Sabbatical: First half of the sabbatical

Blog 18th July 2019 - Story so far

This is the second blog of my ongoing sabbatical.See the first blog here.

Time flies but memories last forever. The first three months have passed already. It didn’t go strictly as per original plan but I’ve loved every minute of it. In hindsight it was the right decision to take. Change of scenery, perspective & routine is so refreshing.

#Lessons so far...

I think we get so caught up with work and other responsibilities that we just go through the motions without stopping to reflect. When we are going full throttle, we don’t realize how much we need rest & other important things in life until we slow down!

Our world prefers hard work and delayed gratification! Inertia of stability & security always trumps straying too far from home & job. Everything revolves around these two with self justifying loop of risks! I am feeling really at ease after getting into sabbatical.This roll of dice gave me the taste of a different life I was ignorant of(hope I won’t regret it as ignorance is bliss at times)! I am at ease about most of the things that use to stress me. A feeling that my family can be happy with far less makes me grateful for what I have.

I am in touch with some of office mates. Work does cross my mind at times but it doesn't make me nervous :) I love the work but I was just tired. Rare work related calls, probably implies that I haven’t burdened anyone & handover/transition worked.Team stepped in to fill the gap really well which is absolutely fantastic.

In a recent discussion, a friend told me that transitioning from glue to grease is more effective & stress free way to work after certain time in career. We discussed lot of things with some crazy laughs but this glue & grease discussion stuck to me!

Finance is a little shaky due to unexpected investment & other unplanned expenses(Lesson: Never ever visit a gold souq in Dubai with wife!) but still in control to comfortably see through the sabbatical.

# My major goals at the start of sabbatical were :

1.Health
2.Freedom from obligations to live a carefree life
3.Investment in relationships

Other Goals were

4. Learn new skills
5. Step back and rethink the direction of life.Try to find a purpose!

My original plan was mainly to be in north of India around summers which is comparatively cooler and monsoon/winter towards mid-south.

# What really happened :

# Phase1 : April to May - Hometown

We started travel on 30th March (the next morning of last working day) & reached my hometown(Biraul, Bihar).It is in Gangetic plain near foothills of mighty Himalayas. A humble place in terms of modern developments but can boast of no pollution, greenery & people with smile everywhere. For me this place is center of the universe due to my mother & rest of the clan.

My plan was to spend a week or two there and leave for Nepal. Few weeks ended up becoming a month and then 2 months, thanks to my mother.

I was not too worried about change in plans. One thing that is quite familiar to us in the software development is that no plan survives after first iteration(Agile eh?) hence we adapt & iterate :)

Major highlights of these 2 months were

1. Investment in relationships: Me and kids met long lost relatives.Spent quality time with near and dear ones. Kids listened to family stories and history. Attended wedding, birthdays and parties.

2. Finding the purpose of my life: This will be my life project and payback to society attempt. Started my first step in that and invested some unplanned money for that. This is my sabbatical souvenir for future self. More on this later ;)

3. Spiritual and social re-invigoration: There is positive side of everything. Soak that and discard rest.

4. It wasn't all fun though: Did spend lot of time on non-fun but important activities like Judiciary(a close relative going through an ugly divorce), land consolidation, building construction issues etc.

Had few meltdowns with kids having nothing to do and ending up with constant feuding. I am still clueless on how to deal with it!

#Phase2 : June - Dubai

Initial plan to be in Dubai was around end of Ramadan & Eid(May end) to experience local custom & festive mood but that couldn't happen. We reached Hyderabad on 12th June, cleaned up the house a bit, repacked and were off to flight for Dubai on the same day.

My sister and her family lives in Dubai and were eagerly waiting for us. Got Indian style warm welcome at Dubai airport :) 12 days plan ended up becoming a month long trip.

Major highlights of this month were:

1. UAE tourism: Malls, Burj, fountains, aquarium, parks, Yatch tour, Grand mosque, The Frame, barbecues, long drives, shopping, night life, desert, Jais mountain etc.

2. Met lot of relatives & family friends(expats of different nationalities) I wasn't aware of. Had some memorable evenings with delicious food.

3. Met my college mates to explore Dubai's night life for few evenings and to be honest it did surprise me!

4. It was wrong timing for UAE visit though as heat in the day was mostly unbearable.

I haven't been able to focus much of health so far or any skill development which is a shame & not what I originally hoped for.Did play with gold rate prediction model using TensorFlow on a RaspberryPi3 but yet to conclude it.

Some random swimming sessions and sporadic back strengthening routines is all I could manage. Regret missing sky diving there (a bucket list item) due to back ache worries.

#Phase3 : July - Kolhapur-Delhi-Goa

We reached Kolhapur(in-laws place) after spending 5 days in Hyderabad. It is actually a residential sports academy run by family focused primarily on Cricket. So while missus is busy chit chatting, I can focus on health. I am now waking up early for a change, to workout/play cricket. Post warm-up routine, batted for 42 overs in front of a bowling machine at the bowling speed of 130KPH. That was exhausting!

The plan of Goa is being pushed forward due to various family events. I am currently in Delhi to support my nephew's admission in a premier engineering college. Expecting to catch-up with few friends here as well.

I hope to switch gears from rest to health & upskilling with some more travel in the second half before this dream is all over.