Once upon a time, in the world of advertising, a conspicuously inconspicuous girl was striving to make her mark. She came from the world of science and her enthusiasm to explore her limits landed her into the jarring world of creativity. She wanted to be a Copy Writer. If nothing she wanted to be a simple writer. Her love for English language made her believe that this love is enough to get her through the grueling journey of writing.
Her inception into copy writing took place under the supervision of a pretty lady who supported her tottering steps. The pretty lady was kind enough to be patient and take her through the basics of this art. But as luck may have it , the lady had to leave sooner than expected for better prospects lay ahead for her. The lady's departure came at a time when the girl had just identified this world as fairly fit for her survival. And the time after her departure left her completely clueless all of a sudden.
Lost in the huge world of art and creativity,without the shield of her mentor's criticism - industry jargons, experienced opinions, dreadful deadlines started pouncing on her. The girl's illusion that it is possible to learn any art was replaced by a strongly convincing thought that creativity is inherent and can never be cultivated. The absolute time of distress came when she was caught in an never ending loop of disconnected feedbacks with no rescue. The loop got deeper day by day and she knew that she was stuck in something totally unknown. She wanted to move towards the known resisting the urge to run away or quit.
Clarity of despair as they call it, she dragged herself through this ordeal hoping to see a different dawn everyday secretly wishing for a superhero to rescue her. She convinced herself that the worst that could possibly happen was that she could be thrown out for inefficiency Hardly a scary thought for someone who was used to falling and getting up! So it would just be one more great fall.
One fine morning, a strange looking man, casually dressed with lots of tattoos in display was introduced as the replacement for the girl's mentor,her new boss. The girl just hoped that he was half good as the pretty lady. A brief talk with him told her that it might not be a bad idea to stretch the despair to a teensy weensy bit of hope and see what happens. She was obviously in for a huge surprise. This man turned out to be excellent beyond imagination. Be it as a teacher, mentor or a boss.
He taught her the rules and the basics of surviving in this profession. He taught her the art of thinking which solved most of her prior problems. Realistic as he was, he could always churn out a logical explanation and reason for all his criticisms. This convinced the girl and made her learn more.She actually looked forward to his approval and worked hard in terms of absorbing knowledge just to improve. She found a deep rooted respect for this man, for he used his authority to get good work done and stood firm when something didn't make sense, which was a rarity .
Not all bosses give their subordinates the freedom to think, decide and stick to it. He never held the reigns when it came to taking decisions. In fact he encouraged it. According to him it was ok to make mistakes and then learn. He imbibed a kind of independence and confidence in her that gave her the courage to move forward and take a leap of faith. Her heart broke at the idea of looking for a change but she knew she had to. As luck would have it, a good opportunity presented itself to her. She wanted to take it up but she was terribly scared for the whole world said it was not a wise thing to do with just six months of work experience. After much thought she decided to talk to her boss.
The conversation that followed took her perception of him to a whole new realm. When she told him she wanted to leave, he asked her to go. When she asked him if it was a wise thing , he said all such prejudices are absolute bullshit. When she asked her if she could shift to any other kind of writing and be something else, all he said was, "You can even be the President of India, its just that you need to figure out how!".
Now she didn't know much about the work environment but for her, this conversation meant a lot. An encouragement that was fair and true. An inspiration that was genuine yet blunt. She then she knew that she had finally found the Superhero she was waiting for. But alas! for a very short while.
PS: This is exclusively for the man who taught me anything is possible, that insanity is an antidote to sanity and finally, being a nut is not that bad after all!
Thank you Siddhant for everything , I didn't have the guts to say this to you and hence vented it out here.
Her inception into copy writing took place under the supervision of a pretty lady who supported her tottering steps. The pretty lady was kind enough to be patient and take her through the basics of this art. But as luck may have it , the lady had to leave sooner than expected for better prospects lay ahead for her. The lady's departure came at a time when the girl had just identified this world as fairly fit for her survival. And the time after her departure left her completely clueless all of a sudden.
Lost in the huge world of art and creativity,without the shield of her mentor's criticism - industry jargons, experienced opinions, dreadful deadlines started pouncing on her. The girl's illusion that it is possible to learn any art was replaced by a strongly convincing thought that creativity is inherent and can never be cultivated. The absolute time of distress came when she was caught in an never ending loop of disconnected feedbacks with no rescue. The loop got deeper day by day and she knew that she was stuck in something totally unknown. She wanted to move towards the known resisting the urge to run away or quit.
Clarity of despair as they call it, she dragged herself through this ordeal hoping to see a different dawn everyday secretly wishing for a superhero to rescue her. She convinced herself that the worst that could possibly happen was that she could be thrown out for inefficiency Hardly a scary thought for someone who was used to falling and getting up! So it would just be one more great fall.
One fine morning, a strange looking man, casually dressed with lots of tattoos in display was introduced as the replacement for the girl's mentor,her new boss. The girl just hoped that he was half good as the pretty lady. A brief talk with him told her that it might not be a bad idea to stretch the despair to a teensy weensy bit of hope and see what happens. She was obviously in for a huge surprise. This man turned out to be excellent beyond imagination. Be it as a teacher, mentor or a boss.
He taught her the rules and the basics of surviving in this profession. He taught her the art of thinking which solved most of her prior problems. Realistic as he was, he could always churn out a logical explanation and reason for all his criticisms. This convinced the girl and made her learn more.She actually looked forward to his approval and worked hard in terms of absorbing knowledge just to improve. She found a deep rooted respect for this man, for he used his authority to get good work done and stood firm when something didn't make sense, which was a rarity .
Not all bosses give their subordinates the freedom to think, decide and stick to it. He never held the reigns when it came to taking decisions. In fact he encouraged it. According to him it was ok to make mistakes and then learn. He imbibed a kind of independence and confidence in her that gave her the courage to move forward and take a leap of faith. Her heart broke at the idea of looking for a change but she knew she had to. As luck would have it, a good opportunity presented itself to her. She wanted to take it up but she was terribly scared for the whole world said it was not a wise thing to do with just six months of work experience. After much thought she decided to talk to her boss.
The conversation that followed took her perception of him to a whole new realm. When she told him she wanted to leave, he asked her to go. When she asked him if it was a wise thing , he said all such prejudices are absolute bullshit. When she asked her if she could shift to any other kind of writing and be something else, all he said was, "You can even be the President of India, its just that you need to figure out how!".
Now she didn't know much about the work environment but for her, this conversation meant a lot. An encouragement that was fair and true. An inspiration that was genuine yet blunt. She then she knew that she had finally found the Superhero she was waiting for. But alas! for a very short while.
PS: This is exclusively for the man who taught me anything is possible, that insanity is an antidote to sanity and finally, being a nut is not that bad after all!
Thank you Siddhant for everything , I didn't have the guts to say this to you and hence vented it out here.
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