To be with the truthful

I am now the Head of Department of the counseling cell of my organization. This means that I’ll be handling counseling services to around 11 schools all over the  city and there will be 15 psychologists reporting to me.
My C.E.O was like I know I’m giving you this responsibility at a young age but I have high expectations from you.

So,at 24 I have people reporting to me who are much older than me! They will have huge egos and it will be tough to handle them.

All this means that you all will be seeing less of me on Tumblr!

Pray for me guys- that I’m able to do justice to the new responsibilities given to me.

It’s eid and I’m still getting calls regarding work related queries. It’s so irritating.
Uneasy lies the head which wears the crown. Even if it’s a temporary crown…lol
I can’t wait for my reporting boss to come back from her holiday!

It’s a very sleepy Sunday afternoon. Everyone else is sleeping. But since I’m the temporary reporting boss at work, I’ve to compile all the reports and forward them to the CEO with my comments. This is going to take all afternoon.

Someone at work called me, “Raja Harishchandra”. I’m so disconnected from general Indian culture and references that I was stumped. I had no idea what it meant.
So, I went home and asked mom,”What was Raja Harishchandra known for?”
Mom thought for sometime and replied, “The truth. He was known for being truthful. Why do you want to know? “

I’ve to report directly to the CEO. I’m just hoping that I don’t screw up. 

I and my colleagues were in the conference room in the middle of a meeting. My reporting boss was briefing us about a not so successful meeting she had with someone, “Does she think I am a CH!”, she remarked angrily.
I giggled. Now, my colleague got curious. “Why are you giggling? What does CH mean?”, she asked me.
“It’s a short form of a  hindi swear word.”, I whispered to her.

She’s like,”I want to know what it means. Tell me!”
I told her that I’ll tell her after the meeting.

After the meeting got over. She didn’t leave me alone. She kept bugging me. “Batao. tell me. tell me. I want to know.”
She was very persistent.

So I told her.

She was shocked. “I can’t believe you know such language!”
“You asked me.”,I told her.” Otherwise I wouldn’t have told you.”
Anyway, she was very shocked and horrified. If I had known that she was such a delicate darling I wouldn’t have told her.

Incidentally, my CEO swears a lot when she gets pissed. But she uses english swear words only.

They are hiring my team at the office and I really wanted to be involved closely in the interviewing and selection process. But I got sick.
Now I will just have to make do with people who have been selected by others.

Since I’m (unfortunately) the most experienced psychologist in my organization, the onus of interviewing new candidates and evaluating them for psychology jobs lies on me.

So this young Muslim girl turned up for the interview today. She was a fresher with a masters degree in clinical psychology but a very bad academic record.

This is how it went:

Me: We do a lot of aptitude testing here. Do you have any experience in aptitude testing?

Girl: Yes, I did conduct aptitude tests during my internship.

Me: Good. Which aptitude test did you conduct?

Girl: MMPI

(I was shocked by this reply! Even a first year under grad in psych can tell you that MMPI is a personality test)

Me: No, I’m asking you about aptitude testing?

Girl: WISC

(Now I wanted to bang my head on the wall because everyone knows that WISC is an intelligence test! I decided to not recommend her for the job after hearing this and I gave up on asking her about subject knowledge.)

Me: Tell me about your family?

Girl: I live with my mother and three siblings in so and so area.

Me: Your father?

Girl: He passed away five years ago.

I forwarded her CV and recommended her for the job. I told my superiors that despite her bad academic record the candidate can cope with the demands of the job after training.

So my psychologist friend called me up today. She wanted to refer a case. A 15 yr old girl with HIV. I’m a trained and experienced HIV counselor. My first job was as a HIV counselor in one of the biggest government hospitals in Mumbai with a very high patient load. It was very challenging and depressing.

Anyway, since my friend has no experience dealing with such cases she thought I should take it up. It’s true that I’m experienced and trained but it’s been over a year since I have counseled an HIV patient. My current job profile involves providing psychological services to school children. But I think I will have to take this up.  Do the preliminary counseling and then refer to an NGO which works with PLHAs (People living with HIV and AIDS) because it’s important for her to have a support group.

And I have an opportunity to teach cognitive psychology to undergraduate students. I have been practicing for almost two years now (time flies!). Inshallah I might take this up if the pay is good.

It’s a cool and windy night and the moon is shining bright. I’m lying in bed staring at the beautiful night sky. It’s a lovely view from my fourth floor bedroom window. Alhamdulillah for everything :)
I’m hoping that the all India bandh or shutdown called by the opposition to protest the fuel price hike by the government is effective then I won’t have to go to work tomorrow! Lol!
On a serious note, I have an important meeting which is now in a limbo because of this “bandh”.

A number of pilgrims were narrating their experiences of Hajj to Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (‘a), and recounting their views about their fellow pilgrims. One person was immensely impressed by a fellow pilgrim and said, ‘He was truly pious and an indefatigable worshipper of Allah. Whenever we broke journey to rest for the night, he retired to a secluded place, spread out his prayer mat and got engrossed in the worship of Allah.’ The Imam (‘a) enquired, ‘Who looked after the rest of his affairs? Who tended his camel?’ He replied, ‘Obviously, we performed all those duties for Allah’s pleasure. He remained absorbed in the holy acts, and had no time for such menial chores.’ The Imam (‘a) replied, ‘No wonder you achieved more than he did with all his piety and worship.

No work tomorrow! Yippee!