How Scuba Diving in Andaman encouraged me to quit my job

11/1/2025

How Scuba Diving in Andaman encouraged me to quit my job

I had no alternate plans. I wanted to change my software engineering profile within 2 years of joining TCS as my first job. Like every engineer, MBA was my backup plan. But, I guess destiny had something else in store for me. Eventually, with switching jobs to Infosys and then IBM, i started getting comfortable with my salary and spending all of it on my passions - badminton, travels, adventures, parties, friends and luxuries.
The mornings were depressing when I had to force myself out of the bed to drive to office for the monotonous desk job which never motivated me. I hated talking to machines, I hated interacting with people virtually on conferences. I would just look forward to complete my day’s job to go to the Badminton courts in the evening.

At the back of my mind, I always wanted an alternate career, which I could never figure out. I kept waiting for something to motivate me and some brilliant idea to strike, so that I could quit my job.
In my last project in IBM, I was working irregular hours, spending maddening hours on conference calls and ordering food from outside. I had no routine and started losing out on my healthy lifestyle that I've always tried to maintain, ever since! My inner voice told me that maybe it is a sign from the universe!

I strongly wanted to quit my job and give myself sometime off to figure out my next move. I calculated my little savings and counted the number of salaries I would still need. As the last month (November 2015) arrived, I got goosebumps thinking about the future days with no salary. The thought “Am i doing the right thing? what if.. what not..” started cropping up. I just hoped that I could gather enough courage to leave my steady flow of income. It was easier said than done.

I utilised my pending leaves to celebrate my birthday diving in the Andaman Islands. On one of the days, the sea was nasty and choppy. While we sailed through the rough tides, the divers on the boat got motion sickness too. Gearing up while the boat swayed 40 degrees each side, was impossible without the other person holding you. In this condition, when I stood on the boat platform for the giant stride, I wasn’t sure if I should dive or just let it go. There’s always a next time to dive at the same place. My heart silently whispered to me to take the stride and experience how it feels. I TOOK THE GIANT STRIDE!!

Giant Stride - Scuba Diving in Andaman

and swam to hold the line, I smoothly descended upto 30 meters of depth amongst various beautiful and colourful shoals of fish.

Line descend - Scuba Diving in Andaman

and I was surprised to experience the sea so calm. It was peaceful, steady, calm deep down there. The chaos and the fear of the choppy sea on the surface was soon forgotten.

Deep Dive - Scuba Diving in Andaman

The dive at Johny’s Ledge was my first deep dive and one of the best. I was lucky to spot 2 white tip reef sharks that day. It was my first shark spotting too.

Shoal of longfin bannnerfish - Scuba Diving in Andaman

Had I not gathered enough courage to take the giant stride into the choppy sea, I would have missed out on something very beautiful.
I applied this analogy to resigning from my job. On the surface of it, it looked scary and choppy, but in my heart I believed its going to be alright and beautiful. I came back home and within a week, I called my manager and told him about my decision. He asked me if I’ve already decided or is there any scope of change of mind, I firmly said, I have decided. I was the happiest person to have been bold enough to do this.

This was the just the first step towards something I would love to do, but i amazed myself with my confidence. The confidence I showed in my decision was enough for me to spend rest of the months of notice period in peace. I knew everything was going to be alright.