Self Made Man

In our journey through life, we come across a lot of obstacles which make us strong and become part of the many pages of our lifestory. But for some people, these obstacles were not an option or a learning experience but a sink or swim scenario. People call them by many names like the resilient folk or the guys who never quit but like to call them the self-made-men and I am grateful to have known two such guys in my life.

First we start with Ramesh Karkera, a mangalore born simple guy and a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi (only through behavior). Ramesh was born in a normal family but had to face hardships in the beginning itself. His dad had abandoned him and his family early on leaving them to fend for themselves. So his mom had to start working without an option. Same was the case with Ramesh who had to work in whatever job he got to make ends meet.Ramesh also had a younger brother which made it even more important to do some or the other job. So, alongside his graduation, Ramesh also worked part time at fast food chains (where he is recognized to this day).

Ramesh slowly started to get better paying jobs while finishing his graduation through references and goodwill. His graduation tale has its own curves and slopes. Ramesh started off as a science major but ended up shifting to commerce half-way through thanks to unwanted, unneeded and lousy advice from his relatives and so-called well wishers.This was a major USP of his teenage and adult life as he had to listen and act on his relatives advises as his mom used to get influenced by what they said. Anything that he failed at or didn’t perform well at made sure that the relatives will get their opinions out. So, shameless they are that they would scold for ours without even being considered in that position. Regardless, Ramesh fought tooth and nail amidst all this blaming game and finally, after finishing his B.Com degree sought to pursue C.A

This was a tough ask as CA was known to have a low passing percentage. But, this was a step he wanted to take through his own better judgement. He had to finish a period of 3 years of articleship under a practising Chartered Accountant which would also mean some income on the side. Ramesh joined a gujarati C.A firm (no stereotypes here) and thrived under all the cost cutting and profit making mindset. This was not helped in large part that majority of his colleagues in that firm were girls who were hell bent on professing their passion for him through devious means and lustful ideas. But this never wavered his focus.

There are two ways to ensure job security. One is to become indispensable by learning every single thing there is to learn so that the management can't even think about removing you. The other is of course to play dirty politics. Ramesh chose the former as he climbed the ladder of his career by becoming an integral cog in his firm’s wheel. His boss, who also was a Pervert and a Casanova, hardly rewarded his efforts and always churned productivity out of him. Ramesh took his time and excelled in his role whilst making sure he got paid atleast what was promised to him. With time, as people left the adult-rated (pun intended) firm, he grabbed the opportunities and increased his salary to a decent amount which if appropriated correctly would amount to 10 times the salary a guy practicing articleship should get.

All this while supporting his family, he had his teen-adult pangs which didn’t get fulfilled due to some reason or the other. In midst of his struggles he met me, who was involved in his own struggle to overcome personal relationship debacles. Together, we bonded helping and guiding each other to make better decisions one of which resulted in him pursuing a part-time MBA in a reputed institute while the other resulted in his compatriot being committed to an overseas job and a long-time friend (girl). Its funny how certain decisions you make about certain people shapes your entire life in the way you always wanted. And this was all possible because of the efforts of a self-made-man. For all the ladies, you can all like debonair and dashing guys who can wear brands and afford luxuries but if you want to be with a person who values people and money, date a self-made-man. He will never let you down and always treat you with respect.

There is nothing more inspiring than a self-made-man.

P.S : I know I said I knew 2 self-made-men but I could only get time to write about one of them. Will write about the other one soon.
Cheers!