Hi Bloggers,
There are times when you have so much to tell and let others know about your experiences and thoughts but don't get the proper audiences or the medium to convey. Over the past 2 years or so, similar thing happened to me wherein a story (real) was going on in my mind and my soul too, but didn’t know whom to tell and most importantly how to tell.. now when I got this medium (ch1blog) and a beautiful audience (like you), I guess this is the right time and the right place to disclose what was buried inside me all these years.. In next few paragraphs, you gonna see what changed my thinking COMPLETELY.
Sometimes, "we really judge the book by its cover" - a famous adage. It’s so very true, we definitely do that and in my case, I should say that sometimes without even seeing the book, we not only judge the book but also make certain life-long perceptions about it. Confused why I am typing this lingo… Go ahead, you will find out the reason…
July 5th, 2005 the day I got placed in Cognizant along with 142 others college friends . The so called happiest day in my life, till that point. With full energy, I straight forward went to meet my society friends and tell them my future is so called secure now… Series of congratulations rejuvenated me and luckily they didn’t ask about my salary and all. But they did ask about the posting. "Most probably Chennai" came the reply from me without even knowing where exactly it is. "WHAT???? teri to lag gayi ladke" pat comes the answer from them. Not knowing what they are talking about, I simply ignored them because I was happy in my own world (at least for that day), because that time I didn’t know that a dumbo like me who studied more in his primary school than in 4 years of his engineering college (or the other way, who studied less during his college years than his primary schooling… take whatever you like…. but the truth, everybody knows… ) can also land up in a MNC.
Days passed on and I thought things will change, but other than my zeal and enthusiasm, everything remained same… Then 1 fine day, I throwed a party to my buddies for my job as they were continuously pestering me for the same. Everybody was having ball of a time in disc… and suddenly somebody said "Sumit yaar, tu Tamil Nadu kaise rahega yaar… wahan kuch nahi milna" (how you gonna stay in Tamil Nadu, you won’t find anything there for sure). Blood started running again in my brain and without even giving a second thought I replied "dude, I am going to Chennai, not Tamil Nadu… what are you talking about… I think you had some extra vodka today… so keep your avuncular advice with you… I don’t need it"… next 5 mins, everybody was rolling on floor loud…. and I was the reason for their laughter (this time again)…. After that, every few days, I was continously reminded by my fellow friends and parents that Chennai is not a place for guys like me…. and by the end of my college days, even I also started thinking the same…. Judging the book with its cover?? huh….
Then finally, COLLEGE days got over and so called fun-filled life too … and we were about to enter so called professional life 8o… After so called hi-fi in-campus training in my hometown, I was supposed to join rather REPORT (professional lingo) on September 1st 2006… Thought of spending some time in Bangalore first, before joining cooperate life… asked my parents to accompany me till Bangalore so that whole family could have a good time there in southern part of India…. after spending whole of 1 week in COOOOL places like Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty, the DOOM DAY came finally 30th August, 2006… Going away from my parents for the 1st time (good for me, not that good for my parents ), I was really excited… After all, aapne paero pe khada hone ja raha tha… But I was able to see tension building in my parents mind, as there only younger son was going so far from them so they forced to accompany me till Chennai also…. I accepted without much retaliation…
So, we started early morning from Bangalore, this time in train as Chennai is just 350 kms away from Bangalore… Cool breeze slowly and steadily started converting into HOT air almost impossible to tolerate… breakfast for the first time was in shape of idli, vadda and chutney (till now it was only Paranthas and butter)… well dressed people in jeans and cargos were no more around me, you can very well guess their attire…. Minutes were passing like seconds, and seconds like moments, i was heading closer to Chennai without even knowing what's there in the store for me… after having breakfast, we were free for next 5 hours, so I thought of spending time reading some book.. Luckily I had one novel with me in my bag "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" (I still remember the novel, how can I forget… )… Obviously book touched the right nerve and titillated me to the core. While I was busy reading that, my mom also took out some print-outs from her bag containing list of all the well known areas of Chennai and contact numbers of few brokers, then only I realized that she was really tensed and worried about me… I immediately put the book down and started talking to mom and dad. I told them that there is absolutely no need to worry, I will be able to take care of myself properly…. just relax, chill, enjoy were the words continously coming out from my mouth… In the mean time, I noticed an South Indian orthodox couple continously starring at us and might be wondering what we all were talking about. And I also didn’t give a damn to explain them about my problem, as by that time my friends had already changed my perception about the people. After tolerating my carefree and take-life-a-bit-easy attitude, finally my father also started looking into those papers and I was like "pleaseeeeeeeeeee stop getting worried and just enjoy yaar… we are going to see entirely new world now… so, enjoy this time and have a blast.." Seeing the seriousness on my parents face, finally the old orthodox couple uttered names of few places like "Adyar" and "Mylapore" wherein they asked me to check. I quickly noted down them, just to show my parents that even I am also concerned about my coming days … I thought the couple had done their job very well and won't be showing that little bit extra care about me now. But I was wrong. They said something which I still remember and I think will never forget throughout my life. "aap chinta na kaare… aaapke puttar ka hum khayal rakhenge (you don’t worry, we will take care of your son)" said that old man to my father. I was shocked to see him speaking in Hindi, and more than that I was shocked to see the concern he was showing towards our family without even knowing each other. At least I haven’t seen anything like this in northern part of India . "humme pata hai aap log shayad hum south Indians ko aacha nahi mante aur sochte hai ki hum kissi ka khayal nahi rakhte, aaisa kuch nahi hai (we know that you people don’t like we south Indians and think that we don’t take care of anybody, but that is not the case)" was the next line which directly touched my soul… Really, I WAS TOUCHED DEEPLY. I was stunned, speechless and had no courage to see in his eyes… For the first time, felt myself really small in front of that great personality… May be because of those lines, I am still here in Chennai for the past 2 years STAYING happily, ENJOYING joyfully and LIVING ecstatically.:)
Sometimes, we really guess the book by its cover… :(
There are times when you have so much to tell and let others know about your experiences and thoughts but don't get the proper audiences or the medium to convey. Over the past 2 years or so, similar thing happened to me wherein a story (real) was going on in my mind and my soul too, but didn’t know whom to tell and most importantly how to tell.. now when I got this medium (ch1blog) and a beautiful audience (like you), I guess this is the right time and the right place to disclose what was buried inside me all these years.. In next few paragraphs, you gonna see what changed my thinking COMPLETELY.
Sometimes, "we really judge the book by its cover" - a famous adage. It’s so very true, we definitely do that and in my case, I should say that sometimes without even seeing the book, we not only judge the book but also make certain life-long perceptions about it. Confused why I am typing this lingo… Go ahead, you will find out the reason…
July 5th, 2005 the day I got placed in Cognizant along with 142 others college friends . The so called happiest day in my life, till that point. With full energy, I straight forward went to meet my society friends and tell them my future is so called secure now… Series of congratulations rejuvenated me and luckily they didn’t ask about my salary and all. But they did ask about the posting. "Most probably Chennai" came the reply from me without even knowing where exactly it is. "WHAT???? teri to lag gayi ladke" pat comes the answer from them. Not knowing what they are talking about, I simply ignored them because I was happy in my own world (at least for that day), because that time I didn’t know that a dumbo like me who studied more in his primary school than in 4 years of his engineering college (or the other way, who studied less during his college years than his primary schooling… take whatever you like…. but the truth, everybody knows… ) can also land up in a MNC.
Days passed on and I thought things will change, but other than my zeal and enthusiasm, everything remained same… Then 1 fine day, I throwed a party to my buddies for my job as they were continuously pestering me for the same. Everybody was having ball of a time in disc… and suddenly somebody said "Sumit yaar, tu Tamil Nadu kaise rahega yaar… wahan kuch nahi milna" (how you gonna stay in Tamil Nadu, you won’t find anything there for sure). Blood started running again in my brain and without even giving a second thought I replied "dude, I am going to Chennai, not Tamil Nadu… what are you talking about… I think you had some extra vodka today… so keep your avuncular advice with you… I don’t need it"… next 5 mins, everybody was rolling on floor loud…. and I was the reason for their laughter (this time again)…. After that, every few days, I was continously reminded by my fellow friends and parents that Chennai is not a place for guys like me…. and by the end of my college days, even I also started thinking the same…. Judging the book with its cover?? huh….
Then finally, COLLEGE days got over and so called fun-filled life too … and we were about to enter so called professional life 8o… After so called hi-fi in-campus training in my hometown, I was supposed to join rather REPORT (professional lingo) on September 1st 2006… Thought of spending some time in Bangalore first, before joining cooperate life… asked my parents to accompany me till Bangalore so that whole family could have a good time there in southern part of India…. after spending whole of 1 week in COOOOL places like Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty, the DOOM DAY came finally 30th August, 2006… Going away from my parents for the 1st time (good for me, not that good for my parents ), I was really excited… After all, aapne paero pe khada hone ja raha tha… But I was able to see tension building in my parents mind, as there only younger son was going so far from them so they forced to accompany me till Chennai also…. I accepted without much retaliation…
So, we started early morning from Bangalore, this time in train as Chennai is just 350 kms away from Bangalore… Cool breeze slowly and steadily started converting into HOT air almost impossible to tolerate… breakfast for the first time was in shape of idli, vadda and chutney (till now it was only Paranthas and butter)… well dressed people in jeans and cargos were no more around me, you can very well guess their attire…. Minutes were passing like seconds, and seconds like moments, i was heading closer to Chennai without even knowing what's there in the store for me… after having breakfast, we were free for next 5 hours, so I thought of spending time reading some book.. Luckily I had one novel with me in my bag "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" (I still remember the novel, how can I forget… )… Obviously book touched the right nerve and titillated me to the core. While I was busy reading that, my mom also took out some print-outs from her bag containing list of all the well known areas of Chennai and contact numbers of few brokers, then only I realized that she was really tensed and worried about me… I immediately put the book down and started talking to mom and dad. I told them that there is absolutely no need to worry, I will be able to take care of myself properly…. just relax, chill, enjoy were the words continously coming out from my mouth… In the mean time, I noticed an South Indian orthodox couple continously starring at us and might be wondering what we all were talking about. And I also didn’t give a damn to explain them about my problem, as by that time my friends had already changed my perception about the people. After tolerating my carefree and take-life-a-bit-easy attitude, finally my father also started looking into those papers and I was like "pleaseeeeeeeeeee stop getting worried and just enjoy yaar… we are going to see entirely new world now… so, enjoy this time and have a blast.." Seeing the seriousness on my parents face, finally the old orthodox couple uttered names of few places like "Adyar" and "Mylapore" wherein they asked me to check. I quickly noted down them, just to show my parents that even I am also concerned about my coming days … I thought the couple had done their job very well and won't be showing that little bit extra care about me now. But I was wrong. They said something which I still remember and I think will never forget throughout my life. "aap chinta na kaare… aaapke puttar ka hum khayal rakhenge (you don’t worry, we will take care of your son)" said that old man to my father. I was shocked to see him speaking in Hindi, and more than that I was shocked to see the concern he was showing towards our family without even knowing each other. At least I haven’t seen anything like this in northern part of India . "humme pata hai aap log shayad hum south Indians ko aacha nahi mante aur sochte hai ki hum kissi ka khayal nahi rakhte, aaisa kuch nahi hai (we know that you people don’t like we south Indians and think that we don’t take care of anybody, but that is not the case)" was the next line which directly touched my soul… Really, I WAS TOUCHED DEEPLY. I was stunned, speechless and had no courage to see in his eyes… For the first time, felt myself really small in front of that great personality… May be because of those lines, I am still here in Chennai for the past 2 years STAYING happily, ENJOYING joyfully and LIVING ecstatically.:)
Sometimes, we really guess the book by its cover… :(
