Another among the Millions !!

Wrapped up in a dusty brown leather over a white shirt & blue denims, 
Raging across the dry cold lanes of Kashmir on an Enfield. 
Giving a damn to the world and its moh-maya, Flying free as a bird over the hazy meadows !!
This was the dream, this was the hope I wanted to near, this was the moment I wanted to capture !!
Ofcourse, Life has always had different plans !!


"Not everything will fall in your plate in a day, everything that you earn here, has to be earned and more importantly deserved", those were the golden words that kept buzzing Vikram's mind. A self inspired individual whose dreams inspired many others in college days, whose dreams only kept getting bigger as the gates were nearing the close. Like others, the guy had no idea that it would be difficult to dream with all the cushion later.
Like any typical Indian parents, Vikram's too had given a lot of stress on securing a government job to ensure a laid back and stable life throughout. Being placed in an Indian IT MNC giant from an average engineering college had given Vikram a small leap. To him, the suited corporates looked bright and shiny. He wanted to be one of them, he wanted to be in that neat looking attire with the responsibility of changing destiny of a firm with his decisions. Like the thousands every year, Vikram joined the IT lane and became one of those many lost faces in the crowd. Everything seemed so perfect in the beginning, even things that he was scared of coping up with, were coming to him as if they were meant for him. This was the dream start he had hoped for, and he hoped the dream would continue for long enough. With the heavy and strenuous training, he only developed appetite for assignment which were provided in the form of project allocations in this world. Clearing a small contest for that, only boosted his confidence before he set into the actual world where he was supposed to be tested and evaluated.

The days were young, the energy was contagious but not so was the environment, and it was not long before it started impacting him. Although he earned some awesome friends in the process, but the highs had almost taken a break, and it was time to only pick the best amongst the lows. His patience was put to test, his dreams were put on hold, he did not know what to expect next, but all that kept him on was the hope that it was only a phase, and as per the phrase, "This too shall" have passed but it did not. The glamour of this fast moving industry had some sharp thorns and for now, all those thorns seemed to have had a taste of Vikram's fortune. It was amazing how the small things of life had started to matter so much.
A Perfect start was important, but if not, this time was only a built up to something perfect in future. Amidst all this happening on one front, he kept himself motivated enough to keep up the fight. His friends stood like pillars he could depend upon, poor fellows had to undergo through a lot of melodrama. His young heart too fell for some hearts around which did not last long enough to yield any results.
" Where am I headed to ? Will I conquer my dreams ? Why was I the only one with all the trouble ?", the questions never stopped.
Time had started to respond, and there was a strong sense of belief that it will change, and will change for good. Thankfully, it did for some time, but as always it could not go on for long. It seemed almost as if everything he tried hard to pull in a positive direction, had to somehow end up in the wrong one. You cannot bet on time, as it never remains the same. The guy who had the capability of inspiring others with his sharp crisp dreams, was not even able to smile with his lips spread wide. There was a difference, a difference which had been clearly created by time.
Heart broken, dreams half shattered, but still the courage to walk up to the same road every weekday and sit infront of a machine which had no answers to emotions but only alerts for deadlines. Where was I ? A rented machine, who could think, design logics and programs for clients of my company who employed more than 60% of my country's literate population only because people in their countries were too lazy to churn their dreams. It seemed more that I was slaved for my own needs, than for my dreams. My mind had scares of my appraisals, my future and it seemed unfair.
My dreams were big, they were wide and deep. They kept me near the shore of happiness, they made me believe it was never a pursuit but only a state.
Today, is a different day, Today is more about going in a direction about which I have no idea where am I headed to, its more about closing my eyes and do what I have been told to. It burns my soul, it intrigues me, it questions me - When do you pull out the plug ?
I looked around me, I saw the same faces, and many who had accepted this to be their fate. I feared being one of them, but today, probably I am also one among them.

The One, who spends his/her share of happiness from Friday night to Sunday evening.
The One, who plans and cancels their personal plans coz of work.
The One, who fails to wish his/her best friends and relatives on their important days.
The One, who has almost vanished from society.
The One, who reaches up people only in times of need.
I am the One, just an another One among the crowd of millions !!
I am the One, who gains happiness when I travel out of my own country and lives alone abroad.

Vikram is not just one, there is a Vikram in all of us, each one of us goes through a Vikram phase in life, but probably the hope is to carry on !!
Life can pull you down for a while, but you can certainly pull it back if you believe you can !!

"The Dream of streaming through the Kashmiri valleys is still a hope,
The Clock might have slowed down the pace,
but the dream is still open wide.....
for the Clock has not stopped !!"

Blunt Truth of Indian Economy !!

India Outsourced

Late in the day, clock strikes noon and half of my people in the city are still sleeping. Strange but true, today residing in one of the four metropolitan of my developing nation, is still dizzy for the day, they are hungover with work, family and life. What, why and how’s are things we have stopped asking since a longtime now. With what’s left, we have one hope we still rely on and that’s “Time will solve all our problems, all will be stabilized and probably that we will learn to live, this way or that way”.

India, a nation we always have held pride for, and will continue to be proud of it all our lives, does not matters what worse we have seen down here - the struggling population, the under-powered & deployed youth, the highly sophisticated but non-functional government and last, an agro based country which still prays for monsoons, coz without nature’s mercy, our farmers are rusted iron rods. The Country’s GDP still reads 72378.12 Indian Rupees, of an economy which is the 9^th ranked over the globe. 1947 – 2013, 66 Years passed down the slide of the calendars and time which should have differed by total indifference, is today only a mirror flip of the past. Climbing the ladders on global scale by being member of hundreds of councils and meets, what is exactly that we have implemented for ourselves, our jam packed crowds, our still struggling youth and the ever challenged women.

Umpteen promises of the ruling parties forming government, unexpected financial crunches of the MNCs, the never ending scandals of the people in operation, and the natural disasters, nothing comes to mind when I take down the data of this country in a blink. Generations changed, mindset changed, advancements tagged in, literacy increased drastically, but what we have been left with, deep fissures in our plates, insecure about the very next moment in our lives as is our economy, how deep are we rooted to our banyan. The answer remains that we do not know. We remain fancy props dancing to the tunes, an average crowd that we still form. Fathers still worry of age, not because that they do not have dough to roll their old age, but coz their young firing guns have romped out of the Indian Gates. And who have remained are either compromisingly frustrated as outsource checkpoints, and the pending rest, who Facebook.

Late in primary school, we came to know about the rural-urban differences in India, the ill history that had drubbed them miles behind on the roads of development, of the whole that I have seen better in the past two decades I have inhaled for, is infrastructure. Honestly, it is the only mainstay we have got support for & built, managed after so many Swiss bank transactions. Gandhi, Nehru, Singh, Patel, Shastri and drenched in blood & sweat had us many stories narrated, but which of those I should believe. My country is only a tight buttoned democracy, the only democrats that I have seen alive here are a section of society which enjoys privileges by the income they earn as celebrities, sons of “families”, the khadi team and not the mentionable.

And a bulk of my generation still outsources its life to IT,which has built many dreams but at the same time, drowned many potentials. The most recent trend, is the dumping of resignations in bulk & later repenting, coz when it happens, it seems the best decision, but sadly the gates outside remain closed. Thanks again to our dibbly dobbly economy with multiple dependencies. 

Where am I? How do I race my generation? How do we contribute? Of what seems the possible plan, is to close our eyes, earn our mysterious CtCs, dip our tongues in sugar for appraisals and one fine day retire with a lush flat in the city, and wait for my life to get over. So after all this while, I come back to my topic, “India Outsourced”, which the world outside will read the other way, but the fact, it is the truth. So many deters, so many challenges, who do we ask to return, who do we ask to stay or just like one of my colleagues at work, who has a line jotted at his place “ This too shall pass”.