Dare to Decide!
“Dare to Decide!”
I was fully sunk in the depression of having broken my mobile phone’s only charger. I really couldn’t get it out of my mind. Lately I guess I have become more materialistic. These are just the signs of my deeper psychological ailment. Anyway that not going to stop me from writing this.
To make a decision to get out of something that we have been doing for a while really requires a lot of mental strength and conviction. That to in a country like India, it’s near impossible to change our course. The basis of my argument today is “Change is the only thing that doesn't change”.
Let me take myself as an example, I always wanted to be an engineer when I was a child. My father was conducting tuitions for students and most of them became engineers and may be this has gone somehow into my mind and I really wanted to be an engineer always. And then, years passed and I was in my early teens when most of my father’s students were getting placed in software companies. Then I wanted to become a software engineer. Ah! That was more specific.
I still remember what happened when I was asked to write about my ambition while I was in eighth grade, I wrote that I wanted to become a software engineer. Another story is that I didn’t say that while I was asked orally – scared of speaking in front of the class, I just blurted that I wanted to become a doctor and serve the people. Don’t take it seriously, Even then in my heart I knew that I wanted to become a software engineer and I didn’t dare to tell it then.
Then into my next grade in a different school, I was a kind of rock star because I was the only one who could speak at least a few sentences about software companies. I knew Infosys and Wipro and of course the name of their CEO’s (it was a big deal of knowledge then). I was considered cool just because I had said that I wanted to become a software engineer. My teachers used to think that I would become a collector (pity them, may be they think all bright students in India should be caged in as IAS officers).
When I went to Chennai to continue my schooling the next year, it all went on a toss. I was just another guy with a very small goal for myself. There were scores and scores of students like me who just wanted to become a software engineer. Each of the new guy I meet in my class would speak about some latest mobile phone or a gadget I didn't even have dreamt of. Each of them would speak so high of themselves that if you really didn't raise your bars you would be ‘just another’ guy in the class. The ‘just another’ badge was considered too mean to carry around.
I still wanted to be a software engineer. I had inherited a character from my father – being bloody stubborn on my decisions. Come what may, I wanted to become a software engineer. Then slowly I changed. The transformation was very slow that I didn't even notice it then, but now I can feel it evidently it has been so profound that I can say it for sure - Me minus the Chennai life is nothing more than an ordinary guy that you will find on the streets.
Nearing the SSLC exams I decided I wanted to become a filmmaker. That was shocking even to me. May be writing stories was in my blood but not film making. Like Gautam Menon says about love, It’s not that I chose filmmaking, filmmaking just chose me. It struck me like a lightning! I said my school friends that I would be a filmmaker in future and most of them said, “Dude, don’t be silly!!!” albeit some of them came up with the meekest reaction possible which really meant, “Really?? You, a filmmaker??” I didn’t care any way, I am a Chennai guy which means I am cool and most important of everything “unique”. That was really the time my vocabulary was being filled up with stuffs that if I type here would be full of **’s. I was more into GTA, Need for speed and all those games. I had become a full movie buff and a gaming freak!
The Indian society is so stringent that it just will not allow you to pursue what your heart desires. Just fearing their looks, you will have to change your decisions or at least adjust it to look high standard. I really don’t understand how people relate standards with jobs.
I was fully sunk in the depression of having broken my mobile phone’s only charger. I really couldn’t get it out of my mind. Lately I guess I have become more materialistic. These are just the signs of my deeper psychological ailment. Anyway that not going to stop me from writing this.
To make a decision to get out of something that we have been doing for a while really requires a lot of mental strength and conviction. That to in a country like India, it’s near impossible to change our course. The basis of my argument today is “Change is the only thing that doesn't change”.
Let me take myself as an example, I always wanted to be an engineer when I was a child. My father was conducting tuitions for students and most of them became engineers and may be this has gone somehow into my mind and I really wanted to be an engineer always. And then, years passed and I was in my early teens when most of my father’s students were getting placed in software companies. Then I wanted to become a software engineer. Ah! That was more specific.
I still remember what happened when I was asked to write about my ambition while I was in eighth grade, I wrote that I wanted to become a software engineer. Another story is that I didn’t say that while I was asked orally – scared of speaking in front of the class, I just blurted that I wanted to become a doctor and serve the people. Don’t take it seriously, Even then in my heart I knew that I wanted to become a software engineer and I didn’t dare to tell it then.
Then into my next grade in a different school, I was a kind of rock star because I was the only one who could speak at least a few sentences about software companies. I knew Infosys and Wipro and of course the name of their CEO’s (it was a big deal of knowledge then). I was considered cool just because I had said that I wanted to become a software engineer. My teachers used to think that I would become a collector (pity them, may be they think all bright students in India should be caged in as IAS officers).
When I went to Chennai to continue my schooling the next year, it all went on a toss. I was just another guy with a very small goal for myself. There were scores and scores of students like me who just wanted to become a software engineer. Each of the new guy I meet in my class would speak about some latest mobile phone or a gadget I didn't even have dreamt of. Each of them would speak so high of themselves that if you really didn't raise your bars you would be ‘just another’ guy in the class. The ‘just another’ badge was considered too mean to carry around.
I still wanted to be a software engineer. I had inherited a character from my father – being bloody stubborn on my decisions. Come what may, I wanted to become a software engineer. Then slowly I changed. The transformation was very slow that I didn't even notice it then, but now I can feel it evidently it has been so profound that I can say it for sure - Me minus the Chennai life is nothing more than an ordinary guy that you will find on the streets.
Nearing the SSLC exams I decided I wanted to become a filmmaker. That was shocking even to me. May be writing stories was in my blood but not film making. Like Gautam Menon says about love, It’s not that I chose filmmaking, filmmaking just chose me. It struck me like a lightning! I said my school friends that I would be a filmmaker in future and most of them said, “Dude, don’t be silly!!!” albeit some of them came up with the meekest reaction possible which really meant, “Really?? You, a filmmaker??” I didn’t care any way, I am a Chennai guy which means I am cool and most important of everything “unique”. That was really the time my vocabulary was being filled up with stuffs that if I type here would be full of **’s. I was more into GTA, Need for speed and all those games. I had become a full movie buff and a gaming freak!
The Indian society is so stringent that it just will not allow you to pursue what your heart desires. Just fearing their looks, you will have to change your decisions or at least adjust it to look high standard. I really don’t understand how people relate standards with jobs.
…post to be continued
Yeah....your view is exact!
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