2016: Thank you :)

Hi Friends,

It is December 31! Starting from January 1, 2016 you and I have taken one complete revolution around the Sun along with Mother Earth. So it is time to recollect the moments spent during that revolution. After 11:59 PM today, 2016 will be referred as past forever!

Professionally 2016 was a better year than the turbulent 2014 and 2015. I opted for a change in my responsibilities at my workplace early this year and it brought me a welcome change. I had moved from managerial/administrative stuff to more towards technical/educating stuff. I had to face few challenges as I was out of my comfort zone but I am slowly getting into the zone. Though there were no tangible recognition coming in my way this year, still I consider it a good year professionally.

I entered this year as a married man as I got married in December 2015. With my family shifted to Mysore in February, this year saw me getting into Family man role! In the last one year I have started learning the nuances of performing that role but I can easily say it is a long way to go!

Let’s leave aside my professional and family lives, because 2016 will be more memorable for pursuing my passion to a level upwards. I made a resolution at the start of the year that I will be running a minimum of 700 km (combining all the practice sessions and events) this year. It was estimated considering average of 2 km per day. I kept track of distances run against each day in my diary. The first three months’ performance was very lukewarm as I could cover only 130 km for the first quarter of the year. I needed to step up but I knew the second half would be better considering the three main running events of Mysore will be held in September. After running my first marathon in 2015, this year I thought of consolidating my status as marathon runner further. I registered for Kaveri Trail Marathon 2016 which was scheduled on Sep 18, 2016. I started practicing in July, my practice involved minimum of 4 km on weekdays and more than 15 km on weekends. By the time September second week came I had crossed 600 km and approaching 700 km which was my original target. But because of Kaveri water sharing issue the Marathon event was postponed to November 27, 2016 which meant more time to practice and more distance could be covered. I revised the target to 1000 km. But the challenge was to sustain the tempo for the weekend practice. In between the festival season came, I traveled to my hometown resulting a week break from practice. But I was firm on my resolve to run the marathon. As a result I completed my second marathon 10 minutes faster than the first one! Also during that event I crossed my revised target of 1000 km also! In between my father advised me to continue my weekend runs so that I could be always ready for a running event. As an obedient son most of the times, I agreed and continued my weekend runs. As a result at end of December I crossed 1100 km. Now I am looking for bigger running target for 2017 :).

This year I carried the experience and observation I gained through participating the events to organizing such events at my workplace. I and my few friends form a good organizing team now and conducted four events on par with any professional event. Also my running feat was communicated to entire Mysore office because of which wherever I go in office I am now regarded as a Marathon runner and athlete. Few of my friends said they took to running taking inspiration from me. I give entire credit to them only for their interest and energy but it makes me happy that I could at least spark a flame in them. 

This year I started thinking of adding a new dimension to my career. There are few options in front of me. I am looking for guest lecturing, arranging for career guidance sessions and professional blogging. This year I won my first earning outside my software profession and investments through guest lecturing. But the concrete plan is yet to be done and I hope the things will be clear in 2017.

As the end of 2016 approached, one thing became damn clear for me. If you want to achieve something in life you need to believe only in yourself. Sometimes I tend to depend on friends who are in a good position to give me a small push in my quest to achieve greater things. But I need to understand others may not be interested or may not relate to what I aspire. So the lesson for me is to work hard with complete focus on what I am doing. I need not bother about the things not in my control.

This year brought the tenth year celebration of my friendship with my close buddy Ravikirana Ramamurthy. I have made several good friends but Ravi is one friend whom I have met almost on daily basis continuously for last ten years. I can say I am very fortunate to have such a friend. For any initiative or adventure I have taken in the past ten years I was assured that I would be having support from Ravi. Even if he didn’t like my idea also he had a wise words so that I could go in a right direction. Thank you very much Ravi, I can say there is lot to achieve and your support and guidance is always needed.

As a conclusion note, I can say 2016 was really a great year, it brought a new hunger, new zeal and new direction in me towards new accomplishments, better things in life and most importantly towards the way I look at my life itself. Thank you 2016!

Thank you all for reading. I wish you, your family and all your loved ones a very Happy New Year 2017 J. May the coming year brings new hope, new desire and lots of positive energy in you to do good things and achieve greater heights in your career and life!

With regards,

Chetan