Saturday, June 04, 2005

My First Three Days at the Corporate World!!!!!

1st June 2005

Its 3 o'clock in the night and I wake up sweating profusely. With eyes wide open I look at the clock trying to comprehend what the time is. A thought struck my mind and suddenly I realize that it is just an other nightmare. These kinds have become a regular in my life whenever there is an important impending event. Today is 1st June, the day when I will put forth a small step in the corporate (this word is magical) arena. And no prizes for guessing that the nightmare was about reaching late to the office on the first day and having a bad start.

I start off my day by catching the 8:14 train with the blessings of dad & mom. I land up at church gate completely drenched by the humid climate. I reach the office and wait for my colleague who also joins with me. Well as always there’s always some thing weird or amazing happening with me as I go on with my life. The colleague who has done his MBA from dalmiya is also named Viral!!!!!!!!! So the confusion starts from day one. We are taken to our seats and were given some mags and journals to go through. Times goes on and we are then ushered to the cabin of one of our heads. He talks to us very casually and asks us to join him for lunch in about half and hour. So now I am off to my first business lunch (if u may call it). The food is very “international” in flavour (no pun intended).

The lunch goes heavy on my stomach and so I have this lazy afternoon to fight with, as there is no work to be done. Just sit on a chair and read through papers and documents. After 5 pm I get impatient to leave, as I am bored to death.

5:15, 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, 6:15,6:20, 6:25, 6:26, 6:27…. It’s getting difficult to pass the time. At last one of our senior comes across and tells us that few days will be without work and you all can leave. To my much-awaited relief we left the office by 7.

Reached home by 8 and thus come to the end of my first office trip …..Or the start of a journey.

Patience is how u act while you are waiting……………………………


2nd June 2005

So I am back to the office to start the 2nd day of my pro life. The day is not started and I get the feel of “The Routine”. The feel is very discouraging but at the same time encouraging. Discouraging in the sense that it doesn’t motivate me to do the chore but at the same time motivates me to quit and start my own at a point in time.

Today is no different from day 1. We were briefed for about an hour or so and then were given some documents to read. Sitting on my chair I just think infact laugh on myself on having grandiose plans for my job. The job in which I will be launching brands right and left, doing heavy marketing and formulating strategies to checkmate the competition. But I don’t blame my self for the thought, as this is what comes across to any B school rookie.

Afternoon is what seems very difficult to pass. The fleeting mind disrespects the 4 walls of the office and wanders in the world full of imagination and dreams. And why not, we only dream when the reality is not better than the dreams. I get hold of my mind and put it back where it must be. Try to create work for myself but soon the eyes roll to the right bottom corner of my desktop to see the time and do it repeatedly. Doing it so often makes you think that the pc clock is not working and the being so dumb, I really checked it twice.

I have got a corporate (oh man I love this word so much) email id now and was trying to check the way it works and suddenly I get a mail. It’s by someone called chetan. He is resigning and hence wants to bid goodbye to all. In his mail he thanks a lot for understanding and supporting him. I feel good as for the first time I am being thanked for all this without even seeing/talking/meeting/knowing the guy. And I doubt how many from my team know him. So is the corporate (again...I simply love this) world, like a forest in which you can get lost and dead.


3rd June 2005

It’s again a lazy afternoon and I my mind goes on a philosophical drive. I was just wondering the kind of life I want. The kind of life, which will make me happy, or at least satisfy me. I dip in to my mind and the heart for an answer and as always I return empty handed. Just joining the organization, I was thinking if I had made a right decision. Just wondering what my career would be down 3/4/5 yrs.Infact to be honest I was actually worrying.

But then I have realized that what is that I need to worry about at this stage. I have not yet started my job and am actually thinking of switching it!!!!. Thinking about my next break infact the next BIG break. This is what happens to us when we live in the future and not in the present. And I think worrying is the function of how much you stay in your future. The more you stay the more you worry. As I move along this philosophical drive I tend to remember Saunak (mafat). He and I are different as poles but we do meet at ends. I think that we both have this very bad habit of cribbing (although I do it very subconsciously) . We always feel that the grass is greener on the other side and always wish to be “there” and in the process; crib for our present i.e. “here”. I need to get ‘there’. ‘THERE’ is an important place. There is there and here. But then there are so many instances when I have got to “there” just to realize that the “there“, which is my “here“ now, is not so worth it and I readily search for another “there”. The pursuit goes on and suddenly I realise that the voyage between “here” and “there” is nothing but a round circle and on completing the circle what I get in the end is a BIG DAMN ZERO. I have realized with failing over time and again that “There” is here. There is no ‘here and there’, there is only ‘here’. We should enjoy our “here” and the “there” will be automatically taken care off. And that is what I am going to do with my job, enjoy the “here”.

Time passes by and its time to go, with the news that tomorrow is an off being a Saturday. I catch a 8:55 train and with Gods grace I get a seat. I take out a book titled “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach. Just as I begin reading it, a gentlemen well in his early sixties sitting besides me and asks me what I am reading. He asks me what is the book about and I tell me the same. It’s about overcoming your limitations and excelling in life. He seemed to be a wise fellow and picked up the discussion from the point. He went on talking explaining me the various kinds of limitations we have and the process of overcoming them. He talked non stop for 30 minutes. He explained me the power of being positive and not cynical in life. He goes on touching each and every topic of life in those insightful 30 minutes. He told me how to tackle pressures at your workplace and how to keep your professional life different from your personal life. It seemed to me that God had indeed sent him to have a chat with me and steer me the right direction. He got down at bandra and that was the end of our discussion but he sparked off a new thought in my mind

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How can i leave this piece of urs without any comments..

mmm here it goes..
1. Very expressive .. full of emotions.
2. Keep it short and simple..(remember marketing principles)
It would touch the readers more if its precise.
3. Take my comments seriously. ohk..