Workaholics Anonymous
Over the past few months, ever since moving to virginia, and having being brought on-board my current project, my social life has, slowly but surely, disappeared down the drain, and a major portion of my 'active' time revolves solely around my work.
And i'm not complaining. On the contraire' I welcome it.
Sure, I might crib, every now and then, about the amount of time I lose cos of work, or just the amount of work to be completed and all that, but I love it. It's challenging. It demands my constant attention and focus, but at the same time it's intriguing enough for me NOT to lose focus and attention.
I work till late into the evening, and almost every night, I bring back the laptop from work, and VPN-in and tie up some lose ends or such. And early next morning I'm back at my office cube for more.
Whatever little free time I do get, like when I travel back and forth between work or I'm sitting by myself, my mind goes back to thinking about work stuff, some issue or defect and like some puzzle I involuntarily begin to work out the solution - '' The re-sec accounting team are seeing $4M hitting the consolidation gain/loss acct. in January...where is that coming from??? hmm..I should check all CUSIP's and associated lots which consolidated in that period and then trace back which entries are hitting that account? But which account should it be hitting...."
Gah, I need help! I never figured I was one of those workaholic types. But I guess you never know what you're capable of becoming, till you've actually become what you never believed you could ever become. And that has both a negative and a positive connatation.
I have been trying to catch up on my reading which I feel, I have been neglecting. Soon after I moved to va. and on a visit to the nearest mall, I'd walked into the Barnes and Noble store within the mall, and bought two books which I'd heard much about. One was 'A house for Mr.Biswas' by the legendary V.S Naipaul and the other ' Intepreter of Maladies' by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'd read Lahiri's 'Namesake' a few months earlier ( check below under the 'currently consuming section, for proof) and I was totally blown away by her writing. She has this gift of observing minute, simple details and describing it with vivid richness, generating a sense of nostalgia. Intepreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories, and they possess some of the key qualities which can also be found in 'Namesake'.
Most of the stories contain a tinge of sadness or feelings of being alien or a sense of loss, which some odd reason, immediately struck a chord within me. The stories which I really enjoyed reading were - When Mr.Pirzada came to dine, Treatment of bibi Haldar, and ofcourse the last story- 'The third and final continent', which is especially well written, considering she has written that completely from a male perspective.
I can see why 'A house for Mr.Biswas' is considered a classic in English literature. Its bloody well written. Prose and story-telling at its most fluent, fluid best. But I couldnt ass myself to read beyond the 150th page. Any book, or novel which doesnt bother to form a plot or gather some movement or direction in the first 100 pages of a book, automatically loses my interest. And this was the case with Biswas. I didnt at any point get involved or engaged with the story. There is only so much I can appreciate the author's fertile imagination and love for details. And therein lies the difference, according to me, between JL and Naipul. While Lahiri casually observes and states her observation ( or appropriate metaphors) and then moves on with the story, Naipul chooses to beat his, albeit intelligent observation, to death, with his need for introducing some level of sarcasm or mockery. Maybe its just me. I'm spoiled, after reading Dan Brown, John Lacarre', Ken Follet and others. The build-up is matched with the payoff.
So if anybody wants to buy a relatively unused/unread paperback edition of ' A house for Mr.Biswas' please let me know or keep an eye out for a similar offer in e-bay or Amazon or some wierd site on the worldwide web. Prices are negotiable.
Buy now and get a free Gmail account invite!!! How's that for an offer, eh? haha. Yeah PJ. I'm tooo funny for my own good.
Nav
And i'm not complaining. On the contraire' I welcome it.
Sure, I might crib, every now and then, about the amount of time I lose cos of work, or just the amount of work to be completed and all that, but I love it. It's challenging. It demands my constant attention and focus, but at the same time it's intriguing enough for me NOT to lose focus and attention.
I work till late into the evening, and almost every night, I bring back the laptop from work, and VPN-in and tie up some lose ends or such. And early next morning I'm back at my office cube for more.
Whatever little free time I do get, like when I travel back and forth between work or I'm sitting by myself, my mind goes back to thinking about work stuff, some issue or defect and like some puzzle I involuntarily begin to work out the solution - '' The re-sec accounting team are seeing $4M hitting the consolidation gain/loss acct. in January...where is that coming from??? hmm..I should check all CUSIP's and associated lots which consolidated in that period and then trace back which entries are hitting that account? But which account should it be hitting...."
Gah, I need help! I never figured I was one of those workaholic types. But I guess you never know what you're capable of becoming, till you've actually become what you never believed you could ever become. And that has both a negative and a positive connatation.
I have been trying to catch up on my reading which I feel, I have been neglecting. Soon after I moved to va. and on a visit to the nearest mall, I'd walked into the Barnes and Noble store within the mall, and bought two books which I'd heard much about. One was 'A house for Mr.Biswas' by the legendary V.S Naipaul and the other ' Intepreter of Maladies' by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'd read Lahiri's 'Namesake' a few months earlier ( check below under the 'currently consuming section, for proof) and I was totally blown away by her writing. She has this gift of observing minute, simple details and describing it with vivid richness, generating a sense of nostalgia. Intepreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories, and they possess some of the key qualities which can also be found in 'Namesake'.
Most of the stories contain a tinge of sadness or feelings of being alien or a sense of loss, which some odd reason, immediately struck a chord within me. The stories which I really enjoyed reading were - When Mr.Pirzada came to dine, Treatment of bibi Haldar, and ofcourse the last story- 'The third and final continent', which is especially well written, considering she has written that completely from a male perspective.
I can see why 'A house for Mr.Biswas' is considered a classic in English literature. Its bloody well written. Prose and story-telling at its most fluent, fluid best. But I couldnt ass myself to read beyond the 150th page. Any book, or novel which doesnt bother to form a plot or gather some movement or direction in the first 100 pages of a book, automatically loses my interest. And this was the case with Biswas. I didnt at any point get involved or engaged with the story. There is only so much I can appreciate the author's fertile imagination and love for details. And therein lies the difference, according to me, between JL and Naipul. While Lahiri casually observes and states her observation ( or appropriate metaphors) and then moves on with the story, Naipul chooses to beat his, albeit intelligent observation, to death, with his need for introducing some level of sarcasm or mockery. Maybe its just me. I'm spoiled, after reading Dan Brown, John Lacarre', Ken Follet and others. The build-up is matched with the payoff.
So if anybody wants to buy a relatively unused/unread paperback edition of ' A house for Mr.Biswas' please let me know or keep an eye out for a similar offer in e-bay or Amazon or some wierd site on the worldwide web. Prices are negotiable.
Buy now and get a free Gmail account invite!!! How's that for an offer, eh? haha. Yeah PJ. I'm tooo funny for my own good.
Nav
posted by Nav at 10:37 PM
7 Comments:
dude, u have time to write this , but no time to retrn my calls , but no problem,enjoyed the article.Workalohic aye, why shouldnt u be.
Good to see you back, though the post isn't the usual kind...
The workaholics thing is right. I can very well understand since I know I am turning into one. All I can think of is work. I get bored on holidays, or when the work pressure is less like right now. But then I guess I somewhere always knew I was going to turn into this, I always wanted a job scenario that would give me no time to rave bout anything else. Work makes me happy.
Well, but yeah even my reading is suffering, three books are waiting on the desk,one-"Anna Karenina"-half read, and the other two,"One night at a Call center" and "Matter of Honour", still to start.
@ anon
I'll call you soon?
@ Rand
I've always been here, rand. Its just that i've not been blogging as often as earlier. Hopefully I'll try to devote some time towards writing in the near future.
Why isnt it a regular post? Do you mean in terms of content or just the quality?
@ Shakhi
You said it -- 'work makes me happy'. Well I'm glad, I'm not the only one who feels the same way about their work :)
I guess we're the lucky ones, to do or have work which really interests us.
One night at a call center eh? Sounds like a the title of a good thriller...though I doubt if it is.
I would have never figured yo for a woraholic man....good to know...drowning yourself in works is good if there is purpose...find purpose and youre as good as gold!
do u really work or is it just a facade to distinguish yourself from others
hey it has been a long time!and your life seems to be mirroring mine. about the fascination for plots i dont think ur alone... kinda find it weird with arundhati roy too! and i am sure it is not an indian phenomenon. Well if u like weird reads , then try eco 's foucoult's pendulum.
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