I mean, it has to be fate, there is no other explanation for it, that the first time we move into our new house (in the December of 2019), without my parents’ or anyone’s deliberate doing, that the entire fittings and paints job is being exacted by the organization you are going to be doing your summers in!
I know it is no big deal, considering that the organization is a GIANT in the segment – so obviously all of the paint anyway, by simple probability would have had Asian Paints insignia on it.
Okay.
But what about the bathroom fittings – their new offering?! Fate! No other explanation.
If anyone thought that my experience of the organization was limited due to the virtual nature of the internship (given the pandemic that will go down in history for being cursed the most by Management Interns; source: myself) – may be in spirit right, but in actuality very wrong.
Each time I washed my hands in the sink, or went to the bathroom – this home, where I quarantined myself for the entirety of the internship served as reminders of etiquette; fixated as judges to my work ethic – and always kept me on vigil, and funnily enough, even when I shut down my laptop and logged out of the remote desktop; I could never really escape! (not suggesting that I wanted to.)
My own Asian Paints colleagues, inside of my home!
Does not the whole product design and interaction thing feel like it was taken to another level? A case study in Behavioural Sciences right here, for it is not just that people and experiences bring people closer to a product, sometimes the product reaches the homes of the people (to be brought together, eventually) before anyone even thinks of it!
I think this connection, apart from the fact that we were all going through different realities knitted by one pool of wool…(paint?), made me relate to my project, and my people, and Asian Paints and, more than anything else the realization that, all that I am surrounded by, were things that were curated and worked on by people – people for whom I have certain obligation to, to do justice through the project.
Right from onboarding to de-boarding, the people are AP’s strength (obviously) but its processes are flawless, its systems are seamless and its USP is resilient learning. I do not think I’d have learnt this much if it were not for the innumerable instances of feedback and feed-forward at work.
I inherited my deluge at work from my own personality’s clutter-culture, but I learnt disciplining despite one’s own proclivities during my time at the creator of Beautiful Homes – both in aesthetics and in hope.
Because when I took on the project, I was briefed about the impact it would have on the people, the changes that will be brought to the processes and of course, the cost that would have to be born. These details were crucial, delivered by (apparently) stern people (but contradicting information because:) they had the softest smiles, most reliable backs and patience of 50 patient people in one.
My mentor, my buddy and my AP family showed me immense kindness, gave me enough direction and showered me with ample opportunity to grow, learn, fail – and learn through my learnings.
I will never forget how the C-Suite Executives actually took time out of their busy days and taught us basics about their domain, told us everything they would expect any permanent employee to know!
Multiple learning sessions, multiple meets with interns, and a 2-month blast later, I was actually a little saddened that it ended all too soon.
IMPRINTS 2020 has left a deep imprint on me, and I am grateful to the organisation, the Institution for giving me the chance to experience something so out of this world!
Chekov said, “After one finishes a story, one should cross out the beginning and the end” but for this story, I think even Chekov would give the green-signal for my indulgence, vague and very personal, in the beginnings and for the ends.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Veronica Kashyap is a final year student of Human Resource Management & Labour Relations at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has been thinking about the double hermeneutic really hard, and is really into Solzhenitsyn and Dostoevsky. A keeper of open mind for all things conspiracy, and represents house Ravenclaw.
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