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2008
June 2009 
Year Two Thousand and Eight
Posted on Dec 31st, 2008
by 
a.vicky
a.vicky
Before the new year kicks in here is my memoir for year gone by.
JANUARY 2008
The assignment I was working in for the last year had came to an end. It was a great experience. We had a great team and an inspiring boss. She was more of a mentor. She liked my work but had reservation in recommending my name for a client facing role. Or ‘onsite’ as it’s popularly know in IT industry.
Her reservation had helped me set my goal. Being in the consulting division my daily rates are much higher. And so justifying my skills to my peers for ‘onsite’ role was difficult. But I was determined. I knew I just needed one opportunity to prove myself.
I spent the January setting my goals, firming my resolution and searching inner peace.
In midst of these personal hullabaloos I had my share of fun. The company had organised salsa classes for her associates. Having two left legs in dancing I grabbed this opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zones. Also it was to let somebody know that I wouldn’t be a bad choice as her partner for ‘strictly come dancing’. But a bad dancer is a bad dancer and nothing can be done about it.
FEBRUARY
The winters had set in. Thanks to my comfortable flat and great flat mates, life was easy in Delhi winters. Our helper was a great cook. He cooked delicious food for us. I always used to end up eating little more because of his love in serving food and insisting on eating one more bread or some more lentils. I had documented my New Year resolution and took it seriously. One of them was being in shape and so had started gyming. The salsa teacher had organised a small event for us and it was participating in that event.
Around mid February I was selected for an ‘onsite’ assignment. It filled me with a desire to excel. I wanted to thank God for it. With one of my old pals I went to pay homage to the Hindu shrine known as ‘Vaisho Devi’. It was snow led walk of 12 kilometres to the hill top to be completed either on foot or horse back. I decided to walk bare foot. It was my way of saying thank you. The whole trip was fabulous except for the fact that I had serious blisters at the end of the trip. The condition of my feet was pretty serious. Serious enough to impact my onsite travel. I had lived in constant agony. At one point it seemed as if a great opportunity was slipping from my hand. It was in these dark moments I learnt one of the biggest lessons of life. The lesson of treating my body as an abode of God or as it’s said ‘body is temple’. I can not respect God by mistreating something He has created i.e. my body.
MARCH, APRIL & MAY
I was in London working for an insurance client. My supervisor was a great guy. He taught me lot of things both technical and soft skills. The assignment went well. My contract kept getting extended. I was asked to stay the longest with my supervisor. The last day of the assignment was interesting. We had decided to pilot the processes we had designed. But given the limited budget and time it wasn’t possible to pilot it on real users. So we decide to pilot it on the group leaders who were involved in defining the process in the first place. We had selected them as champions who would sell the ‘new way’ of working to others in the organisation.
We got hats for various types of users in the pilot. Like one for project manger, PMO, Finance board, etc. It was taking the phrase ‘wearing the hat’ literary.
JUNE
The assignment got over and I left for India; Kolkata to be accurate with a couple of hours stop at Delhi. Friends had come over to meet me at the Delhi airport. One of my friends was getting married. His engagement was in a week’s time. I had promised him that I would surely come back to the city for his engagement. A big social gathering is something I don’t look forward to attend but then I had to change my ways. A big social gathering for me may be the most important event in somebody’s life. But in this case it was as big an event for my friend as it was for me. I remember during our MBA days we used to spent nights discussing girls. And now finally he was getting hitched.
Kolkata was as usual. It seems time freezes in this 'city of joy'. Nothing changes here. Absolutely nothing. Meeting parents as always was great.
JULY to DECEMBER
The new assignment bought me back to London. It is a Bank this time with new boss and new set of challenges. Work wise it has been great working here. I am still living the experience. The boss and colleagues are wonderful. They have inspired me. Being aware of the length of this blog I would write about them in a different blog.
Good bye 2008. Thank you for being such a good year.
Welcome 2009.
JANUARY 2008
The assignment I was working in for the last year had came to an end. It was a great experience. We had a great team and an inspiring boss. She was more of a mentor. She liked my work but had reservation in recommending my name for a client facing role. Or ‘onsite’ as it’s popularly know in IT industry.
Her reservation had helped me set my goal. Being in the consulting division my daily rates are much higher. And so justifying my skills to my peers for ‘onsite’ role was difficult. But I was determined. I knew I just needed one opportunity to prove myself.
I spent the January setting my goals, firming my resolution and searching inner peace.
In midst of these personal hullabaloos I had my share of fun. The company had organised salsa classes for her associates. Having two left legs in dancing I grabbed this opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zones. Also it was to let somebody know that I wouldn’t be a bad choice as her partner for ‘strictly come dancing’. But a bad dancer is a bad dancer and nothing can be done about it.
FEBRUARY
The winters had set in. Thanks to my comfortable flat and great flat mates, life was easy in Delhi winters. Our helper was a great cook. He cooked delicious food for us. I always used to end up eating little more because of his love in serving food and insisting on eating one more bread or some more lentils. I had documented my New Year resolution and took it seriously. One of them was being in shape and so had started gyming. The salsa teacher had organised a small event for us and it was participating in that event.
Around mid February I was selected for an ‘onsite’ assignment. It filled me with a desire to excel. I wanted to thank God for it. With one of my old pals I went to pay homage to the Hindu shrine known as ‘Vaisho Devi’. It was snow led walk of 12 kilometres to the hill top to be completed either on foot or horse back. I decided to walk bare foot. It was my way of saying thank you. The whole trip was fabulous except for the fact that I had serious blisters at the end of the trip. The condition of my feet was pretty serious. Serious enough to impact my onsite travel. I had lived in constant agony. At one point it seemed as if a great opportunity was slipping from my hand. It was in these dark moments I learnt one of the biggest lessons of life. The lesson of treating my body as an abode of God or as it’s said ‘body is temple’. I can not respect God by mistreating something He has created i.e. my body.
MARCH, APRIL & MAY
I was in London working for an insurance client. My supervisor was a great guy. He taught me lot of things both technical and soft skills. The assignment went well. My contract kept getting extended. I was asked to stay the longest with my supervisor. The last day of the assignment was interesting. We had decided to pilot the processes we had designed. But given the limited budget and time it wasn’t possible to pilot it on real users. So we decide to pilot it on the group leaders who were involved in defining the process in the first place. We had selected them as champions who would sell the ‘new way’ of working to others in the organisation.
We got hats for various types of users in the pilot. Like one for project manger, PMO, Finance board, etc. It was taking the phrase ‘wearing the hat’ literary.
JUNE
The assignment got over and I left for India; Kolkata to be accurate with a couple of hours stop at Delhi. Friends had come over to meet me at the Delhi airport. One of my friends was getting married. His engagement was in a week’s time. I had promised him that I would surely come back to the city for his engagement. A big social gathering is something I don’t look forward to attend but then I had to change my ways. A big social gathering for me may be the most important event in somebody’s life. But in this case it was as big an event for my friend as it was for me. I remember during our MBA days we used to spent nights discussing girls. And now finally he was getting hitched.
Kolkata was as usual. It seems time freezes in this 'city of joy'. Nothing changes here. Absolutely nothing. Meeting parents as always was great.
JULY to DECEMBER
The new assignment bought me back to London. It is a Bank this time with new boss and new set of challenges. Work wise it has been great working here. I am still living the experience. The boss and colleagues are wonderful. They have inspired me. Being aware of the length of this blog I would write about them in a different blog.
Good bye 2008. Thank you for being such a good year.
Welcome 2009.
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