2018 - So High - Part 2

Anonymous 1

This year was the most eventful one in my life so far. It started on a high note with organizing a couple of events at my b-school: a business conclave and an IPL of sorts. Had a lot of fun working in very challenging situations, seeing it take its shape, and finally the insane parties that follow.

Then came the most crucial summer internship. The one thing that you're into right when you enter a b-school and is extremely significant for your entire college tenure, placements, and everything. It was here.

Though for the good.

Got to know why it is the dream employer. Looking back, those two months were like a dream I never dreamt of. Lavish accommodation, crazy parties, and mind-blowing projects. Stepped into the managerial shoes I always wanted to and enjoyed the roller coaster ride to the fullest.

Soon after, one unfortunate evening, I heard of my grandfather's demise. He had not been keeping well for some time, but to lose him was the biggest pain of my life. He loves me dearly. I say loves, because I'm sure he's still with us in spirit. His affection and blessings never leave my side. The very moment I was returning from his funeral, I got one of the biggest news, that I'd got a PPO. Yes, a pre-placement offer from the dream company! Such strong are his blessings! The news brought although a small, but much needed relief in the family. I was sorted for the final year in terms of assurance of a great job. Leveraged this privilege I had to share all the knowledge and experience I had with about a thousand people. Took sessions for my batchmates and juniors to help them with preparing for their placements, got insanely indulged in that, spent, rather utilized most of my time there. Helped a few differently abled candidates in whatever way I could, and it was immensely satisfying seeing them get what they desired.

Proposed to my girlfriend of more than half a decade, she said yes, and we revealed the bomb at our homes, and to a pleasant surprise, our families agreed, and the wedding plans are underway.

Did a small impromptu trip, saw some really big people up close speaking on a stage in an event I never even dreamt of attending!

I've been writing a lot of poetry, did this year too. But of the late, I started out writing prose, something I'd always wanted to do. Wrote a few stories, anecdotes and articles just to try out and see how I fare at prose. It was a pleasant experience, and hope to be better at all of it someday.

This is probably the last few months of my bachelorhood, and then I'll sink into the conventional restraints of marriage. I've gradually come to realize that it's okay to settle down peacefully instead of necessarily being a high roller. It all boils down to a conscious choice. But maybe I'm wrong, and there exists a best of both the worlds!

One takeaway from 2018 will be: Hope, don't expect. Work hard, and sooner or later, things will fall in place. Perseverance is the key.

Anonymous 2

2018 was a year of changes for me, mostly changes in myself. This was the first full year of keeping a regular journal. Going over just 1 year of journal recently was such a satisfying experience that I can only imagine how useful it would be a decade from now (if the habit continues). Being single with fewer responsibilities, there was plenty of time for me to reflect this year. That coupled with the fact that I was settled (work was going fine to keep me afloat) made me open to exploring new things. This was not a conscious effort on my part, it had more to do with the push from the people I was around with this year. Anant deserves definite credit on this.

Early in the year Anant moved to the Bay Area and introduced me to a lot of his friends. Through him I met people, most of whom became the core set of friends I hung out with. A little before Anant’s move I made 2 new friends at work. Since we worked in the same building we soon became lunch mates over the year. In just one year these lunch mates are now very good friends. They became seeds for introducing me to more people over the course of the year. Even after knowing Anant for almost 10 years now, it was only this year that we both realized that we share a lot of interests and curiosities. We can talk about so many things and sometimes even agree to disagree without much difficulty. The new people I met this year opened me to the idea of trying out new things and piqued my interests in other fields - space science, stargazing, and snowboarding come to mind.

In 2018 my friendship with two of my old friends rekindled and grew much stronger, perhaps because we now work on the same coast, in the same country, in the same technology and have a lot of shared interests. All these old and new friends became a part of my life journey so organically and naturally that it felt like this was all supposed to happen. Never did I feel like I was making a conscious effort to make new friends and yet I’m positive that as I met more and more people I became better able to work in social situations. I definitely learned a lot from this.

I had more than my usual share of fun this year. I lied on the ground in cold for 4 hours this year to catch an amazing wide sky view of the Perseids, with some of my friends I drove 8 hours this year to catch a live 45 min show of SpaceX launching a rocket in the sky. It was spectacular. This year I also travelled to India after 3.5 year and attended two my good friends’ wedding (with each other) which was 🔥. Another major highlight from the year was taking an overnight 24 hour long train ride from Seattle.

The new social circles I made this year will demand both time and money (to hangout) and rightly so. I should anticipate this and prepare for it. This preparation will require putting in systems and processes to monitor both my time and expenses. Time, a much more valuable resource and also hard to manage (but I’ll try keeping a regular calendar for this). For expense management I’m a little too illiterate to my own disadvantage. So to address this, in 2019 I should educate myself on Personal Finance, Budgeting, Investing and if possible an extension of it - microeconomics. A tangible output from 2019 should be a robust and well reviewed (reviewed by peers for lack of a professional advisor) system for finances, savings, and investments. To keep up at work I need to pick up skills in Reinforcement Learning. Educating myself on all of this and spending time with friends, traveling and relaxing is a lofty goal for the full year. I hope to be able to move in its direction.

Highlights of the year (recency bias not ruled out)

Best Restaurant: Royal Tandoor, Santa Clarita

Best Memory: Perseids, 2018

Best Tweet: Be so contrarian that you don’t even have opinions - link

Best Book: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Best Blog: An Ambitious Person’s Brutally Honest Take On Work-Life Balance and Artificial Intelligence — The Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet

Best Song: Both Sides Now

Best Podcast (because it’s SV, why not): The Knowledge Project with Naval Ravikant

मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर, लोग साथ आते गये और कारवां बनता गया |

Anonymous 3

Hello Friends (Chai Peelo),

We decided to write one year end review for the the following reasons -

1. Read last point below.
2. 1 > 0

2018 - A year to remember. 

• We kicked off the year with a big move into our first apartment together (Water facing!) Everyone who has been to our home, knows how much we show it off!
• Our ‘Best’ friend Anant (+Chai group) moved to California (much of the first half of the year went into convincing that CA >> NY)
• Fitness was a big goal for the year - Yoga, Saturday Morning Hikes, Cross-fit, Dance (Combined we lost 30 lbs! :P)
• Our parents met!
• Lots of travel - Santa Cruz, Napa, Pittsburgh, DC, Lassen, Tahoe, LA, San Diego, Vanderbilt Space Center, Vegas, India and finally Aruba!
• Lots of firsts - Sailing, Snorkeling, 10K Hike, Rocket Launch, Jet-skiing, Skiing, Rock climbing, driving an ATV, Scooting in downtowns, Pride Parade march, Escape rooms, VR experience, International travel (for poor kid T), Twitter (T discovered he could tweet to Elon Musk directly!), first acquisition (V now works for Glint, LinkedIn and Microsoft!)
• Both of us got promoted to Sr. :)
• Lots of good time with family and friends!
• WE GOT MARRIED!! Definitely the most exciting and overwhelming event of 2018. After knowing each other for over 10 years, we tied the knot and made it official (mostly so that our families could come and visit us in the US :P). 

Looking forward to 2019 for more adventure, travel and fun! 

Anonymous 4

This has probably been the worst year so far.

I didn’t really do anything this year, just went with flow. I realized this when Anant asked me to write the year-end review. I had nothing to write. Everyone tells you to reserve some time every week to review your actions, but nobody tells you that first, you need to make decisions. Letting life run on auto-pilot was definitely a new level of lazy for me.

My best memories or the only memorable memories of this year are of visiting Anant and Nikhil both were impulse decisions. Re-confirming the need to take decisions. I also have to thank Anant for suggesting me some goodreads this year, Justice, Sapiens, The book of why. I hadn’t read 3 books in a year for a long time. Will keep this up in 2019.

Last year I wanted to tell my parents that I will start eating meat. I finally told them this year. They were in shock and disbelief. I was the ideal son, how could I be comfortable with eating a living being.

For 2019, will follow S.M.A.R.T goals strategy to avoid going on auto-pilot once again.

Onwards and upwards!

इथे तेरी पुत्त्र ज़मीर मुक्क गयी

हो मर जावीं उठे कोयी ज्योँ द नी फायेदा

Anonymous 5

The year gone by has been a roller coaster ride and a major learning experience. Moving to a new city and taking up a new job had hell lot of challenges for someone who has always stayed at home. I struggled to have some good friends, find a new house and make peace with a city like Bombay! I have also realised that those who say that Bombay is an emotion, are right. Within an year I had to change my job because I had a weird ass boss and a mental team. Nevertheless, I survived and found something better. However, life is a challenge. Yet another major hurdle stood my way when my houses flooded because of silly Bombay rains! I survived that too, and found a beautiful house. This year I was fortunate to visit three countries! The experience that I had in the Netherlands and Germany was brilliant. Hash muffins and a tour of the red light district was the icing on the cake;)

This year I also realised an important aspect that its okay when friends become strangers, you survive, and life moves on, perhaps for better. I have still not managed to make good friends in this city but now there is a sense of content and I dont feel the need kyunki janaab zindagi gulzar hai!