2012 !!

                                                                   Isle of White

2012 was a year of great accomplishments both professionally and personally. Professionally, I don’t know if I did a job well-done, but leaned a lot. This year, I worked on varied projects and enjoyed it. Future looks bright with CNR!! Personally, we (we and my wife) showed great courage to conquer the Caledonian challenge, which is a 54 mile walk in the Caledonian mountain range in 24 hrs continuous walk. The Journey was memorable in many senses.  In one of the incident I met a guy in my group who taught me some great lessons in leadership and professionalism.The ability to inspire and encourage by becoming a role model. During the journey, I had to climb up a steep mountain face which is called the devil’s staircase. We both were struggling after we walked continuously for ~ 20 miles. It was wet and getting dark. On top of that I had to survive the wild bug bites around my head. I wasn't carrying any bug repellent, but I had a net which I wrapped around my head and neck area. This certainly made it more difficult for me. I thought to end this journey at the next checking point, which is about 10 miles away. My group was heading faster and suddenly disappeared, but we kept climbing at our pace. Then after some time I saw few guys from my group already at the peak and ready to descend. We were very embarrassed as we were way behind and I didn't want them to be interrupted because of us. Few minutes past I saw a man walking down the hill towards us. I thought he has given up already and going back to the check point. As he approached closer, he looked like a familiar face. In fact, he is the fittest and oldest man in our group. I was actually overwhelmed by the fact that, he actually climbed down the devils staircase to check with us if we are fine. I couldn't imagine he came down to accompany us taking extra pain to support his group members. How generous is that.That is how a team should work, the strongest in your team shouldn't suppress the weak rather they should uplift them. We were so impressed by his abilities, that I didn't look back there after. He became a great company for rest of our journey. And from the group of six, only we were the three could complete the journey. You often encounter people like him in your life and wonder where these  leaders are made?

I did my Isle of Skye trip in November, driving through great Cullins hills was an amazing experience. Exploring the western highlands of Scotland is always great fun. We made it to Trossachs, Glenco, Fort William, Avimore this year. Apart from this, we had an amazing experience at Isle of White in the beginning of the year. And we had our Christmas in Glasgow this year.  Hope to see more of it next summer. 2012 was satisfying, as I didn’t loose my passport this time. That spared me few days to spend with my family in India. I wish, 2013 brings about more excitement in my life.