Shift the Gear!

It feels great to be back to writing my blog after a brief interval of more than a fortnight. With half the month already gone, love is in the air. I wish everyone and their loved ones a very “Happy Valentines Day”. It sure is a blessing to have someone to love and more so be loved by someone. Make the most of it and don’t delay your expression of love for someone and don’t make the mistake of taking someone’s love for granted.

A brief update on the last fortnight follows-

- It sure feels great, as a father, to see my daughter Kashikaa complete 5 years this month. She’s turning out to be a sharp and a very observant child. She’s got the knack of the laptop & ‘TATA SKY’ ages back. She sure knows a little more than her counterparts. A small birthday party was celebrated in the company of her close friends & their Papa’s & Mama’s.

- Also in the first week, I attended a full fledged Indian Marriage spread over 4 days out of town. There was dual joy, one that I was out of office and more importantly being able to spend time with the family. It was my wife’s cousin who was tying the knot. The events were all very well arranged and everything went off very smoothly.

- Office is going to be stretched this month considering the short month and the appraisal cycle getting closed. The most difficult job as a supervisor is to match everyone’s expectations and keeping it aligned to that of the organisation. On the office front, I completed 3 years of employment in Barclays. Every year the learning seems to be more than in the previous one.

- Last week an aged uncle in the neighbourhood left us for the heavenly abode in his late 90’s. I pray that his soul rests in peace. He was an active gentleman, always smiling and blessed me with lot of love every time we crossed paths. Life is precious and everyone is special. Lesson learnt…No person can replace the other. Another lesson…Life goes on.

- Completed reading the ‘Paths of Glory’ where the protagonist gave up the love of his life in an attempt to be the first man to conquer the heights of the great Mt. Everest. Started with ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho…almost half-way through the book and it sure promises to be another great read!

- Saw ‘127 Hours’ by Danny Boyle…hard hitting performance based on a true life incidence about a man’s will to survive after getting stuck in the middle of nowhere on a mountaineering outing in the Grand Canyon….background score by A R Rahman was simply superb…

So many things happening at the same time, brings me to the subject on this blog ‘Shift the Gear’

Living in a metropolis comes with a price for most of us. The price is of travelling from home to workplace and back. This tiresome exercise eats up almost 3 hours of my day without fail everyday which is sometimes more than the time I spend awake at home on a working day. A lot of times while travelling I have tried to draw a comparison between life and a car. This blog is just an attempt to pen it down.

I remember reading the quote "Why do we have a bigger windscreen than a rear view mirror? It is because we should focus on what lies ahead and not what we left behind us.

Another co-relation is that we cannot drive the car in one speed and that is why we have different gears. We shift gears to match up with the driving conditions. If we drive in the wrong gear, we end up wasting fuel and cannot maximise the efficiency of the car.

Similarly in life we play multiple roles simultaneously. The sign of a successful person is one who shifts these gears smoothly with the change of audience.

I remember reading a short story where the father / husband was having a tough time at work. Every night when he returned from office, he would end up fighting with his wife and never gave time to their child. The man stopped enjoying anything at home or office. This was like a vicious cycle and one day he took advice from his close friend. Next day onwards, he would pretend to hang his imaginary office coat just outside the house before he stepped inside the house. He would promise to wear it again when he started for his work the next morning. This way he would change into a totally different family person and his family would never be able to guess what has happening at his office. He was able to work better and became a performer at his workplace.

This is very true and inspiring and we should try to keep ‘office’ out of the house and ‘house’ out of the office. A bad day in office doesn’t justify our stressed out behaviour with our family members especially our kids. The vice-versa is often called as “professionalism”.

The change of gear is not limited between Office and Home. Even while handling colleagues / friends / family members / strangers we change our behaviour as required by the situation. The idea is to not get stuck on a particular thing / job and loose the focus on the BIG PICTURE. 

I leave you all with this thought – Life is not a destination but a journey. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey on the way!

Do share your views on this….