I was talking to a college friend of mine today. He justseemed to be on cloud nine since he got placed only recently and very decentlyas well. I was really elated for him because he also came from a similarbackground as with me like similar schools and same college and he was and isone of the few friends whom I value for being free from selfishness and envy.
We talked after a long time, perhaps after a year or so, andit seemed that we were both trying to describe the same thing, albeitalternatively, that how our dreams, with which we used to be fascinated as kids,were now flowing down the gutter of failure and exasperation. He drew a verysubtle yet convincingly true point that it was all part of growing up; whichstarts with facing the palisade of rules and norms and expectations set up bystraitjacketed society and sometimes your parents. Sometimes, peculiarly whenyou are less of a dreamer, you choose to go with the norms and allocate them tobe your dreams. But problem does arise when you start to sleep less and dreammore; and start to ponder about what you have done with your life.
It’s not a point whether you make 9 LPA or land up in IvyLeague or get selected for DAAD or whatever. But it’s a point whether taking anavenue will ultimately make you happy; because when you are happy and motivated,success will follow eventually. Earlier, when I used to be, say 15-19 yearsold, I considered study to be the most important thing in my life, but now I considerhappiness and motivation as the most revered aspiration in my life. The differenceis palpable; I can assure you. The guys who were nothing compared to me when I cameto BITS Pilani for the first time are now scoring double or even triple themarks than those of me. That is only because of some of them were highlymotivated to get into such a great college and they probably thought that ifthey study well here, they would surely land up somewhere great from here. My mistakewas that this fact failed to convince me. Motivation is surely an enormousforce to reckon with.
I also suggested my aforementioned friend that occupying acubicle in an office with 300 another similar cubicles is surely not a sourceof motivation for me. Neither do fancy notices in LCD display of B-Dome orsimilar colorful notices in placement notice board seems inviting to me whenhalf of your batch mates’ fates remain hanging. A college will have bothexcellent as well as average performers for sure. And it’s my belief that ifthe college fails to provide at least a bare platform to them for furtheringtheir career goals irrespective of their discipline or merit, it does notdeserve to be a college at first place. Even Lovely and SRM and a milieu ofothers offer engineering; but do yourself a favor by asking a question: do youreally distinguish yourself from the crowd and rat-race?
Some conversations and meetings make you ponder andrededicate yourself. Today’s was the one. I have gathered for sure: brain worksonly because heart supplies oxygen to it. It’s what your heart says and foreseesis more important than anything else whatsoever. Remember that old folk taleabout the ailing king and the torn shirt of a poor singing beggar? They haveused a metaphor while I have talked directly.
If you see yourself as a researcher par excellence in nearfuture, it’s excellent. Or an entrepreneur, or even a dynamic marketing andsocial media expert, it’s absolutely awesome as long as you remain happy andmotivated in your stream. Please never burden yourself with journeys which yourheart knows it would never like to endure.