I was watching a music reality show on TV and one of the judges mentioned in Hindi – “ Ghar banane ke liye, ghar chodna padta hai “. If translated, it literally means that “If you want make a home, you have to leave your home”. Although translations many a time do not convey the real meaning of the quote, it is very insightful.

If you want to make a mark in your career, you have to leave the comforts of your home. Many of us grow up in small towns, villages or even in cities but never like to leave them since we get attached to our family, friends and the ethos of that place.

I hail from Chennai in South India. We used to have a joke in my college days that if you have the courage to cross Basin bridge station ( the station next to Chennai Central station), your mind will broaden. I have experienced this and agree with this world view.

We may pursue any career in life. We could work in corporates, run our own business or become a professional sports person. It does not matter. We may be able to excel in whatever we do ,the day we venture out of our comfort zone.

Even as students, we tend to study in the same town or city, where we have grown up as a child. We resist moving out of that city or town, even to pursue higher studies. This makes us like a frog in a well. However, if we get over this inertia and move out of our city of up- bringing, to pursue higher education, our mind broadens and our learning multiplies.

This is equally true at the work place. Many employees want to learn and grow in the city or state ,of their origin. When faced with a transfer, even on promotion, they resist and give some excuse to stay back in the city of their birth or up -bringing.

In my view, this could become a limiting factor ,in their career. We learn not only from the role we play in the organisation but the environment around us ,too. The teams would be different, the culture and ethos of the new city or town ,could open our eyes and tickle our brains.

I can state with empirical evidence of my own experience of living and working, in ten different towns/cities ,that my world view has grown and evolved ,because of these multifaceted experiences. If I had lived and worked only in one city, I may have evolved as an uni-dimensional professional. However, these experiences made me learn and adapt to different environments and learn from one another.

I have seen this in my children too. They have also lived, studied and worked in different towns/cities and this has made them adapt to different cultures and professional environments. Today, they can thrive in any scenario because they are not limited ,to live and work ,in one environment.

Life is a never ending learning journey. The more we spread our experiences and environments, the more we learn. The pandemic has further necessitated the need to learn and adapt to different situations at a short notice or no notice at all.

Let us learn to re discover ourselves everyday.

S Ramesh Shankar

24th Dec 2024