Changes

One Mr. Narayan Shankar in a Bollywood blockbuster ‘Mohabattein’ emphatically declares – “I don’t like Changes” in 2001, I was a young 20-year-old guy then and was doing my first year engineering. We idiotically shared our plans to watch first day show of this movie, with our seniors and they banned us from doing so as were still under the fresher’s gagging rules. But with the young rebellious blood bursting through our immature brains, we still went ahead for it. With our dumb luck our seniors caught us and made us stand in a line staring at our first buttons of shirts (normal position to be assumed when we confronted our seniors). They said we could only enter when every single person outside the theater had entered the movie, but in the end we still got to see the movie.

I digress so directing my wandering mind to the point – while watching that movie every time the character said – I don’t like changes. The 20-year-old I never identified with it, for me change was exciting, change was necessary, change was required. I am remembering this today as after 5 years with my first company Infosys, my first corporate job, I will be moving on to another firm. And with that I will be moving from my residence here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US to a new state.  So I remember the movie as I am mirroring same feeling as Mr. Narayan Shankar, I am not liking this change (moving part).

Although I am excited about the new job and challenges, moving to a new place completely unsettling my current base, leaving friends and favorite hangouts is a very daunting task. As you grow older, you might have new acquaintances, new colleagues, new neighbors; but making a new friend (sincere one) is like winning a lottery, the odds are stacked against you big time. You aren’t as open to new people, sharing and compromising on your choices and beliefs. So once you get comfortable in your life at a place, if suddenly one day you have to move and you don’t have your own family/girlfriend to rely on at the new place, it becomes a slightly scary scenario.

But then you in today’s world you cannot start and end you work life in a single company/location, so your career will demand from you to get used to changes, which I am being forced to these days. Additional problem is most of the people at my age are married (sometimes with kids), so their idea of hangout is completely opposite to my idea. Hence the options are very less and to avoid being a social zombie, you have to improvise. Get invested in hobbies, volunteering, getting used to doing things alone like movies, bars etc. It isn’t easy I will tell you, but then you have to adapt. I hope I will remember this stuff at my new destination and not get overburdened by novelty. Oh how I wish my I could get back my young infatuation with Change , I could use it a lot today.