The devil need not always wear Prada-the Rage

"The architect was not at all involved. It was a major heart break for me. Nobody around was experienced enough. Whatever little interaction I had with my boss, I couldn't find anything that was brilliant. I was not growing. I wasn't growing at all. I came to a standstill in my career."

Now this happened recently after I left my college, soon after my thesis, which was a success, I headed back home. I couldn't stay there for long and the next week I was back to Lucknow to look for a job. After a few days of search and interviews, I realized, Lucknow was not the place for me. If the office was good ,the pay was bad and vice versa- the pay was never good.

This blog could be a bit controversial ,so I may change a few facts and also mould a few. The intension is only to state an honest experience. Nothing else.

The day of my interview

I look back to these 6 months as a dark period. But experience, be it any ,counts. Also, if I may remind you an excerpt from my very first blog: " People, who know me, know that I am an extreme positive thinker and I only speak good things about me and things related to me (wish I could be so damn lucky as it seems.). People who know me, in real, know that I speak good, only to NOT try to make my situation worse by talking about it. A camouflage I create .That’s my way to deal with the situations I face! My real version comes once it is out of my life forever! Till then, “I love my life”, ”I love all people around me”, “I love my job” is what keeps me going without complaining! "!

So just after I lost all my hope and was heading back to my hometown, I received a call. The call came from a firm which was very infamous amongst student and young architects for its hostile working environment, but paid well, and yet I wanted to have an experience there because I had heard so, so much about it. People despised the boss, which attracted me more towards it. Nobody could stay there more than a week, a month was the maximum.

I loved the office instantly, my eyes sparkled, in a hope to learn so much. The architect was very famous in Lucknow. In a hope to learn from the place and from the experience of the architect, I thought I will manage, and I did pretty well. But did I learn anything?

First few days were enough to make an impression on them. And then the torture began. I was underestimated all the time. There were not many projects. I think that was the major reason of their behaviour or could be the other way round. The architect was not at all involved. It was a major heart break for me. Nobody around was experienced enough. Whatever little interaction I had with my boss, I couldn't find anything that was brilliant. I was not growing. I wasn't growing at all. I came to a standstill in my career. I wasn't a quitter so I continued. To understand the situation there. After a month or so I was involved in working for an organisation of which, my boss was a part, that documented the conservation of the cultural, architectural heritage of India. I made a lot of effort in that too. Although I was made to do something which I could do even after my school. A 5 year graduation was what was getting me the cash. Within two months, I got a hike. Which kept me going. But believe me, I was getting duller, and felt nothing like an architect. It was a dark period.

I looked high upon my boss before joining ,which shattered. Because my creative skill was good, I was slowly drifted only towards presentations, documentations etc. Although I learnt a lot about Lucknow-beyond Imambaras-culturally as well as architecturally, which was the only good part about all of this and that is it.

My, very own,  Alice in Wonderland experience at La Martiniere, Lucknow!

Those shoes had to come off!

In anguish I quit. But soon enough ,I received a call and I fell in the trap again. I couldn't take it any more. My work was never appreciated, I was underestimated and demoralised. And I was definitely  exploited. I started applying in Bangalore. It was that time of the year when my batch mates didn't even get their first job yet and I looking for another and I was told it was very difficult to get a job in Bangalore. So quitting and going was not an option ,given the pressure you receive from your parents and things you listen from your still unemployed friends. I also didn't want to quit my job like the others. There are three kinds of people who quit: Type 1: Are the ones who suddenly leave. Without giving a clue. And they don't care about their salary. Type 2: Are the ones who just wait for their salary to come. and whoosh! Gone. Type: 3: Give a big excuse like I am getting married, or even I have Cancer! I was none of these. I decided I will tell them go. Although they did not deserve it. Big Mistake.

I sent my resume and portfolio to more than 20 firms and started calling them. As soon as I received a few calls ,and after my GATE exam, I left for Bangalore. I was told there is a recession everywhere. But I was desperate. A week passed. After a  few interviews, getting lost in the new city, rescued by my old friends who lived there and a broken ankle, I received a call.

It was an amazing feeling. A day later I received another. It was like a dream. I never expected I will get a chance in any of the firms and I was received call from three. I needed that kind of a boost for my ego, after all the demoralization I received in Lucknow. I agreed to one of the firms. Which changed the course of my career life and took it to an absolute new direction. Will come to that later. But even after all that happened back in lucknow, I told I will join 15 days later. I wanted to go back ,finish what I was doing, find a place to live and then join. They did not deserve it. It was the worst decision. I told my boss about my whereabouts, about which I had already informed him earlier. Three days straight I worked till 9,finishing whatever I was doing and what could be worse, when I asked for my previous month's salary, I got nothing. I received it a month later ,after a lot of begging, for my own hard work, and was not paid for the extra days I worked for.

That is the truth. Not all people whom you idealise are great. Not all people who appear on news papers every next day do great things. You have to go deeper and understand what they actually are. I did and was disheartened. Learnt nothing ..but an experience..be it not in architecture but well, yea, it was a good life experience.