Some weekends in the Bay Area feel like we never really left Chennai.
There is a golu to visit, a child getting ready to sing, and a message asking, “What time are you visiting our Golu?” Someone is bringing sundal. Someone else is trying to fit six golu visits into one evening.
For a few hours, the world of office meetings and school schedules gives way to music, conversation, and familiar traditions. A living room can bring back the feeling of a Chennai music season or a quiet Trichy agraharam during Navarathri.
And then Monday arrives, and we are back to talking about AI.
That, to me, is the charm of the California Bay Area.
A season of music and small moments
Around Navarathri, almost every weekend seems to have a soundtrack. Children singing, playing instruments, and working up the courage to perform in front of a room full of people. Parents listening closely, sometimes quietly keeping the talam. Friends making room for one more family.
The songs celebrate our gods and goddesses, while keeping the words and music of our composers alive in another generation.
There is something lovely about watching children grow through these gatherings. A child who sang a short song last year now attempts something longer. Another who once needed a parent nearby is happy to perform alone. The progress is not always dramatic, but you notice it.
Vijayadasami brings its own special feeling. Children seek their gurus’ blessings and begin another year of learning. In the middle of busy lives, there is still time to pause, thank the teacher, and start again with respect and hope.
These are small moments. They are also the moments that make a place feel like home.
From ragams to AI, without missing a beat
The conversations at these gatherings deserve a category of their own.
One minute, someone is discussing a ragam, grahabedham, or a singer’s manodharmam. The next, the conversation has moved to the AI bubble, data centers, or the latest open-weight model from a Chinese company.
Is all this spending on AI going to pay off? Who is building more infrastructure? What happens next?
Before anyone can settle that, someone brings up Jailer 2. Then it is Anirudh, a celebrity wedding in Greece, school activities, travel plans, or where to find good food.
Somehow, none of these turns feels strange.
The same people who spend their weekdays thinking about technology can spend their weekends listening closely to a Carnatic performance. There is no need to choose one world over the other. Both fit quite comfortably into the same living room.
As much culture as you want
Another thing I love is that there is room for different levels of interest.
If music and culture are a big part of your life, you can stay deeply involved. There always seems to be another concert, class, gathering, or performance to look forward to.
If you are a casual listener, that works too. You can pick a few events, enjoy a familiar song, discover something new, and go home happy. You do not have to understand every musical detail to feel included.
The variety helps. An electric guitar playing Carnatic music or a familiar composition finding a new voice on a keyboard can bring a different kind of joy. There is room for the traditional concert and for something that makes you hear an old favourite differently.
The one thing on my wish list
If there is one thing I still wish for, it is a walkable Little India-style shopping area.
A place with Indian ethnic wear, jewellery, golu dolls, religious gifts, and those small things you suddenly need before a festival. Somewhere you could wander from shop to shop, stop for coffee,grab a few vadais or a newspaper wrapped hot pakodas, and make an afternoon of it.
That would complete the picture for me.
Still, there is a lot to be grateful for. The Bay Area gives us a busy working life shaped by new ideas, alongside a cultural life that keeps us close to where we came from.
Sometimes, the best of both worlds is simply a weekend of golu, music, and familiar company, followed by a Monday morning meeting about the future of AI.
And perhaps the nicest part is that these two worlds do not stay neatly separated.
The person explaining an AI model over sundal might be the parent helping a child tune a violin a few minutes later. A conversation about data centers pauses because the next child is ready to sing. Everyone turns, listens, and applauds. The debate can wait.
More than a busy cultural calendar
For the children, much of this may simply feel like a normal weekend. Dress up, visit friends, sing a song, eat something nice, and ask when they can go play.
For the adults, it often means a little more.
We hear a song we grew up with. We remember a teacher, a neighbour, or the way Navarathri felt in our parents’ homes. We find ourselves repeating things our own parents used to say, including, “One more song before you go.”
What once felt like a tradition we followed has slowly become something we want to pass on.
And it does not always take a grand event to do that. Sometimes, it is enough to gather in someone’s home, listen to a few children sing, and make sure everyone has eaten.
Finding our own version of home
Of course, this is not exactly Chennai or Trichy. The distances are different. Visits need planning. There are calendars to coordinate, weekend classes to work around, and the occasional choice between two events you would love to attend.
But perhaps recreating everything exactly is not the point.
We are building our own version of home, with the parts we want to carry forward and room for the lives our children are growing into. A traditional song and a keyboard rendition can belong in the same evening. So can a serious discussion about music and a completely unserious debate about the next big movie.
That is what I enjoy most about life here. There is space to be deeply attached to our roots without feeling removed from everything happening around us.
On Friday, we wonder where AI is taking the world. On Saturday, we remind a child to take their music notebook before leaving for class. By Sunday evening, we are at another golu, listening to another song, catching up with another set of friends.
Somewhere between all of that, the Bay Area has become much more than the place where we work.
Posted by rajesh | 
