On a fine
evening of 3rd May, 2012 (exactly 4 months ago), I was leaning back
at my 1st floor located office desk of building no. 4, Infosys
Hyderabad STP Campus, where I shared space with 15000 more employees. My eyes
were staring exactly opposite to the screen, at the pleasant emptiness created
by the clear blue skies which appeared black through the dark glassed window. For those who have known me in office, it was
an uncommon sight on two counts. First, I was almost NEVER found at my desk in
the 5 pm – 7 pm interval. Cricket ground, gymnasium and the New Food Court
(NFC) used to be the top 3 bets if one of my friends had to place one on
finding me in that period. Secondly, those who have worked with me would know
that I have never been the person to stop and think like that on work related
issues, no matter how critical the problem.
“So,
leaving the company?” – came a voice that brought me back from the skies. It
came from a senior colleague, whom I shared the floor with. E – separation was
probably one of the most frequently used applications of the Infosys intranet in
Q1, FY ’13 and I was adding to the usage. For the uninitiated, it is an online,
automated application using which Infosys employees who want to part ways with
the company initiate their notice period.
“Yes, time
to go”. I uttered, punctuating it with one of my most genuinely fake smiles to
give the impression of being very casual about it. However, it was not the case
and I was still in two minds, which is why, despite having filled out the form,
I hadn’t clicked on the “Initiate” button.
In order to
avoid further conversation, I rotated my chair 180 degrees to face my
workstation, trying my best to look busy. It all sounds so very fancy, when you go out
and announce to your colleagues that you are leaving the company but arriving
at the decision is by no means easy. In my case, it was going to be all the more
difficult, as I was not going to join a top notch MBA college, for which you
don’t have to think twice. I had to choose between two courses, one of which was
an MBA in Power Management from NPTI Faridabad, a college generally unheard of,
however famous it might be in the Power Sector. Second, and more glamourous,
choice would have been to opt for SP Jain’s executive MBA program (PGCIM),
which offered a one year course, with six months to be spent in SPJAIN Mumbai
and IESEG, France each.
My CAT 2010
score of 96.98 %ile had ignited hopes of a better score in myself as well as
amongst my family members and friends, who were all the more surprised when I managed
to underperform to on my way to scoring 89 %ile in CAT 2011. Though my options
were limited, a decision had to be made, as I could not have continued in the
company. The reasons were many but the most dominant one was that I was not
enjoying it any more, all those hours spent in playing Cricket and Chess during
office hours notwithstanding. I am a month into my course now and have already
been quizzed about 50 times about “Why did you leave Infy?” – a question which
probably requires another blog post.
Looking
back at things has never been my nature and now that I am a month into the
course, I do not dislike it. I have put in conscious efforts of maintaining a
low profile and cutting down on the distractions and have been successful to a
great extent. Infosys and Hyderabad days are being missed and they will always
be. However, this has been a change that I genuinely sought for some time now.
This gives me enough spare time in a day to pursue things that I always wanted
to. The greatest incentive is that I have my weekends all to myself, in which I
can go home and relax, play with my 18
month old nephew, spend time with my family and come back refreshed on Monday morning
to take up the challenges of the next five days.
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