Mandatory year end post

Last year started off in the worst way possible and the wringer through which the whole year put me through emotionally made me as numb as possible. But when god puts you in through those loops the only reason is to prep you for upcoming situations and with the learnings from previous experience, what would've been daunting and shaking in the boots kind of situations became calm and manageable. The biggest lesson was to fine tune the expectations. When we expect the least, whatever turns up has little impact on your thoughts and actions. It is like jumping from a 10 feet high place as compared to somewhere closer to ground. The jump may have its jolt but when you are closer to ground the impact would obviously be less felt right. As simple as that. At times it felt that the year will never end with excruciatingly hot summer and severely high EB bills. Especially the months of March and April felt never ending! And the second half of the years comparatively just romped past! Oru vela target vachu bhoomi suthutho ennamo!! With seemingly never ending wars and a madhatter at the plain painted house the world is set for even interesting and possibly turbulent times up ahead. As the year winded towards closure i happened to have 2 meets that felt actually nice! All this while i was considering myself to be a borderline sociopath having gone through a turbulent 2024. But the 2 meetings kind of made me feel good and i realized how much important it is to actually talk to people!!! Something as simple as it may sound was quite difficult when i was going through those mentally stressful situations where the loudest voice was my own inside my argumentative head. But no wonder we are called social animals. The effect of meeting those folks was quite soothing and incidentally both of which were reunions is another notable aspect. One was with my school friends, all of whom i was seeing after 3 decades and none of whom i ever felt missing in my life, for i always knew they talked back behind me and despite all those misgivings, the meeting was pleasant. They were walking a tight rope around me consciously how they treated me during those days and how sensitive i used to react. Despite calling it a pleasant meeting, realised that i had successfully managed to deep bury those negative thoughts enough to have a social conversations with them! In any other time i would have simply ignored the invite to meet is the real fact. The other meeting was all the more happier and emotional for it was with my college mates on the golden jubliee celebrations of our institution. It made me realise that i had not only buried the negative memories but also several good ones. I had zero recollection of the incidents they said where we interacted during our class time. Somehow me teaching them on difficult subjects seemed to be common idea about which i had no recollection. But it felt nice to be remembered for good things and while walking across the corridors where we spent 3 years of our life 2 decades back was a different kind of feel altogether! The news of our favorite tamil sir passing away 5 years back and of our beloved principal couple of months before brought in emotions that none of us were aware that we felt that way! Considering that timeline of the meet and the gap inbetween, potentially the next meet could be less around who didn't turn up but quite possibly be about who else is left! Not a morbid thought but a stark reality that i've been thinking about for quite some time. On the professional front, this AI thing seems to be everywhere and everyone has become an inventor! Feels like for a school student who was struggling with a 8 subject school day, suddenly the syllabus has become infinite with no clarity on what to study!!! But the concept as such is fascinating despite being scary at the same time. Looking forward to live with his genie that has been let out of the bottle and has been disrupting things left right and center. The last bright spot of the year being, i managed to read 14 books and counting for the 4 th year running without even realising or consciously trying! Felt really happy at the count and wishing for a repeat next year as well! Hope 2026 will mark the beginning of a decade of growth, settlement, prosperity and peace- not just for me but for all of us.