A world where one colors the sounds and tastes the words

I recently read an article that talks about this peculiar genetic condition that people experience called  synaesthesia. It is a condition which I understand as the various nerves connecting the sense organs to their respective control lobes in the brain are cross-wired. This results in the signals being interpreted differently for example, like the heading suggests when a synaesthete hears music the person can visualize colors like red and green based on the music being played.


The article introduces the condition with the example of a 11 year old girl who is a synaesthete by birth, which by the way is the only possible way of acquiring this medical condtion. How the girl views her world in a different angle owing to her condition is described quoting examples from her life such as in her kinder garten, during music class all she would associate the music she hears with colors like deep red is what she visualizes for a disco track that plays in the background. Her peculiar condition did not seem very rare considering the studies statistics that were put up following this-


  The study suggested that there are several types of synaesthesia based of what kind of feelings the person experiences. One person generally has only one them, the ability to visualize colour when listening to music, tasting flavour in one's mouth while reading a book, or imagining a colour while eating food. It's one of these or a permutation of these senses two at a time. The statistics reveal that about 4 percent of the british population are synaesthetes.
 

Apparently synaesthesia has no cure and its more of a mental condition than a psychological condtion. A person who has synaesthesia is more likely to be easily distracted and may find it hard to focus on tasks as simple as reading a book. However it doesn't really affect anything more than the fact of how synaesthetes experience the world differently. They too find themselves careers often using this unique trait that they possess. Charlene Soraia for instance the little girl about whom was discussed earlier is now a successful song writer in the UK. She has released her first Album "Moonchild" which has so far peaked to number 3 in the UK singles chart. The album also feature the cover of  the song by band "The Calling" - "Wherever you will go"
http://www.jango.com/music/Charlene+Soraia?l=0
Check it out!
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/charlene+soraia/midsummer+moon+in+june_20987749.html

The Work Phase of life- the beginings

My first day in the company, the induction day and seminars on corporate functioning was a flood of information and followed by some advice as to how to approach work life in my company. I should admit that as much as it was exciting it was also in a way intimidating. The latter emotion more out of the fact that little had I realized the magnanimity of what is going to follow.

I took the fact of getting a job in campus very lightly at first but eventually due to the long waiting time I went and  I tried other companies for more job offers as back ups and it was only then I realized how lucky I was to have a job in hand through placements in college and how much value the job holds. After that initial struggle and long wait now I finally am in the company. I took it as a good start and I saw it as some training followed by a job where I can prove myself to be quite good at what I do.

There's more to it than just work, If I can define every phase of life with a major activity then it is only in school that it was academics college it was a mix of  academics and  friend circles and contacts. But work place attitude seem to be drastically different. Good grades in academics can only go as far as getting you a job, how you manage your job is completely based on the skills one has acquired interacting with people.

My uncle called me up before my joining and we had this chat about this new era of work life I am going to start off and all he emphasized on was- yes learning during the training was important but that's not  all, because eventually its all just going to be tests that determine how much we comprehend and more or less all of us in the batch would be at the same level or at least only considered so owing to our lack of industry experience in what we know.

What matters most according to him was how I project myself, in the way I dress to work, how I interact with my peers how good my communication skills are. This way I would be able to interact with people better and more effectively. How this works, according to him is that it's more pleasing to listen to a man dressed in a suit than one in ragged clothes and well dressed people are the ones who are more likely to be taken seriously.  I realized how true his statement was during the induction they did mention there are opportunities during work where we can brush up our skills as even the company agrees with the fact that a one time training is not going to effectively educate us in a comprehensive way, so they have a system which we can use and re-evaluate ourselves and work on our technical weaknesses.

What they expected out of us is to decide how we portray ourselves as company employee and of the moral responsibility we carry along with that ID card. One of the personnel did exemplify with a story that if one was arguing over the meter charge with an auto driver on your way to work, even if you mention your name to him, he will remember you by associating you with the brand you are wearing around your neck and that people from your company are more likely to be a bothersome lot. Hence the way the way you speak, the way dress are a little more important than what you know when it comes to the workplace.

Anyway all this work philosophy can make one go bonkers if delved into too deep, so as of now I am just very eager to know what's at stake for me during this period, and the important thing is to get the most out of what is offered to us, and that's what is the best thing to do with life in general as well. And to the end result is happiness and peace of mind.