Postcards From J

Hello, hello! I'm back on the blog after two months. In fact, I had almost forgotten about this space... Most of the time away was spent on a project that took me out of Bombay on New Year's Day - an all-confusing (at the start) and then an all-consuming assignment which involved a university cricket tournament. BUT all rants aside, I learnt a great deal during this time - operationally and from a business perspective - and made some new friends in the process. It was just a first step in a new direction for me on the work front. So let's see where it goes.  Physically, I can feel the exhaustion and stress of the long hours put in taking its toll on me. Add to it, an erratic sleep cycle and the weird moods of the Bombay summer. And what have you got? Me writing a blog post at close to 3:00 AM! Meanwhile, some notes from my last two months: - The boys from Jain University, Bengaluru won the inaugural University Cricket Championship. I had the pleasure of intera...

It's been more than a week since I got back from my last-minute trip to Mangalore and Bangalore. This was NOT a holiday as most people believe. And as the days wore on, I knew it was the right thing to do. All the long-distance travel was solo – train from Mumbai to Mulki (Dakshin Kannad), bus from Kinnigoli to Bengaluru and finally flight out of the Garden City back home to Mumbai – and it was very important I spent a lot of time being by myself and away from the chaos that is Mumbai. I'm not sure if the trip fulfilled its purpose entirely, but it just felt great being on my own for a bit and as I look back, I realise there have been quite a few lessons from my 8-day jaunt: 1. First and foremost, it is extremely important to take a break from people sometimes. Coming from an HR person, that sounds ironical. But trust me, this has been one of the most significant learnings on this trip. Okay, I can't really take a complete break from people, but at least a break from peopl...