It was not meant to be like this ....

Or was it ? How many times do we ask this question to ourselves ? I have been asking this pretty often of late and so have some of my friends. After finishing college from one of the top colleges of the country, one would expect all of us to be happy.

A high paying job with a life free of cares and worries. A job of a "software engineer" no less, something which lots of bright young students in school dream of becoming. We were(are?) one of them too. Everyone enters college with a lot of enthusiasm, however, the system sucks out whatever drive you have pretty soon.

As the hour of graduation draws near, one is suddenly snapped out of the reverie and begins to make frantic efforts to get a "good" job. So after following this script, we should have had a sense of accomplishment and been happy and content.

Then again we come back to the refrain ... it was not meant to be like this. I mean, come on, who wants to sit and code all day ? That too in an alien place where you cannot even communicate with your maid without an interpreter ? Where the lunch in the office is full of surprises everyday ? Where the roads are clogged .... oops my mistake, where there are no pukka roads? After the wide open roads of Delhi, its openness, it largeness, Bangalore makes me feel claustrophobic. More on that in another post.

So coming back to the point, it was not meant to be like this. After busting your ass to get into college, and then busting some more to get out, leading to further busting to earn money..... I guess the script writer of this story was a bit of a sadist ? Methinks that he didnt like the color red (for those who dont understand, please ignore).

But then, what about those who sleep on the pavements each day ? Or those who see islands of shiny buildings and bright cars dotting their filthy oceans of poverty ? Those in the heartland of the country, who struggle for survival each day ? Where drinking water is a luxury and caste a reality ? It was not meant to be like this for them either.

So where does the solution lie? I am currently reading a book called "Holy Cow", where an Australian woman details her experiences in India. She remarks that people in India count their blessings. No matter how bad their position may be, they thank God for what they have; that they are better off than those below them. Perhaps this is where the answer lies.

For the job which is a burden for you, there will probably be hundreds of people more than willing to take it up. For the person living in some remote village, living in Bangalore might be a dream come true. In fact, it could be the dream of many a NRI, longing to come back home. For each grouse in your, there will be someone who will look at it as a blessing.

Life is not always what you want it to be. The only thing that you can do is keep your chin up and weather the storm. Always try to make the best of the situation and remain positive. Having just embarked on a careers, one should keep the big picture in mind. Minor irritants in the present should not distract from the bigger goal (dont know what it is at the moment and pretty confused about that).

To end, I would like quote a shloka which I learnt in school which goes something like ...

In life, who has got only happiness or who has got only sadness ?
happiness and sadness in life are like a wheel, which keep coming back again and again.