Staying Alive - HOPE is my best friend!!!

14th May, 2021 sitting in my study room I wonder if I ever had a thought of the nightmare that surrounds all of us, the type of mindset we are all into now. We don't know what future has in store for mankind and what kind of world are we heading towards.

Who would have imagined 2 years back that our lives will be confined to our homes like a 'Home Arrest', the country where we cannot survive without meeting our dear ones every other festival, will no longer have that privilege's. At this moment we all feel that surviving each day healthy is what we need to be thankful about.

I have not met my parents - since December and its May now! We were never so helpless in our lives. I wonder what our new generations will have in store for them, school no longer means playground, playing football or having sessions today, we are too much virtual now. Creativity is at it best to make things normal for us but is it really making an impact?

Birthday parties are no longer gathering friends, playing games together, so many questions rushing through the adrenalin - what about sports like cricket, Long tennis, swimming which were our outdoor activities, will the kids ever enjoy the freedom again!

There are dreaded stories in the lives of people, sufferings and pain which people cant bear, what can only make us live on and on is only one thing - HOPE, our best friend. We have almost become numb now with the deaths around us and the sadness that prevails.

Every human being has his/her own story of this journey and the Leobond wonders if the time will ever change for worse- we dont even know if the times to come in future will be more dreaded but I really HOPE that peace will prevail and Humanity will triumph over all sufferings. May the love in mankind always overcome this dreaded COVID age forever💗💓🙏

A memoir of Lisboa - toast to friendship!! - Part 2

Life is a series of 'Hellos' & 'Goodbyes' but in the end they say, what matters are the memories that we capture in our hearts and this blog is a testimonial of the days we all spent together in Portugal.

Lets start from where we had left in part 1, where we were all trying to have work and fun together and a visit to Cintra was one such Selfie affair. The team was expanding and we had Natascha come to Portugal. We met in person, this gem of a person full of life. We had Marina join us and I think there were discussions, talks, arguments on designs and lot of things going around - People around the office really felt we made a lot of noise😈😈.

As our teams were gearing up, we were eagerly waiting for one the team members - Neha. Our days were full of tremendous pressure where we were constantly working to make the solutions update to date in our pre-live and live environment - not using the IT jargons for all the readers out there. 

The music in our ears was only full of chaos at the moment and we all trying to work together to meet the goal and trying to calm ourselves. 

If solution worked well, the other would say mend me now as I found the bugs- huh! The Leobond knows that this is a normal IT life which we all live but the rush in our adrenalins at these times never change as its human nature that at the end we all want things to work and never fail because of the hard work and the sincerity we put into something.

Out of all the uncertainities, the fear of not meeting the data needs and Go-live getting on hold is the worst and the days looked gloomy always. Amongst all this chaos, it was time for the last team member in our army to arrive and our team was comeplete with Neha's arrival. I want to mention about Shristi, who is from Pune and in a different team but was in Portugal, so we had a new friend in addition to all the people we were meeting - Destiny also has surprises for us in store!

We saw positive rays of hope, as time was flying and the approvals falling in place which were making us digest the anxiety each one of us had but in the midst of all this chaos there was one person who was leaving us and the project and trust me the decision was equally challenging for her but life does give us choices and so we should grab it when it comes.

As the days went by, it was the time to say goodbye by one of the backbones of the crew members.Our hearts were full of emotions and the chapters of life had lot of pages of memories with selfies all over and courtsey Aravind, we still have them.

It was overwhelming for all of us but c'est la vie and with a heavy heart, we again pulled up our socks to get back on our journey. The weather also started to change and Diwali was round the corner and the project was going live just after that. With all this happening, we had one more crew member leaving, this time of 'Queen of Talent' as we all call her. At one point of time, we know we are all professionals but at the same time, we are humans, so with a mixed feeling we were all moving on.

We were slogging and finally the Go- decision was given and all our efforts were appreciated and 

D-day was final making our hearts beat faster!!

It was not the 1st time that Nishant and I were not together during Diwali but usually it used to be with close friends and family and this time it would be at the airport. Diwali didnt look like one and when you miss a flight not because of any fault of yours , you tend to be pissed and it was 27th Oct when Aravind and I spent the day at the airport while on our way to Bucharest. It was the final count down and the days were never that busy while the nights were dining together with folks all over the globe, different cultures but very grounded.

I kept saying to myself , hopefully this should be the last week where we will have sleepless nights and things may slow down as the last 3 months were crazy. Finally on the night of 31st, we were all awake ensuring that the operational and logistics pre-requisites are all met and worked the night till 4 am to make every single thing in place and Finally on 1st Nov at 9:00 AM, we had our moments that we were waiting and slogging for months. My heart was relaxed and had a smile and in the noon, the Leobond took a short walk in the winters of Romania and had a huge sigh of relief.

The leobond was back to Lisbon after a week and we had celebrations with hypercare for a month and folks in the office.

I was happy when I was visited by Nishant and had my share of enjoyment in the whole journey with my friends all around.

Christmas was approaching and our time to leave the country was also nearing. It was also the moment to say adieu to our buddy from Germany. Before that we planned for a great trip to Algarve and capture the beauty and enjoyment in our eyes and all the fun.

It was time for all of us to leave in sequence, Anna, Natascha and then us and with a heavy heart we all were bidding byes to each other and promising to meet each other in future. While the Leobond pens down the details, the memories flash infront of my eyes and makes my heart heavy so here's a toast to the friendship we all have and till me meet again, let the memories in our heart be cherished for ever.

With all these moments and Christmas markets open all over, we had a wonderful last night in Lisbon and enjoying the laughter, smiles and making memories, we cam back to India in December and rejoiced with our family and friends.

Leobond believes in friendship and survives on it I think nothing better than ending the blog with my favourite quote below. Till we meet again Friends, cheers to each one of us😃😃

Interviews - Yayyy or NAAAhhh

 Don't be scared, I am not going to bore you with the title or even talk about the process but we will ponder a bit around the emotions it triggers in all of us - the hope , the despair, the anxiety and others.

Oh, btw, Happy New year - 2021 as the Leobond today takes you through a topic which you all are familiar with, so why not share an interesting incident around it here?

Situations can drive you with immense anxiety at time. So, lets start from the beginning where you are actually looking for change? or let me take a step back, are we always looking for change?

In my opinion, my not, there is no harm in exploring opportunities that come our way and we are all human, so progressive nature is in our DNA. I would agree that the pace might be subtle or rigorous depending upon how  we are doing in our current organizations?

Now, what I wanted to discuss with you was on the emotions it drives. Well it will also differ from person to person and the need of the hour. What matters the most if how to react!! 

I am sure most of you will agree with the Leobond that in our initial days of career since the interviews are more related to our specific work and due to our age groups, we usually tend to have fears, apprehensions which we mostly are unable to express but reflects very much of us during the interview.

That one person - Interviewer becomes GODDD of the moment. S/He might even not remember what they ask but those 30 mins to an hour are MOMENTS that change our LIVES.... 😏😋

With passing years, comes stability in our roles and growth but does the fear still remain? Well, this will again vary from person to person and situation but this never stops us from thinking BIG! 

Our human nature never teaches us to accept rejections positively though I have personally seen people behave saintly in this area as well. What do you say, are people really so cool😈? I will let you all think and smile for a moment.

See we all know that if we get through the interviews, we have Happy moments mostly but what astonishes me are REJECTIONS and a topping on it are the reasons provided. My experience on this is not too great and I like all of you, I am no saint trust me and rejections do affect me 💥💥.

The hilarious part are the reasons which can truly make you laugh at times. This is where I have few examples to share:

1. In 30 mins of an interview , the God here knows that you will not be able to handle the pressure of the job - is there a scale to measure that🙉. You never asked me that👿👿

                2. Oh, your skills match the requirement, but this is a high profile role, so sorry - Really and                        what on earth made you think i cant handle high profile, huh.

               3. Not to forget, no matter how much we talk about gender diversity but at the higher levels,                       you can catch and sense the tone of the rejection message.

Well, there are thousands of such examples that we all can quote and laugh about but the bottom line is stop, lets get real with real reasons and give people a morale booster to improve. 

If you have any such funny, overwhelming, anxiety full, nasty or sober reaction, please share and make the readers laugh and smile.

A memoir of Lisboa - toast to friendship!! - Part 1

Okay, I will start from where I had left you all guessing - The place that you saw in the picture is - "The House of Romance" which we came across in our Sintra Tour in Lisbon and I will let you google and post about it on my blogpost as comments on your findings. off-course, I am writing all this to share my next story with you.

Ever felt the Adrenalin rush of project go- lives in IT world can also be a journey of friendship, bunch of see you soon and good byes....
Leobond today shares with you one such page from her life's chapter. It was yet another Go-live like always but Leobond never thought this will become close to her heart. I guess we all cant survive without friends and this is the only relationship which doesn't need to be balanced on both sides.
You do count on people even if you don't give your best...

So, it was Aug 2019, the Leobond was yet another year old and our team from India was to travel on a significant day - gosh , yes right 15th Aug, our very own Independence day to set another milestone of our Professional career journey.

Lisbon, as you all know is the capital of Portugal and part of Europe, our place of Go-live delivery.

I was full of emotions on 15th as I had to leave my Mr Bond for nearly 6 months and stay away from home but at the same time was accompanied by my best buddies who are my 2nd family too.
The minute we landed, the scenic beauty of the place and the panoramic view of the whole city caught my eyes.
Our team from all over the world was travelling - Germany, Finland, India,Lisbon was all in one room together - Our War Room , thats what we call it in IT world.
I must say, that we all already bonded well virtually and were fond of sailing in the boat together .
Our all day conversations, meeting new people, numerous discussions here and there , made us progress every bit we wanted too...Needless to say, we did have a lot of frustrating conversations as well because a Go-live can never happen without them😈😈, I am sure you will agree to it.
But, we were all free spirits, our evenings always found better ways to energize us. Roaming on the streets, searching for restaurants, eating,drinking and sleeping as if tomorrow would never come was a daily routine for us.

Our weekends were even more crazy, all planning would start from Friday evening but no one could ever wake up and meet the Saturday meeting time. Sintra weekend tour was one such a happening one. If you have ever been to Lisbon, you would definitely once visit Sintra as a part of your city tour, will not miss this place.
For all of us, it was a day which we will never forget....Never thought clicking selfies was so much fun.

We Indians are not habituated to walking for such long hours, and I felt exhausted initially but with the weather around and our talks, our halts, our jokes, it was a huge stress buster for all of us.

After, this day, I think we had a memory of more than 300 selfies together. One think which you will notice is our smiles which is million dollar worth than anything on this earth. Ever thought, a Go-live can do this with people?😉😉...There is so much to write as there are more characters in the story who have yet not joined us, thats why its Part- and yes you guessed it right, like every story this post is all about meeting people and Hellos, we will also see the good byes but our story still continues....
So, enjoy your weekend and do post your experiences of any such journey which is yet another toast to Friendship!!

Survival of the fittest !!!- 2020 Back to what leobond always loved

Cant imagine that the Leobond  hasn't written something for 5 long years. So, currently just trying to figure out where to start as I have so much to share and so much to write.

Frankly speaking 365x5 bahut jyada hote hain? Ist it...Yep yep...I know what you are thinking?..Stop...so stop stop ...right there. I am back, yes and back to start living with you all together.

Yes, I donno why I choose 2020 to start, I am sure you might share the same thoughts what I am thinking while I write. Not a very great year since it started as you know that the Leobond shares everything with you so I will definitely turn back my pages of last 5 years as and when I have time.Okay, so COVID -19 , lock down and I believe I do need to connect and the best way was to take up something I always loved, write and share. 😀😀🙌. Never ever thought with all economies progressing so well, a pandemic of this sort would hit us so hard and give us house arrest. As a matter of fact, I know you all have your known coping mechanism and are trying to equate it to the normal ways of surviving. Alright, may I ask you this question, are you all still into reading as you used to do earlier?

While all these years, life had multiple ups and downs, writing new stories , meeting new people across the globe, I think I have missed writing the most but that you know always comes with an urge to do so. Oh yes, I also started singing again and will definitely post a recording soon and you can tell me if the Leobond has grown older or old is still gold😋.

One more thing, so 2010 was a year where I learnt French, I remember sharing bits of it with you. And can you believe in 2020 its German, wow so a decade for a language, now thats called a progress😎 . Wonder, why I posted this as a Survival of the fittest ?? Off-course I wanted to reckon that -
a) Leobond is alive and I have survived and
b) I am back to talk, chat and bug you again.

Signing off  for now but catch you all soon and with my short stories very often!!

Hint for the next post - Can you guess where in the world is this place?catch me me if you can😀