Is every work opportunity a classroom?
I woke up the other morning to a text from my friend that read “I cannot get myself to wake up and go to work today. There’s no motivation.”
That message struck a chord. Everyone has these days, I am certain. I, for one, definitely do. But looking back at this year, I realise I do not appreciate and acknowledge days that I feel the exact opposite. That, essentially, is the enlightenment that Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates (CMGGA) Programme brought for me. It has been a job where I wake up in the morning, thinking of the umpteen things I need to do, planning my day meticulously and always thinking of when I get to work!
When I came to Jhajjar, the district I was allocated as a CMGGA, it was a few days of uncertainty and frenzy. While my friends and family learnt how to pronounce Jhajjar (JHH-AJJ-AR), I had moved into my rest house and started work. It took a while to learn the ropes, to familiarize myself with names and faces and designations and understand the in-and-outs of the government hierarchies and functioning. I found it fascinating to learn small things that seemed inconsequential but held great importance. I shall spare you the details of how work conversations always happened with at least two cups of chai and the discourse around that ‘white towel on my chair’. With each passing day, there was something new to learn and a lot of new people to meet.
On my first day I realised that there are very few women in office here. Women holding positions of power is unfortunately rare, and rarer in this setup- hence I formed an instant bond with the other female officer in the administration. Whenever I felt like a lost young woman in a huge system of things she didn’t understand, I had someone to turn to and I shall always be grateful for that. As days went by, I found people and systems that worked and that didn’t. I understood what it was like to view things from the lens of a citizen and from the lens of the administration, looking at the intricacies of departments and functioning in the government, an opportunity I’m privileged to have.
Hence the message from my friend had me slightly perplexed. There have hardly been days in Jhajjar where I must force myself to get out of bed and get to work. Mostly, an 8 am school visit gets me started for the day before I visit Saral kendras and the One Stop Centre ending my day with planned meetings and different stakeholder interactions. If I look back and think of my bad days in the district, they mostly involve either sickness or people not being around. In the whirlwind of learning and processing, I think I forgot what it’s like to miss the joys of a non-employed life.
When I started working with the Municipal Council on Swacch Sarvekshan as part of our work module this year, the task seemed almost impossible. I would dream about Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and read about Indore and its work on Swacch Sarvekshan (SS) in my free time. As I travelled to Delhi, or other places, I would get excited about IEC for SS2020 and make a mental note of things we could do in my own district- all the while, my friends feeling embarrassed that I needed to stop on the street to click a picture of a SS2020 painting in Delhi. While One Stop Centres offering free services to women in distress were established, it was the first time I read a policy guideline from page to page atleast twice, remembering days in college where a not-so-thorough reading would suffice. While I understood grievance redressal mechanisms and Government to citizen service delivery touchpoints, I would have conversations with my family about the time we went to get our Driving License made and what needs to improve.
As I visited more and more government schools, all things good and bad would come to notice, making me have myriad conversations with people from my previous organization, constantly thinking of what we could do to improve the implementation of policies. While getting colleges accredited to National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was something I had never thought I would discuss, I realised the days that NAAC committees would be visiting my college and how as a student I never even understood what it was or why it is required. As work modules kept increasing and diversifying, there was something new to read, discuss and talk about with friends and family- all of them understandably tired with my conversations.
My friend often tells me I am too involved with my work, and I need to take a break. Maybe they’re right, we all need a break from work- but there are so many more things to learn and do, a year never sounds enough. Pardon me, I do not mean to sound naïve, but most letters that come to my office get me excited and every citizen that comes with a story always teaches me something! “Is every work opportunity such a classroom?” I often ask my friends as they scoff.
I never thought I would NOT cry about being in a small town, having to work with older government officials and living in a place where electricity is scarce. What I’ve learnt over the months is that the people, old or young, have so many things to teach you and shall be those colleagues you are going remember for a lifetime. From feeding me samosas on my bad days when a project isn’t getting pushed, to telling me all kinds of ideas to get something moving, people in the administration have always been magnanimous and the best learning partners. From the forum and days at Ashoka University, where I meet the 23 other CMGGAs in the same situation as mine while discussing frustrations and achievements alike, I’ve grown immensely as an individual with patience, insight and empathy. Being in a smaller district such as Jhajjar meant mammoth work and responsibilities, which kept me busy and helped advance my planning and time management skills, thereby helping me transform into a better professional.
While I still decide how to reply to that text message from my friend, I get a call from the Principal in a nearby government school inviting me to be a part of the school’s sports day. That message was left on read and I never could continue that conversation with my friend as I hurried to get ready and leave for work. The steep learning curve of growth as an individual and a professional might have to be a discussion for another day. But one of the days, I shall take out time to text that friend about getting out of my comfort zone and taking the decision to move to Haryana, Jhajjar in particular, is something I shall always cherish.
This CMGGA journey has been a roller coaster. The bad days have been really of the nature where you feel alone and lost, frustrated with everything and everyone. But the other end of the spectrum cannot be compared- the feeling of seeing projects kick off, receiving messages or calls from citizens who aren’t complaining about apathy from the government, or achieving a milestone or target that initially seemed impossible. We are all ambitious young professionals, trying to solve some of the most challenging government policy questions and helping implement projects at scale that sounds almost impossible, but in the ambition and drive, there are days I fail to acknowledge that my work has too many good days where I cannot wait to get to the field and see what it brings for me!
