ASHES

Today, I completed one year at Evalueserve. It will be rude to suggest that that’s all there is to this milestone. So let me just rewind and look back at ‘the year that was’.

On my first Friday in office, I had an interview with a client which I had to pass in order to work on that project. Apart from being not selected for the project I ended up disclosing the name of another client to this client. A lesson that could easily have been learnt during orientation, but things come to me the harder way.

I was a month old in office when I was awarded a flattering but not so credible ‘performer of the week’ award for my project. The team comprised 10 people so I felt like I was really turning the heat on.

Two months down I worked for the first time on energy related project. I made a PPT which would best be described as a disaster. But I was still learning and I am not ashamed of that, no matter what was going through my project manager’s mind when he was formatting it.

Approximately four months in to the job came the scariest phase, one that I want to forget but can’t. It was an officially shitty project and I was scared while I was in office about the fact that I have to do all the phone calls. Its best that nothing more be said about that part.

In December I had the first real conflict with someone. Well actually my project manager had some problem with my work and ‘attitude’ which till date I believe was called for. I accepted the short coming on my part without any retaliation because I knew my PM was right. The best thing was that my PM for forthright about pointing my mistake, something that I learnt from him.

For the last six months I have been working on energy projects and things have been relatively smooth, I like the work I am interested in learning more about the industry and there seems to be a sign board that says – ‘drive safely career road ahead’.

Of course one of the best times will have to be the off-site corporate retreat to hrishikesh. An experience for a lifetime and I am grateful to the people who organised the event.

Finally, to cap it all, the cricket. Not an enriching experience by any stretch of the imagination, both in terms of the game on field and the team spirit on and off it. But at the end of the day it was cricket. There can not be many posts that I can write about the matches I played for Evalueserve. Still the opportunity that I got to play has to be credited to some people in the organisation.

It has to be said that at the end of it all I do feel as if I have matured one year. There is a little more clarity in thought and perspective. Looking forward to another six months at this place at least.

One of the busiest weekends in this year probably. Tiring, refreshing, painful and satisfying all at the same time. I played two matches over the weekend, one that we won the other we lost. However, as it turns out, all the adverbs (!) I used before were existent in the second match alone. That’s one of the great things about cricket; there are very few times you can return empty handed from the field – quite literally.

I bowled well in both the matches, although I was asked to do something I have never done so far. I was asked to bowl defensively, back of length. Since I am not express I have to rely on swing and therefore invariably pitch the ball up. At the end of the day I did well with the bowl and in the field. So that gave me the satisfaction.

I fell in my follow through on the first ball of my spell in the second game and twisted my ankle. It didn’t bother me during the game but as I came back to my place I started to feel some discomfort and slight swelling. The fact that I had to ride my bike and shift gears with my ankle and walk a large distance in the evening made it all the more painful.

Losing a final is as bad as it can get. I have lost two before, and those disasters are etched in my memory much deeper than most of my victories. This time the feeling was not as bad, as I realised that the team did not deserve to win. Even then the spirit and fight put up by a number of players in the team was quite remarkable and to say the least refreshing.

Amidst all the cricket there were trips between Delhi and Gurgaon on my bike in the sweltering heat, for more than 150kms. A friend’s party late night on Friday which ended at 1.30am and I had to wake up at 6am on the following morning to go for my match. A little bit of studying for my GMAT to go with it was enough to make the whole experience so tiring, that people at work asked me if there was anything wrong.

I wonder what it would have been like if I had not played those games. I could have ridden my bike at a decent hour with less of heat, I wouldn’t have hurt myself and of course I would have been able to give even more time to my studies. This is perfectly what my parents would have expected of me, or perhaps will tell me to do the next time. It’s a sad feeling that at the age of almost 24 your parents don’t understand the importance of the most important fuel of your life. It’s still just a game for them, a game which should not be played too much and least be watched on TV.

This is not one of Zubin like i-hate-my-parents post. Please don’t get me wrong here. I am also not saying that my parents have never felt good when I have told them of my achievements in cricket. But they have never understood that it is almost intoxication for me, something that gives the pleasure and happiness that we all are searching for all the time. They can not understand why I occasionally neglect them for cricket.

I guess it’s hard for anybody to comprehend that a game, a sport or any such otherwise considered peripheral concept can drive someone’s existence. But what is even harder is to explain it to somebody yourself.