Time for a little introspection

The "less-hectic" life continues. Yeah, life is still going on in a controlled way. I seem to have controlled the work at office, at least for the time being. Return of senior leads from Japan has helped tons. At least now I can discuss problems and work estimations with people who will be able to appreciate and understand the finer details involved.


So here I was, on a nice shining morning at Bangalore. It was a Good Friday. We have a long weekend off. Just what I wanted. I do not understand why I was not allowed to take my leave now, though. There are very minimal pressure at work these days and I could have easily gone home for that one week break. Strangely, I have asked to take it on the last week of April. I am kind of worried about the level of pressure I will be under then. I really need the break, you now. I have become home sick, big time. The last time I was like this was in the autumn of 2007. I was away from home for 10 months. This time its been six months, but it feels like I have been away for over a year.

Two of my room mates left for Kolkata this morning though. Last night we had a great time. It was a kind of party, stuffs like this happen whenever we go off to our home town. Poppins was at the receiving end of the fun though. Apparently his girl friend will pick him up at the airport. The guy missed dinner and he wanted us to bring some milk for him. We kinda saw the lighter part of that food choice you know! Guys will be guys :)

This morning I made two new friends. I am really happy to meet these two guys. This post is more about them than any thing else - Sudipta and Bhaskar. Yes they are bongs at bangalore. These two guys are from kolkata. Friends for last 7 years. They have done their graduations in Economics from colleges in Kolkata which I must admit, I have never heard about. They did not manage to get first class either. Both admitted frankly that they never liked studies and they never had the passion for it. They just ensured that they manage to get the degree somehow. Anyone who is from my part of the world can imagine how tough it is for a "barely-passed" economic graduate to get a job these days. The odds are really really slim.

What did they do? Sudipto knew that he has to get into the computers. It is where the bucks lie. So he had been doing some part time job at the Kolkata HP centre all through his college life. He was earning 3-4 grand those days. He would use that money to pay college fees and enjoy every single Bangla band show at the Najrul Mancha. After college he did training on Computer Hardware at IIHT, a renowned training centre at kolkata. Once done, he used his references at HP to get a job at HP service centre Bangalore. He even referenced his best friend Bhaskar at the same office. Both are now doing a stable job here. Sudipto has even managed to bag a laptop as appreciation from HP because of his hard work. They are earning anywhere between 10-15 grand a month. Not a lot but a lot lot more than they would have earned
a) had they not thought out of the box.
b) had they not dared to come to Bangalore.
Bhaskar's father for instance, apparently earns about 5grand a month.

I was really happy, actually glad to meet these two folks. This is how you live your life. You know what your limitations are, you do whatever best you can within the limits. You work hard, you work honest, you do whatever you need to do to make a life out of your existence. I see Sudipto and Bhaskar staying a 10 by 7 room. I do not see any frustration, any "I miss my home" syndrome, any "this is killing me" syndrome. I see dreams in their eyes. I see an honest approach in their eyes, they want to have a comfortable life, they are going to make it through their hard work, they are going to do whatever it takes to reach there.


I could not help but think of my college mates at kolkata. Nutu, Buldi, Sndp, Nyaba.. all so talented. All so well educated. All of them could have done so much to their career here at Bangalore. They decided not to venture out of their comfort zone. No one wanted to fight it out. They all just did not want to push themselves. It was all so disturbing. Buldi chased a girl, whatever he says, I know it was the main reason why he wanted to go. That girl married a guy whom her parents choose for her. You can love a person more than you, but to that person you may not exist. Poor bulu learnt that lesson.. in the most unfortunate way possible.. He got into this Devdas mode (guys will be guys!). It took a lot of effort from Sndp, Prat and me to get him out of his negative mode. He seems to have gained stability. Sndp is still holding on to his H1B dreams. I hope he gets through the lottery and eventually gets his papers signed.. unlike me, who, even after qualifying in the lottery, got his papers hold back. Nutu is getting married this june. As Shubham says, he is from a different galaxy altogether. He is not from Milky Way. All he cares is about eating his rice, daal and bengali style fish curry in peace. Stop him from eating fish for 2 days, he will go lunatic. Nyaba.. well.. I dunno.. he was supposed to get an onsite for 2 months which did not happen. I really dunno what are his plans. He is still a kid.

I dont know where we all be after five years. Me, Shubham, Poppins, Den2 have taken a path which totally different from the path of the others I mentioned above. I really dont know whether we will be able to conclude who took the right decision. Me and Shubham keep discussing, that may be we are missing the finer joys of life. We are missing the long addas at our home town. I miss being taken care by my parents, I miss being near to them. I miss the long walks at college street, searching for books. I miss the christmas eve at Park Street. I miss drinking beer with all those buddies at kolkata. I miss the heated political discussions over a cup of tea. I wish I had all that. I wish allowed all those little pieces of fun. Bangalore does not give me all these. But Bangalore has given me something else. You know what is the most important thing Bangalore gives? It supplies fuel. It supplies fuel for the dreams of all the ordinary students like me, sudipto and bhaskar. People like me, who despite being a non-IIT engineer can actually get to work in developing eNBs for 4G telecomm technology like LTE. Whereas most of my college mates are either doing some stupid maintenance work on Mainframes, or writing some SQL query which even a class 7 student can write, given proper training. Shubham is already making it big, working at Freescale, one of the topmost semiconductor companies around. Bangalore allows people like Sudipto and Bhaskar, who are far far away from proper computer degree to earn a salary which is already double of what their parents used to earn. I am sure in 4-5 years, these two blokes will earn anything around 50 grand a month. Now that is some achievement. Their college mates will not earn that even after 10 years of their job, if and when they get it.

Success, Right, Wrong are very much relative terms. I would be really happy if bulu is happy about his decisions in the years to come. I would hate to think that I took a wrong decision as well. Something tells me though, both groups will not be happy. Anyways, what the heck.. lets earn money for now na? :) Lets keep the pursuit for happiness alive..!! I am sure we will all have a story to tell in five years anyhow!