A decade spent at WORK !!

10 years of working... "That is a decade" exclaimed Keerthi ...my darling sister ,who is just going to step in to the corporate world. I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly.... yo yo ...i have completed 10 years at work .

I still remember my first interview where in i just walked in to that place which fascinated me ..a industry that was so glamorous for a small town girl like me to be a part of .And behold ..i jus did it ..i snatched that job quite easily as if i had the graduation from hotel industry .As evey other colleague of mine had slogged and spent a few lakhs to get in where i got in that day ....


"THE RESIDENCY" ..a three star hotel with all the five star amenities .... I joined as a Front office Assistant .. How can i forget ..SOMA THALUKDAR who taught me all about my job ..She was a darling who was daring !! My other seniors at work dreaded her while she was such a sweetheart to me ...She helped me understand every procedure at front office, she taught me to even dress up well , how to tie a SAREEE..Imagine a buddhist teaching a tamil girl how to tie a saree ..i bet that can happen only in the hotel industry !!!

Front office team -Joe,Abhishek ,Jeeva,Gayatri,Bridget,Srini,Pramod,Mohan,Manikandan & now the new entry -Vijaya Meenakshi.

The duo lobby managers-Ashok & Murali , GRE -Sharmila & Mr Magesh Iyer-THE BOSS !!

My first job is where i found so many things that i cherish till date ..
Firstly ..it was a job in need ..i dunno what would have happened to be if i were not in that job ..It also taught me how to dress up , how to be professional ..
It was almost like a school which trained me to be an excellent worker.

Vani -My trainer ..she was a darling ..i enjoyed her training sessions . She inspired me to become a trainer actually.. I adored her style of talking & the way she interacted with people ..Just too good..Something i learnt from her -"No one is small!" She addressed even the bell boy with so much respect and used a lot of please & thank you with them too...I learnt it then and still practice it in my life

Vincent -My Best Buddy .As i write about his name itself , there is a smile in my face .He is the best buddy anyone can ever have .You know how we became friends..OMG ..it's so filmy !!
One day , i was just picking up my uniform from the laundry section and he was also there .He gave me some attitude look (that typical ..am one of the SENIOR).
I ignored and rushed in to the locker . I changed in to my uniform & headed to cafeteria ..He was right there again giving me the same look again ..i was so irritated .I also heard him comment about my walk ..if i remember ..he told me it was so unlike a woman's walk ..(i walk too fast..) I did not bother ... i guess it was during my induction that he was being kind to me explaining what happens in his arena ..F&B Service department. I remember he was in room service and insisted i called him "CAPT VINCENT " and not just by his name .The days passed and we got to know each other better.The enemity transformed itself it to beautiful friendship that i have still not found with anyone after him :-( There are way too many fond memories that this best friend of mine has left for me in my life .He not only became a friend to me ..he became a dear friend to my family .Mom & sister adore him.
He is a good human being who spread happyness & laughter whereever he was !!

Things took a turn in my life and i landed up in chennai again testing my luck by walking to ITC Park Sheraton for a job & I GOT IT :-) Initially chennai scared me ..
But now u ask and i tell you ..CHENNAI HAS GIVEN ME MY LIFE BACK
The best thing about the new job was, the hotel took care of my accomodation aswell .
I still remember the GOYALS FLAT and the five long stairs that we had to climb to get into our floor :-(

I felt like an alien in chennai then .There was no warmth in the people i met .
In my locker , my women colleagues gave me only plastic smiles but their expression asked me "Who the hell are you & why are you here". Some of the guys took soft corner for me and i guess it is only natural ..when u r in your 21, big guys like to play the protective heroes....some of them helped me settle into the new place & job .I learnt this place is way too different from the cocoon i came from ..

Front office Team :
Anup,Anil,Ajeya,Albert,Louis,Srini,Nishitha,Namit,Santhosh,Mark,Priya,Dinesh
Reservations : Jaideep & Kumar

Managers :Shoba,Pooja,Nina,Subbu,Paddu & THE BOSS- MR NEGI

It was only fun , fun , fun & fun that i experienced the next 2 years .I left that job with my career's best achievement which was a "BEST EMPLOYEE OF THE HOTEL " award .I won this beating thousands of people working out there in just 2 years.

Pooja -Who introduced me to Buddhism is someone i am still in touch with and someone who became my boss again :-))
Shoba -The sweetest person i have ever met in my professional life

I quit park sheraton to join the murugappa groups merely for the MOOLAH .After a few months in that company i realised this is not what i wanted in my career ..The shortest span of my career was here when i realsied the money is not as important as the job satisfaction as else i should have stayed there ..I had everything ..a great designation ..weekend off privileges & a typical 930- 530 office timings .Still i chose to walk way as i felt ..i was literally doing nothing there ...

HUTCH - It was then a young company ...a few months old in chennai .Though i attended the interview for a different profile , i landed up in Pooja's team .( the same reporting manager i had at park sheraton) This job was a challenging one .Coming from a service background, targets was something i have never heard of .I did not feel i was working for customer service..i felt i was in sales as my job was to retain those customers who were leaving Hutch. It became challenging and there was a day when i even cried because i felt this job was being too tough on me...i recouped myself and after a while things changed .I did audits, i handled backend and somehow i came out the field retaining profile . I was much happier and my dream came true when my company sent me to MUMBAI for a training .It was my dream to stay in a star hotel and flash my visiting card at the front desk to check in ...As i started my career as a front office assistant and i always dreamt that one day ..i too , will be able to stay in a star hotel and do this check in as a guest !!I stayed in the OBEROI HILTON TOWERS which was over looking the marine drive ...
The hotel was so grand & luxurious that i wished i worked there :-)

My Hutch Colleagues : Sudha, Ajay, Marooff, Karthik, Yuvaraj & Naresh

Some of them who were fun to be with :
Kinni,Pinky,Usha ,Bhumit,Glen,Kishore,Julie,Saranya,Balaji,Ayesha,Manish,Inder
Prem,Subbu, Anu, Sim, Priyanka, Mani,Shetty,Kannan,Madan,Nita,Parveen & Col Gogate

Back from mumbai , after a few months , I got this big offer from Apollo Hosptials
as a profit centre head to run a new centre for them . I gladly joined them only to know it was a difficult place to work for .I had a culture shock in the new place as average age of an employee in this place was 35-40 . Whereas all my previous jobs esp Hutch i worked with people who were mostly 20!

From their thinking to behaviour to work ,everything seemed too slow for my pace.And the work place was filled with back bites and loads of politics
But then i did manage to become a lotus in this muddy pond. I rose above the obstacles and beautifully began the journey at Apollo .From getting the right furniture to staffs and doctors for the centre I set up "THE APOLLO HEART CENTRE " and successfully ran the operations and within a year , we had the breakeven after which they have seen only the profits.

Some of the wonderful people i met at Apollo ..

George Eapen -More than a CEO ,he is my GODFATHER !!
Preetha Reddy - I adore her dynamism
Rochita - Someone who gave me & helped me handle tough situations
Rakesh Gopal -A great agruer & a good friend
Joshua - Such a nice colleague to work with
Karthik - My worst critic who was a catalyst for my growth!!

And this journey in my career continues, shall continue probably for another 2 decades !!!