NEVER GIVE UP; IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS: DOWN MEMORY LANE (VOL 30)

 

I returned to Chennai disappointed after the brief Gulf experience (See Vol 29). The opportunities dwindled to continue in Engineering facing   dead end with recent failures. I started losing confidence in myself confused on what to do next to fix the career.

My favorite poet Kannadasan in this old classic Tamil song (film Sumaithangi) has written this lyrics with a poetic metaphor in the hopeless situation like I was facing then.

 Mayakama Kalakama  Manadhilae Kuzhapamaa Vaazhkaiyil Nadukama

(Are you dizzy and worried, confused in mind and is life shaky?

 I was looking at alternatives to get over the crisis. That was the time when eCommerce was the buzz word in India after Y2K. I thought with my failure in Engineering career should I venture into IT? IBM had developed the course module in this new emerging eCommerce field with their eCommerce product for enterprises. There was this training institute Sofia Software in Teynampet who the franchisee of IBM is. Sofia Software offered full time 4-month course costing astronomical fee of Rs 80K. I lacked IT skills being in Project Management and so there is no guarantee that this course can change the life. Is it worth taking the risk at this stage of the career?  

Kannadasan lyrics continues further in that song that for every problem there is solution, and one needs confidence.

Vandha Thunbam Yedhu Vendralum Vaadi Nindral Oduvadhillai

(The worries don’t go away if you despair and lose belief in yourself)

We reviewed the financial status which was bleak. Our investment of Rs 50K in land at Mysore while working in L&T has been a disaster. Many of my L&T Medical colleagues purchased this land in the heart of the city of Mysore at JL Puram after carefully evaluating the proposal by the realtor. The realtor sold the same plot to multiple people, and we were duped   After cheating us this realtor later became the BJP MLA from Mysore. He gave false promises that he will fix the issue. This never happened as after becoming MLA he was unapproachable. We tried our best for few years to get that land registered and it was not saleable, and the entire money was lost. In my opinion there is no holy cow in Indian politics and corruption is everywhere irrespective of whichever is the party. The unfortunate citizens of the country are taken for a ride in turn by the political parties! Had we put that money in a house in Mysore we would have made a fortune like my other L&T colleagues.  

We were left with only the retirement savings. The PF and Gratuity money after working for 20 Years in India has accumulated to just about Rs 1 Lac. In this situation with an uncertain future was it justified to put this money for upgrading the skills?  I asked my wife Shanthi her opinion on the situation.

My wife and their entire family are devotees of Saibaba and had total faith in Sai as God. I was not a Sai devotee then. She said that if her god gives her signal, I can join the course. Then I remembered this incident before when we were in Delhi. One day in her dream Satya Saibaba has come and said that I will be coming to Whitefield for a job and poured Vibhoothi and blessed her.  I thought it was just a dream. But in a month’s time I got an offer and joined Tata Honeywell Pune and they got this Mega Automation Project in Whitefield. I was assigned as Project Manager for ITPL Park Project in Whitefield Bangalore, and we moved to Bangalore from Delhi.

When all our human efforts fail, we seek divine intervention. Kannadasan gives path forward in the same song.

Naalai Pozhudhai Iraivanukalithu Nadakum Vaazhvil Amaidhiyai Thedu 

(Surrender yourself to God and try to get peace in life)

We went to Puttaparthi to have darshan of Satya Sai Baba. That was my first visit and we stayed there for 2 days. Saibaba used to give darshan twice daily. I carried a letter and waited. First day he never came that side. It was same next morning also. As I was waiting for that last darshan before leaving, Saibaba went the other way and suddenly he turned back and came and took the letter from me and blessed and went away. It was not the blessing for me but to his dear devotee Shanthi. She was thrilled with sign of approval from her Lord to take the next step.

We came back and withdrew the retirement savings and paid for the eCommerce course. I started attending the course walking from their home at RA Puram to the Institute at Teynampet. I used to drive by our Maruti car until then when I was working in THL. Friends and Relatives who used to admire before now made fun of me ruining my career and most of them dissociated themselves. Some however continued to support me in that difficult time also and this experience taught me to identify the genuine well-wishers.  

On retrospective taken the career too seriously not considering the family impact.  It is difficult to adapt to frequent changes.

The poet again excels with this philosophical touch of lyrics in the same song.

Unakum Keezhae Ullavar Kodi Ninaithu Paarthu Nimmadhi Naadu

 (There are millions of people who are lower than you and you think of them and be content in life)

Although the course was on eCommerce it was mostly java language coding which was taught for most part. The history of Java is very interesting. Java team members (also known as Green Team), initiated this project to develop a language for digital devices such as set-top boxes, televisions, etc. Java is an island in Indonesia where the first coffee was produced (called Java coffee).  Java name was chosen by James Gosling while working for Sun Micro System who is considered as the Father of Java language. He thought of this name while having a cup of coffee nearby his office. Java language was incorporated by Netscape for its robustness and platform independence and is widely used in programming.

 I was the oldest student as most of them were freshers and even the tutors were embarrassed to see the odd man in the class. I had hard time learning Java but mastered towards the end of the course. This course did not make me an eCommerce expert since the module was new and the Franchisee did not have the level of expertise  per my expectation.

I started applying for IT Engineer roles after completing this course. I got 2 offers from Hyderabad one from Danlaw Inc in Banjara Hills and another from new eCommerce startup at HiTec City. Both the companies did not value my newly acquired IT Skills to my disappointment. They thought my Engineering domain experience of Project Management is more valuable for them.

 While returning from the interview from Hyderabad in the train again another divine intervention from a Ramana Maharishi devotee who taught me in a few hours how to change the outlook in life (See Vol 21 Journey of the life time).

I decided to join Danlaw Inc at Banjara Hills being a more stable company at their development center. Within 6 months time their client General Motors was interested in the Project Management role at GM HQ at Detroit. Danlaw Inc processed the H1B visa and by the year 2001 Jan moved to US to join Danlaw Inc at Farmington Hills Michigan.

I wanted to be in India my Janmabhoomi before coming to US always and that is why worked for almost 2 decades.  But the professional setbacks made me change the decision. Not everyone will get opportunity at mid-40s to move to USA the land of immigrants. But my regret is that my experience was not valued by the Indian companies where I worked.   

Lessons learned is that our skills need to improve constantly due to change in technology. It is always better to stick to your core competency in whatever job you take up. 

Family support is important, and I was very fortunate for my family stood by me at times of crisis and appreciate their support.

  Never Give up in Life and surrender to God for his Blessing! 👃

 

      Movie  Sumaithangi   Lyrics   Kannadasan

                                                    Music Viswanathan Ramamoorthy

                                                    Singer PB Srinivas

(To be concluded)