Jan - Journal 24 Series

People ask me why I take pictures, well, for this! :D 

Have been wanting to do monthly journals for a year now.. Well, in one year, finally started, not bad 😀.

2023 was a good year in some ways  

1. I finally got independent in the true sense, according to me! Moved out of my parents’ house, then my grandparents’ house after a lot of debates. Started living by myself, albeit with my sister. Got my own car, yet cannot drive it alone. This came for me at 28! I never thought it would happen, given how much I want to stay with my mother and am used to my family! but it finally happened :D

2. I did a few tech pieces at work which I am proud of - API integrations by myself and building some cool features, one of them is QR codes for repayments in our system.

3. At a time, when marriage seemed the only problem in my life to people, I finally gave in to trying to understand the concept. Talked to people about their views on marriage with an open mind. Even tried to wrap my head about the modern dating stuff. Finally concluded, I was right about it being nonsensical :D. Happy that now I have tried and rejected it.  But there is an upside. To prove my conviction, that I am not against getting married.. I no longer have bets with people to pay me half their savings+salaries if I do not get married by 32. (Gosh, that was a cool way to retire at 32). Now, I don’t say- I won’t get married, I just say - I will, if I find someone I would love, and more importantly someone who loves me :p ! Although I believe that ye kaam sirf Krishna ji hi kar sakte hain ab! 

Last week of 2023 - Leaving a dream behind

But more important than all of the above, as the year changed from 2023 to 2024, I lost something! Something I was holding on to and working on, for the last 3-4 years. It dawned on me it would NEVER happen given my current life and my lack of devotion towards it. Also, I by no means want to pay the price it demands. It was an aspiration I would probably be able to talk about, after a few years. Right now just coming to terms with accepting it will never happen is a bit too much. Let us call it #task1 for this article. I have given many years of my life to it. And now knowing it would never come true, is .. ? (I don’t know)! 

I felt morose and relieved at the same time! Because to pursue this one dream, I was putting so many others on hold. When I thought about them, it became easier to let this one go! I will add this one to my regrets list in my autobiography someday! My second regret in life :P 

As you know, I can NOT stay depressed for long, after I had slept too much to not get any more sleep, penned down all the thoughts that came to my head. I automatically started looking at the good things since I was out of the sad ones. 

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Stepping into 2024

Well, all this happened at a markable time, with the new year. Or I can differentiate it so well, because it coincided with the new year.

As the tide of the year turned, I got gifts. Some I gave myself -With a tinge of regret for a lifetime, letting go of #task1, the non tangible ones that this last year gave me, mentioned in the previous section, and some tangible ones that my secret santa gave me :p

As we say in our office, the context goes as follows --

There are some skills, I did not plan on picking up - like reading non fiction and that too finance. What my CA sister, sweet mother and the rest of the Aggarwal, Singhal and Goel family put together could not entice me to learn, i.e. managing and planning finances and investments, or getting a MBA, my Secret Santa possibly believed he could do. He gifted me a book I would not have picked up even if it was the last book in the world - The Psychology of Money. And proudly said he had read it 18 times and gifted it to 13 people or vice versa and offered to gift me its sequel if I finished this one. :p. I have almost finished reading it out of my general love for reading and more than that, gifts. I would say it did add on to my thinking dimensions, though I would need to read it at least twice again to set it up in my head. So, thank you, for I read something I otherwise would never have.

You see, I believe when I have my mother, my sister and my family to manage my finances. Why do I have to learn something I don't feel attracted to, even after I tried? Yeah, independence et al, but it's okay! And now I have him too for advice if I need any! :p

Apart from the very few things like finance, that I have nil interest in, there are three things, I wanted to do and was not able to make time for – 

1. Parkour 

2. Development 

3. Going out, playing all the sports I like, doing all the in-things - in short living

Parkour

Its story goes like this - 

One day, I was having some conversation with a friend - Befin,  about Martial arts, kicks, flips etc.. and where all we can practise them in Bangalore! And I was saying that these days they only do Kickboxing at most places in the name of MMA. They do not teach the real or handy fighting skills including close combat, wrestling, mocking real scenarios etc.  That was when he told me about this place called Chaos Faktory. It was a little out of context, but it clicked somewhere else. 

When I checked it out- It looked pretty cool! They didn’t teach MMA per se. But they taught all the skills I lacked as an MMA artist. 

I call it - Complete body control. When you are able to move your body the way you want to, move around as light and free as possible, to me it is the highest level of skill I can achieve. It includes everything I find useful and stylish - jumping from heights, climbing heights, running very fast, having endurance to complete  ironman triathlons, stunts, flips, acrobatics, whatever awesome you can think of. It was not exactly what I was referring to - to real world fighting skills, it was probably a little different, definitely better.

It is called parkour or freerunning. I like the “free” part of it. Sounds like freedom, where nothing can really stop you while moving, you can cross all obstacles with style . 

This conversation happened sometime in 2022. When I had moved to Bangalore! And had started attending office live. Now there were two problems with this. 

1. Time - I could not make time for another full time thing in my life. I already had multiple things on my plate. And there was no point going there for a day as an outing. It takes a few weeks to even get started.  

2. Distance - This place was 15 Km from my place, and going there even for a day seemed impractical to me. 

We planned going there twice, and at both times, I backed out! I usually don’t but I guess I was too occupied. 

So, in January 2024, I joined this place. More than a year after I came to know about it! 🙁

I started from 3 days a week, and moved to 5 days a week in a week’s time. For the first week, I ended up getting over exhausted every single day, had light fever and body pain. That I knew was natural, given I was doing heavy workout, even by my standards, after a year’s break. The travel, the class and then working the rest of the day, used to consume every ounce of energy I could muster. But at the end of the day, I would get a good sleep. And during the day, my mood and energy both were on fire. 😀

By the end of the month, 

I have gotten used to my new routine. I used to wake up around 8, and now I wake up before 5. It’s just sports or stuff like this, or catching a flight, that I can wake up for. Never in my life have I woken up early for anything more important like exams, studying or work. 

Physically, I feel I have regained my strength! and have also picked up a few cool tricks in the past month. I would probably write another piece on Parkour! Where I will talk about ChaosFaktory, the instructors, the community and the new skills.

Development 

If there is something I have been trying to get good at, for the past 6-7 years now, although the fervour comes and goes, it is development. I know you would say itne mein to insaan 2 baar Engineering complete karle! Granted, I am distracted, lazy and slow.. 

I am an app developer per se and know things here and there. But I am nowhere close to where I want to be in this field. I would not jinx by describing it! Krishna ji knows it without me saying it and you, the reader, probably get the high level idea that I just keep wanting impossible stuff!

So, this too was on hold given my #task1 for the past few years. I am hoping to pick this up this year. There have been some developments. I have started making a few hours a week for learning the skills I find interesting. Let us see where it goes.   

Again, I would write a piece on it once I have something more tangible.

Going out, playing all the sports I like, doing all the in-things - in short living

I like spending 2-3 evenings a week outside home. Best playing a sport, followed by a house party, dinner/movie/dancing etc. My mother would call it too much and my peers might say too less. That is where I am! For the last few years, this evening happened once a month and that too felt like too much effort given my #task1. Rest of the 3-4 evenings - I prefer reading, writing, watching a movie by myself. 

And I was done with my naa idhar ki, naa udhar ki life long back. I just never stopped to take a step in either direction. And now I did. 

So, in January 2024, apart from all the above

I also played basketball and probably like it more than the other sports. (Koi bhed bhaav nahi, maybe it was because I played basketball after a very very long time, I like all outdoor sports equally)

and badminton, and cricket

Went out for post work dinners and dance parties, danced on Chal Chhaiyya Chhaiya :p, played poker again and lost money another fine day, ate chole bhature after a very long time, once tried hand wrestling and lost, so much for regaining strength :p.

Recently came across this song running wild on Instagram! Find it apt, partly to this article.. Letting go of some and getting more of some others – Modified version

Meri jeet tu leja, meri haar tu leja, 

Mere gham bhi leja, har zakham bhi leja

Par 

Mere khwaab tu le aa, kuch alfaaz bhi le aa

Mera josh tu le aa, aur wo rosh bhi le aa :D

All in all, 

Parkour in the morning, office work during the day, my own skill development during the later part of the day, and going out in the evenings once or twice or thrice a week . It keeps me busy. I feel cheerful and upbeat (*touchwood*) during the day, get a good sleep at night. I guess, isse zyada to kya hi chahiye life mein. Chahiye, par abhi ke liye ye bhi achha hai! Thankyou Krishna ji :) for everything :)

#twwg