My Life in a glider !!

Back then, I wore expensive watches,

But I had precious little time!

    Now I wear no watch at all,

    Bur I have an abundance of time!!

Thirty-six years! From August 1978 to October 2014.

Yes. All of thirty-six years I have spent running & chasing.

Running campaigns, chasing targets.

Dashing in and out of airports, catching red-eye flights, zipping thru cities in Hertz or Hired cabs.

Obsessed with numbers – Top-line $$, bottom line %%, market share, sequential growth and Y-o-Y growth and what-nots.  And headcounts and attrition. Negotiating numbers with clients, customers and channel partners. With bosses, with world-wide teams and even with my own team members!! And of-course with the agencies, the media buying houses and outsourced 3rd party teams!

Call it whatever you may – Rat-race, Drag-race, Le Mans or just a slugging match - I have been thru them all.

And I have successfully come out of them all, badly bruised and sometimes barely breathing – but definitely alive!

My life has been on the fast track.  A fast track - much like those of the Mumbai suburban trains!  With the VT to Virar and the Borivili to Bombay Central fast locals running all over me!!

Now I am retired.

Time is mine! And more importantly, I am the boss of my time!!

And I have calibrated my time scale to slow motion settings.

Turned the knob from 32X fast forward mode to frame by frame slow motion replay settings!

And how do I feel?

Initially like a MIG-29 fighter jet pilot steering a hot air balloon.

And now – My life is on a glider, catching the slow thermals and taking those lazy turns, not far away from the ground.

My pace has slowed down.

My ring tone is mellow. My phone calls are few; those  that I dial out and a few from those sweet voices that are trying to sell me a membership to a gourmet club , or a holiday package to some exotic destination or a plain and simple pre-approved home loan.

I still wake up at 5.30AM.

But, I do not jump for my smart phone.

No WhatsApp, no SMS and no e-mail checking.

My major activity in the morning , after a walk, is a leisurely Chai sipping session in my small garden, watching school children rushing to catch their bus . Sometimes involving the whole family – with the dad running ahead to stall the bus, the kid running behind and followed by the poor mom carrying the school bag and the tiffin box! 

and as I water the plants, I am cheerfully greeted by a fresh batch of schoolkids and their parent or grandparents. This time there is no rush.

My walking has switched to a slow stroll, with unhurried measured steps to soak in the warm autumn sunshine  or to feel the tiny droplet of sweat tricking down my spine in peak summer, or to enjoy the light drizzle sprinkle all over my face or to  feel the chilly wind numb my earlobes or to  savour the ‘green’ scent of freshly cut grass !

I have all the time in the world to talk to the security guards, enquire about their families, walk all the way up to the Capital Hypermarket to buy bread and again, a second time in the day to buy milk.

I have realized rather late in life .

You do not have to be the fastest to win the race

You do not have to be stressed to meet deadlines

You do not have to slog 18 hrs a day to be successful.

And remember you are only paid for 8 hours/day for honest work !! Utilise these efficiently.

And you need 8 hours of good sleep.

The remaining 8 hrs stretch them out.

Yes, stretch them out - slowly and relish each second of it – with your family, parents, friends and everyone else you meet each day!

Good Luck & Godspeed!!

Krish..