Life is full of surprises. Last Friday’s surprise caught me unaware. I was traveling up country when I accidentally met an old friend of mine I was least expecting. We had not met with him for some while since the golden college days when life was full of laughter. The first thing I noticed was that his tummy is growing quite fast than mine. We had a soft drink, a soda and some snacks before spending part of the afternoon at the famous Machakos People’s park. He was on leave, and so was I. This was one of the rare opportunities we could talk about life after college particularly how we had faired relative to our expectations of the so called outside world.
Among the many subjects we talked about, three took most of our time. One was the issue of employment. We had heightened expectations that one would land to a well paying job immediately after college. Mostly, before we encountered the realities of the job market, we imagined scenarios were employers would be chasing for very few graduates. Unfortunately, it was the other way round, too many over qualified graduates chasing a few jobs. A few did secure jobs immediately, the lucky ones, during one which was a very trying time especially on any one’s patience. People said connections mattered a lot in the job market, others emphasized the role of the Internet, and rumors held that one had to dig to their pockets for some chai to get a job. There were just too many instructions for job seekers that we felt confused. At the end of it all, we both agreed that as it pertained matters of work, patience was all that counted. Most of our class mates are now employed three years down the line. It was a test of patience I guess.
The last two topics were fun to deal with than remembering our embarrassment in the job market. One we talked about how friends had faired. At times we found ourselves comparing ourselves to them. You know, each wants to be the first who buys that beautiful car, house, immediately after college. It is a kind of an unhealthy competition which spurs people to keep working harder. However, I think when it is about who buys this and that consumable; it is like a star shinning in the wrong direction. It had better be in investments in things that would likely generate more income like more education and competing in the spirit of enterprise. My friend seemed reluctant to agree with me on this.
Last, we talked about relationships. We talked of relationships that people had in campus and how they survived or crushed after. Mainly, since both of us are now ripe to marry, we talked of the challenge of identifying the one with so many masqueraders around after you are put on payroll. My friend said he has three under strict scrutiny. I lied to him that I am yet to settle on one. We agreed that, society would do us good if it could give us some history of all the potential candidates so that one may easily estimate the trouble they may run into after the holy vows. Though it does give some of this information, it is normally so distorted and can only be found in bars which many of us don’t frequent.
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