I have always been known for taking impulsive calls for both important and trivial decisions in life. NO REGRETS, whatsoever!
I believe, like many of us, I too was conditioned to follow the herd, in effect of which I think I continued to be an emotionally average person for a very long time. I was not too concerned about my professional evolution because I considered my job to be a source of paying my bills merely. In 16 years of my corporate life, I met innumerable personalities – Some genuine and some in-genuine.
Yet, I say this with undaunted flinch that it took me 16 long years to take that quick call to leave my corporate life. The varied personas that I crossed paths with have certainly been my source of emotional evolution which of course is relative 🙂
It would be natural to think that a decision of this magnitude after 16 long years could not have been out of impulse. To speak the truth, the thought was like a flash light or perhaps an intervention by the divine, which acted as a catalyst and lead me through my actions there after.
Once I was resolute with my decision there was no looking back. I simply opened my Organisation’s admin web portal one fine afternoon and clicked on the resignation link. Every move of mine felt like it was lead by that catalyst. It felt like something heavy was taken off me which I had not realised carrying until that moment. It felt inexplicably liberating.
After serving 3 months of notice period, it was time for me to pack and sell every bit of my establishment in Chennai (barring the artifacts, paintings and photo frames collected over years) to move to Kolkata to my ancestral roots. There wasn’t an iota of doubt that I wanted to delve into something creative although there was ambiguity on what exactly I wanted to pursue.
In this journey of mine, I obviously have had well wishers and acquaintances, who not only emphasized on my sense of eclecticism & coherence, which reflected in my humble abode in Chennai, they also took inspiration when they did and re-did their homes. Couple of them trusted me with doing up the soft furnishings in their newly acquired apartments. I could add those moments to my list of things I am grateful for.
Incidentally those were the same people who also purchased my hand-picked furniture and add ons like lamp shades, crockery etc while I was relocating 🙂 It gave me immense joy that my belongings reached the people who I adore the most. Isn’t that a sweet spot to be in?
The plan was to be on a sabbatical for a year and cherish aimlessness and travel like there is no tomorrow. Here, I am taking the liberty to state that my start up Kalkatte Vaali (https://www.instagram.com/kalkattevaali) perhaps prevailed in my sub conscious mind as ambiguity prevailed on the surface along with the sense of a newly found freedom. However, there is another tale to it that we can keep for another time.
I chalked out a very fluid travel plan and set for Uttarakhand & Dev Bhoomi Himachal Pradesh for 2 months with all my essentials in my back pack!
And the journey began – one of the greatest virtues of taking that quick call!