HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

Like all good things in life, my journey also had a very interesting beginning. In 1999, when Information technology was at its peak, I was in India. Like every other Indian youngster during that period, I was roaming around the streets of chennai with a resume in my hand and a high-paid software job in US in my mind. It was as if my whole life depended on that job. I distributed hundreds of resumes and attended tens of interviews to get the job, which would take me to paradise, which was also called United States of America. An IT job looked like an inflation-proof, future-proof license, which will make my life, secure forever.

At this point, let me remind you that the year was 1999 and not 2001. I know that everyone of you will disagree with what I have mentioned about Information Technology. Everything mentioned above was before the “The Big Crunch” " The fall of IT.

On a Friday evening, I was coming back home after a particularly energy-sapping interview. I was driving my bike and suddenly it started raining heavily. I went inside a campus for cover and realized I was inside Taj Coromandel Hotel in Sterling Road. I vaguely remembered that I had to meet somebody there. I was not even sure about the name of the person I was supposed to meet. I parked my bike and went inside. There I met Dr.Palan and Gab " the meeting that changed the whole course of my life.

They conducted one of the easiest interviews that I had ever attended. After leaving the venue, I was very sure that they were not serious about recruiting me. Next day, they called up and informed me that I have been selected and have to leave for Australia.

I left to the country down under with another guy. I got a rather cold reception at Perth. Having lived in a place where there were only three types of climates " HOT, HOTTER, HOTTEST, the introduction to Australia was a tooth-rattling, nerve-wracking experience indeed. It was 3’0 clock in the morning and the temperature was 2 degrees centigrade. I stepped into a completely alien world, which I’ve seen only in an atlas. Gab was there to receive us. He thought I was shivering because of the cold climate. What he did not know was, I was s**t-scared and was shivering due to fear of the unknown. I later found that my apprehensions were very badly mis-placed.