THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2017

As I sit in the familiar comfort of my Razai with a warm cup of Chai in my hand, I couldn't help but notice that it has been 12 months since I smelled the aroma of a cardamom Chai mixed with Delhi's fog! We say this every year, but didn't 2017 just whiz by faster than we could imagine?

2017 for me can only be defined as the year of big transformations. The year that brought with it momentous changes, of positive nature, in both personal and professional aspects.

Photo by Szűcs László on Unsplash

Professional Updates

After completing my MBA last year, I toughed out 6-odd months in an internship, then 6 more months in a temporary contract (known in French as Contract Duration Determinée or CDD). However, at the beginning of this year, I was finally able to secure a full-time contract (known as Contrat à durée indéterminée, in short CDI) in a leading global firm. 

Having worked in India for the most part of my professional life, all these contract types were very alien concepts for me. In my previous jobs in India, the process flow was as follows - a company hires you (usually from the first contact to final offer, I have never spent over 4 working days), and then you continue working there till you retire, or you leave by giving a 30-60 days notice. The company can also fire you if they don't like your performance by giving you same notice or compensation for the same. 

However, from what I have gathered, it is quite hard for even private companies to eliminate positions or fire employees due to labor protections in France. For all practical intent and purposes - it is deemed nearly impossible unless there is gross misconduct. Hence, large companies usually require you to go through a trial period of internship or a temporary (fixed duration) contract before they can trust you enough to give you a full-time contract. 

While there is protection for employees (which a surprisingly high number of millennials in France seek), this whole process makes employers very cautious while hiring new people, leading to lack of liquidity in the market. Therefore, you will see people sticking around in the same company or companies having to keep the same people around for decades, even if there is a visible mismatch. Plus making it hard for new talent to get hired properly for a job fitting well for their profile rather than in a firm which is willing to give them a CDI. 

However, having decided to have built my career in France, I am adapting to the prevalent system, and happy to report my CDI contract to you guys. 

Personal Updates

This is the big one - After ~2 long years living on our own, while spending Friday and Sunday nights in Eurostar to travel between Paris and London, the wifey has now relocated to Paris! As some people are calling it - The Khannas Reunited! :)

With that, we have now commenced The Grand Tour of Europe! As our weekly shuttles between London-Paris have come to an end, we have decided to spend our travelling budget on visiting a new country every alternate month - or simply 6 or more new countries every year! 

In terms of cities, this year we visited the regular London, Paris, Delhi, and Hyderabad, along with new additions of Prague (Czech Republic), Copenhagen (Denmark), Champagne (France). Ghent (Belgium) and Lille (France).

We also spent a lot of time exploring the streets, museums, and gardens of Paris. On that note, I think we should cover the Parisian expeditions in a separate post. Something similar to Sahil's post on Paris hall of fame! 

Onwards! 

For 2018, instead of making several small resolutions - which almost no one ever keeps - I have decided to do six '30 day challenges'! I first heard about the concept in this Ted Talk and was quite intrigued by it. With several small life improvements and personal projects that I am working on in parallel, I think dedicating a month to each of them would be quite interesting as well as productive!

Keep watching this space for more info! Till then...

Wish you and your family a happy and prosperous New Year 2018!

I should probably write more of these year-end reviews: THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2014

Getting back to writing

Last week, I was out for a formal dinner with some colleagues. Amid regular getting-to-know questions, one that stood out to me was “What do you do outside of the office?” Even though I am busy from the moment I wake up, to the time when I finally switch off my phone and sleep, I realized that day that since past couple of years, I have not worked on any of my specific hobbies or a personal project!

Side note: Apparently, playing games on X-box or assembling so many pieces of furniture for your new house that one can easily qualify any carpentering exams does not count. 

I started remembering the things I liked and the side projects I worked on during me pre-MBA life in India. Travelling – it is something I do to relax, not as a personal project. Reading – sure, but the number of books I have read in 2017 stands at 3. Writing – the last time I wrote on this blog was over 12 months ago! Coding – I have quit more times than I have started! Running – Although, I increased my stamina to go up to 12kms in one go, I have not been regular in the last 7-8 weeks. 

The same night, I went out to buy a mop to clean up the spider-webs from this blog. Currently, I am going through quite an exciting period in my life, and if I properly get down to jotting some nice experiences, I can fill up a few hundred pages! So, why not! 

When I started this blog page a few years ago, I decided that everything I write here should be either:

Something I am knowledgeable about

About a year and a half ago, I switched careers – from a procurement advisory function, I have moved full time to an energy management and automation firm. This is a completely new industry for me, and I am picking up new things daily. I have a lot of stuff in my head to write about – renewable energy (especially solar) and its impacts on the grid, building management systems with the focus on energy efficiency, automation and digitization of the manufacturing industry, 3D printing to name a broad few topics.

Every time I pick up a notepad (yes, I am old school when it comes to writing) to write about these topics, I feel quite underwhelmed with the things I know vs. the things there are actually worth knowing about the topics I am going to write about. If you look at the chart below, I am currently hovering over the valley of despair!

Dunning Kruger Effect

Something I am learning about

The target at the very top of my mind is my slow progress on learning the French language. I am doing ok in reading newspaper level French, however, when it comes to speaking and more importantly listening to French, I fall flat on my face. There is nothing worth writing on this topic, but just leaving it here as a casual reminder to self. 

The other thing I am learning is nuggets of history about the things I like and the things I am discovering. Just in the past quarter, I have learnt about the The Ashes Cup while touring The Lord's stadium in London, the fine art of making scotch while touring The Glenlivet distillery in Scotland, life of Pablo Picasso and the depiction of his state of mind through his paintings in Musée national Picasso (Picasso museum) in Paris, among tens of other things. 

Wait, these all sound pretty solid ideas to pen down what I learnt, remembered and then augment with external research! 

Alright, back to work now! Till we meet again next week!

The year that was: 2014

On the last day of 2014, as I sit down and dwell on the year that rushed by only two words come to my mind - changes and experiences. But before we come to that, let me quote some very interesting lines from one of the movies in my must-watch list - Good Will Hunting.

So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. ... And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. (source)

2014 for me was the year when I focused on gaining experiences through travel and interactions with people from very different backgrounds to augment the academic and professional knowledge. The year started with the amazing news of acceptance of my candidature at HEC and it has been a roller coaster ever since.

I consider myself lucky to have got the opportunities to travel across India and Europe during the year. During the first half of the year, I went on several trips across India, covering Hyderabad, Jaipur, Nainital, Manali and Rohtang Pass, among others. Those who know about my love of driving, would have easily guessed that most of these were road trips.

September came, and the big relocation to Paris happened. Its actually to Jouy-en-Josas, a town about an hour away from Paris, where my college is located. The next three months were filled with weekend trips to Paris, where most of the exploration of this beautiful city was done by walking through the streets filled with majestic dernier-millennium architecture. December 20 was the big day when the wife arrived in Paris. Over the next 10 days, we hired a car and drove over 3,500 km in France covering Paris -- Champagné -- Bordeaux -- Avignon Provence -- Nice -- Grasse -- Cannes -- Nice --  Paris circuit. I must say everyone should once in the lifetime do this road-trip for the views, roads, amazing driving etiquette and the small towns on the way. Though, please be warned that the toll charges will burn a big hole in your pocket! 

Photo credit https://unsplash.com/bec_brown

Last but not the least, last four months of 2014 have been really amazing courtesy the stunning bunch of people in my intake at HEC. Have a look at some of them in this video on Youtube (link). Only after coming to an international B-school you realize the importance of mingling with people from backgrounds so different that you would not have come across in your existing professional life. 

All-in-all I am happy to say that I am very content with the year 2014. Having said that, I have started jotting down to-do lists for the first quarter of 2015 - as they say an MBA student's calendar is never empty! I have a feeling that it is going to be a very busy quarter, and an year by extension. Even though, I am not a big fan of new year resolutions, but I have decided to put my health on top priority for the next year. Eventually, there comes a time in life when you realize the weight of truth held in the cliched proverb 'health is wealth'.  

I raise my glass to the amazing year that went by, and to health and happiness of everyone that is reading this blog. Cheers!