Lap 24

Twenty-four is a big number. More than one/fourth (or more) of my life is behind me now. At this point, I truly feel like I have become an adult, mentally and physically. Another year seems to have gone by quickly. I still vividly remember writing 23 and Counting and here I’m writing the next one so soon.

Probably the lowest I ever felt on my birthday, with the loss of Abraham and on the other hand, medical issues with a dear one. Didn’t even felt like birthday was almost here. The loss of Abraham taught me to care for people more and cherish everyone. I’m grateful to all the people who supported and cared for me and others during times of grief when things went numb. Thank you!

For the first time ever, I went to the office on my birthday. This probably would become a norm in coming years. Didn’t feel like doing anything, so just went to office. The cake, wishes and calls kept coming in throughout the day. I’m grateful to all the people around for remembering. :)

This year marked my first “official” job switch, where I moved from MakeMyTrip to Unmukti as a GNU/Linux Network Systems Engineer (that’s a mouthful of a job role, I know) where I do anything and everything ranging from system admin, network engineering, a bit of social media, chronicling stuff on the company blog and bringing up new applications as per requirement. Moving from MMT to Unmukti was a big cultural shift. From a full-blown corporate with more than 3 thousand employees to a small 5-person team. People still think I work for a startup on hearing the low headcount, though Unmukti is a 13 year old organization. I get the freedom to work at my own pace and put my ideas in larger technical discussions while also actively participating in the community, which I’m truly grateful for. I go full geek here, and almost everyone here is on the same spectrum, so technical or societal discussions just naturally flow.

Months of August-September again marked the Great Refresh. For reasons unforeseen, I have had to pack my stuff again and move, albeit just next door for now, but that gave me the much-needed opportunity to sift through my belongings. As usual, I threw out a boatload of stuff that was of no use and/or just hogging space. My wardrobe cupboard finally got cleaned and sorted, with old and new clothes getting (re)discovered. The Refresh is always a pain with loads of collating stuff in carry worthy bags and hauling stuff but as usual, there’s nothing else I can do other than just pack and move.

This year also culminated our four plus years of work organizing the annual Debian conference, DebConf to India. DebConf23 happened in Kochi, Kerala from 3rd September to 17th September (including DebCamp). First concrete work to bring the conference to India was done by Raju Dev who made the first bid during DebConf18 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. We lost but won during the next year’s bid at DebConf19 in Curitiba, Brazil in 2019. I joined the efforts after meeting the team online during DebConf20. I initially started with the publicity team, but we didn’t need much publicity for the event so I was later asked to join the sponsors/fundraising team. That turned out to be quite an experience. Then the conference itself turned out to be a good experience. More on that in an upcoming DebConf23 blog post, which will come eventually.

Update - A Late, Late DebConf23 Post.

After seeing how things worked out in Debian in DebConf20, I had the goal to become a Debian Developer (DD) before DebConf23, which gave me almost three years to get involved and get recognized to become a DD. I was more excited to grab sahil AT debian.org, a short email with only my name and no characters after it. After, quite a while, I dropped the hope of becoming a DD because I wasn’t successful in my attempts to meaningfully package software. But people in Debian India later convinced me that I had done enough to become a Debian Developer non-uploading, purely by showing up and helping around all the Debian conferences. I applied and got sponsored (i.e. supported) for my request by srud and Praveen. Finally on 23rd Feb, I officially became part of Debian project as 14th (at the moment) Debian Developer from India. Got sahil AT debian.org too. For some grace, I also became a DD before DebConf23. Becoming a DD didn’t change anything much though, I still believe it might have helped secure me a job.

Also worth mentioning is increased interest in OpenStreetMap (OSM) mapping. I heavily mapped this year and went around for mapathon meetups too. One step towards a better OSM and more community engagement around it.

Looking back at my blog, this year around, it seems mostly dotted with Debian and one OSM post. Significant shift from the range of topics I used to write about in the past year, but blogging this year wasn’t a go-to activity. Other stuff kept me busy.

Living in Gurugram has shown me many facades of life that I was shielded from or didn’t come across earlier. It made me realize all the privileges that have helped me along the way, which became apparent while living “almost” alone here and managing things by myself.