Another cycle begins!

It’s been another eventful year. As we wrap up 2024 and head into 2025, it’s that time again when I spend a few minutes reflecting on all the highs and lows of this year!

Let’s start with my personal life. This year marked the 10-year anniversary of losing Mummum. While the reflection of all the emotions and feelings around the 10-year milestone of losing her is something that one cannot truly reflect in words, all I can say is that she continues to show her presence through everyday memories like when I listen to one of her favorite songs or when I have a headache and I just think about when I used to lay my head on her lap and she would gently stroke my forehead and countless other activities of my everyday existence. 2024 also marked the 10-year anniversary of my coming back to the US. From completing my MBA to moving into the corporate world to build a career to becoming a “Grown-Up” with freedom & grown-up responsibilities, these 10 years have been monumental, something that I could NOT have even imagined that I would be able to do 10 years ago. It’s been a great journey! This year, I also took two very different and memorable vacations, one to South Africa and one to my long-awaited dream destination of Spain. On the Spain trip, we also took a few days to visit Portugal. While the South Africa trip was impromptu with minimal planning, the Spain and Portugal trip took a lot of research and a long time to put together and I am very pleased with how both these trips turned out. The highlights of the Africa trip were Table Mountain at Cape Town and the Kruger National Park Safari trip in the freezing cold! The highlights of the Spain trip were the absolutely amazing monuments and the food, particularly the Iberian ham! The highlight of the Portugal Trip was by far the Duoro Valley cruise with the Port wine vineyards tours. Back home, this year I bought my second home and moved within 1.5 months from even thinking about moving to actually accomplishing the move with unpacking! Of course, having Babi here for all of this was a huge help! Now getting ready to sell my first home at the beginning of the new year! This year also marked the 8^th and 6^th birthdays of my Whisky and Luca respectively! They continue to be the most cheerful and rewarding part of my family. I cannot imagine a life where they aren’t in my universe!

Professionally, this was a big year for me! I FINALLY got the promotion I have been craving for the last 8 years! I made Manager at Deloitte! Joydeep had a big hand in it and thanked him for it. This year I also made a mark at a client and achieved what all professionals at some point crave – a client asking for me by name to continue on a project as a condition of awarding the project to Deloitte! I still don’t fully understand why as I didn’t do that phenomenal of a job but getting that recognition from a client where we had some challenges in the beginning was huge. It also led to my first-ever individual recognition through an outstanding performance award! Most definitely, this project will remain a highlight in my 10+ year career so far. It’s been a hectic year and thankfully the two vacations helped but it made me appreciate the concept of work-life balance even more. The lack of a balance is something that I want to consciously rectify next year. I don’t fully know how but I want to make that conscious effort. I value the relationships made throughout these projects and this year, I am grateful to add another name, Anantha Ramadas, as someone I am grateful to have in my universe. He was instrumental in a support system through the first half of this year! Also built a stronger relationship with Kunal. Grateful for the learning opportunities he awarded me through a very close collaboration. Finally, I was excited to add to my network, Mushtaque Heera. His incomparable capability of bringing levity to a very tense situation was so very refreshing! Being from Mumbai himself, we bonded very quickly and I hope to capitalize on that through a rewarding professional relationship next year!

With every year, a new adventure awaits. I cannot wait to see what 2025 will bring. Whether it is positive or negative, I am quite sure that I will get through it and come out on the other side still standing. I am slowly but steadily building on confidence and I know I have the resilience to get through it all, even if I may not know that at the time! Cheers to 2025!