Chain Reaction of Change

 

A single change can trigger a host of other changes in life and hence we should always be careful what we wish for. A decision to change one thing can change several others … in fact it might even trigger a chain reaction of changes in life.

Case in point: My recent change in job. Decided it was time to switch jobs (triggered by a chance opportunity that came up).

When I took the decision to change jobs; I was aware of some big changes that this decision would bring to my life. What I missed out on was the several small changes that would also be part and parcel of this change package.

So let me try and list down the changes that a new job has brought in my case (a part of this list will probably be generic enough to apply to You too if you decided to take the leap).

1.  Change of Scenery – From my office in Pune with a lush green scenery around to this current office with a concrete and glass jungle around with even a factory chimney jutting out into the landscape nearby. Someday I will post a pic of that chimney here.

2.  Change in Travel – For the past 2 years, I have been travelling the Mumbai-Dubai route by air and Mumbai-Pune route by Bus and Train. Now with the office in Mumbai, I am travelling by the infamous Mumbai Local Train. I will be back to regular daily travel by local trains after a gap of 7 years and that too in the direction of peak traffic in peak hours. It's not easy buddy. Travelling by Mumbai Locals can be a horrifying experience for beginners (after some time, you just get used to it).   

3.  Resting my Passport – My current employer will not send me across borders so no more international travel for me. My passport will get some decent rest after going through immigration stampings for last 7 years. I have flown approximately 50 times in last 7 years and so my passport(s) have been stamped over a 100 times.  

4.  Airport Time – The above also means that I have spent over a lot of time in the airport over the past 7 years. Reaching the airport about 3 hours before take-off and getting out approx. 2 to 3 hours after landing; I would have spent nearly 250 hours at airports. Now that will change. I would probably still travel and use the airports, but it would be for local national air travel where one can reach about an hour in advance and get out of airport within 30 minutes. I guess, the airport time itself will reduce to one-third although I don't really know how frequently will I be travelling around. 

5.  Travel Time – Whether it was Mumbai-Dubai or Mumbai-Pune; both of these journeys were approx. 5-6 hour journeys (home to home). Travelling in Dubai was by road (extremely comfortable) while travelling the Dubai-Pune sector was by road (uncomfortable at most times). NOW, as mentioned earlier, it is going to be the extremely uncomfortable Mumbai Locals. This will also impact my reading since I have always utilized my travelling time for reading.   

6.  Family Interaction Time – All that travel meant that I spend half my time abroad and half in India at home in past 7 years. I have remained away from my parents for a period of up to 6 months. Now, office being in Mumbai, I will get more time with family and will not be away from them for extended periods. 

7.  Weekdays and Weekends – For the past 9 months, I have been working between the three cities of Mumbai, Dubai and Pune. While in India, I would visit Pune office twice or thrice a week and the remaining days I would 'work from home'. I got to spend time at home and weekdays often seemed like weekends. Especially because of Fridays and Sundays.  Friday is working in India but a holiday in Dubai (UAE) where all of my clients were. So there would be extremely little to do. It would seem like a weekend. On the other side, Sunday is a working day in Dubai and I would have exchanges on email with clients. This would seem like a working day. Now … weekdays would be weekdays; weekends would be weekends.

8.  Dress Code – Being a Consultant, I am used to formal wear in office and even wearing suits at client locations. But I had avoided Tie's over the years wearing them only on rare occasions. The first day in my new office and I receive a shocker that here, it is Tie on all days from Monday to Thursday. The Friday dressing concept that I have enjoyed over the years (Jeans and T's on Friday) exists in a very different form here. Business Casuals is what is acceptable on Fridays which DOES NOT include Jeans and T's. 

9.  Wardrobe – All my existing shirts have been rendered useless for most part of office life. And this is because of the clause to wear Ties. Almost all of my shirts are not suitable to be worn with Tie's since their collar buttons simply don't 'button-up'. So … I have to buy / get stiched a whole new set of shirts to wear from Monday to Thursday. Also, the need for shirts in white or light colors means the darker shirts that I have are rendered useless from Monday to Thursday. So … its time for a wardrobe makeover !

10.  Change in Laptop – I have been using a Dell (personal) for past 7 years and used a Fujitsu laptop for past 2 years. Now, I get a Lenovo ThinkPad in my new company. This laptop has a slightly different keyboard layout which is taking a bit of a time to get used to. It actually has a physical button for wifi and I was struggling with wifi connectivity before the IT helpdesk gentleman told me about it. The keyboard has a different placement for the Ctrl key which is a commonly used key creating a problem for me. I am sure I will get used to it and then working on my personal laptop will seem difficult.

11.  Reading Material – From fiction to academic study material.  I have already blogged about it. In fact, this first week in new job and I am undergoing several mandatory trainings where I am reading screen after screen of material trying to absorb it. Also, there are a lot of new things in this job and I would have to 'learn' a lot of them by actually reading (make that 'studying').

 

Well … so you see. A change of job has changed so many things in my life.

Some for good, some for worse, some yet to be discovered