When Dreams Come True!

For some time now, a few things have constantly been on my mind. You can call them dreams, goals or whatever term you use to describe something that you work/pray for. Being someone who focuses on getting things done and striking them off the bucket list/ToDo list, it is annoying when you are left to wait and pray for things to happen, when they aren’t in your control (No, I wasn’t praying for a miracle).

When you have to work towards something, you know what you’re up against. You know what you should do and how long things will take. But when things aren’t in your control, and the wait seems almost endless, it can be slightly difficult to manage. Look around and those with similar goals get it done easily, but when it comes to you Murphy seems to take special interest ;-)

Image Courtesy: FreeDigitalPhotos

Ok, fast-forward to the current day. A few dreams of mine did come true. Those that I worked for and those that I had no control over.

Review : Three One Act Plays, The Hindu Theatre Fest 2015

The Hindu Theatre fest was back this year and what a lovely set of plays they had featured. I wanted to ensure that I went for at least one of the plays. I wanted to go for Hamlet first, but that was scheduled to be played on a weekday and I wasn't so sure about it. So I opted for Three One Act Plays - Timothy (Evam), The Grand Rehearsal (Theatre Zero) and Radiopotti (Stray Factory).

All 3 plays were wonderful. We were told that we could send our reviews of the plays. Promptly I sent mine. Not only did it get published in the following week's Metro Plus Edition under Citizen Reviews, it also won a meal for two at The Park :-) I was all hyper on Tuesday morning when I saw my name in the paper. Of course, who wouldn't be?

(Here is the link and the pic. I've posted the review here, as the contents might not be readable in the pic.)

You can read it here - Take 3 : Three One Act Plays

Quotes Challenge #3 : Staying Wary of the Comfort Zone!

Through one of my friends at work, I got to know about a particular team. I was told that the nature of work was quite interesting and was not as hectic when compared to the other teams. The timings were set and there was hardly a need to stretch beyond the schedule or work on weekends for that matter. 

I thought this was such an ideal team to work in. You tell people in IT that they don’t have to work for long hours or work on weekends and I’m sure you’d see them all charged up and happy like a child with a candy. One possible disadvantage was that, there was considerable process work (popularly known as excel sheet work) apart from the actual work. Why I am calling it a disadvantage is because 1. It is boring and 2. Once you start with one set of process work, you get absorbed into more and more of it. Finally 2 years later if you tell people you were working on excel sheets (at a relatively lower position in the corporate hierarchy) you aren’t considered a good resource. 

Image Courtesy : Google

Quotes Challenges #2 : Never Dim your Sunshine!

People. We are a strange bunch I tell you!

There are so many kinds of them. For this post, I am going to consider two categories: those who are secure of themselves and those who are insecure. The secure ones are happy. They know what they want from life and are not easily influenced by others. The insecure ones are a nightmare to be around. They might be extremely talented, but they get insecure when they meet someone who might be just 10% of what they are. They always feel threatened and need a constant source of approval from others. They aren’t confident about themselves.

Let me give you a very common scenario. There is a Manager, a Lead and a Team member. Let's say that the lead is very talented and has a sense of insecurity. The team member happens to be good at something and gets an appreciation from the manager or someone even senior. What happens now? The lead gets annoyed and threatened. The leads starts imagining situations in which the lead will no longer be required. To vent the frustration, the lead brands the team member as someone with an ‘Attitude Problem’.

What could have ended with a simple compliment, is unnecessarily blown out of proportion and someone is targeted personally for something in the professional environment.

This wonderful cake was given to me on my last day in a team. This was organized by my mentor, all the way from Delhi who got in touch with a few people in Chennai to get this done. This is the same person who sent the quote referred to in post. Am I not lucky to be blessed with such a wonderful mentor?