Hello again

Seems like aeons ago that this blog was updated. Since then many things have happened in my life, for better or worse. Life has been hectic. The apprehension and excitement of joining a new job. Adjusting to new life (read job),et al. The change in setting, it seems, takes a heavy toll on my enthusiam for blogging compounded by the fact that there was no internet connection in my office computer. The computer guys have been informed several times, both over the phone and in writing. But till date there was no success on our part. At last one is resigned to the fact that this is how things work here. And you comforted yourself and learnt to take things easy. As soon as the computer guys come and do the needful, blogging will be resumed with renewed vigour. Apart from that, everything is working just fine here. It takes time to adjust to a new setting. But I am catching up on the nature of the work here. And I am really lucky that my boss is a very good and caring officer. I'll sign off now. Do check in for updates occassionally.

Goodbye KSP

After slogging my ass off for about a year and a half in this company, I finally handed in my resignation on 4th May, 2007 to move towards "greener pastures".

My journey in this company has been marked by ups and downs. There have been times when I feel used and became really frustrated and times when I really love working for this company. Anyway these are parts of life. What I like about this company is the dress code. You can wear jeans and T-shirt to the office Mondays to Fridays (I have always been a T-shirt and jeans person). Also there are no night shifts unlike most of the other BPO companies.

I had been through the usual grind of office politics (there is as much politics in private companies as in the government sector), tiffs with work colleagues, ego clashes, among others. And there were some really caring and helpful colleagues who stood by me through all the bad times.

I have learnt many things while working for this company and I am grateful to the company for that. I am especially indebted to Sunaina, our assistant team leader. She has been my mentor and benefactor. She was the one who guided when I first joined the company and stood by me at all times. She was the one I turned to whenever I have difficulties regardig my work and she was ever ready to help me. Thank you Sunaina and my best wishes to the company and all my work colleagues there.

What Should I Do With My Life-Po Bronson

This book by Po Bronson is a must read for everyone who is confused about their careers and those who are stuck in the rut. Bronson travels around the country and meets numerous people. He chronicles their life story and how they have dealt with this question in this book. These are ordinary people who have the courage to make life-changing decisions, who have found their true calling and pursued it relentlessly. This book highly motivating and makes for a good reading. Here a few excerpts from the book which I really like.

• A calling is not something you know, it's something you grow into, through trials and and mistakes. Work shouldn't just be fun. Work should be like life, sometimes fun, sometimes moving, and defined by meaningful events. Attack your fears, rather than shy away from them. Bring what you do in alignment with who you are.
  
• Nothing seemed more brave to me than facing up to one's own identity and filtering out the chatter that tells us to be someone we're not.
  
• Individual success will not be attained by migrating to a particular "hot" industry, or by adopting a particular career-guiding mantra...instead, the individuals that will thrive will do so because they focused on the question of who they really are, and from that found work they truly love, and in doing so unleashed a productive and creative power they never imagined.
  
• So why is it truly okay to to search for a church that's right for you, but not a profession that's right for you? Why, when it comes to work, are we supposed to simply accept that this is just the way it is.
  

Leave the kids alone

"Girl who killed herself gets 95% in Class X" screams the headline of Sunday's edition of the TImes of India.

Shaifali Bhan a student of Sanskrit School committed suicide on May 16-apparently becuase she was under pressure to take up science in Class XI, against her wishes.

Shaifali's case is not an isolated one, many others students are also facing constant pressure which eventually leads to stress and forces some to the ultimate act of suicide. Parental pressure is the "trigger" here. Pressure to be the best and pressure to take up subjects not necessarily of their choice.

Subject choices or for that matter careers should be chosen on one’s aptitude and interests-not on somebody’s whims and fancies.

Pursuit of Perfection

The dictionary defines perfection as "the state of being without a flaw or defect". No doubt perfection is a state which cannot be attained by us. But it is in the fitness of things to say that we should always aim for perfection in whatever we do. Perfection should be our life-long pursuit.

As human beings we have the tendency of choosing mediocrity over perfectionism. This may be the by-product of sheer laziness or a sense of irresponsibility. We, human beings, tend to subscribe to an ethos of being content with mediocrity. As ubiquitous as it sounds, we do. Albeit in varying levels, there are innumerable times in the day where we choose convenience over commitment and let ourselves be overcome by the ‘easier path’. .

In every job that we fulfil each day, it is critical that we approach it with the will to be the best at it. Be it in our professional work or in doing simple day-to-day work it is not sufficient that we merely achieve it—we need to be zealous about achieving it. We should be sticklers for detail and punctuality. We so enjoy dealing with these types of people. In this day of cutthroat competition, we need to take more cognisance of this than ever. The world around us is moving toward ever-higher levels of perfection. And the world certainly isn’t lenient toward those that fall short. It should be our endeavour to eternally chase that 'mirage' called perfectionism.