Interpreter of Maladies
Friday, April 13, 2007
Why I chose to be a consultantAn MBA arms you not only with a degree but a great reason to earn and justify it. I am not the one who would like to do a regular 9 to 5 job and try doubly hard at it coz I need dough to support myself. I like a job that comes with no hangovers. Something that I can do today and quit tomorrow with equal elane. But as reason be it, I was born neither a pauper nor a princess but in the Great Indian Middle Class whose big travail in life is to get a "descent" job, a "descent" husband and some other bare minimum decent stuff. So, I was close on the heels of an MBA degree by March 1 when it dawned on me that it was so ridiculously important to get a job. How else would I justify the money spent on my education over the years and the fact that I was still unmarried (I dont care but it is a seriously valid concern for many). More so I had to have a great job and not just any Tom Dick Harry Job. The story being that a job looked like the be all and end all of all my troubles.
I was split between finance and consulting on March 1 with a great proportion of the split reserved for the former. Finance was the money machine, something I did during my summer internship and something I felt I had a knack for. I was not too sure of it but it seemed challenging and my name as a banker sounded mystique to a great extent. But then, did I have the nerve to put in the long hours and endlessly romance with numbers. I needed fun in what I was doing and bankers seemed so removed from everything non serious or even remotely fun. I also wanted to meet people, talk a whole lot and obviously earn good cash to support my dream wardrobe and a dream home somewhere in France. So, it was confusion in all its grandeur. On the D day, which was March 10, I told myself (while hastily applying a half smudged lisptick to parched lips and putting compact to hide those dark circles from sleepless nites) that finance be it. As I went for my first interview and was put through grueling excel sheets, numbers, valuation and what not, I said my last prayers. A consulting interview post that was that great faceswash you pine for after a hot day spent shopping. I talked and talked to my heart's content, put some jargon, some brain behind cases and ultimately liked the people I had spent 3 hours with. To me, it felt, these would be good people to work with. So kaboom. I accepted the offer.
Its a good company to talk about and everyone will congratulate. Mom Dad will be happy. But primarily and most importantly, I can still write poetry, travel and write stories about people. I can stil amass books and turn an entrepreneur the day I feel bored with my job. All that is comforting but the dawning of the knowledge that I had
turned a consultant was huge. I was the one who made fun of the consulting jargons and there new fangled models and now I was turning one myself. Obviously it was embarassing but come to think of it, that is what suits me the best.
I, the gypsy kind and the not so intelligent kind. This is the safest choice. I wish not to regret. And until I do, I wish to enjoy the good times.
