The Future Question

"Throughout the centuries, there were men, who took first steps down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision."
Ayn Rand


"I don't know What to do next.....??"
"NO! That has no future....... I won't take it!!"
"It seems good, but my friends are not opting for that. Soooo...... why should I be the odd one out??"
"Yaaaaa!! I know i like it........ but you know my parents. They are like no and stuff like that."

These are the answers we generally give when confronted with questions of our future. The career questions.
CAREER
That one six-letter word, which freaks most of us out. It is that one most important decision we should make, that molds our entire adulthood. A choice which decides whether our breakfast will be in Subway or at a roadside idly stand.
Man!!
That's one important step to take. No wonder, most of us loose our cool in the process.
But still, I ask the question. Is it that tough? That confusing?
Isn't career supposed to be something we enjoy doing...... and also get paid for doing it. Isn't career like a journey to a whole new level, and not a destination in itself?
Isn't it supposed to be.......... a Happy thing!!!!

Still we feel, choosing a career is a big burden dropped down upon us. Some kind of a punishment, nature intended for us, for reaching puberty!
WHY
Where did it all go wrong?
Where did we lose the focus?
Why are we so scared of it?

Let's go to the beginning.
Did you know that there was a time when we were very clear about our future?
Remember the good old days! (Before puberty) The times when we were kids. Some big uncle or aunt would walk up to us and ask what do we want to be when we grow big, and we would like, with our cute voice say that we want to be a doctor, or a pilot, or a singer, or things like that.
I am sure, at that age none of us would have said "let me check the newspaper or ask my friends, to see which is having the "boom" now!"
Kids also never say "please ask my parents about my future. They are the ones who choose what's good for me."
We, so well knew what we wanted from our life, at that age itself! Our plan was already made at that time. It was so clear then.
Where did those days go?
Where did all that innocence and clarity of mind go?

But hey.... then we grow big!
We come to know that the world is bigger than we thought. We get to meet many people, see many places, and experience so many new horizons. So many that, we end up loosing ourselves in that crowd.
Gradually, the "change" factor sets in.
Our favorite songs, along with our favorite bollywood heroes......Change!
Our dress style, our eating habits, our relationships with the people around us....... Change!
So radical is that change that even our attitude, our beliefs, our method of thinking, doesn't remain the same anymore! So many influences from so many sides, make us forget our perception towards life. The lines we drew between right and wrong go haywire.
Bottom line...... We loose our focus.
The Result........ We don't know what we want to be anymore.

Then the day comes, after schooling, where we have to pick that specific course for our career. (Ex: choice for MPC, BiPC or MEC for 2).
I very well know what happens at that stage. All our elders, teachers, friends, and what the heck........ even cousins from America, come to our aid.
C'mon..... Don't lie!! I know what we all did at that time. Frantically, running here and there, trying to get the last minute advise before we turn our application in.
We don't want to know whether we like that subject or not. Our interest lies in knowing whether everybody likes it or not. Hence starts our ruin.


From there we jump to the "obvious" stuff.
"It's obvious Kedar...... I am doing my engineering now, so I'll sit for a campus interview, or write CAT or GATE or Whatever !!"
"Isn't it obvious Kedar........ Since I took BiPC I'll be doing medicine. What do you mean there other fields too? When you take BiPC, the only next logical step we have is doing MBBS. The other options are tough to pursue. You tell me....... What else can i do??"

There is nothing wrong taking the GATE, CAT, or the GRE if that's what you want to do. But doing it, as if that's the only option left to you, or it's some kind of an obligation forced upon you, then it's wrong. It's almost like murder, except that you are both ,the victim and executioner too.
Imagine, if your lifespan is for another 40 years, and you end up choosing something you don't like. Won't those 40 years become some kind of a torture for you?
Is that how you wish to live your life??


WHAT TO DO??
It can not get simpler than this.
Just do the right thing.

Everything starts from one small thing called as "Dream".
Have a big dream? The rest follows.....
A dream is nothing but a recognition of our wants. Our wants are the things which keep us happy all the time. Everything from our choice of toothpaste, to the friends we choose, is the end result of our wants. No matter how small or big that choice is, we should be able to appreciate it, and be glad that we choose it. Nobody wants a bad toothpaste or a bad friend!!
The same goes for your choice of career. Do not worry about whether it has a "future" or not. Become its future. Do not worry if nobody is taking it. You take it. Logical deduction is all you need.
If you are plain lazy, or just disinterested, then nobody can help you.
But wait! I see that you do have a burning desire to prove yourself. To do something, that will be worth your efforts. To be someone everybody can look up to. So don't just sit there . Go ahead and do it.
Just do the right thing.

The best part of the story is how this simple decision, if taken right, by all our youth can change the face of our country. Imagine India having Doctors, Engineers, Athletes, and CEO's working, not for the money or fame, but just for the love of what they have chosen to do. That would be more than enough for us, to become the super power by 2020.

Think about it. Anybody can tell you "How" to travel, but the "Where" to travel, is your sole decision.
There is a road with your name on it.
Walk it.
Claim it.

A Perfectionist...

For the Completion....

Why people dread perfection? They say perfection is only available on the celluloid or in the pages of a heroic epic. We believe perfection is impossible by ordinary human beings. If perfection is achieved by somebody, then that guy is surely a genius, we can never hope to be.

Are we right?

What exactly is this perfection?
It is the art of performing a work to its best quality in the most efficient manner. Trust me.... It's not as tough as it seems. Let me explain with an example....

Suppose you have to make a chocolate cake. You get all the ingredients required and mix them in the appropriate amounts and Voila! The cake is deliciously ready. Now if any one of the ingredients is replaced or if they are not mixed in the right amounts then the cake will not be the cake you wanted.
You might say that each one us have a different type of taste for chocolate, and there is no way of determining whether that chocolate cake is made properly or not..... but we all know that a particular “chocolate cake” will have its own unique taste, and any other taste apart from this will either be bad or a different chocolate cake altogether.
Either way it will not be the chocolate cake you wanted to eat, no matter how good or bad or "differently" it turn out to be.

Hence a proper execution of a set of instructions results in a proper outcome. Any other deviation produces a different outcome which is not intended. This proves that if are keen on getting 100% out of your hard work, you will make sure that every step you take is done to the mark. We have been so used to mediocrity that we dwell in it all the time, and refuse to do a work completely or should I say “to perfection”.
To be a perfectionist is not something that is impossible but, the simple yet hard way of finishing something as it is supposed to be done.

In simple words, being perfect is just doing the right thing at the right time.

The other reason why we dread perfection is that, we are too busy with both our eyes on the destination, and hence lose our interest in the journey.

Like...... 'We all dream of being rich, popular or influential in some way or the other. We look into the space and smile at those dreams. But how many of us also like dreaming about facing all the hardships and hurdles that stop us from being rich, popular and influential… and nevertheless keep smiling.'

How many of us do that??

What I am trying to say is that we should learn to love the troubles that come in our way. Welcome them with open arms, since it is only the sun of the desert that makes us appreciate the shade of the oasis!

Now you will tell me that actual perfection in every thing is impossible. I agree with you.
It is impossible!!
But does a perfectionist means that he does things perfectly.
No!

It means that he makes real honest attempts to do things perfectly.
Here is an example.
You need start from your college and reach your house. Its a thunder storm outside. You might even die in the process of reaching your place. Still, you start. Now I am not going to tell you what the climax will be! You might die trying, or arrive safely.
That’s not important to the Perfectionist.

He has nothing to do with the result. He has already won the battle the very minute he decided to start and then stepped out into the nature’s fury.

Do not fear the result. You do your part, and then sit back, relax, and enjoy, as you see nature taking its own course.

I Am a Hero !!

Let me face it....! I can never be a hero. I am not at all like the guy in Prison Break. Don't even have the brain to break out of my own house.... what the heck can i break out of prison ?? No super-powers either i.e. if you can exclude the magical power of dozing off, as soon as the lesson starts. Bollywood stunts are completely out of question ! Too lazy, too tired...... to run here and there, saving crying mothers, strict fathers, and rouge and lip stick dripping heroines. Boringggg !! Rather let the villain kill them all, and let me watch Tom and Jerry in peace.

But still..... i want to be a hero. They never stopped to inspire me.The way they go on carrying themselves. They way they conjure a solution out of thin air. And most importantly, the way people treat them. People always liked heroes. No matter where they come from or what they do....... people will surely stand for hours in the heat and cold, just for a fleeting glimpse of their favourite hero as these guys run into their Audi. Or people would surely stand at a busy intersection, straining into the sky above, arguing with each other, whether it was a bird, or a plane or, what the heck that they saw flying above their heads right now ?? Won't that be tooo coool ?? Obviously it would be !! To take a shotgun out of your sexy leather jacket, and with a real cool tough dude accent say "AstaLa'Vista, Baby".

Man ! That's life.

But hey...... i never got to enjoy all that. Just because i am not brainy, not brawny (i don't even know if that's a real word), and not that so called "hero" material........ doesn't mean i can not be a hero or at least be treated as one.
I know i am right.
Right ??
Right ????

Well....Whom am i fooling ? Let me face it. I can never be anyone of them. Never. Years went on, and i committed myself to this hard-to-digest facts of my life. Resigned to my fate to be a just another ordinary guy, with..... you know...... ordinary life to lead.

But, one fine day (just like the movies !!), she came and told me that...... picture abhi baaki hey dost ! She told me nothing much. Nothing great...... Just that i don't have to be ordinary no more. I was always born to special, to have big dreams, to do great things, and i have the power to make others believe that they too are as special as me.

She told me that...... even i can be a HERO !!

That's all she said, and she went back into the crowd. Never came back. But i'll never forgot what she gave me.

There is a hero in all of us. Take a small peek into your life. You will know. If you completed a very tough maths assignment, or a tough science project, which you thought you would never be able to even start !!........ you are a HERO. If you thought you don't the courage to apologize to your best friend, about the fight you had with him last night, and then you go........ and say sorry !! You are a HERO. If you felt liking tearing yourself apart for that one puff you want, real bad and then stand up and say "What the hell ?? I can surely live without that dumb cigarette".......and then My Friend, Congratulations, You are a HERO now.

Check your surroundings, There is heroism all around us. We all are heroes. We can be one. Just stand straight with the Right people who wish to the Right things in the world, and there........ you will get your Diploma in Hero management. (I don't even know what that means !!)

But trust me, this tougher than those filmi and cartoon heroes we see. Tougher than anything else. But at the end of the day, you will realize that you are the "ONE", and also that you are that real Hero of your Dreams.

The Beginning....

The night is on the high, a dawn too far.

Slowly and steadily, the mist is killing me, none at my side for the little warmth i crave.

Its all over, its all done, they have won the battle and i have lost the war.

Then i hear, A small voice. Only i can hear it, only i can feel it.

It says nothing, explains nothing. Its nothing but a small voice.

Then i suddenly start to roar, i tear open the darkness and save the dawn and swallow it whole.

Now i am the dawn. I am the light. I am the fire.

The battle begins again....

What is the most important thing in your life? What is that without which you wouldn't survive? What is that thing that makes you as you are?

Long times have we pondered on such questions. Wasted infinite amounts of time and space on worthless theories, looking down alleys that lead nowhere. Looking for "someone" who will show you the right door. Always feeling sad and down that we never get the answers to our questions. I have a question for you. Are you asking the right questions?

Imagine a whole field of weeds and insects. You are assigned the job of cleaning up the place and removing all the infestation. What will you do? Sit down there and brood why and how weeds and insects have evolved through the ages or, feel pity for them since they are also living beings and you have no right to hurt them and its all in Lords hands to do all the dirty work? Would you think like that?

I'll tell you how the man does it. He would'nt waste his time over the so called philosophical or spiritual aspects of his work. He will roll up his slevees and get his nails dirty, and his back will only straighten again, when his work well done. Then he will walk away, tired and hungry, and with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

Have you ever asked yourself, when was the last time you had that smile? How many times you felt that it is not just your limbs or mind you have put in your work but your entire soul? We do nothing, but wander aimlessly in our life, searching for a purpose or a goal,or a person or a thing which will give meanig to our existence, but we don't realize that we are the ones that give life into them and not the reverse.

Man is the one who defines the surroundings around him. He is the one who chooses the road to walk upon, and sometimes makes his own roads. All i say is that, don't waste your time sleeping on the rooftops, seaching for yourself among the stars but stand straight, stretch yourself to the limit and go beyond them.

Don't ask yourself "why should i do it?" or "can i do it?" and stuff like that. Close your eyes for a moment, find that little voice, find that spark in you. Then you will be asking yourself "what do i need, to do this thing?" and "how should i go about doing this thing?". They are the right questions.

You have been sent here with a purpose, and the best part of the story is that you get to choose it, and that's nothing but the most important thing you wish to have in your life.That's your baby you wish to make with your own hands, with your blood, sweat, tears. Feed it with love and care and watch it evolve.

The ending is the best, since you will have that smile on your face, since you just didn't live your life, but also left a legend in every step you took.

Remember. Its not what you do or how you do, that defines you. Its why you do that forms your core.

Shed your inhibitions and fears. Forget the world. Forget yourself. Just go out there, onto the battlefield and get what you want. Grab whatever you can get out of your life. Trust me, there will be no more regrets or sadness in your life, since the day is fought long and hard, and of all the above, a small smile acknowledges your victory.