By Chance

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I got my current job in March, 2007. I was applying a few companies abroad, mainly in India at the moment.

I luckily got an opportunity of job interview. There was a problem; I could hardly speak English. So I asked an English teacher to create a common Q&A list for English job interview and put the paper on the wall. When I got a call from my future boss, I repeated his questions changing the subject from “you” to “I” in order to make a little time to find my answers on the wall.

I came to India only after a few weeks from the job interview. I was wondering why I have passed the interview, and after all, simply understood there weren’t many job candidates at that time. Now there is more Japanese staff in the company, and the hurdle to be hired is getting higher and higher. If it was now, it was a physical interview, or there were other better candidates, I wasn’t here.

I am not a spiritual person so much. But I sometimes use this phrase, “called by India.” Among the foreigners, there is a too common question; “Why India?” People exchange this question every time when a new staff joins. For people who decided to come to India, it’s interesting to know others’ answer of this question. I have an answer, but the answer is just one of the possibilities. I am not telling a lie, but I say to myself, “It may be not all, but I don’t know the complete answer, exactly.” I believe other people don’t know, too. So I say “OK, you must have been called, too.” Reasons are not always necessary.

I guess understanding why you are called may be a little more important. The characters of Haruki Murakami’s novels would say, “We are not selecting anything in our life.” I agree. I am passive to my life, even when I believe I am selecting by myself. Who I am selects where I go unconsciously. That’s how I left Japan. That’s how you love someone beyond arm reach, or spends all your money for an uncertain business. You cannot decide, but your nature decides where to take you. I have been feeling how powerful this something inside me is, and which never listen to my words. Inside, there may be no difference between chances and decisions.