Experience

Apologies for writing something new in the middle of a intended series of articles on my Himalayas Trip.

Everything began when I just finished my schooling (class12). I had to choose an engineering college. Ya, the only choice I had (or knew) about 'what to study next' was engineering. I had to choose between a deemed university in Thanjavur, an autonomous university in Coimbatore and a very strict college in Chennai (where my parents lived, where my home is) that was affiliated to Anna University.

I knew that graduating from a deemed university is not as valuable as one done with Anna University, was a huge rumour. Every course is a good one as long as one is interested in it and every college is good, as long you have some (even a few would do) good looking girls in the campus. So, since I had changed my room's light-bulbs a couple of times and used to remember electrician’s phone number by-heart, I thought I was interested in Electrical Engineering and realizing that good looking girls can be found in every corner of this spherical planet and facebook, I chose Thanjavur.

Being in a new place away from home was exciting, new friends, sharing wardrobes and tables with  room mates instead of my brother, the best dinner was maggi (Top Ramen was even better), boring weekends, super fast WiFi and a warden who will the mark attendance especially on the night when I decide to catch a movie or grab a couple of drinks with my buddies. Life was awesome. Got used to the new hostel life, which was new only for a couple of days. Fortnight trains back home during the first year, bunking a couple of classes during the second year, asking parents for extra money during the third year and attending only a couple of classes during the last year. College was Awesome.

After hardly working for 4 years and deep knowledge in Electrical Engineering (you definitely know in part I am being sarcastic), I got a job in a leading (leading as in half of the college would get placed here and the other half with the competitor) IT company. The best part of the job was the offer letter said “Working from Chennai”. Accepted the offer, packed my bags and headed straight home.

After sitting simply in the training program for 4 months, I was deployed to Mumbai. Had fun there,  ate vada pav and dhahi, met some good looking girls (wow, a sphere has corners too), had new job as Program Analyst and lot of money to spend the weekends sleeping. I had lot of fun. Staying away from home gave me a lot of experiences, I learnt a lot, my horizons got wider, the people I know were from varied backgrounds and I definitely had a good idea of what I wanted to become.

Now, after working for 3 years and having done none of the things I have mentioned above, I am in a foreign land studying in an International University, renting a house with a group of guys I met through facebook. I still know how vada pav tastes, I know a lot of people from varied backgrounds and I had lot of fun staying at home all the twenty odd years. I know however wide my horizons are, its still not enough. I know good idea is a myth and a good idea about what I wanted to become is the biggest of all.

Staying in hostel gives a new experience, undeniable. But for a good experience one need not stay in hostels or stay away from home, one needs to be aware. Everyday is a new experience, some-days we react and some-days we respond. 

Even these 3 weeks of staying away from home has been an experience, but staying home waiting for yours friends to come from Thanjavur during weekends and play beach cricket is great fun, exploring the same old city with a new set of friends is awesome and watching your parents grow old staying very close to them is beautiful. What if I don't have your experience, you don't have mine either and we are both happy.