My Memoirs - Volume 4 - My Flight

What if I go back and they cancel my plan of going to US? Please God, make this flight take off!

?I was at the Bangalore airport on my way to the US via Mumbai and Amsterdam and was waiting with bated breath to catch the first flight of my life and also the trip to USA. But the flight kept on getting delayed and I missed the connection. I refused to leave from the airport and opted to reach Mumbai and stay there and take the connection, thankfully those were the days when airlines used to arrange for hotel rooms in such situations. I was offered my first job by GE and was being sent to New York and it was my chance to turn around a life of constant struggle and deprivation into one of success and celebration. I was afraid that if I go back to office next day they might cancel my US trip altogether. So I clung on to hope and my unique stubborn resolve of making things happen and finally took off at 4 am in a near empty flight to Mumbai. I had seen more than enough sufferings in my young life till then and I was determined to not let a delayed flight play spoilsport to the start of my new life

As I sat in my first flight, flashes of my past and my struggles started playing like a film. I was taken back to one such instance when I had just finished with my Grade 12 exams.

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Nahi hua hai abhi savera,Purab ki laali pehchaan, Chidiyon ke jagne se pahle, khaat chhod uth gaya kisaan

(It is not yet morning but the peasant is out in his fields?just by seeing the red eastern skies even as the birds wake up)

?On an empty stomach, unwashed face and unkept hair I was walking down a street along with a friend of mine when a cycle rickshaw puller joined me in singing this poem as the rickshaw pedaled past me. He beckoned me to hop in but I said we will walk as we had no money. He smiled and insisted we get in so he could drop us to our destination without charging any money.

This was shortly after finishing my grade 12 exams. I was visiting my ancestral village during the holidays awaiting the all important results. For higher education, I had applied to a couple of institutions for which I had to travel to Jaipur to take an entrance exam. I took a bus and met up with another classmate of mine at Sikar which was on the way to Jaipur. We both were from a humble background and decided to put our books and other meagre travel accessories in one shared suitcase and make the travel by bus. My friend and I clubbed our money together and I kept it with me which was all of Rs 250 ( US $4) after we had paid for our bus fare.

We got down in Jaipur a night before the exam and went to a guest house to take a bed for the night. As we registered ourselves I realized that someone had picked my pocket and we had no money to pay for the guesthouse or anything else. Those were the days when we didn't have mobile phones, and having a landline was a luxury which a few in India could afford. In a matter of seconds, our life changed. In a large unfamiliar city, two kids found themselves without a shelter or any money. There was no question of having any dinner and we had to somehow get through the long night in front of us. Taking that exam was an important milestone of our life.

We had 5 rupees which we used to buy platform ticket for railway station and an old copy of newspaper which we spread on the platform and made a bed for the night. That was probably the longest night of my life. Empty stomach, lying on a side of a platform on a bed made of few sheets of newspaper, with people walking and spitting all around us was a nightmare of an experience. On top of that, a platform ticket at that time only gave us access for a couple of hours, so there was a fear of eviction hanging heavy on us. Next morning not having access to a clean toilet was another sad and inconvenient reality. I still remember the long walk from the railway station to the entrance exam centre on an empty stomach! Unwashed, hungry, skin burning with mosquito bites! It was a miserable experience. That was a night I never want to revisit. Life showed me a glimpse of what millions of people in India live through every day. It’s a horror that keeps me grounded. It’s also a horror that is taking away so much from our people and our country. The missing spark from the eyes of millions of our children,from millions of our men and women. This and other similar personal experiences is my motivation to take up jobs which provide me an opportunity to bring smiles to the deprived,

Mickey mouse on my trousers

I couldn't eat on my flight. Being a vegetarian, it was tough for me to trust what was being served and I remained hungry. Those were the days when a trip to US would take 40 plus hours and I landed in Detroit as my port of entry, jetlagged and dead hungry! As I went through the long wait at immigration and got the entry into country of my dreams, my head started spinning and I had to get something to eat.

When I took my first few steps into the American soil past immigration, I was stopped by the customs officers and hauled off for questioning. I had come to the country with a small air bag with two pieces of clothing, my shaving kit and a pair of slippers. It was odd for them to see a person move to the country for a few months with such meagre possessions. My company had given me advance funds to buy travel accessories and clothing but I had transferred everything to my mother and landed in America with US$ 40 on my person. I couldn't keep the money with me when I knew my mother needed it and could use it.

I didnt know how to explain to them that this was more than what I had in my entire school life. Apart from my blue school trouser, I only had one personal trouser when I was in grade 10th and this trouser had two holes in the back. When we were given a send off party by the school, we were asked to come to school in our home clothes and not the school uniform. This was a rare permission accorded to tenth graders only on one day and everybody used to wait for this day. I was dreading this day and had spent the previous day looking at my trouser and trying to find solutions to get out of this "hole"!. I ended up buying two mickey mouse stickers from "Hira General Stores" at Ahmednagar cantt sadar market and stuck the mickey mouse on my two trouser holes.

I have always been very comfortable with who I am and I was happy with my manuevre of creating a new fashion statement. The only trouble was that I got a few awards during this send off party and I had to go up and down the stage a few times to collect my awards. Mickey mouse ditched me as I walked up the stage and I did those trips of award collection with my dignity paraded in front of the people who had that line of vision. I contained my tears and I promised myself on every step that I will win this battle of life with my determination and hard work. Those holes in my trouser filled my heart with a resolve that still makes me take up impossible challenges and make miracle happen.

As a child going through experiences which crushes your soul can be quite traumatic but God had His hand on me and always guided me to swallow my disappointments and defeats and turn those into a fire and hunger inside me to go and win the world.

I will do your homework if you let me read your copy of Asterix

I loved to read books but I couldn't afford buying them. A lot of my classmates had collections of Archies, Asterix, Hardy boys, Nancy Drew, Tintin and other collections so I used to structure deals where I used to do their homework in return for them letting me read their books. With this trade off, I read every published book of Asterix, Tintin and Hardy Boys while I was in school!

Some teachers refused to enroll me for tuitions as they only took children with certain social status, It was humiliating but I didn't give up. I turned around this humiliation and started taking tuitions for those kids who were rejected by the same teachers. I made a name for myself and started earning at a young age of 13, I was earning more than my father by the time I stepped into my first year of engineering.

I thank my classmates who made me do their homework before sharing their comics, they have taught me not to exploit anyone who is weak, they have taught me that sharing should come naturally and not with conditions. I thank those teachers who humiliated me and didn't give me the chance I was longing for, they have taught me that someone has to rise and take care of the weak, they have taught me that every setback is an opportunity, they have taught me not to differentiate people based on their social status.

I thank God for giving me these experiences because this has led to me being who I am. And I must say I am very happy to meet this Munish Kumar when he shows up in the mirror every morning!