Migrating across land, seas, industries … and platforms

I have spent the last 48 hours carrying a technology platform from one server to a new one. And that exercise itself is one small part of the longer 60 days journey wherein I have travelled back in time to find a part of me that in turn may carry me into a different future.

I have always been a nomad traveling distances, but also travelling across industries. Many years ago during my post-monsoon travels in Spiti, Kinnaur, and Shimla, I spotted large flocks of grey and white birds. They looked familiar. It wasn't until few years ago that I spotted a small flock flying overhead in Pune. Since then I have seen them flying in different parts of Maharashtra from time to time. I found out that these are Demoiselle Cranes, who migrate to parts of Maharashtra during the winter months. I have always wondered where these birds came from and whether they would perhaps have also flown through Spiti and Shimla. Apparently Demoiselle Cranes live and breed across many countries in Central Asia and they migrate for the winter to warmer climes in Africa and India among other places. It seems the ones I saw were either from Mongolia, Kazakhstan or the Tibetan Plateau. They fly across the Tibetan Plateau, over the Himalayas, passing Spiti, Shimla, and into Rajasthan, before dispersing to different regions in India for their winter stay. There are a few places in Pune region where some of these birds are known to winter.

They travel around 3000-5000 kilometres one way, flying probably 8-10 hours every day (around 350 kilometres a day) with halts at various places. A migration is really not about the distances though. It is about survival, determination, adaptation and transformation. For a relatively small bird (Demoiselle Cranes are the smallest of the cranes in the world) to travel across plains, rugged high ranges, icy cold Himalayas (average of 16000 feet above sea-level) into the desert of Rajasthan and then across more varied terrain to their winter homes, is a journey of resilience, stamina and focused determination, while dealing with adversities.

I saw a small flock of storks or cranes flying high overhead today (not the Demoiselle Cranes) and was reminded of them. But it was also because I just finished migrating my latest software platform from Railway to Amazon Web Services. The last two months have been no less than a migration of my career since I have journeyed into software architecture and product development after three decades in design, operations and strategy (I studied programming for five years in my teens, building several games and puzzles). It is 2.43 am right now, and I have been trouble shooting connectivity and routing issues all day, but I feel good. Which is what I like about travelling really - the journey.