2009 - The year roundup

It is that time of the year where we reflect upon the year that went by and look forward to the new year. For some reason it felt like this year went by very fast and I am glad it did. I remember at the beginning of the year, I had wished that this year should go by fast because of the recession, job losses and a lot of uncertainty.

This year was dominated by the recession. I felt the effect of the recession when there were layoffs in my company and our company was not doing well. Till that time I did not personally feel the effects of the recession. The economy picked up quite a bit in the last half of the year although the unemployment rate is still high.

Personally it has been a good year for me. My father retired and I was glad to have been able to be with him on his day of retirement. We took a trip to Orlando Florida and it was quite enjoying. On the work front, it has been very satisfying. In the first half of the year, I got an opportunity to learn how to work with the rating engine. I also got an opportunity to work with off shore developers. It is a different experience as you are working with someone on the other side of the world. For the first time I understood why the companies put so much importance on good communication skills.

The second part of the year gave me an opportunity to lead a project and also design a solution. These were my next steps professionally. I wanted to be involved more on the design level and also wanted to groom myself to be a leader. These two projects gave me those opportunities. We will know the results next year how successful I was in these roles.

This was also the year when most of my close friends  became parents. It is like a wave. Three years ago one after another everyone got married. And now everyone is starting the family. On the technology front, the iPhone became an even bigger phenomenon and we saw a lot of smartphones like iPhone coming into the market. Verizon came up with Droid phone. Google released Google Wave, an interactive platform for people to communicate.

Microsoft came up with a rival search engine called Bing. I did not expect it to actually give competition to Google Search engine. Now Microsoft has struck a deal with Yahoo to power Yahoo searches using Bing. Look at the turn of the tables here. An year ago, Microsoft was working on a hostile takeover of the Yahoo search engine. Now they have come up with a product which would run the Yahoo search engine.

In the United States, the healthcare reform bill was in the news. It is one of the promises that Obama made during his campaign. But there was a lot of backlash for the reform because it would increase the deficit and also there was a public option that was supposed to be a competition for the other insurance firms. As of now, the public option is removed and it has passed the senate vote. Looks like it is going to be passed in some shape or form.

China is emerging as a strong force post recession. They have aspirations to be the next super power. Even India has done well post recession. I hear people taking India's name very often  these days. China and India are sometimes talked about in the same breath. It is a big welcome. The climate change got a lot of attention  this year. There were a few big conferences held this year.

Back home there was a tragic death of YSR and before that his massive victory. Until he died, I did not understand the importance of YSR in the Andhra politics. I did not know that he had so much control over the state. It seems he kept the Telangana movement under control and it is only after his demise, the movement got a huge momentum which led to the center's declaration that the new state will be created. After 2 weeks and after so much of resistance from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions against the division of the state, now the center has reversed its stand. This will lead to more violence. The center's endorsement for Telangana has opened a pandora's box for the creation of 7 more states.

Among the movies released this year, I liked 3 Idiots, London Dreams, Dil Bole Hadippa, All the Best, Kick, Hangover. Ranbir Kapoor was the best entertainer for me this year. This year will be remembered for the death of the greatest Pop icon Michael Jackson. It was the most shocking entertainment news of the year.

The things I look forward to next year is my wife's graduation, my parents' visit, my success as a leader and taking steps towards being an architect, more innovations and peace. I wish all of you a very happy new year. See you next year.