New World, A reset button...

                          I have not written in a long time and hope the auspicious 200th day in Taiwan will be a good start to resume my writing journey. Roughly, a year ago I started lurking around to quit the working class stereotype that genuinely tagged itself after my graduation. It was hard to radically change my mind especially when I was about to launch a career in a field I dedicated my entire college life, six years is a very long time. Nothing was clear to me, I envied my peers for having found them comfortable with their jobs and lifestyle, I said unto myself - you kiddo, got to grow up!  I spent a lot time searching for other jobs, finding other sources of finance just to try and experiment to know what was I interested in doing for a living. Most times I struggled to come in terms with convincing myself that I was just not ready to do something for a living, that I simply needed more time. I eventually realized that these thought were a bad influence to my job so I dedicated two hours every weekend to think, ponder, research, and finally understand my vocation. Three months passed and I was getting nowhere, the routine of job,traffic and home was literally killing me from inside, I hoped God counseled me. It was then, it struck to me a technique that we popularly employ in SDLC to fix bugs that don't reveal itself-Reverse Engineering. But RE to real life meant to undo things and  start over, to abandon everything and start from scratch. Inevitably, yes, but the whole idea seemed stupid and baseless. I remained complacent for some time while trying to avoid any thoughts that provoked a change in my present life style, I felt, I was only getting influential with western thought process and possibly  faking a maturity.  Months passed and nothing happened, I started to not bother. 

                   One day my mobile rings and a caller id +314 shows up; I answered to know it's a friend from my university now pursuing his doctoral studies in one of Taiwan's private institution. He said, a computer science professor has an open research position and is looking for a good Indian student because he happens to be  an Indian. Without much thought I randomly went by my intuition and said I can fill in that position but he inquired why would I quit a perfect job? Having realized what I just spoke I quickly told him not to advertise the same to other people until I sent a decline for the same, he agreed. Reverse Engineering dictated to abandon everything and start over, this started making sense, I have go back to college get education and start afresh. Thoughts fell in place and everything was getting clearer each day. I thought of doctoral studies as an opportunity to learn, explore the horizons of knowledge and at the same time get time to be ready finally, to work and earn my living. I applied and got through but it was not even half the battle, how do I get to convince my family about such an important decision in my life? Quitting job, leaving India, food, culture, earthquakes, typhoons and list goes endless with each cousin bringing to light a new research every time we sat to discuss.  

                   It was hard to brief and give explanations for everything to every family member and I got vexed already. So, as a typical Indian son I tried the silent treatment. And as always it worked! And that is how my journey started...

                It's never too late to start an adventure, to ditch your world and try a new one. Do what feels right to you and let not others decide things for your life. Its yours and not theirs, you have no place for other's view about your life. Be the person you want to, life is short to spend too much time on too little things. Start the book of your life today, the first chapter maybe tough and boring but look beyond and keep faith. Life is mysterious so be a good detective....