Life isn't Just

I still remember the first day at my first job. It wasn't the greatest memory that I treasure, if thats what you thought I was going to say. It was like any other winter day in Bangalore, a little sunny, little chill. I hardly new anyone, and so I wasn't having much fun. It was something new, I was excited about it, though. I got the job within 2 weeks since my BE final semester results were out and also the package was good and it was development work, when many of my classmates had gotten into testing. So I was a little proud about it. But the only memory that flashes to me, is the moment that I stepped at the reception. There was a security guard who asked me who I was, when I said I was joining that company, he immediately said "Good Morning Sir!". I was kind of shocked and didn't know how to react. It was the first time I was ever called "SIR", at least I can't recall or couldn't recall anyone call me "SIR" before that. Then every morning I walked into the office the guard at the reception used to greet me with "Good Morning Sir" and I used to say "Good Morning" in return. It was part of his job, he would do the same thing to every one in the company.

That weekend when I went home I gave it a thought, I was at least 10 yrs younger than that guard and still he called me SIR. That was kind off weird to me. Also, my first salary was higher than the salary that my father was getting at that time. That got me wondering what is the big difference between me and my dad or me and that guard. The only difference is that I have done my BE in CS&E that my dad or that guard haven't. What does BE have so much in it that I deserve that kind of treatment? BE is a 4 yrs course, with 8 semesters with about 7 or 8 papers at the end of each semester. Is it so hard that not all people can make it? Definitely not, anyone who has done his/her BE know that people don't work hard unless the exams are near. So if you count the number of days we spend working hard for exams, it would start about a week before the exams and last for about a month. But we don't work hard everyday during this period too, we use to have lot of fun doing combine study with friends. Combine study was just a name we gave it, but it used to be combine fun + study: watching movies, go out for walks, tell crazy stories, pull each others legs etc etc and in between study for a while. So in effect the over all effort would that of a week or two :). Lets say it was 2 weeks of effort. Now taking that there were 8 semesters the total effort is 2 * 8 = 16 weeks ~ 4 months. So, as whole we put an effort of 4 months or in case some really hard working kids [which I was not, I was/am never hard working, I always work smart ;)] 6 months of effort. So all in all, we have put, may be, at most 6 months of more effort in our early lives doing our Engineering as a pose to my dad or the guard and that gives us more salary and more luxurious life. My dad is a double graduate, i.e. he has 2 degrees: B.Sc, B.Ed. That means he had did 2 courses that are 3 yrs in length each, which is definitely more time than a single 4 yrs course, except may be the subjects are a little boring in B.Sc or B.Ed. So, that way its more difficult that BE. So he has put more effort than me in his early life, still used to work harder than me for a salary less than my first salary even at the age of 54 or so.

There thousands of people out there who work so hard to earn bread for the day and I am living such a luxurious live with such high salary for doing nothing but sit in a A/C room in front of a comp, half the time browsing or chatting or doing some crap. What better example can I give to say that "Life isn't just".