A Bowl of Elusive

Back in 1998, my father used to work for a company called IMFA (Indian Metal Ferro Alloys Limited), as a Security Supervisor at their ICCL campus. ICCL stands for Indian Charge Chrome Limited. Charge chrome of Ferro-Chrome (FeCr) is an alloy of Iron and Chromium with 50% to 70% chromium content. Ferro-Chrome is used in the production of stainless steel and is usually more expensive than silver. The ICCL campus, being a production unit, usually had heaps of Ferro-Chrome store in the open which needed security. Usually, thieves would strike a deal with the security personnel and steal the alloy from the company premises, but my father brought their operation to a halt when he joined. There was even an attempt on his life due to this, which he escaped narrowly.  So, the ICCL factory had this tall chimney kind of a thing which would usually be on fire. It was quite a sight. This one time, my father, my uncle and I were taking a stroll in the colony premises which were adjacent...

I am not the man of your dreams. I am not the man of any girl's dream for that matter. I was just browsing my FB wall and I came across the picture of a cousin with her husband, where she is singing and her hubby is playing the guitar and I thought to myself, "These guys are such a well-suited match." And that reminded me of the several times my girlfriend wanted to do something that I wasn't really into. Like visit a local monument or go furniture shopping. Hence, the realization. I am a rather boring person who isn't interested in a lot of things. I spend a crazy amount of time being stressed out about my job. Very few things actually make me happy and lately, I have been becoming more anti-social than ever. My pessimism has helped me cultivate a somewhat practical approach that's required for my job but other than that, it has affected all other aspects of my life negatively. I have traced the source of all my cynicism back to my college days. T...

While so many schools of thought insist upon the limitless nature of man's aptitude, I have been recently questioning my own. Being in a corporate setting has been getting on my nerves lately. I have been having a hard time coping with the way businesses are conducted in our country. Services are promised but not delivered. Payments are promised but not made on time. Corporations overwork the front line employees while the top level managers just work with numbers and not necessarily in the interest of the organization. Legitimate arguments are not heard and unrealistic expectations are put forward. I have seriously started questioning myself whether I am cut out for this. I believe in doing things well. I believe in success that can be sustained and not just success that is just an Excel spreadsheet. I'm horrified at the idea of becoming the CEO or Director of a Company that's just working in numbers. Maybe I just don't have it in me. I read this articl...

I don't claim to be an expert in anything. That would just be arrogance. But I write about things I have seen and experienced and hence I feel that I have the right to discuss it. I have spent the last year in the trade wing of a readymade garment brand. And I realised that all plans and agendas that are agreed upon in the beginning of a period are invariably flushed down the toilet by the end of that period. The bottom line is always sales. How much are we selling at the end? So much so that, for the company I work for, nothing else matters, not even the satisfaction of the buyer. And the most ridiculous thing about it all is the fact that the buyers are harangued to pay for goods that was billed to them without their full consent. Promises are made and not kept. And all this is done by the representatives of a very prestigious company. All this happens after months of endless reports, analysis and crunching of data. How can a company carry on neglecting the basi...

I wish all my readers a very happy new year. That said, I'd like to inform you that I will be travelling  for work  starting this evening, for the next 9 days after having barely spent 21 hours with my family, out of which I spent around  6 hours sleeping and another 7 over the phone with my colleagues trying to get things done. I apologize in advance coz this post isn't gonna have a very happy tone.  Lately, I've been asking myself a lot of existential questions. Let me start from the beginning. I moved to a new city, was placed in a new territory. Understandably, the work load went up. And that was fine. Until a few days back, when I faced the business end of a strange kind of corporate pressure. And it got me thinking. What does it all mean? What does it all lead to? I am aware that I am not the first one with these questions. And I won't be the last one. But its my life and I feel that, even if my problems seem silly to my superiors and the people I w...