Au Revoir 2005

2005 has been an eventful year. Somethings good some not so good.

In the very beginning of the year I completed something which I was contemplating for a long time. I got certified in the technology in which I work i.e. Siebel. What followed next was a series of arguments/discussions with my manager to get released from the project GEMS. I had completed something like 1.5 years in the project and according to me it was time for me to move on. I had hit a point when the work didn’t offer anything new, exciting or challenging. My manager thought otherwise and wanted me to go to Bangalore where the project was shifting in some time. But I did not relent on my stand and finally got released. With nothing viable for me to take up immediately, I was on bench for about two months. These two months I spent giving trainings to people, preparing technical documents and writing a proposal for a project. This was something new for me, esp. the proposal writing part. And I did learn a few things which were quite diff from the regular stuff.

Finally I was offered this project, in Denmark, and I took it. I was informed just a week in advance of my departure about the project and hence the trip home was a short one. This was also the time when I sat in an airplane for the first time. Mumbai –Delhi – Mumbai. 29th May I was in Denmark. New team, new project and new client. After about a month or so I was asked to develop something using Java. Until that time I had not written a single line of code in Java. The task to develop an entire component in Java seemed daunting at first. The initial days were tough. After Java came PL/SQL which was another unknown area till then. Finally all the project deliverables were met and right now the project is in UAT phase.

Some new work coming my way after which I should be heading home. This was also the year when the company introduced the Skill Based Incentives in certain hot technologies and I was a recipient.

Apart from all that stuff on the proff front a few other things happened in 2005.

I started blogging, If it wasn’t for blogging you wouldn’t be here reading me.

I learnt how to cook. While in Bombay the maid used to cook for me. But here there are no maids and hence one needs to fend for himself. And just for the records, I am pretty good at it.

I experienced snow for the first time in life. Sometime in mid Nov and it was great.

I turned 26 and 2 grad and 3 post grad classmates got married. Time to start making my plans. Plans to fail my mom’s attempts to get me married in recent future..

Met new people. Made friends with some, lost touch with some pals and reconnected with some long lost pals.
In 2005 I indulged in two hobbies of mine. Photography n Traveling. Got myself a new camera – Canon S1 – IS and traveled to Goteberg in Sweden, Paris, Amsterdam n Rotterdam, and a few places in Denmark.

In 2005 I neglected the guitar. Its been over six months since I last touched the strings, My guitar is lying in India at a friends place. In hindsight I think the decision to not bring it along was a rather foolish one.

Those two months on bench let me do a bit of reading which I had not done for quite some time. Fiction, non fiction, autobiographies and some lame stuff.

In the past year I think I have grown. Learnt a few new things and tried not to forget the old. Discovered some new facets of me. I think I know myself more than I knew ever before.

Ancient Zen wisdom says – “He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” So the journey to wards enlightenment continues.

Au Revoir 2005