About
I’m a software system architect, currently working at ING in the Netherlands. Alongside my professional life in tech, I love creating things, whether that’s code, paintings, photos, or words.
A couple of my public talks on tech subjects are on YouTube:
- Microservices Ecosystem – My talk at a Women in Tech virtual meetup, Aug 2020
- Flirting with the Public Cloud – Talk at the GOTO Amsterdam conference, June 2022
I also recently launched Log4Health, my own health-tracking app for iOS and Android. Go ahead, try it out and let me know what you think!
My young adult kids keep me on my toes and make sure I never lose sight of a Gen-Z perspective. When my son was younger, we played HearthStone together. Now I binge TV shows with my daughter, following her ever-changing favorites.
Art
Drawing and painting started as far as I remember, as simple childhood persuits, copying cartoons and caricatures from The Hindu newspaper – cartoons like Scotty and Donald Duck, as well as political caricatures of Brezhnev and Chernenko. I still recall being mercilessly teased for drawing a “lion” with the face of a girl 😀
Even while pursuing science and engineering, I stayed close to art through college, enthusiastically participating in mural projects and 3-D creations in steel wireframes and papier-mâché. Those four years taught me many techniques from my peers.
During my time in the UK, I discovered David Bellamy, a great nature painter whose work I admire. Following the lessons in his book on landscape watercolors gave me a foundation that still shapes my technique today.
Other shorter influences include a few months of watercolor lessons with a local artist in Pune, and some community college drawing and painting classes in California. About a decade later, I held my own exhibitions in Pune (check out some press coverage for these!).
Watercolors are my first love – the blending of colors and the translucent beauty feel simply magical. These days I dabble in acrylics (still unlearning some of my watercolor habits!) and have also started exploring digital art with a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium I received as a birthday present a couple of years ago.
Travel
Seeing places, capturing memories were strong interests of my father, both of which I inherited. Travel has been a part of my life since early childhood. My parents’ busy work life often involved travel all over India for conferences – they took us along whenever possible. Plus back then, carefully budget-planned vacations were a rare family treat – typically once in two years! And well preserved black & white physical photo albums are my legacy, covering not just travel but also everyday life, visits from friends and family, and milestones big and small.
Photography
I started out with a humble Canon point-and-shoot, later moved to a Canon SLR, and eventually a Nikon D3300. These days I use it more selectively, since high-end phone cameras do a great job for everyday shots. For the middle ground, I also keep a Panasonic Lumix with a Leica lens and mid-range zoom. Wildflowers remain a recurring passion in my lens – a fascination I associate with my years in California and trips to Yellowstone National Park.
Gardening
I’m happiest when surrounded by flowers – wild, potted, or blooming in my garden. Winters in the Netherlands are tricky, but I’ve learned to keep a few blooms alive year-round. And I’ll always have a soft spot for flowering trees. 🌸
Writing
I’ve long written fragments – reflections, travel notes, photo essays. This website is my attempt to bring it all together in one place.
~NomadSiv
