer to reach our hut. We operate the bore well and keep our
belongings there.
We have a tube well which we use to pump the ground water
and use it for irrigation of the coconut trees. There was a small pool. Bathing
at the bore well was my favorite activity as a child. I thought someone has
built this bore well and someone else must have built this pool. I thought to
me again “when
you do a job, you get paid”
I got into that shallow pool lying on my back and staring at
the sky. Since it was already hot, my heart desired a drizzle. I was
thinking about the job and the payment I was about to get.
A group of 10 workers came and were talking to my dad. It
took no time for me to realize that there is coconut harvesting will be done.
They do this every 45 days. They climb the tree; cut the pre ripened coconuts.
Everybody has a definite job. Someone climbs,
someone collects and someone categorizes.
My father got me a chair and I am just watching them waiting for the
time when the task will be assigned to me.
While I sit at the pile, my father walks around to check on the people
who were climbing. This piling happened until noon. The day was so hot that you
can bake a cake in the sand.
The goat
keepers at our farm offered me the lunch that day. They are vegetarian and the
fun part was they don’t eat with the hands. They cooked rice and the gravy. One
person mixes and put it in the banana leaf. You have to eat with your mouth
directly. Food melted in my mouth and it
was all in the best possible taste.
Post lunch everyone gathered at the pile and everyone
started peeling the skin of the coconut and then the counting started. My dad called me and gave me a thread. He
asked me to tie a knot for every hundred I hear when they count out loud. I
realized immediately that was my Joyful
job. I was busy as a bee the
whole time and successfully completed the job.
The next day my dad took me to the town and bought me an
electronic watch for 30 rupees. It is a big deal for a school going kid. I was
on cloud 9 for at least some days.
That’s how I got paid for my first job. It was my father’s way of saying
nothing comes for free and “When you do a job, you get paid”
I would like to conclude my speech with a simple quote from
Julian Barnes. “Memories of childhood were the dreams that
stayed with you after you woke.”So my fellow toastmasters, when
you have a moment recollect any good childhood memory and I am sure you will be
glad to cherish that moment.
How many of you know about Rubik’s Cube? I thought so.
How many of you can solve Rubik’s Cube? Well. Ok
How many of you thought you want to solve a Rubik’s cube or
thought it is cool to solve a Rubik’s Cube?
Cool!
Today I am going to talk about ABC Rubik’s cube. Not ABCs of
Rubik’s cube or Rubik’s cube 101. This is not a different kind of Rubik’s Cube
like you all are thinking. I am gonna talk about the normal Rubik’s cube 3x3x3
(Show the Cube). This cube can have immeasurable combinations. To be precise 4 Quintillion
combinations. I.e. eighteen zeroes after 1. There is only one solution to have
same color on all the sides.
Very long back, I watched this movie called “The pursuit of
happiness”
In that movie Chris, an aspiring stock Broker solves the
Rubik's Cube and this impresses the man to give Chris an interview for the Dean
Witter training program. He gets into the training program eventually.
In another event, I saw this Asian boy with thick glasses in
a super market, who was solving Rubik’s cube very fast, number of times while
his mom was paying at the counter. I got inspired. Later I came to know people
who can solve in seconds are called speedcubers.
The point here: People gets inspired by Rubik’s cube
solving. Solving Rubik’s cube implies people are smart, has analytical
thinking, High IQ etc.
Well well well! That is not true at all.
ABC Rubik’s Cube – Any Body can Solve Rubik’s Cube.
Yes Any BodyCan Solve a Rubik’s cube.
This is not about smartness. This is not about high IQ or geeky
or Nerdy.
I got this Rubik’s cube couple weeks back and started
learning it and voila I cracked it. When I said couple of weeks it is not 2 by
24 by 7. I must have spent some 8-10 hours.
What do you need to solve it?
1.A Rubik’s cube
2.Interest to solve it.
3.A little memory.
There are two ways you can solve the cube.
1.Take all the 21 cubelets out of the cube and you
just put them where they belong to. This
is only for lazy people and cheaters.
2.To actually solve it.
You cannot solve the cube randomly without
any method. Max you can do like that solve a layer or two. You need to pick a
method to solve it and go for it. There are several methods out there like
Beginners method, optimized beginners method, Ortega’s method, waterman’s
method.
I have picked the beginners method. Solving the first two
layers is pretty easy and you don’t need to remember any algorithms. You need
to memorize some patterns though. Solving the third layer involves memorizing
some algorithm. Algorithms are the move sets to achieve certain results. You might need to memorize three move sets.
There are even techniques to remember the moves. For example there is FUR on
back of your Foot.
In a nut shell, it is easier than you think it is and you
can get it in no time. You can be frustrated initially but all that will be
gone on your first solve.
If you think, learning a method and solving it is also
cheating. You can create your own method by noting down your patterns to
achieve the results. You may try this if you have all the time in this world.
Good luck with that.
Just like many other addictions there are people who are
addicted to Rubik’s cube called Cubaholic. Don’t be one of those. J
My goal is achieved if I can make at least one of you to go
for solving Rubik’s cube and you can show off before your kids or friends or
anybody you know.
And those who pick the Rubik’s cube “Happy Cubing”
