2014 in review

January

• 2014 similarly kickstarted with an outing at a restaurant in Mumbai with few other colleagues from Directi. Not so rad this time around, without blackout and all I mean!
• On track to learn proper ways to fly around in sky with birds. Progressing towards Club rated Paraglider Pilot with Temple Pilots.
• Few birthdays around, including mine. Gotta go to them too! Ended up slow dancing after getting drunk, again? I keep imagining in my head that entire 20s range is becoming accessible to me as I approach towards 25.. If only
• Hosting Ben, first Couchsurfer at home, whom I met during last December’s backpacking trip across North-East India along with another British lady. What a coincidence! Not a great hosting I feel but, Hey! Isn’t that case with all firsts?

February

• Keeping up with the reading target set of One-A-Week. Hello Ayn Rand! Hola Jack London! I have found words in yours to describe what I thought was a mere feeling. Thank you 🙂
• More flying around Kamshet area. Getting some good air time. With almost 5 hours worth of flying under belt all set for APPI club Club Pilot eligibility. Prospect of flying from top of mountains across globe is giving me chills.
• Binge watching TV shows continues too! I realize this is becoming a addiction now and I like it too 😐 Statistically, I have wasted more than half-a-year worth of time ever since I started watching in Junior years summer vacation! Believe me.
• Another project at work just got completed yet, I have this tingling feeling this is not working out anymore. I need to find another career adventure to pursue.

March

• March is here! My, 17 day, long awaited to trip to Kahsmir begins where I eventually end up covering Srinagar, Pahalgam, Sonmarg and Gulmarg.  Every place is majestic.
• Did I mention that primary purpose here is Ski Trip and I am learning Basic Skiing skills at IISM Gulmarg. For those who don’t know Gulmarg (J&K) has world’s highest cable car to go to Apharwat Mountain (14,000 feet) top for skiiers. It’s pretty good place o find powder snow and has good facilities for HeliSkiing too. Found great people at IISM and, 2 weeks worth of time simply flew by.
• Living amidst Avalanches, among Kashmiri people and naturally beautiful clean white snow stretching as far as you can see just makes you want to settle there. Not all is so great there though. Random people asking about my perception of the place makes me understand what ticks their inclination towards Pakistan when for years they aren’t treated like they hold similar status to other Indians.. This makes me sad just like when I see North-East people thinking they are in a different country.
• Reluctantly back in Mumbai now. Let’s go watch Sea Turtle Hatching in Velas, a Maharashtrian village with Mumbai Travellers. Go check them out if you are stuck with indoor people or, can’t find company for trips around Mumbai.

April

• More reading. Now onto Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy series. First book is the one. Rest 4 are okay.
• Found Goyal to be interested in Squash and we are off to play squash on off-days. Seems like an ideal sports candidate. Lots of power, skills and exercise. Going wild. Sorry about body shots though!
• Found Windsurfing training spot in Mumbai with a trainer for the same. Off I go exploring my water love. Standing on surface in water is way different than on ground. Took me several falls to realise the same.

May

• For past couple of months again getting taste for contributing to open source projects. Few pull requests are merged on Github.
• Time keeps going on with on-off outings, movies and restaurant visits.
• Reading up books by Khaled Hosseini. They are painful experiences. Makes you grateful for being able to live with free will.

June

• I have just completed 2 years at Directi. It just feels like a good time to take my leave from this place. I have had good time during this tenure. Accessible colleagues, flexible work, casual culture, recruitment trips made it totally worthwhile from what one would expect of a company fresh out of college.
• I am on a big vacation break before my next job starts and planning to explore few other places that remain in India. Trip Route: https://roadtrippers.com/trips/cross-country/4036824
• Pamban island in Deep south is fun with clear windy beaches where I spent my days Kiteboarding, Snorkeling and Kayaking upto a remote prohibited island and nights under clear cool sky on a cot! Big thumbs up to everyone at Kiteboarding India
• All isn’t so smooth though and involves being stopped, asked alone to get down from bus and again being payed by police to buy a ticket.. Imagine that! Got sunburnt too, literally! Lesson, don’t go off wearing sleeveless in shorts under scorching Sun, cover it up and use Sunscreen man.
• Next comes Pondicherry and, Surf’s up! Found a good club to get the first taste of Sea surfing with Kallialay Surf School owned by Spanish brothers duo.
• After travelling a bit more around, sampling local cuisines I’m off to home via Chennai.

July

• After almost a year, I am back home in Ranchi. Next time I don’t think anyone will even recognise me! Catching up with relatives / old friends another two weeks pass by. Off to next adventure.
• Next up is Deep North. I’m travelling to Ladakh from Ranchi via Delhi, Chandigarh and Manali, spending brief time at each place.
• Oh Leh, Hello you cold dessert. Every path is scenic and unique mountains like I haven’t seen before. Weather is not so cold one would expect at such height, rather hot here.. weird!
• I have rented a Royal Enfield Bullet (350 cc) to do a road trip to Nubra Valley alone. Takes me 6.5 hours to ride 120 odd kilometres between with couple of jumps off from Bike. Followed by unique two-humped camel ride and natural hot spring baths. Totally worth it!
• I’ve successfully attempted Highest Non-Technical Mountain in India, Stok Kangri (20,182 feet). The final summit day climbing actually pushed people to their mental as well as physical limits which included potentially life-threatening slip from the top and getting stranded for a total of 17 hours. Boy, Am I glad to make it out alive!
• Accompanied by Gaurav and Rathnakar, we followed it up with a visit to famous Pangong Tso, saline water lake and swimming / camping there.

August

• Vacation time is over. I’ve joined iRageCapital, a High-Frequency Trading Firm. Stay is provided in a pretty decent service apartment. I think this is a good match for me at the moment.
• A long learning curve starts about the sector and tools of trade. Too much financial jargon. This is going to take some time to get a hang of. I’m totally immersed.
• Finally bought a Macbook Air 11” of my own.. I like it.

September

• Post official stay period, I have moved into Lake Homes, comparatively better society than past two, with Anuj and Shounak, found their listing randomly via Facebook groups.
• There has been no need to wear suits at work as it’s pretty casual compared to whatever original idea I had about Finance industry offices. Learning keeps going on. I have setup Risk management infrastructure for real time monitoring and alerting.

October

• I have always been afraid of Running. It bores me to death. So, let’s do that! Kalenji running gear is here. Let’s start running until can run 10 kilometers in under an hour.
• Office moves from few small rooms in corporate building to a better / bigger property (Boomerang) near home. Two more extra hours per day at hand, saved from commuting.

November

• We go live with my strategy in real world trading. It is pretty exciting to see your code run wild in the big bad market and make money or well, lose money! Battle of brains. Competition is back at work!
• I have also started to teach C++ programming module at QuantInsti. Teaching is back too!
• I can run now around 6-8 kms in under and hour depending on day and mood.. bit more work needed there.
• Amazing things happening in Space has totally got my attention back. I still haven’t given up on becoming an Astronaut. Will see.

December

• Weekend outings are back. I have bought OnePlus One. After couple of years, orphaned by manufacturer Google Nexus just couldn’t keep up no more. Also, after 6.5 years of sucky relationship and 2.5 years of roaming, I finally ditched BSNL for local Airtel connection. That wasn’t so bad. Well not calling a lot many people has it’s perks too.
• I can well cover 10K under and hour and I’m terribly bored of running. Let’s ditch that and get a Montra Trance Pro 2015 bike. I’m looking forward to long rides on this.

PS:

• All in all, another good year has gone by. Although, I have missed some personal deadlines set this year yet, That doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe I don’t want it bad enough? Maybe, priorities are changing as my perspective on Life, Universe and Everything is continually being refined? Time will tell.
• I have officially started indicating that I don’t have a religion everywhere too.
• Reading target: 30 / 52. Not so bad. I’ll try to achieve this next year.
• Writing target : 1 / 12. Sadness. Gotta ramp this up next year.

Happy New Year 2015!