The title of the blog sounds like a sequel to a blockbuster but I wont rule out that chain of thought. Its been a while since I posted anything, the reasons for which would take up a whole blog post in itself and as a result, won’t bore you with the same. In my last post, I had described how one of my best friends turned out to be a self-made man and how he has influenced my life. Today, I will touch upon another dear friend of mine who has turned out to be a self-made man.
Sachin Jagdale, was born and raised in a simple and poor maharashtrian family. He had one younger sibling, Sagarika. Sachin’s parents although well natured, had their own vices. Sachin’s dad had a job at a not-so-popular company with a low pay. It was difficult to make ends meet as Sachin’s mom didn’t earn either. She was a housewife out of the social stigma prevalent at that time against women working. As it was getting difficult to run the household with such a meagre income, his dad resorted to drinking and smoking to mask the pain. But as it so happens, the drinking was so severe that it resulted in his dad losing his job and sitting at home. This meant that by the time Sachin was 14, his dad was jobless and sitting at home.
This made Sachin to choose between providing his family and completing his education. Sachin did a part time job getting paid around 60k per year along side his 10th grade education. He finished his education and choose to do a diploma in engineering with an eye at doing degree in the same field in the future. Sachin continued to work and slowly climbed the corporate ladder but due to lack of any relavent education, his pay scale remained the same. Sachin finished his diploma and got a job in a VLSI device manufacturing firm. Alongside this, he was suffering the pangs of adolescence as he saw his friends being in relationships. More than that, he had to sit through the accomplishments of his friends most of which involved them engaging in amorous activities with their other half. This created a sense of jealousy which could only be satisfied by engaging in a similar relationship with a girl.
Sachin started talking to girls with the intention of being with them and relieving his family burden. He even started smoking and drinking to blend into his office groups. At the end of a year at the VLSI firm, he joined a college in Navi Mumbai to achieve a degree in Engineering. This would result in the stagnancy of income in his household but he countered that by making sure that his younger sister had a job to provide for the house. She was getting paid around 1.5 LPA which was still equivalent to a Hand-to-Mouth existence for the family.
Here, Sachin struggled because of his inability to focus on his studies. One of the reasons was his need for a companion who were never consistent because his family wasn’t a well to do one and basically, his choice in female companions were not good either. One of the girls found a special pleasure at being with Sachin even though she was engaged to another guy and used to call him home whenever her parents were not present. Sachin, being a believer of an asinine assumption that a guy can never refuse a girl who calls him home, used to visit her knowing the fact that she was dating someone else.
He somehow made it to the final year where he met me. I was finishing my engineering from the same college and happened to develop a friendship with him. Us along with two other guys, got along well and used to hangout after college hours. It is during these moments that I came to know about him. He used to discuss his family issues and girl problems with us. Coming from a background of hanging out with people who used to brag about themselves, Sachin developed the same knack. He used to brag about his accomplishments with multiple girls and though at first, we used to ask him to stop minutely describing his exploits and be faithful to a single girl, we later started being satirical with him about it. He never understood our remarks and considered them as praises and continued with his stories.
The final semester arrived and many of our colleagues were already placed with a small bunch left out. One of the guys in our group had also landed a job at a marketing company. The three of us were still without a job with Sachin heavily needing one because shortage of finance at his house. He used to be extremely stressed and discussed at length about his prospects if he didn’t land a job. As he had enough experience to show for in the corporate field, he went off-campus and applied for many jobs. One major electronic firm hired him and paid him around 4 LPA as starting salary with a promise on incentives. Sachin gladly took the job and even started working before our semester ended. His rigorous time without hope had ended and now he was looking ahead planning to save and improve his career.
Slowly, in about 2 years, he saved enough to renovate his house, get his sister married and currently is planning to save enough to invest in a new house. His current salary package amounts to 8.5 LPA which has enabled him to live a moderately luxurious life whilst providing for his family. The moment I realized his worth was when I had attended the wedding of his sister and he along with his parents were standing gleefully at the stage, attending guests and thanking them for their presence. Sagarika's wedding wouldn't have been possible if not for Sachin’s sacrifices and hard work. He had proved himself to be the man of the house even before he had physically become one. Sincerely hoping him to get tied down soon and start a life with wife and kids. Because when it comes to a Self-Made Man, accomplishing any daunting achievement is just a matter of time. Not just his story, but he himself will be a lesson to millions who are in much better positions as compared to him.
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