Following One’s Dreams.

(24 Jan ’11)

To quote a friend: after reading an article about CAT toppers and their perfect 100…. “paison ke liye itni padhai?” So much studies just for the money? In other words, peace of mind for sale.

But honestly, for a combination of respectability, job-satisfaction and money, one has to study.

A colleague in her early twenties, who has done her Masters in Hospital Administration, a five year course after the XII standard, said this about the doctors: they’re so lucky. When they have their own practice, they are their own bosses. I had to point out to her: to reach there, they slog, slog, slogged for many tough years. They survived competition, stressful exams and long hours at texts. They gave up short term pleasures, outings, parties for long term goals, degrees.

I don’t believe that all humans are equal. There are tall and short people, intelligent and stupid ones, leaders, followers, whiners, achievers. There has to be a method of sifting the inherent talent (could be entrance exams or some other method) and then coaching and honing it to excellence. We certainly need schools for the gifted. It is they who will take us forward. If we educate everyone on the same platform, we dilute ability and in the long run, we dumb down society. I’ve said this before: just

We have MBA institutions and MMS courses sprouting all over the place. If we don’t have technology, industry, what on earth are these people going to manage or administer? Most often, they end up being glorified clerks, doing nothing really interesting, punching in data, churning out graphs and reports, analyzing them… and drawing a salary from and reporting to a business tycoon who’s barely cleared school-level boards. And the tycoon’s sons. When I say technology, it doesn’t mean high end stuff either: tailoring, carpentry, electronics, masonry, etc need to be professionalized, too. For example, everyone can’t be a neuro surgeon; one could aspire to be an excellent physiotherapist or nurse’s aide or pharmacist’s helper. Or hair stylist. We have schools for all of these. We need more. Importantly, we need to take pride in the ‘lesser’ professions. Then there won’t be the need to feel: paison ke liye itni padhai, because hairdressers can and do earn as much as if not more, at times, than MBAs. The need to sell one’s soul, time and youth just to gather more and more fixed deposits will not be felt.

One industry which has boomed thanks to good training is Hospitality. The other, though not as formally organized, are the call centres. Both have also achieved a fair degree of respectability, without getting too involved in books and exams. So many have reason in those fields, picking up finance and systems along the way.

I’ve heard people say: things are different abroad.

No. Not even in the lands of opportunity (USA, Oz, NZ, Canada) do all parents allow their children to follow their juvenile dreams. Certain strata of all skins (yellow, black, white, brown) want their kids to go to the best schools, colleges, and become … what else? Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Diplomats, Bankers. Rare is the mom who’ll say: Stand up comedian? Go ahead, son. He may still be the best and make a lot of money, too, but she’s going to aspire differently. The difference lies here: the reason they join the courses is not primarily to hoard currency. For example, my friend’s son did chemical engineering, then medicine, and intends to do not clinical practice but research. And teach. No great money there, but he’s ‘following his dream’ within the framework of what’s acceptable in his society.

Sports, graphic designers, mehndi-walis, radiology-technicians, phlebotomists, housekeepers, mechanics, all play their role. Fighter pilots can’t survive without the guy who folds the parachute and tucks it under the ejection seat. Tycoons of business depend on the security guards so they can sleep well at night in their silken sheets. The superiority of one over the other exists. It’s the level of skill required to do a job and execute it expertly that marks the divide. It’s for that expertise that the ‘padhai’ is required. The money is never the goal, never should be. That’s when one can say one is ‘following one’s dreams’.

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