🌱 Year in Review 2025
2025 marks the end of my first innings and the beginning of the second. Life moved incredibly fast, taking me across countries, cultures, and experiences ✈️. I travelled to #Turkey 🇹🇷, #CzechRepublic 🇨🇿, #Kenya 🇰🇪, and #Indonesia 🇮🇩, learned new perspectives, and grew both personally and professionally. More than the places I visited, it was the journey itself that shaped me.
This phase of my life became truly special because it changed my personal world forever ❤️ I found my life partner 💍, spent time getting to know each other, travelled together, and built memories that will stay with me for a lifetime 📸. Watching two families come closer, sharing traditions, values, and countless special moments, made this year deeply meaningful and unforgettable ✨.
Alongside love and family ❤️, I continued to grow in my career by earning cloud certifications, contributing to open source 🌐, and working on impactful projects at American Express 💼. I was also grateful for the opportunity to serve as a member of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Regional Funding Committee, contributing as an advisor at the South Asia level. I am thankful for a successful first innings 🙏, and with hope and gratitude, I now step into my second innings, excited for everything that lies ahead 🚀.
There were celebrations 🎉, emotional moments, and unforgettable memories 💖. Balancing work, learning, travel, and personal milestones was challenging, but it made the journey even more rewarding 🌈. Here are some key highlights from 2025!
📅 January - March
- The year began on a joyful note as I celebrated Sankranthi 🌾 in my hometown, Nandyal, with a grand Rathotsavam. I also went on a memorable family trip to Tirupati 🙏 on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadashi.
- During this period, I renewed my passport 🛂. The renewal journey was exhausting 😮💨 due to the missing of one original certificate, resulting in multiple visits.
- I continued on a responsibility by signing up again as an Org Admin at the Wikimedia Foundation 🌍 to support outreach programs.
- At American Express 💼, I built several tools using React to make our day-to-day operations and automations easier.
- We renovated the Shivalayam Temple in Dhone along with my relatives. It was a joyful time spending time together, meeting everyone and playing games 🎲😄.
- Delivered a talk at the Meta Gurgaon office! As a part of the official graduation ceremony of the RoadToWiki program graduates 🎓! In Gurgaon, Delhi.
- Explored Delhi, some iconic places like Qutub Minar, Lotus Temple, Khan Market, Rashtrapati Bhavan, and India Gate, along with my friend Naga Sai 🤝.
- Also visited the American Express Gurgaon office 🏢, where I met the ICN team manager, director, and several team members.
- As part of an internal hackathon - GrowthHack 25 🚀, I built AskAmu, a product recommendation chatbot for American Express 🤖.
- Truly enjoyed collaborating with wonderful people through Topmate, where I had the opportunity to exchange knowledge, connect meaningfully 🤝, It was especially fulfilling to know that some found our conversations helpful and took the time to share kind and encouraging testimonials 💖!
Ref: https://topmate.io/gopavasanth
🌸 April - June
- The quarter began with attending the IMD Working Group Meeting 2025 in Hyderabad, followed by a strategic planning meeting to outline activities for the year ahead 🧠.
- I met my fiancé, Lahari ❤️, in Bangalore for the first time, marking a very special and memorable moment in my life ✨.
- Around the same time, I started working on an innovative project focused on visualising cascading impacts during critical incidents ⚠️ to help resolve incidents faster and improve MTTD and MTTR 📊.
- I fulfilled a long-time wish of my cousin by watching an RCB match live at the Chinnaswamy Stadium 🏏 along with them. It was an unforgettable experience filled with energy and excitement 🔥.
- At American Express 💼, I performed a dance 💃 for the first time at the company, thanks to Esha for pulling me onto the stage and helping me overcome my hesitation 🙌. I also visited the Microsoft campus in Hyderabad with Sreejith. Seeing the beautiful campus and experiencing the work culture there was truly inspiring ✨.
- Attending the Wikimedia Hackathon 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey 🇹🇷 was a wonderful experience to witness two continents meeting at one place, where Europe meets Asia. I loved exploring the streets of Istanbul and visiting the Galata Tower. During the trip, I also experienced a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia 🎈, saw the fairy chimneys 🪨, enjoyed local food, and watched the sky fill with colorful balloons 🌈. It was a breathtaking experience and a special moment checked off my bucket list ✅.
- This period also marked the beginning of my relationship with my fiancé ❤️. We started dating 💕, got to know each other better, and spent hours talking on the phone. It was a completely new and beautiful experience for me ✨.
- I traveled to Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿, for the Wikimedia Youth Conference. It felt magical to return to the same city on the same date where I had been back in 2019. The conference was deeply inspiring, with young people from around the world sharing their experiences, exchanging ideas 💡, collaborating 🤝, and building friendships ❤️. One of the highlights was participating in a city-wide treasure hunt, exploring places, finding clues, learning about the culture, and interacting with locals as a team.
- On April 30, our families officially confirmed the marriage 💍, and we exchanged tambulam, marking an important milestone in our lives. Engagement preparations began soon after, bringing many joyful moments with my cousins through shopping 🛍️, conversations, teasing, and laughter. I especially enjoyed shopping for engagement rings 💍 and spending quality time with my fiancé ❤️, as we were both living in the same city.
- Had a deeply emotional experience while taking care of my cousin during a ligament tear operation 💔. Navigating hospitals, surgeries, and insurance was overwhelming and eye-opening 🏥. From start to finish, we supported each other with love, care, and compassion ❤️, which taught me a lot about responsibility and family.
- Learned security concepts in Kubernetes.
- Obtained AWS Certified Developer – Associate certificate!
🌍 July - September
- This phase of the year was filled with many emotional and memorable milestones. On July 28, a long-cherished dream of my in-laws came true with the inauguration of their own building in Bangalore 🏠. After years of savings, hard work, and perseverance 💪, they celebrated the Gruha Pravesham by naming the building after my father-in-law’s brother. It beautifully reflected the love, bonding, and faith they share with their family ❤️.
- July 30th - Officially got engaged 💍🎉! Also, it was a cheering experience to learn dance steps together 💃🕺 and perform the same in the Engagement event in Bangalore! I also realised it was the first time Lahari was learning dance for me ❤️, I enjoyed each and every moment there. Speciality while performing the same under the street lights ✨!
- Marriage shopping has begun 🛍️! Enroute to Kanchi for the marriage sarees. Enjoyed a lot with all the family and relatives!
- Time to propose with a ring 💍! Struggled a lot to get a nicer ring and proposed to Lahari on top of Nandi Hills in Bangalore, A morning ride with a beautiful lady ❤️! And a couple of friends cheering the moments 🎉 and proposing with a nice breeze and views! Unforgettable, lovely moments I had!
- Stepping into Kenya, Africa 🇰🇪, for the first time on the continent 🌍! Wikimania 2025! Gave me an opportunity to collaborate with the Developers of Africa and also contribute to their project ISA! Enhanced the tool with more abilities and features! Hard to step into the new country, leaving my fiance back home. But mixed emotions, since the Wild life 🐘, Elephants, Giraffe’s 🦒 and the National Park, safari is just soo amazing!!!
- Trip to Hampi! It was an adventurous trip for us to travel to Hampi and spend a couple of days exploring the place, temples, history and spending time with friends ❤️!
- Trip to Dubacherla - for my closest friend’s engagement 💍! And then to Kakinada 🎉, bachelor’s party and my first visit to Lahari’s house 🏠!
- Became a member of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Regional Funding Committee. Feeling grateful to serve as an advisor and help manage public trust funds at the South Asia level.
🎊 October - December
- The final quarter of the year was filled with celebrations 🎉 and new beginnings 🌱. Wedding festivities began with Mehendi, Haldi, bride preparations, and Sangeeth 💃 in Nandyal, followed by the wedding ceremony in Kakinada and a grand reception in Nandyal ❤️. Celebrating these moments with friends and relatives in a traditional South Indian style made everything even more special ✨.
- We visited Tirumala 🙏 for the 16th day function, which added a spiritual touch to the celebrations with the Kalyanotsavam.
- A trip to Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩 with my partner truly reflected how different we both are. It was a joyful experience filled with learning, and quality time spent understanding each other. Totally fun too!
- This period also marked the start of a new chapter as we settled into a new home 🏠. Experiencing married life and living with my partner ❤️ brought many new and beautiful moments.
- At work 💼, I enjoyed a memorable team outing with my American Express colleagues 🤝. Spending a full day at Torq in Bangalore 🏎️ with various activities helped us bond better as a team, collaborate more closely, and create many joyful memories 😄.
- Towards the end of the year, I felt truly fortunate to contribute to the ISA project 🌍 and win the WMA Challenge 2025 🏆. I was honored to receive the Top Contributor award with a prize of 300$ 💰, and our team also won 1500$ 💰 for being the winning team. It was also lovely to receive an additional 50$ from my in-laws and a shuttle bat from my brother-in-law 🏸 as a token of love for my efforts in this challenge. Feeling truly blessed 🙏.
2025 reflects my journey ✨. A collection of moments that truly mattered ❤️. A reminder of how far I have come and how much I have grown 🌱. It allows me to pause, look back with gratitude 🙏, and step forward with hope into the second innings of my life 🏏. Life has gone by so fast ⏳, and I am deeply thankful for a successful first innings ❤️. With the same faith and optimism ✨, I look forward to my second innings and hope it becomes even more meaningful ♥️ Wishing you all peace and harmony in the years ahead. Happy New Year 2026! ❤️
