We often try to answer where we will be 5 years from now? especially in interviews. The real question we should be asking ourselves is where we were 5 years back and how did we get here to the present day. I read this on another blog post - La Dolce Far Niente – The sweetness of doing nothing. This made me reflect back on my life and I try to answer this question in this post.
5 years back - 2015 - this was the year when I purchased my first vehicle - an Activa. Next month I will be celebrating the second anniversary of my Alto. So definitely, a lot has changed over the last 5 years.
5 years back during Navratri, I entered MRV (Mahindra Research Valley, Chennai) for the first time. This was my first job after college and my base location was Chennai. It was during Navratri that I took a train from Mumbai to Chennai with my batchmates to report on duty. Much of my last 5-year lessons have come from in and around Chennai.
The first thing after moving to a new city is to get a place to stay. I rented a flat with two other batchmates, ie who joined MRV with me. I didn't appreciate back then enough, but now I can see they were a family to me and helped me get through some good and tough times. They were always there - whether to celebrate someone's birthday to get over a disappointing appraisal at work. Thanks to this experience - I learned to adjust to others. Sometimes some of the roommates can be annoying, and you learn to fix the issue or get the patience to deal with it.
Staying away from family and with other bachelors meant that we have to take care of ourselves from food to clothes, from rent agreement to fixing household appliances. Along with work, we had to manage the house too. Especially you realize what all things are required to run the house. The different items include foodgrains, fruits, etc. Then soaps and detergents. Bedsheets, curtains, shoe polish etc. There were so many things I took for granted or ignored when living with parents in Mumbai, thanks to this experience I can now fend for myself if and when required.
The friends just make the learning process more fun. We used to mock each other for not knowing some of the basic things and we learned from each other's experiences. You also learn to divide the responsibilities and I think this is important for the post-marriage phase. Each one takes up what he/she likes and then you evenly divide the chores that no one likes but are essential.
Office - for most of my batchmates, this was the first corporate experience and it is hell a lot different from academics. The experience you have at work is very much dependent on the type of reporting manager you have. I was lucky I had a good manager to start off my career and he helped me play and grow to my strengths. Much of my current success is because of the freedom I got in the first year. Later on, it has been more or less smooth sailing. If you need anything, a raise, a resource, extra time, etc you need to ask for it. You will hardly get anything without asking. The good part - most of the time you will get a Yes for whatever you ask for.
The job also gave me a salary and it was a tough learning lesson to manage it. I started investing, having fun, buying things I liked, started saving recently, etc. I started filing my income tax returns too, like most salaried employees.
There are two takeaways for me here - 'Everyone in the corporate world is Selfish' - told by a senior
'You don't get promoted to the next level and then start learning or taking new responsibilities. You get promoted because you have been doing what is expected at the next level.' Told by super senior and this helps me to keep pushing at work, to do more than the current role requirement.
Sports - I was already into long-distance running by 2015. I ran my first full marathon after moving to Chennai. I ventured into cycling which helped me to push my endurance limit. I used to go for a 60 km solo ride and with friends, I was able to push 80+ km and explore new routes. The society where I stayed had a tennis court and I was able to continue Tennis over there, I started tennis in IIT. Tennis was just for fun, especially after office hours. The main take away was my Road bike and long-distance cycling. I was lean a couple of years back and then I got into experimenting with diet. I went vegan for three weeks, then after some time, I went on Keto. Things backfired after Keto and lack of motivation helped me gain around 10 kgs in the last couple of years. The lockdown didn't help either to get me in shape. I am on my way to recovery to get back to my 2015 weight target.
Going abroad - My first trip abroad was to Malaysia. Thanks to my friend, flatmate, and colleague - Kartik Ganesh, as a team we won Mahindra Auto Quotient and the first prize was a trip to Malaysia. He had been abroad before and it was great traveling with him. This was in 2017, then in 2018, I went on a Europe trip with my family. This was possible because my Cousin staying in UK.
Let me summarize the above points -
2015 I was a graduate student and entering into my first job. I am still in the same company but with a 5-year experience under my belt.
I completed 2 Coursera specialization on Machine learning and I am onto my PG Diploma in ML/AI.
From Marathon runner - I have become almost a couch potato
Crush - All my crush got married
I went to Chennai 5 years back, coz of this Covid I have been in Mumbai for the last three years and doing work from home.
In the last 5 years, I have learned to develop mobile apps.
I can cook a couple of sweet dishes and also make basic dishes like Dal, Rice, Roti, etc.
Type in the comments about your most significant transformation in the last 5 years.
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