Dreams of a Modern day slave

“BEEP!!BEEP!!” ….the wailing cries made sandy to crawl underneath his bed in a drowsy state, to grab the alarm moving around his room with an annoying sound.  It was designed specifically for waking up lazy guys, as it keeps running unlike the other alarm which can be turned off by lying in the bed.“What am I still doing here?” Sandy asked himself as he was turning off the alarm. Yeah what is he still doing there?? Well back home he had his mom who took care of waking him up and to get ready to work but now he is all by him. Nevertheless back here in an empty room in America he is ready by a jiffy without any struggle.

He had rechristened his name from Santosh to Sandy as the people in the new country had hard time to pronounce his name.

“Hiya!!How are you doing?” beamed the passer by whom sandy crossed everyday on his way to work. He replied with a smile as he knew no one here had time to wait for the reply, it was a mere formal inquiry. In fact neither of them knew about each other’s name. They just acknowledged the fact that they walk pass each other every day at the particular time.

At office as soon as the battle with clients ended, his manager pounced on him with a new work.  After finishing his discussion with the manager, he moved to the next cubicle. In order to remind about lunch to his teammate Wang who is always engrossed in work.

Wang and Sandy had their lunch in a nearby fast food center with three other team mates. None of them spoke as they munched their food in hurry. Though they all worked together 9 hours a day, 5 days a week they never uttered any word which was not relevant to work.

“Oye Sandy!!! Wanna lift???  Yelled Sidhik, he works as a Database Administrator in another team.  “Nope Thanks!! I prefer to walk back to my apartment” replied Sandy as he went near Sidhik’s car.

“Why don’t you buy a car sala? Saving money you kanju* (miser)... “teased Sidhik . “Wanna save as much as I can and leave as soon as I can” grinned Sandy as he raised both his arms to express his feeling to fly back home.

“You will not!! Trust me...YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!!.... Do you remember what I said when we first met?” winked Sidhik.

“Every Kaminey* (just a bad word needs no explanation) says the same then when he flies to USA the first time. That he will stay for few months, earn as much as he can and leave…but the few months will not end even after few years. Note my words you are no exception and you will never leave this country on your own.”

“Sala look at you Sandy, initially you said three months. Now it is three months and year since you arrived here but you are still here. Everyone is greedy sala the only difference is people like me accept the fact but people like you don’t”.

“Well I happened to stay longer than I thought” replied Sandy as he shrugged. “ But I will definitely leave soon.”

“Hare yaar… when will you accept the fact that you are also a kaminey like me” smiled Sidhik. “Chalo yaar See you tomorrow. Bye!!”

On his way back home Sidhik’s words were running through his mind “GREEDY!!GREEDY”….he pulled his plans and thoughts from past. He disliked this town the very first day he landed. For a person born and brought up in a crowded and noisy colony this new silence was deafening. So the very night he decided to pack his bag for home exactly after three months.  As he will be able to save enough money, to apply for a house loan. His manger had a different plan though; he raised his salary and gave him role which enhanced his career.

Eventually Sandy stayed as he can’t afford to resist Goddess Lakshmi* presence (Indian Goddess for money and wealth). Every time when he saw his friends uploading pictures of fun they are having back home or when he spoke with his family. He used to promise himself he will fly back in few months.

As promises are meant to be broken, he is still walking on the lonely road. “Yeah!! He is right. I have become GREEDY. I planned to earn an amount enough to get a house loan sanctioned. Now I have earned half the amount needed to buy my dream house....but I am still living with this silence. Yes, I am greedy for sure. How did I become a slave to money?? How can I sacrifice the fun and joy I had with my friends and family for a stupid paper notes, which will mean nothing after twenty years”. Discontent and ashamed of his greediness, he started to increase his foot pace. He wanted to reach his apartment soon and was firmly resolved to return back to India.

He composed an email to his manager stating,

Hi James,

 Thanks for the opportunity you had provided me to explore and enhance my career but with due respect I request to relieve me from this work at states.

Hope this decision of mine doesn’t affect your planning.

Thanks & Regards,

Sandy

“Good Morning!!!” the IT class arose in chorus to greet Mr.Doraiswamy, their Head of the Department and a young man accompanying him. “Good Morning!! Students I would like to introduce Mr.Santhosh to you. He will be your new lecturer for RDBMS & OS systems. Santhosh has worked with reputed Software firms both in India and abroad. It is nice to have him in our IT department. I have to leave now, all the best Santhosh. After class, please do come over to my room.” After students introduced about themselves and their ambitions, Santhosh gave a brief session on software programming and what he is going to teach for the semester. Once the explanations were completed he asked the young minds to feel free to ask any questions running on their mind.

“What is the future of Information technology?”

“Well it is like any other industry as long as there are requirements or demand it will thrive. For sure people need software to reduce the manual work. Yeah, since too many people are trying to get into this industry, there will be a tough competition to get through”.

“What are the basic criteria to get into Software industry?”

“One should have a good logical reasoning skill, so that he can understand the requirement, design or resolve any problem”

“Which language is better Java or Dot Net?”

“We can never compare like that, preferring the language to be used will be determined by the system the client is using and what the architect feels good for the design”. Seeing at the expression less face of the students, he continued “hmm..How can I put it better…See Sachin can bat aggressively or patiently based on the match situation and conditions. Similarly as an architect you should decide which language is more suited for a client’s need.” The class laughter and whispers came to silence when a voice thundered from back.”Why did you leave USA? Isn’t it a dream for everyone to work there, to get good exposure and of course money?”

Santhosh paused for a second and he wanted to shoot back saying “Well I realized am no modern day slave for money, I want to spend time with my family & friends. That’s why I came back, anything else you want to know?” Before he could utter these words, “Am I killing their motivation? Their dreams? Money is of course a driving factor. There is a thin line between competition and jealousness, between necessity and greediness. Am I forcing my thoughts into these young minds?” as he wondered on his thoughts he heard a ringtone of linkin Park’s “Place for my Head” screaming near his ears.

 “Who’s mobile is that? Please turn it off” demanded Santhosh. “IT IS YOUR MOBILE SIR” replied the students in chorus.” What? I haven’t bought a mobile yet” remarked Santhosh as he checked his pockets. “It is your mobile, PICK IT UP” a voice yelled through his mind.

He heard a voice from the other end say “Are you awake Sandy? You there? Did I wake you up?” questioned a tensed voice. “ hmm…am sorry I just woke up” mumbled  Sandy. “Sorry for waking you up so early on Saturday. A senior manager from our head quarters has flown to our city and he was impressed by your performance/work this year. He wants to meet you, come to Holiday Inn. I will also be there in 30-40 minutes. OK?” said James.

“Sure, I will be there” replied Sandy as he jumped out of the bed. He saw the composed email in which he requested to fly back home. “Thank God!! I didn’t send it to James. It would have been silly” He thought to himself as he closed the email without sending.

On his way to the hotel in a cab, he spoke to himself about…”Wow!! Promotion finally, salary will also increase. Within few more months I will enough to buy a new apartment and I can fly back home”. Richie, the person who walk pass Sandy every morning waved at him while trying to cross the road with his wife and kid. Sandy who was totally engrossed in his thought about money did not notice the friendly greeting and the love and care Richie had on his wife and kid as they crossed the signal.

“Few more months to go and my dreams will become true” whispered Sandy to himself as he gave the money to the cab driver. It looked like the Goddess Lakshmi’s Picture in his purse was smiling and saying “As long as I come into this devotee’s purse in form of dollars, he will never leave this country. Will never realize he has got more than what he once dreamed for….and that slowly the life he once had is becoming a part of his new dream…and this slave will not get freed from greediness that soon…..”