Take up a job you love

Confucius has famously said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Four decades ago, young people chose their career from the popular streams of engineering, medicine, law, accountancy, armed forces, civil services, banking, and teaching. For women, it was more difficult, as they were expected to take up homemaking, teaching or one of the ‘appropriate’ professions such as medicine or banking.

As a 10-year old, looking up at the skies, ensconced in the branches of the palash tree in our garden, I dreamt of being a pilot. When I was 11, we had to choose from various exercises for the annual sports day. I enthusiastically signed up for the bamboo exercises where two girls held two bamboo poles on their shoulders while the third one perched on the poles and exercised to lively music. I was the third girl, but as I looked down from my perch, a wave of dizziness swept over me, and I got off in a state of terror. My vertigo sadly made me relinquish my dream of taking to the skies as a fearless pilot.

Then came the dream of becoming a doctor, a la my mother’s cousin, a renowned doctor in the AIIMS, helping people heal. Reality bites those who dream and presume too much. Biology class had me reeling at the sight of our teacher dissecting the frog and the cockroach. Goodbye medicine, and hello, teaching.

Soon after my undergraduate course, while awaiting my results and the admission list for the postgraduate programme, I was drafted into teaching high school children in the area’s premier Catholic school, and I almost believed I would settle into it. I also mulled over joining a magazine as a reporter. Apparently fearing for my future, my father coaxed me into applying for banks and the civil services. I wrote the bank exams, and as luck would have it, got a bank job before I could take the civil service exam, and settled into it.

Today, when I look back over my career of close to 38 years that happened whether by my father’s design or by default, banking seems to have been an excellent choice. While my parents believed that it would be a stable job with few transfers and no late hours, it was different. We moved every few years to a new place of posting and assignment, and working late was the norm, given the workload. Notwithstanding this, my job gave me opportunities to grow in my career, meet new people, both colleagues and customers, see new places (which included a wonderful overseas assignment), bring on board companies as customers, make crucial business and people decisions, and deal with unique and often novel situations. I have been in branches where there were scorpions in the restroom, or there was no separate restroom for women. In a branch, where we encountered monkeys, and where if we were late leaving the branch, would have to hail a ride to the bus station in the back of a lorry. I was gheraoed by customers in one branch, and had to maintain my composure, while trying to calm my racing mind and pounding heart. I have had to deal with computerisation that came into banking a while ago and today, it is unthinkable to not use digital tools. I have had amazing team members, juniors, peers, and superiors, who helped the team achieve near-impossible targets, while keeping the customers’ interests in mind. I have had the opportunity to shape young minds, change older minds, and beam at their valuable contributions to the organisation and society. I have had my fair share of achievements and failures but am still standing at the end of it all because I loved my work. My bank has been a benevolent alma mater, and my sense of pride and belongingness will endure, though I superannuated a couple of years ago.

While the work scenario has changed in the last 40 years, I still see employees who decide to stay in one organisation even today. In conclusion, I genuinely believe that if you love your job, you will never have to work your life.

lakshmi.r.srinivas@gmail.com