Today morning, after a small warm-up badminton match with one of my friends, we struck a discussion about future in general and higher studies( a common buzzword among college student and young software engineers with just a few of years experience in the industry alike) in particular.
Most of us ( including me :-) ) keep thinking about Higher studies and try advising our juniors to 'finish education first and then step into the industry'. This is the same advise which a lot of seniors, parents, personal advisers gave me when i was about to graduate out of college but said to myself and to everyone who advised me .. " I want to work for sometime, want to come out of this constant stress" the stress, which generally colleges presses on most of its students. This answer looked convincing to most and they allowed to me go forward with my plan of working for a 'Few' years in the industry then looking forward for a masters degree, one which surely catapults you into the future where you see yourself.
But, what most of us don't see is when elders/seniors/parents are advising, they are doing it with their own personal experience and they themselves have gone through the phase, where it was literally a herculean task for them to work and study parallely for any competitive exams to get admission into any good post graduate institute. But, we with our own decisions ( which are often good, and 'Not good' the other times) have taken important path breaking decisions and have faced the consequences, either good or bad.
What really struck me today morning when i was having a small converation with my friend is that, the reasons he is not looking forward to doing anything different, either moving to a different company or studying towards a competitive exam to get into a full-time course is that he didn't feel like leaving the organization he is in now because of the sole reason that the 'Friends' or Colleagues to be politically correct are very good and he feels that he is still in college. He said the pulse he feels sometimes with them is something out of the world and difficult to find it elsewhere.
There were 2 things that immediately struck me, one, that everyone of us are looking for something like that, a happy bunch of people around us and a happy surrounding, a congenial atmosphere that makes our heart come out and speak ... and i felt happy that my friend had got it. But the other thing that struck me is, How long will this atmosphere he has today be with him? Whether he wishes or not, people will start moving on. Sooner or later few of his colleagues will find a better job outside his organisation, or will start their higher studies or move to a differnt country for some project tasks there. He will no longer have 'his' crowd around him.
I immediately told him what were the two sides of the same coin, one, the happy feeling, but the other one , people wont be the same, they will start moving ahead. He immediately felt that yes, once life takes over, there are no 'Congenial atmosphere' except the one in which you will slog day and night. There are no better 'Friends' except you family and the only one who will think about you is YOU alone!
This is the state of most of us, the sooner we realize, the sooner is our 'Enlightment'. Some get it the moment they are out of college, some ..... a decade after they graduate!!
