I generally don’t do this, but I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the past year and share some thoughts with you all. It’s been a year since I turned 30, and I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the journey so far.

Haha, gotta turn off copilot for this one. I’m not 30. I guess, LLMs can’t express how I feel and how old I am right now. Very obvious!

I’m turning 27 today, and it feels slightly different today. I feel more excited to pick up more responsibilities, to take on more challenges, and to be more accountable for my actions. I’m one of those people around, who will never say - “I want to go back to my college life”, “I want to go back to my school life”. I might say that “I want to go back to my old keyboard” though, that’s different and we can talk about it some other day. :)

Memories were never my thing. I rarely had an organized diary, I never wrote down my personal thoughts, and I never really wrote a blog on the day of my birth (27 years later). Those who know me, also know that I don’t like celebrating my birthdays. The end goal is for everyone (mostly everyone, some people I can’t help xD) to be happy for my existence, and that requires deep impact, motivation and purpose. Over the years, doing something for the nation, family and myself has been my soul purpose, and it stays that way - even today.

What has changed though?

Well, I see it happening finally. You know, when you see the light, you get even more excited, and sometimes even more impatient. That’s something I need to control, to not get impatient. But yeah, I feel I’m starting to understand life slightly better. Also, I’m not going to throw a punch line of “1 year wiser” today. I don’t know if that’s the case, so… xD Can’t say, can’t promise.

Maybe, one year before, I understood the difference of being disciplined, but this year - I applied it to my life. For instance:

  1. I started waking up early (~6:00 AM), out of interest and out of discipline.
  2. I started going to the office eary (~6:45 AM) and leaving early (~3:30 PM) to have more time for myself. I do log-in from home when I’m back though.
  3. I started listening to my own breathing, quite often. When I’m running, when I’m working, it just works. Shreyas Iyer was right (when Punjab beat MI) that listening to your own breathing works. Also, hey, RCB won! Yay!
  4. I started enjoying my work, a lot. I’ve never forced myself into anything, and I’m glad I didn’t do it at work either. It organically happened that I started enjoying everything I do. It keeps me happy!
  5. Being closer to the God, has given me purpose. God reminds me of all the reasons why I’m here, and why I should continue working hard to be of some use to the world.
  6. I also prioritized things in my life, which eventually led Context Pilot to reach to a stage where I can say that it’s a product now. It’s not just a side project anymore, it’s something that I (and some of the YT members) can be proud of. <3

It’s all philosophy, but the greatest philosophy has been: “Focus on basics”. Everywhere, in everything, it just works. To my younger self, if I had to go back and suggest something, I’d:

  1. Focus on basics, always.
  2. Buy one more keyboard. (jkjk, or maybe not? ;))

Life has been good! I’m happy. There’s a lot to achieve, and I know I’m going to do it. Life will be better for the people on the borders, on the areas where engineering can make things better, for the people I know, for my family, friends, and for myself.

To all those who have been there with me, thank you! I really appreicate it. :)

Here’s to another year of getting older. Wiser maybe? Can’t say, won’t promise.

P.S: This is part-1 of the “getting older” series. I’ve a few more things to share, but I gotta sleep now. It’s too late! :)

Thanks, Kush!