Few Grams of Surprises- "Corporate Dreams Sapped Beings"

I came here to join the league..but the wagon was all smashed..I am all free to live now..the soul from the work station is finally detached-Few Grams of Surprises @ Corporate Dreams Sapped Beings

INK ON...

CORPORATE DREAMS-SAPPED BEINGS

"Sometimes significant is not how you start but what matters is how you conclude". 

Well, this was the only sentence written on that "Partially Pink and Partially Red Colored Envelope" (At that moment, I really had no idea that why the guy opted for that double colored envelope, until I opened it). By that time I was curious to open it, as like every other human being, I too was surprised to see that hanging on my work station's drawer. My brain started its chore to arrive at various permutations and combinations and started fetching number of thoughts on what it could be and who could have kept it there.

So getting into the flashback (with due respect to the Law Profession) to arrive to the incident where I got the letter......

It started with some right ticks in an objective exam (In my case it was purely accidental with some element of mere coincidence) which dragged me to the campus full of people who were keen to be the spearhead of the profession which teaches you how to "Read between the lines and how to Walk between the mines". I was being trained to interpret some laws which were if not written, or if written in simple words, would have made common man's life easier.

During the initial days, I was all cursing myself on choosing a profession in which I had no interest but as the time passed, the tales of our predecessors who got some hefty pay packets, motivated me to hold the fort and flow with the wind and as I got closer to the completion of my law degree, like other races in the horse, I too started nursing the dream of getting into a corporate house with heavy pay packets , sedan cars and last but not the least colleagues [of course females :)]  with perfect universal physical configurations (I don't think there is a need to specify the figure ;)).

So finally, holding my head high on a Monday morning I was rubbing my shoulders with the day, which was all set to compensate me for the 5 Years which I spent mugging up Sections and Acts, which were intimidating in terms of their size as well as their meaning,  but as they use the verbiage in most of the Contracts"Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary (Meaning- particular event will take precedent over anything that might be contradictory)"..

So following the above, regardless of what I went through during the expedition to become a lawyer. I too decided to forgive my past sin of giving some right answers during the law entrance test and decided to give that lucrative job offer (an Associate Position in a Multinational IT Company with a monthly salary which was something difficult to digest for a fresher) the precedence over any other thing which was contrary.

I was breathing in the air of  the Corporate, I realized this is the place I always wanted to be in, confident beings all around, males overcasted and females undercasted (but to my expectation, the number was enough to keep me going and some of them had the exact universal physical configurations which I mentioned above), people clad in formal attires, armed with latest gadgets. Every small thing of that place made me realize, that I am being rewarded for the 5 years journey now and by that time I was determined that I am going to see all those things in reality for what I fantasized during the last year of my college. 

But as they say, there are no free lunches; the job offer letter had a caveat which explained about the 3 years contract and it also stated that, If the contract is not honored, I would end up paying the company a certain amount of money, which was again something which has the impact of easily mutilating the digestive system of a fresher like me, but I decided to ignore it and ended up accepting the offer. My watch showed the time as 11 AM and after completing the required paper work and joining formalities, all attired in a formal black fitted suit, I trudged ahead to the Legal Team's Bay, the team which I belonged to. 

I was informed that our legal team comprised of 5 lawyers (including myself and my reporting manager who was a lady, so I was inquisitive to meet the other 3 team members). As I moved closer to the bay, my nose was filled with fragrance which was a mixture of some fruit, my brain suddenly started speculating about the gender of the remaining colleagues, and to my expectation the fragrance belonged to 2 of the girls who were not far from my sight, I was amazed to see that my sense organs were so very developed and I realized that all those years of  travelling in the second coach (the coach next to the coach reserved for ladies) of Delhi Metro has not gone in vain. 

So thinking of all this, I reached closer to the work stations where the 2 ladies were staring at their laptops with the seriousness as if they were part of some satellite launch project. I was expecting a warm welcome but then they appeared as If I had no existence. I moved ahead to disturb the silence and introduced myself, "Hi, I am Rajat, Rajat Saini, I am the new member of your team" and then one of them replied "Oh..Yeah..Rajat..we were expecting you" (though, their expressions hardly conveyed that).

Both the ladies informed that the boss will be coming late and one of the other team member who was a guy was on a sick leave. Somewhere, I was very content, a team of 2 gals (with their slender eyebrows,glossy lips, dainty eyes and blonde colored hair, needless to say they were perfect fit for a ramp walk ), Corporate Culture, hefty salary, 5 day working, what else you need when you are 26.I felt, the god couldn't be more kind.

After admiring the perks, I decided to discuss the business and started inquiring about the work, and the ladies portrayed the profile as if they were some sales representatives selling some product.While we were in the midst of the discussion, I noticed a lady approaching us, my nose was in action again to sniff some other kind of fruit, second thing I noticed was her pouted lips [this was all in mind and my brain was well trained to restrict it within its permissible limits, which was my brain itself, so no sexual harassment case can be lodged ;)], third thing I noticed was her overall demeanor, she was perfect as a lady. While I was about to digest that she is my boss, she came closer and said "Hi Rajat, I am Sneha..Sneha Bisht, we interacted over phone, nice meeting you in person...glad to have you in my team". She informed me about the work structure and also emphasized about the half yearly foreign trips.

I was admiring my luck and thanking god for all the good things, which I was bestowed with by the time.I was in the picture perfect environment, I wanted someone to pinch me, so that I could have believed that it was not a dream.My biggest mistake of choosing the profession, appeared to me the only good thing which I could have done to my life.

After a brief discussion the 3 ladies accompanied me to my workstation [again to my surprise it was a very spacious cubical and that too far from the manager's cabin, so I was free to do what I wanted to do-Of course,when I was not working] and they left to resume their work.

While, I was adjusting my things and settling down, I noticed there were too many certificates lying on the table and some positive quotes affixed on the clip board and one of them said " I am on till something is here... which is not switching me off" . While I was about to go through the certificates and interpret the lines, one of the colleagues informed, "all these certificates and quotes belong to Ashmeet" (Ashmeet Shergill was the guy for whom I was the back fill), she also informed that he was with the organisation for 4 years and was asked to leave as the resignation was not willing and all this happened last Friday.Well, that was too much of information for me, as I didn't ask anything, but was overloaded with information more than I expected.[That is the thing with the female clan, you ask a thing and you will get a story].

While, I was going through all the certificates and quotations, one question came to my mind and I realized that I was interviewed a week back and if I believe what the girl said, Ashmeet was asked to leave last Friday, so was it pre-decided and the Company was only waiting for finalizing a back fill, how come and why they asked a 4 year old resource to leave and that too when he was a good resource, at least his certificates endorsed that, since my brain was still weighing the things in my favor (like I was the back fill for a 4 years experienced resource), I decided to declare him the culprit and the organisation the victim.

Suddenly, I got a call on my extension and that was from my manager, she said "Rajat, I will have a meeting with you at 4 PM, till then you go through the link of the website and try to understand our team and work structure. It was 1 PM and I thought, I still have around 3 hours left before the meeting, so I decided to first empty the drawer to make some space for my personal stuffs. While, I was about to open it, I noticed an envelope hanging on the handle of the drawer, it was "Partially Pink and Partially Red" in color.

I first thought of asking other colleagues to know if that too belonged to Ashmeet but instead of asking , I started reading the letter, initially I realized it's a welcome letter from HR, or a colleague or possibly from the manager but as I went ahead with reading it, the content of the letter gave me chills in my spine and it read as follows:

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

Dear Friend,

Welcome Aboard.

Congratulations! on your new job. I know you must be feeling elated, and I respect your elation, anyone in a situation like yours will feel blessed. You are being hired by a brand that too on a good salary, 3 beautiful ladies are around and I am sure by the time, you have been made aware of the foreign trips and if not, Yes friend you will definitely be going to get the chance to visit the alien countries.

First of all you would be thinking why a 2 colored envelope , well to answer that the Pink color signifies a Friendship/Care and the Red color signifies Good Luck. So friend, Yes I do care for you, not because I know you but I care for a human being. I value the human life and I care for a soul. I want to wish you luck while you are getting started with this new journey and pray to God that you get the courage to survive the expectations.

I wanted to share a story with you, the story of a being similar to you.The story of guy who wanted to make big in the corporate but succumbed to the expectations and ended up ruining his own life. It started with a job, a very lucrative job, the guy when hired was full of energy, he used to take all the Projects, wanted to be involved in everything. He was once the blue eyed boy and the most trusted team member of his manager. The boy was a new blood so was full of ideas, the manager capitalized on all his ideas and got promotions and praises for all the efforts which the guy put in. The guy being loyal to his manager, helped him in all his projects and ended up working late at nights, the manager's expectation from the guy increased and he started giving him more work at odd hours. In between the manager started rewarding the guy in some or other manner and use to give him carrot of promotions every year, but even after all good work, the promotion was falling in Manager's kitty. The boy still being loyal, was not at all affected with all this, and he kept working on all the Projects at back end. Working hours increased and expectations increased in the same proportion too. The boy used to get call from his manager at the odd hours to work, even he started spending his weekends working on some ambitious projects of his manager, boy coming from a background where people consider their managers as God, blindly followed what his manager directed. Years passed, the boy got occupied with some personal problems and he also discovered that due too odd working hours and unnecessary work stress he ended up becoming a blood pressure patient, his work life was not as effective as it was, at the same time his personal life started suffering too, he resorted to puffs and pegs for releasing stress, the guy who was juggling 4-5 balls at a time, was started failing to catch even one ball properly, once star performer, started getting escalations, bad name from the clients and the boss. In order to rectify things, he decided to forego his personal life and started concentrating more on the professional front but it was too late to make things as they were, it was too late to fill the hole, he ended up losing all his closed relations (his parents departed and he never got time to sit with them) and friends, all his aspirations, a girl whom he loved. All the good work he did, all the accolades he brought to the manager and the team they went in vain, the manager was never bothered to ask about how the things are with him, all he cared about was the work and the projects, he never talked about the growth and development of the guy but always discussed his future prospects. The guy was all exhausted, all burned out and there was no one to hold his hand, on one fine day, the manager came to boy and asked, we want you to leave this organisation, either resign or we will terminate. The boy was left with no option, he realized that while serving his manager, he ended up degrading his profile, and he even didn't work on upgrading his skills, as a result of which, it was difficult for him to get a new job. The boy all frustrated, all devastated, decided to resort to the easy way out.

Now you must be thinking, who was that guy, so friend that guy was Ashmeet Shergill...Yes friend that's me. I have written this letter not to intimidate you but I don't want to create another Ashmeet, that is why decided to share this letter. You have got this job, because I have left it and thus I don't want to be a reason for creating another devastated life. Perhaps, I was not that strong and thus succumbed to the expectations and dynamism of a Corporate but yes, over the period of time, I made some mistakes, which I don't want you to repeat. Might be you are very practical, or you might not need all this guidance, but still friend its always better to be armed with some extra ...so please follow the things mentioned below:

• Serve the organisation and not the Manager
• It's easy to say Yes..but difficult to say no..learn the art of saying no
• Only you can give growth to yourself, your manager is thinking of his growth only
• Don't consider your manager your God or Mother or Father..He is a human being, that too of a category you will not be able to define and thus giving that stature will be a foolish act
• Don't think someone is holding you, the race is your's and you have to run alone.Be a leader and not a manager, try creating people and not following people
• Be strong, make a friend at work place, it will help you in releasing the frustration and stress
• Make a balance, personal ties are more important than the professional one's as they will not judge you based on your projects
• Life is more than PPT's and Contract Negotiations
• Build your profile first before buying a flat and thus invest in your profile
• Last but not the least, there are many slips between the cup and lips, so don't believe in the carrots unless you get them to eat         

I am not sure if you ever going to read this letter, or if you get to read it, it's not certain if I will remain on this planet, as in my current state of mind, the only thing, I can think of is ending my life. Might be I will get some courage later so that I can drop this idea but right now it's a question mark. 

So "All the best friend, wishing you luck for all your future endeavors. May you not end up living the same life or getting the same end as I got".

"But I am relieved now..and I am happy to say...

"I came here to join the league..but the wagon was all smashed..I am all free to live now..the soul from the work station is finally detached...finally detached"

From a being with similar dreams

Ashmeet Shergill 

______________________________________________________________________________

After finishing the letter, I stood up and asked one of the colleagues, "Where is Ashmeet these days"? and what she said, was something which shook me from inside, she mentioned that "Ashmeet committed suicide last Sunday"

I felt the grief and remorse which I never felt before, I was filled with anguish and was about to cry, during the time while I was reading the letter, I realized as if some one was sitting next to me and narrating that letter...though it was just that letter which was a link between me and Ashmeet but somewhere, I was not able to digest his loss.

I checked the time and it was 3:50 PM in the watch (10 minutes were remaining in my life's first Corporate Meeting")    

       

I opened my email account and dropped the below mail to my manager, marking her manager, super manager and the HR in Carbon Copy ("CC"). Instead of going for the meeting, without uttering a single word, I packed my bag, gathered my stuff and marched towards the exit gate

_________________________________________________________________

Sneha,

I hereby resign from the organisation and your services which I have fortunately not started.

"Stretch people only to the extent they have the ability to...because even a rubber band breaks after a point of time"

Regards,

Rajat Saini

(A being similar to Late Ashmeet Shergill)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ink OFF..till I get here again..on some Friday...."Friday Blogger"

© 2013 Prashant Srivastav