It was a summer of discontent and disillusion. I had got my first job on my birthday 13 Dec 1997 and was thrilled to be part of the big bad corporate world. Working as a visualiser in an ad agency, I was rearing to let my creative juices flow and build a name in the advertising industry. It was a different story that I landed in advertising since I did not find a job as a reporter in any media!
The first few days in Nelson Advertising were quite exciting with hectic work on classifieds, outdoor hoardings, brochures, etc. In fact though I was quite a fresher, I was taken along for a client pitch meeting at Bharat Electronics. Today, BEL is a shadow of its yesteryear glory. Our presentation was done with transparencies on the great old overhead projector!
There I realized that despite my hep Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I am a blinking novice when compared to those SSLC pass drawing diploma holders who had good experience in print advertising. Everyday presented a new learning opportunity for me. However, soon the honeymoon period was over and I realized that my boss was truly a tyrant!
He was not a typical boss who just yelled at people in bad mood. He was truly madness personified! He would yell at his daughter who was working along with us and had no respect for women. He used to squeeze the work out of female employees even when their husbands waited in the reception late in the night.
The only decent successful work I could ever do was a ready reckoner poster series for International Energy Initiative for which I had to burn midnight oil and run to the client for every little correction. Email and internet were yet to make an appearance then. Despite all my hardwork, my boss could not tolerate my sinusitis problems and frequent sick leaves. Soon I found myself jobless and disheartened.
Apart from bio-data marketing, lying on the benches of Cubbon Park with a blank stare into the sky was my pastime. Jobless Yeshwanth was my only companion. He still remains the only friend who ever wrote snail mails in the era of internet. It is painfully sad that he is no more with us!
Drifting back to the present, today I am holding the ready reckoner I had created for IEI way back in May 1998. Ten years have passed on, today I have a decent paying job, a good set of friends, a great wife and stable health. But the disillusionment still continues. Thankfully the energy is coming back and I am finding my focus in life. Joining the Group of Energy Management Professionals has been quite invigorating! Lets hope the need for energy efficiency will energize me out of my slumber
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