Since the last time
It has been 13 years since Inter last reached the UCL Semi Finals. I went down a nostalgic rabbit hole to see how the life has changed since then.
We are closer to 2030 than we are to 2010, the year when for the last time Inter reached the UCL semi-final and ended up winning the trophy and completing the prestigious treble. I was thinking about that time. I am almost 27 now and I have spent half of my life since then. Time, when you put in this relative scale of things, is often bemusing. So I was thinking about the changes that have taken place in my life and probably the same thing happened with many of you, in different ways.
I am also attaching one song which suits the content of each paragraph well as I double down on some of the changes.
You’re missing: I will probably fail to estimate the number of people who have left us since 2010. Notably, for me, two of my grandparents have died. My maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather.
You’ve got a friend: Another big change. The friends I had back then were completely different from the ones I have now. Back in 2010, I couldn’t have envisaged that I won’t stay in touch with my good friends from school. Though I think I am far happier about my current set of peers than the one I had in school or mostly in college. I guess with time, it just filters out itself. And that is a good thing.
Simple man: My worldview has totally changed. About the job, success, relationship, happiness and everything. Back then I was only concerned about studying and my core belief was that only money will and can bring you happiness. It is not completely wrong but it is far from being completely right. Along with that, in a typical Indian middle-class family, you will often be told the stories of great men and women from our subcontinent and how one should follow them for peace and prosperity. This whole notion is also innately flawed. Prof. J Chakraborty summed up some shortcomings of this mentality nicely in his blog post.
Dream baby dream: A lot of things that I thought to be mere dreams, have become a reality. If I am being totally honest, my privilege has helped me a lot in this. And a few are still there that I haven’t achieved. But they seem to be closer to reality in 2023 than they were in 2010. I think we often overlook this fact. How much we have grown, and often in a better direction.
Find my way: Given a chance, the mistake I would correct is taking Engineering after 10+2. I didn’t know myself better. Should’ve gone for a more quant/math-based field while doing the bachelor itself. But hey, isn’t it the norm in India to find yourself after Engineering? And I think I have done fairly well in that.
At the end of the day, one has to be grateful for these experiences and these people. They made you what you’re today. How I feel about all these can be nicely summarised by this quote and this Simpson meme:
“We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives”
Can’t wait for the UCL Semis. Forza Inter!