Banking was where I started when I left IIMA as a 21 year old, excited about a 3 month training in Greece with Citibank. 

 

A job in the Bills Department in Calcutta, post the training, threw me into the deep-end. Calcutta was a great place for a rookie lady-banker (a rarity in those days) and I had a nicely done-up chummery to live in with a club membership thrown in. 

 

I even bought myself a fourth-hand Standard Herald car to be mobile in a city with virtually no decent public transport!

 

Three years into the job, I married my husband Ashok, an engineer, and relocated to Mumbai. It was with some difficulty that I managed a transfer to Citibank Bombay. 

 

Diversity and gender equality in the workplace were unknown quantities then. I did though, surprise everyone at the Bank by coming back to work soon after the birth of my first son Varun, in 1982. 

 

In 1984, I moved to ICICI, the erstwhile financial institution to enjoy the luxury of a 5 day work-week and also garner an understanding of project finance, a skill that could be useful in future. Two years later, when my second son Anurag was born, as per my plan I gave up work to be a stay-at-home mom. The idea was to get back into a job at some point in the future. 

 

The years 1987-94 were fun and busy years being a full-time mom and part-time freelance writer for the Economist Intelligence Unit, Hong Kong, part of the Economist Group, U. K. 

 

I took on an active role in my children’s school PTA to introduce extra-curricular activities like creative writing, acting and art workshops, and introduced my boys to the joys of tennis and swimming. I also had my first brush with spirituality and joined a Vedanta study group. 

 

In mid-1994, we relocated to Delhi, as Ashok got an opportunity with the RPG Group to work in the emerging Indian telecom sector. Given that we had family support in Delhi and I was turning 40 that year, I felt it was the opportune moment to get back into the corporate sector. 

 

ANZ Grindlays took me on in early 1995 as Corporate Banker, my erstwhile role at Citibank. However, an 8 year break from full-time work had in hindsight, left me unprepared to make the 100% commitment required of a demanding 2nd career. 

 

I began to question the meaning of life and my Mother introduced me to spirituality during this time. Two years into my job, I decided that a corporate career was not for me and I wanted to delve deeper into spirituality with the satsang group that I was then a part of. 

 

In 1998, one of our batch-mates introduced me to the Amway business which appeared to be an interesting part-time opportunity. I worked the business with some seriousness and became a Platinum. Sustaining it thereon required support from Ashok, but it was clearly not his cup of tea. 

 

And so, it was time to move on and do other stuff!

 

Varun and Anurag, our two boys were by now grown-up lads and the very year that Varun graduated from IIT Delhi, Anurag followed in his footsteps. IIT Delhi is also their father’s alma mater. 

 

The last several years have been payback time and I have been involved in movements like the anti-OBC quota in IIMs, the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party campaign in Delhi and more recently in our colony’s civic issues. 

 

In addition, I continue to be an active follower of Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living having done several courses with them. I also support the organization in its fund raising efforts for its projects, from time to time. Spirituality is at the core of my being and a source of strength and meaning in my life. Caring for my old Mother and managing her financial affairs also remain a key responsibility. 

 

I see the decade of the sixties as being one devoted to doing a few new things. I have recently started to learn devotional vocal music and enjoy singing for myself. Studio pottery is very much on the cards too. I hope to travel more once Ashok finally retires. Interest in literature has been rekindled these last few years, having joined a book club that is into meaningful reading. 

 

Varun married Ruchika, a CA with the Big 4, in 2009 and left for an MBA at Wharton School in 2010. He and Ruchika are now back in India where Varun works in marketing with a large technology firm. 

 

Anurag works in private equity in Mumbai having obtained an MBA from the Booth School of Business, Chicago. It is a good feeling to have the boys in India with us, for now.