The paradigm shift of my career..

Professions and career building promise half shift in any life and I am no exception to it. When I worked in USA, I was quite happy with the kind of work that came my way. I was one of the youngest in my company and did almost everything right from printing papers to designing skyscrapers. Most of the times, my manager-cum-mentor Mike shared his own personal experience of an entry level engineer..where he advised what all I should be going after to and be a proactive employee. “Purva, you should never restrict yourself just to one type of project. Extend your horizons and be ready for whatever comes your way. And don’t forget…always find time to read and study. Never stop becoming a student.” He said. I had dreamed of working in corporate sector for at least 20-25 years and then happily retire to pursue other dreams of life. However, when I moved back to India, the corporate culture here really disappointed me. No offences to Indian corporate sector though, I didn’t find the work exciting enough to keep me going. I was bored of an uninteresting job where all my work was to fill Excel worksheets with structures designed, attending meetings and endless discussions over project details.

One fine day, my manager gave me a new project and asked me to do some reading on it before I start. Thrilled about designing flyovers and other stuff I never designed, I immersed myself in books and other knowledge imparting things. Soon my manager realized that I was taking it too far to gain knowledge, given the limited office working hours and impending deadlines to deliver.

He came to my desk and said” Purva, I think you are taking it too hard. You don’t need to do research. We have deadlines approaching.”

And I lifted my head buried under the pile of books to answer him. “Sir, I think your worksheets are wrong. I have been checking them for sometime and they have a lot of errors.”

“What do you mean? We have built them over many years. Just start your work. Input your requirements, get the outputs and submit the design.” He rejected.

“Sorry Sir, I can’t produce wrong results knowingly. I am an engineer. Clerk, I am not.” I also retaliated.

My manager was rebuffed with this reply. He declared ”Are you here to work or to study? Stop being a student and start acting on deadlines. If you have so much interest in reading, go join a PhD program. Academics is a much better option for you.”

“Thank you Sir. I will think about it.” I ended the argument. The thoughts shared about me by my manager were doing the rounds in my mind too since long. But the argument with him sealed the stamp on them. I realized it was time to consider the paradigm shift. Taking a leap from a 6 year long corporate life to academics seemed too challenging in the beginning. But I decided to take the risk. I put in my papers and applied to the PhD program at IIT Delhi. My manager was astonished with this development and switched to a convincing mode.

This is the greatest irony in Indian corporate sector which I observed while working both in US and India. In US, when someone works hard, he/she is treated as an asset for the company and is showered with appreciation and encouragement along with varied perks and incentives. While in our own country, if someone puts their heart and soul in job…they are squeezed to the core like a leech. And when the employee resigns, it is when the real appreciation flows in. I was no exception to this mind set.

“I believed you will ascend high considering the amount of hard work you put in and your knowledge. Guess you took my argument seriously.” My manager tried to reason with me. “I hope you will reconsider your decision. I will talk to senior management for your job upgrade and other incentives.”

I was firm on my decision. “Sorry Sir, thanks for your consideration. I have found my way. Any job upgrade would never let me gain knowledge and know what I don’t know. I am better being a student, being a learner. I thank you for showing me the right path.” I uttered words of gratitude. And I joined IIT Delhi.

I don’t say that my life at academics has been peaceful so far. But it is fulfilling and rewarding in real sense. In academics, I stopped…claiming to have known what I didn’t, to have justified wrong results which I knew in my heart to be wrong and to have loved what I was living rather than to have lived what I actually love.  

I am happy to go back to my roots again rather than making a meaningless career…and that is...being a learner for life.

Back to Blogging!!!

Hello everyone!! It has been almost 10 years for me since I last blogged. I won’t say that I didn’t miss it. Life has taken almost 360 degrees shift in these years and the girl who was in her college writing deepest thoughts about her life and the lives she witnessed, is now in early 30s. After a doctorate, marriage and a child…I had started believing that I would never be able to resume writing in this lifetime. But as is said…everything is achievable in this lifetime only.

Life has been running on a critical path all these years. I was quite active blogger during my stint at USA attributing the lonely and mechanical life there. I felt the need of communicating and connecting to people. Blogging happened by chance and gave me tremendous satisfaction to express myself, write about how I see life and the stories of many people crossing my path. And change which was imminent after moving back to India promised a new horizon for writing and posting. But as they say…life surprises you when you least expect it. Reading books crushed under job pressures and writing buried under mundane life affairs. I forgot that I even had a blog.

I was an avid book reader 10 years back and I am feeling bad that I haven’t read any new books in these years. All I read was research papers for a doctorate degree, books on pregnancy and childbirth and ofcourse project reports and documents for an unexciting job. And last week when I felt I should start to read again, I picked up my favourite book from shelf….”Tuesdays with Morrie”. I refer this book as my life saviour in all times. An office colleague at US suggested me this book and it turned out to be a life changer.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” brings the essential pedestal to any writer’s block and to any life stuck in worldly interests. Usually, we humans happily accept all the conventions of life set by and according to societal norms and our previous generations. And why it shouldn’t be…there is a set rule of happiness for almost 90% around us. Study, behave well, write your competitive exams, get a job, get married, have kids and bring them up, live life as normally as possible and then one fine day…hand over the heritage of your life and experiences to the younger generations for them to similarly follow your footsteps. I sometimes wonder and ask myself in the early hours of morning when I retrospect my life…Is it what I want to leave as a legacy for my child? Live as I have lived? Think as I have thought? And perceive life similar to my perceptions? And I do not agree with my own.

I do not wish my child to be part of an unhappy crowd with all the negative kind of perceptions about his surroundings. I want him to experience, fail, experience again and fail again till he discovers his calling. I prefer a happy child on a successful one at the end of my life. I wish to tell him that it is about breaking the barriers and challenging the conventions. It is about following your heart and soul. There is more to life than everyday routine. And that is where your true happiness lies. On a finishing note….as Morrie rightly said in the book “If the culture doesn’t suit you, don’t buy it. Create your own culture.”