Yet another 2021 has come to an end, breezing past us like the Flash on steroids. I sometimes have no idea if I am the only one struck at that moment in life when the world stopped working, and corona was going around everywhere. I do not mean to offend anyone who got corona, or undermine the seriousness of it, but for those of us who never actually ended up getting the disease, it was just an insanely long, restrictive holiday that played havoc on my academic capabilities and life, and made me get struck with a jail for a college. Oops, got carried away. Somehow, I never seem to miss a chance to tell the world how horrible my college is. Anyway, as I was saying, I have been struck in stasis in the years 2020-21, and I suppose that is going to stick until I pass out of college in 2025, hopefully with a placement offer and admission letter in hand.
Whether we recognize it or not, a year HAS passed us by, and I suppose we must reflect on it. I've seen a lot of blog posts detailing personal growth, the greatest technological advancements, yada yada yada, but when it comes to my life, sadly, scholastic achievements: NIL; academic improvement: negative; personal growth: also negative. But as an engineer, is that really what we should be focussing on? As Robin Williams pretty much put it perfectly,
And medicine, law, business engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.
So here is a list of my favourite stuff in 2023. The things that caught by attention, stole my heart, and made me feel a little better about 2020. Sorry, 2023.
Best Book
This is pretty much a no-brainer. Bibliophile as I am, I am definitely going to start with the best book. This is not a book that was released this year, though I got around to reading it just now. Shoe Dog, by Philip Knight, is the book of the year for me. The narrative style is outstanding, and the flow of the story is exciting. In the first couple of pages, when Philip describes his purpose in life, got me hooked, and I did not stop till I was done with the book.
Yes, I thought, that’s it. That’s the word. The secret of happiness, I’d always suspected, the essence of beauty or truth, or all we ever need to know of either, lay somewhere in that moment when the ball is in midair, when both boxers sense the approach of the bell, when the runners near the finish line and the crowd rises as one. There’s a kind of exuberant clarity in that pulsing half second before winning and losing are decided. I wanted that, whatever that was, to be my life, my daily life.
Best Movie
What. A. Movie. Literally the best movie of the year for me. The dialogues, the tension, the filmmaking, the shots. As a fan of Christopher Nolan, this was the most un-Nolanistic film I've seen, and oh my god did it blow my mind. At a time when I was disillusioned with the need to go to theatres to watch movies, this movie brought back my love for the big screen. The ending is one of my all-time favorite endings of alll time.
282 OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D) :We were worried that we'd start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world...
EINSTEIN: I remember it well. What of it?
OPPENHEIMER: I believe we did.
Best Song
Yeah, there are people with a sophisticated taste, Taylor Swift, the Weekend, etc. Let's just say I am a man of simple pleasures and simple tastes. My favourite song of the year, as guessed correctly by Spotify, is Na Ready, from Leo. Anirudh for Life.
Best Place
This year was the first year I actually got the guts and resources to leave the house at 4 in the morning, and set out to see the stuff of books and movies and Instagram reels: Sunrise at the beach. And darn wasn't it worth it. My favorite place in the city is the Blue Flag Beach, ECR. The best place to see the sunrise (that I've known and seen).
Fav Day
It's not every day that you get to see your hard work come to fruition. My favorite day this year was when me and my team, team BINS won our first-ever Hackathon, GreenBiz'23, held at G. Narayanamma Institute Of Technology and Science coming third from over 200 participants who had registered. The last 24 hours were nail-biting, and we prevailed in the end.
So that's it guess. As we step into this new year, we can only hope that this year and subsequent years are better than the last few years. See ya'll next week with a post! (New year resolution number 1: Write and post regularly on the blog).