The Great Indian Marriage !!!

The great Indian wedding.. it really was.. after all it was my BIG BROTHER’s shadi .. it had to be great and special. Past 1 week was like a dream and its hangover is still very much there. How time flew I really have no idea. Though every time we go home, time just seems to vaporize but this time it was never in liquid state. After such a long time I was part of a celebration of this magnitude and after such a long time we all were together at one place rejoicing the divine moment of union of two souls. At this moment I really am falling short of words to describe how I felt during my entire stay in Dehradun, actually I am not able to analyze and comprehend my own feelings. So many wonderful moments and amazing memories, actually I don’t want to come out of this dream which I am still living. 6th of October 2011 was surely the best day of my life so far, actually that entire week from 2nd oct to 8th oct was the best week ever.
My brother is married. Strange feeling… he really is married, difficult for me to believe. It seems like yesterday only when both of us use to ride our bicycles all around Rishikesh. Those fights while playing, irrespective of the game, though we still fight on small small issues but definitely intensity and frequency is far less.. then those moments in RPS when I used to boast of so many things coz I am Aakash Joshi’s brother … that special treatment I got from not only his friends but his old teachers as well just coz I am Aakash Joshi’s kid brother… and now he is married.. I don’t believe he has grown so much or I should say we have grown so much… that day for the first time I felt , I am no more my mamma’s small kid.. that moment when I saw him placing that garland around my bhabhi’s neck, a strange realization hit me, that yes, it really is happening and we both are slowly but surely moving from childhood to adulthood. But that was for that moment only and once I was surrounded by my sisters I was back to being that small mamma’s boy I love.
Now as I sit down and look back my special trip back home, it began on 1st October when I, along with soon to be groom boarded our flight for Delhi to attend another marriage there. It was kind of a trailer and an opportunity for my brother to prepare himself and get ready for the things to come. On 2nd we reached Dehradun to be a part of final round of shopping and to kick start 4-5 days of mega celebrations. Before I move any further I really want to congratulate my Mom and Dad for doing a fab job with all the preparations. All the arrangements were top notch and they did all that without much help. They, along with their three highly capable subordinates ( my didi, my chachi and my fufaji ) coordinated the entire show magnificently. From shopping, to making arrangement for everyone’s stay, then arranging caterers, band, DJ everything, all was done well in advance and till the time we reached there not much was left for us to do. Hotel, guest houses were booked not only for guest coming but also for house members. Though we have our own house in Dehradun but my parents didn’t want the burden of cooking, washing and other household work to fall on house members, so they decided to shift all of us to hotel, which was awesome, as it allowed my mom and other ladies to enjoy completely and not worry about daily house related activities. Everything from staying to travelling were well thought out and planned, though there were some minor glitches but few hiccups in arrangement of this magnitude is all but natural. So hats off to you Maa and Paa and your little brigade.
I am not going to bore you with entire description of all the functions and celebrations, though I can go on and on stating every minute detail but as my post is already quite long, I would like to share my experience and what I learned in past few days. I always considered myself a kind of a loner, who doesn’t enjoy much company and likes to be in secluded place away from all hustle bustle. Forget about being in contact with friends, I have a very small group of close friends but apart from them I don’t interact much with others who even though are present in my fb’s friend list. Friends aside, I wasn’t even in contact with any of my cousins all this while, and in the past few days I realized how much fun and togetherness I missed. After a long long time we all were together, all my cousins, sisters, brothers ,with few exceptions but most of them were there and we truly had a blast. I also realized how much value and importance I hold in my family and among my own people. Previously I used to think that everyone is busy in their own life and who cares where this tiny soul exist or what is he upto. But I was wrong, terribly wrong. The warmth, love, care I received in the past whole week was truly overwhelming. All my elders, my cousins and specially my sisters showered so much love and adulation that I am short of words to describe all that. Really thank you guys, you really made me feel special and as I am the little one of the house and if that is the reason why everyone took such care of me then really I never wanna grow old. All this also emphasized the importance of family in one’s life and in past few days I realized how strong my family is.
Another important thing I realized and observed is how important and extremely difficult it is to maintain your cool and composure in such situations. And once again my teacher was ,ofcourse my Dad. It still amazes me that how can one be so cool, calm and collective in every situation and obviously being unperturbed allows him to think rationally and come out with the best possible solution. Really amazing. There were instances during this past week when I lost my cool, don’t remember the exact reason why and when it happened but basically it was when things were not done to my liking by the people working there, be the caterer or the decorator or driver anyone but every time my Paa was always there to calm me down and he made a point to me that in such situations and occasions make sure you make everyone happy. It really is difficult especially for someone like me but definitely not impossible as I saw both my Maa and Paa doing that throughout. Don’t know how much I learnt but definitely I admired in complete awe, how both of them managed doing that during the entire course of marriage. One another thing I came to know about myself was, I am capable of taking responsibility and not boasting, but I managed to do a reasonable job with duties which were assigned to me. As you all know I am the youngest in my house and being the smallest nobody ever burdened me with any sort of responsibility before this, so it was something new and exciting for me as well and I thoroughly enjoyed doing whatever little task was assigned to me by my dad.
Now talking about wedding. Actually it was marriage not wedding, wedding gives a feel of more of a party, sort of celebration but marriage signifies the commitment, pledge, responsibility and vows, wedding last for a day but marriage is a lifelong endeavor which not only two people getting married but two families embark upon. Yes, I don’t know whether I am right or not but this important thing I realized, that marriage doesn’t take place between two people but this bond is created between two families. Families which were ignorant of each other’s existence a while back suddenly becomes one of the most important part of your lives. You don’t form one bond when an unknown girl as a new bride enters your house but she brings along whole lot of new relations and new people in your life and an all together new chapter starts not only in bride and groom’s life but each and every member inks a new heading in their life book. For me also it is a new thing, a new adventure, an unknown territory but this time I have a new guide alongside me. Yes, My Bhabhi. The newest addition to Joshi family. I ,along with every other member welcomes you with open arms and hearts to our family. I am pretty sure, not sure ,I know ,that we all will have a blast every single moment of every single day and this masti will start in diwali itself, eagerly awaiting your return from pardesh.
Signing off
RJ

A human among the resources

I am in the industry for more than a year now. I have had my share of experiences - All kinds. It is human only to share your experiences with people you know. Sharing your experiences is a great human trait as it multiplies your experiences and enriches you.

So this post is about distributing some of my wealth. In my Industry, employees are called resources. The rationale behind this is to calculate the amount of work possible by the available resources (employees). It is understandable as any business would like to know of its capabilities.

But if you put the Math aside, ultimately every business deals with human beings. Hence, assuming that X no of employees will always do Y amount of work is absurd. Most of the humans will work for some reason or another. In an ideal environment an employee should work for the success of company. He will only do so when he is convinced that the success of company will lead to his success.

This theory is not difficult to assimilate and has been reiterated by many management gurus. However, to my surprise, I don’t have even one incident from the plethora that I have gathered over this period, which exemplifies the above case.

Companies these days, very rarely try to take the stakeholders in confidence before bringing any change. Surely, it is difficult. And that is why it can act as a game changer if understood by some player in the game.

It will be great to see, when sales team will start rejecting lucrative offers because they deem it unfit for employee morale. It will be great to see a human among the resources.