Fundamental Questions

So there are some fundamental questions that I get asked by everyone since I am now working in the US.... how do you find the city? How are you managing your food? how long are you here? when do you shift to London (Sept 17th btw)? and then the bigges..

What do you think is the difference between India and US in terms of working style... now mind you I have asked the same question to people who just migrated to India... and like them I am expected to give the expected answer... yeah working here is a breeze compared to India.... just that I dont particularly feel I want to feel breezy at work... I like the hustle bustle of work life... yeah things could improve in India such as infrastructure, life styles but to me what I have in India is fine too.. so to many peoples surprise I answer that I dont particularly find much of a difference except probably cultural diff... Indians are a bit more aggresive and competitive... so many times the client is not pleasant and hence you end up being unpleasant to your juniors... and in India there are so many demands made on you on so many matters that keeping a cool head is way low in your priority... and to top it all India being a developing economy is still evolving its laws and hence the laws are constantly changing and it becomes tough for a lawyer to manage to track the law...... yes, we could be more sensitive.... we could spend time in mentorship...

in any event when I say the above I am met with squeals of laughter ... and accusations that I am trying to justify what I am stuck with...... okk... so be it...

All this brings to me one aspect of my life that I have noticed... since NLS I have had to justify many many things in life.... so i would meet a stranger and they would degrade NLS and call it the snob college with no substance.... and then I would go into defending myself and my college... and call people jealous etc etc... I didnt face this form of attack when I was in IDFC.. infact many people would not even mention it to me since they considered IDFC to be irrelevant to the legal profession... so I think I was allowed to be an "unjustified" IDFC worker... I just worked in my happy space (and I loved the work that I was doing in IDFC as well) and while the world was busy chasing invisble butterflies ....

but nothing had prepared me for the onslaught that happened when I shifted to AMSS... now I was aware that many people dont get AMSS and that everyone in the legal world has an opinion about it... and not always good.... but that the criticism would be to this extent was something I never anticipated... the first signs of this came when I went to a casual dinner with friends... and suddenly all shifted to me and started asking me about my work and my work life balance... and me being the "spaced out" person didnt understand the intent of these questions and answered quite honestly that work is killing but I like it blah blah.... they turned the conversation around to say AMSS really kills people and no wonder they lose people... and then it dawned on me that this was actually an attack on AMSS rather than a query about me and my life.... ... yet again at another innocent party, I met a senior of mine and enquired about his law firm (another top one in india) opening up a new office... and the senior (who I still respect) asked me "ohh is AMSS spying on us now?" I was like - what??????????????? and then every question I asked was turned into an AMSS plot to bury competition by using industrail espionage and good looking spies (yeah, cos I so look like Jolie in Salt).... yet another senior from NLS who met me for my Boss's event when I asked "how's work?" went on a spiel about how he is really busy and he doesnot have enough people... and how unlike "certain" big law firms he does not believe in growing in size without quality... and I looked at him and wondered - dude, i am not really that important in AMSS so if you really want to insult the firm I will be happy to introduce you to my Boss and my Boss's boss and everyone I know in the firm - let your angst out to them not me...

and thats when I realised that it is their problem and not mine.... as they say being criticised is a sure sign that you are important to be criticised.... so enjoy it.... now I try to have a benigh smile on my face when AMSS is beaten up... or maybe I have just become bored of such conversations.....