Retired

Retired....from the high paying, foreign investment bank, one of the most coveted jobs on campus....to a life of little money, relative obscurity...
Retired....from the big city, thousand watering holes, 4 hour mediterranean brunches....to a smaller town, no watering holes, whats a mediterranean brunch, whats an investment bank?...
Retired....from 80 hour work weeks (24 x 7 mentally on the job), rare free weekends, not realising when diwali, uttran and navratri came and went by, missing almost every major sporting event that i love....to 50 hour weeks, free weekends, mental freedom, and watching the wimbledon 2009 finals with a chilled beer in my hand...
Retired....from barely spending time with family and friends, a million broken promises of spending more time....to leisurely, often aimless conversations with family, watching my kid (to be) grow up...
Retired....from the fat monthly pay check on the 25th of each month and the fat (not these days anyway) bonus at the end of the year....to just enough money to survive...
Retired from....from business class air travel, first class airport lounges, five star hotel stays and sedan pickups and drops....to good old indian railways, bus, auto and whatever inexpensive mode of transport i can find....
Retired....from analysing businesses built by others and commenting on their stocks, intellectual masturbation...to trying to build my own solid, real business from the ground...
To be honest, the old job did have some positives - a superb group of really smart and nice colleagues, decent work content and job satisfaction (believe me, it did exist), pretty much not having to worry about money.
Retired....at the ripe old age of 29....totally worth it!!

Return of the native

...apparently, once a blogger, always a blogger. here we go again. :) this time, hopefully something more meaningful than before.

Over and out.

Thought of reviving my blog numerous times in the past months.....but, the context is gone....although, there are so many things i feel like writing, somehow the creative musings fail to lift the dreary load of mundaneness....or is it that i have found immense satisfaction and deep happiness in some other compartment of my life? either ways, if something is not worth doing well, its not worth doing...so, ladies and gentlemen (i wonder if anyone still visits the blog) i bid you adieu....its been a great experience blogging, but as we all know, one needs to move on in life when things become stale...so they had on this blog...signing off with familiar lines 'the time is gone, the song is over, thought i'd something more to say'.....

Sometimes

Found this short poem by Thomas S. Jones, Jr.

Across the fields of yesterday,
He sometimes comes to me,
A little lad just back from play,
The boy I used to be.

He looks at me so wistfully,
When once he's crept within,
It is as if he hoped to see
The man I might have been.

Absolutely beautiful.

and so it ends..

Placements have been out of the world this year so far on campus. The consulting and finance placements continue to break new records everyday not only in terms of number of offers but also in terms of compensation. Lots of surprises - many 'sure shot' guys are still without a job and others have 'cracked it'. But this is just day 2. Lots of sexy companies and profiles lined up. My hunch is that things are going to be better in the next 5 days.

As for me, ICICI Securities has made me an offer in their equities division in Mumbai for a research profile which I will be accepting in all probabilities and so I'm out of the process. More updates later.

It's a mad mad mad mad time!

Placements in 2 days. Electrifying atmosphere around campus as shortlists are pouring in. Often, there is no logic to them. Personally, I haven't received any unpleasant / unexpected surprises. A pleasant suprise though. As Darwin said ' Neither the strongest, nor the fastest, but the species most adaptable to change will survive'. Over the next week, I believe that neither the smartest nor the best prepared but the guys who can keep the coolest will make it!

" Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis " - Times change and we change in them

The meter starts

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Trring!!

Go figure.