Looking Back at 2023

22-Dec-2023

One year is a long time. I tried to recall what all I did this year, and I hardly remember anything from the start of year. I had to look at the google photos of the year to rewind. 

2022 ended with my father, sister and brother-in-law spending about 10 days in Bangkok to mark their 25th Marriage Anniversary in December and I travelled back to India soon after they left and celebrated New year in India. There were many things unclear at the start of year both on personal and professional front and when I look back, 2023 has been a remarkable year. 

• Anvay was preparing for 12th boards and what he would be doing next was one of the open items. At the end of 2023, he is already finishing his B.Tech first semester at Manipal Bengaluru campus. It's a long way to go but there is a path to follow. It's a tough journey being away from home, staying in hostel with other roommates, adjusting to the new setup etc. 

• It was also not clear at the start of year when Myra and Pallavi can move to #Bangkok, although there was a tentative plan dependent on where Anvay goes for his studies. Finally, they moved in Aug 23, and its 5th month running, almost half year. Myra already going to new school and seems to have settled well. 

• Pallavi is still busy with the new work she found, and it keep her busy.  It's a good thing in general.
• I also got promoted to Associate Partner effective 1st November, and it's a major milestone achieved from my career point of view. It comes with its own challenges but isn't it true at every step-up of job or business. There are new challenges and new expectations. I prefer to slow down a bit. Year 2023 is also marked with few travels. 

• First to US Miami, Florida in May for the Golden Circle award.  Winning IBM Golden Circle award is a true recognition of all the hard work done over last five plus years.
• To Phuket, Thailand in August to celebrate wonderful H1 in terms of signings, revenue and utilization. Only countries which achieved targets were invited. 
• To Singapore in August also to a CPM trainer program. I also met some old friends Gangadhar, Arun Prasad and Munish Chaturvedi. 

• The only thing not great this year is my trading. I was hoping to do better after turning 2022 as profitable, but it ended as worst year. The losses spike up causing 27% drawdown (Apr - Dec 23). The saving grace was equity investments which balance almost all the drawdowns saving me from a significant net loss. I am not sure if this can be recovered soon but too many lessons to be learned. As of now, I just can hope that 2024 will be a better year. 

There are so many memories created this year, and hope 2024 will also be same. More memories!!

vA

Last month of the year 2023 and deepening losses

05-Dec-2023

Last month of the year, hurrah! The month has started with spending left over employee budgets to spend on events and dinners. We already had one, the cruise dinner on 01-Dec-2023. It was sort of okay, food was not bad, and in the end, we hope teams had a good time. 

Most of us worked out of Starbucks post lunch. I would say good day connecting with people and working other than office. There are few more events/ dinners lined up to the 2024 countdown. 

Anvay is having his first semester end exams and Myra soon will be going into Year 6 Term 2. Everyone seems to be getting into the holiday mood at least me. Hope, the end of the year doesn't bring any unexpected surprises. 

Next few months will be busy at-least on the home front, with Anvay travelling to Bangkok from Dec 14 - Jan 3, 24 followed by Pallavi's parents travelling around Jan 10 - Mar 7. Looks like, Jan to early March, I will be working from office on all weekdays. 😊

Equity investments looking good but trading going from bad to worse. I am looking to hit by the worst loss in Dec as markets rally significantly and I have been positioned on the short side. I haven't learned from the past mistakes. This is again so disappointing and depressing. 

vA

Another Deployment weekend!

18-Nov-2023

It is early morning and I am done with moving screens on my phone. My insomnia is getting worse with odd sleep cycles where I sleep early and wake up at 3/4 am. A lot of screen time to be honest. Well, last week was quite heavy. We had a major blocker for go-live and Thursday to Saturday went into solving the issues and going live. Well, all is well that ends well. In the end, deployment happened successfully so it was worth it. 

The weeks are passing by fast and everyone in here waiting for Mr Anvay to travel. I guess, it will be fun and busy December. Our lives are now back to a bit of a routine with Myra going to school, I am busy with the same office routine, and Pallavi trying to adjust to a new project. Myra's first team will end on 15 Dec. Pallavi's mom and dad will travel next year (mid-January to the start of March) to Bangkok. 

There is not much action on the investment and trading side. Markets are less volatile and I got again stuck in a losing position. However, my bias is that markets need to correct so this loss position shouldn't be a worry. I need to watch this out carefully. Large equity positions in #infosys, #hdfcbank, and #reliance are below the buy price and out-of-money options are not offering great premiums. Therefore, it is a bit dull and has only one out-of-money position on #reliance. However, this is the best portfolio gain I have had over the last few years where the net portfolio loss is only 17% mainly due to #yesbank. 

vA