The Hindu Business Line : Of dreams and `commitments'

In a recent interview with Infosys HR chief, T.V. Mohandas Pai, one kept quizzing him on the "inclusiveness" of IT majors hiring people from "shining" metros vis-à-vis smaller towns and villages and took his response with a pinch of salt... till one came across a group of youngsters, during a stroll on its 80-acre campus on the Bangalore-Hosur road.

Vijji Natarajan and his friends were headed for the food court, but willingly stopped for a chat.

Vijji hails from Tiruchengode near Salem in Tamil Nadu, and did his B.E. in computer science from the KSR College of Engineering there. Graduating earlier this year, he realised his "life's dream" when he landed a job in Infosys at a salary of Rs 16,800, says the 23-year-old who has just got his first pay cheque.

The magic wand

Was it difficult to get in?

"Oh yes," says the chorus of voices, with Vijji adding, "we started puzzle-solving right from second year."

Very soon you learn that "puzzle-solving" is the magic wand that can open the gates of this IT major. But what is most gratifying is that Vijji's father is a weaver and he is the first in his family to enter the organised sector.

His friend Ravi Kumar from Erode, who graduated from the Kongu Engineering College, Erode, is the son of a farmer who owns five acres on which he grows groundnuts. "But I was not interested in farming, because there is no future in it. I wanted to become a software engineer, and my dream of working for Infosys has been realised," says the young man who has just landed this job.

Whether it is Vasanth from Salem, whose father is in a textiles business, or Ziauddin from Villipuram in Tamil Nadu, whose father has a small landholding of one acre, or Varun from Chennai, whose father is in government service, all the youngsters were determined to break the family tradition and venture into "software, where there is a great future."

Scope for new ideas

Varun doesn't want a government job because "there is too much political interference, you can't bring new ideas or be independent, and above all I'd have to wait for 20 years to get a job," he says, as his friends have a hearty laugh.

Adds Vijji, "In the IT industry, young people like us are given the power to take our own decisions, and improve our skills, and our original ideas will be recognised here."

All of them want to travel abroad, and their first choice, surprisingly enough, is not the US but Europe, particularly England.

Even though they hail from smaller towns and can't articulate effortlessly in English, they have made a pact - to talk among themselves only in English, as this would improve their English language skills.

So what are they going to do with their relatively high salaries?

"Invest, of course," smiles Vijji. "In mutual funds and in equity, beginning with Infy shares. We've decided let's begin with our own company."

But, then, there are others at the campus for whom saving or investing is a luxury right now.

H.N. Venkatesh (21), from Tiptur, near Tumkur in Karnataka is one of them. The son of a tahsildar he had long decided that he would become a software engineer. That dream was realised on August 7 when he joined Infosys and has just got his first salary.

So will he splurge, like his colleague Rachna Shetty, the daughter of a bank officer from Bangalore, who has decided that the "first few months' salary will go into buying things for myself and my family"?

With downcast eyes Venkatesh shakes his head.

"No ma'am. I have to pay my educational loan, and also the loan taken for my sister who is doing M.Tech in Bangalore. And my father has commitments too... " he says in a barely audible voice.

These "commitments" are loans taken to bring up and educate his three children.

Venkatesh leaves you with a lump in the throat, which is not helped by the story that Ganesh Gowda from Sagar, near Shimoga in Karnataka, has to relate. His father was a bus conductor and passed away last year.

But not before ensuring that Ganesh, who had never dreamt of becoming an engineer, got an educational loan of Rs 1.4 lakh to pursue higher studies.

"I got very good marks in school and my father insisted I should become an engineer."

He has already bought "some saris and a watch for my mother and will be sending them to her along with a demand draft. She needs the money to run the house."

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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