My cup of Tea - I

Transitions in Life’s journey occurs umpteen number of times.  There is actually a need to reconstruct all that happened and connect the dots, on a hind sight, to know the exact path that has been tread so far.  It might not be of  any material  consequence  but may help resurrect one’s own belief in oneself and also lay a foundation on which to build ones’ next  instance.  At the current phase of life, post superannuation from service,  life seems to show various hues and vivid options and there is an urge to take a particular turn and proceed on a definite direction.  The challenge is imperative and implicit in the variety of available options.  A question then arises which may not have a binary answers perhaps. A very similar situation as  faced by the Indian Business managers indeed who it seems are equipped to explore the middle path of ‘May be’.    What is my cup of tea?

Long ago,  when still young, a naturally intelligent & brilliant student, naturally athletic, a born singer,   sky was the limit for me.  God has been very kind and there was nothing amiss in life.  There was health.  There was wealth [whatever little a supervisor class worker earns].  There was talent.  There was intention.  There was inclination.  There was most loving & supporting  big family.  There was bevy of friends.  There were large open areas to play.  The country was just 5 years young after independence.  There were no questions asked about the political leaders.  They were then revered as next to God Himself.  Their words were the command for the populace. It was an industrial town.  The populace was made of working class of people. They were content to earn and enjoy the various benefits provided by their company.  Unlike present times, the companies then were welfare oriented and used to do utmost to keep its workforce happy.  The cosmopolitan character of the society then presented easy and ample access to learn and imbibe the customs & languages  of various  Indian culture. The  social harmony was excellent and there were opportunities galore. Life was so absorbing that it never allowed a moment of introspection indeed.  It is with profound nostalgia that I always remember the childhood days  in Jamshedpur, the steel city. 

 Now on a hind sight, it may be said that there was just limited awareness toward life and that were the exact intentions of the industries of that time.  “Let them only learn to Lead the Life as it came and be so engrossed doing so that there was no need to think of the future.”  The future thus was pre ordained, already charted by the smart industrialists of the period.  They required semi literate working class for continuation of their business/industry and all those institutionalized infrastructures were just aimed at getting a continuous supply of the same.  Generations of Families used to work for the same company and no one then heard of jumping the companies in search of greener pastures.  But the trend, then unquestionable,  is only getting clearer now.  Son of an ordinary worker, joins as an ordinary worker,  son of supervisor may join a little up in the hierarchy and so on.  There were no questions asked.  Challenging the existing norms were taboo in the family or even in the society perhaps.   Families used to continue staying in the same allotted quarter.  A son used to join the company in his father’s service.  So it is always the first born who used to get importance and also a definite USP for getting married easily.  He or She would be groomed to join the company subsequently and take the responsibility of looking after the family.  Being the youngest in the family of 11 members,  it was, naturally and logically too, not my cup of tea.

The transition was thus inherent in the trend of the time.  Those who could not jump the queue then,  had  to stick to and make do with the existing opportunities.  They did not do badly either as with time the trends in industry also  took turn for better and subsequent generations  could find themselves better equipped to  grow wings and fly out on their own.  However,  It was most appropriately  designed for me to seek a career outside of the beloved steel city.  The transition was not self planned. It was circumstance-driven.  I joined an elite Central Government Organization in the middle of my Masters in Mathematics.  The nature of job suited my temperament.  Though I was completely unprepared for such a change in life, the inbuilt wisdom and strength of character groomed by the excellent childhood circumstances of the steel city made my adaptation to new challenges much easier.  It was my cup of tea, I thought.

Rest in the second installment please…. Watch this space all of you out there….

Sarvam Mangalam Bhavatu

Balasundaram