WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Ramachandran M
Consultant (After Market Operations for Automobiles,Construction and Mining Equipment at Self-employed
A trending debate.
When I started my career in 1962, it wasn't a problem. Now, it seems, is a "hot" subject discussed and debated by everyone from head honchos to men on the street. I worked as a trainee at the country's only Nuclear Reactor Operations which went "critical". On a "graveyard shift," I was exposed to radiation during work related to monitoring D2O flow. They found it was beyond the limit of 25R and I was wrapped up in a polyethylene sheet and taken to a hospital at TIFR isolation ward for observation and prevent spreading. Ten days in a room with one double glass window facing the Arabian Sea, with good food, Newspapers and magazines, and an occasional motivational message " Take Care We need you" from the Boss.
Work-Life Balance was not an issue then. I was 19 years young and lived in a Class IV Railway Employees quarters with 15 other inmates far away from my home which took 36 hours by train, and 72 hours for a postcard to reach. After recovery, and returning to work again, the only person who asked about my welfare was the owner of an Irani Tea joint at Dadar C.Rly side where I used to board the bus to my workplace.
The only advice I got from the Reactor Superintendent was to stay back in the Control Room for the next three weeks and don't talk about it. He also delegated me to make sandwiches and tea at night shifts. That was my first experience with Work-Life Balance.