What a Year!!

"2003 was one of the most important year of life – it was when I got my 1st job. 5 years later comes a more important year and I hope when I write a similar piece next time, it will be a ‘employed’ me who will be writing it. So here’s one to a 9% growth, Sensex > 25K and no recession (in US), Sachin in his usual form and India winning atleast 1 Test down under in 2008!!"

These were the words I ended my blog welcoming 2008. So how did the hopes for 2008 turn out?
1. 2008 will end with me being employed – Negative (Well!!!!!!)
2. 9% growth – Negative (PM/FM keep on reducing this each day)
3. Sensex>25K – Negative (sarcastic smile on my face)
4. No recession – Big Negative (Huh!!)
5. Sachin – Positive (terrific form)
6. India winning test down under – Definitely Positive

So it seems apart from cricket, nothing has gone right this year – the year which will be remembered for years and years to come. Fortunately, it has come to an end and we can always hope that the sun which rises on 1st January will, in some way or the other have some different kinds of rays – rays of change so as to say.
So as we wait for that different ray(s), I go back in time to see how my life turned out in this unforgettable year.

January
Exams started the year on a hectic note. It was followed by a trip to Mahabaleshwar - the first real excursion after coming to Mumbai. Many more were to follow.(In fact I realized that May and June were the only months in 2008 when I didn't travel outside Mumbai)
The Month also saw the famed sensex experiencing its biggest crash. The crashes on Jan 21(1408 points) and 22(857 points) are at the 1st and 4th positions of top 10 single day falls in the history of sensex. (Amongst the top 10 single falls of all times, 8 are from the year 2008!!!!)


February
The month started on a high with Rompy’s marriage – one of the top highlights of the year. It was further followed by the start of Bull Run of the year at S.P Jain B plan contest


March
The travelling outside Mumbai which had started in January carried on with a visit to Chennai where we landed with the winners prize at the toughest competition at LIBA.


April
April – the trimester end month shifted focus back to the completion of projects and presentations. The highlight was the re-Branding exercise which we did for Indian – complete with print ads, video ads, radio ads etc etc.


May
Start of Summers though I would term shifting to the new house as a highlight of the month. Touching the railway lines, it was a tough time initially to ignore the early wake up calls by the passing trains.
It was also start of 2 months of change in the body clock with early to bed, early to rise funda coming in.
Moreover, it was IPL time – the super hit tournament provided time pass for 44 non stop evenings.

June
Summers continue. Lots of walking around in the sun and lots of sugarcane juice. All this meant loss of all extra flab. In addition started the real good gymming sessions which continued non-stop for more than 3 months.


July
Back to college after a long break. Start of a new year and new trimester. The trips continued with beautiful malshej ghats on the itinerary this month. In addition, it was SFM pressure – the one of the very few subjects or rather teacher which was able to add value in the 2 years of MBA.


August
The highlight for the country was Abhinav Bindra winning gold at Olympics followed by more medals by pugilists. Personally, the highlight was rappelling – one of the things on the bucket list. The place was kasara this time around.


September
Trimester end month again. Wonder how the time passes quickly. It started with a weeklong trip to Bangalore for placement visits. Meeting some friends after years!! Exams towards the month end.
The last exam found us discovering a new place to hang out – Rooftop. It was also followed by a trip to Chandigarh after 5 months.
September also marked the collapse of Lehman Brothers – which was the trigger point of a global collapse. Any positive sentiments there in the industry were laid to rest for good.


October
Passing away of Nanu – saying goodbye to the uptight moustache, finger handshake and the indomitable spirit.


November
The month started with a high of IIM Indore competition, Anki getting married and Lolly getting engaged. But ended with one of the worst tragedies in the Indian history – attack on Mumbai and experiencing terror from close quarters.


December
The start itself was a fantastic one – an invite to go to the US of A for a competition. Bull Run which started in Feb 2008, getting set to reach its pinnacle in Feb 2009.
December also belongs to the KIRDSS and the placement anxieties. The fall of the job market and the rise of the friendships. And ya it was also the trim end month – any one notice that ?? Hardly..



Looking back at how my wish list of last year was screwed up, I am tempted not to voice my hopes for new year this time around. Just hope that whatever happens, it happens for good.

Happy New Year!!

It’s that time of the year again – when you look back at the past 365 days and wonder how quickly or how slowly they have passed. Most of the times in the past, I have felt that the year has passed very quickly. It was like yesterday when I did this in January or that in March. But not this time. 2007 was a long year and it was one hell of a roller coaster ride. As it was difficult to recall all that happened in the year, I had to consult my previous blogs to remind me. But that was also not possible. Cuckoo, sometime in 2007 had gone a week without the internet and I had wondered how!! But it has been the same case with me. There has been virtually no connection with the outside world for the past few days. In fact I don’t know when I will be publishing this. The need was also not felt during these days as I was busy doing something I had not done during the whole trimester – Studying!

When you read subjects like Macroeconomics – the nitty gritty of inflations, interest rates, tax cuts, GDP and all, you feel that it should have been studied at ease during the sem, not hurriedly when exams are on head. But nevertheless, I am not regretting. I had certain plans for this trimester (of course studies were not a part) and I was able to follow the plans. Coming back to the bigger picture called the year 2007; I have to rely on my memory as the reference blogs are not available. The year had started out near a fireplace in Shimla. Upswings had started with a good CAT result – but it was not that good. Some other calls and February passed in preparation of GD’s, PI’s and trips to Mumbai, Pune, Delhi. March came with a successful conversion of a call at NM. It was also a time of coming together of some old school friends. With it started an attempt to make a short movie (which ultimately didn’t materialize) and rekindling of the college days or I should say Cricket days. The crash of India early out of the WC didn’t hamper our spirits to play. India, though redeemed themselves later in the year with a T20 world cup win. The fun, meanwhile continued in April which was marked by an important event of me giving my official resignation at Infosys. It was also start of Shaadi time. April end saw Rompy getting engaged and May saw Thakur tying the knot. End of year, also saw the all important occasion of Punnu and Neetu becoming soul mates. The marriage season continues in 2008 with Rompy getting out in February'08.

June started a different life altogether – life at Mumbai, life at a Management Institute. Well, to be frank, the college has not given the same feeling that my graduation college, PEC gave. That feeling of closeness and fondness which I have for PEC is not prevalent for NMIMS till now. The reason for that, I guess is a lack of proper campus. If you don’t feel like staying in the college after classes get over, that bond with the college is not possible. Anyways the life @MBA has been hectic and quite enjoyable mainly due to the people around. I had only 1 friend when I came to Mumbai and it has grown mani-manifold to an uncountable number. In addition, there is the roller coaster ride called student life. The fun filled excursions and parties to the scary time of Job hunting. From winning competitions to exam time rigor. From sleeping in class to sleepless nights. It’s been fun.

2003 was one of the most important year of life – it was when I got my 1^st job. 5 years later comes a more important year and I hope when I write a similar piece next time, it will be a ‘employed’ me who will be writing it. So here’s one to a 9% growth, Sunsex > 25K and no recession (in US), Sachin in his usual form and India winning atleast 1 Test down under in 2008!! :-)

Happy New Year!!

The Year Gone by

The practice of capturing all special moments is in practice for long....
But now with mobile cameras and 'aam pappad' sized digi cams, we are capable of clicking any time anywhere..
so instead of capturing special moments,here I am trying to make captured moments special..
There had to be a blog on new year...and as I was picass'ing thru all the last year photos, I realized I had at least one photograph for every month.. hence the idea of this blog...

January:
A 50 hour journey in the terrifying cold of January in a sleeper class – I am a brave person.
A One Day trip to Shimla with Rompy.




February:
Early morning Gym Sessions and in between, cricket sessions.




March:
HOLI Hai!!!! A fun filled, enjoyable, long and at the end of the day a tiring Holi celebrations




April:
Guitar Josh – joined Guitar classes for a month, learnt some basics. Here part display of guitar talent and part display of dolle sholle..




May:
Guitar fever down. Squash fever up… A very exhausting but excellent game…the Dumb Bells at Gym were replaced by the squash racquets…and the results were excellent.



June:
Home Coming. Transferred back to Chandigarh. Back to jogging amid the beautiful surroundings of lake. The evenings are always amazing here.



July:
To Hyderabad, officially this time and for 15 – 20 days rather than the 2 day trip which I made in June from Mysore.




August:
Shifted to new Infy Building in Chandigarh. The sporadic monsoon rains were more frequent now – spreading greenery all around



September:
A trip to the ancestral village. Got to drive on NH1 towards Amritsar – India has really excelled in making good highways. Eye pleasing views at the village.



October:
Holiday month. Dusshera, Diwali. Coming together of friends, party. Trip to Kasauli. Mini World Cup comes to Chandigarh. Saw the likes of Brett Lee and McGrath in action for the first time.




November:
Part of Rural Reach Program in creating awareness about computers in village schools.




December:
New laptop arrives.
A New Year Dawns in Shimla. Here lying besides the warmth of a fireplace at Vishesh's home

The year that was.....

Well, another year of our life comes to and end. And it is the time of the year when we tend to reflect on what has changed in the past 365 days of our lives.
365 days – measured in passing weekends – passed like a wind. Now when I sit to recount the experiences, I am finding it difficult to recount all of it. May be the time had passed too quickly for me to stop and take notice of what was happening.
It was a year of new friends, a new life at Mysore, good fun, some adventure,long tiring journeys, some hard work, some wonderful moments, and some disappointments. My mind says give it a rating out of 5. hmm…. And I have to apply the same mind a lot. Well, I would give it 2.5. Why? I don’t know why.. may be because I cannot see some distinctive way in which I developed. May be unconsciously without my knowing I grew, I learnt many things. But at this point of time I can’t think of any. At this moment, what I find is that it was a confusing year which resulted in me landing nowhere. Due to the confusion I never could really focus on one target completely. At some point of time it was planning to take a transfer to Chandigarh, then it was whether to go for MBA. The decisions, I feel were not taken by me but more by circumstances and thoughts of other people floating around me. On the work front, not much to learn – again I must say consciously. The months during Porsche was the only time I got to learn something – it basically gave me my confidence back - the confidence that I can code. Though I may be still not a good coder, but now I don’t fear coding. I can face it. Though a bit tough, but I enjoyed that phase. And may be those 2 months contributed a lot to those 2.5 marks I gave to this year. Rest of those can be attributed to some good friends I made here in Mysore. New roommates and friends at work place with whom the bonding increased manifold during each passing day. I had thought that college was the last place where one could have made ‘real’ friends. But it was not entirely true. And as the year ends, like last college days, everyone looks for a different path – for the better of course. And I can only wish and hope that the bonds last forever.
On a personal note, I have now decided that I won’t let myself confused anymore. It will be 1 thing at a time. Whether it is right or wrong, only the future can tell. But a decision once taken has to be followed. Fickle mindedness won’t get you anywhere- it is like a whirlpool which can only suck you in.
I won’t term it as a New Year resolution, because these resolutions have a way not to be followed. But what I plan is my decisions have to be my own – well thought out and not temporary. I have to stick to it – and hope that it takes me on the right path. !!!!