A Fish Out of Water

I don't know how many of you can relate to this, but I've always felt like a fish out of water. I'm always that odd person out, who just doesn't quite belong in the picture. Looking back I now see how awkward I have always been, and in an odd kind of way it was a choice I made and not something that I was forsaken to like some kind of sentence. Perhaps there is a novelty in standing out and defying the masses, and although I have felt alienated at times I don't think I have it in me conform to a mold that I don't understand.

I don't even know where to begin describing how I never quite fit in. In University I landed the perfect part-time job as a Private tutor. It became a real passion of mine as I moved up in ranks as the top Tutor in my Locality(Lumding ,Assam), Teaching other people, and realizing in myself something I never knew I had in me. I had discovered an extrovertedness that seemed to come so naturally that the confidence in me lasted for years as I graduated with my BSc and embarked on my first career in the real world. I had somehow managed to convince these Logicalbigwigs that an Maths major like me was capable of succeeding in the IT Sector as soon as I reached Delhi.

Looking back I realize how happy I am now even though I still struggle with fitting in. It is an odd phenomenon being an Noirth East Indian in an environment that preaches diversity, and yet is filled with minorities who feel trapped by the stigma of their backgrounds. It is an unspoken rule that if one wanted to move up at work, one had to be fully assimilated. No accents, and no rice in the lunch room.