05th Jan 2012

Tomorrow will be my last day in this college; the past six months have been good but now is the time to move on. I really enjoyed working here and will surely miss this place. Will surely miss walking past the church each day and the local flower shop just outside it. Will surely miss shielding my eyes each day at 12, just when the sun appeared outside my window forcing me to draw the blinds. Will surely miss being amused by the circular emails used to recruit volunteers for all kind of studies –from removing wisdom tooth to inducing musical hallucinations. Above all will surely miss working on a project which had a 0.1 % chance of survival and was doomed to be a failure but was successfully resuscitated by the amazing team.

Obviously there are also things that I will not miss, like leaving my duvet and warm bed early morning, like taking the underground in the rush hour, like having sandwich for lunch every day, like being confined to the 9-5 timing, like returning home tired, like postponing all personal things until the weekend. I will be able to avoid all of these when I start my new project from Monday, which will have me working from home. I am going back to the project from which I started my career in this country – and what a break it was - and coincidently I will be working with the person who took my first interview almost five years back – and what a day it was. It was the day when India was playing Sri Lanka to keep its place in the Cricket world cup and the first time I travelled to London alone.

Everything seemed so crowded, so confusing, so overwhelming. I remember feeling lost in the streets not knowing what to do or where to go; it was raining as always (I didn’t know the importance of umbrella back then) and I was getting soaked. I didn’t know if the clothes I had bought were right for the interview, I didn’t know if I would be able to understand the accent of the interviewers (though I was relieved by the fact that one of them had an Indian name), I didn’t know if my previous workex would be sufficient here, all I knew was that this was the only interview call I managed to get after three months of frantic job search and I wanted it bad.

Five minutes in the interview and I realised that I wasn’t very far off from what’s expected and that I can do it. Thankfully I didn’t realise at that time that this was once in a lifetime opportunity and that my future colleagues would all have decades of experience compared to the months that I had under my belt. But things went well and I left the interview feeling confident. A week later I got the offer which I readily accepted and thus started my first job, which lasted for almost three wonderful years. I am going back to the same organisation and really looking forward to refresh many such fond memories.

P.S: I somehow started to hate cricket after that day!

03rd Jan 2012

Festive holidays have come to an end and I am now all charged up for the New Year. Saw the Christmassy window displays, heard carols at Fortnum and Masons, decorated my pseudo Christmas tree, played scrabble , made full use of the cineworld card and did lot of vegetating at home – in short it was a very good break.

Did a lot of socialising in the past few weeks, met old friends and some new ones as well. Had all sorts of get-together – from a formal 4 course Christmas meal to the finger food at a surprise birthday party. We also had a Christmas get-together at our place for which I made Chinese food and Cherry pie, which is currently my favourite dessert. I actually enjoy cooking and do not find it difficult at all unlike most of the people I know. After the party clean-up we tried to make good use of the Boxing Day sales and bought a few bargains. I actually hated shopping until recently but gradually have started enjoying it, even the jam-packed oxford street.

We did a lot of fun things too, my first experience at the ice rink for instance. I realised that it doesn’t hurt to fall in the rink; I only managed to fall twice out of my allotted limit of 12 - not because I was a good skater but unfortunately because I was too cautious. We also hired a car for a few days and explored the countryside; be it sun or rain, this country never fails to impress with its hidden villages, stone houses, thatched roofs, ancient cathedrals and the moving white dots on lush green fields. And there is a genuine reason why the DVLA theory test asks question such as, ‘what would you do if there is a horse on the road’.

So the year ended well – but somehow I feel that 2011 just passed by without me actually having lived it. There was so much more I could have done, so much more I could have learned, so much more I could have experienced – but then that’s what 2012 is here for.