This story starts with a young man Nitash (28 years) and his newly wedded wife Shiksha (26 years). Nitash basically belongs to state of Punjab and Shiksha belongs to the state of Haryana. They met through relatives and then later they got married, yes it was an arranged marriage. Nowadays, they live in Delhi, the capital city of great country India as Nitash and Shiksha both work for IT companies in Delhi only. Nitash always want to stay with his parents hence he asked them to stay with him and Shiksha in Delhi. His parents were about to move to Delhi and then something happened in between.
Nitash`s project manager Akash asked him to go for an onsite assignment in Melbourne, Australia for five months. It was a good opportunity for him. He just asked his manager for some time so that he could discuss with his family to sort out his personal plans. His manager responded in an "Okay" as he knew that Nitash was just got married and it would be tough decision for him. Nitash wanted to respond in a big "YES" to this opportunity like he always did in his career but he knew that now things were different as he was just got married to Shiksha. He wanted to spend quality time with his wife and family.
Nitash went home and told the story of the day to his newly wedded wife Shiksha. She sensed that, that was a good opportunity for him and asked him to take the opportunity. She assured that she and parents would be fine and there was no need to worry about them. She is a typical example of an Indian wife who can sacrifice her own happiness for her husband. Nitash further told the whole story to his parents and as most of the Indian parents; they responded that he should think more about Shiksha than them. He knew that it was a big decision and he needed to think more.
Next day, Nitash went office and asked his manager Akash to give this opportunity to other team member as right now he wanted to spend more time with his wife. His manager knew that this requirement was big and he didn`t want to take risk with other members. He asked Nitash to take his wife along on trip as project requirements were too demanding. Now Nitash had a big decision to take after this discussion with his manager. Shiksha was a key member of a team who was working on a critical project. She could not leave it all and come with Nitash. On the other hand it would be cruel on Nitash`s part to leave her here and go. Moreover, they had just been married. However one day he has to go as per his travel based work profile.
Shiksha had to resign and then only she could accompany Nitash. Shiksha and Nitash discussed this issue. They reluctantly agreed to get separated for five months.
The day had come and Nitash was leaving for Australia, he hugged Shiksha and boarded the flight. He called her everyday to communicate more with her. In Melbourne, Nitash got lots of work and his stay got extended by three more months. Nitash started counting even minutes. During this period, Shiksha`s project manager Arpit called her one day and asked her to go Paris, France for an onsite assignment for six months. Shiksha always wanted to see Paris and with a smile she said "Okay" however, first she wanted to discuss with her husband Nitash. She knew that it would be three months then Nitash would come home and by the time Shiksha would have left to Paris for six months. Shiksha didn`t want to decline the opportunity. She called Nitash and they discussed. Finally they decided to go ahead and after fifteen days, Shiksha left for Paris.
Two and a half months after that, Nitash came back to India. Then Shiksha called him almost every day and they discussed about all small-small things on phone. Nitash got into a new project and new project manager Sagar was appointed. One fine day, his new project manager called him and asked him to go to China for the requirement analysis of the project. Nitash worriedly said "No" as Shiksha was arriving next month. He didn`t want to miss her anymore but his manager assured him that the work was only for twenty five days and that he would be back before Shiksha comes to India. Thus Nitash went to China and got into the requirement analysis of the new project.
That was when he came to know that how difficult it is to retrieve information from the users. The requirements analysis stage continued for three full months at slow pace. Shiksha came to India one month after that and she told her project manager Arpit that she doesn`t want anymore on-site assignments. She desperately waited for Nitash to come back to India. It had already been like almost a year since they last met. Nitash then got the role of an on-site co-coordinator for the customer during a critical stage in the project. He called Shiksha to discuss the matter. They really didn`t know what to do as they were feeling helpless due to that situation of physical separation. Shiksha offered to resign her job and join him in China. Nitash knew that Shiksha is career oriented girl and it would be difficult for them to manage so he refused and asked her to wait just for two more months. She replied that she is getting a lot of on-site opportunities in her company as well and she declined all of them, what about him?
Shiksha questioned Nitash "Does that mean we have to stay like this forever? Batao na". In a polite way Nitash tried to convince her. Internally he realized the meaning of her question. In past years, Nitash always travelled to different locations away from his parents but that was the time when he had no other options in life and financially it was required for him to work that way but now things were not the same. He felt so bad and called his manager to ask for the release from the project and told the whole story. His manager Sagar assured him that after two more months, he could come back to India. Nitash somehow convinced Shiksha to wait.
After one month, Nitash received an e-mail which mentioned the separation of his manager from his company. After ten days, new manager Ankit appointed for the project and he asked Nitash to handover the task to new onsite person so that he could come back to India. Handover process got delayed due to some technical issues and it took another one more month, it was very emotional moment for Shiksha and Nitash to tackle all of this. Finally after the handover process, Nitash came back.
After meeting his newly (not newly) wife Shiksha and his parents, Nitash understood the importance of his family in his life. He understood that job is a part of his life and not the only thing in life. He has to live with his family to enjoy every moment of life with them. He decided that he should have Shiksha and his family with him all the time from then onwards at any cost. His parents also moved to Delhi to stay with Nitash and Shiksha. That day Nitash said "life is perfect!!!"
As you know there is nothing like perfect in life. After fifteen days of holidays, he joined office and his manager informed him that new project is on the way and he has to travel onsite. He could not say no to this as he had travel based job profile. It was not ethical to say "NO". He went home and with his wife Shiksha, gladly prepared the resignation letter and e-mailed to manager. He smiled and said he will get a new job where he needs not to go out of the country away from his wife and family. Shiksha was really happy.
Nitash went office next day; his manager smiled and said "You have made the right decision". His manager said he understood Nitash`s problems. After ten days, manager called Nitash and said "You have a three months notice period and I have a two month assignment in Africa for you ....." :)
Names used in this story are fictional. I hope you guys liked it :) Nitash Sharma
