The Life is Alright

I feel a blog post was due for a long time. I have just been moving into other direction, emotionally, compared to my usual self when I am thinking of writing a blog. I had to take a very important life and career decision to leave USA and to move to Germany (why Germany, plenty of reasons, probably in an another post). If you had managed to read my earlier posts, you might get that how much it meant for me when finally I was able to go USA for MBA. So to leave all that, all my friends here, and move to a country that doesn't speak English as first language, with no access to Netflix and college football, and no Five Guys burger and every other super-size concept, well it was definitely not easy. I decided on the move in February and I am surprised as to how much time I gave to think about it. It's probably what one calls "a decision made in an heart beat." One question I asked myself is, "will I get to do anything like this in the future." When the answer to it was a resounding "NO", I just decided to make the move. Should mention, the Government and people here sure made me feel welcomed.

It is definitely a good experience, the higher cost of living here definitely has made (or I should say, is making ) me a better money manager. Now am just looking forward to what Germany and rest of the Europe got to offer. Ever since my MBA got over, I feel like there is now no "hard" target to lookout for. I mean, yeah, I have money target, but for some weird reason, having more money just didn't make me feel fulfilled. It made me feel happy and accomplished but I seem to have found fulfillment in very strange things!

Right now I am trying to get settled into a routine and rhythm, and accustomed to language and culture. It is different from USA, and I think I am happy for that. But don't get me wrong, I definitely miss a lot of things in/about USA. (and yes, Chennai too, but that goes without saying). In my last post, I talked about how 2013 has been a year of milestones for me. Now I think I just work towards making every year a milestone year for some good reason. Already have a couple for 2014: moved to an European country AND got an European drivers license (and now your truly can drive in almost any EU country...to think just 3 years back I didn't even have an Indian driver's license!!). There just might be a mother-of-all-milestones milestone event soon, so keep checking out!

A good year comes to an end

Got to say that 2013 has been the loneliest of my years so far. So many goodbyes in such a little time. And not to mention that this is the first time I am spending New Year's eve without my friends and family; only Chinese takeout and Big Bang Theory to keep me company. I'd like to think that I have grown and matured a little in this year; if not 30 is going to be no fun for sure.

For me, this year has been the year of milestones; some very long term dreams came true and some didn't. It's not a matter of giving up, just that some of them came with an expiry date. I guess that's fine, at least it allows me to not dwell on the past and just move forward. In hindsight, I might be chided for calling 2013 the year of milestones. Do I know something? Of course not but hope springs eternal doesn't it?

I am happy that I got to try a few things for the first time this year, all to positive outcomes so far. I'm thinking of all the things I could try and all the resolutions that I could make (and fail miserably to keep up..hmpfh) but I think I am just going to to keep the things going and perhaps hope something good comes out of those endeavors.

I wish you all a kick-ass 2014 year ahead.

Dude where's my time

Perspective is a bitch. Blessed are those who are impervious to the incessant replays of their past, the ignorant fools who have no idea how close they were to their best dreams or worst nightmares coming true. How I envy them. Contrary to the popular belief that I am indeed one of the those ignorant fools, I do possess abundance hindsight. In fact, if I were a super hero, I would be Captain Hindsight and my super power would be hindsight, with a perfect 20/20 vision. May be I am a fool, to dwell on the past, the "what-if" s, the "almost" s, and the "may be" s. May be I am a fool, that I just can't let things do.

Why now? I like to believe it's the freakin' midlife crisis. For the past few weeks, actually a few months, my life path has taken a whole new trajectory on its own. Honestly, not even a single event was under my control. Most of it were under Mr. Murphy's but I digress. Since two and half years ago, I have been trying to carefully orchestrate every move of mine, only to have all hell break loose in the last 6 months. But here is the weird part. This lack of control is exhilarating; it's a kind of freedom  I haven't felt since the high school or early college days. And I guess that's why the nostalgia.

Time is indeed one true thing that you can never get back in return for all the riches of the world. Ironically, it is indeed one of the most wasted commodity too. I just feel like, somewhere, in the midst of my pursuit of education, career and some personal aspirations, I have lost some time along the way. As I said, perspective is a bitch. It's not that I am complaining about the time I have spend on my endeavors, truly they have made me the man I am today. The thing is, I just feel like I have lost some time, time that I should have had for myself. Based on my calculation its about two years.

I would say, with regard to where I am and where I would like to be, I am content. Just that I wish I was here 2 years ago, and may be had some time to burn just on me, before I get into the quagmire of living for those who are around me or dependent on me. I am told that's how life would be from now on. I am eager to see what's going to happen.

Unfinished Business

Those who have been reading my blog for a while know the journey I had to make about a good 6 years ago to obtain my MBA. It's been a while now, but I am extremely happy to share with you all that I have finally gotten my MBA from a US university. It all feels surreal now, the plans, the pains, the sacrifices, the disappointments, the failures, all for one success. And it's worth it. To a normal Joe, this is indeed a normal feat, of course every other Indian is now getting an international MBA. From outside, that's whats I would think too, but now that I have made the journey myself, I understand how it is; I understand what it means. And I wish to congratulate everyone who has accomplished it.

I made so many plans and calculations in the last 5 years. It is always wonderful when a certain plan bears fruition; it's good to be right. I love planning. But the problem was, I never planned what I would do after MBA. For me, getting to US to pursue MBA was the ultimate goal. Having accomplished that, I now am fiddling my thumbs what to do. Oh wait, job hunt. Well, that's a different story altogether.

But I do feel that there is some unfinished business in my life. It was great to have one goal and work towards that. But now I see it, my life is going to be a series of goals until my final breath. I am not sure whether I like it or not, I am sure this is the only way I am going to live my life. But I look back, and each new goal is comparatively harder to achieve than the previous one. May be my expectations have increased, may be I am thinking too much about myself or just may be I am fantasizing a bit too much; doesn't seem to matter.

The only problem (I am gonna get nicely for calling this a "problem" from "someone") is that my journey from now on might not be alone. Is this good or bad, I have no idea, having spent all of my existence in an "eternal bachelor" lifestyle. Or is this due to bad pick-up skills, I have no idea (Thank god for the arranged marriage!). Let's see how far I've come...let's see how far I'll go.