The Year That Was - 2023

A snapshot of the year in numbers

Goodbye beautiful 2023

Books read - 61 (Wooden on Leadership, Murder at the Mushaira)

Movies watched - 67 (Balagam)

Publications

- Review of 'Unveiling Jazbaa' in the Deccan Chronicle 
-Blogs - 307

Events -
Moderated session on sports writing at the Hyderabad Literary Festival with authors Ayush Puthran and Madhavi Lata in January
Was MC at Bobby Rao's book launch at Secunderabad Club, end of January
Raised a toast at Brother Joseph's 75th birthday (first time)
Panelist at the Hindu-Sportstar Sports Conclave  

Part of the first alumni meet at the Dance Department, University of Hyderabad, a huge affair
MC at the prize distribution ceremony at the senior zonals tournament, Hyderabad

Travel -
Pune (Shanivar vada, Vetal tekdi)
Mumbai 
Bangalore (Attur Lake)
Mahabalipuram
Cuttack (Mahanadi, Ravenshaw University)
Vizag (RK Beach, Hotel Daspalla, Raju gari dhaba)
Jaipur (Hawa mahal, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Lassiwala, India Coffee House, Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort, Jagat Shiromani temple)
Ajmer (dargah)
Pushkar (Pushkar lake, desert ride, sand art museum)
Delhi (India Gate, Humayun's tomb. Qutub Minar, Jama Masjid, Karim's)

Local - 
Bansilalpet stepwell?

Talks (2)
School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, March 
Talk at Usha Goteti's dance school, March  

Assignments

A 6 month training and coaching assignment with Backflipt

A 3 month teaching assignment at the Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad

A contract as Chief Selector for the Hyderabad Cricket Association

 

Workshops Conducted (7) -
Building Leadership Muscle (2 days) - Backflipt
Winning by Design (1 day) - Backflipt

Champion's Mindset, SMS, University of Hyderabad (4 days)
Building Leadership Muscle  (1 day) - Sparity
Leadership workshop (2 days) - Panzer Solutions
Winning by Design (3 days) - Psiog

Workshops Attended
Money Matters by Audrey, 

Teaching
Art Management -University of Hyderabad, 

Coaching -
Vijay Sabbu, Sudhir, Rajeev, Sudi 

Mentoring- Hemanth, Abhinay

 

People met -
(Cricketers) John Wright, Jonty Rhodes, Vinay Kumar, MSK Prasad, L Balaji, Tilak Varma, Siraj, R Sridhar
(Writers) Jerry Pinto, Ayush Puthran, Madhavi Lata, Connor Sharkey, Abhinay Renny, Ushal Akella, Mani Rao, R Sridhar, Harshavardhan, Gouri Dange, Deepti Naval, P Sainath, Gita Ramaswamy, and Sandhya Iyer

Experiences
- Music Festival Bandlands at Bangalore - Deep Purple, Goo Goo Dolls, Parikrama, F16s, Parwaaz, Thermal and a Quarter
- Music concert - Thaikudam Bridge at Hyderabad
- Dance programs at Ravindra Bharathi organised by my students - Gangadhar, Radhika, Shiva
- Plays 'Dear Omana' and 'Miya Biwi ke Mantaka'

- Watched one World Cup match - Sri Lanka vs Pakistan at RGICS, Uppal
- Watched sunset at Nahargarh Fort  

- Buying myself Rajnigandha flowers
- Walking on the road aimlessly in pure bliss after beating Mumbai in the Mushtaq Ali tournament

 

Gifts - Books, Shoes, Clothes, Travel, Pens

Writer's Meet - We had several writer's meets and lots of fun

People Lost - It has been a year of great trauma with the passing away of Ranjan, of Baig sir. Of Anil Kak and of Abdul Azeem.