The Road not Taken

I was not having much of a work today and got into the mood of writing….I was wondering from where in the world I have got this zeal to write. I am a lazy goose and don’t usually take the pains to draft, correct the document and post it!! ! The atmosphere here in doha was so sick that I badly needed a stress buster and writing has been a great option so far. At least I get the chance to bug people and the best part of it is they are not around to give me a slap….. :)))

I am going to narrate a story this time…. The story of how a little girl grew up to become an electrical engineer….. Wondering who that might be? Hey it is me….

Well… from where do I start? I was born a day before Christ. The whole world was in the mood of celebrating my arrival…..well that’s the advantage you get when you pair up with someone big. I almost stumbled along with Christ but guess I was faster than him…... Though I missed the exact date, Christmas celebrations are on full swing on Christmas Eve and I can place my claim of that too……

I was brought up in trichy, a historically famous town which was trying hard to be recognized a city; with a long list of credentials in its hat; the NIT [whenever I meet someone and tell them that I am from trichy, im being asked “So, you are from NIT Trichy? And I feel like telling them my sad story of how I missed my electrical seat there….], the St.Josephs College which has quite a few famous alumina, the rock fort temple from where the city got its name; of course me, a famous personality whom the city was indebted to….. [Sorry guyz if this was over the limit….] and the latest in the list is the IIM….

The funny thing about life is that when you try to remember all the stupid things that you have done and dreamt of, there is little resemblance between what we wanted to become and what we have actually…..let me share mine.

When I was a child, I wanted to become a lawyer just because I thought it was all about talking and arguing…….

During my teens, my blood boiled whenever I saw a vehicle parked in the “No Parking” area and so I wanted to become an IAS officer and acquire all the powers to change the society if I become one……..

And it happened……one day the Buddha in me saw light……not under the peepul tree but while sleeping in my room and pretending to study physics. No matter how hard I tried the equations weren’t co-operating and I quit. I went into a deep slumber and in deep sleep I discovered where I wanted to land or indeed jump….

I wanted to be an engineer….for those who were expecting a spicier option, I am sorry. I could not think of a better option than engineering because

Becoming an engineer appeared to be the easiest and one of the cheapest options. So I pushed myself into the race of marks in HSC…..finally escaped the guillotine [academically called the cut-off marks…] and entered PSG Tech, one of the premiere institutes of the country…… [Very similar to the ICE shown in 3 idiots though u won find many kareenas there….] and I beg you not to ask me how as even I do not know how it happened. I just made it.

Again with a myriad of doubts, we were pushed into the CGPA market and were asked to accumulate as much as we can. When the first semester marks were out, I was so proud that I had managed a 9.57 only to find that so many people had scored 10…… I was thinking that I would be doing some hi-fi stuff with the machines shown to us in the lab. Little did I know that we would only be copying even lab readings from seniors’ notebooks…..no one knew the guy who actually did it. We were only bothered about our lab marks. As long as we could get marks, we were ready to do anything under the sun.

Our viva-voce sessions were always filled with professors trying hard to terrorize us with seemingly intelligent questions…. [Always wondered whether those guys knew the answers or not] and silent sarcastic mischievous glances exchanged among us. I cannot forget the sessions of Electrical Machines where once felix was trying to help me with an answer by prompting from the back and got caught. He was asked to leave the lab that day. For me, it was very embarrassing but I could see my friend walk with the same pride that he had entered PSG TECH. That day, I understood the attitude difference between guys and gals. If it would have been me in his place, I would have lost all hope in life.

Guys have two things to be done when they are in college. One is to gaze at all good-looking girls [EEE had just one in my class and that was…… sorry confidential….:))] and the other is to play cricket. Studies and CGPA were out of their focus and they remember only 2 days before any exam that they do not have any study material to even start off….Some studious ones are all set ready to face the ordeal and the rest are at the mercy of girls who are the best in world to write notes on any subject [don’t ask me whether they can understand what they write. It is a difficult question…]. I never understand how these guys manage to cramp so much of stuff on a single night and still come out with better marks….amazing dudes and hats off to all my class guys who were close relatives to Einstein and Newton. We couldn’t match their intelligence how much ever we tried.

And so, college life just went on for me without any spice….as there was no “interaction” between guys and gals in EEE. It is rather a “dry” department in any engineering college. Tell anyone you are from EEE and they give you a weird smile. Only fellow EEEians can share my emotions here.

We were told that every mark of ours would speak in the placements that were planned during the final year. At last the final year did come and we did appear before the panels……again one full blog is not sufficient to share my interview experience so let me go on…….i got into TCS, a software company…..now software was supposedly not a gud option for an electrical guy [sorry I am a gal…] so v again slogged for a “core job” which was a prestigious tag then. Too much of hard work and a bit of fate or luck(?) got me into ABB……the world leader in Power and Automation……..much to the surprise of all my profs who were of the opinion that gals fit better into lecturing or rising kids……..

The industry seemed a haven for a fresher and with high hopes, we stepped in only to be shown heaven during induction and thrown into real hell after that….After having been in the corporate world for almost 4 years, I now realize that it is all-time stupidity to have ever landed up here…and now think I should get back to academics and do a PHD…..don’t know if life would give me another chance to study….i would love to do that one day….I remember Robert Frost’s words from “The Road not Taken” which goes like…..

                                               

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back

Having come, I didn’t want to curse the system….I chose to be the coffee bean and tried a lot to change many things……an ended changing the company instead……This sector is filled with male chauvinistic people….. [By the way can anyone tell me any profession in this world that is not male chauvinistic?] I had to literally push my way through as a girl. I hardly found female company and found it very embarrassing in the beginning to stand and give company to managers who drink in parties. All men around trying to make merry and me in the middle stuck like jerry…. [hmmmm I am getting rhyming words; I should rather try my hand @ writing poems ]

There is no free lunch in this world and I had to work to survive. The only heartening thing was that at least my passion towards this field of power systems was getting fed. I was ready to overcome any situation in order to reach great heights in this male-dominated sector as a woman. Though I haven’t climbed very high up the ladder, I am a little proud that I have been able to survive here against all odds. Now I stand in a comfortable position with a boss who is unmatched in technical strength yet who treats me like his buddy. It is very rare that you get a good boss and I bet I have got one of the best. My only professional goal now is to reach his level. I salute my boss who is the sole reason I am confidently executing a tough project in an alien country with hardly anyone here to help me. I wish bosses around the world could be little like him. This would prevent many deaths which happen every year due to the accumulation of stress….. [Like aamir says to virus in 3 idiots, “aacha sir, kisiko patha nahin chala ; sab soch rahein hein ki yeh suicide hai “]

Now I am in a different country, alone trying to kill time and the nostalgia of good old days always grips when you are left to yourself. I remember all those sweet days which have now turned memories in the sands of time. Nothing spectacular about what I have done or where I have come……just thought of sharing it. I feel like reciting “The Road not Taken” aloud and hence I put it right here for you to read and chew your own sweet past. Mr. Frost, you were simply wonderful at poetry…..and I salute you….Tussi great ho boss…....

                                             

The Road Not Taken

                                         

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

                                          And sorry I could not travel both

                                          And be one traveler, long I stood

                                          And looked down one as far as I could

                                          To where it bent in the undergrowth;

                                     

                                         

Then took the other, as just as fair,

                                                And having perhaps the better claim

                                                Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

                                              Though as for that the passing there

                                              Had worn them really about the same,

                                         

And both that morning equally lay

                                          In leaves no step had trodden black.

                                          Oh, I marked the first for another day!

                                          Yet knowing how way leads on to way

                                        I doubted if I should ever come back.

                                         

I shall be telling this with a sigh

                                          Somewhere ages and ages hence:

                                          Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

                                          I took the one less traveled by,

                                          And that has made all the difference.

                                                                              Robert Frost