Nothing to lose- Part I

For the last year and half I had a job to die for… a job my friends envied… being associated and working for one of the most renowned and oldest brand not only of India but of overseas as well, I thought nothing could go wrong, I mean nothing could be more perfect than this. But somehow the world does not stop revolving there.

People acknowledged me with a new found respect when I said I was with Hindustan Lever Ltd (then) and later it was Unilever. A company as big and mighty as Unilever surely knows how to keep employees happy and satisfied.

I’ve come across people who’d ask for my visiting card not because they wanted to know about my official details but because of the Company logo that glittered on the right hand top corner of the 3x2 card!

And when I finally said goodbye to my job, people in the immediate circle were left perplexed. The reason I shall come in due course, but at first let me tell you about the job I loved so much.

My job was that of a product trainer. Though I didn’t have targets every month, it was all the trainings and workshops we did that finally showed the rise in the excel sheets every month end in terms of products sold and revenue earned. So I was indirectly helping increase sales. The scenario is different now, there are four or five T.Os (training Officers) now, but when I was around I was solely responsible for the NESA region. This meant extensive and rigorous traveling.

Travelling is perhaps a major criterion why I accepted the job with a glee. I got to see many places… some places which otherwise would have never even occurred in my travel itinerary to have a “dekho”.

Traveling also meant facing all odds when not at all expected- be it unanticipated delays, road blockades, landslides, getting stuck in knee deep water, missing the last bus home, finding the hotel room not up to the standards.. you name it and I’ve faced it! But it’s these odds which have turned me more practical and logical for once, persuaded me to think of the box because no two situations were alike and I was on my own amidst a swarm of total strangers. A big lesson I learnt was having cash not necessarily comes in rescue. It’s the 3 Cs which has helped me overcome unforeseen situations – the 3 Cs rightly being COOL … CALM… & COLLECTED… and oh yes! I forgot to mention my portable MP3 who like a loyal spouse kept me company in my numerous sojourns and during that phase of my life when I felt I was actually living a life out of a suitcase!

And during these sojourns some faces I saw quite regularly, so much that except for their names I knew them by their faces and vice versa! The drivers & conductors of two Volvos – Dibrugarh & Itabnagar route. Infact once my mother-in-law was traveling to Khima and Nirav went to drop her at the Volvo point. The driver came up to Nirav and asked him “Aji baideo najai?” He further explained Nirav that usually he driven on the Guwahati-Itanagar route but henceforth his route has been changed to Guwahati-Kohima!

And how cold I forget the guy sitting behind the cash counter in Nahar restaurant where the Volvos stop for midnight meals? Then there are the two Marwari brothers of Jain Hotel in Jagiroad where you get the lip smacking poori-sabji – especially if you travel early morning and make it to Jain Hotel by 7.00 am. That was my regular halt if I traveled by Company cab to Tezpur or other places…. Here’s also this famous shop where you get the best of pedas in Bokakhat, thanks to Bimal ji… even if I go to Bokakhat after a gap of ten years I just need to make all to him and my wishes will be granted…(pedas off course!). And there were the lobby managers – Subansiri in Itanagar, Kristina in Imphal, Saramati in Dimapur… and a few bell boys! Every time I checked in these hotels their smiles would be same as welcoming a family member home!