Reflections on 2020

During the first few weeks after the lockdown began and we all started settling down — in a manner of speaking— to deal with the new normal, a few questions kept running through my mind constantly: What was the last major event or situation that had captured the collective imagination of the entire humanity thus? An event that was so lifestyle altering it invariably became the dominant topic of conversations week after week. When was the last time humankind collectively exclaimed: “this now is unprecedented!”?

This was a year you will never forget no matter at what stage of life or career you are in or which part of the world you call your home. It has affected you whether you dwell in a large metropolis, a small town, or a scenic village. It did not affect everyone uniformly of course. A lot of us not only became more acutely aware of our own privilege, but understood at a deeper level than before how something like a pandemic can impact the less privileged disproportionately. This has hopefully made us more empathetic than before.

We are at a stage now where we have a much better understanding of the virus. We also are better prepared to face such situations in the future, which by the way are inevitable. The virus acted as a “forcing function” to bring about some positive changes such as a better implementation of personal hygiene and appreciation of personal space. Reduced human activity meant lesser emission of greenhouse gases. (But on the flip side usage of water shot up and there’s lot more medical waste.)

Vaccines are not a matter of speculation any longer. It is a matter of time before all of us are going to be vaccinated. As an aside, I must however admit my discomfort with some of the euphoric proclamations. Specifically, statements such as “we are winning this war against the virus” and so on. Here’s the thing: the success of the virus lies precisely in the fact that it does not care about winning or losing any war. (It does not even care about “caring”. And ad infinitum, but I digress.)

While some of the above could very well be short term/temporary changes, there is definitely a lot of serious debate happening around topics like the future of cities and more interestingly, the future of work. I have thought a lot especially about the latter. I’m convinced that insofar as knowledge work is concerned, we will never go back to the way things were before — and it’s a good thing! Tens of millions of people world over commuting to work every single day never made much sense to me.

Make no mistake — I’m not suggesting complete remote set ups. That might be too radical at this stage. Moreover, remote work has its inefficiencies. Meeting people in person or discussing ideas and working together for periods of time are valuable even beyond efficiency. It is not either this or that. In fact, a spectrum of models has opened up. (Well, if you think about it, it was always there, but the present situation made us see it much more clearly.) Teams can meet at work once every few days or weeks for long form intense discussions, planning sessions, and/or socializing. Smaller groups can meet at coworking spaces or cafes if that makes it easier logistically. People can work from their hometowns part of the time or take up “workations”. From a hiring point of view location of a company or a candidate is no longer a big constraint. The possibilities are fascinating.

On the last day of 2020, a year that also flew by like no other before, when I started reflecting on the last twelve months, personally for me there were more positives than negatives. I feel more energized and hopeful. So, on the first day of 2021 I noted down a bunch of positive things that happened to me. But first I must acknowledge the negatives.

Two of my friends who were around my age passed on this year. One of them was suffering from cancer and we knew it would happen sometime soon. But that knowledge doesn’t make it any easy. The other was an absolute shocker that has left me reeling. Then there were many people who I knew and/or admired who went away one by one in quick succession due to a variety of causes. There was some amount of COVID-19 related scare in my extended family although there was no serious problem thankfully. Some of my closest friends had to undergo a lot of trauma directly or indirectly due to the pandemic situation.

I consider myself fortunate that I have crossed this year with my job and health intact. I’m grateful that my family hasn’t gone through any major troubles. In fact, this year has been particularly good for me. I’ve been more productive professionally as well as personally. I have been much less stressed out despite working a lot. I have also been more clearheaded and less distracted.

Some of the positives that happened:

Family

I was able to spend quality time with my family much more regularly than before. I was present and not preoccupied by the goings on at work! Not having to commute helped a great deal. I played with my kids, took long walks with them spotting birds, taught my daughter a few things, and cooked something they like once in a while. (I need to do this a lot more.)

Work

I don’t want to talk a lot about work in this post — I do a fair bit of it otherwise. DataWeave did quite well even through the global slowdown. For me it was more of a mixed bag despite working with great intensity and intent. But I believe I have done enough ground work and a lot of things will come to fruition over the next several months. This year among other things I’m looking forward to a lot more vibrance. I hope to work with engaged and energetic people.

Tech and Product Mentoring

At the beginning of June, I started an experiment through which I wanted to share some of my learning and experiences with research, product building, and data science. It has been an engaging and learning experience for me. Some of the people I met through this continue to interact with me on a regular basis. I intend to continue with this in 2021 as well.

Talk Series

I have done it before at my workplaces. I thought let’s take advantage of the fact that everyone is working remotely to start a public talk series recently. It’s early days but I’m excited about this new form of engagement. I intend to give one talk every month.

Birding

Over the last few years I’ve started birding. It’s been relaxing and rewarding in equal measures. I started a small project: observing and recording the birds around my house. I was amazed by the number of species I could sight! I’m not much of a photographer but here are a couple of samples.

Podcasts

As always I was late into getting to podcasts. I think they’re a great medium for information dissemination and engagement. I started listening to podcasts regularly during my long walks — each acted as an incentive for the other. So, it’s been a huge positive. My favorite ones are: Radiolab, The Knowledge Project, The Seen and the Unseen.

Reading

I’ve always read a healthy dose of books. This year it was a bit more special because not only did I read but also spent a lot more time thinking about and discussing the books I read. I also made it a point to write at least a small note about most if not all the books I read. If there’s one book I particularly want to recommend to everybody, it’s: Man’s Search for Meaning. You can read my book reviews on my blog.

Writing

I also wrote a lot more compared to previous years. I’ve been updating my blog fairly regularly. I want to write at least one review/essay per week. This outside of my primary writing project of course.

My most ambitious project

Which brings me to the most important item, the most ambitious project I’ve taken up: writing my first novel. The seed for the idea of this story/novel entered me probably 15–20 years ago. I’ve had several false starts over the years. Writing for me is an excruciatingly slow process, but I’ve done enough groundwork in 2020 to feel confident that I’m finally going to write a novel, and a good one at that! I have thought about it deeply and realized — and this is a positive thing — that if there’s one thing that I’m going to regret not doing it is not writing the novels and stories that only I can write.

Self Awareness

During the later part of 2019 I went through a period of self doubt, and chronic stress, and anxiety. I had this constant feeling of not fulfilling my potential which added to the stress. I finally took a conscious decision to address this, and take professional help even if required. I worked with a coach (Sahana from Antaryan) who helped me face head on many of these questions that had been bothering me. I worked a fair bit trying to be more self aware. I thought deeply about what my passions, my purpose (my “ikigai” as it were), and my aspirations. I still have a long way to go but I must say I have a lot more clarity on what I values drive me, what I care about, and how I would want to lead my life.

With that let me end this long note. Have a great 2021. I know what I want to accomplish this year. What are you going to accomplish? How are going to kick butt?