Evolution

I have been struggling with lots of decision-making over the past six months.
Professionally – I did my Bachelors of Commerce and then went on to do my MBA from a reputed institute in India. I then started work with a Management Consulting firm in Bombay and was heading for the usual “corporate ladder” move when one evening – after I’d been on the job for eleven months, my then-boyfriend asks me “What are you doing at so-and-so company?” “Are you happy with what you are doing?” “Is this really what you wanted to do with your life?”

With each question – it became more and more certain that I wasn’t going to be doing that job for very long. And sure enough, within a month, I quit. And although I did go for other interviews – for similar jobs and even got accepted at a couple of places, I did not take up the job.

For six months I returned to living with my parents at a remote village – where my father is posted – he is an officer in the Indian Army. For six months my companion was a laptop and the internet, which I used to explore what I would eventually be doing with my life. Meanwhile I also got married – to my boyfriend who’d asked me those questions. Both of us were out of jobs at that point and we had no idea where we were going individually. Although we knew we were heading someplace good.

It’s been six months since we got married and here is what I do currently:
I freelance as a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer and do a lot of design stuff with my friends at Bracket Consulting. I also paint, am planning to teach Photoshop at a college and took my first holiday after I did my Bachelors of Commerce – the B.Com course got over in 2000! Since then it’s been a roller coaster.

Right now, at the stage I am – time seems to be moving so slow – I want to do so many things – like paint with acrylics on handmade paper – I tried oil on canvas but it just isn’t my thing – I can’t wait for the oil to dry!! It takes too long! Or it’s just that maybe I do not know how to paint oils!

So that brings me to the evolution of this blog – I am planning to get my own website finally – it should hopefully be clear in a day or two whether I will be getting the domain name or not – www.aside.in and then the following places where I am on the web should hopefully come all under one umbrella!

My Graphic Design and Illustration bare bones portfolio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/naina
My Photography blog: http://asidephotos.blogspot.com
My Latest Photography assignment: http://latestphoto.blogspot.com
My wedding Photos: http://myweddingphotos.blogspot.com
My Design blog: http://asidedesigns.blogspot.com
And ofcourse this very blog that you are reading.

Phew!! I’m sure it gets confusing for someone who just wants to know what the heck I do for a living! I also have innumerable “professional” profiles on openBC, LinkedIn, Ryze, Zero Degrees, etc. etc. – most of which I never use – except openBC and LinkedIn.

So apart from the www.aside.in, I am planning to keep this blog separate – the other blogs/websites will have a redirector to the main website, but this blog will stand alone with a link from the parent site. The only question is, since I am currently away from the Innovation focus, how do I incorporate that change temporarily – because I have no intentions of ever leaving the Innovation field but at the same time I need to incorporate my design stuff on this blog. Maybe I need a major design overhaul to incorporate both elements!