pLaCeMeNt

As i was reading through a friend's clandestine effort of a blog, the thought occurred to me 'why do i never blog? , even if no one reads it, it might at least improve my typing skills'. and henceforth, do my efforts begin to commence (begin/commence are both words of same meaning, any one would suffice in a sentence) of a boastfully humble first encounter with the vast expanse of the bloc (he he, bloc makes it sound a bit conspiratorial). it's a gleefully confusing experience the first time you blog, because you have utterly no idea where to begin and what to pen down. the problem with these kind of write-downs (as opposed to write-ups) is that at each stroke of the full-stop at the end of a sentence, i stop to think,'will someone care to read this?, will they comment?, what will they say?. so, for the moment let's keep this private, and expose this only if at least worthy of bad reading. but come to think of it, why do we never read a blog? answer: because it's long.

Placed with a fully fledged job

Let's start with the present. According to me, the best days of anyone's life is the student days. Of course, at times a bit-over-rated. However, to say the least, my student life starts at a wonderfully humid town called Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates (ghelff, got it?). My days there were superbly suppressive, restricted, and devoid of freedom of thought. Yet, i just loved it there. My parents ensured i got the maximum freedom, assuring that i stood firm to the ideals they set me in (single child you see, cant afford to lose him). Anyways the life at Sharjah is a different topic to begin with (to be followed, soon). As i was saying, the best days of my student life were in another country, followed by college days at Trivandrum- my home town. The point is however, student life is not only memorable due to friends, classes, parties, treats, rides, travel and what not; but also because nobody dare question you. In a sense i mean, nobody asks you, "hey da, what are you doing?, are you PLACED?". ya, that's right p-lac-ed....

the one word i have begun to be disgusted about, 'placement'. 

it is a common belief of my native people that an engineering student at the end of his tenure (rather 4 year long ordeal of torturistic assignments, lab and exams) gets placed at a large firm with a paycheck of Rs.25k (not all of us are so fortunate). At first, i went for the traditional way of answering, " No sir, i did not get placed". the response would be the expected "back papersss ....haaaann", definitively with a wry smile. F@#^ you, whats your problem, it's my business, mind your own man; in the mind. but a helpless, subjugative smile ;in the face. At that instant back-mouthing is not an option, you dont want them to be thinking that you have gone rotten, that would of course, stir a new set of problems for my dad like "why sir, cant you teach your son manners? does he have to use bad language? You should be blamed...etc..etc...".

but fortunately, i havent mortified father by making him hear such corrective lectures in upbringing his one and only. Fortunately, i have a father that truly understands (beat that, suckerss!!!).

Speaking of Pa, he is truly the first best friend and still best mate of my life. Usually, the proverbial lingo goes "What you cant tell your parents, you tell your friends", but for me it's totally -the frigging other way. if sharing with your friend was taking him to an alley, speaking with him, with one hand on his shoulder and yapping about like mad as if no one else mattered, smoking on a common cigarette; this was how it is with my Pa, except excluding the cig (non smokers u see). i tell my dad,"pa, that son-of-a-b@#$ wants to know if i'm placed, why do people like him have to keep me reminding that i 'm jobless, i already know i 'm". and he would say calm and cool, 'shut your hole man, your time will come'. he doesnt give me an inspiratorial (boring) speech on how to excel in life. In fact, he always maintained that i live life as i figure it. He never imposed, he only took steps to correct my course lest i be lead astray. It was always my decision he waited for. But he would enlighten me on one of many incidents in his life. 

it went something like this. My dad was brought up in the village and it seems he failed in English in his higher secondary exam. the failure attributed to many factors, he was only one of 4 students to attempt the higher secondary exam from his native, they were self tutored, they didn't have standardized education at the place etc. So he went to his Pa, my Gran-daddy, who was a small scale agro-goods merchant, and told him frankly that he couldn't go on like this and would join him to the market to assist him from the next day. My grand was cool about it and agreed (typical!!!). the next day, grand asked dad to get ready and said they were going to the city. dad followed obligely, but little did he know that the trap was set and prey loomed in. Once in the city, he was amazed by what he saw next, taking his hand grand entered grandly in  the grand expanse of the grand Intermediate college and announced proudly to his son,"you will study here and you will study hard, but first you have to pass your higher secondary, so today we will be meeting one of my friends who retired from here". the rest as he puts it, is history. from a failed English paper and partial acceptance of his future as a small time merchant (due to dejection) he rose to enroll in the bar with an M.A.LLB, adding to it 4 years of successful practice (shyster lawyer) before he went to UAE. He doesn't boast that he had been successful or had conquered this or that, coming from humble start. What he implies is this, 'I had an understanding father, i want my son to be able to say the same'.

so, as of now, my ever enduring papa is enduring my lazy existence in his house. I know he wont kick me out, but one of these days I'm sure as hell, he will drag my lazy ass into the city.

P.S: for the mamas, annas and chettans, who want to know what I'm doing now for a living, "absolutely nothing, understand!!??"