Small steps towards great world

The long beeping sound of the fax machine is monotonous. Though the machine has become a rare sight in any office now a days, but during the late 90s, any office used to be incomplete without a fax machine. (That reminds me, my present day business card also talks of a fax number; I need to check whether the machine actually exists in the office!!) So, I was quite used to the beeps after I spent around two hours in the Central Office of Steelcorp Limited, a steel trading company having its corporate office in a busy business street of Kolkata. The office was in a two storied building, on the second floor. Narrow corridors leading to the ‘Central Office’. That was my first interview, a call received with the help of my then would-be brother in law, who forwarded my profile to the Head of Human Resources. The head, Mr. Biswas, instructed me to write an essay on “one hour in an office”, extended some pieces of A4 papers and vanished. I was all alone, in an open cubicle, with varie

The day started in a normal note. The irritating 5.30 am alarm, the brisk morning walk, half an hour of power yoga   and a cup of green tea. All seemed to be so normal and routine, till the time newspaper arrived and I browsed through it. It was the news of an old man dying at the age of 104 years. That’s not a young age to die! This is not the age when you term it a premature dying. Then why it was such a news which made my day a little bit of sub-normal?   The person in news was Manohar Aich, an Indian body builder. The “babuboli” or “pocket Hercules” (a nick name given to him because of his short height) credited simple diet of rice, dal (lentil) and fish for his stunning body. Such a simple lifestyle and such an extraordinary life (Mr. Hercules, Mr. Universe, Winner of World Championship of Spring Pulling, three times Gold winner in Asian Games).   All these regenerated a thought in me, do we really become what we think? 2500 years ago, Gautam Buddha said “you are wha

Known-known faces, are they half-known? A full life makes the faces full-known! This was my preconceived notion when the idea of a re-union was being nestled. I had been debating with myself, whether to be or not to be there. I was confused whether the ‘known’ faces might turn up to be ‘half known’ after two decades of separation!! Twenty long years, is not a short travel. I remember, during my student days, I used to go through “Employment News” regularly to look for job vacancies. And for most of the HR jobs, the minimum post-qualification experience required were 15-20 years. That was quite an absurd requirement for a fresh college pass out, who was only having an MBA degree and a bagful of aspirations in his possession. Now, when I look back at the 20 years which I spent in corporate rat-races, then I realize, oh, what a journey!! Though the journey, sometimes, was tiresome and difficult through hilly terrains and rough patches, but whenever an oasis was found, it was