An interesting year for an interesting me!

A friend recently remarked, “ Your life is so interesting!” I retorted back in a statement that is characteristically ME. “I make it interesting.”

Life has truly been a roller coaster and I have been someone who enjoys all the high points with adrenaline at its peak and the low points are met with depression plunging so low that the classic cases of clinical depression would concede defeat. This year is past its half mark and I have a list of interesting things to talk about. As many of you know that I joined a new company at the beginning of the year. Working on a map encyclopedia was the first task allotted to me. I have grown up reading encyclopedias, sometimes with genuine interest and on other occasions just to show-off. I am being truthful, at least give me some credit.

This was exciting. Here I was a novice with no clue as to how software is made, what is the job of a programmer and exactly what my new boss wanted me to do in all of this. All I think I know is to write. So with each passing day over the last 7 months I understood my job a little better. Today I am at a juncture where the release of the Maps of India CD Ver 6.0 is almost a reality. Suddenly I can sense the returning of the parental feelings that I had experienced when I was working on the documentary films. I would never I have believed anyone 4 months ago if they argued that creativity can be practiced in a time bound office as well. So excitement I had loads. Interacted with different people. Learned (or let me believe that I learned a little about office life).

These last months were not only about office. Ever since the year began the discussions about me being of an agreeable marriageable age started doing rounds. Friends did not help my case by taking the nuptial plunge. So everyday I look at numerous INTERESTING profiles of eligible Maharashtrian Brahmin Boys. Life is interesting.

The thing that I consider to be a highlight of the first half of the year is of course my passing the audition of All India Radio to be an RJ and then the 5-day long hiatus from office and awesome training sessions at the All India Radio building. It is something that I would want to cherish for a long, long time to come. Our main instructor was Manoj Mainkar. I saw in him Bob Saget (from Full House). Once he started to speak I was floored. The quality of the voice might have been God-gifted, but the amount of nurturing he had done to master the phonetics was astounding. It was this quality that had be all bowled over. Then there were the greats like Suneet Tondon. Someone I had grown up watching and listening to. Learning about western music, handling the studio equipment and to top it all getting diction lessons. The training session was full paisa wasool. The other trainees were an awesome bunch! I instantly hit it off with them. I debuted on the radio in June. My first time was awesome! And the second time even better.

My 24th birthday was a surprise event for me. Office colleagues whom I knew only for 4-5 months arranged a surprise cake for me in office. My Orkut clan too sent a birthday cake at home for me. So this birthday became doubly special as I cut not the ceremonious one birthday cake but I had two!

And then came the fall. Please do not for once think of it metaphorically. These days life has become quite literal in my case. The beauty of metaphors and pun are lost somewhere. I had a bad fall in June and I am still suffering from the aftermaths. No swimming, very little stress on the right hand, no lifting, no getting excited; NOTHING!

To answer my dear friend I make my life interesting. Falling and then recuperating from the injury was suddenly transformed into a weeklong party zone. Friends were invited (read as blackmailed) to the house with the pretext of visiting the ‘ailing me’. I was a monarchial guest at my own house and did not even lift a finger with my dear friends showering me with attention, conferring hospitality and taking care of me all the while.

Though the arm still pains, though weather still is adamant on playing cruel jokes on me by indicting fever and sinus bouts, though some things continue to bother, upset and depress me. Still one thing is constant. My life continues to be INTERESTING!