Arena Animation, Kankurgachi

I had taken liberties as well while at Arena Animation Kankurgachi:

Folks – here I must confess that I have taken liberties of Boss’s good nature. It so happened that everyone who looked at me – made the same comment – Gosh ! Aparna you are looking like a baby elephant – what are you doing to yourself – you are looking so fat etc….and it did perturb me – so I decided to join Rachna’s – near Kankurgachi (in Phoolbagan – a branch off VLCC basically – the same therapies as used in VLCC :thermal and electrodes etc.) – and I requested Boss to let me go from 3 pm to 4 pm for a one hour session every 2 -3 days per week – since it was a lean time – no one came at that point of time – afternoon for counseling)- Boss Agreed.

This gave rise to murmuring in the Office – when she can go for one hour than why can’t we ? – I had already invested Rs.19,000/-(4 months salary) of my hard earned money – it was too late to back out now & I had given the entire money at one go – I was foolish – because after joining I came to know that I have to do brisk walking for 45 mins daily !!- Really! I thought then why did I give 19000/- !! – brisk walking anyways would have taken care of me – and then came diet chart – meager eating etc. Hell – I thought – money wasted !! and moreover folks – this is an advise – never do a full down payment…esp. in India and more so in Spas or beauty therapy institutes! Once you make the full down payment – then the people (workers around) will not take care of you – not even a wee bit – somehow they will tolerate you…coz. your money is already paid…they need not serve you all that well!…but yes – had I paid partially in installments – then the workers would all be too sweet to me lest I don’t re-new the contract or pay the 2^nd time for more massages etc!

Then there was Durga Puja ! …then I had to go to Bangalore for 3 weeks – Missed two  months of the one year contract ! – I was 62 kgs – reduced to 59 kgs. Only in one year – no inch loss – on top of that in one month my salary got cut – that month I had left at 5 pm – since in the morning 20 mins late for 3 days is equal to one day absent – so the fact that I left at 5 pm – left early – so 3 -5 pms equaled to one day absent ! this Boss had to include because another colleague requested Boss to let him go for his own Personal Classes – obviously it irritated Boss – so even my salary got cut – to teach the others that she is not being given any liberties….well – sometimes I think if I had been a Boss – I would not have allowed any lady under me to take one hour off for figure correction!! – so I guess – Boss was pretty liberal & good after all.

He was a bit erratic and moody actually – much like me – in fact sometimes I feel if I had been a man – I would have been more or less like him – gentle and sweet – not rude – but would have been surrounded by thankless people !! Maybe this is one another reason why I stuck on to Arena for so long – I could identify myself with Boss – he is a number 23 (DOB 23^rd Jan) – and I am 5^th Oct – both number 5 – in fact Parth da was number 14 (14^th Jan) – so the 3 of us were ruled by number 5 – the reason we gelled for so long I think !

Infact we used to joke among ourselves that I am Mother India (some students even addressed me like that after the Commonman Project) – Boss was Subhash Ch. Bose (being 23 Jan born) and my colleagues were the Freedom Fighters under Boss in their previous lives. Then during a small get together – the wives had also come over so I told them that since they sacrificed their lives for ‘Mother India’ so as a reward – they all found their Lady Love and were living happily ever after…..(most of my colleagues had love marriage!)

 I bid goodbye to Arena after training the new Counselor :

Boss was getting irritated at small things – and the irritation increased when I was around – I could feel it.

He mentioned once to me – rather reluctantly – we are recruiting a new counselor – so you have to shift from your cabin. He had been trying to tell it to me for quite some time – somehow he had managed to say it quickly to me – I pretended that its absolutely fine with me – it was absolutely – not at all fine with me of course – shift from my cabin ?! and go where ?! loiter in Arena doing other office chores like what? Event Management (they said) Haa ! to manage you need competent people who can be delegated responsibility – and who was responsible here ?!NO ONE . So ? what would I have done then – become a peon I suppose !?

He is too gentle & courteous a man – he could never ask anyone to get lost – I understood that – but I was thinking of a good reason to say goodbye – God let the reason come my way suddenly – and it happened on the 18^th of January,2006.

There was this Centre decoration thing again for 2005 December – students had painted the glass panes with Glass Paint – but the Carpenter came and told that this paint could not be removed ! This turned out to be my fault totally!! Why were the students allowed to paint? I asked the students about removing – they insisted that it can be removed – a small misunderstanding took place and I screamed at Boss. That’s it. It was all over. This was basically the last straw on the Camel’s back.

Immediately I wrote my Resignation Letter. Mr. D came in – and I showed him the letter – He seemed relaxed – as if this is what was required – he then made a remark :’nikamme` bete ko to khud ke Maa-baap bhi nahi sahate’ (Even parents cannot stand their own worthless son – how is it expected of others to stand someone not worthwhile enough)!!

Oh! Really – yet another revelation that was !! This Mr. D had made many a strange revelations to me during my stay at Arena – and this was certainly one of them !! So I was the worthless one around ! I didn’t know whether to just laugh or to roar out laughing !! Vokey – Dockey –its Goodbye time folks – I thought !

(yet another interesting revelation that Mr. D had made was rather thought provoking – he had said : beautiful looking girls (Physically attractive females ie.) do not work – but get their work done by others and they can get away with their attitude ie, its tolerable if a beautiful girl shows her attitude etc, – and the girls who are gentle and sweet and caring  are basically those ones – who are not so good looking – so are compensating on their ugly looks (by behaving in a pleasing manner!! – this is certainly a thought provoking sentence – Isn’t it Readers?)

Two new counselors came – they were not very MS-Office savvy – they did not know Excel well…I taught them Mail Merge etc. After a few days of leaving Arena – I had gone to visit them (to make a payment for my www.commonwoman.com web site actually) – I saw the Excel Sheet they were maintaining – they did not know how to add….I had asked them to copy a file in a directory – they were not very confident about doing that as well……(deep sigh) Yes ! I thought – They are The Right Candidates for this place – only focus on Counseling  – and their starting salary was Rs.6000/- ! actually with Call Centers giving a starting of Rs.8000/- plus – all English Speaking smart candidates are running towards Call Centers ! ..so a starting of Rs.6000/- is considered pretty measly nowadays….and to think of it ….I started my Career with Rs.1500/- ( in the year 1993!)

A request to Multimedia Sector—Organizations & Companies :

Dear Reader, if you happen to read this and like and appreciate my efforts then I have one request : while I was at Arena, I often gave my students the understanding that ‘Maine Hoon Na’ (I am there—so be rest assured of placement & jobs etc.). Now that I have left , many students must be wondering ‘what a liar and a cheat I have been!’ – but natural for them to think like this about me—I thought the same about NIIT—esp. The Placement Cell…anyways—please get the student database from Arena Multimedia , Kankurgachi– who took admission between March 2002 to January 2006—and place them somewhere in a good position—I don’t want anyone cursing me under his/her breath ! Thanks.

Conclusion :

After gathering knowledge and information from various Work Areas of my life and eventually turning it into ‘Wisdom’ – I have some things to say :

1. No two electrons can have the same set of four Quantum Numbers—Hund’s Rule— therefore no two people ( a person is made of several billion cells) can be the same—ie. have the same ideas, ideals, zest, enthusiasm, ambition, optimism…basically its foolish to expect people to change by verbal appreciation or by giving monetary incentives— I think only Natural calamities (like Tsunami, earthquakes) or major accidents (due to unseen forces—planetary movements)- might bring in some change in a person’s outlook.

2. Management Gurus can yell, scream at the top of their voices and might get highly paid for doing the same but it’s of no use whatsoever—none whatsoever ! I have seen /been to such Workshops and have also seen the after effects of it—It’s just made into a joke by mediocre people—because they have major attitude problems—their upbringing, culture, past, family history—cause lot of conditionings—and being conditioned is the worst thing that can happen to any human—and they will be conditioned. No human being is so great on earth (till date at least) who would climb up the stage one fine day and ask people to rectify themselves and like Casablanca—everyone will jump at the proposal—of Self Rectification!

3. Things cannot take a better shape unless the ‘highly contradictory’ state of affairs in India is well taken care of. In India it is seen that the more qualified a person—the most frustrated he/she becomes !!

4. The cells of the feet are used for walking and the cells of the brain are used for thinking—if you let it happen otherwise—you will be addressed as abnormal—(if you see a person walking on his head in order to pay respect and homage to the feet—what will you call him / her? – the reason Indians are called mad, abnormal & contradictory ! ).

5. Its time people are shown their worth and ‘round nails should occupy round holes’……Koi Shak ya Pareshani? (any doubts or disagreements?)