10 Years hence
On 11th August 2006, exactly 10 years ago, a bunch of us graduated from IIT Bombay. Facebook was still an unknown entity back then. Otherwise my wall, which is usually busy with baby pictures and posts of memories from the past, would be flooded with ‘memories from 10 years ago’ posts. This day 10 years ago marked the beginning of a new phase of our lives as a responsible adults.
2006 was the peak of the housing bubble and a great time to graduate. The global economy was booming, India’s growth was testing double digits and anyone who was looking for job found one. It was a time when Lehman Brothers was the dream job, iPod was the cool gadget, Samsung still made washing machines, Yahoo Messenger was still popular and a pitcher at Laxmi still cost only 180 rupees. We couldn’t have asked for a better start.
However, the party didn’t last long. Crisis after crisis over the last 8 years meant living through some of the toughest times. We lived, we learnt and we all have stories to tell.
Remember campus placements when one of the standard questions you needed to have an answer for was — Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? I could never have imagined 10 years ago what this journey would be like or where I’d be today.
In these 10 years, I had the privilege of watching the global economy unfold from a front row seat, got to travel across over 25 countries, got the opportunity to study abroad at one of the best business schools and make friends with people from across the world. And it still feels like we graduated just yesterday.
The one thing I am truly proud of though is starting Tavaga. Never would I have imagined 10 years ago that I would be back in Powai, right next to the campus, running a company and providing employment to others.
All of this perhaps would have been possible without that piece of paper in the picture above. Although, I have to admit that that piece of paper opened doors and made this journey a lot easier.
If for nothing else, I have to thank the campus for introducing me to a great set of people I still call friends today. I’m looking forward to December when I get to meet some of my batchmates I haven’t met since graduation and hear their stories :)
