Reflections from the Transition Field: Last Day at Work

Well, I know very well that my professional job container is folding down now. Today is my last day at work - at a place where I have worked for slightly more than 16 years. Through many ups and downs, some promotions, a lot of learning, and a journey worth carrying forward, I have created lasting connections, come across great team members, met amazing people, and found genuine mentors.

What is worth noting is that I am not feeling sad, or irritated, or angry, or like a victim, or anything like that. I know I have room to grow, and this current job container has done its job. This container has supported me through some of the toughest periods of my life.

I am not dramatizing this, but it was one of the earliest manifestations of a personal desire fulfilling itself. I was working with erstwhile Satyam Computers (now Mahindra Satyam) on a project in Polokwane, a small town in South Africa, when I first saw an office with the words "xxxx" (a Big 4 consulting company) at a crossroads. I felt a simple desire then: I wish I could go to consulting companies like this. Within two years, out of nowhere - and I sincerely don't even know how to this day - I got a call from the Mumbai office of the consulting company for an interview, and there I was. I joined this company in 2010.

Very little did I know that it had a much larger role to play in my life's unfolding. When my son was diagnosed with a life-terminating condition, the only place I could see hope was in some promising clinical trials about to start in the US. I did some research and asked my seniors, and they supported us completely. Through some connections and some blessings, we were able to move to the USA with that company as my support structure, allowing us to enroll our son as one of only three kids in the Phase 2 clinical trial of that drug. Life continued, and the company continued to support a series of personal transformations that my life was about to unfold. The last few years have felt personally very expansive - a fundamental shift in my perspective on life and higher purpose - and the company supported me through all those periods.

And today, on my last working day, I don't know why I felt like writing this note. I think it must have been prompted by my own surprise at my inner reaction to this event. I hold respect and deep gratitude, and surprisingly, not a single iota of attachment. As I was wrapping things up and preparing my digital document transfer folder, I was surprised to see how little I actually have to carry. I don't feel any need to hold onto the countless presentations, deliverables, thought leadership, macros, spreadsheets, templates, or tools. I am just taking some administrative documents and leaving everything else behind. Some of that work might have made a difference somewhere, at some time, but honestly, life just goes on.