My name is Gaurav Ramesh, and I work in engineering at OpenTable. out.of.desk is the alias I've been using since I opened an account on Instagram a few years ago. I wanted out.of.office but it was taken.
I read and write about a variety of topics that interest me, but the broad themes are personal growth, health and fitness, software, culture, engineering management and leadership, all with occasional philosophical angles. Over the years, I've tried numerous writing and publishing mediums - Blogger, Wordpress, Medium, Ghost, Github Pages, Obsidian Publish, all the time wondering if there's something wrong with me for not being able to stick to one. But I've realized that, one, new tools and technologies allow for better ways to express yourself, and two, I like to try out different things and feel like a beginner again.
This version has been designed by me and powered by Svelte, TailwindCSS and deployed on Netlify.
I hail from Shimoga, a little town in the south of India, close to Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India. Moving from the college town of Columbus, Ohio(where I went to grad school) to working in the Bay Area feels very similar to my journey from studying in Shimoga to working in Bengaluru. The similarity is not merely in the characterization of the places – town versus metro – but also in in what each has to offer. One offers simplicity, and authenticity, while the other has opportunities for personal growth. The internal journey has been one of going back and forth, in pursuit of a healthy mix of both.
Reading the last line above, it sounded like it made a small poem..
One offers simplicity, and authenticity While the other has opportunities for growth The internal journey has been one of going back and forth In pursuit of a healthy mix of both