When my good old friend Dinny asked me to do a write up on life in Australia, I was a bit hesitant and unsure what to write. I have not written anything meaningful for such a long time other than the never ending corporate ping pong emails and the junk write ups in social media. I am not claiming that I used to be one helluva of a writer once upon a time.Truth is that I am below average even for amateur writers and writing skills are going only one way( downwards) over the years.
Back in 2001, when recession was the talk of the town in jobless Bangalore (yes I know, its been renamed like many other cities in India. Like Bombay I still connect with Bangalore rather than Bengaluru), I heeded to my father’s pressure to join him in Saudi Arabia to find work so that he can put an end to financial dependence I had on him. After the usual starting trouble associated with moving into a new place in search of a new job and new life, instead of settling in and making it big in the artificial jungle of Riyadh, I went sideways. Young and dumb with the small regret of spending ones good old youth in a men’s college, the harsh reality called Saudi Arabia stared at my face loud and hard. Those two years in Saudi was barren and dry just like the country. Among the solitude and slow moving life, my only solace was my parents with whom I stayed ,the occasional late night soccer under the street lights with fellow mallus working in a local hospital and the amazing middle eastern food. Now I have to admit that the food was so amazing in those parts of the world , I let it turn to be my biggest success in terms of growth, not the conventional growth people associate with, but the physical growth that needs one to buy bigger trousers..
By the end of it all,I had become a frustrated figure. I decided it was time to call it quits.Now the biggest challenge was to sell the escape plan to my father. Higher education in western university was exactly the cure the doctor in me was looking for. There starts my saga of Life in Australia. The whole journey of the last years in Australia may not be fit for this blog. I probably will try to capture in an autobiography if at all my writing improves drastically and hope that there will at least a handful of poor souls to read.
Let me cut the chase and get to the thick of things..
Like most people, I came here with the intention of enjoying life to the fullest, buy those fancy Ferraris and take beautiful girls clad in bikinis for a ride. By now you all would have guessed what would have happened in reality. Yes those Ferrari or million dollar mansions never came . It just turned out to be average affair like my most other things . The first few years were the hardest. Most of the time I was running between the part time jobs( dish washing, car washing, factory packing jobs, call centre, mail distribution and various other small menial jobs I can hardly remember now ), the university where I was expected to do some studies and the migration agents office which was my critical stop over to ensure that I get accepted to this country. Once the early struggles subsided and I became a permanent resident of this country, I was hoping it will be all cool breeze and sunshine in life.
The think the cool breeze went somewhere and I am yet to see that sunshine.This is the point one would get married,start family , buy a house and clung to a job so that you can keep paying bills and mortgage.
If you ask me how is my life in Australia, I will lay down the following 3 points..
- Work Life – Monday to Friday 9 to 5 Job where I am always eyeing the computer clock to see if its 5pm yet
- Family life – Taking care of the kids and the house
- Weekend Life – More house chores and kids activities with occasional Saturday evening catch ups at friends places for that alcohol induced blabbering about everything under the sun..
I believe what I have mentioned above is probably the same elsewhere. I know there will be some differences. But the crux remains the same.
