Congraduation!

He twists and turns in his bed, unable to find comfort. His head is swimming with thoughts as bitter-sweet memories flash past his drawn eyes. His heart is laden with emotions he had never felt before. He doesn’t know what to do. All he knows is that tomorrow is his last day…

This is how the night before graduation passes. Or so Sameer believes. Since he is a 3^rd year student at the Institute of Business Administration, Sameer still has a year to go before his own graduation. But he fears the time.

In Sameer’s opinion, if your days are marked with a cycle of stress, relief, depression, happiness and anxiety, there’s a great probability that you are graduating. Having witnessed his seniors pre-gradation celebrations, Sameer realized that the joys of finally escaping the ruthless academic world are masked by insecurity and anticipation. For the seniors, it wasn’t just a time of rosy festivities and cheery farewells; it was also a time of unrewarding job search, paralyzing self-doubt and fear of the unknown future.

Sameer is going to be the first boy in the family to be graduating from such a prestigious institution. His family consists of drop-outs and failures. The pressure of excelling, it’s safe to say, is therefore very high as he must bear the fruits of his “mehngi parhai” (expensive education) quickly. But there’s still time for this melodrama. Right now, Sameer wants to share a story.

While the seniors were taking pictures like there’ll be no DSLRs tomorrow, their gleeful smiles and bright eyes hid their innermost fears: the fear of not being able to secure a Rs. 75,000 job with Unilever, P & G or Engro, the fear of not possessing the things only money can buy and the worst of them all, the fear of lagging behind their peers. While some romantic hearts were concerned about keeping in touch with their BFFs, others were worried about their BFFs being more successful than them. Oh the shame.

So here’s the story: Sameer’s friend Fatima confessed her biggest fear to him and while Sameer laughed it off, he couldn’t help but secretly agree with her. Fatima’s biggest fear is to ask a successful friend for a job and being mocked for it. She painted the scenario:

Imagine that you are meeting your friend (let’s call him Zeeshan) for breakfast at Butler’s. You arrive early in anticipation of the meeting while Zeeshan arrives fashionably late, in a fancy suit talking on his BlackBerry, and emphasizing how he has taken time out JUST for you. You sit through a discussion of how his job is hectic and challenging but simply the best. He claims to want the best for you and will (obviously) try to help you secure a job but that he can’t make promises. You cringe at the diplomacy. Over Spanish omelet you bring up the good ol’ university days but even his laughter has become professional.  And what do you do if suddenly Zeeshan whips out a company-paid credit card and insists on getting the bill since, well, you don’t have a job and (laughing) he says you can cover it the next time?

Fatima shudders at the very thought. Sameer is speechless.

Listening to this painfully vivid description, Sameer realized that “Congraduation!” is a dreaded word if you are graduating without job offers. And worse is accepting a job that is considered, let’s say, demeaning for a graduate from IBA.

He is thus, forced to question whether the rat-race is really worth it. Is it really that important to have the best job, the best abode and the best car? Isn’t there more to life than material success at mechanical 9-5 jobs? But how does one place a limit to wants and decide how much is enough? Sameer wonders…