Monday, September 15, 2014

My One Year Vacation in OC

Yes last one year has been completely adventurous for me at this new location: Ocean City (OC), Maryland. For I believe that being on vacation for a complete year, would not be possible again before (and if) I retire and it would not be, for sure, as adventurous as this has been. July 2013, I completed my graduation and in August 2013 I moved from Michigan to Maryland for work. The little that I knew about this place before I reached OC, I was surprised, this place was actually an island, you could find a hotel easier than a place to rent and live, there were more bars and restaurants than Offices, entire OC was full of visitors, crowded roads and beaches; man a total paradise.

The heading of this post "My One Year Vacation in OC" could be a little misleading and should not be misunderstood by lying on beaches, drinking and enjoying with friends. Yes it was definitely a part of it but not all of it. I call it a vacation because I guess "time" sent me here to learn and move on while having an amazing fun experience in life. If you are going through tough times (personally or professionally) or have gone through at some point in time then you would most likely be able to connect to my story and for others it could just be an alert for the times to come (there are other people for whom life just could be "EASY & FUN", my post or any of my posts are not for them).

I could not have ever been at any better place to realize my own strengths and my weaknesses than OC. I started working with a start-up company in OC. Little that I knew about this company (which is funny), I was their first full-time employee whom they planned on supporting and keeping to the best of their capabilities. Well this situation was very weird but exciting at the same time. It took me no time to think about the growth of the company as a whole rather than just focusing on my job tasks and my performance. I felt like I was an integral part of the company while my friends and family have been constantly suggesting me to look for better opportunities but I thought may be this is the best opportunity, to work with a start-up and learn not just engineering but how a business is run. It has been almost an year working in OC and now I stand stranded in a position where the roads ahead seem more and more difficult with each passing day. Need a new job badly now. Sometimes I feel like I took a wrong decision and may be I was way too optimistic with what I can get out of my current job but when I look back at the entire scenario, I observe few good things and a series of hardships that have helped me into growing as a better person, increased the level of my patience and gave me an opportunity to understand how a business is run especially the don'ts of a business.

Before I started working, everything in my life was so much planned ahead of time and by god's grace everything happened as per the plan but recently I have learned that these uncertainties in life and the risks of life is what makes it more exciting to live if you look at it the right way. Things never happen for bad if you try to extract the lessons that you can learn from your hardships. In my case this phase has made me realize that if I have it in me, I will get a good opportunity, may not be soon enough but definitely. Another big thing that I recently learned through my friends (Nirupam, Sayantani, Upamanyu and Balaji) that time is not going to stop; there is no point worrying about the things that you can put your sincere efforts into (applying to jobs in my case) and achieve it. And this is exactly what I have been doing for a month. I do not have an offer in hand but currently I am being interviewed by some of the top solar companies in the US (which obviously was a result of my efforts, still continuing) and 3-4 hours in a day I spend either chilling with my friends or by contributing my time towards my passion in poetry, political speeches, social work and learning how to establish a solid business.

If I was not positive about the difficult situation I am in (and tonne of thanks to my buddies for that), probably I would be wasting my time and energy worrying about it, which actually most of us do (I have done that several times in the past). As a person it made me strong enough to control my mind to not think about negative stuff that could happen if I do not get another job in time. And friends, one really needs to put in a lot of efforts to do that. I have failed many times and few negative thoughts have managed to sail through but if you fight it every single time then your mind will be in good shape soon. Happiness is a mind game after all. Key is- Do not blame the situation/people, have confidence in yourself and keep moving. Keep moving with patience!! Trust me even if you have talent and confidence but not patience then its simply not going to work. Tell yourself that "Whatever the outcome may be, all I know is I have to give my best and I am giving my best". If things doesn't work (it didn't work for me for like a month), then change your approach (I learned using LinkedIn for my job search and all my interviews have been a result of that) but keep trying baby coz its coming...ohh yeah its coming baebehh !!

I am sure all of you would have read these so called inspiring philosophical lines somewhere and so have I, but my reason of blogging it is just to let you know that it works. And yes, when it works you feel absolutely amazing about yourself because by then you know that if ever again you are into a deep shit situation, you would be able to sail through it. No one else can be a better guide than you yourself. Feeling bad/discouraged at times is very much human but its illegal to have those feelings effect your output. Mind it !!

Life is awesome because I am awesome at choosing my F.R.I.E.N.D.S. And yes, there have been some least expected people whom I did not even consider close but they helped me keep my spirits high all this time. God bless such good people. Time to say good bye to OC and these awesome fun loving people. Alas!

Please do share if you have any such experience(s). I would appreciate it. Keep reading, love you all !!

Sunday, February 09, 2014

What did I do? The Initiative

Finally after completing my Masters I got a chance to see around and observe how my society looks like. Its not that I did not care about my society earlier, its just that I was waiting for the right time when I would be able to contribute to my society with dedication. I read an article sometime during my bachelor's which said "We provide funds to IITs, NITs and other government colleges so that these sharp minds can develop their skills without spending much and later SERVE THE SOCIETY", I don't remember who wrote that article and today I won't criticize our education system. The fact lies here- The amount I spent in four years of my engineering is almost equal to the amount one spends in a year in a private college. So someone paid for my education, someone invested in me- WHO? (I don't care) but WHY (yes WHY?), I asked myself this question and the lines from that article stuck my mind. It might sound filmy or funny but it is what it is, that's how I felt and that's what I thought.

India has the second largest population in the world and the kind of history my country is associated with, I cannot refrain myself from the fact that there would be problems. Many problems have been solved but plenty of them exists even after more than 60 years of independence. Yeah sure you will now blame the government for it but someone might blame you for choosing that government and that would end up in a never ending BLAME GAME.

I will just quote a small personal experience. Last month I was on Skype with my parents and I saw a young girl (probably 12-13 years old) sweeping the floor of my house who incidentally walked in front of the webcam. I asked my Mom "Who is she?". She replied that the young girl works in the colony and cleans everyone's house. I was curious and I asked the girl "How are you working during the day time? Don't you have to go to your school? Do you even study?", and the girl wasn't expecting this question. She was stuck with silence while my Mom spoke "She studied till class 8th and now she works to earn some income for herself and her family". I thought- Really Mom!! Is that the reason you would give me. I know it was true but I felt disgusted by my Mom saying that without even thinking that she is entertaining child labor. I know she is educated enough to realize that it is wrong but I felt my Mom conveyed the helplessness of that girl. But wait, who is helpless here? My mom? NO! Rather she has a feeling that she is doing good by letting the poor girl work and earn some money. I know money is important but still my Mom was wrong. Being a educated citizen she should not have entertained child labor at the first place. This is what I concluded. What my Mom is doing and several such families do is a CRIMINAL OFFENSE which is not judged by "helplessness".

But who is wrong here? The girl's family is poor, they cannot afford the girl's education and they need money ( yes you might call them helpless here) plus they are not educated enough (or aware enough) to THINK that their child deserves a way better future. I am a kind of person who thinks "What did I do?" and in this case as my parents were the subject, I had a question "What did my parents do?"

Now just keeping that question in my mind, I was reminded of a very similar example. One of my college's senior (Harsh Vardhan Singh), who once made a short movie which was selected in the Cannes Film Festival, used some of the uneducated/poor/underprivileged kids (who belonged to a village/community called "Bihari More" near NIT Durgapur's campus) for his movie. After returning from the Cannes Film Festival in France, he felt guilty of using these kids for his movie. He asked himself "What can I do?" and now he runs a group called BMEP (Bihari More Education Project) through which these poor kids are being educated. BMEP is not any organization or NGO or something, it was just an INITIATIVE of Harsh bhai and his friends and all the volunteers of BMEP (who teach these kids) are students of NIT Durgapur. The novel concept of BMEP was appreciated and encouraged by everyone associated with NIT Durgapur. Now the Alumnus of our college raise funds to provide books+bags+shoes etc to these kids, our college has given the permission to use the classrooms to teach these kids, good students among these kids are being admitted to good schools. A lot of good things are happening through BMEP, and everyone involved (especially the volunteers who are undergraduates and devote their time to teach these kids) is so selfless (NOT HELPLESS).

Now coming back to the girl's scenario working at my home back in India, are my parents really helpless to let that girl sweep my house and do nothing about it? NO, my parents simply did not take any initiative. But what initiatives I am talking about?
1. My parents could approach a school in the locality and ask for her admission. Some schools do have provision of lower fee/no fee for such kids.
2. My parents could have contributed an hour everyday to teach the girl.
3. If money was a hurdle in her education, my parents could have supported her education. (We can spend lakhs of Rupees on jewelery, food, clothes etc but we cannot spend Rs.500 or Rs. 1000 per month to support a child's education. That does not make any sense to me. Not at all).
4. Her parents could be educated/ made aware of the fact that child labor is illegal or in worst case could have been forced to stop it.
5. My parents could have simply thought that this girl also deserves as good a education as they have given to their own daughter.

To bring any change in India is very demotivating because very few would support you. And trust me at times the most difficult things becomes convincing your own parents. "Arrey beta kaha inn chakkaro me padd rhe ho". People plan to save money for next two months to buy a watch/ go on a tour or spend in one form or the other on themselves. I too have such plans for my saving but I have also planned to save for the education of that girl and she will start going to school from the next session :)

By no means I am concentrating on government policies for poor kids or NGOs or anything. By all means my question remains "What did I do?" "What did you do?" and the answer is "Look what BMEP is doing". I am not aware of the scenario of India as a whole, I only see things and people around me, I only see problems and solutions around me, I only learn from my experiences and from people around me. And so I try to do what I am supposed to do rather than bitching about the government or any third party.

The story of the girl I shared applies to so many kids in India and the story of my Mom applies to almost all of us ( the so called educated class of society, the "above average" income families but excluding people like BMEP volunteers). Things does not seem real until you do it, until you TAKE THE INITIATIVE. And things look so simple just after you take the initiative and you feel so good from within. Trust me on that!

I recently started my initiative called "Happy living, Healthy living" for the BMEP kids through which they would be taught the benefits of sanitation and how health creates wealth. I have never been so excited and never felt such satisfaction from within. And let me tell you THE ONLY TOUGH TASK OF MY INITIATIVE WAS TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE.

So the point is, there is solution to every problem but the problem of not finding the solution lies in not taking the initiative. Why can't everyone be his/her own government? Why can't I and you make our own 5 year policies? Why can't we allocate a portion of our funds for the betterment of our society? Why can't I simply try to stop/oppose if something is illegal? Why can't I educate/spread awareness among the people I meet in my day to day life? Why do I just see things happening? Why am I so helpless? DARE TO ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS!!

I support each one teach one. And why not? If I earn Rs. 30,000.00 a month, cant I spend Rs.1000.00 a month on a child's education? If you cannot, then just give me a breakup of where you are spending these Rs.30,000 a month. Ohh well who am I? Why would you share the breakup of your expenses with me? Why would you send Rs.1000.00 on someone you don't know? After all you earned every bit of that money through your hard work and by all means you deserve to spend it on yourself. Isn't it. If your answer is YES then sorry this post was not meant for you and sorry to waste your valuable time. Go and do Facebook my friend, you don't belong here.

Thank you for reading :)