14 June: Boston Airport: 4 pm
Anita was waiting for her
flight to San Francisco; A flight that will begin her transition from the
University campus to the corporate world. A feeling of pride enveloped her for
a moment. The best company in her field was waiting for her at the other end of
USA. Her friends who had come to drop her at the airport took off.
Anita spotted Nilesh waiting
at one of the airline counters. To say that there was rivalry between the two
of them would be a massive understatement. Nilesh had got through the same
company, same location. Only those two in a batch of 60 students had managed to
do that.
The two most successful
people of their batch facing each other. I am not counting success as purely academically
or career wise. Both of them were the so called ‘leaders’ of their so called ‘groups’.
Everyone in their department knew them. They were a part of every major
activity or party in the campus.
Anita, in her mind, was
thinking about the last 2 years. Why couldn’t she be in good terms with Nilesh?
He was not a bad person afterall. A week after she came to US, she had an
interview with one of the most reputed professor of her department. It was down
to Nilesh and her for the final call. Professor went with Nilesh. This moment,
Nilesh not only got his 2 years tuition fee waived off, but also ignited a
fire.
Anita bounced back from this
after getting an opportunity to work in the University’s finest research lab a
couple of days later. After two weeks, these two were already famed as ‘The
stars’ of their batch and looked up by many as an example. In the first set of
exams, Anita had outscored Nilesh and then the talks had begun that Nilesh
getting the professor’s job ahead of Anita was ‘just a fluke’. The fact was
that none of those two really put forth these arguments. The fire was started
by other group members.
Many such battles continued throughout
the year. Fight for the best group dance. Both groups had great ‘party
occasions’ when the mocked people from the other group. Both groups had a fight
again in the cricket tournament, the race to get the best internships, the Diwali
party celebrations, their trips. Name an occasion and you’ll have a
competition.
Anita, all this while, had
limited occasions to talk with Nilesh. She did not know how he was. Did he
actually start spreading bad things about me? Did he want to be more successful
than me? She had no answers.
Let’s give it a chance, she
said. She went ahead and said ‘Hi’ to Nilesh. Till this time, Nilesh hadn’t
spotted Anita, so was taken by surprise. ‘Hey’, he said.
Anita: So how’s the feeling.
Finally studies coming to an end, excited for the first real job.
Nilesh: Yes, pretty much.
Two years were fun. What’s in there next should be fun too.
Anita: I’m hoping for the
same. I’m going to miss all my friends here!
Nilesh: Same here. Said
goodbye to all my friends today, it was tough.
Anita: Anyways, San
Francisco should be fun; I’ll get good friends there!
Nilesh: Yes, San Francisco
has nice weather. Remember us going there together for the interview.
Anita: Yes, I do! (She
clearly remembered that. Many of her friends had said to her: ‘Go and perform
better than Nilesh, the person who took away your first job in US. Here’s your
chance for revenge’. In the end, both ended up getting the job.)
Anita: So, you are
travelling with only two bags. How did you fit everything into two?
Nilesh: I travel light. All
I need from this place is two bags of clothes. Too bad that memories do not fit
in a bag!
Anita: They do fit in a
camera!
Nilesh: I don’t think so.
Anyways, your flight is called for boarding.
Anita: You are not on the
same flight? They set you up on a different one?
Nilesh: No, I chose to take
the different one. Mine is a tiring 17 hour flight.
Anita: 17 hours, in that
time I would’ve reached India.
Nilesh: and I would be
reaching India.
Anita: Oh nice, meeting
parents before job. How many days of vacation?
Anita was stunned. She did not know what to reply; too many thoughts in her mind. She could not really understand Nilesh’s decision. Nevertheless, she felt people need to be out of the box to take such a decision. In this world which lures everyone to be in a position to earn more money, she had found someone going in the other direction. It was not like one of those scenes in the movie ‘Swades’, but it had that flavor to it.
