Friday, January 21, 2005

My Calling...

When I was around 6 years old I think, the apartment next to mine went up in flames. Not the big, loud flames you always see in the news but never in real life. No, rather the apartment just smouldered, there was a lot of smoke, but little heat, and even less commotion. At that age, the fire was a terrible dissapointment. Of course I went to school and told them how the flames were 10 feet tall, how there were people running around screaming and how the firemen needed my help to rescue 4 helpless babies. But deep in my heart I knew what had happened was as much a towering inferno as Arindam Chauduri is a film director.

But there was one positive outcome. During the post-fire debris cleaning out procedure I was given a half smouldered out encyclopedia. I dont remember which Encyclopedia it was, but I can still, to this day, smell the toasted-old-book scent it had from cover to cover, and the feel of the thick rough pages. It started a few pages before the Harappan civilization and ended a little after atomic energy. I was fascinated. I read and reread the book a hundred times. It was my first big, grown-up book and I loved it. My "Encyclopedia 65" was a thousand times more interesting than the "The Chicken Who Lived In A Pot", and "Brainless Benny and other Bedtime Stories" type things we got in school. (Talk about a chicken who was asking for it...)

Of course it also meant I knew a lot of stuff the other kids in school didn't know or care to. I was a nerd. But I also, for the first time in my life, knew what I wanted to become. When Mrs. Clark told us to write a paragraph on what we wanted to become when we grew up, I wrote without no hesitation, indeed with a flourish, that I wanted to become an archaeologist. Among the astronauts, firemen, doctors, football players and engineers, my archaeologist stood out like a Sunny Deol at a "Tasteful Dancers" convention. The pages of pictures of golden and ivory statues and dusty bearded men with paintbrushes bent over enticing treasures buried in the deserts and valleys had me in a spell. That was my first career crush.

The years passed, I grew up and was soon in a boarding school in a cozy little corner of Kerala run by priests. They were no ordinary priests. These guys played volleyball, composed music, painted wonderful pictures and let loose sermons that made your hair stand on end, and drove you to go out and make the world a better place. One day I woke up and knew I wanted to become a priest. It took me ten minutes to decide that I could live the devout life and embrace celibacy. (I have since vigorously and publicly shed the evil shackles of celibacy. To absolutely no effect.) That was my second calling in life.

That too did pass. I travelled back and forth between Indian and middle eastern shores. The mind wanders far and wide at that age. I wanted to become a professional Video Gamer, an Air Traffic Controller, a Special Forces Operative, briefly wanted to become Mohanlal and then finally mass media led me to my next moment of vocational epiphany.

A chef. I wanted to become a master of the culinary arts. I wanted to bake, broil, flambe, souffle, filet, and devil all kinds of soups and starters and deserts and stuff. In yet another departure from a normal upbringing I spent a LOT of time watching cookery shows. so many shows, at one point I thought I was putting on weight because of it. My favourite show was "Yan Can Cook". Yan was a master of all dishes chinese, but his special skill was in chopping and slicing. He was as smooth as a Lodha with a Birla will, and when it was required, he could chop up a whole basket of tomoatoes in a flash, faster than Mukesh can say "Brotherly Love". I especially loved the part when he whipped up a Chinese thingie and fed it to randomly picked members of the audience. Many nights I spent savoring dreams of fond fettucini, dreamy dimsum and superlative souffle. But then the entire "engineer or doctor or instant removal of name from ration card" happened.

The years flew away and as I graduated from engineering I was overwhelmed by a need to work in manufacturing. In nine months I was overwhelmed by a need to not. As I had mentioned poignantly in a previous post, that job required all the brains of a left elbow. (No offence to any of you in manufacturing and reading this. I do not mean to insult you, only reveal the potential hidden in just one of your many joints.) Then I worked for a B2B portal for a little while. I joined them 7 or 8 minutes after the dotcom industry crashed. It was a not a nice beginning. But I learnt to like the work. Whenever it came up once or twice a month. (The only people who had less work than me was a bunch in Customer Service.) Otherwise I read websites on cooking, archaeology and some very anti-celibacy type things. I got bored after a while and decided to do an MBA due to the sheer monotony. That and the need to nurture the leadership potential and analytical skills I inherently carried. (You never now when a recruiter is reading your blog.) So off I trotted down to Ahmedabad, and spent another two years discovering such important things like inserting headers and footers in word documents, how to say "creating customer value propositions" in public with a straight face, and how to hide large bottles in carry bags to look like study materials.

Its been a long and fascinating journey of self discovery. (And please dont read anything more into that sentence...) And now I sit with an email in my inbox saying I've been offered a job as an Associate Consultant with the inhouse consulting division of one of the country's largest business groups. I guess thats what I want to do in life. And I guess now I will never know if I would have unearthed lost cities, saved a hundred souls or invented an exotic dessert that would take the culinary world by storm. Yet I think I am happy. Lets see what this little journey has in store for me. And through my hours of interviews and preparation and moments of doubt, dissapointment and, ultimately, joy, I was always comforted by the many many wishes I received from all of you reading my blog. I am deeply indebted.

And onto more lighter things, CHAOS (http://www.iima-chaos.com) is happening on campus as we speak. I can hear the soulful melodies of Pt. Chaurasia's magic wafting into my room from across the road. If your down on campus, or will be soon, do drop in a line and I will be happy to take you around. Its a time for much mirth, timepass and loud music. IIMA is the place to be. So if your anywhere near Ahmedabad, drop everything and rush while the party lasts... And thats advice you don't need a consultant to tell you...

God bless all...

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

your blogs cool. got a link from the creativegarh yahoo group, and must say you're profession should have been writing. let me know if you ever decide to write a book. Kay

Anonymous said...

Congrats Sidin!! And god save the company...pun unintended:-)

Anonymous said...

dood...u 4got to mention ur other dream job...

the unsung hero holding the camera...

Sriram said...

hmm....enjoyed this....u r back with ur funny analogies

Unknown said...

Hey Congrats Sidin, Is it TAS/ TSMG, how did Bain go ?? Way to go buddy..wish u luck..in ur New job.

L*J said...

Congrats Sidin and welcome back :)

Anonymous said...

absolutely amazing.....what an amazing piece of writing....all the best for your new job....I am a regular reader of your blogs...i am a big fan now...

Anonymous said...

Sidin, congratulations on your job. I hope you got the job with Bain that you wanted. I've enjoyed reading your blog (rather enormously at times). Hope the times are good and the spirits high with Chaos and all that. I'm an old deity (from D-8), alumnus from the class of 1999 and a mallu to boot.

Keep up the good work with your blog, though I'm sure Bain&Co (or whoever your lucky employer turns out to be) will have enough tricks up their sleeve to keep your nose to the grindstone. But never say die and all that jazz.

cheers,
Thomas
PS> My rather dull and ponderous, two-hour old blog is at http://spaces.msn.com/members/txa/

BeehaG said...

dood,now that u r out of it, how bout some b-school humor.that should be easy for u.

Nishit Rawat said...

Whew Sid - that was delectable:

"I spent a LOT of time watching cookery shows. so many shows, at one point I thought I was putting on weight because of it."

"No offence to any of you in manufacturing and reading this. I do not mean to insult you, only reveal the potential hidden in just one of your many joints."

Amazing writing really, though I would have been happier with Lodha and Sunny Deol out of this post. Somehow, made me feel that you're trying too hard.

And ofcourse, all the best in your new job.

Cheers,
Nishit

Anonymous said...

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S ! ! ! :-)

Anuj said...

Hey sidin. Best of luck for ur new job!! U had this consultancy stuff in u right from the college man.. U r fundas abt placements and interviews all were zimply amazing!!

Hey why dont u start a placement consultancy man..we all junior reps are dying to quit our jobs and join the same T&P work !!

Cheers
Anuj

Anonymous said...

siddin, congrats and do well. make lots of money and retire young so u can return to your true calling. i know a writer when i read one.
iw

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am a X'ian Mallu gal brought up in Dubai and I love your blog. Keep writing and congratulations on the job. God Bless You.

Solo said...

That was a beautiful piece of writing, good understated humor. First time I'm on this blog. If there are more people like you at IIMA, it changes my whole perception of the place.
And yes, congrats etc.

Anonymous said...

hi sidin,
buddy i have read re-read and re-read some of ur blogs and i am a huge fan of ur writing.................congrats on ur new job and all the very best and let the force b with u!!!!
shine on man shine on!!!!

Anonymous said...

Damn you, SSV. My boss is glaring at me for laughing in office. Nice post, btw.

Argentyne said...

love your blog :). Congrats and all the very best :)

rosie said...

CONGRATULATIONS SIDIN!!!!
Couldnt be happier for you... :)
And the post... man.. it's like coming home. Amazing stuff and vintage Sidin.
You'll be busy, we know. But do put in a post once in a bit.
So... all the best for the future...

Rose.

PS... (couldnt resist ;) - that Christian Mallu girl brought up in Dubai sounds too much like a proposal - what say you?

Anonymous said...

Sidinwa,

Bhaat about your dreamh oph bhecoming a gigolo? That bhaas also your Kaalling bhunce upon a thime.

- Gauri Shankar from Bihad.

Nimbus said...

Hearty congratulations on the new job, Sidin! Your selfish readers will of course hope that your blog always remains your first love!

Oh.. and nice to see ya back! :)

Anonymous said...

Congrats Sidin, I shall be watching your future career with considerable interest :-)
The reason why I particularly liked this post was because of the encyclopaedia connection...could relate to that coz I also had a "Children's knowledge Bank" set of books with me since standard 3rd and I would routinely ask the spelling of encyclopaedia to all the kids around me and pay special emphasis on the 'ae'...and smile a nice, superior smile at them....reall smartassedness.

Anyway, now that you will be paid to be smartassed (I mean it in the kindliest,most respectful way), all the very best! :-)

Nandan
http://nandan.blog-city.com

emanish said...

Heartiest Congratulations Sidin !

-Manish

Anonymous said...

Congrats Sidin. I hope to read more of you although you will join the boring ranks of Consultants :)

Patrix
ipatrix.com

Anonymous said...

Hey sidin! me a "large" reader of ur blog(tired of using the word 'regular'...makes me thirsty for more)and i have just one words to describe it "Jimblee joooper machan!" ;-)
Congrats for ur job dood!....and keep writing....

Jeers!
Sud

Mizohican said...

nice blog dude... ur one of the reason why i started blogging too...
been following ur blog for quite some time now... all my closest frens in school and engg college were mallus and i really laughed my ass out at some of your posts.
keep on writing...

Anonymous said...

Hey Dude Congrats...btw if its TAS then we will surely meet in the near future ;-)

The Femoral Vein said...

No childhood career choice list is complete without Formula One racing and saving the planet as options....

The Femoral Vein said...

By the way,your blog taotally ROCKS! And congrats on the job...

Oneirodynic said...

Superb post.You have wonderfuly described the short life cycle of "whats your dream"!!!And all the best for your career.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't help but laugh out loud at the 'Xian girl from DXB'. Too cheesy and looks like a props to me. Tell them you are a consultant on fat money and look- they dont care you are a walkin BigMac ad. Them lasses are all over you.lucky fec! Good luck with the job mate. Hope you do well.
Thomas

PS: Mallus rokz!! ---NOT!!---

Anonymous said...

just in case . now tht our man is big time.
gals who are interested in sidin,
some occupational hazards of of being sidin's better 1/2.
1.u would be spending a major chunk of nuptial bliss by the stove "baking, broiling, flambing, souffle-ing, fileting, and devil-ing all kinds of soups and starters and deserts and stuff".
2. be ready to read all relevant and intimate details of your life together in this page. In charming business english. a lot of atrociously misplaced comparisons, exxagerations .etc
3. and some 100 comments on the above by the faithful fan following.
4.Sidin is dangerously poetic. refer archives.
in case u still interested pls go ahead and apply here. will review and shortlist.

iw

Anonymous said...

btw, whts ur weight??

rosie said...

Thank you... for what??? ;)
For favours given?

(sorry sidin... couldnt resist.. ;).

Anonymous said...

Nice site -

http://ouchmytoe.rediffblogs.com

Anonymous said...

fond fettucini, dreamy dimsum and superlative souffle !!
"engineer or doctor or instant removal of name from ration card"

If I am half as good as you someday, I'll be happy. BTW I think I was better than Noodle and deserved to win.

flaashgordon said...

Guess we can now expect some Dilbertian blogs abt Sidin's Corporate life. Waiting for Sidin's next blog;on his last few days at IIM; Btw i have startd my own blog inspired by our man..Pretty confused wot it should be on , but have startd with a couple of posts right now; Can check it out at http://jonagil.blogspot.com/
cheers
Naveen

And Thomas says Mallus Rock !!

Mohit Kishore said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ak said...

Beautiful post. Very well-written. Really enjoyed it.

Anonymous said...

hey sidin,

check this blog out http://caught-in-the-middle.com

I think someone has competition ;}

Priya

Anonymous said...

oops it's http://caught-in-the-middle.blogspot.com

:)

P

Manish Bhatt said...

Hey 'twas me who left your link and your 'Travails of a South Indian Man; article on Creativegarh, just in case you were wondering. You totally rock man, a laugh-a sentence.

Anonymous said...

nostalgia... nothing gets u more "misty-eyed"...
thanks for making me relive my good old days of childhood, the sweet n sour moments i'd always cherish...

Anonymous said...

hey...ur blogs r life saver for anyone sittin absolutely vetti at work!!love u n thank u!u make my day!

Anonymous said...

Maa...n,U r an Inspiration!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sidin, Where can I contact other people for a recommendation for a cookery course? I'm trying this site (cookery course). Where else could I try
Many thanks