2012 - In retrospect

Namaste Friends :),

A Calendar year is about to finish! One more year is going into the annals of History! As has been my hobby, I am sitting down in retrospect on the year which has passed by…

Beginning of the year I made a resolution and trust me for the first time I have stuck to a New Year resolution. But I would like to discuss more on this at the end of my recollection, the reason I hope you will appreciate.

The year began in the midst of my Final Group MBA preparations. The exam was on 8^th Jan, and that too both the papers on the same day. Hence I was not thinking anything else other than exams. Exam day was challenging as I had to overcome the challenge of fatigue of writing for two papers of three hours. But due to diligent preparation and the determination of getting past the finishing line, I did well in exams and when the results were announced in April, the scores justified the effort. I had acquired the long cherished dream of Master’s degree :) (For more read on this you can just go down 2 blog articles – “In pursuit of Post-Graduation...”)

Come February, a bit longer stint of me on bench came to end as I got a big opportunity which I was looking for. The role was of an offshore Program Manager, and it was full of challenges. This was the first time I was getting such a huge responsibility with many dimensions. But my Project Management (PM) learning came into use and with the help of my colleagues and team mates I could do well in that. Past year, I would say, was a testing time for my PM skills and I am enjoying the challenge.

In the month of March, Rahul Dravid, the most favorite cricketer of mine decided to hang his boots hence ending the glorious 16 years of Test Cricket Career. From June 20, 1996 to the date of his retirement Indian Cricket team played 167 tests and Dravid featured in 164. The three tests missed were either due to illness or an injury. Neither he was out of contention throughout his career nor was he at the time of announcing his retirement. He scripted India’s best victories outside subcontinent – Kandy 2001, Headingly 2002, Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004, Jamaica 2006, Perth 2008 and Jamaica 2012. He had become the most prized wicket in Test Cricket for opponent bowlers. As Australian great McGrath admitted, Dravid was the only one who would have got selected directly into all conquering 1990s Australian Team. Such a Cricketer! His retirement came as a shock to me, as I couldn’t digest the news for couple of days. I was just not willing to imagine how I would follow Indian team in tests, without her Best Batsman. But I felt happy with the way his retirement was celebrated in Media, Accolades and Rich tributes kept pouring in for a week. When I think now, I feel he had done the right thing, there was nothing more to achieve for him as India are playing only in home conditions till the end of 2013. “Master of timing got it right again…” Though the Test Match viewers are devoid watching the High Quality Batting but they will now get to hear High Quality Commentary with fluent English and impeccable analysis from the same man who has now donned the role of TV commentator. Perfection everywhere…

May to July was a phase where I had to fight with many health issues mainly related to Digestion. July end I had to undergo a minor procedure which kept me out of office for a week. But I feel it was a good thing happened as during the break I was just thinking about what happened and why it had happened. I realized I was taking things too seriously, too passionately which were causing unnecessary stress on my body and mind. Passion is good as I don’t want to do my work without it, but stress was something which was not a prescribed thing. So I thought it was time to change the attitude. For an inspiration I couldn’t have to go far from my role model Rahul Dravid :). After 1999 World Cup, in Sportstar magazine, he was featured on the Star Poster which also had the quote – “Change in Attitude worked wonders”. Yes after World Cup 1999 he had come out of the Shorter Format shyness. I just thought I would also follow his footsteps and it added to my 2012 resolution list (which I would discuss at the end). Really it worked wonders! I started going easy on things, keeping poise on things where I used to get excited earlier, taking my own time to make decisions etc. Really my health started improving but at the same time the work also went on with the same passion. Also I got promoted, and now I am in a role where I have some authority to exercise, with some decision making powers, and off course lot of responsibility. But I am enjoying :)

During this period only, PMI Bangalore Chapter called for Technical Paper Submission with the theme “Enhancing Capability for better Project Performance Management” for their PMPC 2012. The first step was to submit the excerpt in their chosen subjects. This was the first time I was working on a Paper Presentation. I submitted the excerpt but I was not expecting to be selected. To my surprise my excerpt got selected and I was asked to submit the Full Paper. There was full of excitement in me, and I did thorough home work for arranging the content of the paper. I submitted the full paper on time and to my double surprise, this too got selected for publication. This is a rare case for me to get something positive in first attempt.

Beginning August, I increased my fitness regimen. I really made some good friends who share the same vision on fitness. But as we all know, without a Goal nothing can be achieved, and luckily we found one, to run 10K in Yearly Mysore Celebration Run. It was going to happen in October, so we started to train seriously from September beginning itself. My usual stretch was for 4 km, so initially I was thinking how many breaks I had to take, but the discussions among friends always mandated for continuous run. I was really doubtful, but still I slowly started increasing the stretch, till 5 km and practiced for a week. Then I was getting confident that I could run with one break. Penultimate week, I increased till 7 km and the last week preparation was of 8 km for 3 continuous days. Suddenly the confidence of running without break started building. Now the next issue was timing, with the pace I was practicing, I estimated around 70-75 minutes for 10 km which was too slow. But I convinced myself with the thought of completion is important not the speed. When the Marathon Day on October 28 came, I surprised myself by running 10 km without break and that too in just 63 minutes :). That was one great experience which I can’t share with words.

“10” number became more significant in November month also as I completed 10 years of professional life and that too in the same organization. You may say boring! Also my passport completed its 10 years and had to be renewed :D

December 22, 2012 was certainly the most significant day of the year for me. That day I went to participate in the 25^th year (Silver Jubilee) celebration of my school (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Belgaum). Mine was 4^th batch of the school but our batch was the most active batch in celebrating the event. It was a wonderful day meeting our old teachers and buddies. The event management was simply excellent with the celebrations lasting till midnight.

Now as stated earlier, it is time to discuss about my resolution. My resolution for this year was to shed some mental baggage which I had accumulated over the years and which were proving not so useful and hindering in my activities. I don’t want to reveal the details as they seem to be so silly and not so important for you to know :). But yes, I tried earnestly to shed some of the baggage, and trust me it is not easy to throw them away, but regular practice made things happen in my favor. As I discussed in middle, I also tried diligently to stick to the changed attitude. The results so far have really proved good for me. My New Year resolution will be to continue the good work to keep shedding the mental baggage which is of very little help in the road of career and achievement.

If you are still reading this, thank you again for bearing with me in going through the retrospect. I hope you too had an eventful 2012. I would like to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy, Prosperous and joyous New Year 2013.

Thank You,

With Regards,

Chetan