Like every year, 2017 is now coming to and end. Like every year, the year brought its own adventures; somethings good and somethings not so good. Like every year, here comes a blog post reflection of the events in my 2017.
The year 2017 began with me going on a trip to Pune with my mom and a friend and his mom. The 4-5 day trip was an awesome way to begin the year and gave a good friend to my mom. I especially loved Lavassa, the artificial city created near Pune. Fun, laughter and joy filled trip, it was. The corn pattice were the biggest takeaway of this trip.
In Feb, I joined the Landmark forum for their beginner’s course. Had to face a lot of resistance from mom since they course was being conducted at odd hours (9AM-10PM). The course was a 3 day workshop. But was also followed by a 10 session program, which was held every Monday 7PM-10PM. So every Monday, my mom would not like my coming home so late and we would end up having a fight. But I survived 🙂
About the course: I don’t know how to capture the essence of the program. I joined it purely because it had been recommended to me by a few friends who were close to me. They did not tell me what to expect from it. So I walked in with a free mind. What transpired cannot be put in words. The course gave me a lot of new perspectives about life, about relationships and about my own self. I had a lot of honest and open conversations with my loved ones. Highly recommended to everyone.
In March 2017, one fine evening, I was about to go home from office. My boss called me in a room and told me my role had been changed. This was not the first time this was being done. Paytm loves playing ping-pong with its employees. No one (Except the CEO) can surely come to office knowing they would walk out with the same role in the evening. This ping pong disturbed me a lot. Within 5 minutes, I decided I had had enough. I was completely honest with my work and surely deserved better. Within 5 minutes, I put down my papers at Paytm. And where I had imagined to build a career, my journey came to an abrupt end.
People around me told me how I was harming my career by leaving Paytm. After all, Paytm was at its peak. People suggested I first find a job and then resign. But I had enough confidence in my own abilities to think like that. So I stayed put on my decision. For the next few weeks, some people avoided talking to me, some people applauded me and some gave me variety of advises. I was unmoved. I soon had good job opportunity in my hand and was about to join a company which is known to be an amazing company when it comes to its people.
Two weeks before my joining, Amazon HR contacted me. Although I had been approached by them many times in the past as well, but this one was a very senior profile and a role which was giving me the opportunity to build something India first. I decided to interview with them, knowing well I did not have enough time to prepare, no inclination to change cities and knowing that Amazon interviews take 2-3 months to close.
As destiny had it, without any prep, I sailed. I had an offer for the Bangalore office 5 days later. Change of city was a big thing even for me, let aside my mother. I was undecided till the very last. But to whomsoever I spoke, people told me to take it. And something in me wanted to try a new city life. So, I decided to make the Bangalore move.
On June 10th, I walked into Amazon India as a Principal Product Manager. The next one month was all about finding a new home, settling in a new city; especially for my mom. But she was more sporting that I could imagine. On July 10th, I walked into a house which was to be my home during Bangalore stay.
On Aug 1, I celebrated my birthday at Sri Ravi Shankar’s Ashram in Bangalore. One peaceful day it was. Seeing the guruji in person and seeing people’s devotion in him was heartwarming. My blog post on this day: https://dishachhabra.com/my-thoughts-2/happy-34th-birthday-disha/
On Sep 1st, I went on my second international trip. Seattle was an awesome experience. My experience is captured on my blog: https://dishachhabra.com/my-thoughts-2/seattle-trip/
On Sep 15th, I released my third book ‘Corporate Avatars’. The book brought together 12 years of my corporate existence, an year of writing and many months of editing and anxious wait. I was nervous at that time how would it do. But it has found its audience like my other two babies. In Oct, I did a formal book launch at Sapna Book Stores. The pride in my mom’s eyes and the company of few friends made the event memorable in my life.
Like every year, this year too, I waited to the India Inclusion Summit. This year was special because mom was also accompanying me for this event. Needless to say, IIS 2017 was humbling as always. My blog on IIS : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/india-inclusion-summit-2017-disha-chhabra
This year may end with a trip to Mysore 🙂
This year, me and my friends made difference to the lives of underprivileged children by giving away stationary and water purifier for Eklavya school.
Books I read this year and my ratings :
The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (4*),
50 Cups of Coffee: The Woes and Throes of Finding Mr Right (4*),
Godman to Tycoon : The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev (4*),
Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy (5*),
Rumi’s Tales from the Silk Road: A Pilgrimage to Paradise (5*),
Get Off Your “But”: How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up for Yourself (5*),
O’s Little Book of Happiness (1*),
Conversations That Matter: Insights & Distinctions-Landmark Essays Volume 1 (5*),
Fifty Shades Trilogy (Fifty Shades, #1-3) (4*),
Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy (3*),
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (4*)
Movies I loved this year: Ittefaq, Hindi Medium, Baahubali 2, Poorna.
What I learnt this year:
- Travel is fun and will always be. There is joy in solo travel.
- Nothing in the world is absolute. Its all perspectives.
- Things will happen when they have to. Planning in life has no meaning.
- Do what your heart says. The results would be more acceptable.
- Gratitude is so important component of happiness.
- All religions have one objective: to make you a good and happy human being.
- Respecting yourself is so so important.
- There is one person in everyone’s life who is your world. For me, its ma. No matter how I treat her, she would never ever leave me. In the long run, she has and is always right.
- Health is so important. Losing health is like losing everything.
- People run behind successful people. People themselves don’t know what is right but will always give you advice.
Disha's Writings 