Yes, 2008 is almost over! It was not a good year at all! Terrorism was on its peak this year, World Economy slowly slipping into recession, and the impact is on all sectors!
Personally, I changed my job after 7.5 years, so there was a major change in my life this year. My kids got enrolled into a new (and somewhat better) school this year. And before the year finishes, I bought myself an LCD TV, kind of the most expensive gadget I purchased so far in my life! So, the year was not bad for me, in fact, if I look back, it was good for me.
I changed my job, moved to a new company, with good raise after spending 7.5 years with my previous organization! It was like leaving a family, but the change turn out to be a good one. In just one month, I was well into the job, with recognition from everyone around me in the project! That’s a good thing, as I myself was not sure if I will be able to adjust into a new place! That’s what happens if you stay for 7+ years in the same company! Good thing for me was that out of these 7.5 years, I spend 1.5 years in Noida office, then our office moved to Gurgaon, and after 6 month in Gurgaon office, I was sent to US, then after 8 months, I moved to Singapore. I came back from Singapore after 4 years, and spen 1.5 years again in Gurgaon office. So, in a way, I was not static to one place in this company, and people as well as surrounding keep changing. Otherwise, I am not sure what impact anyone will have for working in the same office with same people for 7+ years! I consider myself lucky for this.
I remember, when I was in collage, one astrologer told me that I have "chakkar" in my leg, and I will be travelling a lot! This somehow turns out to be true in my case. I started my career in Calcutta, then moved to Nagpur for better job opportunity. Here, one thing is worth mentioning, when I join my first company in Calcutta, the job profile was only for Calcutta office. But after six months, I was asked to travel across the country! Can you believe, a person in user industry (Tyres) IT department was asked to go and provide on-site support to the agents! Way back in 1994, when IT was slowly finding its place in India, when Internet was not known to anyone in India, when we were running DOS and Windows 3.11 in offices, our product was developed in FixPro/Clipper and running at 52 locations across India. I along with one more person used to travel to all locations and install new releases, provide support to them. So, my travelling started since then! I met my wife for the first time in train! That’s another story I will write about someday!
Well, I got carried away with the "Chakkar", the point is, I moved to Nagpur, there the only travelling I used to do is to Calcutta and Bilaspur/Chirimiri, my in-law's house. But apparently, this company has also sent me to Calcutta and Raipur on official trip few times, but not much. Then I moved to Delhi and since 2003 onward, I was out of country! I went to US, then to Singapore. Last year, I came back to stay in India by choice. But I went to London for 2 weeks this year, so can not say that I have not travel abroad in the year! Again, coming January, I will be going back to London for a month! So, this "Chakkar" continues on me!
But there is a change, which is a first in my life I would say! in the year 2008, I did not travel to Calcutta at all! I don't spend whole year without visiting Calcutta, and in 2008, due to various reasons, I was not able to go! One of the major reasons was my parents visiting Gurgaon twice in the year. But my parents are not the only reason for visiting Calcutta, my friends are there! When I was in Singapore, I used to visit Calcutta 4-5 times a year. And now I am in India, and not able to visit even once! This is a first and I will remember it for the rest of my life!
I wanted to change my kid’s school, and went for getting them enrolled for the next session, for 2009-10. I was lucky; they let my kids join from mid-session in this year only! And within just one month, the difference of school is visible in kids! So, it’s really a good change for me!
Then in the last month, I decided to buy an LCD TV. I settle down for LG Jazz 32 inch TV. It was costlier than Samsung and Sony, but I like the sound quality, as well as the picture quality! There is a feature of USB connectivity, with DivX playback. So, I can just plug my pen drive and play my AVI files! I like that feature the best! All XviD encoded files are played without any problem and with great quality! The only downside of this purchase is, that just after 5 days, LG started giving a DVD player free on the same price! So, had I waited for 5 more days, I could have got a DVD player with HDMI output! But this is not something we can predict!
Well, it’s not a goody goody year only, as my son was in Hospital for Malaria, and required one unit of Blood Palettes for him. Which really was a tough task, as it’s not stored in the blood bank, and not everyone can donate palettes. My blood group is same as my son, but due to no visible veins, I can not donate it. Thanks to my friends, I was able to get through this. Then my wife was in hospital for Malaria. Thanks for the doctors and God, all is well now.
So, overall 2008 was not bad for me. But with the terrorism and economic meltdown, the future does not look very good! I am not sure how the 2009 will turn out to be. I can only pray to GOD Almighty to bring us a good year! I do not want an extraordinary year, but if GOD can give us two things - ability to live (without terrorism) and ability to earn (decent economic conditions), I think we all will have a great year. Am I asking for too much from the GOD?
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