Veena Pillai - Find your Story

Find your Story

VEENA PILLAI

Copyright 2019 Veena Pillai

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means-whether auditory, graphical, mechanical, or electronic-without written permission of the author. Any unauthorized reproduction of any part of this book is illegal and is punishable by law.

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ISBN: 978-93-89604-41-2

ISBN: 93-89604-41-9

Printed in India and published by BUUKS.

S ome days are very peculiar and can be actually called Dream Days, or Yoga Days. Today was one of those daysI can call it an Antique Day. I was not aware where exactly I was heading, as usual, in my search. I had plans only to meet a furniture vendor.

I had finished half a day of coaching sessions in the office of my partner. From there I decided to go and meet this furniture vendor, who is an expert is making amazing wooden furniture, and has special painting skills. Since I didnt have much to do in the second half of the day or, more correctly, was not in a mindset to do any serious work, I decided to explore the unknown market of artwork and designs.

As I said, some days are linked to each other by their story, and it happened again. The most awaited Uber cab came and, in the scorching sun, I jumped into the cab without any delay. While checking the status of the cab, I realized the cab driver knew more than three languages, and that was pretty interesting for me. Once in the comfort of the cab, my interactions with the driver started. The story was very interesting. This man was a fitter in a German company specializing in electromagnetic fittings/equipment, which allowed him to travel to lot of countries, and this enabled him to learn these many languages. So why was he driving a cab? Yes, you are right, the organization closed down. It could not cope with the moving and changing world, so it closed down in 2014, leaving a lot of people unemployed. Maybe the leadership in the company didnt know about the market change or was more inclined to sell the old and start something new that fit in with the present market and the customers.

Further conversation led me to know more about the drivers life. He lived in a house that was two hundred years old, and he was the fourth generation of the family. Wow! Astonishing. But in Mumbai, Marine Lines is one of the posh areas of the city; maybe his property would earn him crores of money. He also mentioned that many of his neighbors have sold their property and moved to other locations and invested the money elsewhere, making them rich and prosperous. Was that not possible for this man as well, I wondered. Why is he struggling the whole day to make his ends meet? And I shot the question at him, What stops you from selling the property and settling in a decent place and keeping the extra money? That is just how organizations are built and then are taken over by big giants. His answer created a whirl inside meDo you think it was not possible for my parents and their parents to do the same? But they kept it safe for me, and I want to keep it for my son. In fact, he sold his other property for INR 35 lakhs, only to refurnish the two-hundred-year-old ancestral property. He may live his entire life maybe almost in poverty, only to safeguard the gift that was given to him by his parents and grandparents.

He dropped me at the furniture market where the vendor had asked me to meet him. Alas! It was a market of antique goodsage-old paintings, grandfather pendulum clocks, huge wooden and iron trunks. There were innumerable shops that displayed an amazing array of memories. This nice chap took me around, showed me a lot of stuff. The more I saw, the more I got confused Brass lamps, teak cupboards, huge old radiosyou name it, he had it. Each item he picked with excitement and recounted its history. This I got from a family that is now remodifying their house, and they have sold their grandfather clock. This brass statue has been sold by a doctors family; it had been made to the order of their great-grandfather. Anxiety took hold of me. Each item in the shops there had a story to tell; someone owned them some day with great love and affection today they were lying in this huge godown, waiting for a new owner. I didnt see any furniture there, but I saw stories, real-life stories What if these precious things could speak out? I would have gone deaf then.

The Vintage Day even to keep a vintage thing takes strength and maybe loads of emotions and love, toward the owner of the product I also picked up onenow my wooden trunk has a new owner, me; I will respect it and treat it with love and dignity. Vintage is experience

I t was one of my scheduled coaching connects. This time it was a senior human resource leader, who had lost his job with a renowned bank. As scheduled, I met him and started our conversation. I was spellbound with his competence. He had varied industry experience, was very confident, and had reached this position only through hard work and dedication. In his early forties, he was doing pretty well for his age.

Generally, the career-transition coaches are very stressed about the situation of losing a job and are not sure how to go ahead with the journey. In his case, I found him quite relaxed on this aspect. He was very confident that he would easily get another job and seemed more than happy that he had lost this job. He said, Veena, I would have anyway left the job in a few months, but its good the organization took a call; at least I will get time with a pay package. I was confused. So employment was not his concern. I waited.

He looked worried and distracted, though. After multiple conversations, he opened up that he was parting ways with his wife and was about to file for divorce and, later, for child custody. This process would take time and hence he was not looking for any opportunity in the near future. He further explained about the psychological issues his wife was facing. She was also refusing treatment; hence he had finally decided to separate from her. He needed a lot of emotional support and coaching; I took a turn from career coaching to life coaching.

The next session was due. I expected him to work on his profile and on some homework that he was supposed to do between our sessions. To my surprise, he said somethingI could not believe at first that I heard it right. He was looking for a role a few levels below his present role. But why? I thought he was waiting for some time so that he could sort out his personal issues. Moreover, he was very proud to have reached such a senior position and had a huge network, which would have enabled him to pick up a similar or better profile in future. Now he said he wanted to work three levels below, because he wanted to earn a low amount as his salary. I asked him why he wished to spoil his career, and also that since he was filing for child custody, he would need money to take care of the children. The answer was shockingIf I earn more, the alimony that I will have to pay to my wife will be more. In fact, I am moving all my funds into my parents account. I am ok penniless, but I wont pick up a job that will give me more money.