The Internship Saga

Sunday 14 June 2015

As I pack up to go back to start XL 2.0, a flood of memories splash across my mind. 2 months can indeed have a great impact on an individual. And don’t know why, I feel quite a few changes in me. It definitely has been a very happening 2 months. A cursory view into it might seem like a failed outcome of what “mattered” most, but is it? Needs some thought.

As usual, leaving home to go back to college, in fact, anywhere after a break, has been tough for me, but every time I have gone out, it has helped me become a better person. Flash back to 2 months before! When going to Mumbai on a 2 months roller coaster ride, seemed to be a dampening proposition to me. And then, Mumbai happened, HUL happened and a few friends happened. Actually, an experience is what it was, an experience that made a small town boy see the bigger world around him.

Interestingly, for the first time in life, I haven’t felt miserable about the failures of a journey, but felt intensely passionate about the new additions, new purposes and a sense of satisfaction of doing something, that matters. The internship if we talk about, didn’t end up in a very good note. But for the first time, the calmness of “I gave my best” fills me with a sense of satisfaction. There were people from whom I learnt things, and when I say things, its not just work, knowledge, it’s a way of living. I got to meet some fabulous people, be it me my boss, some friends or a roadside stranger, who taught me way more about life, than the work at the internship did.

And Mumbai awed me!! The notion I had about the place earlier broke apart like a bolt of lightning. Not that, I would still like to spend a very big portion of my life in Mumbai, but I really admire the place. What makes it unique are its subtle nuances and the stark contrasts. There are two sides to everything in Mumbai. The place seems to be living, seems to have its own soul and seems to be learning and adapting to its external environment every moment. The feeling is internal and probably, best felt once you feel it yourself.

2 months and it seems to have made me feel very independent and free. Seems to have broken open some mental barriers and shackles that chained the inner me. It has taught a way to redefine solitude as a form of celebration and to make a few moments worth it. At the same time, it has shown me how fast life can change. Within all the changes, the memories still dwell, in the deepest abyss, flashing on and off, every instant, when you need them and even, when you don’t need them.

In the end, the 2 months has been really wonderful. And ends up perfectly, being at home for a week and meeting some of the closest ones. XL 2.0 awaits. Last few months of student life and I hope, it will be as much of an experience, as the last 2 months have been.

Signing off
A.M.

The "Joe" in You

Tuesday 17 March 2015

The world is actually a funny place. Nah! Actually a tough place for people who are too concerned for the general welfare of every creature who they have by their side. In your life, no matter how much you try, you can’t make everyone happy in your life. And true it is, if you can make sure that the majority is, then you lived your life good enough.

There was this guy, lets call him Joe. Calm, apparently cool, smiling and so on! People attribute so many things that bring happiness in their lives. For him, happiness was just being loved, nothing else. Never did he make a fuss about anything. Very sincere, responsible about whatever he does and made to do, he made sure he gets everything done. He still doesn’t make any fuss about it.

But I wonder where he goes wrong. Is it actually him or is it people around him? There was a part of his life when success seemed an alien concept. It was hard to think of why he was where he was, in spite of the way he was, how he was. He had a small friend circle. All the revelling he did, was confined to this group. He never seeked attention then, never does, never will. He was still known to people. His actions spoke for him, he never did. But he always thought, was it the place for him?!!

He would always be too modest, not speaking a word about anything he did well, anything he was ever good at. Joe was a gentleman. And I don’t think anybody who talked to him would deny that. People around him , actually a lot of people made a lot of fuss about themselves. He would listen smile and admire and keep quite. He just believed God will give him what he deserved someday.

On the pursuit of being too very modest, he sometimes stopped believing in himself. I hated that about him. So much have I tried to explain him, that he is good, too good, he is just not ready to believe, even though he has already proved himself now. He believes he is getting lucky. Often do I draw his attention to the level of hard work he has done! He had failed too many times, has been very disappointed and heart-broken but never given up.

But interestingly, the world is so ironic again. Now he is in a much better place. He speaks very less now. Not that he doesn’t have friends. Not that he doesn’t enjoy his life with them, not that he is alone, but he speaks too very less now. I asked him the reason. Even he doesn’t know the reason for it. But yes again he works. He is still responsible, just not visible. And God knows why, people still talk about him. He is just so non-ignorable. People just find a reason to talk about him, may be they are just jealous!

Does he care? Yes he does. Why?? Because he is just too concerned about what everyone thinks about him. He says “ I never mess with anyone. I do my own work and even other’s work properly. I hardly talk. I never gossip. All I mean to is keep people happy, then why people have to be just so shitty at times?”. Well I have tried to make him understand that people talk, no matter what, just don’t care about it. But he does. And at the end of the day, I think its best the way he is, lets not try to change him. God made him that package. Let him be himself, may be someday he will be proud of what he is.

In each of us, is hidden a Joe. We see it. We question it. We answer it and in the end, we stay ourself. And believe me, that is what we are ever supposed to be!!

Signing Off
A.M.

What Money Can Buy..

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Term- 3 begins!! 15 days of vacation comes to an end. And here I am back at base. The vacations weren’t very eventful, but the feeling at being home is always that of being in a different world altogether.
Its been a long time I haven’t been writing my blog. Well, not really intentional, I have been so busy writing so many other things that I really haven’t got time for this. Or is it? May be its never about time, its just about priorities. It is just a lack of motivation, a lack of reason, a lack of any such inspiration to write, something/someone stole them all!!
And talking about money, can money also be a priority? Yes it can. For some people. Maybe for a lot of them. Money has the power even to bring about motivation and the zeal to do things. Money matters!! But how much? And How far??
I am pursuing a career, people say, whose sole purpose is to earn more money. And its true as well. An honest answer (of course, its too dangerous to be too honest) to the question “why mba” could well be more money and if you want to extend with some more irrelevant stuff, then better career perspectives blah blah!!
And so does everyone opines. When I think, why I chose this career, I wonder!! Was it really about the money as people say? What and how much money can buy? How long can it buy? I don’t mean to say money doesn’t matter. But after a certain limit, no matter, how much more you have, its all the same. For me, this career was just a stepping stone to something else. It gave me the conviction to believe that I exist and can very well exist further. And again the question, did I chose it? I would call the question rather too ambiguous because it chose me. Is it the road ahead? I would say its just a means to an end!
A few days back, a friend reminded me of the Myntra discount offer going on!! My first thought was we try to earn money, we try to make judicious use of it too, we try saving it, manipulating it, doing so many things to it. But can it buy anything more than some material pleasures? I wish there were some offers about things that money can’t do anything about. Yes, there are a lot of things that money can’t buy. And I don’t want to get started with what they are, because we all know it.
I wish money could have bought me things I want! But when I ponder, there is hardly anything, I want, that money could buy. I wish life gave discount offers too. A 2 day sale where you ask the heavens for anything and it got answered!! But unfortunately life has a much more complex business model than Myntra. What you want is what you hardly get, what is right is what you get, what is right is beyond our sight, and what we sight, is merely an illusion.
If we consider possession or well-being to be a dependant variable W varying linearly, let M be the money factor and Life be the variable “x” factor
W= M + l *x where l is dynamic variable dependant on numerous known and unknown variables
-∞ As long as ‘l’ varies this defiantly, what can the M factor do??? Probably this l is what we call destiny!! And that is all that matters!!
Signing Off
A.M.