A year of action?

'Tis that time of the year again...

When months of frenzy gives way to long and quiet days, festive lighting abounds on the streets, newspapers and news channels begin their ritual of posting annual retrospectives, the social circuit starts buzzing with activity...and of course, I end up being generally at a loss trying to find productive use for my existence!  Should I be catching up on my reading?  Clear up my clogged email inbox?  Go out and buy long pending stuff for the house?  Catch some movies?  Thoughts of reviving my blogging expectedly engage the brain... 

It has been many months since I last visited Vishesh Prarambh...in fact, the longest period of inactivity since I began writing a few years ago.  My own little sanctuary has become alien to me.  Try as I may, it is hard to revive a good habit once one has let go of it.  Such long stretches of literary inaction have other consequences...like casting doubts over one's ability of self-expression.  Empty thoughts swirl around in the brain and one feels that there is little of consequence to pen down. 

During a recent visit to Bangalore, a friend of mine asked me why I had not been writing.  My instinctive response was that this had been a year of action, rather than introspection and reflection.  Today, as I settled down on the couch with computer on lap, I decided to test the validity of that statement.  I did something I generally tend to avoid - looking back!  I leafed through the calendar to see what my year had really been like.  Turns out I was not too far off the mark. 

I had been on the road a lot.  Even after cancelling a few trips due to pressing matters at home.  All in all, within the past 12 months I made 19 trips to 10 different countries and spent over 21 weeks outside of Singapore!

So what about the 31 weeks that I was around, one might ask??  Well, those did not turn out to be that easy either...

For much of the year, I was leading a complex transformation program for a really large part of our business.  This required me to work with a whole host of people across Asia, Europe and the US - both virtually and in person.  We were ushering in a new era within our organisation, and I knew no other way to do that than to be with people as they navigated their way through the windy and often rough terrain of a change journey.  Also, a year ago I had been announced in a new global role, which I was getting increasingly impatient to take on.  So even before the transformation program had wound down, off I went to the US to assume my new responsibilities.  The result was not pretty on my (work?) life.  By the end of the year, I was on a round-the-clock schedule trying to keep pace with my colleagues, many of who reside in the opposite end of the world.  During a typical work week, I would start the day with conference calls at 9am and wrap up the last of my virtual meetings well past midnight.  I had forgotten a 'normal' existence that most people have...like having a meal without headphones wrapped around one's head staring at a computer screen!

As if all this was not enough, I had a serious issue to deal with at home.

On a Saturday morning in early September as I headed off to the gym for a session with my trainer, my wife had a bad accident with my dog, Kulfi, which resulted in her sustaining serious injuries (no fault of the dog really...it was her inexperience in dealing with a large animal in a particular situation).  Instantly, our domestic life turned on its head.  Over the next fortnight she was in and out of hospital and underwent surgical cleaning procedures under general anaesthesia five times.  For several weeks thereafter, she trotted about with a vacuum pressured contraption strapped to the wound on her arm.  In addition to her medical care, I needed to attend to my dog.  And take care of the house.  I called off work trips and hunkered down to focus on the home front - there were issues to resolve!  I began a new training program with my dog which took up a few hours every day.  I was fortunate to be referred to a fantastic trainer who started work with both of us and Kulfi to help build a new relationship between man and dog based on a new regimen, mutual trust and discipline. 

Meanwhile, the pace at work continued to be hectic...the incessant conference calls continued.

Several well wishers counseled me to reconsider having a large dog at home, given my travel intensive job which leaves my wife to manage Kulfi all by herself.  There is merit in that thought.  But the fact is that we both love our dog.  Even though we were severely tested, I felt the need to work through the situation rather than escape it.  Every relationship undergoes trying times...this one between man and canine was no different.  One accident ought not to deter us from setting things right.  While I could not predict the outcome, I owed it to myself, my wife, and the four legged creature we had brought into our home to do everything possible to make this a loving and harmonious relationship.  So I did the only thing I was capable of - trying hard.  Three months have passed and the effort seems to bear fruit - Kulfi is a happier dog, more responsive than he has ever been, and my wife and I are much better at understanding and managing him.  And so one shall continue to persevere...

As the year draws to a close and a new one rapidly looms on the horizon, I eventually find myself in reflection.  There is a defining thought in the conscience which is simple, yet powerful.  I believe it is a quote from John F. Kennedy...

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

May we all choose to do things because they are hard!