My parents had long written me off as a failure and a good for nothing yet somehow i managed to get my degree in software with a percentage even i was ashamed off (Now that was partly because during my time in the college i knew more about marijuana and LSD's than C or C++ programs). So fine i did not make it through the campus placements neither i could get a decent job in a software firm. I did the next best thing joined a call-centre division of an IT company (Compromise!!!-the way of life).What was my aim, it was ok if one day i could not build a house bigger than what my dad had did but all that mattered was one day i could say to myself what a swell job i did of my own life.
So ok i worked through all the calls trouble-shooting ROM's and RAM's and somehow i managed to get through the software industry in two years. So you might say as a software engineer i wasted two years, well bullshit,I infact learnt enough that i could well manoeuvre the intricate labyrinth of the software world.Very soon i got married to my childhood sweetheart ofcourse againts my parents wishes after all who is really cares about their obsession with stupid things like religion, caste, creed, color blah, blah.
Well, i had a great married life and a good career as a software engineer. In a course i spent my life. I was transported through six different cities Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madrid and Houston and i realised living in all these differrent cities was as good as living in different countries. I am not sure of what The "Indian"culture really means but i revelled in all the different walks of life that these cities offered me. My wife and daughter enjoyed it too. The considerable time that we spent in Texas, we enjoyed being america the american by watching ballgames and the tex-mex cuisine rather than wasting our time in the stupid Indian clubs, with women overly dressed in expensive silks sarees and children showcasing badly choreographed bharatnatyam steps.
I never exerted any pressure on my daughter to act Indian or try to be a mathematical genius so that one day she finish on top of engineering or business schools like most other Indian parents in the US did but tried to make her independant enough to choose her vocation wisely. She lived up to my expectations when she graduated with honours in English literature and worked as a lecturer. Though she did not marry an American because she preferred well mannered Korean botanist as her husband.
Finally i retired and left US to live in India. Well, i did want a penthouse in Hiranandani Gardens but i knew i could not afford it instead i preferred to spend my life in the rural confines of Goa the place i spent my childhood. The plots were at throw away prices and i managed to build a simple three bedroom house where me and my wife spent good happy hours tending our gardens and our dogs. I always loved being an atheist so i never visited the temples in the vicinity but i made it a point to donate old books and footballs to the village school and my wife who is a homeopath worked in the clinic run by a NGO treating sick villagers for free. This gesture made us immensely popular in the village.
MORAL OF THE STORY: LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OUT OF IT!!!!
PS: I did perform all the cremation rites for my parents and i did get a leave from my company for this very purpose. As to my cremation once i am dead i really do not care as to who performs it simply because i am dead.
So ok i worked through all the calls trouble-shooting ROM's and RAM's and somehow i managed to get through the software industry in two years. So you might say as a software engineer i wasted two years, well bullshit,I infact learnt enough that i could well manoeuvre the intricate labyrinth of the software world.Very soon i got married to my childhood sweetheart ofcourse againts my parents wishes after all who is really cares about their obsession with stupid things like religion, caste, creed, color blah, blah.
Well, i had a great married life and a good career as a software engineer. In a course i spent my life. I was transported through six different cities Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madrid and Houston and i realised living in all these differrent cities was as good as living in different countries. I am not sure of what The "Indian"culture really means but i revelled in all the different walks of life that these cities offered me. My wife and daughter enjoyed it too. The considerable time that we spent in Texas, we enjoyed being america the american by watching ballgames and the tex-mex cuisine rather than wasting our time in the stupid Indian clubs, with women overly dressed in expensive silks sarees and children showcasing badly choreographed bharatnatyam steps.
I never exerted any pressure on my daughter to act Indian or try to be a mathematical genius so that one day she finish on top of engineering or business schools like most other Indian parents in the US did but tried to make her independant enough to choose her vocation wisely. She lived up to my expectations when she graduated with honours in English literature and worked as a lecturer. Though she did not marry an American because she preferred well mannered Korean botanist as her husband.
Finally i retired and left US to live in India. Well, i did want a penthouse in Hiranandani Gardens but i knew i could not afford it instead i preferred to spend my life in the rural confines of Goa the place i spent my childhood. The plots were at throw away prices and i managed to build a simple three bedroom house where me and my wife spent good happy hours tending our gardens and our dogs. I always loved being an atheist so i never visited the temples in the vicinity but i made it a point to donate old books and footballs to the village school and my wife who is a homeopath worked in the clinic run by a NGO treating sick villagers for free. This gesture made us immensely popular in the village.
MORAL OF THE STORY: LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OUT OF IT!!!!
PS: I did perform all the cremation rites for my parents and i did get a leave from my company for this very purpose. As to my cremation once i am dead i really do not care as to who performs it simply because i am dead.
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