The Lead

Taking a sip of tea from the cup he usually calls his favourite, the only biased side of his my team lead reads a piece of humorous sentence adding his style of recitation making the whole pantry resound with laughter , until HR intrudes with her eyes scanning every face to find out the culprit ; and that is the time I could see my team lead apologising for the whole team
Next moment silence takes a sidewalk on everyone’s face with lips which acts like they do not know how to utter words,until he cracks another joke and everyone sighs in relief for the normalcy cleaving the awkwardness which follows lit up and  brightening smiles.


Walking into a team leads shoes would make you face the circumstances where you would walk to get drenched in the rain yet you have to walk with an umbrella.
They are the ones who would take you to the next level from a rookie, holding every fault of yours as a learner; appreciating you for your achievements like their own .

Often making you curse the cons of being a human when you have to put your friendship under the dimmest light at the call of duty.

At one point you are celebrating your time together with your team and the next moment you have to behave as nothing out of that conference matters. As the badge of professionalism wouldn’t let you shun mistakes made by a team member and you have to take notice of that.
Being a team member you would only be in a dilemma on how to switch so quickly from a person teasing your lead and the next moment you have to take note of your mistakes for improvements.

Often he has his cup of tea but switching sides takes hardwork and patience to make team leading your cup of tea.

The guilt of being strict sometimes  is visible on his face which often seeks solace in making the members laugh .
I always anticipate what would I do when I’ll reach that level, carrying forward a project is not a big deal , but dealing with
what comes with it and after it while being defensive about your team and encouraging them for their hardwork followed by appreciation is how I identify a good team leader.

There he sits beside me while we work on a project and he says :
‘Hey, do you know you are a genius?’
I am happy to watch you grow so soon, is what he would say with lit up eyes and a grin defining your small victory and all you would manage to say is a thank you .

While you say in your mind:

Thank you for your patience.
Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for not giving up on my faults.
Thank you for standing by me.
Thank you.

Oh, it’s tea time let’s do it later. Take a bit of refreshment, cons of being a human and I wonder if it’s the only one.
And the pantry resounds again
But this time slowly.

Special thanks to Birender Singh for inspiring this post.