The annual blog ritual

It comes a little late into being, called as it is the year-ending blog, but never too late, I guess. I mean, you cannot really switch the contemplative spigot on and off as you please. Turns out that I did not really have a lot to do this year, employed for less than half that I was, and a good-for-nothing layabout for the other half :)

One of the achievements that I could be genuinely proud of this year is that I have caught back on pretty much all the reading that I did not do during my two years at IIMB. I read almost 30 books this year, and that spawns a complete range from the awesome ‘Dark Tower’ series (with one of the best endings for a series that long – I mean, I guess too often have authors been guilty of building so much momentum right through a series and then see it dissipated away with a series-ender pedestrian by the standards), to the thought provoking ‘Everybody Loves a Good Drought’, to the informative ‘India After Gandhi’, to the downright sloppy, nauseatingly pretentiously romantic ‘Twilight’ series. I am not too sure of how hectic a consulting project gets, not having had the opportunity so far, but atleast insofar as possible, I m hoping to continue reading as much as possible this year too.

Talking of which, I started with new job this year – with a consulting firm. People who have seen me voice my opinions (which were a touch *cough* uncharitable) regarding consultants and consulting had a field day imagining various scenarios of me as a consultant. The investment banking career that I had seemed to take a liking to in 2008 did not pan out as I expected, and well, this was the best I could manage. Given the circumstances I shouldn’t crib much either, since a lot of my batchmates, way better and more qualified than me, ended up at places that deserved half their talents’ worth.

But enough has been written about the placements for the batch of 2009, so I won’t delve into that. What did struck me in this job was, however, the fact that both my previous jobs (ITC and Goldman) made me feel a lot more welcome and glad to have me around. They may not have meant it, but they made a damn good show of pretending to mean it.

Now it is not like I managed to achieve a lot while I was in these places, but I cannot ignore the fact that being made to feel like a part of the institution right from the first day had a disproportionately positive effect on my enthusiasm to work for my company. Forget the fact that the enthusiasm dissipated with time – it always does just as things start going downhill after the initial honeymoon-like period – but it is always good to start at a level of 50 than 0. And that is exactly what has not happened here – I never felt welcome in here. Kind of like IIMB, in a way – compared to IIT, that is.

The other illusion that got dissipated over time was the one concerning Mumbai. Now having spent a couple of months during my summer internship in 2008 here, as I have written elsewhere in this blog, I was absolutely captivated by this place. But over time, and after having lived for almost twice the time I spent during the internship, I have begun to realize, to my irritation, that people here have made a virtue out of being fast, and rush-ey all the time. This evidently gets manifested in situations where not rushing for a train or a bus will also get you a proper seat – but no. Since we are Mumbaikars, it is not becoming of us if we don’t rush around and give an impression of living a fast life in a faster city. It is not that I don’t like the people here – compared to those that reside in other metros of India, they are some of the nicest, but that doesn’t mean that everything about the place and the denizens have to be perfect. Also, I guess there is the standard Indian answer to this too – ‘we are like that only!’

The other defining feature of this year has been the unnerving pace at which people I know are getting married. I mean, it shouldn’t come off as too much as a surprise, I guess, but it seems like a lot of us, in a show of solidarity that is associated with cults committing mass suicides, just decided to throw in the towel and fall hopelessly towards the ‘until death do us apart’ routine :). Anyway, I was just kidding. I am sure all of them have a great future ahead, and I just hope that marriage has made them happier and hopefully more mature too!

The other thing that I caught up on this year was a bit of travel, just like old times. Mostly it was restricted to March (when I was not attending marriages of friends in different parts of the country, that is), but there are some images that stick around – the picture perfect Palolem beach with lush palm trees and fishing boats, the view from, and the picturesque journey to the Top Station at Munnar, sitting by the river banks and listening to the gentle waters of Tungabhadra lapping up, as the sun sets behind the main gopuram of the temple town of Hampi, the sunrise atop Matanga Hill and the sprawling view of Hampi’s magnificent stone temples, whose grandeur at their peak can only be imagined… now that I have some time (and money) to spare, I would like to travel around a little more this year.

The year which began with so much uncertainty tapered to a rather tame ending, the excitement in this otherwise monotonous life coming from having to fight for one’s own share of oxygen at an overly crowded Hard Rock Café on new year’s eve :) Nothing exceptionally specific to look forward to in the new year – but a bit of seriousness in life (ya I know I say it every year), and little less sarcasm (and this too :( ) towards others would be most welcome!