Back to the grind: return to the corporate world

I joined full-time work this week. After a career break of 5 years, I joined the world of the daily rush, 10 to 6s, working lunches and formal office wear. All of those I could ease into and even look forward to maybe. Except for the last one – formal office wear.

For the most part of the last 3 years, I have been a mother (and pregnant before that) My wardrobe, therefore, consisted of loose T-shirts that enabled breastfeeding, pyjamas that I could just jump into and run to doctor’s appointments, school pickups and playground play-dates. I had never imagined that choosing to go back to work would mean a dilemma of the biggest order – what to wear to the daily grind?

While most of you would rejoice and see this as a fabulous opportunity to hit the malls and indulge in some retail therapy, to me it was a nightmare. I had a mere 2 weeks before I donned the corporate avatar and learnt how to hustle. And in this limited time, I also had to stock up the home and pantry, train the house helps with the added responsibilities, get my toddler adjusted to day-care, sort out all my paperwork and live the last of my free days. Shopping for new outfits was a distant possibility.

As always I relied on social media to show me what the trends were. What were people wearing to work in 2019! One look and I had a lump in my throat. I realized this was not going to be a walk in the park. And nor was it going to be happy to my pocket. I couldn’t spend money before I had it, or in other words, money that I would be receiving as my first paycheck at the end of the first month.

I needed a solution that was quick, economical and good quality. All wise sense pointed me in the direction of online shopping. I shopped for basics – whites, blacks, maroons & grey which I could pair with multiple outfits. I ditched churidars and salwars for trousers and palazzo pants to give me the option of Indianizing or westernizing any outfit. A kurta with a solid colour trouser for regular working days and the same trousers teamed with a formal shirt for those cross-functional team meets. I shopped mainly on Myntra and HomeShop18. Find more long kurtis here.

I am less than a week old in my new job but one thing I do feel good about is my wardrobe. It makes me feel new, confident and poised to take on the new challenges. Challenges not limited to my office desk and laptop, but which will come up when I attempt to manage home, my child, solo-parenting days and blogging, all at the same time.

For now, it feels like I never left the corporate floors. The freshly filled cup of machine-waali coffee tastes the same and office lunches, the ones I missed the most to learn from, work, network, welcome me with open arms once again.

It feels good to be back to work.