It’s the last day of the year and of the decade. Just before
the clock strikes mid-night, many us will try to take stock, review the decade
and ponder the possibilities for the next decade. I’m no different and this process
becomes a bit more intense for me as at the age of 45, I’m at sort of cross roads
of not being young and sprightly but not old enough to collect a pension.
I guess you could say that this was an interesting decade. I
enjoyed two of my working life’s highlights with the Indian Institutes of
Technology (IIT) and Management (IIM) events in 2012 and 2013 respectively and
then I moved into a regular job in the Insolvency Business where I ended up
becoming a man holding down two jobs after spending a decade not being
employable.
It was also a special decade in that I adopted a small girl.
Thuy, or Jenny first came into my life when she was seven and returned when she
was 13. While she didn’t cover herself in academic glory, it’s been my privilege
to watch her grow into a very focused young lady. She’s started working with me
in the Bistrot and then moved onto work at Ce La Vie in the Marina Bay Sands. My
focus in life is pretty much trying to see if I can build something for her or
at least to see that she can build something for herself.
This year followed on from the last when it came to travel.
I went off to Bhutan with Mum and her side of the family. Bhutan is amazing –
it is what you call life as it should be – peaceful and close to nature. The
country got me to understand that I need to get back to a more spiritual way of
life. While the country itself is amazingly beautiful, I found the philosophy of
Gross National Happiness (“GNH”) to be an almost spiritual one. Bhutan has
understood that development and prosperity involve more than money. Bhutan, for
example, puts nature as one of the key components of happiness. I got to appreciate
this when I returned to Singapore that was going through a bad dose of the
haze.
The other trip was to Macau was the girl. It was first time
in a long while where I was in a Cantonese speaking environment. It was also
the first time in a long time that I got to eat the most amazing food – my kid
who doesn’t go for hawker centre food in Singapore, gobbled up every morsel of
beef brisket. Our first experiment in Daddy-Daughter travels was fun and I
think it’s worth continuing.
This year was also significant in that I left the insolvency
basis on a full-time mode. Although the job paid me fairly and I did get a few
bonuses along the way, I realized that I had no passion for being behind a desk
and losing the ability to see people beyond the letters of some legal script
was not something I wanted in life.
I’m still doing things for my previous employer but working
more on contract basis and while I collect less actual cash, I have more peace
of mind, with more time to myself. I also got the managerial title that my CV
so desperately needed.
I can speak with enough pride at my first stab of part-time
employment. I recently took on my latest PR project, helping Tata Sons get
publicity for the Tata Crucible, a quiz program designed to sharpen young
minds. I enjoyed getting back to press work and getting to know the Tata Group –
my last encounter with them being to shake hands with Mr. Russi Modi, the
former Chairman of Tata Steel when I was 14.
As well as rekindling old friendships in the Expat Indian Community,
I am building relationships with the Emeriti community in Singapore. I had the
honor of being invited to the Embassy’s National Day function on 2 December
2019. Incidentally, this was the second National Day Function I attended – my first
was the Vietnamese National Day Function on 2 September 2019. Huong, my better
and ruthless half got the invite from a friend and saw to it that my family,
namely my dad’s older and younger sister went along for a good selection of
Vietnamese food (as an aside, the Kid cautioned me not to mention to the
Emiratis that I had Vietnamese family, because Vietnam recently beat the UAE in
a soccer match).
The final note for this decade is perhaps this very blog
itself. I started out blogging without a plan. It was just a hobby and an act
of wonton ranting. Today, I’ve managed to gain enough followers for other
people to be willing to be published on it and while this is not a commercial operation,
my advertising revenue is now counted in dollars rather than cents. Blogging
may never feed me but at least I’ve managed to bring this blog to a better
place. Of the few things I’m certain about in my next decade, it’s the hope
that this blog grows into something that more of you can enjoy.
Its been a fairly stable decade for me. However, in order to
fully enjoy the next forty odd years, I need to take a few leaps and do more away
from my comfort zones. However, with good friends and the warmth of family, I
believe that the future could be very beautiful.
No comments
Post a Comment