Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
-Albert Einstein
I was getting really bored the other day, back from work, didn’t have much to do. Actually, had a lot to do, but laziness got the better of me, yes, I am a self-confessed lazy pig. Soooooo I decided to watch ‘3 Idiots’ for the 3rd time or something. 3 Idiots is one amazing movie I feel, it focuses on an issue which we all know about, crib about, get frustrated about yet do nothing about. As I am sure everyone knows, this movie talks about following your heart when it comes to choosing your career. So, there is a scene in this movie where the character Farhan, played by Madhavan is trying to convince his dad to let him pursue a career in photography (his passion), instead of engineering, in which he apparently sucks. So he tells his dad “Papa agar mei Engineer bann bhi gaya toh bahut kharab Engineer banunga”. This dialogue of his got me thinking.
This is something that I have gone through, almost everyone in India has gone through or is going through. We as a country have always tried to take the safer option, you know, we tend to live the life our parents or society chooses for us instead of choosing what we might be good at. Have you ever wondered how skillful you could have been at something that your parents did not want you to pursue? Say, you were born to play the guitar, but ended up studying Mathematics or Economics, a prodigal sportsman, but forced to be a chartered accountant or a naturally brilliant stand up comedian coaxed into being a politician (Read Rahul Gandhi..lol). Half of our youth today (maybe) have a degree which they did not want, which they could care less about. Obligated to follow the general trend by family/society/relatives, compelled to believe in their own mediocrity.
“Kheloge kudooge toh banoge kharab, padhoge likhoge toh banoge nawab”. Now, do you know why we are so incompetent when it comes to sports? All our lives, this is hammered into our brains. I still remember, we used to have just 45 minutes of sports time allocated to us in an entire week on our time table, back in school. That’s like opening a packet of Lays, no chips only hawa. I wonder if a person like MS Dhoni would have decided to pursue a career in Commerce instead of following his heart, would he have been sitting in a small office in Ranchi as an accountant instead of ruling over a billion people. He dared to dream, aptly supported by his family (I assume) and look where he is now! There could have been a Dhoni in you or me, but we will never know because we never tried. We kept moving with the crowd, matching step by step and, today, we have achieved our goal, we are that face in the crowd which we so badly wanted to be. A country of a billion people not being able to make it to the Soccer world cup, rarely winning anything at the Olympics, something is definitely wrong! You know what is wrong?? The misconception that “Kheloge kudooge toh banoge kharab” is wrong!
I have a friend who I studied Engineering with, he wasn’t polished. When I say polished I mean he didn’t have swagger which apparently is so cool nowadays. Anyway, he had this unbeatable desire to join the Indian Army as an officer. I mean he is probably 5 feet 6 inches tall or something, I knew that guy had a lot of grit, but I used to wonder what that guy would do after our Engineering days. Would he also join the bandwagon like us or would he follow his dream. So, he got his Engineering degree, didn’t join a TCS or an Infosys, took the risk, took all the bullshit from society, failed twice at the SSB (interview process to filter Defense prospects) and got into the Army at the 3rd attempt. You know what this is? This is SWAGGER!…:).
Anirban Lahiri, is an Indian golfer. He is ranked 30th in the world or something, not sure. But he is doing really great, very sure of that! He was my senior in school, we as his schoolmates always used to wonder what profession he would choose. I mean, obviously India mei Golf kaha chalta hai yaar….we used to say..like sadist grumpy uncles..lol…and now, here I am mentioning HIS success story in MY freaking blog… 🙂 . You know what this is?? Shutting out the background noise and doing whatever the heck, the heart wants to do. Had my friend and Anirban Lahiri crumbled to the unnecessary judgment and pressure that everyone around them exposed them to, they would never have achieved their goals, yes, they would have managed a decent job and salary but they would have lived their whole life doing something they did not want to or were not natural at. They would have always lived with the ‘what if’’s.
So so so my dear countrymen, lend me their ears, have some love for yourself first, please others later. Follow your heart, don’t be the 13 year old child who has to take IIT coaching classes. Learn to say ‘NO’ to others and say ‘YES’ to your dreams. Be a chef, be a DJ, be an actor or a poet, but be what you want to be, not what Sharma Ji’s son is… 😛 . In case I didn’t mention before, both my friend and Anirban Lahiri have a good education to back their personality so don’t neglect a basic education while pursuing your goals. Just think about it, if you to become a cricketer someday, would you rather prefer sounding like a Rahul Dravid or a Misbah-Ul-Haq???….lol….Sorry about this one if anyone from Pakistan ever reads it…No hard feelings… 🙂
