Life......

I turned 29 ... (SHRIEKS LIKE A CHICK WHO'S JUST SEEN TWO 500 POUND GORILLAS MATING........ RUNS AROUND THE ROOM BANGING HIS HEAD ON THE WALL.... )...

Hysterics and the fact that I haven't grown up aside, I have learnt a couple of things along the way. Here they are....

1) There is no such thing as a PERFECT job profile - Though "Luxury bed tester"and "playboy"are still some very enviable professions going around, these are hardly classic LinkedIn material! - I dont claim to have job hopped so much as to make such a learned claim, but if I look around, there aren't too many people around who are too kicked about going to work on a Monday morning. The trade off of having a great job (definition: You like going to work on a Monday) is that you'll either be placed in South Western Zambia as those profiles rake in the Gandhis (or the equivalent of a Gandhi in Zambia) or it pays so less that you think twice before buying peanuts from the friendly neighborhood peanut vendor...

2) Management degrees are highly over-rated - ok.. this point is in here primarily because of the disastrous placement season I went through in 2009 (if you can even call it a "placement"season - Left to me, I would have described it as a "High level, corporate Potato Sale") Recession apart, I feel that the much sought after "M.B.A." is a very overrated experience. It might be your fast track into the management echelons but you'd get there anyway if you just put your head down and slogged when you got out of college. In fact, having relevant experience in the field of your Undergraduation degree, takes you to a much better place than someone who is trying to get there post a hot shot Management degree. Some of the chaps/lasses who I know through my first job at Infosys, who rejected any "MBA" ideas incepted into their cranial cavities by peers, parents, other sources are today in really good positions. They will take a bit longer to get to the much hyped "management cadre" but when they get there, they'd be so grounded that noone will be able to push them around.

3) Its better to be a GREAT team player than a star - very cliched statement - but hey, this is my blog and this is what I've learnt! Álso, this doesn't mean that I don't have ambitions of being a CEO some day - but I hope this ride to the top will be in a luxury bus rather than in a 1-seater sports coupe prototype... (evidently, I'm getting very sucky at analogies). There will be a lot of people who will beg to differ here, Mark Zuckerberg being right in front of this line - but be it good times or bad, its always been a solid team that has gotten me through shit (Lets try to quietly avoid the fact that I perhaps dont have what it takes to be a maverick... so shhhhh)

4) Potatoes are evil beings with minds of their own - Refer to this for more....

5) Life is short - Dont hold back too much for a rainy day - This surprisingly coming from a South Indian Brahmin like me! Being in Delhi for the last 2 years has given me an insight on how Delhites love to live it up. Of course I will still maintain that the average Delhite spends more than he can afford, but what I like a lot is the fact that they know how to have FUN. They don't hold back on something just because it might effect something else (which we sometimes do when the second something is very very trivial indeed). Life is short and we earn so that we can have a good time. - So again, this doesnt mean that you go and blow up your salary by the 5th because then you'll have to live on potatoes for the rest of the month! In the last 2 years, I have saved enough for tax saving instruments and minor mutual fund investments. At the same time, Ive also managed to scrape in a decent down payment for a car (a decision which led me to forgo a London trip). This has been done on a very very modest pay package indeed. What was left, a majority of which would have been saved in ideal (read: if I was in Bangalore) situations was "invested" in "having a good time"!

6) Location is everything - Most people who know me well, would know that I did time in Kolkata. Those who don't know me, please don't be alarmed. It wasn't jail or anything - at least not officially. It is there were I learnt that your location is of utmost importance. Those 4-5 months is Kolkata were the worst 4-5 months of my life. Having said this, I don't boast of a fantastic lifestyle outside Kolkata, but it was BAD. This might sound like sour grapes, but I don't think I would have been too happy to be posted in a Patna or a Barabanki or a Ajmer on a 3 year sales assignment even if it was by a PnG or a HLL.... (again, this is debatable!)

7) Mandy Moore was right - (Some) Girls just wanna have fun! - Well.. no comments!

8) Never get bogged down by boastful people. Chances are, they're as miserable as you are - There were times in the past when I would really get depressed when random people told me how cool they were and what cool jobs they had and what cool things they were doing etc. Most of these random people weren't even ASKED what they were up to.. so there were no pleasantries or "wassups"exchanged and they would just start by sayin "Oh btw..... " This happened a lot post MBA when everyone around was trying to justify opportunity costs of leaving their jobs for the course. This is when I realised Point #1 - there is no such thing as a perfect job... Also, I realised that in most of these cases, the bragger in question was just trying to convince (herself)himself that (s)he had a good thing going for (her)him by relaying it rather loudly and getting pats on (her)his back. My mom always said that this was the "Oldest trick in the book" and that I fell for it with alarming consistency.

9) Help people when in need - I will never go down in history to be known as a philanthropist but after a personal experience where I was shown a phenomenal amount of generosity when I was really in need, I will try to emulate the act some day. When I was without a job for 2 months, I had nowhere to go. Home was not an option as I wanted to continue the job hunt in Delhi. At this point, I was welcomed with both hands wide open into my friend's house where she took care of me, fed me(with AWESOME food) and at one point, even clothed me(her quest to get me a new wardrobe!!!!). She was a great friend so this act could still be fathomable (very difficult given the scale of generosity - but STILL remotely fathomable). Who I am very grateful to (apart from this friend) is her husband who was equally welcoming. Before this, yes, we had met at parties, hung out a bit, had a good time. But this was a completely different ball game. At no point in my stay at their house was a made to feel unwanted... Or like a burden... or even like an irritant. The both of them went out of the way to make me feel wanted (at that time, it seemed that no company wanted me!)

At the end of 2 months when I finally got that job, I couldn't help but think of what would have been my situation/condition if they weren't there to help me when I needed someone the most. With this I learnt a huge lesson - it was a lesson in giving - Generosity 101. I hope at some time in my life, I would be able to help someone else out like this.

And with this I run out of things I have learnt in the 29 years of my (miserable) life. Ofcourse there have been a lot of other things Ive learnt too ( like

1) Never ask for a Pepsi when you are on a business lunch with a client who works at Coke

2) Never go "Ohhh... cute dawwggieee ooogliii wooogliiii..."with Dobermans...

3) Never take a vegetarian on a dinner date to Mohammad Ali Road... Chances are you'll have bigger things to worry about apart from puke.

4) NEVER...repeat.. NEVER chase Vodka with beer....

5) to be continued when I'm really jobless next..... :D

... but most of these things must be learnt the hard way! :D

With this I stop here... Hope all those young people out there reading this blog, pay heed to whatever I have said. Else Santa will not be happy on the 25th!.. Adios!