{"id":21571,"date":"2016-09-22T12:32:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T07:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/officechai.com\/?p=21571"},"modified":"2016-09-22T13:49:55","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T08:19:55","slug":"being-jobless-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/first-person\/being-jobless-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is What Being Jobless In India\u2019s Silicon Valley Looks Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

You put down your papers at your current company with half a smirk and a \u201ccan\u2019t touch this\u2019 look to your boss. You\u2019d had enough. You\u2019re qualified enough to land a better job. In fact you\u2019ve almost got the hottest job at the hottest startup in the Silicon Valley this side of the globe. You\u2019re not scared of being jobless in India.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The D day is here, and some part of you would like to see a cake, a bit of a hype around your last day, a lil farewell jig maybe? None happens. The HR emails you a \u2018gentle reminder\u2019 about returning the laptop and ID card, and collect your experience letter. You\u2019re too validated about your decision to quit and too excited about the good things in store to care.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"being<\/span><\/p>\n

No stressing over metrics and ROI for the next few days, an exotic vacation, a coming-anytime-now offer letter from awesome company, and 2 new countries on your already chock-a-block passport? What could ever go wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n

The email \u201cThanks for interviewing with <x> We enjoyed talking with you. I\u2019m afraid at this point we won\u2019t be able to go ahead with your application.\u201d as you\u2019re sipping expensive beers at a hip bar in a foreign country.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t tell if it\u2019s the alcohol or the ground has slipped from beneath your feet. You also wish that WiFi wasn\u2019t available everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then it starts. You\u2019re at a night market on the last day of your holiday and your basket is full of the choicest of souvenirs the place has to offer. As you extend the freshly-exchanged foreign currency to the seller, it hits you. Every bit of the cash spent on \u201cnon-essential stuff\u201d right now is being dug out from your savings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh it\u2019s okay, that\u2019s what you\u2019ve saved up for all these years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vacation comes to an end. You come back exhausted but grateful that you don\u2019t have to get to work ridden with post vacation blues (or get goodies for colleagues.) You pull the blanket over your head even harder as you see your partner scurrying to make it to office barely hours after you landed. S<\/i>chadenfreude<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You log in to Facebook to upload your travel photos, end up seeing one of your ex-colleagues sharing the news of your (freshly-ex) startup just having been funded for a few million dollars. Of course the company is throwing a \u2018success party\u2019 in Phuket. All those months in the company and not a trip to the next door CCD. It\u2019s okay. You\u2019ll find better, you tell yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

You begin making a mental checklist of how you\u2019d use this golden time to look for other jobs, while also working on your holistic development. Yoga, art, literature, music, Coursera: you\u2019ll be even awesome-er after this period.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t wake up early enough for Yoga, because come on, you won\u2019t get to sleep in once you have a job again. You want to ring up long-lost friends and meet them during the week because you *can*, but everyone\u2019s busy at work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coursera won\u2019t load because the internet at your home works at 512kbps.<\/span><\/p>\n

You begin to finally embark on your job hunt. (albeit like a jilted lover looking for a rebound.)<\/span><\/p>\n

All those \u201cdream companies\u201d, you go to their careers page, and hit apply. \u00a0Come on with THAT resume? First job at Fortune 10 company, manager at 25, and 6 years of solid work ex in the hottest field in this side of the century? \u00a0It\u2019s only a matter of time till you\u2019ll be flooded with offer letters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Days roll by, no calls come. It\u2019s ok, you have worked long enough to have *earned* this sabbatical you say to yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weekend arrives, or does it? You\u2019re beginning to lose track of which day it is, every day feels the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

You wake up, check your empty inbox save for \u201cMonday special menu\u201d emails from your once go-to-office-saviour food startup<\/a><\/span>, you click on the ad not to order a meal, but check if they have openings, (only delivery boys), read the papers, eat, sleep, walk your dogs, peek at your inbox (still no offers), sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

This one friend agrees to meet over the weekend \u201cafter work\u201d. They hold forth about what they\u2019re working on, aside from pouring out their gripes at work. You have none to share. There\u2019s no bad colleagues to bitch about, no boss from hell to bemoan, and no goss on the latest office scandal. \u00a0Suddenly, all those things you hated about your job are the same things you begin to miss. The bill comes and when you realise you just paid 500 bucks to listen to someone else\u2019s office stories, you even begin to miss that god-awful filter coffee from your ex-office.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a month now, and you\u2019ve had enough. You\u2019d like to get back to work now. You begin pinging every friend of yours who works to have them refer you at their company. \u201cHey Rahul, I was wondering if your company has an opening in digital marketing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

*Message sent*<\/span><\/p>\n

*Message seen*<\/span><\/p>\n

*crickets*<\/span><\/p>\n

That job opening you just got an email about from Naukri came to naught because the company was on a \u201chiring freeze\u201d, or so you learn after 15 days of radio silence from the friend who was at a \u201csenior influential position\u201d at said company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heck, even those pesky \u201cPeople <Insert Any Word>\u201d consultants who\u2019d call nonstop when you were in the thick of employment are now drawing blanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

A startup that almost offered you a job has (un)expectedly shut down yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n

What sorcery is this? Is this recession again? Is the universe conspiring against you?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"being<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow is another day.<\/span><\/p>\n

You begin updating your Naukri profile almost everyday. You\u2019re now more active on Linkedin (After realising you have a profile there) than Facebook and Twitter combined. You\u2019ve even made an account on IIMjobs despite not being from the IIMs or an MBA. Despite hitting \u2018apply\u2019 on half the jobs in your daily feed that looks like an Excel sheet, standing with a \u201clooking for a job\u201d placard at Silk Board Junction might have been more useful than that website.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rare job call that you get is from a company you wouldn\u2019t have touched with a bargepole during your former professional glory days. You lap it up. \u201cYes, I can move to <Town whose name I can\u2019t pronounce> for the job.\u201d \u201cYes, I excel at Excel\u201d as you hurriedly Google what concatenate means.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another consultant calls one day, while getting your name wrong, telling you about this opening at a startup you\u2019d vaguely heard of, and are not in the least kicked about. But you go anyway. \u201cJust to have a backup\u201d. You arrive for your scheduled interview in time, partly disinterested, partly desperate. \u201cThe interviewer isn\u2019t free right now. ( Or for the next 48 hours apparently.) Can you come back on Monday?\u201d the said consultant tells you. You lose your shit there, you tell them you won\u2019t come back, they suck at the ONE job they have, and on your way back home, peer at a big hoarding of your ex-employer through almost tear-soaked eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Uber driver decides that this is the perfect time to strike up small talk. \u201cWhere do you work madam?\u201d \u201cNowhere at the moment\u201d, you tell. \u201cHow\u2019s yours? Do you earn okay?\u201d you ask.\u00a0\u201cIn good months, I can earn 80-90k Madam\u201d. You shut up.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re bored and slightly depressed, some retail therapy would help. You take your time in putting beautiful things into online shopping carts. You put stuff, you remove stuff. You put some more. You\u2019ll check out \u201cthe minute you have a job\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

You decide to use this \u201climited free time\u201d to finish some errands. Renew your now-full passport for one. \u00a0One of the accepted and the easiest address proofs is a letter from your current employer. Thanks, you\u2019ll get a gas bill instead, after registering for one first. The passport has arrived. But it\u2019s unlikely to be used in the near future. There\u2019s noone free to go with anywhere. You decide to travel solo to a music festival. The tickets cost double of your last drawn salary.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not what you\u2019d signed up for. Where\u2019s all the jobs? Where are all the people who could get you the jobs? (And earn themselves a great referral bonus.) Where\u2019s your inspirational story on the \u201cI quit my job<\/a><\/span> to <x>\u201d? Why\u2019s your long-distance boyfriend in a team meeting all the time (YOU want to be in a team meeting all the time) and why\u2019s your waist size exploding much unlike your self-esteem?<\/span><\/p>\n

You go for a small walk to clear your mind, come back home. Even the dogs aren\u2019t *that* excited to see you. You\u2019ve dun goofed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn good months I make 80-90k madam\u201d that Uber driver\u2019s words echo in your head. Followed closely by the gnawing realisation that you can\u2019t drive.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Author\u2019s note: This article has been contributed exclusively to OfficeChai by a guest author who wishes to remain anonymous, unless to accept job offers. ]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You put down your papers at your current company with half a smirk and a \u201ccan\u2019t touch this\u2019 look to your boss. 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