Monday, August 15, 2016

Rewind: The Fall of 2014

Time does fly, and my vivid recollection of activities I did in the month of August, 2014 is a testimony to this fact. If I am asked to visually represent how the month of August in 2014 was for me, I will choose a Bell curve because I was literally at the top of the world, yet at the bottom. Having successfully completed an internship with a reputed market research and consulting firm in the satellite industry called Northern Sky Research (NSR), and also being the first person to have a job offer before graduation was something worth celebrating and being proud of. However, it also marked an abrupt end of the road with many people from across the world, with whom I had spent the best year of my life. Not that I wouldn't be in touch with them, but there was a certainty about not seeing many of them for years to come.

Lot of people would have loved to be in my place back then - good grades in college, job secured, and a decent social life. But I wasn't very happy or excited to start a new life, because I preferred hanging on to an imperfect one that I had in Strasbourg over a perfect one that stared at me back then. The last couple of weeks with the troupe were emotionally taxing, as we had to come with terms on the fact that we would probably not be drinking so much in our lives again. The silver lining was that we could make up for it by drinking our livers out in those last few days, and we did exactly the same!

The event that stood out for me as a defining moment of my life was a road trip that I did with a few other friends - Paul, Leena, Vittoria, and Jose. If there was something in my life that I regretted and wanted a second chance, this was it. We went to beautiful places, no doubt about that, but I wish there was someone who could regulate the emotions that overflowed from my end during the trip. After a few outbursts and a lot of grumpiness, I realized that is what it means taking control of your life - managing your own shit without harming others or yourself, because no one will do that on your behalf. And if someone does, that person is worth hanging on to. 

After a lot of drinks and words, things converged on the finality of a life after ISU, and it took an U-turn as I moved back to India and chose to start working out of Bangalore - the city that was to become my new home for the next two years. I joined a small team of Analysts from all over the world at NSR, and restarted my career all over again after 3 years of core engineering work with ISRO. The journey since then has been a roller-coaster ride, but not without its own hiccups - and more on that in my future posts :)

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

What is Dead May Never Die

I had almost forgotten that I used to write a blog until recently, when I received requests from two unknown kids on Facebook, who referred to some old posts and seeked 'career guidance' in the field of astronautics.

Two years have passed since I wrote my last blog-post, and there is so little to catch up on the personal front that it amazes me how time flew. Life has been busy with work and the pressure to have a social (media) presence despite it.

In the coming few weeks, I will try to ponder how the last two years has changed every aspect of my life, and share a few thoughts on my blog for future reference before I forget.