2025 is about to end. Even though it is just a numeric change in the calendar and won’t have any impact on my life or, to be frank, on anyone’s life, we still somehow feel the need to celebrate it. Maybe because it symbolizes that we have survived yet another year amid all the chaos and struggle. But there’s nothing wrong with the celebration. We can take this as an opportunity to look back in time at how the past year treated us, and if we can somehow improve ourselves in the next year. I was quite occupied last week because the year was about to end and there were many deliverables at work. But usually by the second week of December, things cool down and everyone is in a holiday mood. There won’t be much to do for the rest of the days this year, so I wanted to take some time to write about the recap of 2025.
On a high level, this year was quite fun and uplifting. There were a few hiccups along the way, but that is something everyone has to deal with. I would still like to think of 2025 as a great year as I got to experience a lot of new things. I will utilize this post to write about the specific days or events that made 2025 worth living. And by the end, I hope that the next year continues to do the same.
Content
January
The year started on a great note as I had just finished a road trip to Banaras - Ayodhya - Lucknow in the last week of 2024. This was the time when I had become a little spiritual and was looking for answers to my troubles. I had hit one of the absurd “walls” and was about to commit philosophical suicide. But eventually it didn’t happen. I realized that this wouldn’t fix my issues and, in the end, I just enjoyed my trip as a vacation rather than trying to find answers.
But I was already VERY excited in January. I was about to complete one of my childhood dreams — going to see a Coldplay concert. The tickets were already confirmed and I was hyped. Apart from that, most of January was dull and silent with a little bit of going out since it was very cold here.
23rd January, 2025
Yash and I had our flight on 23rd Jan. Some of our friends had already reached Ahmedabad. Yash made the living arrangements easier and we were all supposed to spend 2 days in the Kensville resort which was very far away from the concert venue. But we planned this so that we could have a day or two to ourselves before the concert. The resort was so beautiful that I can never forget it. We reached on the night of the 24th, joined our friends at the airport, and left for the resort. We reached around midnight and we were all tired but it was all so new that we spent 2–3 hours just talking and only went to sleep around 3 AM.
24th January, 2025
The next day, we woke up early and went to explore the place a bit. Since it was a golf resort we wanted to try it out once. But for some reason it was closed that day or we were late for it — I don’t remember which one. So we just went to have breakfast and then took a walk around this beautiful place. Then Yash and I decided to go into the swimming pool. Everyone else was hesitant and they just stayed near the pool. But once they saw us having so much fun in the water, all of them decided to join us. We spent nearly 2–3 hours in the pool before we came out. Then lunch was served and later we went to our rooms to relax for a bit. In the evening, we went out again for a walk and the sky was beautiful. With shades of pink, orange and peach, it looked so magical. We just sat there in the golf field chatting for an hour or so about the concert.
25th January, 2025
This was it — the day that my younger self only used to dream of. But I had made it. I could feel a sense of accomplishment. None of us slept peacefully the last night as we were all so excited. But before leaving for the concert, we wanted to see if we could still try golf for some time. And to our good luck, we got the chance to play. Initially, it was difficult as the golf club is not at all like a cricket bat that we were all used to. But with time we understood the concept. It had just started to be fun when we realized that we might get late for the concert, so we left the resort.
We reached the stadium around 4 PM. There was a lot of crowd but everyone just seemed so happy, like children are when they get their favourite things. We went to our seats. The show had already started with the artists who were to perform before Coldplay. Jasleen Royal, an Indian artist, was supposed to play next. I had never heard of her before so it made me curious. She was good. She did a lot of songs but the one that stuck in my head was Ranjha. I liked the lyrics and music. Overall her performance was quite good.
Then, around 8 PM, we started to notice the vibe changing. We could feel that Coldplay was about to enter. And there they were. The crowd went wild. And the performance started with Higher Power. The lights, the music, the firepower — everything was mesmerizing. Then they played Adventure of a Lifetime. I was screaming my lungs out. Then came Paradise and it brought back so much nostalgia. The Scientist made me sad internally but I was still singing it. But soon Viva La Vida lifted me up. Then there were multiple songs like Hymn for the Weekend, Everglow, Yellow and Clocks.
Then Chris stopped to read some posters and talk to the crowd for some time. Then the next major performance was Fix You. All our bands changed their colors to yellow and everyone was singing in unison. It was perfect. I wish I could go back to that time again. And probably I will if they ever perform here again.
This was January. And the year had started pretty well. And here, I would like to thank Yash and Kirti for forcefully taking me to this concert. I didn’t want to go initially. But they forced me so much that I went through with it. At one point they even said to do this as a favour to them. And I am glad that I did, for it was truly the Adventure of a Lifetime.
February
I was looking forward to February as well because good things were lined up. First, I was already on my notice period and was about to join a new company on 13th February. This was exciting as it was a great role and above all it was a remote job. At that time I was tired of going to the office every day and thought a remote job would be much better for me. Do I still think so? Maybe not. After working for 10 months completely from home, I feel there should be a balance. But there are no companies here so if I change my current job I might have to relocate to Bangalore again, which is stressful in itself. Anyway, that’s not relevant here.
The second thing I was excited about was Kirti’s engagement. It was in Bangalore on 1st March. While my new job was remote, I planned to go to Bangalore in February so that I could visit my new office, collect the office laptop, attend Kirti’s engagement, and also spend Holi and my birthday away from home. I planned a trip for almost a month.
13th February, 2025
Nothing special happened on this day but I did want to mention it because I joined my new company on this date. It was a boring day with a long, monotonous induction meeting that was organized for 2–3 hours.
26th February, 2025
I went to Bangalore on the 26th. I arrived around afternoon and went straight to my Airbnb. This was also new to me because I had never taken an Airbnb before. I was not sure how it would turn out because I was going to share a flat with a complete stranger — and I am not really good with strangers. But everything went well. The host was kind and amazing and the room where I was supposed to stay was calm and cozy. It had a little balcony. There was a huge glass door that connected my room to the balcony. In the morning, sunlight would illuminate the place and there was a lot of greenery. I stayed there for about 15 days and I liked it a lot.
March
Then came March. I look forward to it every year. Maybe because I was born in March or maybe because the weather during this time is quite good. I do hate Holi, which also comes in March.
1st March, 2025
Kirti’s engagement was on 1st March. She asked me to come early so I could help in the arrangement of the function. I went to the venue in the afternoon and took some tasks to make things easier for her. She was stressed because she had organized the entire event and wanted everything to be perfect. I took over the responsibility of the engagement cake and the music. The function started at around 7 PM and everything went smoothly. I did feel a little awkward since I didn’t have a friend there — apart from Kirti, who was on the stage the whole time. So I just stayed in the corner and socialized a little bit with the 2–3 people (Kirti’s friends) from college who were there. The function ended at around 11 PM and then we realized that everyone forgot to cut the cake. I felt ashamed as it was my responsibility. Well, it was just my responsibility to get the cake — which I did — but I still felt bad because we missed it.
14th March, 2025
Or as I like to call it — Doomsday. On 12th March, I had moved from the Airbnb to Kirti’s PG because she used to live with her fiancé and her PG was empty, so I thought I might as well stay there and save the Airbnb money. On the midnight of 14th, I was lying on the bed wishing about something when at exactly 12:00 AM, I received a call from Pari. I thought she was calling to wish me. When I picked up the phone, she told me to come downstairs. At first, I was like — what? Because she lived very far from where I was staying and I was not expecting her to come in the middle of the night to celebrate my birthday. I asked her again and she said to just come down. And when I did, she was actually there with her elder sister. I got so emotional because she was not well at that time, but she knew that I was going to spend my birthday alone so she came. She had brought a cake, which I cut on her car bonnet because I couldn’t invite her to the PG as bringing additional people was not allowed. She also gave me a handmade birthday card and sneakers. She then went home and I came back to the room as I got calls from Yash and Varanaya.
During the day, I had no work because I took a sick leave. I didn’t have any plans but I thought that I would go out for some shopping and treat myself. But it was a very hot day and I just stayed in the room the whole day. Also, it was Holi that day so everyone was busy. But in the evening, Kirti called and made some plans to go out for my birthday treat. We went to this place called “The Bier Library”. It was open and beautiful but also very loud. I could see the clear sky and it was a full moon. Again, I had to cut the cake that Kirti had brought. I was feeling embarrassed because I had never celebrated my birthday in public before — at least the cake-cutting part. Later we had dinner and chatted about her wedding plans and then went home.
It was a great day because my friends made it so. Otherwise, I would have spent the entirety of it rotting on the bed.
20th March, 2025
While I had been in Bangalore for almost a month, I had not been to the office because of some access issues. I was working remotely. But on the 20th, I was called to come visit as my return flight was on 23rd March. I was very nervous and scared because it was a new setting for me. I didn’t know anyone and had only connected with one or two people over calls. But to my surprise, it was amazing. The office was huge and was covered with greenery and unique things. There was a life-size chess board, a basketball court, and many other things. The people I met were so nice and welcoming. I spent the day meeting my colleagues. In my last company, the office was kind of depressing with dark, empty corridors. But this was different. Almost as if I wanted to come back again.
April
Nothing exciting or unique happened in April. Or at least I can’t remember it now. I’ll add it here if I recall something.
May
May was kind of the month when I went on a spree of getting things for myself that I wanted for a long time. My work was going well and I thought that it was time that I gave something back to myself. Growing up, I used to like watches a lot but never got one until I was in class 10th, and that too after a lot of struggle. But now I wanted to have a nice watch and I bought one in May. It had a teal dial colour and I loved it as soon as I saw it.
Then, after a few days, I got my mind fixated on shoes. I am not someone who likes to have a shoe or sneakers collection but I did always love the Nike Air Jordan. I loved its design and always wanted to have one for myself. And coincidentally, I saw someone wearing one and then decided to get it for myself. I got the Jordan Mid Neutral Grey and absolutely loved it. I wear it almost every time I go out now. I don’t like spending money on myself and I prefer to get things for others that I care about, but it felt so good to finally get these things that I wanted without having to be dependent on someone for them.
Then on 6th May, it was Yash’s birthday. Last year we went for a road trip to Bodhgaya. This year we celebrated at his home. It was simple and quiet.
May was not all good either. Some things happened at home, but I don’t want to write about them here.
June & July
Summer is always quite dull as there’s not much to do with all the scorching heat. On the morning of 11th June, there was a power cut in my area. And to make things worse, they announced that it would stay for at least 30–36 hours. My inverter died around midnight and it was so hot that I couldn’t sleep. At around 4–5 AM, I decided to go to the new “Ganga Path”. The morning breeze was cold and I was lost in thoughts. I stayed near the water watching the sunrise and later came home.
July was nothing special either. Apart from a few local places, I didn’t travel much. I did get a very bad eye infection and had to use just one eye for 3 days. It was painful and annoying.
August
Monsoon had arrived and the temperature was falling. With the occasional road trip and the arrival of festival season, there were a few more things waiting to happen in August.
3rd August, 2025
A short road trip to the outskirts of the city. It was raining heavily. Yash, Aamir and I decided to go for a car ride to have some chai in the pleasant weather. Fun day.
9th August, 2025
Rakshabandhan. Mom went out of town. I was at home trying to tie the rakhis with one hand. After about 30 minutes of struggle I just gave up and told my sisters that I couldn’t do it on my own. I just sent them a picture with the rakhi kept on top of my hand. Even though they were not there, I still felt special for all the things they sent me. Saumya Di even sent me an astronaut coffee mug. And there were many other gifts. I felt pampered.
17th August, 2025
While searching for some new place to visit, we came across Barabar Caves on the internet. We found out that it is the oldest surviving rock-cut cave in the world. Can you imagine something so historical within an hour’s drive away from our homes and we didn’t even know about it? Yash and I went to see the cave as we like to explore historical places and since this was a heritage site from the 3rd century, there was no way we could miss it. The cave was extraordinary. It was shining so much from the inside that we could see our faces in the wall. Modern workers fail to get that much shine on granite but this was done with hand tools. It makes me wonder about our past. The guide explained a lot about the place and why it was made. All in all, it was an informative and fun trip.
During Rakshabandhan, Saumya Di had given me a drawing lamp as well. And in doing so, she instilled the idea of drawing again in my mind. I used to get a lot of free time now since my office time had changed. In my previous company I used to work from 1 PM till 10 PM. But now I worked from 9 AM to 5 PM. So in the evening I was almost free. So in the last weeks of August, I started to draw a little and it occupied my mind and also gave me something to spend my time on.
September
It was supposed to be a quiet September as well. I was about to stay in Patna and maybe plan to go to Bangalore in October since it had been some time since I went to the office. But there was a surprise event in the office and I was asked to come to Bangalore on 9th–11th September. I planned to go for a month but later changed it to a 2-week visit. I met Kirti on the 7th as it was a weekend and I would get busy the next week. The three days in the office were again fun. There was a team lunch planned and I got to meet some more new colleagues who were not present the last time I went to the office. After finishing off the office visits, I met Pari on 12th September before leaving Indiranagar. I was going back to Patna on the 14th but I wanted to spend the last 2 days in Kirloskar — where I used to live earlier. My friends say that I am too attached to that place and to be honest I really am. In the back of my mind I still feel that place is my home. After all, I spent almost 7 years there. I have such great memories of that place. I went to all the places I loved there — the park, Ikea, the mart and a few more. I stayed there for 2 days before coming back to Patna.
I was coming back on the 14th and Yash usually comes to pick me up at the airport. But this time, Taha was also in Patna and he joined us as well. It had been more than a year since I last met him. They picked me up and we went to a coffee house nearby. I caught up with Taha. He had just given his UPSC Mains exam and was refreshing his mind by traveling before starting his preparation for the interview. We pitched him the idea of going on a trip in October for 4–5 days. On that day, we discussed Meghalaya. Taha was hesitant but later agreed to join us.
But later while planning the trip, some things came up and somehow we ended up with the plan for Ladakh. Tickets were booked and I was excited. I was hoping for September to get over soon. There were still 2 weeks left in September and I spent most of it drawing random things.
October
As mentioned above, October was already supposed to be exciting. The Ladakh trip was ON! There was a time before the trip when some protest started in Ladakh which turned violent and it seemed like our trip would be cancelled. But nothing much happened afterwards and our plan stayed intact.
1st October, 2025
Yash and I arrived in Delhi around 7 AM. Taha was coming from Mumbai and we were supposed to meet him at the airport. Our flight to Leh was around 12:30 PM. We were on the flight. All of us had booked window seats on the left side of the plane because Yash said we would get a great view of the mountains. And eventually, we did. It was a short flight but we could see the entire mountain range, some of them even covered with snow. I had never seen something like that. And the mountains were so huge and seemed so close to us that it felt as if the flight would touch them at any moment. We arrived at Leh. Excited and freezing, we went to the resort. It was beautiful. The sky was clear and the sun was shining bright. We were advised to stay in Leh city for at least 48 hours before moving to higher altitudes to acclimatize ourselves. On 1st October, we stayed at the resort to rest properly. I did start to feel a little discomfort in breathing for a while, but it got better with time. At night, we went to the open field in the resort to stargaze. I had never seen so many stars with my naked eyes. I could see satellites moving and a few galaxy clusters which made the Milky Way pattern. I was awestruck and imagined — if this is what we are seeing from Leh, what will Hanle be like?
2nd October, 2025
We still had to spend the second day in Leh. We planned to explore the city. We went to the Hall of Fame, the Gurudwara and Magnetic Hill. On the way back to the resort, we went to the Sangam point which was pretty. The main thing about Ladakh was not just a particular point — it was the journey. All I could see on the road were these landscapes which were so huge that they made us feel insignificant. I asked Taha how great it would be to somehow watch this place when it was getting created by the collision of tectonic plates. In the evening, we went to the Leh market to do a little bit of shopping. I wanted to send postcards to everyone I know, but due to the protest the post office was closed. So I just got many postcards so that I could give them personally to those people when I meet them. Also, I got some handmade woolen clothes from some women who were knitting them on the street. Then we went back to the resort and called it a day.
3rd October, 2025
Now the day arrived when our ascent would begin. We left early in the morning for the mighty Khardungla pass. Since it was the end of summer there was hardly any snow in Leh. We were only expecting to see it at the higher altitude. I was excited as I had never seen snow. As the altitude started to increase I could feel it in my breath but it was nothing serious. We reached Khardungla and it was amazing. I wish that I could put it into better words but I feel it would still not be enough.
Then we left for Nubra Valley. It is known for its white sands and double-humped camels. We rode ATV bikes there and also rode the camels. The valley made it feel like a scene straight out of Star Wars or Dune — with white sand everywhere and nothing but sky-touching mountains as far as our eyes could see. Every day in Ladakh was getting better than the previous one.
4th October, 2025
I was most excited for this day. We were going to Hanle. It is a village in Ladakh which has been given the title of Dark Sky Reserve. It has zero light pollution — which meant the clearest night sky that I was about to witness in my life. It also has a space observatory. We were supposed to spend the night there to see all this. But before going to Hanle, we also had to see Pangong Lake — the famous lake from the 3 Idiots movie ending. It was on the way to Hanle. As we were getting closer, I saw a very deep blue colour emerging from between the mountains. It was odd since for the last 3 days all we saw was either the mountains or the snow. But this deep blue colour was so mesmerizing that I could not take my eyes away from it. The lake was so huge and it felt like it was changing colours based on the sunlight and clouds. Again, like anything else on this trip, this was also something I was seeing for the first time in my life.
Then we reached Hanle in the evening right before the sun was about to set. Slowly, we started to see the stars come out. But I noticed a big problem in our plan. It was a full moon night, which meant that the moon would be so bright that it would illuminate everything and hide the stars and galaxy clusters. And unfortunately, I was right. As the night progressed, the sky was so bright that it hid most of the stars. On top of that, Hanle’s temperature gets very cold at night and there is zero electricity in the village after 10 PM. We were disheartened that we came so far but couldn’t see much. But there was a telescope available and we decided to at least see some major celestial bodies with it. We saw Saturn, Vega star, the Seven Sisters star cluster and the moon. As we were going back to our cottage to sleep in the dark night with the temperature dropping to –5°C — I had an idea. I told Yash and Taha that the moon would go down in the sky later, around 2 AM, and then we would be able to see the Milky Way. We decided to wake up at 2 to give it a try. When the alarm rang at 2 AM, everyone was feeling so sleepy and cold that we didn’t want to leave our blankets. But from somewhere I got the courage and went outside to see the situation. It was completely pitch-black dark and felt like I was standing in an abandoned village. But the moon was still there — a little lower but still illuminating the sky. Of all the love I have for the moon — on that day I hated it the most. I went back inside again and told them that it was not clear. We were about to go to sleep when I proposed that we check again at 4 AM. The alarm rang again at 4, and again I took the courage to go out. Maybe my inner child who used to love astronomy and stargazing was pushing me to do this. And when I went out this time, the village was still dark but so was the sky. There was no moon. All I could see were stars — endless stars shining into infinity. I ran inside and told them to come out of bed. They were also shocked to see this. We had completely forgotten about the –5°C. We just sat there looking at the stars and talking about them.
5th–6th October, 2025
The trip was about to end. We were returning from Hanle to our resort. It was about 6 hours of drive. On the way back, we saw some more things like the hot springs and some local wildlife. We stopped at a few places to take pictures. We played some billiards at the resort and went to sleep. The next day, as we were approaching Delhi, I was both happy and sad at the same time. Sad because I was going to miss this beautiful place and the memories that I had just created. And happy because sometimes we should enjoy our own descent.
November & December
I don’t have much to add for these two months now. I did start reading philosophy in November and also started this blog. Maybe I will count it as self-improvement for this year. I read Camus and currently completed two of Kafka’s novels and am starting a third one. I’ll probably write my thoughts about them in a future post. And December has just started but it is safe to assume that nothing major is about to happen. As long as it ends on a good note. I will try to experience new things in the upcoming year. Lately, I am having the thought of taking a solo foreign trip. But it is a scary thought and I am still not sure. But even if that doesn’t happen, I will take a vacation in March anyway because “do it or don’t — you’ll regret both.”
Lookback
That’s all for this post. I have blabbered too much already. THE END.
