At my new office in Dhanbad on Diwali.

The Diwali lights were on. A few copies of Kuch Kaam Kar Lo were on the desk. And the office chairs I had ordered were still on their way.

I sat down anyway.

I have worked in corporate offices in America and Singapore. Today, the office I am proud to call my own is a little cabin in Dhanbad. I hope to build a corporate office one day that people will remember for the work we did there. When that day comes, I want to remember this desk, these lights, and how it felt to sit here before all the furniture had arrived.

The return of the ironed shirt

In Singapore, my Head of HR once told me, “Amit, you always dress up like you’re going to attend a wedding.”

I was only wearing formals! But I liked my shirts well ironed, my trouser creases sharp, and I had my own way of dressing for work. Then Covid made working from home a routine, and somewhere along the way, even I stopped paying so much attention to those creases.

Now I’m curious to see how I’ll get back into the rhythm of going to an office. This time, when I get dressed in the morning, I’ll have to remind myself, “Amit, you’re the boss now.” I suspect the joke will wear off the first time I have to solve a problem I used to forward to someone else.

Last month, in my essay about the Indian dream I am building, I wrote about what it meant to want more say in the direction of my life and work. Sitting at this desk, I could see what that freedom asks of me in return. I get to decide what we build here. I also have to make sure we do the work.

The months I rarely spoke about

This office took longer than I had hoped. When my father died in March, I went into what I can only describe as a black hole. Very few people knew. For months, I struggled to focus long enough to do the work in front of me.

I remembered losing my Mama, my Dadi-Maa, in 2001. Much of the year that followed is still a blur. After that period, I started my first job. This time, a mentor helped me find my footing sooner. Years after getting ready for that first job, I found myself getting ready to go to work again, in an office of my own.

I spend part of my working life helping others through difficult transitions. It was a humbling thing to need that help myself. I wish Papa could have sat with me here for a few minutes. I think I would have shown him the book on the desk before I showed him anything else.

From a plan to a place

I’ve always been more comfortable with strategy than with the daily follow-through of operations. Give me an idea and I can spend hours thinking through what it could become. Give me a list of small decisions that need closing before the work can move, and that’s where I have to pay attention to my own habits.

I’ve had to learn this before. I took a greenfield crushing plant from scratch to operation. I also spent years wanting to write a book, with a writer’s block that stayed with me through my corporate years. On 2 October 2025, Kuch Kaam Kar Lo finally became a published book. A year later, I was reading from it with my family as we marked its first anniversary. Now there are copies on the desk where I plan to do the next stretch of my work.

This room asked me to practise the same thing again. I worked through the design, the layout, the wiring and the lighting, and followed the decisions through to a usable office. With a cabin this small, even a switchboard or a chair has to earn its place.

In my mentoring work, I call this the journey from Actual Being to Premit Being, from Current Status to Desired Status. For me, it begins with admitting where I am today. I know I can see possibilities. I also know I have to get better at finishing the ordinary work that makes those possibilities real. This office gave me somewhere to practise that.

My new address

In my corporate years, I often moved from a smaller office to a bigger one every three to five years. I’d love to build faster this time. What matters to me now is what happens inside the room. I want students to have space to think beyond the options everybody is suggesting, professionals to talk honestly about a change they’re considering, and mentees to leave with a next step they can actually take.

If you’re working through a transition of your own and want to explore mentoring with me, you’ll find me at Premit Brothers Career Mantra. For now, you’ll also find me in this little cabin in Dhanbad.

It’s the advice I put into Kuch Kaam Kar Lo and still need to hear myself. Start with what you have. You can improve it once you’re moving.

The chairs will come. I’ve started.

नहीं आता तो सीख लो, कुछ काम कर लो।