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I have always wanted to do this introductory post and it is long due. I can't think of a better time to post it as I have just crossed my 100 Followers. So I thank each and every one of you for your time and kindness to read, like, tip, comment, feedback or follow. It has inspired me to keep writing and for someone who gives up pretty easily, it does mean a lot.
(Lead image source)
How I wish we knew our own selves as good as we claim to know or judge others. We claim to see through all those veils and layers trying to unmask and uncover others and yet we know nothing about our own existence. Maybe we just know it superficially. If it wasn't so, our personalities won't be so deep-rooted beyond the skin and would have been easy to change. How I wish I knew myself better. Here I stand at the crossroads trying to do an introductory post confused about which way to steer and what to cover. After all, all those years lived can't be caged within the confines of a few hundred words. Can they now!
I have been a bit of a confused soul who ends up doing the opposite of what's needed in life. Like, for instance, rather than taking the straight shortest road, I end up taking the road less traveled, maybe not traveled at all, more time-consuming, draining, and difficult for sure. I wonder, where to begin. A story needs to start somewhere.
The beginning
Let's start from the place I was born. I think origin defines us all, more strongly than anything else. That's where our roots lie. And my roots lie in one of the most insanely beautiful places called Kashmir. It's known differently to different people, some call it the most militarised zone in the world, some disputed, some scary but for me It's home.
As Aga Shahid Ali says, "If home is found on both sides of the globe, Home is of course here, and always a missed land".
I was born and raised in a city that ended up being my lamppost. From suffering to pain, love to compassion, caring to share, hope to despair, it taught me well. It gave me the life and the spirit to be resilient.
Aga Shahid Ali called it, "The city from where no news can come" and rightly so.
The sheer beauty of the vast majestic mountains, gardens, meadows, and lakes have helped me understand not just beauty but the soul of it. While my soul appreciated all this beauty, it also saw the blood. Kashmir has a long political history with different narratives scattered all around. Being disputed as per UN convention means extremely high military presence with military personnel deployed every 50 meters. Anyone who grows through it cannot just press the reset button. It leaves deep scars and affects mental well-being in one way or the other. There is so much to write about it. However, I'll leave that for another day.
"Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast"
The Persian couplet describing Kashmir's beauty translates to,
"If there is a paradise on earth, It is this, it is this, it is this"
I was born in a family which stressed more on the fundamental values of humanity and spirituality. Sufism was deeply embedded and a major influence on my early years of growth. I grew up with people of different faiths and races appreciating and accepting diversity. I was taught to be fearless in voicing my thoughts and opinions and not care for being judged and also not judge others. They say, "You can tell a book from its cover", but I was taught otherwise. You don't judge anyone for you are not perfect yourself.
Home - A Missed Land
'Alchemist' had a great influence on my early years. Like it says, "If you want something really bad, the whole Universe will conspire to make it happen". The meaning of my name translates to a Shepherd in one of the languages and that also happened to be a reason for me to resonate with it.
Writing has always found me even though I have mostly tried to evade it. I think expressions need a way of showing and for someone like me, it comes through writing. From the far-off realms of the human mind to the narrow confines of my own, I try to find reason, logic, purpose, and value. The ideas come and go way too often and way too fast, and it's really hard to catch and make something useful out of it. My imagination keeps drifting and most of the time, it's hard to construct something meaningful given those thoughts don't stay with me for too long and procrastination doesn't help either. Maybe I question too much, ponder a tad more, and get lost. Life is simple and yet overly complicated at times. I am a seeker looking out for new paths to walk and new goals to achieve. I don't know if that's the right approach but then again who do I need to impress. Life is full of diversity and I take it as a journey where I am both the driver and the passenger. I believe in the goodness of humanity but I also know survival can get the beast or the best out of humans. What is life if you stop believing in goodness? The last couple of years have been hard. Besides, appreciating things that we had taken for granted, it also taught the importance of freedom. It gave time for everyone to heal. People sought out new hobbies, experiences and tried to explore spaces they had never done before. I tried connecting with my inner self deeply and spiritually. I think at the human level, we need more of that, more so through such times.
Tree pose - Vrikshasana atop 14000 feet
(I was finally able to take that 7-day lake trek last year that I had been longing)
I don't have any defined long-term goals and I live one day at a time. I do have dreams. I want to travel and keep exploring new places, try understanding people and cultures. I want to learn and keep adding skills so that I can be of value and help others along. If you create value, you create an opportunity and hope the rest falls in place.
Stepping into the Cryptoverse
I was introduced to cryptocurrencies by a colleague of mine while traveling for work back in early 2016. I had no idea what it was, neither the crypto nor the blockchain. I had faintly heard of bitcoin and remembered it to be some sort of gaming reward token. I had never invested in anything prior, no stocks or bonds. Without researching or digging into the underlying technology, I ended up investing with the sole aim of making some quick returns. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink”. I was lead to the lake but I didn't know what to do.
Over the course of the next 18 months, my investment in BTC and ETH had more than tripled. Like they say, "good things don't last forever". Mine didn't either and came the crash of 2017. The world was in awe of BTC. Everyone was talking about it, calling it the future of investment, and others were rooting for the bubble to burst. I should have seen it coming but I did not. So it did happen, and BTC bubble did break and my investment ended up being less than one-fourth of what I had invested. I could have sold or taken out my initial investment and gotten lucky as some of my friends had advised. I was left with lost dollars but more importantly a whole lot of questions. I had zero trading experience with no knowledge of the technology. A perfect recipe for the impending disaster. And that is exactly what happened. When the market was booming, I ended up converting my valuable ETH and BTC to some really bad projects (lack of knowledge and no research) because ICOs were booming and everyone was talking about it. When the market crashed, my investment ended up crashing worse than the market.
I understood the need for research and knowledge especially when it comes to this world. You need to be clear about the projects and the technology. It's not a GET RICH QUICKLY formula as is mostly portrayed. There are more failures than success stories. It's nothing like shooting in the darkness. I was thrown on a quest to understand blockchain technology. I truly believe in its potential to influence our lives in the most innovative ways. And it has been worth it.
We all have our stories and it's great to share them with others and likewise hear other stories. It makes you a part of their lives and helps you understand life and things from different perspectives and vantage points. How did you get into the crypto world? What got you here? I will be thrilled to read your comments and know your story. After all, conversations are two-way and stories are best when shared.
Maybe a cup of coffee to go along. I almost forgot I love sunrises and sunsets.
