Highlights from 2006

This year was a long eventful one… Resting on my couch, I was thinking about all that happened this year… Decided to pen down the major highlights!

Dec 31, 2005 – New years party at our residence
My hair were long and they looked messy, but I did not want to get them cut short so I got them straightened instead and I was told that they looked good 🙂 Me and Kaustubh (my flat-mate then) hosted a get together, and it went just perfect. We had a specialty dish – Baked potatoes with Nacho cream sauce, I think the appreciation received that day, lead to the birth of my cooking hobby. Woke up at 1 pm – Jan 1, 2006 – No hangover!

Feb 2006 (first week) – Visit to Delhi
Home sick to the core, and fed up of the 14-16 hours of work days – 7 days a week, the Delhi trip was a welcome break. I was also interviewed by Ameriprise during the end of this trip which made this personal break of some professional use as well. It was not possible to make frequent trips to Delhi from Chennai and hence each trip was memorable.

Mar 2006 – Resignation from Citibank
My boss couldn’t believe. and his boss too… 🙂 The resignation, was not accepted as it remained on my bosses’ boss’s table (K.S. Shankar – also a mentor figure), who finally passed it on to HR only by the end of March. Release date was not promised and Ameriprise needed me to join as soon as possible. I kept worrying What if Citi does not release in time? Each day was full of tension.

April 5, 2006 – One way ticket to Delhi
It finally started sinking in that my 31 month exile to Chennai is drawing to an end when I booked a one-way ticket to Delhi. First I booked Jet Airways dated Apr 21 and then when Citi agreed to release me a day earlier (Apr 20) – I cancelled it and booked Sahara for Apr 20. Each day was important and cancellation fee seemed in-consequential in the larger scheme of events!

April 6-14, 2006 – Surprising Finances! 🙂
This was a period of shame 🙂 Citibank had asked for pay in lieu of notice period and also repayment of asset loan that they had extended. I needed to arrange close to Rs 200,000 to finance my freedom – i.e. Pay Citibank, the packers and movers, air-tickets and incidentals. Thought of selling my car, drew up a cost benefit chart which showed clearly that though I would get only Rs 280,000 for my 4,800 km driven Santro (practically new), I would need to pay Rs 400,000 to buy a new one (equally accessorized) for Delhi. Moreover, the sales evaluation process was painful, as the brokers evaluated her, and told me what all was wrong with her, while everything about her seemed just perfect to me. So I decided we’ll be together and I borrowed money from my brother, who couldn’t figure out WHY after working for 31 months I needed to borrow. I opened my excel files and try to figure out – I could not figure out either 🙂

April 15, 2006 – Packing
The packers and movers wrapped up every single belonging and it suddenly started becoming clear where the money had gone. There were 48 items, one full truck load… 3 cartons of just books and 2 cartons of just clothes (over and above the clothes I would carry to Delhi in my suitcases). The packing went on till late night and I was exhausted by the end of it. The house was totally empty and it felt good. Had trouble sleeping on a rented mattress with no AC. My 31 months in Chennai had made me an AC addict. I watched outside from the hole where the AC used to be and waited for 7 more days after which I would be gone too.

April 16 – 20, 2006 – Farewell
Luckily, my flat mate and good friend Kaustubh who was equally fed-up with Chennai also got a break in Mumbai (albeit with Citibank itself so he did not have to resign) and he was to leave Chennai forever just 2 days after I go… We both celebrated the great news over beer and sumptuous food at Cascade. (One of the joints that we frequented) Life seemed great and future looked perfect. We gave a combined party to our friends, some of whom – also away from their hometowns seemed jealous 🙂 The final day came, picked up my packed suitcases – looked at the empty home once again and went for my Air Sahara flight!

April 21 – 23, 2006 – Madness
Well, I had to meet family, friends, get my medicals done for Ameriprise, search for a house in Gurgaon and what not. (Or else where do I keep the stuff that will arrive from Chennai by end of April?) 3 Hectic days of calling realtors, responding to classified Ads and seeing over 10 houses, I finally liked one house, to which we made an offer and the landlord accepted. I now had a home. Since Gurgaon has no power half the time, a power-backup was a must, and I got that done as well. I felt good by the end of Sunday on the amount of work that I had done over the weekend. Apr 24, 2006 – my first day at Ameriprise… went peacefully. In 4 days (Apr 20-24) everything had changed!

May – June, 2006 – Settling down
Ameriprise was not as hectic as what Citibank was. In-fact, since I was new to the company there was not much work, which allowed me to go home in time and set all open issues. My CFA Level 2 exams were on June 4, 2006 for which I could not request a leave as I had just joined. So most non-office hours and weekends went in that. Except for the furniture, all other cartons (I think around 10) from Chennai containing books, electronics and even my prized home theatre remained packed. The exam went well, and 2 days later I got my 10Y US Visa as well…
(Pic: living room pic from my new home)

June – August, 2006 – First time in US
… 🙂 You know how people who have never been to US are so excited about US, well it is an excitement just limited to people who’ve never been to US. The journey from super-exicted to being homesick was fast. Yes, the buses were air-conditioned, the roads in Minnepolis are smooth and clean, and the buildings tall and brightly lit… but something was amiss. One of my friends, Sonali, introduced me to Orkut which helped me connect to long lost people – It was an addictive pass time, something I’m hooked to even now 🙂 I do not like to do tourism alone, so did not go anywhere except Milwaukee where my Masi lives. The only shopping I did was a Sony Playstation 2, and 14 games to go with that – something that I had craved for quite sometime.

August – October, 2006 – Life @ Fast-track.
I had gained 8 kilograms in US, and it showed. I was not happy about it. Strict diet control and daily exercising for 6 weeks bought me back to the shape. It is always better to take action before the problem goes out of hand. Another fun thing that I had started was my Salsa classes, which blocked my Sundays. Days seemed to just fly. So much so that I did not even unpack the 10 odd cartons from Chennai. Even the Sony Playstation 2 remained packed. My car did over 3,000 km during the period of these 2 months, which was more than half of what it had done in the last 18 months – Imagine! All this came to a screeching halt when work required me to travel again to US, for around 40 days. I left India immediately after Diwali.

October – Current, 2006 – US Again
There was no excitement this time. (I swear!) The corporate apartments that I got on this trip were much nearer to office and far better, which has made this trip very comfortable. By the first weekend, I was homesick… and at home, online most of the time.

There were three saving graces on this trip however:
1) The work pressure was very high, which kept me busy.
2) I had friends from Ameriprise, who were here too.
3) … 🙂 hmm – I think I’ll stop at two graces 😉

When I shifted my apartment from LV to OTG, we were all in the same building, and since then we are partying almost every week at 19B. Last weekend Abhinav and Dr Amit vacated 19B after our last party there. I think the new party place would be 14B (Deepak’s residence).

Despite hectic work schedules, I have been able to shop a lot on this trip, and thereby accumulated many clothes, watches, perfumes, cell-phones, electronics, books etc. In-fact I knew this would happen so I brought only one suitcase and I’d go back with two. I have also perfected my culinary skills and can make a lot of dishes, Chinese, Italian and Indian! Due to this, I’ve kept my weight under control as well.

Being homesick is manageable; it is the unpredictability, which is not. I was to leave on Dec 3, which got extended to 22, which now stands at Jan 23, 2007 and each day is becoming harder simply because, life seems to be at a standstill here. Some of the lines in Enrique’s song – be with you, make so much sense now. “I count the hours, but they go so slow, City lights, the streets are gold. Looked down my window to the world below. Move so fast, but it feels so cold.” (Pic: View from my LV apt on 12th floor)

Waiting anxiously for 2007, I wish Happy new year to all!