Twenty Three

Birthdays are a special occasion in our lives. We have built and entire tradition along it. It takes us to a new level of understanding, makes us feel older, mature, and happier and it also makes us understand that we are growing faster than we ever thought! It was one awesome year for me, and I’m excited about the next one! Each birthday I have this ritual to ponder over what I missed doing, my failures, my weakness and try to overcome each of those in the next time. 2012 was a year of accomplishments and a year of dreams coming true!

I’ve turned 23. It’s the number of chromosome pairs we have in our DNA! Turning twenty three was something I was looking forward to! I’m not very fond of numbers, nor have faith in numerology, but 23 has been an important number of my life. Not just because I was born on that date, but because some important numbers of my life have 23 in them! My tenth grade board exams, the first biggest exam of my life, when everyone expected very least of me, I managed to succeed very well. The first person in my family to pass the board exams with a Distinction rank! 83.06 percent with 623 marks. I scored 823 marks in my first undergraduate year. It took me a total of 23 months to show off my biggest creation ever. My current cellphone number has 23 in it. So many examples, somehow the number 23 has its impact on my life greatly, and hence the excitement to turning 23 was huge. 

Turning 23 was a joyous adventure. Steve Jobs had quoted, “You can never join the dots looking forward; the dots connect only when you look backward.”  Looking back is termed to be a losing attitude by most success coaches. But I tell you, you can only count your success and learn from your failures when you look back! But look back when you have reached somewhere and not while you are moving towards your goal. Turning 23 made me realize my dreams, took me places I never dreamt of and gave a reason to my life which is more concrete than ever. 

I feel blessed to have the people around me who support me in all I’ve been through and even in the lowest point have realized my worth and made me scale up the depths I’ve been into. Turning 23 was a journey of success. There have been a lot of failures in the life before, but this year turned those very failures into success. I had lost a year of college, one that was highly disturbing and unplanned time of my life, but it turned tables. The last year, was the year from being a 22 year old young entrepreneur to being a 23 year old researcher, innovator, scientist and a better human being. 

I made my very first trip to a foreign land, roamed France and Italy, saw two Wonders, Eiffel Tower and the Colloseum which was the part of my first international conference trip to Rome. Travelling thousands of miles on air and a trans-country trip in the beautiful railways of Europe and witnessing the breeze of the Atlantic Ocean have made their impact on the traveler spirit within me. Being the only Indian and the youngest in the conference was in itself a huge achievement for me. Sooner after my return was another conference in Pune, where I got to sit with people scientists from NASA on the same table, a moment never dreamt of! Two huge achievements in a matter of two months were more than I could ask for!  Also, I have now almost finished my work on something called the ‘Batpod’ the first one in India and the 5^th in the world! 

It isn’t boasting, it’s a testimony. Life can turn its path if we keep and trying if we keep moving inspite of all the failures and forces that keep us down. We aren’t meant to live the lives the world wants us to, we can be more, and we can be someone more than just another face in the crowd. I mean to tell you, we have the potential to be great. But greatness requires not just hard work but more importantly patience and perseverance. If we have those, we can be great. 

Turning Twenty Three was a tale of success for me. I’m more excited about what’s in store now that I’ll be living the 23^rd year of my life. It’s the time to RISE. Deeshay Basara!  

Eurotrip (Part I)

[First part of the series of posts to follow.]

 

‘Planning every step of life will only make you become completely lost.’ Khan.

I’ve a huge craving to travel. I always want to be travelling, meeting new people, seeing new places, experiencing the adrenaline of being lost and the joy of finding yourself. There was another big feather that added to my journeys in 2012 was my first international trip, as titled by my friends, my ‘Eurotrip’ ;)

My research paper got selected in the European Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL) Conference in Rome, Italy. It was the second time of having an opportunity to get myself out there and meet my dreams. This time I had enough experience how to deal with my college and get the permission to get to the conference. Also, by God’s grace the invitation came almost 6 months before the conference date and I had enough time in my hands to plan everything. There was a lot to plan out, the travel dates, and the places to visit, the college exams, finances, visa process, travel plans and so many minute details. I have a habit of planning every detail of my travel when I know from my experiences that it will never happen the way I have planned. It has been good so far with no bad experiences and under God’s care and the blessings and prayers of family and friends I know it never will go wrong!

The big deal of the trip was returning back and appearing for my semester exams in just 2 days time! Thankfully, the college had made arrangements for my practical exams to be handled after I return. *blessing* The entire staff was highly supportive. Things were tough from day one, managing finances was tough and the biggest hurdle was the visa process! I got my visa approved 12 hours before my flight departure and I just can’t explain the nervousness as the embassy had rejected the visa twice in a period of 4 days. I was SCARED. The two days before the journey, I had to be in Mumbai for the procedure and thanks to Mehul, who was highly supportive in the entire process.

This needs to be mentioned. The kind of help Mehul provided was simply beyond words.  This night, the last day of registration of the conference, I had to transfer €350 (28,000 INR) to be registered for the event, after which I would have incurred €150 additional late fee. I was online for 6 hours trying to do the payment and nothing worked! 3-4 cards, 2 bank accounts, all failed to transfer to the PayPal account of the organization. I was hopeless and then I pinged Mehul on Facebook chat in desperation asking for help. Without another word, he went ahead and voila! The payment was successful! I still cannot thank him enough! Just not that, he helped in the visa process, gave me a shelter before I left and also was there at 0100hrs to see me off at the airport with Gaurav sir. This guy is the man behind the world’s largest Batman community, Official Dark Knight Rises Community on Facebook.

Getting back, I was at the VFS collection center to get my passport at 1400hrs on 27^th September, and my flight was 15 hours later. Thinking of all possibilities, I waited there for a couple of hours and was handed the package around 1600hrs. Even my visa agent was surprised to see that I had been approved the visa within 24hours! I was filled with joy! I sat on the marble seat just outside the center, overwhelmed, calling all the people who were waiting to know the status. I was a huge moment! The last hurdle was cleared. I was going to board that plane to the city of love, Paris!  

Next post - Coming Soon!