I use a smart keyboard on my phone and it informed me that the word I used the most this year was ‘bandwidth’. A quick survey among close friends and acquaintances revealed that they too may have used the word or its synonyms in max capacity. Which makes me think of our priorities and several things that distract us from them. Our accessibility to instances, physically or mentally which may hold importance yet, have the scope of avoidance. While in many cases it is letting go, in some it’s choosing delayed gratification. Time in the 24 hour day has become unconquerable. Despite giving the best fight, strategically or led by hard work, something somewhere is compromised.
Bandwidth is my word of the year, and it’s really a story about what I chose to give time to and what I couldn’t. I leave 2025 with the contentment that I chose the right battles to fight or gave into indulgences that led me to either be a better person or live that specific moment to the fullest. Beyond that, I really didn’t have the bandwidth.
The year began with a marathon, it was the shorter one but enough for a person of my ‘physical and mental blocks’, where running even a kilometer is an achievement to be celebrated. Driven by fatherhood, my motivation was the value I will be able to add to my child. To lead by example, is the only lesson I practice from Gandhi and where our thoughts meet. In one of his stories, he had once left eating jaggery himself before advising a child to regulate its consumption. The lesson was to practice what you preach. Well, I loved the way the year started and completing the marathon run grandly boosted in me the confidence that I can do anything, besides that, I can now make my child do anything.
This year, as a family we were able to spend some good quality time back in my village in Uttarakhand. It was very fulfilling to see the kid enjoy amidst the cows, the cats and the cool canopy of cedars. Despite the overload of Artificial Intelligence (AI), nature still wins in bringing the best out of us and holding us together.
Professionally, I moved from an institution of prime importance to the country’s economy to another that is dedicated to Learning and Development. From Indian School of Business (ISB), to ansrsource, I engrossed myself in the world of Global Capability Centers (GCCs). And it is fulfilling to the core because the GCCs validate that India, together and not just in pockets, has arrived. They promise great potential for the country and the generation to come. In true sense I believe that it will lead to sabka-vikas or development for all.
My bio/profile on Twitter/X reads, ‘Write to Express’. This pun is a genesis I used in the college years when I used to bunk to JNU and arising from among many exposures of social-activism where I had a brief brush of becoming a journalist. That was the Rang-de-Basanti year. My counter to many of their dafli-agitations over various ‘Rights’, that in many ways blocked routine life was to use the pen. Truly the purpose where the pen gets mightier than the sword. In 2025, it is fulfilling to be writing a weekly column for Reputation Today, India’s first magazine dedicated to the field of communication. I enjoy doing this every week with all authenticity. Nowadays, I am at times reluctant to ask AI to even proofread. It takes away the innate naturalness of the thought and expression. Relying on AI comes with the caveat of miscomprehension.
Discipline or Anushasan, as iterated and chronically reiterated by our parents and teachers from the first day of schooling and in my case to the last day of college in the scope and hope to resolve us, is the key to earn the gift of time. Besides my wife, and intended for happier bilateral relations of course, I promise myself that I will hold discipline as my biggest virtue in the coming year. To extract more from my bandwidth, I will choose to do fewer things and do away with those that may be tempting or distracting. Maybe, I’ll get that AI bot to keep up the time-table for me as we maintained one in school. To be honest, as I remember, it was just great to have done so much in a day back then and yet have the bandwidth to play a little more. As I step into another year, I carry the quiet resolve to live with deeper intent and purpose, cherishing each moment as the true gift of time.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
