Looking forward...

It's been 7 days in the new year. This should be a good time to see where I find myself at the beginning of the new year. In order to do that I am going to go back one year and analyze the events which may influence the way the current year is going to treat me.

I celebrated the last new year in Japan. It wasn't an all night party, but a small group of friends having some good time in a Karaoke bar. Though I can't sing, my friends were very nice to hear me attempt it. We had some good singers amongst us and we thoroughly enjoyed the night. We didn't stay late as we had to work the next day. Our Japanese clients expected us to work even on the new year holidays. We were working on a project with very aggressive deadlines for which Long hours were put in and there were innumerable nightouts. At times we felt like just giving it all up and run away, but the thought of reaching the final goal kept us going. Around Feb-March we were mentally and physically tired. The project was drawing to an end and so was our patience. I had never worked so hard in my professional career. It was like hitting a high. I returned to India around mid march and resumed work in my Bangalore office.

Sitting offshore and providing technical support for the project which we were doing onsite was not a difficult task, but it was not very interesting either. As far as I was concerned, I had put in my bit and it was time for others to take over and carry it forward. I needed something more challeging, something which would invoke the urge to work, something that would make me eager to come to office everyday. Sadly such a thing was not happening and I spent two months on the same project. I had reached a peak in Japan and now I was on a steady decline. Around the same time, our project won an award for the best team effort and I got one for Individual excellence. It was good to see some appreciation come our way. Clearly the first half of 2006 had proved to be very good as far as my professional career was concerned.

On the personal side, things were not looking so good. My parents were eager to get me married and I resisted saying that I was not ready for it. They were busy looking for prospective brides and every now and then I would receive an email asking me to give an opinion about some girl so that things can be carried forward. I was beginning to hate this whole business of match making. Sometimes I would reject a profile just for the sake of it, at other times I wouldn't even see it and then get a lecture from my parents. Somewhere this started affecting my work and I was unable to work aggressively as I used to. Luckily my next project was not very challenging and I was able to put in the required amount of time and effort.

Five months went by, our project was crawling through. We were working with a confused customer who didn't know what he wanted. There was tens of change requests and we seldom got appreciation for any good work. The team morale was low. I was juggling between my personal and professional goals. Nothing was going in the right direction. The project got over and I was moved to another project which probably did not even require my presence. But I was there anyway just for billing purposes. December was almost coming to an end and I did not have much to look forward to in the coming year. I decided to take a break and go to Bombay for a week long vacation. Suddenly things started clicking on the personal front and the year ended on a happy note with a promise of bigger things in the coming year.

On the work front, the hard work put in, in the previous year will reap fruits in the current year. I am getting ready to take up more responsibilities and certain opportunities will enable me to do that. I may take a transfer to Pune and then seriously start thinking of settling down. For four years I've been living on a suitcase literally. I have found the girl of my choice and we may get married towards the end of 2007 (i.e. if she is still interested in me by then). Married life itself will open a new book with a lot of chapters which I will read one page at a time. So right now things look good on the professional as well as personal front. This is going to be a happy new year for me and I wish you a very happy new year as well.