The Day The State Split Asunder-2

The next day morning, he was sitting all alone in his room, away from the world, staring pensively at the antiquated wall clock with brooding eyes, contemplating about the recurrent knock-backs in the interviews. 

Ever since the day of his graduation, he typically dealt with nothing, except the abominating rejections in the interviews. He could not figure it out over which segment in his performance tanked miserably in winning the trust of the interviewer. It was an unsettling conundrum for his mind, and the solution seemed inconclusive.

When things go wrong, we get so miserable and all we wish for is to go back in time and erase all the faulty memories that landed us in the present situation. Like a lost mariner in the middle of the sea, we blame the so-called 'destiny' for playing heavily upon us. But Karthik is unsure whether he needs to blame the destiny, fate or himself for his joblessness.

Each of these bitter experiences and thoughts unfolded with a sense of uncanny foreboding, depleting the limited reserves of willpower, forcing him to abjure the hopes of getting a job. 

He sat at his desk, opened his laptop, and logged in to his email in a hope of receiving any confirmation call from the companies he had attended so far. To his disappointment, unessential and unimportant promotional offers cluttered his mailbox. He picked up the notepad and a pen on the desk and started writing the list of companies he had attended so far and the count of the number of interviews attended so far shot at thirty. 

He was mad and confused by looking at the count. The situation was alarming. At one point he grew apprehensive whether the number would soon pay the toll and reach the count of fifty. There's no clue whether he could see the light at the end of a tunnel.

It reached thirty. Looks like I need to include my previous interview experiences in my resume. Where did I go wrong? Was my performance really so absurd? He questioned himself.

"Karthik!" his mother said while stepping into his room, "Put the laptop aside. I don't know what you will do on it from morning to evening. Rakesh uncle has come. He is asking about you."

"Amma! I cannot come, I need to email my resume," Karthik said. 

"Karthik, it won't be good. You can do it later. Rithwik and you graduated from the same year. He was successful in grabbing a job. Had you not waste your time on paper presentations? You would be in a job by now."

He realized his mother will not bring the conversation to a standstill until he gets out of his chair. He shut his laptop and walked into the hall. He is unhappy at having been told to meet his uncle, who always brags about his son's accomplishments.

As he came and stood close to him, his uncle greeted him with a smile.

"Hi, Hero! How are you doing? You became so lean," said his uncle. "Looks like you are not eating properly."

"I am doing good uncle and there's no change in my body fat, I am maintaining the same," Karthik returned. 

"So! what are your next plans?"

"Nothing much, just searching for a job."

"My son Rithwik grabbed a job on campus. Had you not wasted your time in travelling across the states for paper presentations and meetings, you would've landed into a job by now."

Karthik took no heed of this rodomontade, but sat still with downcast eyes, tapping the small table near him with the tips of his slender fingers meditatively.

"Karthik, I told you a million times before that there's no use of participating in these competitions but you were so adamant about-"

"Uncle!" Karthik interrupted him, "if suppose I got a job with a salary of one lakh per month, can you and Rithwik digest it? Time will decide everything. At present, time is not in my favour, but when my time arrives, I will shine brighter than your son. For now, I have a few things to sort, I am taking leave. Please don't feel bad."

After saying that, he went back into his room with his eyes flashing red. He picked up one of his old resumes on the table and tore it into pieces. The wind of the fan scattered the pieces on the floor. His mother walked into his room and looked at the pieces of paper scattered on the floor.

"Karthik! What are you doing? You are becoming worse day by day. Is it the way you talk to the elders? Your father has a good name, don't spoil it," she reprimanded him in a mild flame owing to his temper. "Get some cornflour and a tea sachet from the general store."

"Amma! You would've said to me in the afternoon, again I need to pass through that bragster," remarked Karthik, "I may be jobless, but it doesn't mean that I am useless. Who is he to tell me I wasted my time? Do you know how difficult it is to win in those competitions?"

"Then why you failed to get a job?"

"Amma! I will get it, but who is he to tell me I have wasted my time?" demanded Karthik, pounding a fist on the desk.

"You're becoming so obstinate day by day. Do nothing, just remain on this bed, I will get it myself. There's no use of you," his mother remarked in an irritating tone.

"Amma! Amma! Don't be angry, I will get it," he rushed out of his home, not caring to cast a look at his uncle. 

As he approached the general store on the other street, he ran into one of his neighbours Ramaiah, a practising advocate in the district court. 

"Karthik, how are you man?" asked the advocate.

"Fine uncle," Karthik said, without looking at him.

"So, how is your case going on?"

"What case uncle? I didn't commit any crime!"

"I was asking about your job search case. What are you doing since you're not working? How many petitions you have submitted so far? Did you ever hear from anyone?"

Irked by his frequent questionnaires, Karthik gave him a befitting reply.

"Uncle! For advocates like you, everything seems to be a case. Coming to my petition, I am planning to start a business. Nowadays there's an immense demand for this product. Also, it is an important commodity in our economy. The beauty about this product is, we can smuggle it with little or no effort at all, and you can even export it overseas easily." said Karthik.

"Is it! What kind of business?"

"The world-famous Cotton business uncle, would you like to invest?"

"What!" the advocate remarked, fussed with Karthik's condescension.

"Uncle, I am sorry for talking to you like this, please don't ask me anything about my job. I am still searching and as soon as I accept an offer I will definitely inform you. Please excuse me for behaving like this. Do you like to have chocolate?"

"No! I have diabetes. Karthik one thing is certain, anyone who rubs against you would perish, if not he will definitely perish because he rubbed against you." Ramaiah said in a displeasing tone and withdrew himself from the spot.

As Karthik was heading towards the curve which leads to the street where his house is located, his father's friend Narasimha, applied brakes to his movement.

"Hey Karthik, How are you dear?" asked his uncle, placing his hand gently on Karthik's shoulder.

Something around should happen, else, people will not leave me.

"I am fine," said Karthik.

"So! What's next?"

Why do jobless people have no respect? This is truly an idiotic society.

As he was about to give a reply to his uncle, he saw a girl walking towards them, dressed in a white top and blue jeans. He could not see her face as she was far off from where he stood. He kept staring at her to find out who she was.

"Karthik," continued Narasimha, releasing his hand from his shoulders. "I am talking to you."

Karthik stood motionless, with his eyes pivoted towards the girl. As she came close to them, he noticed her curly hair; her smiling face, and deep black almond-shaped eyes. He didn't realize for a moment that Narasimha uncle was standing straight in front of him. She passed exactly beside them.

"Young man, what happened? Do you know who that girl is?" asked his uncle.

"No, uncle!" replied Karthik in a shy tone. "I was just looking at her dress, I am planning to purchase one."

"Purchase it for whom?"

"For my friend."

"Girlfriend?"

"No-No! what are you talking, uncle " His uncle is endowed with the art of dealing with people sensitively and tactfully. Karthik's intellectual acuity echoed him to change the conversation. "Uncle! How many proposals have you got when you were young?"

His uncle looked down with a hesitant smile.

"Uncle!" Karthik continued, "there's no doubt that you are definitely a handsome guy when you are young. And your smile conveys that you had a love story, why don't you share it with me."

"Karthik!" said his uncle, "When I was of your age I liked a girl. I just liked her, but to my misfortune, I never talked to her."

"Why uncle? You would've talked."

"See dear, in our generation women never stepped out of their home as they are today. And talking to an unmarried woman will lead to several diabolical confrontations. Your generation is fortunate, we are not as strict towards you as our parents were to us."

"Uncle, what is your opinion about love?"

"I am telling you a fact, every person in his life falls for one particular person."

"How do we know that we have fallen for her?"

"It's simple. Right from the moment you meet that special person, you can't forget them even for a second. You will learn all by yourself." 

"Love is the supreme force in this universe. Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."

"Hey! It looks like your father is coming," said his uncle, pointing his finger at his father behind Karthik. "Look at him! How beautifully he is coming with a smile. That smile can even change the mind of a man committing suicide. Why you cannot smile and be friendly like him?"

"Hey, Narasimha! Karthik, what are you doing here?" asked his father.

"Nothing dad, mom told me to get provisions. Rakesh uncle came to our home."

"Is it!" reiterated his father with a smile and turning towards Narasimha he said, "Narasimha, I am sorry, I have a guest to attend. I will meet you again."

"Uncle anyway it is nice catching you, I will meet you again later. Dad, shall we go?"

"Carry on my dear boy, will meet again," replied Narasimha.

Karthik and his dad reached home. Karthik walked into the kitchen swiftly, placed the provisions on the table, and got back to his bedroom. His father sat on the sofa beside Rakesh. Later, they started discussing the ongoing high voltage Andhra-Telangana dispute which has created the tremors in the entire country. Any clash between the two was likely to blow up into a major episode.

"What do you think? Will this dispute remain unresolved?" Rakesh said. "Smaller states are neither viable nor conducive to the integrity of the country."

"The demand for a separate Telangana state has its roots in the feeling of discrimination since 1956 owing to domination by Coastal Andhra industrialists. More or less they are the victims of nepotism. Now the movement has reached a crescendo, I think the state will get split into two."

"If by misfortune, the central government has given away Hyderabad to Telangana state, then the economy of residual Andhra Pradesh will hit a rough patch. Whichever party favours the bifurcation, it will vanish from the Andhra region," said Rakesh.

"Time will decide everything." replied his father.

The conversation continued for the next hour. Rakesh handed over the invitation card and requested the entire family to attend the wedding ceremony and he departed. After his uncle left, Karthik's father walked into the bedroom where he was lying asleep on the bed. His brow furrowed as though in perplexity. To him, perplexity was worse than danger; and when perplexed, he usually grew angry.

"Karthik, what happened? Are you feeling well?" asked his father, placing his hand on his head.

"Yes dad, I am fine. I am a little upset about the recent events."

"You should not take things so seriously. From now on, life doesn't get easier, you must become strong. There are millions of companies in Hyderabad. If God closes one door, then he will open others, don't think too much about the closed door. Work hard, be positive and never give up."

"I will, dad."

"If I had thought the same when Ravi Shankar uncle cheated upon me? What would our position be today? And what did you say to Ramaiah uncle?"

He received a pang in his heart; the trouble was desperate. The conversation which he had with Ramaiah uncle at the general stores reached his father's ears.

"Is it the way you talk to elders?" his father continued, "people will definitely ask what you're doing. All the time in your college you've been roaming the states saying that I need to attend a paper presentation competition. What happened to all of those?"

"Dad, he is asking me the same question daily."

"They will and they will ask. It is the work of the society to question you. But we should never strain the nerves on our tongue. A word once released will never come back. What business did you say that you are going to start to Ramiah uncle?"

"Dad, I am sorry, forget about it."

"Tell me, what did you say?"

The serious frown on his face showed him that his father will not leave him until he answers his question.

"Cotton Business," said Karthik.

"What is this cotton business? Are you interested in farming? If you are interested in farming, what is the need of studying engineering? We already have five acres of farmland in our hometown."

"Dad, I am sorry. I already apologized to Ramaiah uncle. It is because as I walk on the road everyone stops by and keeps on asking what's next... what's next... It is only out of frustration I spoke those words. I controlled and tolerated as much as I could, but today I just vented out the embittering fury that has been festering my mind since months."

"We should make no person a subject to venting out our vexations. Karthik the only way to shut their mouths is by getting a job. Get a job and show them who you are. Remember one thing, no bird likes to rest on a burning tree. Avoid using vitriolic language and you will keep your friends, family, and your dignity."

"Don't worry, Dad, I will never repeat it."

"Come to the hall, your mother prepared your favourite onion pakora." After having said this, his father left the room.

Precisely at that moment, his phone started ringing. It is a call from an unknown number. He gently slid it up to answer.

"Hello, Am I speaking to Mr Karthik Oleti?" asked the person from the other side.

"Yes, this is Karthik Oleti," replied Karthik.

"Hello Karthik, this is Naveen calling from ZenWings Solutions, we are hiring for the position of Dotnet developer. In case if you are interested, just check your email and acknowledge accordingly."

"Yes sir, I am interested in joining your company."

"Good, just reply to the email which we emailed to your registered email id and walk into the address mentioned in the email. Have a great day!"

"Thank you, sir."

Karthik uploaded his resume on all job portals: Naukri, Monster, Wisdom jobs, Freshers world, and many other sites. He didn't leave any stone unturned in his pursuit to grab a job.

God, this time I should not let this opportunity to slip from my hand…

The relatives and neighbours of Karthik beginning from the milkman, the General store owner, the old neighbour, the paperboy, his maternal and paternal relatives frequently used to bombard him with questions about what his next plans were. The suggestions he used to get from them are don't make any delay to join a company, as this can be a remark in your career.

We live in a world, where gossips travel with the greatest celerity. Few even had spread the rumours about Karthik having a love affair in college and that's why he couldn't get a job.

"What's next" - This one question assailed him in sleep and wakefulness. Owing to the societal pressure, his parents urged him to act fast before the train leaves the platform. 

The constant feelings of rejections and joblessness tormented him so much that he couldn't concentrate on his goal and the purpose of his life.

To be continued...