illusive.in

Hey there,

Nomadic moments has been moved from blogspot to my own domain. http://illusive.in/blog/
Lots of new content coming soon. Do visit and drop in your comments. :)

Happy reading & writing

Ashwin!

Amchi Mumbai ... a flavour

Colaba... churchgate.. vada pav.. cutting chai..
Marine drive... chowpaty.. pav bhaji.. ice golas..
Local trains... bollywood.. Bandstand.. rains..

Mumbai. It is a flavour in itself.

As said this city never sleeps. It's fast and so are the people living
in the city.

It offers love & care to whoever seeks it. It also teachs many
lessons hard ways.

Millions of movies, media, documentaris and many other sources
have all told about Mumbai. I got nothing new to offer.

This is just a summary of chapter called Mumbai in the Nomadic Moments.
A love that will remain forever.

What next? New experiences are waiting.. Donno what's in store..

Keep reading for more tales are coming..

Where is the Nomad?

Lost..

Lost somewhere in crowd,in civilization,in the concrete.
Lost somewhere in work,in traffic,in the rains.
Lost somewhere in search of destiny and the journey.

Lost in preparing to leave the old and see the new.

Awaiting to realize a dream.

Hope to be found soon...

Regards..

Across the continents and back..

May be I could go in detail, but that might want you to kill me.
Yeah, I have seen these dirty looks when ever I refer to the country
I stayed last. So I will keep it short.

So..

What was good ?
The country much larger in size for the populaion it holds.
So you stretch conveniently. And hence making system much stable
and easy.

What was bad?
I felt a strange hollowness inspite of all the wealth, glamor and comfort.

What was different from India?
Apart from the economic conditions it was the value/respect for
life and time that feels different from India.

In short, the comparitively short stay in US was great lesson for life.
It was the kind of work and type of lifestyle that was my classroom.

Wants to be immaterial

Dramatic

Standing at open window feeling the -5 C air at midnight.
Flying flurries and James horner score from 'A beautiful mind' playing in backdround.
Life is indeed beautiful.

Or life is dramatic

Job (dis)satisfaction

"Hey, I worked so hard yet I did not get expected appraisal"

"You know I have been working so hard yet I am not the one traveling overseas"

"It's been yet another boring day at work"

"I think my company controls my life now"

This is few of the common replies I get from many of my colleagues and friends when I inquire "How is work?" And the questions run around my mind "why are they so dissatisfied with work always?" "Spending more than 50% of our time on work, how can we return home dissatisfied?"

First, let me see if I can define what 'satisfied' means. Talking in terms of profession it could be money, challenges, success, team, infrastructure, it will go on and on.. and on. So being satisfied means to be happy after having put a check on each item on your list of expectations. And ideally we can never attain the 'satisfied' state unless you have some super powers.

Expectation! this I call 'the root cause for all dissatisfaction'.

'Set lower expectations for yourself and see happiness for ever'. No, though it looks like a very good solution it is not achievable either. First, it is impossible to have complete control over an average human mind amidst competition and exponential growth. Next, the lifestyle and cost of living plays higher role in setting your expectations. Also with time, cost of living of an average person keeps rising, standing as a hurdle before your smiles.

Expectations, external factors, satisfaction/happiness, how can I even balance them all? May be you can define expectations optimally rather then ideally. Okay, what is optimal expectation now? Optimal expectation as I define are the expectations you set for yourself after you have understood yourself. This is something I have learnt from the life skills sessions from training days. It was called StrenghtWeaknessOpportunitiesThreats(SWOT) analysis.

How does SWOT analysis work? We used a square box with four partitions , one part each for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. We filled in each of the box by ourselves what was in the mind at that moment. We were never asked for it.


It was after few months while working in project I realized what this activity actually meant. Trust me spending a few candid moments with yourself can say where you are heading. This is useful for yourself professionally and personally to set your ambitions and dreams. After a SWOT analysis and some self indulgence you must now be able to set expectations for yourself. Since your expectations are based on reality there is lesser chance that you miss them. If you can do it regularly you will have higher chances to hit the bull's eyes sooner.

So will I be satisfied and happy with my job if I can do this? As I said earlier this is not ideal, so you may not be very happy, but the your dissatisfaction can surely go down. Next time I ask you "How's work?" you can say "Not very exciting, but I am trying to do this thing which will make life awesome", "Yes, it was not a good appraisal but my skills has got me an opportunity to work overseas now", " I think I control my company now".

Do not keep waiting for an opportunity to knock your doors.
Become an opportunity for others and doors will open themselves for you.
Give your best and do the job right, rest will fall in place.

Is it a hangover from some HR session? I am no HR, nor this is any HR session left over. This is my conversation with myself trying to understand the unsolved puzzles. Do drop in your thoughts now.