Talking Optimism with Vijay Aditya Maranganti
This story is a refined transcript of my conversation with one of my best friends Vijay Aditya Maranganti. As a part of the show, I have asked Vijay 5 questions and listened to his perspective. And this transcript is for all the readers on here that would love to read the conversation, more like a Q&A.
Firstly, for all of you who don’t know Vijay, Vijay Aditya is an Indian, living and working in the country of Ireland. He is currently working with a financial services company as a cloud data analyst. Vijay is a big-time travel enthusiast, and he is been living in Ireland for the past 5-years now. And during his stay in Ireland, he has visited a lot of tourist attractions and been to more than 10 countries in Europe. Before moving to Ireland, he has worked as a digital marketer in India for few years. He did his master's in Ireland, from National College Ireland. His hobbies include travelling, hiking, photography, and camping in the woods. More recently, he’s got married and his better half is currently pursuing training in the technical training domain.
Aravind: Vijay, could you tell me about the toughest challenge you have experienced in the last decade and then how did you overcome it?
Vijay: Well, there were many situations in the past decade that seemed challenging to me but looking back on them today might appear silly but overcoming them at that time was a bit difficult. Once a challenge I have faced in the past decade was getting a full-time job, at that time it was like a demanding situation and also it was a point that defined all my hardships for nearly three years.
Aravind: Was it in Ireland or in India?
Vijay: It was in Ireland, and prior to that I was working in India and then I came to Ireland to pursue my masters. I started applying for jobs and in the initial stages, I was getting rejections even before attending interviews and that phase pressurized me and made me feel low. And during that point, I felt like there’s a strong need to survive the rejections and stay optimistic to remain confident and positive. I did some homework about the technologies and the organisations that use these technologies. I created a job search plan and made a note about the number of applications I need to send per week. I updated my profile on job search portals such as LinkedIn. I read a lot of articles about the frequently asked interview questions and gave myself a pep talk to boost my self-confidence. This process helped me to focus and stay positive towards achieving my goals which happened like two years ago eventually.
Aravind: Wow, that's great to know as well!!! And could you tell me how many jobs or applications were you applying for a week if you remember?
Vijay: I kept a goal of about 10 applications per week at least and the very next week I would go and search for more depending on the response I receive from the previous week or 2 weeks before. I used to update my profile and then I used to read a lot on what would be a better way to represent your career path, or what to mention in the cover letter. Basically, I was applying for 10 jobs contextually in the profile/role I was passionate about which is a data analyst.
Aravind: That’s great to know. And my second question to you is that, is there any specific thing that you want to do, as it’s not a pleasant time all over the globe, is there any specific thing that you want to do once it’s all normal?
Vijay: Yes, definitely. Mountain recreation has always been my passion & I like hiking and spending time outdoors because it is also beneficial for both physical and mental health and you know this also helps to discover some new corners. I also like experiencing sunrises and sunsets from hilltops. And this passion of mine totally serves that purpose. So, once things get back to normal I would like to visit Montpelier Hill. It is a campsite with a view of the entire Dublin city. It is in the Dublin mountains.
Aravind: Perfect. So, my third question to you is that how are you overcoming the urge to travel now? I know that you travel for business and travel with family. So, how are you coping with the restrictions and lockdown?
Vijay: This is like the toughest one to answer. I am a bit of a travel enthusiast who has visited around 16 countries in the span of just two years and if last year was open, I would have visited more places. It is a challenge for me as well. Because I have realised the importance of travelling so it is a challenge for me to overcome this urge to travel. With the covid pandemic hitting the world with lockdowns and restrictions, not only in Ireland but all over the world. In the beginning, it felt like, this would be just like a small thing and it would pass very fast but because of the cases the lockdowns were imposed and continued till the end of the year. So, my plans for travel, like the plans which I made before the pandemic even started, fell into pieces. I would say, like at least three or four trips I have planned and I had to cancel the flights. And that is when I got an idea related to my travel experience and it was then I created a personal blog on Instagram with the profile in the name of ‘’The Brown Hodophile’’. And in this profile, I wiI share my travel experiences, the food I have tried, the cultural festivals I have attended with whatever videos or photos I have taken. I saved all of them in my cloud so I just share them along with the story that comes along with that pic and how was my experience and things like that. And this helps me go back and recall my memory and feel grateful for the things I have experienced and stay motivated. This has been like a way for me to cope up with the restrictions.
Aravind: That’s great. As the show is called ‘’Talking Optimism’’, what do you think of Optimism? Is being optimistic good? And how do you describe yourself?
Aditya: Yes, I would say that being optimistic is good because optimism is the foundation of growth. An optimistic attitude helps to let the person have very less negative emotions. You don’t have a fear of failure as you see failure as a new start and you learn from your failures or you learn from your mistakes. It also helps for better productivity and problem solving during stressful situations. It promotes one’s self-respect and integrity and it increases one’s motivation to achieve new things. Having an optimistic mindset sometimes solves most of the issues easily and it also helps strengthen relationships and there was a lot of research to prove that it has a good influence on health as well. But if you ask me what sort of a mindset I have, it is mostly optimistic but sometimes I also like to think from a different perspective. If everyone were optimistic, you wouldn’t have had parachutes in a flight and you wouldn’t have seen flight attendants giving you instructions. So, sometimes it is actually good to have a different kind of mindset so that you won’t overlook yourself and you will be prepared for every uncertainty. And that is why even after planning people tend to have plan-Bs or fail safes. So, it’s like being prepared for not the desired outcome.
Aravind: So, you too got into the thirties now. So, I would like to ask do you see yourself changing a bit. Did you get any new hobbies or any new things that you want to pursue in this decade? Could you please share your perspective with us?
Yeah, sure. Firstly I would say that things do change over time. I did observe a lot of personality changes that I have been through after I got into my thirties and I have gained more patience to listen and has become socially adaptable. And now I always give a thought before I respond to anyone else. I am more calculated when it comes to risk-taking these days I think. I have found some new hobbies like photography and blogging. I am also going through a daily routine for my physical fitness and also going out to places and enjoying nature. I would like to begin with one of my new hobbies, which is blogging. Like I have said before I have created a profile and I started writing. At the beginning like for a week or so I was just thinking about which platforms to choose and like you know how to write it and how to go about it and all. I consulted a few of the bloggers who have been doing this for a while. And their suggestion was to just let go of overthinking and start writing something and within a week or two, you will learn it by yourself. Like how to better present your words, and like whatever the information you are trying to share and that’s what I did. So I just started it, I just created a profile on Instagram and started writing. It really feels good. You get to overlook the things you have done before, and you feel this joy when writing about your experience. And the exercise part, I have made it like a daily routine. There are few paths over here, so depending on the weather, I choose those paths and I run on those paths. As the gyms aren’t open for a while, one can’t go out for workouts these days. Luckily, the government here actually spent some money and provided outdoor fitness parks and they are handy these days. Most of the days, I just go there and run around the track, and there are traditional machines available, and I do them. I do sets of dumbbells at home. Photography has been another hobby of mine these days. Now that we all have a smartphone with very good cameras, I see these videos on social media on how to take better pictures and videos with the phone at hand and learn things about my camera and smartphone. What I mean is, there are plenty of resources to upskill photography and they explain how these cameras work and all, so you can try and learn on your phone and that’s how I learnt it. I sometimes record videos of the places I visit from different angles and use these video editing tools and merge these videos as a practice.
