Topic suggested by Kumaran Narayanan on Fri Apr 9 12:38:13 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
I did not realize that it was my fate which was being decided when the
Union government debated over the Tamilnadu State government's plea
to lay more railway lines in Tamilnadu. I was happily doing my
Mechanical Engineering in the Prestigious Regional Engineering College,
Trichy, at that time.
The Union government came out with a decision of laying a line from
Tiruvannamalai station to Salem junction when I came out of the College
with a Degree in hand and dreams in mind. I dreamt of becoming a
software engineer. Reasons for the dreams are many: After seeing my
peers in Computer Science who had already secured nice white collar
jobs with huge pay; After hearing about the life style of my seniors
working in USA.
Reasons for the decision of the government are many. Tiruvannamalai
was the home town of the minister for Transportation, Tamilnadu. It
was this constituency that elected him as the Member of Legislative
Assembly for a couple of decades in succession. Tiruvannamalai was
recently promoted as the district head quarters. Chief Minister felt
that it was a reasonable request that a District head quarters should
be well connected by road and rail. The truth that Tiruvannamalai
District had only 24 km length of Railway line since train was
invented (out of 62,000 km in the country) and none of the governments
that assumed office after independence really cared about
Tiruvannamalai made him support the minister's request which finally
got financed by the Railway Ministry.
The project came for implementation. Tenders were floated. L&T bagged
that 1000 cr project.
It was a fine Sunday morning. As usual I squatted on the floor with a
cup of nice Coffee in left hand and "Data Quest" in right hand,
glancing through the Appointment section. With the help of NIIT,
I had learnt some computer jargons like, SQL, Y2K, database, Mainframe.
I was searching for such words in those ads when my father gazed at me.
He showed me the L&T ad which invited fresh engineers to work for
their new railway line laying project. It said that that project would
go for next five years. It talked about the benefits that the state
and the people would get if this was completed successfully. The ad
ended saying that such success depended on great Engineers like me.
My father had his own dreams. As a post master of West Mambalam branch
in the crowded Madras, he somehow managed to get me passed out of the
college. Now he wanted me to share the family burden, if not fully,
at least partially. Once he could get his daughter married to a nice
guy, he planned to retire from the job voluntarily and had planned to
do agricultural work in his farm that he had inherited from his father.
For years he had ignored that land, just like how Tiruvannamalai
District was ignored by Railway Ministry.
I told him that I was waiting for a software job. I explained him
that we could get lot of money in software job. I also told him that
if I gain six months experience in Mainframe or Y2K, I could even goto
USA. I did not know whether he understood what Mainframe or Y2K meant,
but he quickly realized that I would soon become unusable (for him),
if I was let to go by my way. So, he squatted on the floor beside me
to deliver a big lecture about the situation of the family.
At the end of the lecture he succeeded in persuading me to take the
recommendation letter that he got for me from his uncle who held a big
office in the Railway Ministry. He was damn sure that I would get that
job.
My father was correct. Within weeks, I ended up taking the position
of Lead Designer in that project. The engineering job as Mechanical
Engineer was tougher than what I had imagined. Often I had to work in
On-Site, which meant going to the actual geographical location where
the lines were about to be laid. I remembered what on-site assignment
meant in software jobs: Going to the actual geographical location of
the client; The Dream Land; USA.
Soon I lost myself in the work. I forgot software. I forgot USA.
Still the quest for becoming software engineer and the thirst to live
in Dream Land settled in the deepest part of my mind.
We camped near Polur, a small, beautiful village on the
Servaraayan Hill range. It surprised us to learn that they got
electricity just a few years ago. We were totally taken back when they
said that they had to walk at least 10 km for the nearest bus stop.
Most of them had never seen a train in their life.
I stayed there for almost three months. I was working with couple of
Civil Engineers and a few electrical Engineers. The Project was headed
by Dr. Kumaresan, guru in Modernization of Indian Transportation system.
His dreams were above Indian Standard. He had planned to electrify
the lines along with the laying process. That saved nearly 30% of
the total project cost for the government.
Designing a broad gauge line on Servaraayan hills was a nightmare for
us. The hill had an unusual landscape. The soil turned out to be softer
than assessed. Thick forests with wild animals and reptiles scared the
workers. I had to debate with the Civil Engineers over the issue
of digging tunnels. As the soil seemed to be soft, they advised to lay
lines over the hill. But my mechanical mind did not allow that. I
calculated that over the period of years, the cost of fuel needed to
take the train all the way up the hill and then the maintenance of
braking system, which would wear out quickly as the driver had to
apply brakes while traveling down-hill, would definitely be more than
the extra money needed to dig tunnel through the soft soil. Though the
civil engineers were not able to digest these mechanical data,
Kumaresan was. I won the battle.
Polur people were very co-operative. They were not able to believe
that in near future their village would possess a Railway Station.
For them, the groaning of the electric train would be a classical
music. For them, the gate at the railway station would be the
Pearly Gates.
We were well treated by them. They served break fast. One glass of
hot milk and either Idly or Dosa. They served lunch. A fine tender
coconut and Ragi "Koozh". They served Dinner. Rice with Sambaar or
Rice with Spinach.
During dinner, we assembled in front of the village leader house. His
mother, Karuththamma, was a nice old lady. A clutch of youths, mixture
of males and females, would be always there in the nights, playing
games. Karuththamma would mix the rice in a large vessel and would make
reasonably large globes out of it. The youths assembled there would
crack some jokes, would sing some nice folk songs (of course with
nice folk dance) and would tease each others. They might be lovers
or might just be friends and tending to become lovers. We never
bothered but enjoyed those scenes as we ate the food that Karuththamma
had placed in our palms. (The rice globes!)
Needless to say, my quest and thirst for "Dream Land" slowly faded.
I was back in my office at Madras soon. The scene of Polur yet
remained in my mind.
One day, as I was deep into my design work, I was surprisingly called
upon by my old college friend. He said he visited me very urgently to
fill a software job that fell vacant recently in his company. He was
the one whom I kept bothering while I was looking for a job. I
remained silent for a while. He took that silence for reluctance. So
he added that I would be getting five digit salary and would soon be
sent for "on-site" assignment.
I thought of Polur and Karuthamma. I am sure in next five years
I would be seeing lot of villages like Polur; And would get the love
of many village people like Karuthamma; Our project might be talked in
comparison to Brooklyn Bridge for its design. Will I get all these
things if I work as software engineer or live in Dream Land? For me,
USA seemed to be far less when compared to India. I felt that India is
second to none.
Gentle touch of my friend brought me to the normal, practical world.
I smiled at him with determination and said:
"How soon can I start working in your company?"