It was a breezy cold night at Darjeeling, where I was enjoying my holiday with my parents and sister when my mobile screamed “Lose Control.......”. It was Ramani, my friend and to be colleague, he said “macha, me posted in Lighting @ Kochi and U in consumer care @ Vijayawada”. I literally lost my sleep that night because I was expecting a posting at Hyderabad, where language wudnt b a problem for me, i rate myself 3.5/5 on hindi and just 1/5 in telugu. I said to myself “Chalo beta, jo hoga so dekha jayega” and slept like a wooden log as usual.
Joined @ Bangalore on 5th May 2009 and the first week was fantastic with recruitment formalities and initial pampering with classroom sessions, the first shock was that v had to undergo the medical test on a Sunday. L. The second shock was that the HR team cudnt arrange neither a flight nor a train for me n put me in a Volvo to Vijayawada from Bangalore. Its a 14 hour journey and I had a tough time reaching Vijayawada.
Guess wat welcomed me @ Vijayawada, scorching sun @ 43 deg, startled I checked my watch, the time was jus around 9.00 am. With sweat dripping all over me, I reached the hotel and expected my guide to give me half a day’s time to relax and later come down to the office, instead he said “Son, please get ready within half an hour and reach the market (One town, as it is called) in another 45 mins”. Sum it up, my expectations were broken into pieces.
After a week in Vijayawada, with the usual formalities of finding a place to live and other necessities completed, I sat down in my rented house and I was deeply thinking whether I had made a wrong choice of making it to FMCG... Jus then my inner conscious spoke to me, (remember the tamil movie, FEB 14th).. It said:
“Dai macha, everything in life has two sides, the positive and the negative – c wats that the FMCG industry and Vijayawada has offered, then make ur conclusion”
The positives:
- Opportunities to learn the market dynamics by being in the market for a considerably long time, Meeting new and different people, I shud tel u this, I haven’t met such namoonaes in my life before, each one is "one big item (crazy creature)"
- Moreover these hard times in the early part of ur career where u don ve a spouse to pamper or to b pampered, ;-).
- Loads of time for ur friends and family bcse u get posted in a place where U mite not know another soul - as in my case.
- Learn r refine a language that u already know.
- Adaptation to uncertainty and unfamiliarity.
- Loads of time for urself, ur interests and hobbies.
- Most important, almost not a monotonous life because it involves people and people doesn’t behave identically, Finally taking things with a smile. Like this J
Some negatives:
- Neither AC nor fan, wander in the market @ 45 deg making sales, no office r desk work.
- At times, make u think whether is this wat u ve done ur MBA for??
- Physically isolates u from ur friends... bcse most ppl get placed in a s/w r financial institutions which are located in tier I&II towns
- Adjustment and accommodation becoming an absolute “pissing off” factor.. some are Public transport, long distance travel, Lunch @3.30-4, screams and rubbish from retailers etc.,
To be continued.....
