10 Years at HomeFirst!

I have not posted anything about work till now but I thought this would be a good start. In fact, I took a long time to write this post, I have been drafting it for a few weeks now! I started redrafting it again on my way to Chicham, a small village in Himachal, bordering Tibet. I was chasing an almost impossible dream. I was on my way for a Snow Leopard Expedition. The plan was quite simple - find a great local guide, or an extraordinary spotter, deal with the extreme weather, get incredibly lucky, and end up with a few photos! As, I was sitting on the mountain ridge, above 14,000 feet, trying not to freeze and setting up the gears, we got our first glimpse of the beautiful beast. It was happening for real; I just saw one of the world's most elusive animals - "The Ghost of the Himalayas" in its wild, natural, habitat. And yes, I got a few photos but my mind started to drift off. The low oxygen levels do that to you. On that mountain ridge, I was thinking how much I have to save, to not show up at work the following week. But I never got that figure. Instead, I realized I liked going to work!

It was an interesting trail of thought. And showing up to work is practically what I have done consistently in the last decade, without thinking of the paycheck too much… 10 years ago, on the 4th of Feb 2013, I joined a startup named Home First Finance. I was picked up from the campus as a rookie and I gave myself 10 months. But here we are, 10 years at HomeFirst and we are a publicly listed company now! It's by far the longest relationship, I have ever had and I owe it to my bosses and the team (too many, far too many to name them individually). Thank you for creating a workplace that is dynamic, inclusive, and supportive of crazy ideas! The journey was difficult, but it has been incredibly rewarding. From helping someone in their homeownership journey to opening new locations. From creating cool office spaces to organizing epic events. From making friends for life to making a million, I owe everything to Home First! Over the past decade, we have worked tirelessly to build this brand, and I am proud to see that it has grown into what it is today. Through all our efforts, we have established a reputation for excellence in the affordable housing space!

I can go about HomeFirst for pages but I won’t bore you with the details, rather, I would take you to where we started. As photographers, we plan, we show up, and then we wait... Wait for the best light, wait for the subject to walk into the frame, wait for the clouds to roll in or roll out from the mountain peaks... Basically, wait for something extraordinary to happen and when it does happen, we are ready to take that photo. As I reflect on the past decade, I can see, as a company, being prepared and then waiting for the right moment has worked wonders for us. We have persevered through the worst of times, been patient, and went for the kill when we got a chance. The stage is all set from being consistently good to great, and for me, I am excited to go to work tomorrow morning, like I was 10 years back!

Thanks for everything! Cheers to the next 10, and beyond!

@the.photoguy
Rajarshi Mitra