Summin up 2008...

Its a cosy Sunday morning (ermm afternoon) and I am sitting with my fresh fruit juice and madly typing away on my laptop.What is different about today? Not much except that its 4 days for the New Year..2009! Ah alright...so it is saying goodbye to one year and welcoming the other...whats so big in that...have been doing it since almost quarter of a century!Maybe thats what is different...the realisation that quarter of your life is almost done and as any young dynamic 25 year old Im trying to access if the year gone by has added feathers to my cap or taken a few away from it. As I look back...I have mixed feelings as to how 2008 turned out to be - for me as well as the world.

In absolutely no chronological order there are happy times and not so happy times that I recollect.For one a very BIG change was the job jump this year into a cooler and smarter profile which has added much value to my work, perspectives and personality as the future analyst and one of the many faces of the international technology company in the eyes of the world and media. The learning curve has by no means been easy, the path has been rocky and hurdles have been many. But as I have heard somewhere ' Its only the struggles that make you sharper and more acceptable of the good times ahead. Nothing comes easy in life and thats really the essence of it. If someone were to sit and read a book on your life he would want to know what made you a successful person and what hardships you endured to reach a smooth and happy point in your life.Its the crests and troughs...the uphills and downhills and not a smooth express highway that make an exciting rollercoaster ride called LIFE.'
As much as I would like to not believe it...I am afraid its so true!

It is the year where I could sponsor my holiday abroad with a friend, do a fresh set of adventure sports, go on my first business conference trip and attend a fancy analyst briefing in Singapore and what not.

2008 also happened to be a year of disappointments - one major mind boggling creation being RECESSION. Recession hit the world and so badly. For a layman like me it meant job cuts and hiring freezes everywhere. It is definitely a time of showing immense patience and having been involved in the job hunt for 2 close friends I can vouch for the fact that this exercise can be futile at times and leave you at wit's end.

To add to the gloom, 26/11 happened to Mumbai. It should never have happened. It shook the very existence of its citizens and raised questions on the safety and security standards of the commercial capital and highest tax payer of the nation.It woke the people up from their slumber and unearthed the weak political system responsible for a gargantuan loss. It was a grey November as India weeped with Mumbai as innocent sacrifices were made in the midst of a larger poltical war. The towers that stood the test of time were The Taj, The Oberoi, Nariman House and CST Station.By the end of the brave operation by our commendable officers, a huge carcass was found - that of the SPIRIT OF MUMBAI. It was wounded beyond recognition and would need more than just candle protests and morchas to heal. It led us to question our voting processes and somehow began the journey of awakening the mobilized youth to understand the power of our democracy and be the change. The scar was non-removable and the heat was molten!

On a personal front 2008 has had many misses and a few hits.For one, this whole process of growing up has been irritatingly amusing. It is what most people my age would call the formidable QUARTER LIFE CRISIS. It has been a year of figuring out how I fit in the larger picture of things, how things work in the nasty corporate world, how to please your boss, how to retain your job, how to marry work and divorce relaxation to be the best and how to shape up your career by experimenting and reinventing oneself. Where do you fit in the other things that make up your personality or add a little bit spice to your life. Seeing friends go different ways - geographically and emotionally. Changing definitions of 'hanging out with a group of friends' who now become a 'phone call away' or in the modern Gtalk lingo ' a ping away'. Finding a few bright moments in the virtual world by keeping in touch with friends made through academic life and realising how impossible it is to meet the same set of friends living in the same city but caught up in different things for months together. These were the very same people whom you used to meet everyday in college not so long ago to wild away the time in stupid projects, crazy festivals,canteen chats and lazy lectures! You realise how life changes around you, how you evolve and grow but still get nostalgic and feel like humming those Bryan Adams lyrics - Those were the best days of my life! Yes thats how it is to reminicise about the childhood and teenage years when attending a 7am lecture used to be a 'STRUGGLE'. Yeah this was the year of identifying how the words remain same and definitions change...sitations change...people change!!!

This has also been a phase of realisation about how age bears responsibility and face the many issues that we as children wondered what the 'ADULTS' were facing. Yes it has been a time when I have suddenly grown up to the issues surrounding home and family and realised how hazy things are around me, how close people are looking for support and solutions to handle family issues and how I am trying hard to fulfil my role of being a support system to my folks. This task has not been easy and have often broken down, only re-emerge as a stronger person and understand the 'real world', the selfishness and the diplomacy that tries to win over simplicity and goodness. It has been my very own experience in dealing with the vamp like situations of daily soaps and although there is no dramatic ending, there has been an effort to look beyond the muck for the young lotus called life! That is LIFE! :)

Anyways, I would really have to agree with a journalist who said that 2008 can be dubbed as the MOST FORGETTABLE YEAR. There are hopes of a turnaround of the GREAT DEPRESSION that the world currently faces, with the newly elected American President Obama. There will be jobs again (I really hope so, for 2 hardworking, sincere and promising friends who deserve to be some place nice) and obviously for the world at large (including me)!2009 is also the year of the National Elections and through campaigns such as jaagore, there are hopes to invoke our youth with a sense of responsibity in selecting the right leaders and BEING THE CHANGE. I have often been asked by friends why I look forward so much to 2009 and how would it be different from the two busted years of 2007 and 2008. Well I just look forward to the new year with a new vitalised energy, new optimism and a bright hope of more clarity on a personal front. I wish it to be a year when my future would be more visible on all fronts and I will have figured out what I really want and what I inspire to be. It is the year when I finish a silver jubilee and make a promise to myself to become a DRIVER of things and someday reach a pinnacle so as to die a happy woman. Assuming I live till I am 75, I have 2/3 of my life to make this difference and become a GOOD PERSON. 2009, maybe is the the year all this begins!
There is a lil fledging sitting on the threshold of our door called 2009, waiting to open its eyes and flap its wings and fly into our world. It is time to bid GOODBYE to 2008...and welcome 2009 with ARMS WIDE OPEN...!