Life Takes An Unexpected Turn- My Best Work Years

Little did I realize that I would get such a wonderful career break when I got my offer letter from Bennett University. The university belongs to The Times Network of media company and is managed and owned by Jain Brothers (Sameer Jain-Vineet Jain).

It was my first workplace that was a proper university setup, which my parents believed was a well-deserving position after a hard-earned Ph.D. After all I had struggled for fifteen to twenty years at positions that did not bring out my best potential. For parents it was an opportunity to let me be independent at the age of forty, which is what all my relatives and friends desired and wanted.

While I, with the help of my parents secured a decent home on rent, I joined pronto and was fortunate to get a professor's cabin with a room number. This was totally unheard of and I wondered whether I would ever get such a privilege again as an employee. My leadership skills came to the fore as I was asked to independently teach four to five students different courses.

What's more- my colleagues respected me and viewed me as an independent individual without judging me on my marital status or telling me the benefits of marriage or staying as a couple. Students, too, respected me for my skills and knowledge and appreciated every action I took for their well-being. All these gestures by colleagues and students at the workplace ignited in me a sense of confidence and passion that I could achieve a lot and live a life of integrity and respect and courage.

The moment I reached Greater Noida, I had been craving for a sense of independence from my hometown where my relatives and family was always ready to help me with chores which had made me rather dependent on one or the other of my Mamas or cousins. This sort of dependence and parasitical life is something I had begun to loathe. My parents, too, had begun to feel they were becoming some sort of crutches for me. Hence the independence at Bennett University was totally a yes-yes.

First thing I did on my own was apply for a renewal of my passport. I searched for the methods and tools online so that I did not need help of an agent or a middleman. That gave a different sense of confidence in the functioning of government machinery to undertake citizens' jobs. When documents are updated directly with the effort of a citizen, citizens feel more confident that the government structures and systems are self-governing with least corruption.

The next things that gave me confidence was to apply on CARA (www.cara.nic.in) for a baby girl. I had stepped out of my parents' home to be able to take good care of a girl child, whom I wanted to develop and groom so she finds the perfect paraphernalia to grow as a successful and strong human-being.

Two years I passed. As I found out the university structures about research allowance, SEED Grant and other such systems of a university, I slowly got assimilated into the university system, taking students on trips to fairs and exhibitions, writing for student magazine, doing online courses that enhanced my research skills and writing papers and books for which I was given a grant, attending conferences to Mumbai and other cities where I could independently be a participant asking unique questions to panelists.

While life moved smoothly, I also attended a lot of weddings in the family- of my brother Dhruv, and cousins Vedant and Shikhar. As the wedding saga ended, there was a change of guard at the workplace. First the head of department resigned and soon after some of my colleagues resigned as well. Since my new HoD was a former colleague and friend, Sanjeev Singh, I thought I was in safe hands. I proudly showed him my updated resume and how and what I had achieved here in the last two years.

However, one semester, it was my call. I was taken by surprise when HR department called me to say that I should resign due to downsizing and cost-cutting exercise of the university. I requested a lot of deans to accommodate me into their fold, but all efforts proved to be unsuccessful. 

When I was asked to quit I realised how cruel this world is and how insensitive to the needs of mankind. Unemployment can be the biggest monster this world has seen. This was the time I felt even if I receive a paltry stipend from anywhere I would have been happy. Despite running from pillar to post, there was no respite and I stayed unemployed till date.

Was this an end t my brief moment of happiness and success? Why did God do this? Why were people against me? Was I so unworthy in my skills? Was there a fierce competition to be in the good books of employers due to which I became a victim of 'office politics'? Was I facing the heat of sexism and gender bias? But I had done my job with full dedication and loyalty? Was Sanjeev, my former friend and colleague, not approving of my ways of work? 

While I still am looking for answers to some of these questions, I realize independence and freedom and a sense of agency can be hard to find and when it eludes you, it can be SHATTERING!