I figured I was really bad with directions & maps a couple of years ago. To be precise when I started my undergrad. That is precisely when I started traveling on my own.  By bad I mean not as good as an average Joe, really bad. And I think I think I know the reasons. Here’s a short, quick list

1. I am a girl
2. I am from India
3. And most importantly, May be I just never did anything on my own that required me to think in terms of directions. Or like some would say I don’t have the knack for it – hardwired or otherwise

Before the points above send out the wrong vibes, I will elaborate them to clarify what I mean.

1. In our family when I was growing up the women never went to places by themselves. They didn’t drive, navigate or work with maps. This is what the men did [when needed, if at all]. Either the father, brother, cousin, uncle or chauffer – all men. I grew up oblivious of what was north, south, east and west. Well that is only partly true. My mother followed some vaastu shastra and so the beds faced north south and the entrance was east or west I forget, etc. So when we had visitors and they asked about west/south we could immediately point it out in our house and then they could decipher which direction to face for their prayer and stuff. However, if I was driven to some place and asked to find my own way back I am sure I would have made more mistakes than anybody else in my place.
2. In India we rarely talk in terms of NSEW directions. If you ask for directions in India you will hear something like this: “Go straight, when you reach the junction take a left, then take the first right, then go straight for 2 kms and you will see a temple. Take the road behind the temple and ….When you get there you can ask somebody”. And then you would walk a little and ask somebody again for directions. This is not the case when you are walking only, it’s the same for people who are driving. In the US, I initially found it quite difficult to follow directions. If you ask for directions you are likely to hear “Go north 2 blocks, then east on <abc> St…” or “Oh, it is in the far South end along <xyz> Ave” or they will point it out in a map saying where you are and where the destination is. And ofcourse this is for people walking. If you are driving, you carry your own map/directions and if you get stuck your best bet is to stop at a gas station and maybe ask somebody in the store there. Actually, you carry a map whether you are driving/walking or riding a bike. People here grow with this around them, holding and working out maps all their life.
3. Nothing much to say here. May be it is a good thing that I didn’t become an architect or anybody who worked with directions, projection, proportion, dimensions & space. I understand better why I found my engineering drawing lessons so un-intuitive despite a lot of help from this man.

Finding your office room at Microsoft can be a challenge in the first few days. And this is from a returning employee. [I told you I am bad.] I bought a bike recently and have been biking around some of the trails around where I stay. I stay in Kirkland and didn’t realize that I had an amazing neighbourhood until I biked in a random direction last weekend feeling the breeze and the lingering fragrance of flowers after a light downpour. I saw some huge houses, i.e. small houses in huge areas, massive yards with thick blades of grass all over. It was beautiful. And I tried hard to recall the last time I was in a similar situation. Just looking around and looking up at the sky and smiling to myself. Saw a woman riding a horse [I stopped biking when I saw the horse, it was big. Yeah I was intimidated and she politely came close and said “don’t be afraid, he isn’t afraid of you, see”] and saw a huge stable a couple of miles away. Yeah, ‘huge’ is the key word.

In short I am having fun. Work @ Microsoft is very exciting, I should check with my mentor before I blog about it. But I can say so much, its fun writing code after a long time and fun to do so when you believe that it will be shipping soon. The interns are well taken care of, I feel too old most of the time to join in for any of the intern socials [In the past I didn’t like people who sounded like this], a good majority are undergrads. A bunch of young, enthusiastic folk. It would have been fun to have the concept of internships when I was pursuing my bachelors, I could have used the experience. Met some Indian students, i.e students studying in India and doing their internship at Microsoft Research, Redmond, its good to see interns here all the way from India.

I am also eating a lot of Indian food and will watch Fanaa tomorrow. Yeah, its almost like being in India J

And now I need to collect some mapquest printouts, yeah need to get somewhere. These maps are not difficult to read/follow. Its like an installation read me file. I'll be fine. Also, I declare myself a beans thoran expert. Made it twice, came out just the way I remember it from Kerala.