Nudged out of my office- A Liberating Loss!

Yesterday I had to empty my lovely office room in Golden Square Vittal Mallya Road Branch. I do not have a dedicated office room for myself anymore. I have been using this room for the last 10 years, and a couple of days back I was politely asked by my colleagues in Golden Square to hand it over because an important client needed office space and we did not have any available in this Branch.

I had mixed feelings yesterday while I was clearing out the room. I felt liberated while I also felt a sense of loss.

Working from Home

Liberated because though I often work from home, and use any of the Golden Square branches for meetings, there is always this feeling that I am not in “my office”. Now by giving that away I felt liberated, I do not have to go to the office, I can be wherever I need to be, whichever place is most convenient for me and people I am meeting. 

My favorite place for "thinking type" of work:

For example my most favorite place to work especially if I need some thinking time, is the Koramangala Branch of Golden Square in the business lounge- First thing in the morning, in the terrace, surrounded by lush green trees and cool breeze, it relaxes me and gets the best in me, I specially enjoy a cup of tea here in this nurturing environment. In such an atmosphere I can do inspired work. When meeting the members of my business network, I prefer to meet at their offices, I get a better sense of their business and they are so much more comfortable sharing about their business and what they need. I am mentally more tuned to focus my attention on how I can help them when I meet at their workspace. Right now I am writing this blog in my home, surrounded by greenery, I can see the green through the open french window, listen to birds chirping and I am in casual clothes which do help in getting all the creative juices flowing in my mind. 

The best business center in Bangalore-

Sometimes I have very important client meetings, where I need to make a first impression, that is when I choose Davanam Golden Square Prime Branch, which in my opinion is the best Business Centre in town. When I need to showcase how a business centre needs to be designed, especially to building owners, I take them to Golden Square JP Nagar Branch, our latest, the buzz thereof new companies and the activity happening in the calm yet productive space always charges me up.

I think my colleagues in Golden Square Vittal Mallya Road Branch noticed that I have anyway been working from all over so I really did not need dedicated office space, so they wanted to make better use of my office room. However, while emptying the office room yesterday I did feel a sense of loss. This was one space I could say was my own. I had a map of Bangalore on the wall, where I had marked all the locations Golden Square would be expanding to. I had my BNI mementos, and a painting of Lord Ganesha I had made a few decades back. Yes, a lot of attachments. I had a shelf of books, including books I treasured from my IIT days, books I have not touched since college. All of this I disposed of. I had a box full of overhead projector slides of trainings I used to do when PPT was not the norm. I discovered the box which had all my Toastmaster best speaker and best evaluator ribbons. I came across project plans which brought back the fascinating businesses and projects I was involved in. I went through Businessgyan Magazine issues which brought back the heady days when I was a happening magazine publisher and the memories of the fantastic team we had in businessgyan magazine. I had to decide which items to keep to remind me of those days because more than the things it is the memories of the experiences that matter. In a way, while I was getting rid of things, I felt that I was also clearing space in my mind for new possibilities and adventures, making room in my mind.

I will miss the fact that I had a dedicated place to go for work without asking anyone if a meeting room was available. However, now I am free, free to be wherever is the best place to be in. I guess this is the feeling of Golden Square’s virtual office clients have, and I am experiencing the same feeling of freedom. I can be in any of Golden Square’s 4 branches. Suddenly I feel 4 is not enough, I better get going and start a lot more branches, create more invigorating and convenient locations for work.