For me, it was a life-changing experience. It is something that I learned in the early 1980s. It was the first advice of my career. But I still cherish this advice and hold it close to my heart. That was my very first job. It was an accounting job. We had our accounts office on the sixth floor of the building and the head office-cum-administrative office on the fourth floor.
Though I was into accounts, my language skills in English got noticed by my bosses. In those days, most of the south Indians used to learn stenography. That included shorthand and typing in English. I too learned stenography because that improved the chances of employment if you didn’t find the job you wanted. Computers had still not entered Indian offices by then and people with good language skills in English were rare to come by.
Once, the Private Secretary of the General Manager returned to office after a prolonged illness. A couple of days later, he was hospitalized again following relapse of his ailment. The General Manager could no longer keep his work pending. So, the hunt began, to find someone who could sit in for the Private Secretary while he recovered from his illness.
They tried out private secretaries, personal assistants and stenographers from all departments because all of them are supposed to be skilled in stenography which involved taking dictations in shorthand and transcribing the same on typewriters in English. But they could not match up to the knowledge of English of the Private Secretary to the General Manager. That came as a disappointment to him.
Then, someone suggested my name. I was immediately summoned to the General Manager’s office. I had honed my language skills in English though I never picked up shorthand to the extent desirable for a stenographer’s job. Nor did my typing speed match up to a professional stenographer. But what I lacked in shorthand and typing, I somehow made up with my knowledge of the English language. The General Manager tried me out and seemed to be more satisfied with my output than that of others. So, I ended up shunting between the two departments. One day I could not deliver the work assigned to me by the General Manager on time as I was torn between the two departments and my hands were really full.
So, when the General Manager took me to task, I explained to him that I could not complete the work because I was busy with accounting work.
The General Manager flew into a rage. “I don’t want to hear this again,” he warned. “A busy man has more time than a lazy person,” he thundered.
I was quite young and inexperienced at that point of time. I was really upset and hurt that he did not try to understand my position. It got on my nerves. But, when I pondered over what he said, with a cool mind, I saw the wisdom in what he said. It made a lasting impression on my mind.
From that day onward, I never left the office before clearing my desk of the last piece of my pending work. That was an important lesson in life: If you really want to do something, you will find time to do it!
