Eighteen days to go - to bid adieu to the United States of America. A good time to think and to look back to see what this great country gave me -and the first look shows a sad picture of struggles to find jobs and live and depend on someone else, penniless by pocket but rich by hopes.
And then, the time has come where, a decision needs to taken - a time where a social man needs to be self sufficient, and also in a position to support others if necessary.
I stumbled onto this land in a hurry, to pursue my higher education, and more than the culture shock, it was getting out and living on my own, with my own income, that changed me. Into a man. I was supported financially for my education by my parents and the bank loan, but living expenses came out of an on-campus job of washing dishes for the University Catering Services. This taught me a lesson that most of the educated, middle class and upper class population in India has always ignored - dignity of labor.
I have worked hard to produce results, but this was the first time I was working hard to survive, to sustain myself. I was, in the process, exposed to a vice which has spread faster among all, than drugs, cigarettes or alcohol - Credit Cards. Too many of them, a phase of financial mismanagement and the damage control that followed, taught me the value of money.
I graduated, I got a job, and had to leave it, due to their refusal to do my Visa. This taught me the importance of clarity and firmness in speech and actions. A switch to software field, training self in new stuff, and waiting for the first project taught me grit, determination and patience.
The first project was a short one - it actually opened the doors and ushered me into the ACTUAL corporate world. I saw indirect politeness, office politics, and the tricks to get stuff done by your standards, if you are a manager. And then I saw the routine life of a software professional - working weekdays, working weekends, coming early, staying late, and having zero social life beyond the eight walls - four of his cubicle and four of his apartment.
Then came the slump period, where I had to again wait for another project, and I have been waiting since, writing blogs like this, keeping up my hopes, that a project would come across and take me in.
And then has come the period, where the decision has to be taken. A decision which will take me back to my own field, a field of creativity, a field filled with color and beauty. And I have made that decision. And the strength to take this decision, has been given to me as a gift by this country.
I leave this country wiser than before, ready to take on the world and tear it apart!
And then, the time has come where, a decision needs to taken - a time where a social man needs to be self sufficient, and also in a position to support others if necessary.
I stumbled onto this land in a hurry, to pursue my higher education, and more than the culture shock, it was getting out and living on my own, with my own income, that changed me. Into a man. I was supported financially for my education by my parents and the bank loan, but living expenses came out of an on-campus job of washing dishes for the University Catering Services. This taught me a lesson that most of the educated, middle class and upper class population in India has always ignored - dignity of labor.
I have worked hard to produce results, but this was the first time I was working hard to survive, to sustain myself. I was, in the process, exposed to a vice which has spread faster among all, than drugs, cigarettes or alcohol - Credit Cards. Too many of them, a phase of financial mismanagement and the damage control that followed, taught me the value of money.
I graduated, I got a job, and had to leave it, due to their refusal to do my Visa. This taught me the importance of clarity and firmness in speech and actions. A switch to software field, training self in new stuff, and waiting for the first project taught me grit, determination and patience.
The first project was a short one - it actually opened the doors and ushered me into the ACTUAL corporate world. I saw indirect politeness, office politics, and the tricks to get stuff done by your standards, if you are a manager. And then I saw the routine life of a software professional - working weekdays, working weekends, coming early, staying late, and having zero social life beyond the eight walls - four of his cubicle and four of his apartment.
Then came the slump period, where I had to again wait for another project, and I have been waiting since, writing blogs like this, keeping up my hopes, that a project would come across and take me in.
And then has come the period, where the decision has to be taken. A decision which will take me back to my own field, a field of creativity, a field filled with color and beauty. And I have made that decision. And the strength to take this decision, has been given to me as a gift by this country.
I leave this country wiser than before, ready to take on the world and tear it apart!
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