Thursday, July 7, 2011

My Own Experiences And Realizations In BPO Industry.

"If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well." 


~Martin Luther King, Jr.


Why I quoted the above lines of Martin Luther King, Jr.; when I am supposed to be writing about life in BPO industry? I shouldn't have done it, if, I would have not been living in India. In the bourgeois circle or class of our Indian society, which is the mass manufacturing factory of engineers, doctors, MBA's etc. etc., BPO industry is considered to be a mere trifle. So this post might put-off a few people belonging to the same typical bourgeois circle, because I am going to advocate here about the BPO industry, through my own experiences and realizations, which are not vicarious, but real.


When I first landed into a BPO, as an employee, I got this feeling from looking at life all around (people chattering, laughing, smoking, eating) that I got into a new world where I can apply and testify my philosophical, moral codes and, whatever I had felt, realized and tried to learn vicariously through books, now I can live each bit, all on my own. 


   "The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head." 



These words from the movie 'Into The Wild' started a cadence in my head. 


Lessons, Realizations, And Feelings:



At the very beginning the contrasting shift timings made my this realization more and more firm that life is never constant; it's the change that is always constant.



During the V&A training I realized the grandeur of sounds, which I would have missed, otherwise. My eyes used to get stuck at the mouth of our trainer, in order to comprehend the formations required to produce that particular sound with it's subtle variations.



In an environment where male-female ratio is healthy, one tends to lose his/her temperament of not judging a book by it's cover. 


"George O'Hearn: Beautiful women are invisible.
 

David Kepesh: Invisible? What the hell does that mean? Invisible? They jump out at you. A beautiful woman, she stands out. She stands apart. You can't miss her.
 

George O'Hearn: But we never actually see the person. We see the beautiful shell. We're blocked by the beauty barrier. Yeah, we're so dazzled by the outside that we never make it inside."


This above conversation from the movie elegy came to my mind, and I thought that this is something I need to implement, in-order to prevent myself getting beguiled from the mere pretense of things or their pretentiousness, so that the priority of knowing people from inside, from their hearts, remains. 
'Now I find myself surer in this task.' 


Whatever you do, give it your heart, and carry a feeling of humility towards your work and the company which is paying you, for your work. This world is not fair at all.  It's not like 'I work and I am getting paid for it'; it's 'I work and they are paying me for that'. I realized that one should always carry this feeling of gratitude towards the people or organization who are paying you for your work, in an unfair world.


There is a spectrum of people from different age groups, backgrounds and thinking, which is very exhilarating in itself and fundamental in bringing out the flavor, essence or color of human character. But I was very gullible or credulous, because of my transparency, and tended to give away my personal thoughts and feelings to people (I had this habit of trusting people very readily), who either made a mockery out of it, or disclosed it to others, which in turn lambasted me a lot. But now I learned the art of keeping some very personal thoughts and feelings, secret.  

The best part I liked about BPO is that it teaches you the art of controlling your moods and emotions. It is a requirement that whatever happens you have to sound energetic and enthusiastic, either you can repress your moods and emotions or you can practice Vipassana meditation, I'll go with the latter. 

In the end...


'Only unconditional, and love without expectations can bring you happiness, wisdom and peace' One more thing that was vicarious, now turned into real experience. 


I'll end this post with a quote.


"The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man creates his own hell here and hereafter."


~A Buddhist Saying  
       
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