Things have started to happen and I just hope they gain some momentum.
Finally dropped a mail to my AM(Account Manager) asking him for a much needed change.This seems as a very trivial step but a bold one for me.I call this bold just because I know I will be facing a barrage of whats and whys and it was important for me to be very clear on what I am actually seeking.Had a generic discussion on the same in a team meeting today... a one-to-one expected within the next few days.Having spoken out my mind,I am still sad about one fact and it is that, there are a few people I know who choose to remain silent sufferers.I hate when they do not speak out and prefer to remain mum.
I have also decided to start full throttle on CDS preparation.Seems to me a very different exam than the ones that I have given in the past.Need to get some books and stuff.Good old geography,history texts seem to beckon me.Although I anticipate an enriched learning experience, transition from learning programming languages to learning the differences between a fold mountain and volcanic mountain aint gonna be easy.Lets see how it goes.......
Finally, I get a feeling that the 'Career Haze', as I might call it, is clearing up slowly.I hope to see a clear picture soon which is as spotless as a summer sky.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
thoughts about my next job...
...as thoughts about quitting my job take centerstage...I began thinking about what the next one should be like even before I have embarked on searching for it...but then thats true me...a definite day dreamer...can't help really.
When Vishal told me last Sunday that his firm is turning casual, I was plesantly surprised.I was happy for him but at the same time envious .I wish I was working there.
I have serious concerns regarding "strict business wear" @ office on weekdays except fridays.Having said that,one should not presume that it is the reason why I would decide to quit if I may.But yes,It is something I abhor to the core.
I often envy people with arty jobs.Firms in the field of advertising,media,entertainment,outdoors have one thing in common and that is people working with them have the liberty of wearing casual wear @ work all the time.I have nothing against business wear but my only question to the organizations like mine who endorse them strictly is, why be so rigid?? The more rules you make ,the more people will try to go around them and then you may find outragious wear on Fridays.So just let employees be the way they want to be.No one wants to see/wear monotonous attire everyday...the same old light blue/white shirt and a black/gray trouser combi.I pity the Infoscions who have to wear a tie on some weekdays.A programmer wearing a tie.Isnt that ridiculous???
Organizations fear that people might come to office wearing torn jeans, obscene/revealing clothes taking the privilege too far and thus do not want to give them even half a chance.But I believe that such policing should be left to the people themselves, who I think are sensible enough to wear appropraite casual wear.I strongly feel that lossening up of dress code rules will be more liberating and satisfying than say a meagre pay hike.
I agree to the argument that some people would make with respect to "impression on the customer".As a no-nonsense organization,people representing it to the customer in casual wear would have adverse effects on the customer relationship.But then does everybody in the office interact with the client in person everyday? Definitely Not.Hence it is pretty okay with me if I have to wear "business attire" for a customer meet but please do not make me wear it every single day..:(. Even though if I sideline the customer for a moment,me as a representative of my firm should definitely be appropriately dressed and well-grommed but who said that one cannot be be the same in casual clothes.
Nonetheless,I feel that things are changing in the right direction when I see my clients from one of the biggest organizations in the US wearing casual during their "official" visits offshore.Customer nowadays is more concerned about the work you do and less about your black Reid & Taylor suit.I hope this rubs on to the senior management/HR of my firm or for that matter any other firm that still fears to shrug of rigid thoughts about dress code.
This is one of the things I would look for in my next job whenever and wherever it is destined to be.Hope I find it soon..:)
When Vishal told me last Sunday that his firm is turning casual, I was plesantly surprised.I was happy for him but at the same time envious .I wish I was working there.
I have serious concerns regarding "strict business wear" @ office on weekdays except fridays.Having said that,one should not presume that it is the reason why I would decide to quit if I may.But yes,It is something I abhor to the core.
I often envy people with arty jobs.Firms in the field of advertising,media,entertainment,outdoors have one thing in common and that is people working with them have the liberty of wearing casual wear @ work all the time.I have nothing against business wear but my only question to the organizations like mine who endorse them strictly is, why be so rigid?? The more rules you make ,the more people will try to go around them and then you may find outragious wear on Fridays.So just let employees be the way they want to be.No one wants to see/wear monotonous attire everyday...the same old light blue/white shirt and a black/gray trouser combi.I pity the Infoscions who have to wear a tie on some weekdays.A programmer wearing a tie.Isnt that ridiculous???
Organizations fear that people might come to office wearing torn jeans, obscene/revealing clothes taking the privilege too far and thus do not want to give them even half a chance.But I believe that such policing should be left to the people themselves, who I think are sensible enough to wear appropraite casual wear.I strongly feel that lossening up of dress code rules will be more liberating and satisfying than say a meagre pay hike.
I agree to the argument that some people would make with respect to "impression on the customer".As a no-nonsense organization,people representing it to the customer in casual wear would have adverse effects on the customer relationship.But then does everybody in the office interact with the client in person everyday? Definitely Not.Hence it is pretty okay with me if I have to wear "business attire" for a customer meet but please do not make me wear it every single day..:(. Even though if I sideline the customer for a moment,me as a representative of my firm should definitely be appropriately dressed and well-grommed but who said that one cannot be be the same in casual clothes.
Nonetheless,I feel that things are changing in the right direction when I see my clients from one of the biggest organizations in the US wearing casual during their "official" visits offshore.Customer nowadays is more concerned about the work you do and less about your black Reid & Taylor suit.I hope this rubs on to the senior management/HR of my firm or for that matter any other firm that still fears to shrug of rigid thoughts about dress code.
This is one of the things I would look for in my next job whenever and wherever it is destined to be.Hope I find it soon..:)
Sunday, February 12, 2006
main aisa kyon hoon
karna hai kya muzhko ye meine kab hai jana...
lagta hai gaoonga zindagi bhar bas ye gana..
..these 2 lines sum up my thoughts at the moment....
I feel a trifle sad that I do not have the conviction that many people around me seem to enjoy about their careers or say an answer to the question "What do they want to do in their Life?". I am also unhappy about the fact that their ability to be so sure has not been pervasive enough to make me capable of making a decision...sigh...
Spending the first one and a half years after graduation @ TCS has given me a good enough picture of the coporate world and I know for sure that this coporate life is very deceptive.It makes you think thats it is getting you decent money but keeps you unaware of the fact that there is actually something amiss.I rue the fact that I am not enjoying.I just cannot.:(
But then what should I actually do?( I know I ask to many questons to myself) I should probably do something that will "satisfy me"...is it?.. is this a plausible thought?.Hmm...dont know .May be it is.But few people think that trying to gain satisfaction @ job or work in a corporate environment is having too high expectations from it.One of those thinkers is Subroto Bagchi,Mindtree CEO.He must be right I guess.He says that people should look @ jobs as a means to live and not as life itself.Employers cannot satisfy their employees because the employer is more interested in the things that an employee does than in who they are. Now that I am pretty sure that "employee satisfaction" is nothing but a hogwash,I must find my way out of this big bad corporate world.Some wise man has said "If you do not love your job, you do not have the right to do the job".I certainly need some big time change.Change of job???...Change of field???...I am in a unpleasant dilemma and do not see a way out of it...:(
Many different thoughts about my career have pitched in my mind lately. Few days ago I was thinking about a MBA but could not find good enough reasons to go for it other than money and lotsa stress...:)
Another option I was entertaining was about joining the forces.Working with the Army would be a matter a great pride and honour.I do not know whether I have it in me to serve the nation in such a distinctive way but I will never know until I give their exams.I am contemplating to write the CDS.
The list goes on and also has wildlife/travel photography on it.It would be so much fun to work for say a Nat Geo or Discovery.Photography is something I enjoy immensely but a middle class upbringing has taught me to look @ careers of these kind very sceptically.I hope to shed my inhibitions and take up a Photography course. Unless and until I explore it,I will not know whether I am good or bad at it.
Another thought that has come up of late is to work for an NGO.An NGO working in the villages to promote and strengthen the livlihoods of the villagers.I am not sure how did a hedonist like me actually cultivate this thought.I told my folks about this thing building up in my mind and there reaction was as expected, furious.I do not blame them.
There are so many things I want to do but I am not sure which is the one I am destined to.Nonetheless,I find a stark similarity in all the above options I might try to explore and that is they are all outdoor activities.I hope that I attain clarity of thought before I quit something and plunge into something else.I hope.
lagta hai gaoonga zindagi bhar bas ye gana..
..these 2 lines sum up my thoughts at the moment....
I feel a trifle sad that I do not have the conviction that many people around me seem to enjoy about their careers or say an answer to the question "What do they want to do in their Life?". I am also unhappy about the fact that their ability to be so sure has not been pervasive enough to make me capable of making a decision...sigh...
Spending the first one and a half years after graduation @ TCS has given me a good enough picture of the coporate world and I know for sure that this coporate life is very deceptive.It makes you think thats it is getting you decent money but keeps you unaware of the fact that there is actually something amiss.I rue the fact that I am not enjoying.I just cannot.:(
But then what should I actually do?( I know I ask to many questons to myself) I should probably do something that will "satisfy me"...is it?.. is this a plausible thought?.Hmm...dont know .May be it is.But few people think that trying to gain satisfaction @ job or work in a corporate environment is having too high expectations from it.One of those thinkers is Subroto Bagchi,Mindtree CEO.He must be right I guess.He says that people should look @ jobs as a means to live and not as life itself.Employers cannot satisfy their employees because the employer is more interested in the things that an employee does than in who they are. Now that I am pretty sure that "employee satisfaction" is nothing but a hogwash,I must find my way out of this big bad corporate world.Some wise man has said "If you do not love your job, you do not have the right to do the job".I certainly need some big time change.Change of job???...Change of field???...I am in a unpleasant dilemma and do not see a way out of it...:(
Many different thoughts about my career have pitched in my mind lately. Few days ago I was thinking about a MBA but could not find good enough reasons to go for it other than money and lotsa stress...:)
Another option I was entertaining was about joining the forces.Working with the Army would be a matter a great pride and honour.I do not know whether I have it in me to serve the nation in such a distinctive way but I will never know until I give their exams.I am contemplating to write the CDS.
The list goes on and also has wildlife/travel photography on it.It would be so much fun to work for say a Nat Geo or Discovery.Photography is something I enjoy immensely but a middle class upbringing has taught me to look @ careers of these kind very sceptically.I hope to shed my inhibitions and take up a Photography course. Unless and until I explore it,I will not know whether I am good or bad at it.
Another thought that has come up of late is to work for an NGO.An NGO working in the villages to promote and strengthen the livlihoods of the villagers.I am not sure how did a hedonist like me actually cultivate this thought.I told my folks about this thing building up in my mind and there reaction was as expected, furious.I do not blame them.
There are so many things I want to do but I am not sure which is the one I am destined to.Nonetheless,I find a stark similarity in all the above options I might try to explore and that is they are all outdoor activities.I hope that I attain clarity of thought before I quit something and plunge into something else.I hope.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
my first trip to wazapur..
I strongly believe that cinema has the ability to change societies...or for that matter revolutionize human establishments and vice versa.And it is not a belief that I have cultivated of late but dates back to the day I watched the film 'Swades'.It feel it is one of the most thought provoking movies of all time because the day I saw it,I realized that I was unknowingly swaying away from my social responsiblity into the consumerist culture living a self satisfying life.Little did I realize before, that as an Indian I am falling short of being one.
Months went by and the thought remained just a thought until my good friend Arvind Shanbhag told me about a Maitree initiative that has adopted a small school in a remote village near Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra.The initiative is to teach the small kids aged 5 to 11 "Conversational English" on Saturdays through a group of 4-5 volunteers .I thought it was high time that I devote some time of my life to help the cause.
Still I could not make a Saturday to Panvel for the next six months,partly due to me getting busy on Saturdays or me not finding a place in the already occupied troupe and largely but sadly due to my laziness.
But I do not know what kicked me last Monday morning and the first thing I did was to mail the troupe leader that I am in for this Saturdays Panvel trip.I felt a sense of immense satisfaction on my act and that kept me excited for the rest of the week.
Come Saturday and we started early morning at around 7.We were four of us,me,Arvind,Sujai and Anuradha in a Tata Sumo.Arvind's presence was kind of vital as it helped me gel with the others in the group.We reached Wazapur after a hour and half of journey in the scorching sun but it was not at all tiring for me as one would expect.This being my first time,everything was new for me.A loud greeting of "Good Morning Sir" and "Good Morning Madam" by the kids was a pleasant surprise as well as a testimonial to the efforts of Maitree and its volunteers.
There is a syllabus designed for the students and that is what each group of volunteers tries to ahere to.The first on the agenda for this week was creating awareness about a few National Leaders(read Freedom Fighters).But before we could start on that it was important for us to make sure that the kids understood the meaning of the word "independence".I think our effort to make them understand the significance of that word was the highlight of the day.In the process we helped them learn a new word "independence" and also the date 15/08/1947.Few students already new about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru but the rest did not.Helping them recognize who they are and what did they do for our nation was the task cut out for us.I think we did pretty ok at the end of our effort.I hope these kids remember for the rest of their lives whatever we tried to teach them.Later on in the day,we played the game "Marble and Spoon".Volunteers coming here always try to bring some playfulness in their teaching so that the kids do not get bored and look forward to learn more and more.In this game, a lemon substituted for the marble and thus they learnt a few more words namely 'lemon','yellow' and 'spoon'.The race was won by Mamta, a 4th standard girl.After we were through with the game,the kids marched around the village chanting slogans of "Aple Gav,Swacha Theva".This definitely helped them in understanding the importance of social responsibility early in their life.Proud parents smiling all the way as they watched their kids trotting around the village was a satisfying picture for me.Before we left Wazapur,we had a small chat with the villagers trying to understand their problems in their quest for a decent livlihood.We hoped that we could do much better for them.
Overall it was a truly eriching experience for me as I tried to refect on my past, searching for memoirs if any,where I have felt so good and satisfying about doing something for others.Frankly I did not find any.I hope to continue this endevor in the coming years.
cheerio...
Months went by and the thought remained just a thought until my good friend Arvind Shanbhag told me about a Maitree initiative that has adopted a small school in a remote village near Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra.The initiative is to teach the small kids aged 5 to 11 "Conversational English" on Saturdays through a group of 4-5 volunteers .I thought it was high time that I devote some time of my life to help the cause.
Still I could not make a Saturday to Panvel for the next six months,partly due to me getting busy on Saturdays or me not finding a place in the already occupied troupe and largely but sadly due to my laziness.
But I do not know what kicked me last Monday morning and the first thing I did was to mail the troupe leader that I am in for this Saturdays Panvel trip.I felt a sense of immense satisfaction on my act and that kept me excited for the rest of the week.
Come Saturday and we started early morning at around 7.We were four of us,me,Arvind,Sujai and Anuradha in a Tata Sumo.Arvind's presence was kind of vital as it helped me gel with the others in the group.We reached Wazapur after a hour and half of journey in the scorching sun but it was not at all tiring for me as one would expect.This being my first time,everything was new for me.A loud greeting of "Good Morning Sir" and "Good Morning Madam" by the kids was a pleasant surprise as well as a testimonial to the efforts of Maitree and its volunteers.
There is a syllabus designed for the students and that is what each group of volunteers tries to ahere to.The first on the agenda for this week was creating awareness about a few National Leaders(read Freedom Fighters).But before we could start on that it was important for us to make sure that the kids understood the meaning of the word "independence".I think our effort to make them understand the significance of that word was the highlight of the day.In the process we helped them learn a new word "independence" and also the date 15/08/1947.Few students already new about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru but the rest did not.Helping them recognize who they are and what did they do for our nation was the task cut out for us.I think we did pretty ok at the end of our effort.I hope these kids remember for the rest of their lives whatever we tried to teach them.Later on in the day,we played the game "Marble and Spoon".Volunteers coming here always try to bring some playfulness in their teaching so that the kids do not get bored and look forward to learn more and more.In this game, a lemon substituted for the marble and thus they learnt a few more words namely 'lemon','yellow' and 'spoon'.The race was won by Mamta, a 4th standard girl.After we were through with the game,the kids marched around the village chanting slogans of "Aple Gav,Swacha Theva".This definitely helped them in understanding the importance of social responsibility early in their life.Proud parents smiling all the way as they watched their kids trotting around the village was a satisfying picture for me.Before we left Wazapur,we had a small chat with the villagers trying to understand their problems in their quest for a decent livlihood.We hoped that we could do much better for them.
Overall it was a truly eriching experience for me as I tried to refect on my past, searching for memoirs if any,where I have felt so good and satisfying about doing something for others.Frankly I did not find any.I hope to continue this endevor in the coming years.
cheerio...
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