Of Penguins And Professions

Posted by Abhimanyu on July 18, 2009 · 7 Comments 

They say change is inevitable. So I succumbed. And I am not talking just about the blog’s look and feel.

About 9 months back, I embarked on a journey which happened to be called Earning My Quarter Mile. That journey has been long over in form but in effect continues unabated. My life has changed irrevocably. I am not the same person anymore. Then more things changed.

I moved to Delhi in search of nirvana. And chacha ke chole. And the mountains. My wish was granted. For four months, I did things I never thought I would do. I stayed a month or so in Arunachal Pradesh in close proximity to the people. I saw things in a whole different light. I felt different. I thought this may be the answer I was looking for. Turns out, it wasn’t.

So four months after I joined Pragya, I quit it because I did not think the way things were being done was the right one. I had come out of a compromise to be here. There was no way I was going to compromise again. So that was that.

But Pragya meant more to me than a job. I felt proud. I felt satisfied. I met people of all sorts. And I found love.

Then another first of my life happened.

As I felt rather reluctant to look for another ‘job’, I ended up at a firm which seemed to be doing just the sort of thing I wanted and had just the sort of people I hoped. Development Alternatives. I met one man who has made me think more in 2 hours with him than I have in years together.

You are not looking for a job

He summarily concluded about my case. And that was the first line he spoke. Pretty funny how some people can just look at you and read you like an open book with large font. Over the next 2 hours, he quizzed, poked, cajoled and nudged me into telling him details of my life that I have never mentioned to even friends or family, let alone someone I have just met across an interview table. It was like I was talking to my shrink. I was telling this guy about why I made the choices I made, who my role models were and what I was trying to prove with the things I say and do. He read my mind.

George was the first interviewer who said to me

I like you and I would love you to join the firm but I don’t think you should.

It was the most honest anyone has ever been to me. It was the most honest I had ever been to anyone. I didn’t join DA.

What I did do however, was engage with them as a freelance advisor on a project with them. Considering this was a rather important assignment and allowed me to look threadbare into the working of the organization, I lapped it up. All of a sudden, I was an Independent Financial Consultant. This was begining to look cool!

Then reality hit home. Silently. Without footsteps. Seems it bought Hush Puppies. For the second time in my life, I was getting close to being bankrupt. And I wasn’t edging towards it, I was rushing. Its a humbling thought. The fact that you have been through it once doesn’t make it any easier.

So here I am. Independently employed. Broke. In a city I don’t really like. And hopelessly in love. This just keeps getting interesting.

Filed under Himalayas