Bond!

I am not talking James Bond - Bond also means attachment! Where there is a bond.. there is nostalgia.

"Moving on" of any degree is hard and definitely something every single person has gone through atleast once in their lives.
It could be something as painful as death of a loved one/family or a heartbreak or something as easy as moving from one rented apartment to another.

Some of it leaves a singe, some make us stronger while some others just leave us with this unforgettable nostalgia.

Ammi or grinding stone

This week was hard on my father as we were asking him to get rid of things that seemed to be of no use for any of us.. like an 80's radio which makes a whirring noise instead of catching signals ,his 100 odd complimentary diaries given by various people or his 1960 ammi and aatu kall ( granite grinding stones used in olden days to make powder and paste of spices manually) , or his big box which had all outdated reference manuals and so many more.

But well, he was attached to them and didn't want to part with them but eventually had to give in. But just before he agreed to get rid of the stuff, he showed a couple of thing. Tears welled up my eyes when I saw his collection - my favorite blue frock which apparently I wore almost everyday when I was 4 years old, a telegram which said " God blessed us with baby girl. Mother and child healthy" , my first school uniform which has " Mini LKG C" tag on it, the hand made drawing I had made for his birthday with 'hapy burth bay dady' written on it. And then he asked ' how could I ever part with these ?"

I thought it over, I had over 300 greeting cards, restaurant bills, photographs, my barbie and teddy bear collection, copies of my pay checks and so many more that I had collected over a period of years and I don't use any of them nor are they of any use to others.. but would I want to part with them ? Nah ha! I don't think so.. but how come its fair to ask others to get rid of their stuff ?

I then decided everyone has right to keep things that make them happy however insignificant it may be to others. Yeah! Its true that it adds to the pile of junk at the garage but it looking at it.. possibly just once every ten years.. whenever.. if it can bring a smile to someone.. it better be there..

Its sad I had to learn it this way the importance of things that are trivial to others but probably the most satisfying thing in the world. Ah!Well, another lesson learnt.

A day at work

Last Friday turned to be more hectic than other days. Turned out a member in my team accidentally overwrote a critical file causing a major production down scenario and rebuild activity would take over 3 days.

Sheila has never made such a mistake in the past and simply couldn't forgive herself for the blunder she did. Like all women, she used the tears to vent her frustration out. The whole team did not give up on her and tried to get her out of it. Five days later she is still at the same state - upset and still not forgiven herself.

So, today I decided to get all the freshers in a room and give them a parental-work advice. This is what I said -

" If you ever get a chance watch a cocoon turn into a butterfly, it seems like its in so much pain and misery that you would just want to break the shell and get the butterfly out. But never ever do it because its the struggle that makes its wings stronger.

So, if you face a lot of difficulties and challenges in your initial learning face,remember it only makes you bolder and stronger and helps you progress. Don't get discouraged by the mistakes you make or think of yourselves any less. Although you may need to slow down a bit to see where you stand.

Making mistakes is okay.. but learn from it and make sure that you know what you did wrong and propagate so others avoid making the same mistakes.

Learning from your own mistakes is something but learning from others mistakes - Awesome! But make sure that when someone in the team or outside makes a mistake, you are not just the audience enjoying someone getting all the bashing - it could be you tomorrow..

When I first started to work with a bunch of 25+ years experienced people, while I hardly had 2 years of total work experience, I was asked to give a presentation to some well experienced people in the market. As it was my first time, I had a rehearsal before the actual meeting. We went to a conf room which had a keyboard in UK layout. I couldn't figure it out and couldn't even login as the @ was not shift+2 or # was no longer shift+3.. and with all the nervousness I was fumbling away to glory.. and then suddenly one the senior members asked me to leave the room, and suggested I learn using the key board first and then call them for a meeting or atleast when I am sure I was prepared to give the presentation. All others- Loud Laugh!
I was devastated. But I didn't give up, I made sure I knew not just the UK keyboard but French or even Arabic or be it any language key board and next day I gave my presentation and got pretty good response.

So, its a true story from myself , muster up and smile ! Take life easy.. work is something.. not everything!

Good Luck!

And then I caught a couple of guys yawning but I came out happy because I made Sheila smile after 5 days :D