A Raju Rastogi(3 Idiots) among us.

Who can forget the blockbuster movie 3 idiots. The huge popularity of this movie is mainly because of the social message it conveys “ Follow your dream, Success follows”.

But how many of us are fortunate to follow our passions. First of all, how many of us know our passions.

The current education system atleast in India doesn’t focus on any of the co –curricular activity to be developed and instead identifies intelligence with those who get the highest for a set of questions from a prescribed book.

Will this trigger out of box thinking???

Here is my friend who like Raju Rastogi joins engineering and eventually tries to search the big purpose of life..

Over to the experiences of my friend Sandeep (in his words).

THINK.TYPE. SMOKE

“You name Sandeep Kumar?”

“Yes, sir”

“You name here. Volvo in placed.”

“Oh thank you, sir”

“Don’t sit for placements. Other students get job.”

“OK, sir”

And that is how 4 years of book – related monotony converged to a single moment of ecstasy and finality. Four years. Not an engineer (yet), but with a job. That is the Indian dream.

“Mera beta engineer banega” (My son will become an engineer).

The goal is set. No, no. Don’t get mislead. The goal is not to become an engineer. But the job, that follows the degree. Nobody actually cares for the certificate you receive.

Package, location, job, certificate.

Yes, in that order.

So the day came. July the 13th. The elusive joining date.

I did not particularly enjoy my college days. I had begun to detest the course towards the end. The hope in what it was to be, and the reality of what it truly was. To mug is to rule.

So this was my fresh start. A change of scenario. I began work.

A year has passed. The student has transcended to a professional.

But old ways died hard. The transition has not been smooth sailing.

The first day we were told, we had to put in 9 ½ hours of work per day. NINE AND HALF HOURS. The words were like a prelude to a gore horror movie. Horrifying and far from comprehension.

Training for 6 months. Oh man, 6 months. 6 months? Holy mother of cow, 6 MONTHS!!!

Permission for holidays. Woah. You got 2 optional leaves for all festivals. But college had taught me to embrace the joy of all festivals. On the bed!! Till noon!!

Eventually you receive your workstation. Never has a machine made man feel more empowered. This is my cubicle, my zone. I am going to make it big. I’ll be team lead next. Then MD/CEO. I’ll settle for one of them.

Your team lead bombards you with training material. The habit of skipping units kicks in. Do you have to go through all this stuff? Oh gosh, there is so much. Damn, no nerdy kids to help you out. You are all on your own.

No more peering into rooms, looking for friends in the classroom. If you got the mail, be there.

You hold your own meetings now. Experienced, bored eyes strained at you. With eagerness, you push through. Why was conducting a seminar in college so difficult?

Your deadlines start coming in. You find yourself working into the night. Questions pour in, answers stutter out. Soon you are shooting out answers, asking the questions.

Then a bomb is dropped. You are to give training. Holy Monkey! Me give training? Why me? Because, you can. I smile. You could burn my degree certificate for all I care. I finally feel like an engineer. I am an engineer.

It’s been a year to remember. So much change. Learned, so much. And this is only the beginning. For there is the next year and then the next, then the next. Things ought to continue to change as time passes by. But two important fundamental things which will align everything else in life are responsibility and accountability. The two things, which cannot be taught in any training.

As I look forward to have a future in the corporate world. With expectations rising. With potential being moulded into talent. I cannot help but think about the college kid that I was. Things can be learnt form that kid, I say to myself. The desire to learn, to prove a point, to change. And to have the greatest ability to just let go and enjoy. To keep that kid alive might just be the biggest challenge I have faced.

So with that note. I’ll stop. Too much nostalgia for a day. Need a smoke (What? The college kid needs it. Ironic, I have to smoke to keep him alive). Pooh – Pooh. Ah that’s the stuff.