Long Time, No See!
It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog, and so much has happened in 2024 that I hardly know where to begin. This year has been anything but ordinary. Every little incident brought a lesson, a shift, or a moment of transformation. If 2023 felt still and monotonous, 2024 came at me like a full-blown roller coaster. There were moments when the falls were steep and terrifying, times I shut my eyes tight just to get through, but by the end, I found myself smiling at the thrill of it all.
Let’s rewind a little.
A Pause That Became a Pivot
In September 2023, I left my job and came back home to Bhopal. My plan? To breathe for a while and figure out what truly excited me—new courses, new streams, anything that felt meaningful. Plus, I just wanted to spend time with myself and my family.
But by the third day, my father asked me, “What’s the plan?” That’s when I realized that just breathing wasn’t going to be a valid life strategy.
I knew my next step had to have purpose something that truly mattered. Whenever I thought about purpose, two fields kept coming to mind: education and health. I felt particularly drawn to education, eager to explore and challenge the sector. The big question was figuring out the what, when, and how.
Failure, Reflection, and Rishikesh
With a postgrad degree in marketing and 3.5 years of experience in marketing research, I decided it was time to pivot. I wanted to understand product development more deeply, learning about user psychology and creating something truly valuable. After some digging, I found an online course in product marketing and management and enrolled in October.
The course ended in February, but not without its share of drama. To complete it, we had to submit and pass a final project, and we were given three chances to score 70%. I failed all three attempts. My final score? 69.49%. Close enough to sting, right?
By January, during my birthday week, I had already failed once. That week, I traveled to Rishikesh, not because of the failures (that’d be too dramatic even for me!) but because I needed a break. At the same time, my relationship with my family hit a rough patch for reasons that don’t really matter now. What mattered was that everything felt off-track, and I had to pull things together. Rishikesh seemed like the perfect place to reset.
That’s also when I picked up The Forty Rules of Love, a book that felt like personal therapy. Its words calmed me in ways I didn’t expect, especially when I received my second failure email. I was sitting in the Zostel, watching the rain through the window, reading the book, when the email popped up. I glanced at it, set my phone aside, and went back to reading.
The next morning, I gave myself a pep talk, spent hours by the Ganga, attended the Ganga aarti, and booked a ticket back to Bhopal. I knew I had to work harder on my project.
I poured my heart into it, resubmitted, and waited. Ten days later, the rejection email came. My chances with this course were officially over.
Strangely, though, I didn’t feel defeated. Instead, I thought, What could actually test my skills? Volunteering on a live project in the mountains seemed like a pretty good idea, believe it or not!
A New Chapter in Bhimtal
In April, I packed my bags again and headed to Bhimtal, a serene town in Uttarakhand, to volunteer with a startup dealing in organic products. Before leaving, I got myself a camera—something I’d always wanted.
Those 10 days were a whirlwind of activity. I shot product photos, wrote scripts and blogs, recorded voiceovers, created videos, and even squeezed in a daily game of badminton. It was fun, no doubt, and the beauty of Bhimtal was incredibly calming. I also made three friends, Sheetal, Sheetal di and Rishi Uncle.
One morning, after a badminton game, I met a couple in their late 50s. The husband, Rishi Uncle, turned out to be a renowned wildlife photographer with a wicked sense of humor. He even shared a story about turning down Vidhu Vinod Chopra for a photo shoot because he didn’t like the way he spoke. Respect! He still asks my whereabouts and replies on my WA stories. 😀
After 10 days, it was time to say goodbye to Bhimtal and people. I made a quick stop in Rishikesh (because how could I not?), spent a few peaceful days there, and then returned to Bhopal. Those few weeks felt like a reset. I worked, learned, and found moments of peace. But soon enough, reality came knocking, I had to start preparing for interviews.
And that’s where the story picks up next. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I dive into the chaos and clarity of the interview process! 😊
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