A Year Later...

If you have been a dedicated Engineering student, like the Chatur of 3 Idiots or something like that, never mind. This post is not for you. Congratulations in fact, for you're doing great, probably placed in a job for a year and happily earning money by working in service sector!

If not, then:
Type 1: Loner Eclipse
All your friends are contemplating on quitting their jobs as they've started finding it monotonous but you never managed to get into a college that offered great placements. You've saved yourself a year of corporate slavery, but left with a lower bank balance than the rest of your batch-mates. You're bored of listening to parents ranting everyday about you being a home-bound snob and find escape routes whenever your 'working' friends are free, but you're yet to figure out life in general.



Type 2: The Repentants
You're either tired of your current job or tired of waiting to get the joining date.

In first case, your day begins with listing the things you hate: e.g., MONDAY. Your hopes of finding some visual inspiration at office were shattered in your first month and now nothing encourages you to work. Despite being driven by the wonderful HR talks at the start, which lead you to try and prove yourself, your mid-year ratings were a dreadful disillusionment. Although your employer is generous and boss pretty cool, you don't find yourself adding value to anything much, as most of the things you do everyday mean nothing to you personally. At elongated parties, you find yourself talking about not having the sense of fulfillment or job satisfaction. If drunk, you'll say, "it just doesn't feel...*long pause* 'Me'!" again and again.You cherish your weekends more than those 5 days at work and eagerly wait for a national holiday more than you've ever waited for your salary.

In second case, you've enjoyed this one year when you didn't have a job by pursuing your true interests. Now that the joining date is about to fall in your hands, you're excited about the job but worried if you'll end up liking it more than this year or not. You had no money but what you did made you happy. Perhaps you should've followed this interest and not gone for Engineering 5 years back. Perhaps you had had a time turner and could learn this professionally too, so that you could at least have had a strong background to pursue masters in this field. Remember, all of it can happen. In the movies.

Type 3 : Masters' Minds

You've either never fallen for the allure of placement in final year or never left the touch with studies as you entered the energy-sucker corporate environment. Now you either have completed a year doing your masters in the same or some other country or are assured about cracking an MBA entrance exam this year. You also specialize in advocating your choice to those helpless 'gotta-do-something-else'rs as you're well aware of the benefits of what you're doing. Basically, you have your mind clear, full of stable ideas about your future and indeed, happy. The best thing about you is that you cannot or need not be able to comprehend it if someone says, "I want to be reachable to my parents in any problems they face in their lives, and by that, I mean something more direct than skype" or "money doesn't matter to me really" or mere "it's different over here".

Type 4 : Rare View Peers
You have learnt enough not to care about what others think. Fuck them. You follow your heart and do the job where you're passionate about what you're working on, even if it pays comparatively less. You love your field, love to talk about it, you're generally spotted to feel zealot whenever someone asks you the question, what do you do for a living? Your answer to that question actually echos, "I live!"
You indeed are a rare find. You worship Confucius' words. I cannot be as daring as you.

For me, the job was an eye-opener. I worked a little, earned a lot and spent most of it on travelling, saved a bit too. This job was bearable; because I had taken so many leaves and spent them doing what I love the most, with people I love the most. I was thinking of asking for more number of leaves instead of an increment in yearly appreciation meeting, but that cannot happen as I chose to quit. I don't have no clue what I'll be doing a year later, but I'm trying my best option that allows me to stay here in India. Friends are helping me know where I go wrong which also narrows down my options everyday, otherwise I tend to be overwhelmed by different ideas and expand my list. Certain unrealistic dreams are to be crushed, but such is life. I'll work out something, it's going to be fine one day. :)