5 Things I am grateful for in 2021
1. Experience at Samsung R&D
At Samsung R&D Bangalore, I was working with the most amazing manager and mentor Ankur Deshwal who guided me along every step and gave me the confidence to compete with others at the workplace, and applauded my achievements. I absolutely miss my mentoring sessions with my manager and I am ever so grateful for my learnings at Samsung. I never thought I would be able to start mentoring other people but under Ankur’s guidance, I mentored interns, and that substantially helped me gain confidence in my skills. I published a research paper as a first author during my time at Samsung and presented the paper at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS). I received Samsung Spot Award and Super Tech Innovator Award for these achievements. I am grateful for having worked at a place where everyone helped me learn and supported me during my learning journey.
2. Journey as a Grad Student at Texas A&M University, Mays Business School
I got admitted to various universities in the United States including Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University, Kelley School of Business, Imperial College London (Online Program), University of Maryland, College Park, and a few more. I decided to go to Mays Business School for pursuing a degree in Management Information Systems as I wanted to learn a mix of technology and business. I am grateful that after the deadly third wave of Covid in India, I could make it to the States for starting a new journey. I have learned so much in the past few months not only from an academic standpoint but in managing life in a new country altogether. I will be sharing the list of top colleges for MIS in the United States and the advantages/disadvantages of each college.
3. Support from my family
I am grateful that my family has supported me through the thick and thin and helped me when I was going through a very tough time trying to navigate the next career step for me and taking the decision of whether I should pursue higher education or not. I am extremely overjoyed that despite the circumstances developed due to Covid, my sister got married and she had the most beautiful wedding ever.
4. Support from my friends
I am grateful that my friends have stuck by my side throughout the year, especially when I had a bad mental health phase. I would like to highlight how my friend Dishani Lahiri has always been by my side and she helped in each and every stage of SOP writing, SOP reviews, and university selection. Going for higher education can be a challenging decision and the guidance from family and friends can be powerful. I would also like to thank Himanshu Mangala sir, who was my senior at Delhi College of Engineering and now a final year grad student at Georgia Tech University, for hand-holding me through the process and picking up my panic calls whenever I needed his help. I am also thankful for the new friends I made at Texas A&M University who made it feel like home in a new country.
5. Krishna Consciousness
I have been a follower of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for the past 8 years now. I got introduced to this community through a spiritual trip in Radhakund along with my sister’s family. I am so happy that I understand this philosophy and the teachings of ISKCON. Over the past one year of lockdown, I have been able to enhance my devotion by listening to a lot of lectures online hosted by his divine grace Vichitra Krishna Prabhuji who runs a Hare Krishna center in Delhi and nourishes hundreds of devotees with his lectures (virtual as well as in-person). During the covid period of total lockdown, I was able to consistently chant a fixed number of rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra which gave me peace and joy. Even if I have had many failures in the materialistic sense during the day, chanting gives me a sense of spiritual success. It’s difficult to manage spiritual life in grad school and it would be interesting to see how I balance it in the next semester.
Last but not the least, I am grateful I could make it back to India for the winter break and spend New Year with my family and friends.
