Recession Hits Close-to-Home…

Being in India for most part of my career, the phenomenon of layoffs and job loss was as alien to me as having bagels-and-cream cheese for breakfast. Well I always read about pink slips, etc., but somehow thought that such things happen to people “I do not know.” Hence when a friend and ex-colleague recently became one of the hundreds-of-thousands of casualties of the global recession phenomenon, I did not know how to react!

Never thought that knowing someone who lost a job due to a layoff will be difficult. Well as a friend, I want to do everything to help; as an ex-coworker, I also (strangely) have some feelings of guilt or remorse, but regardless of my feelings, I am not sure how to help. It is easy to pay lip-service and say things like – “may be this is a blessing in disguise” or “use this opportunity to find your true calling,” but it is hard to imagine the emotions that the laid-off person may be going through. God bless this “friend,” hope he finds another job soon, and I hope sanity returns to global markets.

This development has stroked a feeling of “urgency” in me. For the past few days I find myself thinking more often than before about my “Plan B” -- alternative career options, generating multiple streams of income, smart investment planning, bank savings, etc.

Never thought recession will hit so-close-to-home, but I guess this a sort of awakening…