A lot can happen in less than a month. April was one such month.
Some were professional, some personal, and some in between.
Juggling Roles
I have been playing a dual role at work for a decade. I lead the creative and operations team in the network I am engaged with. The mindset required for both these roles is quite different from each other. While you need to be in the mind space for creative collaboration, operations consume you, leaving you with little time for anything else.
How do you balance each of these roles and do justice to both?
I don’t know. But I can tell you what I do.
I focus on what’s needed most at a specific point in time. When you head a 24X7 operations team of 300+ individuals spanning multiple functions, you can expect a fire now and then. Using a common phrase, it’s ‘par for the course.’
When you are young, you may enjoy the challenge and get a kick dousing the fires. But over an extended period, it affects you and your family. Your job requires you to be always online, always on call – much like an emergency service. You never switch off – even when you’re not at work.
Festivals and holidays are no different. You need to be in the office when the world around you is rejoicing. You may need to cut short or cancel your holiday if work demands. That’s the nature of the job.
It’s tough for your family. You are, of course, in it and know why it is important to do so. But to expect your family to understand each time is not fair. You can argue that you’ve signed up for the role and must do what the job requires. But chances are, your family may view it differently.
Five years back, I hinted to my boss and even gave him an approximate timeline beyond which I felt I’d not want to continue in the same role. A year and a half later, I repeated the same message – this time suggesting an ‘out-date.’
It is finally happening this month as a part of a larger group-level restructuring. A top management consulting company made the same recommendations.
Sometimes, you need an outsider to say it 🙂
I will soon be handing over my day-to-day operational roles to fully focus on the creative.
The Spirit of Reunion
The middle of April saw the coming together of old colleagues I worked with in my previous job. It was an opportunity to meet them in one place after 18 years. The location is a five-minute walk from my home, and the place belongs to my friends. It couldn’t have been any better for me.
It was a truly delightful evening. While around 200 showed up, many could not due to pre-decided engagements or health issues.
Not just former colleagues, I met the founders – Prannoy and Radhika Roy – who remain role models. Their warmth and aura filled the room. And it turned out to be a delightful family reunion.
The Return of Coronavirus
A day later, Covid hit me.
I am usually the first in my circle of friends, family, and colleagues to attract Covid. I got it before them in 2000, and though I escaped the virus in the following two years, 2023 was not so lucky.
The first day was terrible but I felt better in a few days. My wife and daughter were upset as they looked forward to celebrating my birthday.
“Papa must be so upset to be Covid positive on his birthday,” said my daughter to my wife.
“No, he is not,” Gargi replied.
‘I’d have been VERY upset if I got it at the time of my birthday,’ said Sara before heading toward the school bus.
Awards & I
One of the most fulfilling things I do every year is to join as a jury member for international award shows in video content and creative communication. Being on the jury of the Asian TV Awards, Promax Asia, The Association for International Broadcasting (the AIBs), and Asian Academy & Creative Awards allow me to sample the finest creative content globally.
Since I joined the jury more than 15 years ago, I have stopped being an entrant. Before that, I entered and won awards as a media professional.
Not only I’ve kept myself out of contention in the last decade and a half, but I have also stopped attending award functions and deputed other team members to go and collect the team awards.
To receive a letter from the PNV Foundation inviting me to accept an award for my achievements in my field of work, and that too from my home state, felt good. Some of the past awardees, including Sudarsan Patnaik, Dilip Tirkey, and Rituraj Mohanty, have risen from humble backgrounds and achieved fame and recognition through their talent and hard work.
“I don’t see myself there, at least not yet,” I replied to Sanu Rath, who has instituted these awards.
He was persuasive.
“You are an iconic figure in the field of media and an exemplary example for young Odias. “No other Odia has played a leadership role in the national media over such a long period. Given that you came from a small town, started from scratch, and reached where you have, your story inspires young small-town aspirants who dream of making it big.”
I changed my mind and accepted the award for all media professionals in content production and creative communication who work tirelessly behind the scene and are unseen by and unknown to the audience.
What a month! So much happened in so little time.
Speaking of time, we don’t know the quantum of time allotted to us on this planet. Why not make every day count and not keep anything for tomorrow that we can do today? Won’t it be futile to retrospect in the future and wish we had done that?
The opportunity is now!
Why waste our time and effort by consuming ourselves or worrying about things that don’t matter or are insignificant?
Let’s make our time on Earth count.
When I look back at April 2023 or life so far, I can’t help but count my blessings.
Gratitude 🙏🏻
