Book Mom

These breaks between posts is not helping. Today's post is an attempt to actually post something rather than having something incredible to say! Still, moving on..

I'd relate an incident which, in hindsight, I reckon has changed my life! I was a timid school student, who by virtue of the school I studied in and my Mom scored good in my higher secondary examinations and got an admission to BITS, Pilani. I was sent there primarily due to Appa's wish.. I still remember his statement - "I will send you even for a sweeping course at BITS. You need to grow up and be independent, you need to get out of this house, you must go to BITS". It helped that about a dozen folks were coming from my class in school... so I was not alone. We reached Pilani, I got a few shocks, met a couple of seniors and tried to decipher the registration process and the time table book and stuff.

Then, the inevitable happened. My parents left for Chennai leaving me to fend for myself. I was devastated, to say the least. To add to the misery, I was ragged by a senior during lunch, I spoke a little and got back more and was branded as "thadi" [arrogant in BITSian parlance]. I was perhaps breaking down, did not want to stay there any longer..:|

My ego or my self esteem did not allow me to cry in front of others, so I was there crying my heart out all alone in the night on the bed and trying to fall asleep. At around 11:15 p.m, I had somebody calling out my name in the corridor. It was a second year student whom I had met earlier and from who I was to buy my text books[We call them Book Mom/Pop in BITS ;)]. I don't know what went through her mind, she said that she had come to take me to her room to give away the books. I was shocked :-(, her wing was notorious for ragging and I was wearing a night suit at that point.. a strict no-no for a fresher. She insisted and I had to go...

I think it was pretty obvious that I was crying, many folks noticed :-( and have told me as well! To her credit, my Book Mom did not once ask why I was crying. She went about and gave me all the books, told me how I should read them and the books that I can use for reference etc etc. So at about 12:15 in the night, I walked off from her wing with a huge pile of books and went back to my room. I kept them all on the chair and looked at them. It struck me then, I have come to Pilani to study and have no business to think about anything else. I have the books that I need to study and that should be my focus. My mind cleared and I decided to complete my education come whatsoever.

Its a fact that those 4 years at Pilani were some of the best years of my life! I changed from a timid naive person to a confident person. And I must thank my Book Mom for this! Good Bless her with the best in life!

I strongly believe that the Divine power sent her to me that night. There was no need for her to come to my wing that night, she could have told somebody to pass on the message. There was no need for her to take me to her wing and give all the books, she could have just decided that I was not keeping well and so should collect the books later. There was no need for her to behave normally and talk about the course work, she could have tried to sympathize and help me out. But, fortunately, she did none of these, but showed me the focus of my life in her own way.

My faith is that when we are down and giving up, we usually find people who talk/ behave in a manner that gives us hope and focus in life. Its happened to me a couple of times with friends, relations and my Mom (especially) dishing out nuggets that have change my outlook and mood in life. So, I just want to thank them all and the Divine for it! :).

Me Back

Ok. I am back blogging after some.... time. Many things have happened during this time. I shifted back home to Bangalore. Its been a pleasant experience until now ;-), and I hope it stays that way!

I am missing Hyderabad :-( ! I used to grumble if I spent more than 20 minutes travelling to work and now my travel takes close to 1 1/2 hours :-(. I am told thats normal here! God, I don't wish to spend my life in any city.. I'd rather be in a two-tier city or a campus like Pilani where you don't waste time on the road! Otherwise, things have been smooth..

Missing folks at work. Its rather strange to sit and work on your own. I am generally taciturn, but with the team and known folks, I can be rather bositerous :D. I am soon going to have sore hands with all that typing ;-) at work!

So, thats about it for now.

Accounts!

I am finally done. I am tired of this "kanakku" business. Having avoided it for four long years.. I was forced to do it today.. and I did it. Rounded it off with a bite of good ol Dairy Milk celebrating the momentous occasion!

To add in, I sent my stuff to Chennai and Bangalore today. Its slowly sinking in.. I am finally quitting Hyderabad, feeling rather psenti. I love this place :)

Chennai

Currently, am at Chennai to attend my friend's wedding.
If I am currently at Chennai, where do I actually belong to ;-). My family is basically from Chennai, now settled at Bangalore.. and I am currently working at Hyderabad :D. Soon I am taking a transfer to Bangalore and settling at home(finally!!).

The thought of going home is giving me the jitters inspite of all the excitement :. I have to "unlearn" a lot of things that I have learnt over these years away from home.. at hostel and at work. I hope its not too painful :-(

Through the day

My mood is not any better now than it was in the afternoon. There is a difference between a conscious decision and a conscious effort, I made the former but did not do the latter! But how does one pep your mood at work :-/. But I am coping and hope I cool off soon. I am tired of this, it looks like I am mourning something!

Moods

Me at work...
Not in the best of moods since last night. I am going to make a conscious effort to bring me out of this! As they say, "Nobody can spoil your mood without your permission", I am going to get outta this.

You have some good days and some bad ones..

Integrity

Two days down the line.. I am still wondering why I decided to blog! I think the reason is to give an outlet to my views and think on a broader spectrum.

I often read interesting things that strike me as brilliant thoughts or ideas.. but thats about it. What I would ideally like to do is to talk about these things and think deep about it. Being the person that I am, I don't find too many people to discuss and end up forgetting it all :-(. I hope this blog will relieve me of this. So shall we get started ;-),

Today, I was reading Business Line and there was a small segment - 10 questions to a CEO. One of the questions asked was - "What do you look in a new recruit? " and the answer is "Integrity".

A great reply! But what is integrity at work? My former manager, a mentor of sorts to me was taking a training to a group of freshers and I was one of them. Being rather terrified of him initially, I listened to whatever he said rather attentively so as to avoid any embarrassing situation.. but alas not everybody thought so. There was this guy who probably snoozed off or whatever and was unable to answer a very simple question. My manager made a curious comment... "So what if you are in training and have not started working as such.. you get paid during the training period.. Don't you?". In retrospect, I believe this is one of the most important lesson of professional integrity, you ensure you do your best for the money you get paid.

Thats all for today folks! More on integrity on my next post..