Yes, I lived with my friends for quite a while. And I was the last one to get a job. I was idle for about 5 months. I did manage to get work experience as an intern in two places but that internship was also unpaid.
What else could I do? I continued to apply for jobs. I did get a couple of interview calls during this phase. But I was not interested in the kind of work that they were offering me. No, I did not have a very clear idea about the kind of work that I was interested in either. But I did know that I did not want to spend my time doing that kind of work.
Often, for a few fleeting moments, especially when I was finding it difficult to get a job, I wondered if I had made a mistake by turning down jobs when I had no other offers in hand. But it was done, so there was no point in thinking about it now. So I just left it at that.
Actually, we immigrants do our best to get a job in companies that will sponsor our visa. So that narrows down our options to a certain extent. And then there are other issues that we have to circumvent even when we do get an offer. So that again limits our options of getting a decent job. Yes, it’s fine if all this makes no sense to you. You need to live there and deal with such things to understand all this stuff, I guess.
No, I did not get the dream job that I was aspiring for. Even there, I did have to compromise. And I did not land that job on my own too. One of my friends referred me to his colleague in his workplace and that is how I got my first job there. It was better than the offers that I had turned out earlier, that much was clear and the work was pretty interesting. At least I was learning something new here every day. I met all kinds of people and learnt about how the various departments worked etc.
A couple of years later, I landed a more glamorous job, in a reputed firm with a better salary of course. The work was mostly the same. But the best part of working here was that I could choose the projects that I wanted to work on too. I had to travel a lot and stay away from home on most days of the week. But I was okay with that. When I landed this job I was not married. But even after that, my spouse was very supportive though I stayed away from home for most days of the week.
Yes, the picture does look rosy. And we did enjoy our time abroad. We travelled whenever we could and I did get a lot of exposure too. But I was clear about one thing during this phase too. That beyond a point, money does not mean much. I mean to say that only our standard of living changes. We can lead a more luxurious life if we have more money. And of course, money is very important too. We cannot survive without it. But it can never replace the joy of living together with our families.
Several questions continued to linger in my mind every now and then even professionally. I wondered what I wanted to do next. And what the real purpose of my life was? Was it to earn money and live a life of comfort for the rest of my life? Was that all there was to my life? Or could I do something meaningful with what I had in hand? I then wondered if I could spend the next 5, 10 or 20 years doing mostly the same kind of work. Could I continue working as a consultant forever like this?
I struggled to find the answers to all these questions too. I wanted to start up something of my own. I wanted to live with my family too. I probably would have landed a decent job if I had opted to return to India. But what was the point of it all? I would end up doing the same thing again. And in order to set up some kind of an enterprise, an entirely new one, I needed a network to work with – a network of business-oriented people.
I took random shots in the dark. I started studying for my GMAT. I had 4 years of work experience so I just needed to spend a year of my life to get another Master’s degree in India. If I got into a premium institution my chances of landing a good job would be good. That much I realized. So I started studying for a couple of hours on the days I stayed away from home. I scored poorly in my first two attempts. But I made the cut in my third attempt.
What else can we do when we don’t get what we want? We just have to try again. That’s all there is to it and that is what I did too. Things are hazy now. Very hazy. But there were as hazy when I first went to study abroad too. No, even then I did not know for sure that things would work out well for me. I never thought of things like that. I just did what I had to do and left it at that. Even now, I don’t know whether things will work out well for me in the future. The lockdown is in place. None of us anticipated that either. We just took a decision. Yes, it was mutual. Packed our bags and returned.
All of us are clueless about what is in store for us. Before the lockdown, that statement was applicable only to us. But now that is the case with every single person out there in the world. Yes, my brother too is going through the same phase that I had experienced earlier. Only it is much longer for him. No, only one other friend of mine returned to India. He had a family business so that probably was the best option for him. Not many people quit their lucrative jobs abroad and return to their countries. Perhaps that works best for them. I feel this is what will work best for both of us so we did what we felt was right for us. And that is all there is to it. Let’s see what the future holds for all of us…