From My Diary - Choices I Made ~ #1

Life is all about making choices at every juncture...isn't it ?

Like you all I too have had made many choices in my life some of it turned in my favor yet some were not. Yes that's how it is with all of us, won't you agree?

Today here I wish to mention about one such choice I made about twenty years ago. Rather my life's first major choice.

I was working then for a commissioning agent firm "Sai UnicornGroup of Companies" which back in year 1995 was offering its services primarily in FMCG markets for defense sector. Now it has come up with its own brands and has emerged as one of the  market leaders in retail markets.

I was one of the best performing employees and was the only one in the firm who got five increments (Yes you read it right) five increments within a very short span of service of  about two years with them. 

I had joined the firm in order to help my family financially. 

The thing was that my father was a Government employee ( an honest one, of which I am very proud of). During that time he was posted in B D Bari (Jammu) and we were at Mumbai. 

We had bought a modest one bedroom apartment in suburbs of Mumbai and his salary was not enough to support the expenses of two houses (he being posted at  B D Bari & we staying here in Mumbai) and the EMI of our new house.

Being the eldest one I took upon myself the responsibility of doing something about it  I decided that I would do anything I can to help my family get through this, and thus came into this job at Thane.

The salary was okay but the profile was good and the bonus was that it gave me the opportunity to travel to all the major cities of India. The only catch was that back then I was a student, pursuing my graduation in science stream and this job kept me from attending science practicals, and hence I discontinued my studies then.

I really wanted to do study, but  for me it was not my priority at that point of time of my life. My priority was to help my family through those financially troubled times. 

I am a living example of this famous Quote

I had not read the book nor was I aware of this very famous quote by world renowned author "Paulo Coelho" from his famed book "The Alchemist" (which was apparently also used later in one of the blockbuster Bollywood movies "Om Shanti Om" ) 

Now when I look back something similar happened with me. Yes I very much wanted to study and at least finish my graduation and so it happened :)

It was year 1998 when the Fifth pay commission was announced and when it came into affect I got the opportunity to go back to my studies. The increase in my father's pay scale almost compensated my salary :)

I decided to quit my job and carry on with my studies after a gap of almost two years. But the decision was not easy, why? Because during those times I was making good money. Better than some of the graduates I knew. 

I was my Boss's favorite so he did not want me to resign. He tried all he could to keep me. He proposed to me a very tempting offer, which not only would have been good for my pocket, but he also offered me a designation of "National Sales Head" with several other perks which included company provided vehicle.

When I talked about this with the people at home and my fiends and some of their parents, they all advised me to continue with my job. They all said I would be a fool to let go such a great opportunity in order to fulfill my dream of completing the graduation, which gave no guarantee of a job. in future.

What they said did made sense at some level but somehow I was not feeling right about it. 

The choice was difficult for me then. At one side I had a job which most would have wanted and on other I had my desire to complete graduation which came with no promises. 

I chose to let go of that opportunity and followed my heart . 

I resumed college, finished my graduation. Worked in corporate culture with one of the biggest names in pharma industry, and later in 2001 came up with yet another situation similar to this...

What happened, what was this new job and what were my circumstances and choices then....

to find out do come back to read my next phase of life story...

Till then read my other posts and if you like them do share and subscribe. And if there is any thing you want to suggest or ask please drop your comments in the comments section at the end of this post and I will revert to them as soon as I can.

Thank you for droping by and reading this post :)

Have an amazingly Happy time !!!