Recap 2006

2006 was a very eventful year for me.

I finally managed to get a release from my project in January and moved to Delhi to work in the consulting arm of my company. I ended but being part of a very aggressive but nice team. I was the youngest in the term both in experience and in age and almost all my teammates acted as very effective mentors. My 2 bosses played a key role in giving me very interesting assignments to work on and that enhanced both my professional knowledge and my confidence.

Delhi took some time getting used to and to be frank I never actually started liking it much but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. Delhi is a very different ballgame from the cities I am familiar with (Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai). I did not find the average person that friendly. Commuting to office from Vasant Kunj to Parliament area was a perennial headache. The bus service is a total mess and it was a big PITA going to office everyday. Acquiring decent food was also a nuisance and I had to keep my fingers crossed for all the 3 meals in a day. I eventually managed to find some barely acceptable sources towards the end of my stay in Delhi.

I had excellent roommates though. I have always managed to find very good roommates and I hope my luck continues. The somewhat eccentric but helpful Karthik and the deceptively simple-looking Vinayak were both very different from me but we used to get along reasonably well, well… most of the time. Karthik’s geekiness and Vinayak’s knowledge of Indian politics and economics is some of the best I have ever seen. I often miss them.

Around September I was offered an opportunity to lead an application penetration testing team in Mumbai and I accepted it right away. Mumbai is more like Ahmedabad, much closer to home and much closer to other cities where my friends stay. And guess what, Mumbai also proved to be cheaper than Delhi.

In the time span of less than 2 years I got transferred for the 2nd time. Mumbai was by far the easiest to settle down in. By this time I had become somewhat of a professional nomad, so I just packed up all my stuff and hopped over to Mumbai. Mumbai is full of friends from almost all my circles. I readily got excellent roommates and a strategically located room when Murthy, my DA-IICT junior, asked me to join him. Jitu was my 2nd roommate. Murthy and I brainwashed Punit into becoming our 3th roommate. My current room is 5 mins walking distance from my office, 2 mins from an important bus stand and 10 mins from the station. It is bang in the middle of a residential area full of bachelors and therefore has all the support systems that a bachelor typically needs. My office also has an almost 24×7 canteen serving very good cheap food and thus my food problem was also solved A reliable source of reasonably-priced decent food supply is the first thing that a bachelor needs to be happy. And happy I am.
Most of my time at room is spent in reading (we have a mini-library that is very much growing), debating with roommates, listening to music, watching TV sometimes and cleaning the house. You read it right; we do clean the house from time to time. Till a few years ago I was your average bachelor for whom cleanliness was not a very high priority but a couple of years back my Mom’s genes suddenly lost their dormancy and asserted themselves. Of course I am nowhere near a cleanliness freak as my Mom but I pretty much am in the highest league when it comes to bachelors.

On the personal front things there were more downs than ups. The downs are really too personal and the ups are not worth talking about so no blogging about them. But suffice it to say that 2006 has taught me to be less dependent on others and not to take things for granted.

New Year’s eve was spent watching a movie (Happy Feet!) with friends, doing some minor shopping and setting up this blog

Aah, what is a New Year post without some resolutions?

Here are a few I am quite serious about:

• Exercise more.
• Study more. Get a few certifications.
• Save more money and invest wisely.
• Be more supportive to my family.
• Improve time management and fit more things into a day.
• Travel more.

And here are a few I am a little less serious about:

• Read and learn more of formal economics.
• Start my own technology-centric blog.

Ummmm… that’s about it. Happy New Year!

Tags: 2006