A Decade of Freedom

Today, when I was getting ready for the office amidst of rains in Hyderabad, I got a sudden flashback of a decade ago how I was getting prepared to face the corporate world's reality for the first time in my life. Then I remembered the joining date of my first ever job after completing my Diploma, which is 22nd July 2013. I was wondering how I forgot the most special day in my life. Yeah, it's been a decade ever since I came to know what is corporate and how it behaves.

A teenage guy (just turned 18) with absolutely no sense of fashion and with complete arrogance who passed his Diploma with distinction and knew only about Electrical Engineering from textbooks has to face the corporate world in India's IT Hub. I got placed in a campus interview with FMCG Company in Bangalore on 30th January 2013. Since that day I started imagining my life in Bangalore where I am free to do anything without anyone's supervision. 

Finally, the day came to say Goodbye to my native after 18 years of growing up there. It was a bit hard to do but I was so excited to see what Bangalore is all about and what changes I have to go through in this city.

I said "Hereafter, I will take care Dad so don't worry about me. I will give you money for your expenses, please take rest" as every Indian middle class boys says to their parents.

Happily boarded the train from Madurai and started feeling a sense of freedom. 8.5 hours passed like a minute and I reached the IT hub of India "Bengaluru". The first impression is the best as that saying I got a very good first impression the moment I came out of the KSR railway station. My company arranged transport & hotel for first 15 days in one of the five-star hotels. The induction program for the first two days happened at Fortune Select JP Cosmos Hotel. 

Then, I got an office at Jeevanahalli. I went there and started my training for my job. Straight away, I started facing difficulties. A decade ago, I was a big-mouth guy who can't control my flow of emotions and will speak a lot of whatever coming to my mind. Teenage arrogance can't able to control the anger and actions after it. 

Meanwhile, I was enjoying my time in Garden City and sooner it became my second home city which made me who I am today. Chennai did its part in the process but starting place is always special, right.

I started roaming on weekends in and out of Bangalore city, traveling in buses and speaking to Kannada people and learned Kannada up to the level where I can understand Kannada movies without subtitles.

Still, Nataraja Theatre in Seshadripuram is my favorite theatre in Bangalore for its variety of audiences and the emotions of those audiences will impact you at a certain level whereas INOX audience will be so silent (at that time).

Me at Lalbagh Botanical Garden

I had many firsts of my life in Bangalore. My first ever English presentation, my first smartphone(still at home as a memory of my first salary), My first Hindi movie, My first pub experience, my first live International cricket match at Chinnaswamy, my first betrayal by a so-called friend, and my first obsession with something. After some months, it was all about exploring Bangalore and balancing jobs in between. I will be traveling in a bus and I don't know where it will go, I will ask my neighbor on the bus about the place where this bus goes and search for the place on Google. It is my favorite activity to do in Bangalore for me back then. That's how I fell in love with that city.

I was getting good pay at that time for a Diploma graduate, so I was sending half of my salary to my parents and I felt so happy whenever I am sending money to them. After one year, the situation came where I have to leave Bangalore for my next phase of life. I was unable to accept the situation but it has to happen, it happened. I came to Chennai where I studied Engineering. 

Bangalore has its own pros and cons. We will say through it. 

Pros :

1. Inclusivity, where you will not feel alone
2. Amazing breakfast stalls
3. Great infrastructure (I used to go office in the metro, back then)
4. Great exposure for freshers (I will still say Bangalore is the best city to start your career)
5. Amazing pubs (Still I don't drink alcohol)
6. Good social meetup culture (Introverts like me should try this)
7. Pleasant weather (mentioned last but not least)

Cons:

1. High living cost (I learned how much valuable money is)
2. Traffic congestion (I practiced the most valuable life skill "Patience")

Bangalore is full of life lessons that changed me a lot from handling money, to reducing my arrogance, improving my dressing sense, learning more languages, improving social networking skills, and importantly communication skills. I am grateful forever to Bangalore for changing me. Nowadays, I can see so much hate towards Bangalore but they forgot they are talking bad about the city which transformed millions of lives like mine. 

In 2014, I said Bye to Bangalore and joined Engineering, After completion, I was so obsessed to join a job in Bangalore but my bad luck didn't happen. I may sound weird to many people but Bangalore is my go-to place whenever I can't handle things happening around me and it's my stress-venting-out place. I got two chances to settle in Bangalore, but destiny dragged me somewhere else. 

The last time, when destiny dragged me from Bangalore is to Hyderabad where I am working now. I came here and made some good friends for life and obviously learned Telugu at the level of watching Telugu movies without subtitles. I sincerely wish to go back to Bangalore and work from there. Let's see what tomorrow holds for me.