Appraisal time !

The year gone by, has brought/snatched too many things in/from my life. When I look back, I realise I was more a machine than a human. I had made fun of corporate animals in many of my previous blog posts, but this year I turned one .

 What have I done/achieved/lost in the past year ???? too complex.. too technical. The year was overshadowed with lot of work and yet been one of the nicest years.

Personally, it  was a year of that had lot of celebrations at home… (one more added between the time I began drafting this post and I publish it.)

Professionally, I have seen extremely long working hours, pressure-cooker situations, lack of concentration.. finally I became mechanical at work. But, during the course, I learnt many tricks of the trade as well.

Year that began with my brother’s wedding turned me into a social being…. for the first time in life I played a host (a nice one too I believe). That was the only time after long that I really took a real break from work. Got to meet friends and family, who complained I had lost lot of weight… haha thanks to work and Bangalore that I lost whatever weight I had put on with great difficulty. It was also the first time I personally witnessed the transition and amalgamation of two different families. I realised it was such a delicate thing to handle, yet (touch wood) AALL IZZZ WELL.

Work occupied the major portion of my life, I learnt may things in due course,. Though, none of the learnings helped me scale up my technical skills, I learnt how to be and how not to be at work. At times I felt we are exploited and at other times I felt folks above there are helpless as well. Did I really need to pay for someone else’s helplessness ?

Few months down the year, I was so over worked that  I even stopped analysing things and using my thoughts, more so I became mechanical. Got a breather mid of the year, when I got to work with one of the senior team members. I was stunned by the level of calmness she showed at work. It was as if God forgot to install the driver for emotion called “Panic” in her. The ease of work was really contagious and I learn how to avoid hitting the panic button.  Observing others I realised that work was too chaotic, not because it was chaotic, but was made to be one.

Learnings :

1. It is not always a lack of skill that affects work, but lack of application of the skill.

2. Work is just part of life.  I realised it tough way. Had been through the physically most painful phase in life with a drastically screwed up neck. This phase gave me time to lie on bed for longer hours, because it was tough for me to really painful move my neck even an inch. Pain was so extreme that even a blink would be killing. Physiotherapy sessions had become part of my life for few weeks. Strict NO to Pillows till date.

3. No matter how cliché it may sound.. “if you struggle today, you are happier tomorrow”. Most people around to find treat it as showbiz or worthless, when I document my learnings and shared them across. It takes a real effort to document things, but after sharing them, when people end up in similar issues, I have a ready answer “Read the document that I send the other day” . How much time does it take to utter these words when compared to sitting back and cracking the issues. This really gave me a chance to avoid work and that too with invincibly defensive statement ” Read the document that I send the other day”.

Starting early for work and working till mid-night was daily routine. Driving back late was a reason to complain. Returning late has something good in it too. One night I was caught up in an unplanned meeting, causing my EOD to be delayed by 2 hours (11.30 pm). On the way, I realised there was a slit between two blocks in pavement and a pair of hands emerging out of the slit. I thought it was someone cleaning the place at night, but the curiousity made me peep in only to find a well-dressed guy. I then realized, he could have fallen into the slit while getting down from the bus at the bust-stop.  My insticts were not as over-worked as me, so I called an auto-rickshaw driver for help, but the blocks were too heavy for us to lift. Thanks to YSR, the driving force behind 108 service, whcih turned up late but yet managed to save that guy out. Though YSR was not benifitted by his brain-child, the service benifits many across India.

Learning: At times, saving a life doesn’t cost you anything (108 is toll free number) , except the attitude to spend some time and effort for others.

Few unexpected re-unions with my best friends brought back the “Hari” or rather “Harry” to his original self. Ravi flying down to India for few weeks made me take the much needed break. The word needed is in bold because that was the last vacation I had taken till December. That was like the breeze that brought me back to life…..!

Quick, breakless trip from Bangalore to Hyderabad to attend one of my best-friend’s wedding reception and then rushing back within hours. Long bus journey without dinner was too taxing, but I couldn’t have forgiven myself all my life if I had not travelled to Hyd for this event. The pain and stress always vanishes when it makes our dear ones smile.

Moving back to Hyderabad was the best feeling I ever had in few years. People who visit my blog quite often, told me that they expected the I would write something on that, but that never happened. I was never able to write on my come back, because I was so over-worked that it took very long for me to really realise that I am back home. My thoughts were never moving past work. Few of my friends were even bored by the mere thought of giving me as call, because I wouldn’t speak anything apart from work.

Srikanth flying back to India after 3 years, was the real booster. I almost re-lived my college days. Weekend movies, dinner, shopping, aimless drives….. ! This phase made me the old Hyderabadi.

I started writing this post on Dec14 around 7 pm and couldn’t finish it till today. I don’t regret this, because this delay gave me more wonderful moments to record.

Two hours after I started writing this post, I became an uncle to a cute little baby-boy. Two weeks from then, I got to meet this new member in the family. It is a real pleasure to watch the tiny tot spread that innocent and unadulterated smile.

Few more days, I felt my efforts at work really paid off. Though, the so-called numbering was awesome, the words that followed were encouraging. 

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