I have a confession to make. I always end up speculating over strange things and wasting my time. I am not sure if I do this in order to postpone a task I don't feel like doing, or is it because I am restless. Either ways, over the last year I have been pondering about my future, like everyone else I know. Quarter Life Crisis lasts a while, I must say.
So then I'm on Pali Hill, the usual night drive with some nonsensical conversation heading nowhere. This time its Kapil, the most weird person I know. Very erratic behavior, and very very moody. Kapil works in some department in ICICI bank, and he loves his food and he loves his 100 year old Van.
But Kapil is quite an intellect himself, over the years he's asked me some strange questions, and told me some even stranger things. I must say, he lends a ear to all my ideas and plans for the factory. So we get along well, since I always need someone to listen to me whine, and I guess he needs to keep in contact as well.
The latest common "hobby" with my close friends is the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) . I plunged into this new source of wastage of time, because I felt I should hurry up with my "process of enlightenment" at a B - School , and then take over the Company in a quick efficient way. With regards to the rest of the clan, they are kind of bored with their jobs( I too am quite done with the monotonous routine of life) . So we all need "CHANGE" . And so we study for the GMAT, and then the series of assumptions begin.
1) Assuming I get a 700 , followed by
2) Assuming I get into ISB, followed by
3) Assuming I get done and learn nothing and come back to my job with a year or two wasted, and the guilt of not having an escape route.
So the most perplexing question arises :- Where will you, Abhay Bhatia, be 10 years from now?
Now I am strictly talking about my self here, and I do realize you must be wondering why Kapil was even there in this story, well we'll just get back to that in a bit.
When you are a "second generation entrepreneur", you are lucky. People struggle years to get to a lifestyle similar to yours, a decent office, responsible profile, no nagging boss , extremely flexible hours, etc. So you are considered lucky, and you also have the pressure of managing the business as well as your dad.
I begin to wonder, will I be still running a company 10 years from now? Will I have grown or shrunk or shut it ? I don't know. And right now I'm not even worried about that. I love my job, it gives me a high. But what I don't love , as more than a hundred million people in Mumbai will agree with me is the travelling, the population, the lack of infrastructure etc.
Now i'm not complaining about Mumbai. I know its not the most interesting and unique thing to talk about. What I don't like about Mumbai is that there is nothing really there to do in this city. You might argue that every city is the same, and so why are you against Mumbai?
This is when Kapil re-enters the story. Kapil told me something I thought was spot on. 10 years from now, we ' ll live comfortably with a decent pay, a good wife, and a great family. But then what? We will still be living in the same house, cause the property prices of this city are as high as the pollution levels. We ' ll be stuck in the same traffic everyday. ( I use the railways, but its getting impossible to travel in these outdated, crappy bogies). We ll work 5 or 6 days a week, and in the nights, we ll go drink with the SAME people at the SAME places, talking about the SAME old things. The weekends will be spent usefully wondering what to do at home, or else just sleeping. Can you imagine living life from age 33 to 73 or more or less in the SAME way? Somehow I can't
Kapil wants to live somewhere where on weekdays, he works 5 days a week from 9 - 5, leaves office, goes home quietly and peacefully goes exercising, comes home, has some pork chops ( I know he loves pork chops) and some wine, listen to some music, paint , and go to bed. Now many of us in this city can do some of the activities mentioned. But can we do it on a daily basis? No we can't.
What makes it interesting is what Kapil wants to do in the weekends. He wants to climb rocks, drive to another city or state comfortably without having to curse the traffic and roads, try horse riding , go sky diving, paint a beautiful scenery of mountains with dense greenery, without having to be tapped by beggars for 1 Rupee or 1 Wada Pao or any such interruption, and finally the most important extravagance - go fishing.
The guy is not asking for the moon, the guy is not asking for activities which require huge investments. All he wants is peace and a better way of life. Is he asking for too much?
Can Mumbai offer me these simple pleasures, 10 years from now?
I am not even going to talk about how Mumbai can be improved. It can't , we are stuck. And now Im thinking, why Mumbai, take any city in India. Is it possible to live such a life here.
Now don't get me wrong, whatever Kapil wants to do in the weekends is possible here. But at a senseless price . My friend Rakesh sends me an invite on Facebook for ORCA Diving Club. Where the fuck do you dive anyways Rakesh, the Mithi River? Let me not even quote the price for the crap. Moving on, if you want to learn how to fly a small plane as a hobby in Mumbai, well you can't. You can according to Yash Airways, but they will not respond to your query, cause 1000000000 people are training for their CPLs . You want to go trekking, do it at your own risk of stepping over people's crap. You want to go to the zoo, you wont see the rhino, he died chewing plastic bags and chemicals. You want to go to the drive - in , you can't , it shut down, cops thought its WRONG. You want to join a good gym - its no point , cause hundred others will be there, fifty with personal training so no one gives a damn about you. Want to learn a musical instrument. Be prepared to shell out Rs. 3000 for a total of 180 minutes for learning for the Trinity School of Music, with a 3000 non refundable deposit.
Why are we killing ourselves here? We know that careers are not made because of hard work, they are made cause of sucking up to your boss , or in my case bluffing to my customers, and delaying every job. We don't follow any safety requirements. We travel in trains where people are spitting all over the god damn place. Our lives are threatend by Qasabs, who by the way is above 18 but yet the governemnt is giving him a fair trial. He gets the feeling he has a strong chance of being released.
I know many of us can afford to move out. I know the job market is shaky, you are an outsider . You will not have the status of being your dad's son or whatever. You will be a secondary citizen. But what the hell, at least you will be treated like a citizen.
Do you think there are any activities one can do without worrying? Can any one hone some skills , or learn some art here? Do let me know
But at least
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