His love for cars decided his course of life. Armed with a mechanical engineering degree from REC, Bhopal, Pinkoo Mahanta came to the capital four years ago to work with the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

For a young professional who lives life on the fast lane, Ranchi is not exactly a “cool and happening place”. But Mahanta is not complaining as his work keeps him going.

“I was born in Assam, but did my schooling from Shillong. From my childhood I am fascinated with cars. When I was in school I had no clue about mechanical engineering.

However, when I heard it is a branch that deals with the internal mechanism of vehicles, I decided to go for it. I pursued my BE in mechanical engineering from Regional Engineering College, Bhopal, which has now been given national status.

I got my first break in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Ranchi, in December 1999 and after that there has been no looking back. I am lucky to have got a good break so early in life. At 27, I am the chief engineering officer of BPCL.

Though I am an Assamese, I never faced any language problem in the capital as I can speak English, Hindi and also understand Bengali. I have hectic schedule with no time for leisure.

I am a bachelor and live alone. I spend more than half the month touring different districts of the state. My day begins at 9 am and I am in office till 8 pm. As a result, I hardly get the time to relax and let my hair down.

Besides, Ranchi has no scope for entertainment. In one word, life here is too sluggish.

It’s sad that a capital city does not even have a decent theatre. I remember seeing Lagaan in Sujata about two years ago. The theatre did not have an air conditioner and was stuffy. Nowadays I prefer watching movies at home. It is much more comfortable and I don’t have to waste money seeing a film in a stuffy theatre.

However, whenever I am free I go out with my classmates who are also working in Ranchi. Sometimes we play badminton on the office campus itself. I wish Ranchi had a happening night life. The restaurants are not bad, but the service is better in other cities. But there are some tourist spots in and around Ranchi which I have visited.

Shopping complexes are also conspicuous by their absence. The roads are narrow and no one seems to be following traffic rules. On top that there are no public buses. Bhopal was so much better than Ranchi. The public transport system was organised and people-friendly. The city had good theatres, shopping malls and the people were law abiding.

I remember police conducting surprise inspections to check whether buses were carrying passengers beyond the prescribed limit.

However, the Jharkhand government has thankfully woken up to the dismal situation. It was heartening to hear that the Ranchi administration is now planning to widen the roads, install streetlights and draw up a foolproof traffic management plan.

The people of Ranchi are conservative. Those from other states are more introvert. Maybe because they don’t have time to know people. But the local people are friendly.

Given a chance I would like to spend the best years of my life in a hill station away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I guess Shimla would be my first choice. I will build a house there and introspect.

Ten years from now I see myself in managerial position in some metropolitan city. But till now I am happy with what I have achieved in life. I may not be working with a company that directly deals with cars, but it manufactures the fuel that runs vehicles.

Abhijeet Mukherjee