Amrita Chowdhury, Kolkata
My bonding with my colleagues started the moment I joined in. Why I’m saying this is because few days after my joining came the festival of colors – “HOLI” and celebrations were planned in the office post working hours. Till that time my association with my colleagues was strictly professional and considering I was still new in the system, I didn’t think people will insist me to play with colors, if I choose not to; as I was a bit uncomfortable to play with colors. Also being a fresher, I thought people will prefer celebrating amongst colleagues who they knew for some time & get along with. I was wrong because before I knew, my face was covered with a layer of multiple colors & I started to look like a ghost. This came to me as a surprise since I still didn’t know them properly & thought how they could put colors on me without my permission.
The previous organization where I had worked didn’t have the culture of celebrating any festival. But here at Market Xcel, what I like the most is that we celebrate all the festivals together whether it’s Diwali, Independence Day, Republic day or any other occasion, & the celebrations are not restricted at individual branch levels; we exchange greetings Pan India with other branches too. There’s no differentiation between fresher and veterans, everyone celebrates with equal enthusiasm leading to stronger bonding.
Sometimes, I recapitulate memories from my initial days when I was the only female employee & also the youngest amongst everyone in my branch. It was 2013 when we went for a small offsite trip, I wasn’t very comfortable in travelling alone with male members & on top of that, I also lost my mobile while we were still on our way to the offsite destination. I was crying entire way and was very upset. But everybody made efforts to cheer me & by the time we reached the destination, I was in a jovial mood & had forgotten about my lost mobile. I was made to feel completely secure at all times during the trip & enjoyed many humorous moments with them which I remember till date.
At work, we support each other & even gossip together, but it’s not only about fun all the time, in case something goes wrong then we get scolded as well. During these moments, I feel bad, get upset & angry with myself, but then focus back on completing my work which helps the anger to get sidelined.
So far, with this joy, fun & anger, I have learned a lot & feel complete in my professional life after joining MX & would like to continue the journey with this family, while we all hold each other together.
Amrita Chowdhury, Proud Family Member