A letter to 20 year old me

Rainy day, coffee mug and a book, well not exactly, instead of reading, I am writing.

Journey so far

Congratulations on making it this far and I am sure you have experienced many highs and few lows. Build friendships that's gonna last a lifetime and which will be vital in your future endeavors. not sugar coating anything further, last twenty years have been nowhere close to what you will be going through in the next 10 or rather next 5 years.

Mid-life crisis does exist and it can kick in as early as at 23 to as late as 28-29. It can last for a couple of months to a couple of years. Well, I can't say what is exactly going to happen, since it all depends on how you change yourself. But I am going to give some advice on different aspects of life which can make your life easy or at least prepare yourself to face what's gonna come your way.

Dreams - I wish you had dreamt really big because Believe IT that dreams do come true, no matter how small or big. What this implies is that you widen your perspective and start dreaming BIG.
Take Away - DREAM BIG

Health and Sports - Nothing in life is permanent - this is good as well as bad. You have been suffering from minor cold/cough every now and then. Simple solution, start making conscious changes in your lifestyle. You never participated in sports citing health reasons. the truth is sports is the only thing which will make you fit, help you make new friends and give you the power to eat ice-creams whenever and wherever you want.
Take Away - Nothing is permanent and start exercising

Relationships/Friends - You need to make big changes in your attitude and behavior to make lots of friends or continue the way you are and you will end with few but TRUE friends. Some old friends will vanish off and many new friends will join in.
Take Away - Be attentive who you befriend and how you maintain the relationship

Job - I the next decade you will be starting your professional carrier. Don't get carried away by success or bogged down by failures. It may seem daunting and what you learned in college may seem to make no-sense at all. Just stay focus on the initial years. Professional carriers are really long- like 30-40 years so be patient and attentive to the changes happening in and around you. Your job will also lead to your first experience of getting a paycheck. I would recommend you to take classes on finance management or learn it from peers. Remember the golden rule - The early you invest the wealthier you will be.
Take Away - It is just a start, not the end, you can change your carrier as and when you like

Family - As alway they will be your strongest supporter. The family will get extended in the last stage of the coming decade. There will be big dynamic changes coming up, something you might not comprehend at this stage.
Take Away - With time, the bond is just gonna grow stronger

Travel - Let me spill the beans here - you will start moving around the world and you will be visiting Europe, thanks to your cousin for making it happen. Some trips will be with friends in and around India.
Take Away - You will travel the world which will help broaden your perspective


CONCLUSION - Meet you after 10 years, eagerly waiting to hear your experiences from 20-30 !!
Time for my flight to Bombay !!!

A letter from gmail treasure trove - Reply to Roshni's story - 2014

End Goes December - I wrote this post on 1st Jan 2014. In this, I mention a friend I made on 31st Dec 2013. She used to blog too and it is because of this that she shared her life story in 2 posts. Below is the reply/review/feedback I gave to her after reading her story.

Why am I sharing this - It contains many emotions and success moments of my past, particularly IIT.

PS: - I just Love email (Gmail). I randomly keep stumbling on long lost documents.

Here goes the reply -


Part 1

Well, it will take couple of pages for me to write a similar story of mine. Frankly speaking, when I read your story, I was remembering each and every part of my journey. Especially I still remember, I was in my room and saw the IIT Kharagpur result and I stood up and gave a punch in the air and came running to hall and told my mom and called dad immediately. I went again to my room n I was so happy and so happy and happy. I hardly remember such other wining situations in my life. IIT Bombay’s news came in slowly.
I knew I would get thermal, then came to know I got Design, I actually called them and they said
personally that yes, Sandeep is selected for Design. The main Joyous moment was the IIT Kharagpur
news.
Back to Roshni- first thing, I liked the concept of including the time. I could picture everything in front of me. Also, I heard most of this part the very night you wrote it. I am sure that now its easy to understand that Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do. Also how important it is to not loose hope.

Kuch toh log kahenge, log ko kaam hai kehna- go one class, five or zero, people are always gonna say something or other. Want to write lot more, but that will spoil the fun of this post.

Part 2

Three mistakes of your life, nice way to start and set up the stage. I didn’t know how tough the competition you had back then. Trust me, If not completely, I at least understand 80% of your situation about how non-existant you were. All my life I have left many groups and teams with my own personal issues. In the end I found myself all alone every time. You know what, I think I am introvert and also I didn’t stay in hostel back then. So being an extrovert, things were different with you. Hats off and salute to you for going through that phase. I am sure you can always look back at those days to motivate yourself. How Roshni became a ray of hope for herself and how you ended up getting good grades and awesome job.

One lesson I am learning from you is, that we shouldn’t be too attached to anyone of our friends. No
matter how good they are, doooriya bhi hai zaroori.

Depression seriously is the worst phase. One of the ways to get out is talk more and more to as many
people as you can. I too found it tough in my first sem in IIT, but then one sir told – ‘Once in IIT means you are the Best’. Sorry to include my persoanl story and drifting away from your part. You wrote so nicely and touched so many little points that I can directly relate my PG with yours. I am sure many others might connect to it also. Difference lies in the intensity of depression and lonliness one goes through.

Yaar, Phodu Bandi ho tum. More stronger. I told you before also, I liked the way you have learnt from
your mistakes, like apna Dravid. Importantly XLRI and your friends made you strong. I may write one mail in case I forget to write something over here.

My name, no isues about using my name except a couple of them
1. I wasn’t a part of the phase that you are talking about,
2. I don’t know if deserve the statement - who would stay with you even if you plummet to 0 from  being a hero. Using’0’ instead of ‘Zero’ was eye-catching.