My previous post on Marriage, Divorce And Just Being Single predictably has resulted in a great deal of comments and discussion, and would appear to be headed for some more. It is however only fair that I give another credit where credit is due, for the inspiration for the post. Besides Jody’s post, Jean too had a post which though started off with a different topic, ended up covering many areas that my post and its comments did. See Jean’s blog I strongly recommend that my readers go to this post and read its comments too.
In one of the comments, I had, in passing said that I went from being a rebel to an anachronism in just ten years. Jean in her usual curious way wanted me to elaborate, and here is an attempt to.
Ten years ago, I was in a small little town in South India, running a medium sized company as General Manager while simultaneously being an adviser to the Chairman and Managing Director of the company and the group to which it belonged. I was considered to be a rebel for leaving the comforts and benefits of employment in a modern metropolis to go to this miserable town with nothing but a massive cluster of one type of industry, living there, puttin in 12 to 14 hours of work everyday and generally “suffering”, as my city dwelling friends thought. I was there fully for a year and would have continued indefinitely had not my domestic situation changed dramatically necessitating my return to Pune. That one year however, was the most satisfying time as a Professional Manager that I had ever experienced. The company achieved a great deal during that one year and it was with great reluctance from both sides, that we parted company with each other.
Subsequently, I simply could not find it in me to get back into employment despite resolving the crisis in the family. I did some desultory assignments including a full one year as a Director in a local company, but the break had taken its toll. The period during which I took the break from hands on management, was the most exciting period in India for industry and business as is now quite well known.
In between, I had both my hips revised, welcomed a daughter in law home, experienced hospitalization and subsequent permanent illness of my wife and another stint of six months back to the same town to implement a phase that I had not been able to during my first stint there.
New things were happening and new ways of doing businesses were being implemented. I was just a spectator and whenever I did suggest some observation, it was obvious that I was dated and thus I became the anachronism.
In retrospect however, the same factors that made me an anachronism, now makes me realize that it was not anything wrong with me, but the exuberance of the times that made me so. The values that I stood for in business, have now started being welcomed again as the panacea for all the ills that India has seen the last few months!
Jean, a lot of water has flown down the Mulamuttha (the river that flows just 150 mts away from our home) since the time that I was called an anachronism and now. I suppose that I am now back to just being WISER BY HINDSIGHT.
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