A quick reflection before I turn 40
I acknowledge the fact that the title of this article isn't the most creative, but somewhere I wanted to let out a small lament, akin to a leftover crust of a well-baked apple pie, for the decade that went by. I'm elated of course, with dread, for what's to come in the next decade that I'm embarking upon, as I turn 40.
You would agree that this year - the 20th year of the 2000s, isn't the most exciting, resolution worthy year, that we had hoped for whilst shouting and screaming at the top of our lungs on new year's eve. On the contrary, lungs are what this year will be known for when they write history books in the future for distribution on Kindle. More precisely, the damage to the lungs, caused by the Covid-19 virus. But more than the lungs, this virus has caused our world to go upside down. But this isn't what I wanted to write about. So I'll leave it at that.
These past 10 years, were ground shattering for me and I mean both in terms of positive euphoria and negative WTFs. 2010 is when I got married and started a brand new life and like all taggable life events on Facebook, this too was a major turning point in my life. As a bachelor, you're the commander and captain of your ship. You command it through the seas and hit icebergs with pride, often patching up those scratched hulls and dislodged engines. But then, overnight, your ship has two captains including yourself, if you're positively bonkers to count that as 2. You suddenly find your ship all tidied up, a brand new course set and sailing full steam ahead, iceberg or no iceberg. Suddenly you scramble to hide away those hull scratches and dislodged engine mounts and aim to show up in a clean, pressed uniform, on time. If you've not understood the over-ambitious maritime references, all I'm trying to say here is that getting married is like getting on a roller coaster, right after a heavy lunch. It has its moments.
But then you get used to it, life moves on. You cuddle, you laugh, you fight, you fight, you apologize, you laugh, you shop, you shop, sometimes you eat, you fight, you apologize, you laugh and all this becomes your primary nature, your way of living. Togetherness becomes defacto, you start missing you lifemate when she's away and you want to do whatever to wrap up disagreements and flush them down the tube, for the sake of restoration of your new world order. And it's interesting how these ebbs and flows carve you into maturity, or at least one likes to think that way.
In 2012, I went through yet another taggable Facebook event when in came our braking news - my little munchkin - Aliyah. I said 'braking', not 'breaking' because a baby pops in and drops the anchor on the aforementioned ship's journey. Suddenly you're transformed into a groggy owl, trying to oversee the pacification of this tiny little thing that keeps you awake at 3 am, but you love her for that. Yes, life is not a box of chocolates but its certainly sweet in a weird way. Forrest was wrong. So here we were, all mushy about our baby, marvelling at this amazing creation and personally I had my head held high like a rooster on meth because I had become Dad to the most beautiful daughter. I've always wanted a daughter and you can imagine my surprise when the doc said - Mr.Sachin, congratulations, it's a girl. The next couple of years were spent in gazing at the child's antics. Kids, when they're infants are like cats - They'll do all sorts of antics to get your attention and they're cute as hell and warm up your heart.
While all this was going on, in 2014, my professional life was going through a trip of its own. Through bumpy off-road and unexpected moments, often leading me to question my decisions and giving me endless sleepless nights, and with the mindful intervention of my life partner and family, I came to a realization, long before Modi ji, that Atma Nirbharta is the way to go. Since I've always been a teacher, I decided to try my hand at building online courses. You can read more about it in a separate article on my site. But long story short, those first few $$$ were like a drug trip. The excitement to be able to succeed in unchartered waters is something I can never forget. Before long I was creating more courses, getting lots of learners as my extended family grew to include people from all over the globe. That family is 50,000 and growing even today. By 2017, through numerous successes and failures, I was enjoying a considerable degree of success. We even vacationed here and there since I had time on my hands, being the captain of my own craft.
By early 2018, I had hit choppy waters yet again. This time, I had hit dense fog, an endless sail through the unknown. Life is not always beautiful, as philosophers and Roberto Benigni would have you believe. I'm not a religious person by any stretch, nor do I believe in divine intervention or retribution. Instead, I strongly believe in Karma - You get what you sow. And to that end, I lived through the bad, the worse, the worst.
My wife always says, that bad times won't last forever and I now agree with her because I've lived through numerous crests and troughs over the past 10 years. And so in late 2019, I started my new professional innings, which brings us to 2020 and the decade that beckons. These past 10 years and the muse above is just a quip of what transpired in reality. Through moments of elation and others that led me to question my own existence, I continue to sail on, with determination and belief that naivety is behind me.
But such an egoistic thought is at best, a thought. I hope I get to survive through the next decade and see myself writing the next chapter of this series. Until then, I wish you the best.