Many a times I have ridiculed at this question. What still keeps few of us buzzing as a busy bee, shuttling between personal and professional life. Is money the only criteria? The last 3 months did convince me it was not so.
I have hesitated to come out the cozy comfort circle not socializing with everyone except a selected few with whom I vent out. I used to have second thoughts on lunching with friends, being too time bound on the half an hour lunch break. Anything more than 30 mins would bring a sense of guilt and rush me towards work. Mostly I would wrap-up my lunch at desk (but taking utmost precautions not to attract pests J . So hope facilities Tm do not condemn while reading this). Little did I realize how wonderful life was being with friends
One of my college days friend who quite often saw me eat alone, invited to join their ‘Lunch Gang’. It is a ‘Bubbly bunch’ of 10-12 lively young people who make the 40-50 mins (yes, I have become little liberal these days) of my lunch time beautiful. To my surprise, the conversations with them have helped to forget few difficult times (professional or personal)temporarily. I would fondly refer these chats as ‘sweet nothings’ like in the courtship period, where whatever the duo speaks makes no absolute sense but still remembered as enjoyable moments forever.
When I planned a brief break opting for sabbatical, I decided to compile few of ‘Across the table’ conversations happened amongst us.
· There were days with intriguing gossips about our peers, seniors and of course about the excellent team players
· Happy/dejected CRR discussions praising the brilliance of managers J or complaining the favoritism shown L
· Delightful narrations on the charm and mischiefs of our sons and daughters
· School admissions, donation, debates on best school, fee structure….believe me, you will not get such LIVE soulful narrations and truthful comments in any forums or review sites
· Talks on real estates, reliable builders, ground water quality, benefits of recycling wastes, constructing environment friendly buildings
· Carpooling, dance, yoga, music classes for our kids, Olympiad exams, Global Art, Abacus classes, Edu-Sports and what not ..
· Sharing cookery recipes, tasting delicacies prepared by wives & moms, exploring different cuisines/restaurants when one of us sponsors a treat
· Listening with suspicion J the stories on experimenting frog, snake delicacies along with fried dragonflies during the onshore tenure in China
· Fuming arguments on better resource utilization, H1B processing, rationale behind Talent Management’s resource mapping
· Amazed by a friend’s will power to take up Easter fasting giving up meat and wine (> a month), who would otherwise feast like a king J (Memories of him lunching Rotis and Baby Corns while watching helpless others slurping Non-Veg dishes are still green)
· Bursting into laughter when someone describes the heroic acts by one of us, that pathetically turned soggy J
Oh, the list is endless. Apart from these hilarious, thought provoking, adventurous and worthwhile moments, there are few tech savvy discussions adding cherry to the Pie. While one of them scoops on Windows 8 Apps development, someone else would be checking on Android Jelly Bean. If not at office, where would I get to know all of them? A person who can elegantly balance both work and life is lucky to enjoy the best from both the grounds. Having said that, so guys do you think I would wish missing all of them? Not at least for few more years J
With Love,
Lavanya
