The whole 9 years

Bitter sweet, nine years into the professional world and corporate – a retrospect!

“9 long years it has been – (lets out a short gasp which could equally hold good for a complacency or predicament) – since 2004.”

“What’s so special about that – it’s not a milestone like a decade.”

“Nine, my dear friend, is a magic number, that has somehow married our wonder for ages.”

“Like what?”

“Well, Chinese used to believe that there were nine forms of dragon, Egyptians believe that there are nine types of enemies, Europeans believe nine royal men started the concept of chivalry and Greeks believe from heaven to earth or earth to hell is a passage of nine days and who hasn’t heard the old saying that cat has nine lives? So you see, nine is a number, we can not simply ignore.”

“These are all some form of myths in localized civilizations. Being an Indian, what does that have to do with you?”

“Are we forgetting that Indians gave the world its decimal number system – which includes the number nine?”

“We aren’t, but all I am saying is that those are just beliefs – what does that have to do in today’s world? How does that give your nine year long professional life?”

“”All I am saying is that even today’s very materialistic world, the number nine is of special significance – one who has kept ?the faith and aligned himself to one corporate house for nine long years thus far, is likely to leave his job and go somewhere else.”

“Ha ha ha ha …(bursts into laughing), so that was all about your magic number? Till now I was speculating it would turn out something like Felini’s autobiographic tale of nine women.”

“Who wouldn’t want to have that kind of life, mate? Unfortunately, we have got to stick to certain boundaries – and in all these years, I’ve come to know them well.”

“Like what?”

“Like that golden rule you learn in college. Rule number one – bosses are always right. Rule number two - Whenever there is a confusion, refer to rule number one.”

“Huh! you are telling me that even now you fear your bosses?”

“That is called eternity – the more you go up the ladder, the more powerful your bosses become and you go to further length to keep them pleased.”

“Can’t believe it coming from the mouth of a daring, young man you used to be. What tarnished you?”

“If I were you, I’d chose a different word.” 

“More like disillusioned?”

“Err! no, more like wise.”

“So a wise man knows the boundaries – and what else?”

“A wise man never makes the same mistakes again, well perceived, doesn’t take credit all for himself – but most importantly lives life one step at a time?”

“Now, what does that supposed to mean? Last I knew, foresight used to be considered something like a quality.”

“Yes, that was a point where future was more directional and not so turbulent. Looking back the whole nine years, one knows that gone are the days of long term goals – rather depend on the near future.”

“You sound more like a ‘gyani baba’ (an old sage) of some sort.”

“That is the other beauty of nine years – before that path is crossed, you think it’s enormous and once you have crossed it, the same thing becomes insignificantly small. So small, that you don’t rise to your nominal gain on day to day life, you become impervious to failures.”

“And that goes relationships as well?”

“I’ll keep it short and simple - if you constantly remind yourself, that you are walking on a tightrope, then there are less chances that you’ll fall.”

“And thereby avoid the pain?”

(smiles feebly, nodding)

“So raise a toast to this achievement?”

“Definitely, but nine years tell me that the number of times you raise your glass should not be proportional your happiness.”

“I don’t think I really quite followed.”

“Well, if you go beyond 3, then reset the counter. So, say if you had 5 pegs of whiskey, you break it is 1-2-3 / 1-2, thereby quoting the final count of 2.”

“And why is that important?”

“You see - three is a magical number, again; because after nine long years into this profession, one is likely to get married or attached and trust me on this , when I say that your spouse or partner will forgo three drinks, without rather scrupulous speculation and who knows better than us veterans, that no matter what the number it is, that much of booze surmounts to almost identical effect in behavioral appearance of an otherwise sober man.”

“Wow! I just can't believe that you revealed such a big secret.”

“Well, it wasn't mine to keep - another value addition in last nine years.”

“You have given me quite a lot of food for thought today.”

“Don’t mention it.”

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