CHAPTER 9 - Moving On..
I had to move on, I tried several things and nothing worked. Our results were out and I passed with distinction, it was the first in my life. I knew that Pooja also cleared and our university had a request to forward her Master’s certificate to India.
It was a very long and hard month where I did nothing but work at Asda and watch movies. After the results, I started applying for jobs. I got several interviews and all of a sudden, one of them just clicked. I joined this big firm based in Central London as a Junior Developer. It was quite an achievement as they sponsored my UK Work Permit as well. Based on my qualifications, recommendations from professors and Master’s results, they offered me a salary of 24,000 pounds per year. I was super excited and soon, work-life started. I had to move out of the university apartment and found a shared accommodation with a Philippines lady who was single and owned this huge house right on the border of Zone 1. She was in her 40s and was very friendly and accommodating. Every time she used to cook something, she used to leave some for me. Even though I offered money for food, she never used to accept.
All my friends from my group moved away to different places. Two of them got jobs in Reading and North England and the rest moved back to India. My other friend who had this apartment was still living there and working, so I used to hang out with him during weekends.
Soon I got busy with work and I did very well. The company gave me a promotion within the first year and I was allocated annual paid leave. My salary jumped up to 26,500 GBP per annum and it was time to take a holiday and visit my parents back in India.
I took 3 weeks off and booked a return flight though Emirates again. It was very nostalgic and I was excited to see my parents as it has been about 3 years now. My parents and family came over to receive me at the airport. It was a very happy reunion. We went back to our house and the first thing I did was go into my room. My mom kept it mostly unchanged and the moment I stepped in, a wave of nostalgia swept through me. I couldn’t wait for the moment to be alone again in my room and when it happened, I simply loved it. I went though all my stuff, my cd collection, movies, the USM was still standing strong and it even turned ON!! It was such an amazing feeling and I wanted to just soak it all in without any distractions.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Pooja, as Hyderabad was her home town too. I knew where she lived, but had to keep my promise and not break it. So I decided not to interfere, but still couldn’t keep out. Out of curiosity, I drove past her house to take a look. It looked quiet, and normal for any Indian house. I couldn’t help but wonder whether she got married or not? I used to have these weird imaginative thoughts in my head, thanks to all those movies, that something dramatic would happen. I used to imagine that Pooja would stand up to their parents and realise how happy we were together and would run off and come back to me! It’s been eight years since Pooja went away from my life and it never happened. If you recollect, Google had a decent social networking platform called “Orkut” which recently got shut down. Orkut was very popular with people in India and that’s where I found her, nearly 3 years after she left me. She was married and lived in America, I assume it was the same guy. It was after 3 years so the heartache wasn’t that bad. Time does heal everything, even though we initially feel like nothings going to change, but true, time does and will heal everything! Its just the intermediate period, which you will have to brave and suffer.
Back to my Indian trip, I spent time with my parents, took them to nice restaurants. I always remember asking them money but for once, it felt great to spend my hard-earned money on them. They, as usual, took me to all the temples and made me take blessings. They also made me visit all my family members as well. They arranged a get together with family, initially I was hesitant but it turned out very well. I genuinely had a good time seeing all my cousins after a long time.
The three weeks went by very quickly and I was on the flight back home. My parents were in tears and I was really going to miss all this and be lonely again back in the UK. I made a promise to myself that I will visit India once every year and try to bring my parents in between as well.
Work-life quickly took over and soon, I was the senior developer in our company. One year turned into three and I liked working there. Unfortunately, there were no girls in my life for these three years. I mean there were many beautiful English girls but you know right, Spots with Spots and Stripes with Stripes. There was this Spanish girl who used to hang out with me, we even went to a couple of movies but there was nothing more than friendship between us. I liked that relation with her. We tried to do this once every 2-3 weeks and she was fun to be around with.
At work place, I was quite popular and people counted on me to resolve their issues. The main directors liked me and thought I was one of their best investments. They showed this by giving me decent bonuses every year. The very first time, I got a whole months salary as bonus, I was thrilled about that. It kept of getting better and soon, work became a part of me.
Now, coming back to girls at my work place, there was some really amazing and beautiful girls. There was this one girl is support, she was simply brilliant. I had a secret crush on her right from the moment I joined the company. She was smart, always well dressed and very friendly. I knew she had a boyfriend, I mean all the pretty girls do have boyfriends, and there wasn’t one who was single. I used to talk to her when we were on breaks at the same time. I used to love talking to her.
Let me talk something about stereotypes. I will try and be honest at this, but again, this is for fun and just from my perspective -
1) All Indians are Muslims – Well as I mentioned initially, Hinduism is the main religion of India. And yes, we are not so popular because we do not cause any issues. We have quiet, subtle, hardworking people, who mostly mind our own business.
2) We are bad drivers – Hmm … maybe, not all of us. I am very cautious when it comes to driving, I have been doing since past 3 years and yes, no parking tickets or traffic violations till now (Touch wood!!)
3) Our funny accent – I think our older generation made this accent popular. I mean take my dad for instance, most of his education was not done using English as the medium of instruction. English was introduced only when he got into college. And if you take my grandparents, they wrote science, biology, etc. in our native Telugu language in their examinations. When those people migrated abroad and learnt to speak English, naturally they will have this thick accent. But for those generations who grew up learning everything in English and watching Hollywood films/TV shows, we do not have the same accent as our elders. But still, we do pronounce some words differently and that might sound funny. But really, ask a French guy to speak in English. I know, for most girls, it sounds romantic, but it almost is as if they invented their own dictionary and pronunciations!
4) Size does matter – What can I say, we do not stand a chance when compared with African people. But still, we are breaking population records! So it’s not all about size I say, performance counts. Looking at various figures, I would like to admit that I fall into the “Above Average” category.
5) Do males have this feminine side – Thanks to Raj Kootrapali from The Big Bang Theory, he really sometimes come off as a bit feminine. I do not totally disagree with this, I put this on how we are raised. We all are very emotional, relations mean a lot to us. We take care of all our family members, even extended ones and whilst growing up, most of us males are very close with our mothers. I think that is where we get this softer side.
Also here are some more things which sound totally weird from outsider’s perspective. Indian kids stay with their parents even after they get married and have kids of the
ir own. It is not like kids cannot afford to live on their own, it’s more like they can take care of their old parents and keep them close. We also never take permission or appointment to meet our family members. Most of us usually walk in, hoping that they are free. If they are not, we do the same some other day.
Alright, I know the title and the main topic of this book haven’t been covered yet and it is already down 9 chapters. I wanted to take you all on my life’s journey first and then mention how everything changed after the big windfall!
And now, I will get to it, keep reading on..