Promotion Blues

It is something that I should be very happy about, but my promotion isn’t putting me in that mood. In the government, the other side of a promotion is the threat of a move out of the present post. I have grown too comfortable in my post so the prospect of being shifted out to the field is making me a little nervous. My current post has been a dream one for me after a near nightmarish one working in a different department for more than five years. With too many new bosses coming in and out it has been a virtual one man show since the past two and half years. Also, it gave me a lot of time to sneak out for an hour on afternoons to indulge in browsing at second hand bookstores, time to read a little during the lunch hour, and also to travel a bit.


This, paradoxically, is lethal to someone who has begun his career in the field. Now I am dreading going back to the field though a field posting is something I am not unfamiliar with. In fact, in a way I have been looking forward to it. I have been in an office post for too long. Eight years, in fact and it had made me complacent. Now I wonder if I can function as effectively as I did when I was new to the job.

I am slightly contemptuous of people who do not have field experience, of the sort who sit in office and talk nonsense. A stint in the field gives a different perspective to things. Though I had an urban background I worked in a very remote rural place for three and half years which prepared me in ways I did not know until I came across guys who spent all their lives in offices. My field experience proved useful in silencing them at times. Of course, it sounds a bit cocky but that is the truth. But now, after eight years in an office posting I have realized that I too am on the verge of losing that perspective. Though the postings are not finalized I have been told to get ready for a field posting.

Personally I do not have any problem with a field posting but I am worried I will be away from the family. It is going to be difficult for them. I am torn between desires to stay put in an office posting on one hand and on the other hand to go into the field and pick up more experiences. I do not know what is in store but I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for something that suits me.

Next Post on Friday: The Sunday Haul- Four Good Ones