As we bid farewell to another year, it's natural to look back and reflect on all that has happened. It's been a year like no other, with a healthy balance of highs and lows. While I want to keep the lows to myself, I thought let me write up a summary of all the high points of 2022. Quite literally.
As I had mentioned in the blog post last year, I wrote about self-discovery and dedicating time in 2022 to check things off of my bucket list and try new experiences. Speaking of, getting a tattoo was the first one on the list.
It's been a long time coming, but I finally took the plunge and got my first tattoo! I've always been drawn to the idea of tattoo art, but I wanted to make sure I was getting something meaningful and personal to me. I have always been drawn to the majesty and power of the mountains, and the ocean has always been a source of calm and clarity for me. So, combining the two in a tattoo felt like the perfect way to symbolize the balance and strength that these natural wonders represent to me. It was an exciting and rewarding experience, and I'm so glad I took the plunge and got my first tattoo.
Another hobby/skill I picked at the end of 2021 which I wanted to do more in 2022 was cooking. I can't say I have become an expert at it, but I am now confident that I would be able to cook edible food that doesn't result in stomach upset. Along the same lines, 2022 was the year of trying out different cuisine, I can't imagine how many different types of restaurants I have been to in and outside of Bengaluru this year. Starting with eating a ton of sweets from all over India to eating Ramen at an exclusive Noodle Shop, I guess it was a roller coaster ride for my taste pallets.
When the pandemic hit and the idea of in-person tech meetups and conferences faded away, my goal of being able to give a talk at one of these events had taken a back seat. The year 2022 gave back that opportunity in multiple folds.
I started off to present about AWS and Serverless to a batch of Engineering Students at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore. It was a last-minute change in the plan and I had no preparation whatsoever to present, but for the first time, I was able to somehow manage it without getting nervous. This boost in confidence allowed me to speak at more events in the following months presenting how we built HooChat at AWS Community Day Kochi and BarCamp Bangalore.
Being able to travel again also helped to resume my interest to travel and visit new places. Apart from traveling to Mysore multiple times, flying to Coimbatore and Kochi for mostly work, attending a wedding, and making a quick impromptu trip to Hampi, I wanted to check off Traveling Solo and going on a Snow Trek from my bucket list in 2022.
After a lot of (over)thinking, I decided to treat myself to a solo trip to Mysore (again) without any particular agenda. It turned out to be a good experience staying at Zostel, interacting with other backpackers, and roaming around Mysore trying to recollect the memories from the time I was staying in Mysore during my initial days with Infosys.
Speaking of highs of the year, my trip to Uttarakhand tops the list for all obvious reasons. The plan included Trekking Kedarkantha Peak and River Rafting in Rishikesh. The trek started at Sankri village, which is located at an altitude of 6,450 feet. From Sankri, we trekked up to Juda-Ka-Talab, which is a frozen lake located at an altitude of 9,800 feet. From Juda-Ka-Talab, we went to the Kedarkantha base camp, which is another 2km trek. From the base camp, we started trekking to the summit at 2 AM the next day to go to the top of Kedarkantha, which is located at an altitude of 12,500 feet. Sunrise at the summit offers panoramic views of the Himalayan mountain range and is a sight to behold.
Post the trek, we traveled to Rishikesh, where we had planned to do River Rafting through the River Ganga for 16KMs. Trying to row the boat, while passing through the Rapids was an experience to remember!
Since this is also the year of every app collecting and summarizing your data at the end of the year as "2022 Wrapped", here is how I have spent my year,
In Zoom/Google Meet Calls - 66 Days (According to Raycast) Listening to Music on Spotify - 22 Days Listening to Podcasts on PocketCast - 2.5 Days Watching Movies and TV Shows - 17 Days (From TVTime App) Workouts (Walking/Running/Playing) - 26 Days (Google Fit) Sleeping - ~90 days
PS: The majority of this blog post was generated using ChatGPT