Off Side

Blogs always make me horrified. When I started my career (forced to get into it for my pocket money rather), I was told by a well-wisher (or was she a trainer? I cannot recall) that blogs are where authors speak their mind (bad idea, mostly); you can be informal and do away with regulations (who said, I had nasty experiences!). This idea itself is scary. If trains did not have a track to go by, chances of derailing would have gone up. When you don’t have a rule to follow, format to cope with or guidelines to look up to- you tend to get lost. I sincerely believe that we all meet the world with a mask on where no one can see our true self. Hence, such kind of paucity of regulations indulges us in letting the bun loose; making you speak your mind in front of the world.

However, a lot of you might be wondering why I am constantly pondering over the fact that my inner self might be unveiled in the blog! That is primarily because I don’t want my simple blog to stretch itself to the size of an epic. I will try to keep it short and precise and rather concentrate on that one topic that I am going to talk about. I know the name must have evoked some curiosity within the readers (and I have been beating around the bush about why blogs scare me, my bad!) and let me clarify it’s NOT about football (I am a crazy football lover though). The blog is actually a story, a story about me.

Those who are aware of the term ‘offside’ knows that in a football match a forward/midfielder player cannot deliver an assist to another forward player (team mate) who is already ahead of even the second defender (any defender after the keeper) of the opposing team at the moment of loosing the ball from the assist’s feet. Confused? Well, the bottom line is that you must not take the advantage of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I traveled to a new city in order to complete my studies. I haven’t even achieved the MA degree (and to add to the surprise, I need 5 more months yet to complete my MA) and I got the offer from #DGMC to work as a counselor; to help students with their career decision. I sensed the peril: staying alone in a city accelerates your growing up process and you realize soon that pay-for-me-dad days are over. Then again, getting a job is just the first step- I need to perform to stick to it. And frankly, I wasn’t sure whether I’m the one who can help students out with their career choice (just listen to the phrase: simple near the ears, scary near the brains). So, you get the wrong time... wrong place... off side linkage? Connecting, are you?

There was a tiny gap of 4 days between me getting the offer letter and walking into DGMC as a counselor. During those 4 days I had constantly questioned myself, my real inner credibility. However, by no means should you feel that I doubted my confidence or the selection-skills of the management- all I am trying to say is that I was trying to reach the ‘self actualization’ phase through constant questioning. I would love to quote Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ‘Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya’. We all move from darkness to light; darkness of questions will always be fought with the light of experience and confidence. That is how we learn and the fire of comprehension emancipates a newer self within us, like a phoenix. I stood in front of my mirror the night before I was supposed to join, and looked into my own eyes-I just realized that you are not born anything, you impose the designation onto yourself in the course of life. It’s all role-playing and I was ready to play the role of a counselor, finally.

Finally on my first day, clad in my most perfectly ironed formals (those I have been keeping inside the darkest corner of my almirah so far), I arrived at DGMC with a question-free mind with plethora of excitement and flacon -full of hope to spray around the college. I have been constantly told that I gel up with new people pretty fast (thanks to my adapting skills) and DGMC was not an exception as well. When you like the place, the people, you also love to concentrate on the business part naturally. I could get into the frame of my work faster than I expected. Every time I uttered the name of the college to an aspirant, new excitement used to fill me in. But every time I see that the student is sitting in front of me, on the other side of the desk (where I have been, less than two years ago), it reminds me of being on the offside. I always tell myself, I need to be there, rightfully: no matter how much you try to score from the offside, they are not going to be counted. So, I need to prove that I am at the right place at the right moment: At DGMC, now.

-Madhubanti Mitra