Sunday, June 17, 2018

Happy work anniversary to me!

June 2017: It was a bright and shiny morning in Chennai. I was waiting with equal measures of excitement and nerves, ready to start my first day at work. I wasn’t sure if I'd made the right decision by joining the organization. In all honesty, being a fresher with zero knowledge in Marketing, my expectations weren't exactly sky-high. I was anticipating nothing more than the usual (and unnecessary) pressure cooker environment, and overlong hours of tedious and uncreative work - the usual corporate grind.

Fast-forward to June 2018: I am happy to say that I am here, celebrating my first year at HTC Global Services! It really is true - time flies when you actually do something meaningful. My career at HTC has entirely changed my perceptions of what an organization could offer its employees in terms of knowledge, experience, work culture and what not. I have so much more than simply a job; in fact, I can tell you that I can never find any company as amazing as this one.


Have I ever felt demotivated or depressed at HTC? NO. Have I ever felt like moving on to a different company with much higher package? NO. Have I ever felt like I am being paid lesser than what I actually deserve? No. I am a kind of a person who do not work for money. “Money doesn’t matter to me”. I am sure it’d look like a cliché to some of you. But I swear, learning is all that matters to me.

It is noteworthy to say that I am the only person who is taking care of the Marketing activities in the business unit I am currently working in. Therefore, my position obviously demands some extra work, learnings, challenges, opportunities etc.  Soon after my sixth month at work, I had my own team. My team gradually grew bigger and stronger. Now I am managing a team of eight people. I report to the Vice president himself. This is another major advantage to me. This is because when you report to the right people from the organisation, your best ideas get heard, get implemented, and you’re recognized for your contribution much more than if you have 20 layers of bureaucracy between you and the top management in your organization. Similarly, I have been given so many incredible opportunities to grow my career, and to meet my personal goals.

This is the first organization I've ever worked at where every day I go to work with a big smile on my face, a soul full of enthusiasm, and a mind brimming with ideas. I also know that a warm welcome always awaits me at HTC’s office. Each and every security staff, housekeeping helpers, canteen staff etc. are nothing short to sweet, always in a great mood and always welcome me with a great smile and have conversations with me. My colleagues are extremely sweet. My managers have turned into my mentors. What more could anyone ask for? Every contribution I make is valued, and my managers thrive on watching my career progress.

I’m fortunate to have an amazing boss who motivates me, push me beyond my limits and is always supportive during crisis. I really enjoy working with well-experienced people who are Managers, Specialists etc. and on critical as well as interesting issues. Every assignments, deliverables were forcing me to learn something new, pushing me a bit beyond my comfort zone – something that I doubt I would’ve got in any other company.


One whole year has just flown by. Today, when I look back, the previous year was full of learning, full of networking, full of marketing.           

So yeah, I enjoy life at HTC so much that I figured - why not brag about it a little?

Happy work anniversary to me. It’s been a fantastic journey for me so far - and I know that the best is yet to come. Could not have asked for anything better. Looking forward to another productive year at work!

Sunday, June 3, 2018

How the Before Trilogy Changed me

The Before Trilogy changed me.

I dont think I have watched any romantic movies as raw as this one! I feel love stories and romantic movies shape our perception about this feeling of love a lot. The fact that we think simply words, roses and chocolates can complete this feeling is simply ridiculous. Cheesy romantic movies have just made 'love' delusional. What day-dreamish expectation it creates!



Movies like these help. Love is not perfect but beautiful. Love is not a cinch, it's sometimes a pain in the wrong place. Love is not always about posting pictures on Instagram with cheesy and lovey-dovey captions, it's about putting those captions into action. Relationships are what we make out of it. It is messy but it is something 'real' at the end of the day.



Everything from the story, to the writing, to the characters had me hooked. It was a love story, I could root for, invest in and heave that satisfied sigh for at the end. This film helped me grow as a person and exposed my world to the struggles, passion, endurance and desires in a relationship.

Linklater's works are to be felt. It just cannot be judged.

Thank you Before Sunrise , Before Sunset &  Before Midnight. ❤️

Friday, June 1, 2018

I am on a "Friends" Deleting spree and it’s making me fall back in love with the social network

I’m on a Facebook cleanse, and it’s making me fall back in love with the social network I couldn’t stand for years. YES!! I will be de-friending everyone – all that will remain will be real life family and friends who I regularly catch up with (or those whom I want to keep in touch with).

Through the years, I have lost some, deleted some, been deleted by some, and gained many. Too many. I feel lost in a sea of friends, some of which I have absolutely no contact with at all. That is what has brought me to the point where I need to reassess the whole concept.

So this week is my Friends List Cleaning Week, since it’s pointless to have "friends" who never interact and only lurk. I’m about one week into my Facebook cleanse, and I’m down—after a couple of satisfying unfriendings this week—to 560 friends, a 22 percent reduction.


Over the last two years, I have felt consistently happy. This is the longest stretch of happiness I have encountered since I was a child. Over the same amount of time, I have cut a multitude of people out of my life that dragged me down in one way or another: energy-zappers, Arce lickers, judgmental Janes, etc.

I have had someone whom I thought was a good friend cut all ties with me coz they got butthurt over an argument on Social Media. It really doesn’t matter to me coz that person’s attitude has always sickened me from the beginning.  That person is probably still bitching about me, seeking others help to pull me down, ganging up against me, asking others to unfriend/block me etc. I am quite sure about the last one coz I’ve had at least 2-3 people unfriending me after that argument and I can’t me more happier about it :D

Trust me, today morning I woke up and decided to remove a couple of people from my friends list, turns out they have already removed me and unfollowed me on Fb and Instagram coz that ex-friend has asked them to do so (Arce-kissers I told ya :D ). Coincidence much? Well...hey, if you are reading this, you just went straight out and did it! THANK YOU. I applaud you until my palms bleed!

Though I have zero interest in seeing these people again, I can say I’m proud of having ended things that way. The only interaction I could see myself having with these people is me asking them to be true to at least one person and telling them the reasons for my action. No apologies. No regrets. I am letting it all go with love and prayers.


Guys, if any person in your network is toxic, arse-kissing the person whom you hate all the time, AIR (All India Radio), all time peeper, too much into your personal life, spreading rumours about you, taking your ideas and practising clear cut plagiarism, possess malintentions about you, hurtful, hateful and trying to take a toll on your personal life, then, DISCARD them immediately. It’s your life, unfriend them and give opportunity to those cranky nuts to start minding their respective lives. I CANNOT deal with these types and I am making an effort to cut them from the list. The negative energy they give off could dry up Niagara Falls.

However, even more recently, I have tried to just limit my contact with the remaining negative nancies in my life instead of just ceasing to talk to them. Not only do I have a better outlook of life and have great things happen to me (yes they are correlated!), but the guilt of cutting ties with them is practically non-existent.

Anyway, Facebook’s a lot better now. Once it felt like a stadium packed full of strangers and so called “friends” yelling at each other. Now it feels more like a cocktail party. My lifelong friends, current co-workers, high-school pals and online friends. We all mean something to each other.

This is because I have decided to SIMPLFY my life and focus on the people and things that bring good, positive, exciting, and engaging things to my life. I think it’s really a good practice to evaluate our friendships – all our relationships – periodically.

So if you’re suffering from friend clutter, try a one-year Facebook cleanse. It’ll make your online experience a lot cleaner, better and  more meaningful.



Love,

A realist who cannot tolerate fake friendships :)