It was a usual saturday, as always, a lazy one. Getting up late, enjoying tea time with my father in law (that's my favorite time), stretching, yawning time & again. Since my daughter's summer vacations has been declared, so there was no rush to wake her up & finish up household stuff. No school, no office either for me or my husband! AAh! what a day it was. I desperately wait for weekends coz I get to read newspaper, which due to my strict schedule I am not able to do it regularly. After having a heavy breakfast, suddenly came an idea to go for a movie. The choice was not difficult as we have watched Raazi a day before. The next awesome movie released this week was 102 not out. So without any further delay I quickly booked 3 tickets for it. Thanks to BMS, it just happened in 2 min. The movie show was at 12:40pm and it was already 12:05 pm. So we literally had just 15 min to get ready & reach the theatres. 15 min, with kid! Suddenly mere ander ki hindustani aurat jaag gyi and there I was, ready with bag & baggage in just 10 min! I pat my back for such impossible achievements! I mean just think getting your child to understand that you are going in another 15 min (they look like kuch bhi ho jaye, hum to nhi ready honge!), changing their diapers ( bacchon ko right time motion ate hain, just when you are in utmost hurry), dressing them, combing their hairs ( this part is like a cat fight), and getting ready yourself. I generally don't go for make ups except the basic ones but deciding a dress is such a task! Adhe ghante to bas isi ke liye chahiye! Finally we all threw ourselves in the car and rushed to the theatre. Aaj tak to Lucknow main koi movie time se start nhi hui, but that day it was bang on time! We were late by 5 min and missed the initial part. Chalo koi nhi, quickly we got ourselves settled and watched an awesome performance by Amitabh Bacchan & Rishi Kapoor. After the movie we did some shopping and returned back home. It was 3 :15 by that time. In my mind a clock was ticking. Today I had to go for Linkedin Local connect at 4:30pm. While serving the lunch a lot many questions were going through my mind. What it would be like, another networking event? Lots of formalities, bhashan baazi and all that stuffs or would it be different? I had attended another networking event & I tell you it was damn boring! So I was bit skeptical. But, then I moved out to get there. Played my FM and Vroom!
I reached my destination in time. Met few participants on the entry gate, few on the lift and as soon as the lift door opened at the area, whoo..so many people were already there. It was a book cafe area, a nice one. The ambience itself lifted the mood that this is not going to be a formal event. I started interacting with people there, and many of them recognised me, thanks to the whatsapp photo introduction a day before on our whatsapp group. Everyone met with smile & excitement! There were all sorts of people, young & old, from diverse backgrounds, IT, HR, Entrepreneurs, Lawyers, start ups, doctors, a CA myself, exporters, Importers, education and what not. People with such diverse backgrounds, who after working for many years in corporate world, left their job, and came back to Lucknow, their hometown to pursue their dream. After the initial tea session, the organisers asked us to introduce ourselves to other people in 30 sec. I just couldn't believe such crowd exists in Lucknow. I always thought it was a place of traditional businesses where people prefer to work in traditional way. Chalta hai attitude to zabardast hai yhan. Aise main ye log khan chupe baithe the? Perhaps everyone there must be thinking the same. Intro session was in mid way when the special invitee, the star guest, Mr. Jayant Krishna came. Dressed very smartly, he had a smiling face. Very politely, without making any noise, and without throwing any tantrums, he asked the organisers to continue with the intro part and that he would like to be addressed later. That's called simplicity! After we finished, he was introduced. We all looked at him in awe! Such a big achiever he was. I wondered how did organisers got his time? How did they persuaded him to attend this event? I mean, why a man of his stature would like to devote his weekend time with us, so new people? Later he told us the secret that one of the organiser was his wife's friend and that he do not want to upset his wife ( haha)! Jokes apart, I am really thankful to him for sparing his so much precious time. Then came Q&A session. Everyone put forth so relevant questions to him & the ease with which he answered them speaks volume about his experience. During one of the questions he said, one day, after I retire, I want to do for my city, my Lucknow. And my heart bleeded, as if somebody has touched a very sensitive chord.
I am not born & brought up in Lucknow. My father had been in government job so we have been moving across the state due to his postings. But I completed my CA & LL.B.(H). from here. There is altogether a different kind of attachment with this city. I also want to do something for my city, I want Lucknow to grow. I have met people in different states who belong to UP but they have to leave their city coz of lack of opportunities. And everyone wants to return. Who wants to leave their aged parents alone? But none of our governments have worked so far on this front. I have a lot of expectations from current government, both Central & State and hopefully they understand our plight! We have everything except a strong political will.
Anyways, the session ended. My spirits were all high! Its not that I will get some business from there but the kind of satisfaction you get when you mingle with like minded people is a different experience altogether. And in the words of Mr Krishna - never stop trying, push for it! you will get whatever you want! The session ended with awesome snacks & tea and even more awesome memories!
I hope such sessions happen frequently!
Thank You!
