The Year-Ending Post

Although I have simply been chillaxing since the last week of November, it didn't hit me to post some of the ramblings of my unstable brain. What a year 2008 has been!

Some of the memorable highlights of 2008 (off the top of my head, in no specific order) :

I did pretty goddamn well on my GRE and TOEFL tests, something I am quite proud of. Yes, these scores don't matter too much if one is applying to some bigwig university like Stanford, but at most places it will hopefully make a great impression and help to strengthen my application. Of course, these tests were only like the 1st step. The application process itself is a piece of work. Transcripts, letters of recommendation, gathering all your certificates of merit, making a impressive statement of purpose...well, by the end of the year, I can safely say that all has been handled effectively and in good time. The statement of purpose I wrote is undoubtedly impressive, not just to me but also to a lot of people whose opinions I care about!

My brother got engaged (on Jan 21st) and married (on 23rd November) to a great gal named Bhumi. Huge moment for our families and it is indeed a pleasure to welcome a new member into the family. BUT, for me, the most memorable moment out of all the shenanigans that this wedding created was the dance we performed on stage on 21st November. The endless practice sessions, endless fights between my Dad and anyone who dared to miss even a single session, playing around and having coffee and lahri pizzas at Shambhu's and the occasional wraps and burgers from McDonald's, it will remain in my memory forever. And yeah, I am an incredible dancer!!!

On the girlfriend front, things couldn't be better. Just a couple of days ago I met Priyal's aunt and uncle, who are both settled in the US and they are both incredibly cool. Priyal wouldn't be Priyal without the occasional tantrums and outbursts, usually triggered by yours truly HAHA. But we have had a lot of fun over the past year. The relationship has reached a stage where we can both be quite comfortable with each other in spite of all the fireworks going on around. We have really...matured, I would say :P

FOOTBALL! Simply the best for all the football in my life! Manchester United won 3 trophies, believe it or not. Champions of England, Champions of Europe and the Champions of the whole freakkin' World baby! I was the central midfielder for the CE team that won the inter-department trophy in a hotly contested gut-wrenching final against EC, winning every single match along the way!

Faced with several failures in the aptitude tests of Infosys and Wipro. I couldn't believe it when I failed Wipro as well, literally every single friend of mine was placed by then! Finally I got through Satyam, then appeared for Motorola as well but messed up with the HR interview. Brijesh had said when I failed Wipro, "Tu badha ne GRE maa joi leje", and it did turn out that way!

There are lots of other things that come to mind, like the efforts put into Colosseum '08, finishing the project on multithreaded file server, volunteering for Manav Sadhna (although it was initially motivated by the sole selfish purpose of meeting up with some influential people who are based in California and perhaps can help with my application to Stanford, it was quite a satisfying experience, and just to prove to myself that it wasn't all selfish, I will continue to volunteer occasionally).

Its incredible that when I have sat down to write this year ending post, I can hardly think of anything negative, any sour feelings that have been burned into my memory. Yes, there are loads of things that I wish I had done, that are yet to accomplish, but mannn, Life is GREAT, and I pray to the Lord that it stays that way. If any difficulties arise, I pray that I have strength to face the shitstorm head on. Bring on 2009!