Ditching his two-wheeler for a white horse, Roopesh Kumar Verma, dressed in a blue shirt, and black trousers, with a laptop bag swung around his shoulder, trotted past the Bengaluru traffic on Thursday. No, it wasn’t his baraat but the software engineer’s last day at work.
Fed up with Bengaluru’s nightmarish traffic, Roopesh decided to get on his trusty steed instead. His 10km journey from his residence at Mathikere in Bengaluru to his office in Embassy Golf Links did take longer than his usual ride – just about seven hours, having started at 7am and reaching work at around 2pm. But Roopesh sure did make heads turn, even as he made a dramatic entrance on his last day in office.
Turning into an internet sensation was not his idea though, claims Roopesh.
“I did not know this would go this viral. This was my last working day and this was my way of taking my frustration out on traffic jams. There are traffic jams for which sometimes we have to wait as long as 30-40minutes on the same spot. There will be multiple solutions and we should use the huge IT resources we have. If we can solve one of the world's most complex problems, why can't we solve this problem?” Roopesh asked.
Raised in Rajasthan’s Pilani, he studied engineering in Manipal before starting work as a techie in Bengaluru eight years ago. And while the software engineer had learnt horse riding in his hometown, this was the first time he was using it as a mode of transport in Bengaluru.
Roopesh now wants to start his own start-up and is of the opinion that none of the IT professionals are happy with their jobs. His reason being, “We study in top colleges in India and we work in top companies in the world but we are never the owners, all the owners are from abroad. You see any big company, all the CEO, MDs will be Indians but owners will be from outside— this is painful.”
He is, however, hopeful, pointing out, “If a Flipkart can replace Amazon, I am sure we can create our own Microsoft and Google.”
However, building his own startup is not the only thing Roopesh has in mind. He is exploring his chances of joining the Indian Army.
“I am a great fan of the Indian army and want to join, given a chance at this moment,” he said.