3 yrs @ work!!

I completed three years at my first workplace last Friday... I actually didn't even think I should sit back and reflect on all these days that's just gone past me.. but when I sat to blog after a long time today, I was looking for something that I could write on... something that's light.. not a deeper one again!  

I notice people read the deeper ones but seldom comment... I don't have reason to complain until they felt there is even very lil truth in what I had said. I guess people don't blog to develop a fan base.. At least I don't! Well, yeah.. So, I thought I should write on 3 yrs of corporate life... I wish I don't fill you with too many introspections in this piece!!

Those were the final days at college... I had been the organizer, editor of a couple of newsletters and pretty much known to every Commerce student in college... I would be telling you a very obvious lie if I said I did not like being recognized. I loved the fact that people knew me but I ensured I never fed my ego on it. Thanks to my spiritual affiliation.. I guess I handled limelight quite well. And yeah, there were people better known than me... the Secretary, Cul Sec, and a bigger list.. So I better not have ego!! :)

The last two years of college had given me a lot of confidence. I have always believed I would do well with extra curriculars but Loyola was my first "on ground" experience. I remember Sarvesh and Arun Davis cornering me near the coffee shop and asking where I'd join articleship... I had no idea... Guys around me were talking Greek if not Bulgarian.. Din make a difference to me!! Frankly, I hadn't even thought abt it. That very evening, an acquaintance told me about this place and gave me the contact. I didn't even know to whom I was speaking to (realised after joining that it was the Partner!) , but I remember asking him over the phone, "Could you please spell your firm name?!" I'm surprised he excused me for that!

From there on, the interviews, aptitude test and stuff went on pretty well. And hey, I'd fondly remember and laugh over the way the GD happened. We had a panel of three to judge us and I guess there were 5 participants that day. The AC vents blew straight on me and I tried my best to remain calm. I have my limits of patience, eh?! The next thing I did was... grabbed the AC remote and turned it off.. One of the panelists was staring at me! And then I realised.. "lighta too much a pannitomo?!" I gave a timid smile at her and said, "I guess you don't mind it for a while". "Bulb da mach unakku!" I told to myself walking out of the conference room that day. It was two days before "Big Bucks" (our departmental festival at Loyola) and I got a call on my antique Motorola mobile at Valluvar Kottam signal. Movies have always associated calls at signals to bad news! Thank god mine was otherwise! Sarvesh was through as well and we decided to join work on April 2,'07, the day our final sem study hols started!

If I shall talk about all the incidents @ work in these 3 years, I might end up in a book a lil bigger than Chetan Bhagat's "3 mistakes of my life", a lil less interesting though. I have also spoken quite a lot on work life in previous blogs. On a personal note, I've always believed that my personal life is different from professional life and I still believe it. I still remember telling one of my close friends, corporate life doesn't want to know how good you are at heart. It wants you to show how shrewd and sharp you are, up there on your head. True it is, but I have also come to understand, I can't live a machine at work place. I need to have my own tune that shall not disturb work and there is absolutely no need for me to copy the common tune on the floor.

I have met very good ppl and built great relations in these years... Warm peers who understood me completely, very concerned managers who gave great support and confidence to do what I wanted to myself... close buddies who wouldn't even talk to me at work but watched every move of mine and corrected the wrong ones... Inspiring top heads, friendly admins and a real cozy workplace that I'd not miss visiting at every chance in spite of the memorable long & stressed out nights there!

Well... I don't know how good Ive been to all these ppl.. but I know that on any day, if these ppl were to list down the names they remember from here, mine would at least be the last one...

Love...

Sri!

The Deeper Ones (Part - II)

I wish I had Amaron batteries fitted onto my body.. "Lasts long.. really long!"
I sit and wonder these days how many times I would have told my dear ones that I'd never live a mundane life.. waking up at 6; bathing at 7; leaving to work at 8:30; get back home at 8; watching chat shows on TV for a couple of hours and then sleep off. Good heavens.. my life isn't like this. It's a lot worse! I seldom do the last three things I said. Somehow, I feel I have been losing connections to my own self.. Thanks to the cute lil flowers, the bubbly kids on the streets, the occasional laugh at work despite all stress and the more occasional family gossip.. for only in these situations, I feel my heart.. I feel a glimpse of real joy peeping in. At least, I'm "living" those moments...

I don't blame my work. That was my choice. I fought up to become a chartered accountant... to slog and prove. I know this is just a temporary tide... I wouldn't just "be" all life. And it doesn't mean I roamed arnd as a piece of science from Japan all these days. I have had my feelings, deep reflections, small incidents that impacted me big.

The one I've always wanted to write about was the new year eve celebrations. For the first time since my teens, I decided to spend my NY eve without bhajans... And guess what? I went for a rap concert in MGM Dizzee World... Pikachu was leaving abroad a day later and I badly wanted to spend time with SVAP. The start was fun! The moment we walked into the arena, I actually felt bad.. not cos I wasn't at home listening to my fav bhajans but seeing the youth crowd there and the crazy things they were upto. All drunk, most crazily dancing and a few even stripping their shirts off! They were probably "ENJOYING", they'd say! Well, I choose not to use the word for such action. I don't blame them. But I'm bothered...

I'm bothered we'd falsify the expectations placed on us. Brainy stat profs say India would have the largest youth population in the decade to come... India would be in a mad race against the world and become an economic super power. Indian youth would have the biggest roles to play in all spheres of the society..I trust the brains that told all these, with the very little logic mine carries! But, is the title "super power" all that we need to live and prosper? If money is all that counts, then we sure will rock! But if humanity, love, care and morality do matter, we will starve, a lot more than Somalia does, today. For we are slowly becoming self centred, paddled horses running on our own tracks just to be catching up with the materialistic world. How long would we run? Until we just stop for we do not know our destinations.

Well, if you are thinkin, "Is all fine, Sri?", guys.. "ALL IZZ WELL!" These writings keep me aware of the fact that I should never become one such paddled horse all life. I'm sure I won't though I actually am running now. It's okay to run but it's not okay to keep running. My days would change and I'd start living my heart out!

Love...
Sri!