In Pursuit of Happiness!!!

Many of us must have seen this movie and definitely there would not be any soul on this Earth who must have seen but not liked it. It was simply remarkable, an extraordinary piece of work. Even I had tears in my eyes when Chris Gardner was offered a position in the firm as a full time broker. That day would have been one of the most cherished days in his life. He had achieved what he aspired to.

Even in our lives we do the same, we aspire something and then fight for it. That is the circle of life; you keep enhancing your aspirations and continue to fight for them. Whenever I see this movie I am always puzzled as to what gives us more happiness; the journey which we complete till the point of an achievement or simply the feeling of having accomplished what we had thought of. I guess it might be the combination of either of these and probably even more to someone else.

But then really what is it that gives us feeling of satisfaction. Just because we achieve what we plan for should make us happy? I understand someone saying that I am proud and feel more confident after accomplishing the task but I no way feel that achieving is in accordance with being happy. What about the issues we face while we are on our course to fulfill the deeds? What about the losses or setbacks we encounter while traversing the path or the journey? Don’t they leave enough bruises and marks to feel happy or elated? The tears we shed, many sleepless nights that we spend thinking about the outcome, thousands of the moments of our anxiety which makes us feel as if we are losing the grip; don’t they count for nothing?

It makes me wonder if the real sense of happiness if not completely but to some extent relates to that all we have lost in due course. It is natural to do the simple math in life of what we achieve must be equal to what we have lost. But then never in life, not even for a single achievement we feel so. There is always some or the other parameter which makes the count of losses more. Why is this so? When do we truly feel happy or being happy and feeling sad go hand-in-hand?

These are the questions I always ponder upon and wonder “what is this all really about?”

 

My Internship Saga!!!

It was cold outside; naturally it had to be, the month of December was on and it was 7.00 in the morning, yet I was out of my bed; clean shaven, properly combed hair (not that I have much of these left), nicely tucked in shirt with polished black boots on. Guys, I was ready to get in to the action and in fact more than half of my batch mates were in the same state. I was tensed and so were they. The reason for all this hustle and tensed situation was that one of the big 4 was coming to our campus for summer recruitments. Naturally, we all were excited but nobody had even a faintest of any idea as to whose day was it going to be.

 15^th December 2010 was an ordinary day and yet it holds a lot of significance in my journey of life. This was the day when I was recruited for summer internship at KPMG. Being selected for one of the big 4 was a prestigious event for me. After joining the MBA program, the only thing I had wished for was to do my summers in one of the consulting firms. I wanted to see the work culture out there. The dynamism attached to it, the complex issues handled by the managers and a crude question “how can one consult in a business scenario?”; all these made me want more to work in a consulting firm. Also, the fact that I would re-enter the corporate life after a year’s break made me ponder upon the way things might turn up.

 Slowly the time passed by and arrived the date of joining the organization. Frankly speaking, I was quite anxious as to what might be in store for me at Bangalore. An entirely new place, a big organization with no acquaintaces but my college friends and yet I was eagerly waiting for this to happen. I was wondering whether I could fit in that place so soon and that to a brief duration to work for, what would I work on, what all opportunities might I get there. All these thoughts kept me puzzled till the day I actually joined the office i.e. on 4^th April 2011.

KPMG fell nowhere short in any of the parameters I had thought of. It truly is a big organization and the hierarchy is really transparent as in even I, a summer intern could speak my mind freely to the Associate Director with no apprehensions. Apart from this the learning was great; experience of addressing a live business issue, client meetings with senior members there, presenting an issue in a much more prudent manner and not just presenting it as one generally does helped me a lot to understand the corporate work culture. What all un-accounted issues one may face during a project, how to tackle those and many other issues which we study theoretically were part of my tenure here. For instance, we were supposed to have a con-call with an executive from SCM department and had thoroughly prepared the questionnaire and also properly planed the course of this call. But when the call started, the executive, in return started firing questions at us regarding the issues we have identified till now, how we plan to go about it, which all other departments have we spoken to and a whole bunch of such other questions. That meeting was fun, indeed it was.

I also came across the fact that analyzing a process from a bird’s eye view seems an easy job, but to get in to the intricate details and identifying the loopholes is much more intense job than one anticipates it to be. All in all my brief stay at KPMG helped me to really widen my canvas of knowledge; both technical as well as functional and I wouldn’t say altered but brought my thinking process on due course so as to address the issues in a better manner.

After my experience at KPMG, I am certain of one thing and that is one can never thoroughly devise a full-proof plan, neither in personal life nor in professional life. Sooner or later one’s plan tends to hit a roadblock, but then it is not always about adjusting the course as per the plan, sometimes the plan has to be reworked as per the course one has encountered.

Cricket: Is the spirit lost?

In India, cricket surely was not just a game from the very beginning and especially from the day when Kapil Dev and gang brought the World Cup to India back in 1983. It has been a gluing factor in our country. People of different caste and religions, varied backgrounds, are brought on the same page while talking about cricket. Thus it had a unifying effect in a truly diverse country.

But I believe a new dimension to the game has been added since the inception of T20 pattern. The monetary issues surrounding the Indian T20 version; IPL, have made me think that whether players now play for the love of the game or somewhere at the back of their mind they know that it is a highly revenue generating mode of income. I sometimes wonder whether the players even think of these issues before going into the arena of cricket because if they don’t then the spirit still prevails but if they do then God only save the game.

I feel it is not players fault at the end because any person will be influenced by the monetary gains as well as the publicity gained while he plays IPL. For instance the Chennai Super Kings owners have announced to award Rs 10 crores to the team and support staff. Also the players are “bought” for some amount for the franchise. Also players get to sign up for various ad campaigns and many other such events. I had never dreamt of spotting a cricket player on page three. But it is happening and the trend is just picking up. So it is money and fame pumping in for them from all the directions.

Cricketers are given the same status as that of any movie star in India. But after the inception of IPL they are perceived to be the “larger than life” characters. But is it really necessary to award that sort of status to them? Now with such a huge amount of money being pumped in the game, it has become just the mode of entertainment. The spirit of the game is lost in the want of money. If not so, then I don’t understand that why Gambhir is out on bench taking rest for his shoulder injury now when he was a preferred captain when Dhoni was not going to play in the West Indies tour. Shouldn’t he have taken responsibility for his own health? How come he could not figure it out that there might be some issue with his shoulder? Was he kept in dark by KKR authorities or he intentionally chose to do what he did? These are some questions which boggle my mind when I think whether players play for the sake of playing or they play for money.

Hi Friends!!!

It has been told to me by many that I think a lot. But then I truly don't know whether it is a complement or a comment. So, I thought why not pen down my thoughts and share them with the world. I'll definitely try to do justice wth what I have started on with.