Career, Money, Designation, Roles and All that Drama !!!!!!!!!!!

I have arrived; the chase for money is over. Not that I have hit a black hole in my current role, career or I have called it shots on what am doing, but After climbing the ladder so fast and reaching the top, I now feel that the ladder was against the wrong wall.

Money was the criteria, dragged into a non typical Indian middle class circumstance, especially in an orthodox Brahmin family, were walking out of the house without an engineering grad is a crime, career was by force and not by choice. With enough brains and marks to support, groping in the dark for the next step ahead. With little money and lots of commitments, with lots of pride and lack of prejudice, with a brittle family and a brave heart, I wanted a job that could help me study and give me a push. Was the first offer letter that I got “my choice”, was that moment of Joy, that took me to Chennai a mere flash in the pan, On the contrary if that moment wasn’t there would I ever be blogging, flying from Jaipur – Chennai , business class.

“Money is not everything “, the statement never made sense to me, at 19 with looming financial problems and debts, for me money was the problem solver, the divine agent, the fix. I decided to give it a chase, to take shortcuts, to get what I wanted, my divine agent. Overtime, Shifts, Health was always regarded as excuses of spoiled brats. Employee relation, Job satisfaction, Work Culture was terms that never clicked, the divine agent kept me going. Like a log of wood in water, like a kite without direction I chased pay cheques. “I am a pay cheque player “. Does money give you a choice, after an endless chase, do you actually get to make a choice. Now that’s a question that needs to be answered, for all the youngsters out there, the answer is might be it does, but the real answer would be “chase a career you like and money will chase you”.

Not that I own a Merc or a three bedroom apartment, Not that I fly business class every day, Not that I dine at the Taj or Leela but my chase for whatever I wanted is over. A home in my village, an address which I never had for 23 years, three time food with no tensions of debt and collection agents, Lee, Levis and Nike to wear, A cute girl to hang out with, that’s all I wanted to do with money. To watch a cricket match without being forced to switch channels by a step mother, to go and watch a movie first day first show, to wear 5 different dresses a week, I always had to fight for the simplest of things in life, and fight became a part of life.

Today, I realize that I can go far and beyond, tearing apart the blanket of money, breaking the shackles of growth and designations. Not that I forgot where I walked in from, but that I realize life is much more than money and designation, that I realize that work is life and not a part of life. When 60 % of ones life is spend at work, the choice of the career must be as important as the choice of a partner. That a Pay Cheque is worth until the 5th of the month, until the “Milkwalla” is paid, the cable and telephone bills are cleared, the rent and food is taken care and when all this drama is over, you have with you, around you and within you, the work that you do, the people who surround you and the inner satisfaction it gives you. I will search, get where I want, as I have the luxury of thought, the power of choice, though I had to fight to get to the race, I will still run the race with all the heart, as in Jerry Maguire “I am all heart Mother Fucker!!!!!!”.

" Quality of life "

"QOL" Quality of life must be a new term for most us, but a term that must turn heads around.The term must bring in a lot of sense for our crowd who earns a substantial income but rarely finds a way to spend it the right way. Whats quality of life when you don't sleep more than 6 hours a day, whats life when a Sunday evening is spent with an American, making him dance to the tune of right click and left click, whats life when rendezvous with food is an accident and good food a miracle. These are the questions that usually comes up when we discuss the much hyped,americanized BPO lifestyle which Indian society is still finding hard to digest.

Are we really struggling, Is it that bad ???? I would say a big blatant " NO ". We are enjoying our life, having a Gala time. Here are some generic statements that are made : They say the industry would shut down and the career is insecure, we ask then what career is secure. The job is monotonous and you would get fed up soon, If you don't reinvent yourself everyday any job is monotonous, May be Beckham or Sachin might have a different version. Call center is about picking calls and going home, We have seen the best of the talent loosing faith after their initial call. Night shifts aren't safe for girls, as if in the day light they receive appreciable treatment.

Some facts that make sense are : Night shift cuts of your social life, to a huge extend yes. Health issues would be there for people who don't take care of themselves.Your market value for loans, marriages and credit cards goes down. High probability of receiving step motherly treatment from your own family if you have a sibling who works for an IT company.Society again the judge in the case of every Indian; gives a verdict that the job is temporary and never be loyal to it.

Certain funny instances, Major one happens after you introduce yourself as a manager in an MNC, often we would use terms such as Process re engineering, Critical support team, Tier three support etc for an impact and at the end your fathers colleague would end up asking in a tone which would receive a Nobel for sarcasm " Oh that Call Centraaaaa ". Another incident which I would like to quote is about the security of female employees. Certain companies ask the male employee to take the last drop after ensuring that every female employee reaches her home safe. Poor guy would see his mom standing in front of the home waving her hand but cant stop because of the " Huge Responsibility " on his shoulders.One of my friends had to spend almost an hour and half extra everyday to ensure the safety of his colleagues, annoyed one day he asked the transport team to send a security guard. Transport head in front of fifty odd employees started a lecture on brotherhood, team work, social responsibility etc which ended with this million dollar question " After I drop all the female employees , when am alone in the cab and If the driver turns out to be a Gay do you have a provision to protect my a#$% , or it doesn't matter at all ha ???????