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When Ferieda and I became friends, I never imagined that we'd end up working together, but we did, and made it work.
Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash
I’m not sure how many people are lucky enough to have their Bestie and Work Bestie rolled into one! When Ferieda and I became friends, I never imagined that we’d end up working together. Fate, destiny-call it what you may had other plans in mind and we were thrown together to work together, a good ten years ago.
She was new to her position, barely a year into it, and it was a different role from usual that I ventured into. Perhaps the fact that we went through several trials by fire together forged a good working relationship alongside a solid friendship. Through the years we have learned to depend on each other professionally, yet give each other space. I probably (who am I kidding here, I do!) drive her mad with my organisational skills and my need to have everything planned well in advance, while she drives me up the wall with her OCD!
The other day we were on our way to another city to deliver a workshop and were remembering the weirdest things that happened to us whenever we travelled outstation on work. There was this time when we lost our way in the hotel (I kid you not) and held up an entire dinner because no one knew where we were! Or the time where we literally got taken for a ride through the streets of Hyderabad because she was mistaken for a foreigner. I could go on but the funniest so far was on this recent trip where we had been told that a “corporate meal” would be served on our flight. So, there we were all agog with anticipation, scanning the flight menu only to be told that we had a choice between Maggi and Upma. The air hostess had to interrupt our peals of laughter to serve us. We just put it down to yet another amusing incident that we seem to inevitably attract on our travels.
Someone once asked me “How have you managed to keep the friendship and not let work come in the way?”
I think deeply ingrained in both of us is a sense of commitment to our jobs and the fact that we have never taken each other for granted, because we are friends. More than anything, we prize our friendship and the bond we share above all else and so probably work harder at making sure nothing could ever come in the way of that.
I could write a book about us working in the same organisation-the fun times, the stressful times, the many eye rolls we exchange on an almost daily basis-we’ve definitely perfected the art of communicating silently by now. So many experiences but nothing could ever match the experience of working alongside your best friend and making it work, day in and day out!!
Melanie Lobo is a freelance writer. She grew up in cities across India but now calls Pune home. Her husband and son keep her on her toes and inspire her with new writing material daily. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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