By Tejaswi Vemula
“Bangalore ?!... but why? We have enough coaching centers here in Hyderabad as well, why do you want to go all the way to Bangalore?” asked my dad looking up from his morning paper.
“Bangalore ?!... but why? We have enough coaching centers here in Hyderabad as well, why do you want to go all the way to Bangalore?” asked my dad looking up from his morning paper.
“Because I feel like a loser here, because I am bored, because I desperately need some change!!” I wanted to say, but these are definitely not the reasons parents would like hearing so I just said “Sunil says I will have better chances there,he knows a few coaching centres that guarantee jobs immediately after the coaching is done.”
“Well we shall see,let me talk to Sunil first.” said dad.
“No, we won’t.” It was my mom,
“You are not going anywhere and where will you stay?! In those hostels?! Have you not seen in the news the things happening to girls these days? and you tell me you are going to go and stay alone in some unknown city?! Definitely not!”
I don’t understand why mothers think that all the crimes shown in the news are likely to happen to their children. As I was going to answer my phone rang, I got up and went to my room, it was Sunil,
“Well we shall see,let me talk to Sunil first.” said dad.
“No, we won’t.” It was my mom,
“You are not going anywhere and where will you stay?! In those hostels?! Have you not seen in the news the things happening to girls these days? and you tell me you are going to go and stay alone in some unknown city?! Definitely not!”
I don’t understand why mothers think that all the crimes shown in the news are likely to happen to their children. As I was going to answer my phone rang, I got up and went to my room, it was Sunil,
“Hey did you speak to your dad?” he asked.
“Ya but he wants to talk to you first and mom freaked out as expected!”
“Don’t worry,I’ll talk to them.Now stop thinking too much and be happy.”
Sunil is my cousin, three years elder to me. He went to IIT, got placed in Microsoft in his third year and knows every damn thing about a computer. I was sure he was going to convince mom and dad as people generally tend to trust an IITian when he is giving advice on studies, career and stuff.
“Ya but he wants to talk to you first and mom freaked out as expected!”
“Don’t worry,I’ll talk to them.Now stop thinking too much and be happy.”
Sunil is my cousin, three years elder to me. He went to IIT, got placed in Microsoft in his third year and knows every damn thing about a computer. I was sure he was going to convince mom and dad as people generally tend to trust an IITian when he is giving advice on studies, career and stuff.
As expected my parents finally gave in and I was leaving to Bangalore the next day. The next day I got into the train after saying goodbye to my parents and settled myself on the seat next to a window. I gazed outside. The platform was full of life and activity. Everyone seemed so happy and clear about things in their lives.
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| Photo credit - Swagat Yadav |
“Oh god!! What am I going to do now?! I’m Such a looser! I dint get placed in even one of the twelve companies that visited my campus, I can’t do MBA anywhere as I have a horrible CAT score and my visa application was rejected so I can’t even do my masters! Perfect!! Doors closed on all the sides! I have no idea what to do with my life now. How am I going to face people now? Dad and mom must be thinking that I am useless. Every idiot I know, asks me the same question ‘what next?’ What’s my answer going to be? Oh why the hell cant people mind their own business?!” I thought to myself.
The train started, I took out a Jane Austen and started flipping through the pages to distract myself.
“Awesome book! Isn’t it?” a voice broke my morbid train of thoughts. I looked up and saw a guy sitting in front of me , he looked like a typical software hunk. I ignored him and went back to my book. “Hey, aren’t you gonna say something?!” he said.
“Oh please shut up and mind your business” I wanted to say, but I just smiled and said “Yes, it is.”
“I am Rishi and you?” he said.
“I’m Keerthi.”
“So what do you do?” he asked.
“I did my B.Tech from Hyderabad.” I said wondering in my mind when he was going to shut up.
“Oh, what’s next?”
Now that’s it I wanted to push him out of the train, in my imagination I already had! But then I thought “Hey wait, he doesn’t need to know the truth! I can tell him anything!” So I went on and said “I got placed in IBM Bangalore.”, wondering whether that was ever going to happen.
“IBM!! I worked there for 2 years and then left.” He said.
“Why did you leave?” I asked.
“I wrote CAT and got into IIMK, so I left the company.”
“Cool!! You have been to IIM?! Life must have been amazing for you.” I was suddenly jealous of this guy.
“Well, actually it wasn’t!! I met with an accident a month after joining IIM and had to sit at home for a whole year. I never graduated from IIM.” He said.
I was shocked. Life is a bitch. Just when you think you have got everything sorted out and everything is perfect it messes up things.
He went on “I had no job, I couldn’t complete my MBA and that after slogging hard for two year sacrificing everything to get into IIM. I was stuck up at home uselessly, but then life doesn’t wait for anyone does it? It goes on anyway and so must we. We can’t sit crying over what happened. I started brushing up my skills in designing, I was always good at it but never considered it as a career option for obvious reasons. But then there is not much you can do sitting at home right? Now I am an interior designer and have my own company. I do not earn lakhs and lakhs but I am happy with the way it has turned out. I married the love of my life and my life is just great now!”
I was amazed. The next day as I got down the train, I still didn't know what to do with my life, I didn't know whether I was going to work for IBM ever but I knew one thing, when life closes doors on all the sides and you can’t open them, then you must break them down!!
