Three-pound thing
Here’s another narrative down my memory lane.
(Part four — from the series “Ricordare”)
It was my early days in this IT industry. Unfortunately, I ended up joining a workplace with a toxic culture. Moving to a city like Gurugram (then Gurgaon) from a tier 2 city is anyways arduous, and you take some time to get familiarise to the culture. To add to the woes, the salary during the training period was just about survival.
I stayed in a 3 BHK setup with four other roommates on a sharing basis. Thankfully, two other seniors were sharing the major burden of the rent stuff, so we were doing fine. Adjacent to our Flat, was an old dairy, run by an Old man living there only. We never had a long conversation, but a brief hello was there whenever we pass by. Sometimes, we also purchased milk and other dairy stuff from him. The old man had two lives: One of a serious old man when we were leaving our place for office in the morning to Cheerful old man (after a couple of drinks) in the evening. Over weekends, sometimes in the morning, I used to discuss my office frustrations with him to which, he used to smile and say “ No worries, you can overcome this”.
One day, I had a terrible day at the office. Despite putting immense efforts, due to lack of experience — we missed our target release somehow. My colleague that morning passed on some biased comments resulting in my self-confidence stooping down. To an extent, I even thought about quitting this industry and going back to my hometown.
I returned to my home a bit early, and the Old man also had a few drinks early that day. I saw him, tried to avoid eye contact, and rushed towards my flat. He shouted, “Hey Young man, what happened? Come here”
“Usual office frustrations, I feel like I don’t belong to this industry”
“No worries, you can overcome this”
“What do you know about me? How can I overcome this? Put yourself in my shoes, and then give me any advice. It is easier said than done”
“Ahh, come on, you call this routine office work challenge?”
“So, you think my job is easy, right?”
“Absolutely. Come here. Let me tell you my story.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“ I was a spoiled brat. I quit college at the age of fifteen, sitting idle at home and smoking all day. One day, I felt like I wanted to earn money. I used to see a milkman roaming on my streets and at my first impression — use to think that job is tough, I need to owe cattle, feed them, milk them, then wandering around, etc.
One day, one of my relatives labelled me as useless and questioned my ability to earn even a penny for my family.
But, I just picked my bicycle — went to a nearby village around 15 km away. Bought 10-litre milk in a container at 3 rs/ litre (while the rate was 5–6 rs in the city). I managed to sell them to a few of my relatives, and day one, I earned 25 rupees as my profit.
Next day, I bought 15 litres of extra money and earned more. Now, I had a self-belief that I can do more. I brought an old motorbike with my savings on and started sell milk in two shift. Gradually I bought a four-wheeler, then hired a few guys to work with me, had my own house, my first car, and so on.
It’s all in your three-pound brain — It all begins from there. If you believe you have the ability, you can survive and flourish anywhere — don’t fear anyone. Just learn and grow.”
I understood what he wanted to teach me. I smiled, “But how to start first?”
When you go back to your office tomorrow, ask the colleague to come with you for a cup of coffee and smile at him and say
“God has been very kind to me, Sir. I am going to succeed, sooner or later. I am willing to learn and will improve. With all the due respect, can I advise you, not to say those words to me again? Thanks !”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Till date, though I never said the above words to that colleague or anyone else in my corporate life, though now I always know how to deal with such situations.
Thank you Old man, wherever you’re, for the piece of advice — that helped me come out stronger in life during the setbacks.
(Leave your thoughts in the comments section, also find links to my previous posts.)
