In Rajkumar Hirani’s latest blockbuster 3 idiots, Rancho is a genius who knows what he wants in life and how to go about it. He achieves what he set out for and makes it big in life. Farhaan - Rancho’s friend - also knows what he wants in life (wildlife photography), but under pressure from his parents joins an engineering college. But finally, with a little help from Rancho, convinces his parents and pursues his passion.
What distinguishes Rancho and Farhaan from the rest is that they know what their goal is; what they want from life. In real world, many realize their passion well after they are settled in life, after which it becomes impossible to turn back. Most don’t realize it in their lifetime. Why do we not know what we want in life? It should be simple, isn’t it? Let me go back a few years and try to answer this.
It was a Sunday morning, sometime in the month of April, 1998. Our ninth standard exams had finished and we had assembled in a classroom for the tenth standard tuition. Our teacher, an overweight man with a well rounded belly, was waiting for the class to settle down. After a while, he wrote the number 85 on the board and circled it. He spoke, “If you want to get admission into P.C.Jabin College , you should at least get 85% in the board exams. So study hard. This is the make or break year for you; if you don’t get enough marks, you will have to settle for Kaadsiddheshwar.” P.C Jabin was the best science college in my city at that time and Kaadsiddheshwar was an Arts college. Going to a science college was the default option and only those who couldn’t make it to a good science college, choose commerce or arts. The question – why science, why not arts? – never crossed my mind, even though I had no particular affinity towards science or any dislike for arts. We were like the carriage horses whose eyes are covered so that it looks only in one direction. It just doesn’t know there are other directions as well.
After passing the tenth standard, I somehow got admission into P.C.Jabin science college. The first lecture was by the Mathematics professor. He started, “You are entering the most critical phase of your life. You should be far-sighted now. Don’t think about your 11th standard exam; think about your board exams which are scheduled for April 2001, think about IIT-JEE entrance, think about CET (the common entrance test for admission to engineering and medical colleges in Karnataka). If you don’t get a rank below 300 in CET, you will not get admission to a good engineering college.” Again, we were expected to go to an engineering college. Not that anybody complained. We faithfully followed the given instructions, thinking that this is where our future lies. After all, most of us were aiming for a good engineering college. A sheep in a herd doesn’t know where it is going; it just goes where everybody else goes.
No wonder we don’t have many Ranchos and Farhaans among us. When you are not allowed to think outside engineering, when you are made to believe that only engineering gives you a secure future (it doesn’t matter if your career gives you joy or not, as long as it gives you a secure future), how will you know what you really want? God has given us brain to think, but until we use it, it’s just a lump.
I only hope that the society gives more scope to the students to choose the careers of their choice. Otherwise, countless unfortunate souls will keep singing away:
Give me some sunshine
Give me some rain
Give me another chance
I wanna grow up once again!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
मेरे विचार
उदास है यह रास्ता, या हूँ मैं उदास
यहाँ कांटे भरे हैं या है यहाँ मेरा एहसास
ये जगह वीरान है या कोई नहीं है मेरे पास
बस इसी सोच में दिन ढल जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में सवेरा हो जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में फिर दिन ढल जाता है |
यहाँ कांटे भरे हैं या है यहाँ मेरा एहसास
ये जगह वीरान है या कोई नहीं है मेरे पास
बस इसी सोच में दिन ढल जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में सवेरा हो जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में फिर दिन ढल जाता है |
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Job Satisfaction
I find a lot of people complaining that they are not satisfied with their job. They don’t find the work challenging or that they don’t deserve to do the work they are doing. It reminds me of one incident which took place when I first came to Bangalore.
I had joined MindTree and along with two other friends rented a two bedroom flat. The flat had only one wardrobe, which was not sufficient for all our clothes. So we asked a carpenter to fix a metal rod between the two walls of the bedroom to enable us to hang our clothes. The carpenter came around 12.30 p.m and started his work. He took measurements and fixed the wooden pieces on both sides of the wall, between which he was going to fit the metal rod. Suddenly he realized that the two wooden pieces were not in a straight line. The piece at the right was about 1 cm below the exact place, although you really needed to look carefully to notice the flaw. He told he will remove the wooden piece and fix it in the correct place, which would take another 20 minutes. It was already 1:10 and I was hungry. I told him there was no need for this as you could hardly make out any difference. But he insisted and told me that he believes in doing things perfectly. He started the work and after 40 minutes when he was totally convinced that the final product is perfect, he let me go!
If something like carpentry -which we think mundane and uninteresting- can give such satisfaction to the carpenter (I unfortunately did not ask his name), then why can’t we be happy with what we are doing? I think it’s not the job which satisfies us, rather it is our attitude. With a right attitude, we would find joy and happiness in whatever we do. This is not to say that we should keep doing the same job throughout our life. If at all we want a change, the reason should be a strong liking for the new job, rather than a dislike for the current one.
I had joined MindTree and along with two other friends rented a two bedroom flat. The flat had only one wardrobe, which was not sufficient for all our clothes. So we asked a carpenter to fix a metal rod between the two walls of the bedroom to enable us to hang our clothes. The carpenter came around 12.30 p.m and started his work. He took measurements and fixed the wooden pieces on both sides of the wall, between which he was going to fit the metal rod. Suddenly he realized that the two wooden pieces were not in a straight line. The piece at the right was about 1 cm below the exact place, although you really needed to look carefully to notice the flaw. He told he will remove the wooden piece and fix it in the correct place, which would take another 20 minutes. It was already 1:10 and I was hungry. I told him there was no need for this as you could hardly make out any difference. But he insisted and told me that he believes in doing things perfectly. He started the work and after 40 minutes when he was totally convinced that the final product is perfect, he let me go!
If something like carpentry -which we think mundane and uninteresting- can give such satisfaction to the carpenter (I unfortunately did not ask his name), then why can’t we be happy with what we are doing? I think it’s not the job which satisfies us, rather it is our attitude. With a right attitude, we would find joy and happiness in whatever we do. This is not to say that we should keep doing the same job throughout our life. If at all we want a change, the reason should be a strong liking for the new job, rather than a dislike for the current one.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
What motivates people to earn money ?
I sometimes wonder what actually motivates people to earn money? Rather, earn more than they are earning now. The obvious answer is to improve the standard of living. To buy a car, to buy a new car, to buy a new expensive car and we are still at car! Human mind never ceases to dream. We always dream of the things we want to own.We always dream of a new house, of the latest car,of the latest cellphone. But do we really need all the things I mentioned above ? May be not. Do we really enjoy them ? Occasionally. After buying the latest cellphone - which has so many features that it is difficult to tell whether its a cell phone or a computer - how long do we use these new features?. Most of the things we aspire for are neither needed nor enjoyed by us, still why do we keep running behind them ?
Lets try to understand this by considering some exceptions.Most actors would be happier if their performance is praised, rather than say, a foreign holiday.Amitabh Bacchan will be more happy to get critical acclaim for his acting in BLACK than get 1.5 crore per episode for Big Boss.For a sportsman, the ultimate glory is performing in front of his fans, not the millions of dollars he might earn in endorsement money. Sachin Tendulkar will be more happy to scores a 60 ball hunderd and help India chase a target of 350 in a world cup final, rather that sign a multi million dollar endorsement deal with Nike.An author will be more happy to see his book getting good reviews than half a million dollar advance on a new book. A common factor in all the above instances is the preference for recognition over money. To gain an acceptance among others that you are indeed a special one. This is a feeling not restricted to actors, sportsman and authors, but is pervasive in all human beings. As Chetan Bhagat, the investment banker turned writer, writes in his blog "I no longer work in the bank, as I felt I had to get over the lure of money and go after what I really cared for".
How does a common man fulfill this inherent desire for recognition ? The most obvious way is to earn money and buy things which attract others envy. Money allows you to become The-one-who-has-mercedes or The-one-with-the-big-bungalow. Its not what we do with the money that gives us satisfaction, but what others see us doing with the money. Also, people's perception of a person's capability is directly proportional to the amount of money he earns; more the money, better is the perception.This in turn motivates us to earn more money.
Again, this is not true for every 'common man'.Money is the topmost thing in the minds of only those who don't have a goal in life. Since without achieving anything worthwhile, it is difficult to get recognition (the ultimate aim of any human being), people fall back on gaining respect by earning more money. Once we have a goal,an ambition in life, something to show others what we are capable of, we would find the lure of money slowly decreasing.
Lets try to understand this by considering some exceptions.Most actors would be happier if their performance is praised, rather than say, a foreign holiday.Amitabh Bacchan will be more happy to get critical acclaim for his acting in BLACK than get 1.5 crore per episode for Big Boss.For a sportsman, the ultimate glory is performing in front of his fans, not the millions of dollars he might earn in endorsement money. Sachin Tendulkar will be more happy to scores a 60 ball hunderd and help India chase a target of 350 in a world cup final, rather that sign a multi million dollar endorsement deal with Nike.An author will be more happy to see his book getting good reviews than half a million dollar advance on a new book. A common factor in all the above instances is the preference for recognition over money. To gain an acceptance among others that you are indeed a special one. This is a feeling not restricted to actors, sportsman and authors, but is pervasive in all human beings. As Chetan Bhagat, the investment banker turned writer, writes in his blog "I no longer work in the bank, as I felt I had to get over the lure of money and go after what I really cared for".
How does a common man fulfill this inherent desire for recognition ? The most obvious way is to earn money and buy things which attract others envy. Money allows you to become The-one-who-has-mercedes or The-one-with-the-big-bungalow. Its not what we do with the money that gives us satisfaction, but what others see us doing with the money. Also, people's perception of a person's capability is directly proportional to the amount of money he earns; more the money, better is the perception.This in turn motivates us to earn more money.
Again, this is not true for every 'common man'.Money is the topmost thing in the minds of only those who don't have a goal in life. Since without achieving anything worthwhile, it is difficult to get recognition (the ultimate aim of any human being), people fall back on gaining respect by earning more money. Once we have a goal,an ambition in life, something to show others what we are capable of, we would find the lure of money slowly decreasing.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Joy of Reading
I have always been interested in reading books; but till some time back there was one small difference between me and the other book lovers – I was interested in the book only till I started reading it. After that, it seemed incredibly boring and I struggled to finish it. In short, I found no joy in reading books.
I picked up books which I thought would interest me – like mystery novels, science fictions etc. In fact, I also searched the top 100 books of the century through internet to find some good ones. One of the first books which I seriously started reading was, The silence of the lambs (which was one of the Google results). The book had around 250 pages – it took me almost 10 days to complete the first 120. The second half of the book was more interesting, though, and I finished it quickly; but I still did not find any “joy” in reading the book. If at all, I was “relieved”. (I still don’t know why I even tried reading books; why I was so desperate to read and “enjoy” the book, even though I did not like one).
Two months back I joined an online library (again, I don’t know why) and borrowed a book, India after Gandhi, authored by Ramchandra Guha – the remarkable intellectual from India. When the person from the library delivered the book, I was almost embarrassed. The book had 900 pages and was at least 5 times the size of any book which I had even attempted to read. Since he had come all the way to my office, I found it hard to send him back. I took the book and thought of returning it the very next week.
While at my house, I started reading the prologue – just did not feel like returning the book without reading even a single page. I was surprisingly refreshing. It talked about how different India is from the other nations of the world and how very few non-Indians actually believed India will stay united even until 10 years after independence. I felt a sense of pride and started reading the first chapter. The chapter ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I casually looked at my watch. One hour!!! It was one hour since I started reading? It easily beat my previous record of continuous reading – by 59 minutes. As I read the further chapters, I got sucked into the book and perhaps for the very first time I did not care how many pages I had read and how many were left. I just read and if I may use the word – enjoyed. After finishing the book, again for the very first time, I was a bit sad. Not happy, not even relieved to have finished a 900 page book, but sad. Since then I have read a few more books including The Wings of Fire and Alchemist and I must say I certainly have experienced joy while reading them.
I am a new entrant to the readers club, but I think to experience joy while reading, the choice of the book is very important. I may not enjoy reading a book which my friend enjoys and vice versa. In past, perhaps my choices were incorrect and hence I did not enjoy reading. Now that I have tasted blood, hopefully I will continue hunting the right prey and keep satisfying my thirst!
I picked up books which I thought would interest me – like mystery novels, science fictions etc. In fact, I also searched the top 100 books of the century through internet to find some good ones. One of the first books which I seriously started reading was, The silence of the lambs (which was one of the Google results). The book had around 250 pages – it took me almost 10 days to complete the first 120. The second half of the book was more interesting, though, and I finished it quickly; but I still did not find any “joy” in reading the book. If at all, I was “relieved”. (I still don’t know why I even tried reading books; why I was so desperate to read and “enjoy” the book, even though I did not like one).
Two months back I joined an online library (again, I don’t know why) and borrowed a book, India after Gandhi, authored by Ramchandra Guha – the remarkable intellectual from India. When the person from the library delivered the book, I was almost embarrassed. The book had 900 pages and was at least 5 times the size of any book which I had even attempted to read. Since he had come all the way to my office, I found it hard to send him back. I took the book and thought of returning it the very next week.
While at my house, I started reading the prologue – just did not feel like returning the book without reading even a single page. I was surprisingly refreshing. It talked about how different India is from the other nations of the world and how very few non-Indians actually believed India will stay united even until 10 years after independence. I felt a sense of pride and started reading the first chapter. The chapter ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I casually looked at my watch. One hour!!! It was one hour since I started reading? It easily beat my previous record of continuous reading – by 59 minutes. As I read the further chapters, I got sucked into the book and perhaps for the very first time I did not care how many pages I had read and how many were left. I just read and if I may use the word – enjoyed. After finishing the book, again for the very first time, I was a bit sad. Not happy, not even relieved to have finished a 900 page book, but sad. Since then I have read a few more books including The Wings of Fire and Alchemist and I must say I certainly have experienced joy while reading them.
I am a new entrant to the readers club, but I think to experience joy while reading, the choice of the book is very important. I may not enjoy reading a book which my friend enjoys and vice versa. In past, perhaps my choices were incorrect and hence I did not enjoy reading. Now that I have tasted blood, hopefully I will continue hunting the right prey and keep satisfying my thirst!
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