I am Lisa Maria John. I work as a Director of Engineering in the automotive industry. I’m passionate about leadership and building high performance teams. I love to pursue abstract concepts and convert them into reality.
Conversations on life goals, personal habits, personality profiles and such… that is right up my alley. Vacation usually implies travel to someplace else.
A Brief History Of My Time On Earth:
Born in Kerala, India, I spent my first three years in Jamshedpur (the home of the Tatas) and then we shifted base to Chennai. I believe I had a perfect childhood with great parents, a beautiful family and doting friends.
My brother and I are just a year apart and that makes us as good as twins. We were very peaceful kids, fights were seldom, did the little naughty things together and were great company.
My parents are experts at keeping their family close. Every activity was a reason for the family to hang out together – be it buying shoes for someone, a few pots for the balcony-garden or celebrating the smallest of any of our accomplishments. Thanks to my mom, a month did not pass without at least a couple of picnics at beaches, farms or just plain joy rides. She knows how to keep the fun element at its peak and absolutely loves to travel. And my dad plays his part very well. At least once a year we went on a family holiday somewhere when it was uninterrupted family time.
Summer vacations meant spending two long months in a little village in Kerala with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. They were much awaited and the count down started two months in advance. (That is when the train ticket sale began and mom ensured she booked it on day 1). Those days were spent playing with the village boys and girls – building little huts with matted palm leaves, fishing, cooking (rice, vegetables freshly picked from the garden and fish caught from our pond), throwing parties at our little hut for all the adults of the house including the gardeners, care takers and cooks, canoeing along the little canals and playing hours of cricket (some of the more kindhearted players agreed to take me in on their team). Once in a while we would go exploring the countryside and the goal was to find the narrowest footbridge across the canal (merely the trunk of a coconut tree at times) and pick a challenge to go across.
The big game used to be the boat fight. Two teams were formed – boys vs girls (I hated the idea since we were always a minority but there was no changing that). Each team made their own paper boats which was done in great secrecy – every passing year saw great improvisations. We would then take our positions at two corners of the pond and set our little boats sailing. Once we heard the war cry, the battle was on and the pelting of stones began to sink the opponent’s boats. Invariably my team lost and quite miserably at that while our opponents had most of their boats still sailing. But charge, we did every year – much like the charge of the light brigade into the valley of death!
These experiences in the village were like a breath of fresh air for us city bred children and we always considered ourselves fortunate to have got a taste of both worlds.
I loved going to school and unlike most kids, I was always disappointed when I had to stay home due to some illness or school was closed due to bad weather. From my younger classes it was very clear to me – I would either pursue management studies or medical science. I chose the former. I approached end of school life with great sorrow but college didn’t prove to be too bad either and had its own share of fun moments.
I completed my engineering and then stepped out of home to explore new pastures. I worked as a software engineer for two years, went on to do my MBA from one of the top 10 B-schools in India and resumed work on the business front with Bosch.
I met this great guy back in 2011; we’ve been married since 2012. And I gained some pretty amazing family as part of that deal. I absolutely love to travel, meet new people, be exposed to new ideas. Nothing gives me a greater high than knowing that I’ve learnt something new, become that wee bit better or made that little difference for someone. I avoid people who are grumpy, fussy and are blind to all the wonderful things that surround them.
I believe the most joyful moments in life can be found in the simplest and littlest of beautiful things that surround you. Learning new things, embracing new experiences, knowing that you’ve become that wee bit better with passing days… I believe that’s the way to live life.