Colleague - A blog on every pro to fun

  The 7:30 AM alarm chimes, and through my window, I can see the hazy morning sky over Kanpur. It's Tuesday, October 14th, 2025. A heavy engineering textbook lies open on my desk, filled with complex diagrams and equations. My mind, however, isn't on thermodynamics just yet. It’s on something I learned last Saturday, not in a lecture hall at my college, but on the brightly lit floor of an electronics store in Z-Square Mall. When I first started looking for a part-time job, my goal was simple and immediate: earn enough to stop worrying about my expenses. I wanted the freedom to grab a coffee with friends at a cafe in Swaroop Nagar, buy a new book without checking my account balance five times, and maybe even save up for a new phone. I landed a weekend gig as a "Tech Advisor" at a popular electronics chain. My main task? Help customers, sell gadgets, and keep the displays tidy. I thought of it as a transaction: I give my time, they give me money. But over the last six m...

The faint sound of a pressure cooker whistles from the kitchen. Outside my window, the cool October air carries the distant morning sounds of Kanpur waking up. It’s 7:45 AM, and instead of frantically searching for my keys and mentally preparing for the chaotic commute from my home in Pandu Nagar, I’m sitting on my balcony with a hot cup of adrak chai, checking my first few emails of the day. This is my new office. And let me tell you, it’s a serious upgrade. For years, I believed that a "real job" meant leaving the house. It meant navigating the unpredictable traffic on VIP Road, spending a significant chunk of my salary on Ubers or petrol, and eating lunch packed in a steel tiffin. When I decided I needed to start working part-time, my initial search was disheartening. The options in Kanpur that fit my schedule were either too far, paid too little for the travel involved, or simply weren’t in my field. I felt stuck. The turning point came one evening last August. I was stuc...

The mute button on Zoom has become my most-used professional tool. On the screen, I’m nodding seriously, discussing social media engagement metrics. Off-screen, I’m frantically using one hand to stop my two-year-old, Aarav, from turning our Wi-Fi router into a toy car garage. It’s 11 AM on a Tuesday here in Kanpur, and I’m in the middle of a silent negotiation that millions of parents know all too well: the impossible juggle. When I landed my part-time, remote role as a marketing assistant, it felt like I had found the holy grail. It was a chance to reclaim a part of my professional identity, use my brain for something other than calculating the optimal nap schedule, and bring in some extra income. The plan seemed simple: I’d work during Aarav’s naps and after my husband got home. The reality, as I quickly learned, was a chaotic comedy of errors. Aarav decided that naps were merely a suggestion. My "work window" became a frantic 20-minute scramble of answering emails while si...

The 6:30 AM alarm on my phone felt less like a wake-up call and more like a warning siren. It’s Tuesday. I have an 8 AM lecture on fluid mechanics, a lab report due by noon, and then a five-hour shift at the cafe in Swaroop Nagar starting at 4 PM. My first thought wasn't about my studies; it was a jolt of anxiety: how am I going to get through today? When I first took this part-time job, I was ecstatic. The idea of earning my own money was liberating. Suddenly, I wasn't just surviving on my monthly allowance. I could afford that trip to Z-Square Mall without feeling guilty, treat my friends to momos at Naveen Market, and start a real savings account. The smell of coffee beans and the busy hum of the cafe were exciting. I felt like a real, functioning adult. But after a couple of months, that excitement started to fray at the edges. The late shifts turned into late study nights. The physical exhaustion from being on my feet for hours seeped into my academic concentration. I snap...

Let's be honest. For the longest time, the last week of every month was a personal horror story. My bank account would be gasping for air, and my diet would consist of an unhealthy amount of instant noodles and hope. Living as a student in Kanpur is amazing, but between auto rides from my PG in Kakadeo, sharing a plate of chaat with friends at Naveen Market, and the endless need for new notebooks and printouts, my monthly allowance vanished faster than steam from a cup of winter chai. I was stuck in a cycle: get money, spend money, panic. Saving was a distant, almost mythical concept, something for "adults with real jobs." That was until about six months ago, when I hit a financial rock bottom. My laptop, a crucial lifeline for my engineering coursework, started showing the blue screen of death. A new one was essential, but the price tag felt like a mountain I couldn't climb. Asking my parents for a large sum felt like a defeat. That’s when I decided things had to cha...

Let's face it, the student life is a financial tightrope walk. You're balancing classes, assignments, and a social life, all while your bank account sends you pleading notifications. But in 2025, a part-time job is about so much more than just funding your late-night chai cravings or that next concert ticket. It's your launchpad—a way to build real-world skills, beef up your resume, and gain a sense of independence. Forget the old days of just flipping burgers or folding clothes (though those are still valid!). The landscape of student work has evolved. Today's best jobs offer flexibility, decent pay, and skills that will actually help you after graduation. Ready to upgrade your student hustle? Let's dive in. The Brainy Hustle: Online Tutoring 🧠 You're already spending hours studying subjects like calculus, chemistry, or literature. Why not get paid for that knowledge? Online tutoring is booming, and platforms are constantly looking for students to help school-...

I remember the excitement like it was yesterday. I had just landed my first part-time job. The goal was simple: earn some extra cash to ease the financial pressure, gain some real-world experience for my CV, and feel a bit more independent. I was ready to dive in headfirst. And dive in I did... right into a series of rookie mistakes that left me feeling overworked, underpaid, and completely burnt out. That initial journey was bumpy, but the lessons I learned were invaluable. Part-time work can be an absolutely fantastic way to get ahead, but only if you approach it smartly. So, grab your chai, get comfortable, and let me share the common traps I fell into, so you can gracefully sidestep them. My Rookie Mistakes & How to Avoid Them Mistake #1: Ignoring the Fine Print & The "Exposure" Trap My first gig was a "Social Media Associate" role for a small startup. The interview was great, the team seemed cool, and I was thrilled. We discussed my tasks, but the conve...

Life as a parent is a beautiful, chaotic whirlwind. Add a part-time job into the mix, and you might feel like you're constantly spinning plates, hoping none of them crash. Trust me, I've been there. For years, I struggled with the guilt of working, the exhaustion of never-ending tasks, and the constant feeling that I wasn't doing enough, either as a mom or as an employee. It felt like I was perpetually running on a hamster wheel, trying to be present for bedtime stories while simultaneously answering work emails in my head. My brain was always in two places at once, and frankly, I was getting burnt out. But over time, and through a lot of trial and error (and a few meltdowns in the pantry), I started to figure it out. I learned that balancing part-time work and family life isn't about achieving perfect equilibrium every single day – it's about creating a sustainable system that works for your family, most of the time. Here are my top tips that helped me reclaim my s...

Tuesday, 7:20 AM. The alarm buzzes. Another day, another race against the clock. Between lectures, assignments, commuting, and maybe, just maybe, a sliver of a social life, my calendar looked like a fully-solved Tetris game. The only problem? My bank account looked the exact opposite. Empty. I needed a part-time job. The thought alone was exhausting. How could I possibly squeeze a fixed 4-hour shift at a café or a retail store into a schedule that was already bursting at the seams? For weeks, I scrolled through job portals feeling defeated. "Requires availability Mon-Fri, 5 PM - 9 PM." Nope. "Weekend shifts mandatory." Double nope. It felt impossible. I was stuck between the need to earn and the utter lack of time to do so. That's when I had a realization that changed everything. I was trying to fit my life around a job, when I needed to find a job that fit around my life. It was a simple shift in perspective, but it opened up a world of possibilities. I stopped...