Things are coming to a not quite so comfortable pass at work.( Basically, i get a feeling that I'd get a lot more free time if i were to become a part time faculty, and also, as full time faculty one thing that's sure screwed for me is my weekend...however, that's not the only thing, several minor squabbles with the guy who owns TIME mumbai, and our relationship is now a bit strained..My boss, Mr.Lalit Kumar views me with cautious concern and vice versa...there's more, but more on that later).Now, the situation created at work makes me even more resolved to never take up a JOB ever again. If I can avoid it. I'm just not cut out to be low/middle level employee. In fact, truth be told I'm not cut out to be an employee at all...Consultancy/Academics/Entrepreneurship, here I come...!!!
But, what's my ambition? Given that my heroes include the likes of Lincoln, Vivekananda,Feynman,Asimov, Gates, Buffet,Chomsky,Ambani, Iacocca and the Tatas ( Jamsetji & JRD); I could, if I choose to follow their exemplary life-paths individually or in combination ( to whatever extent I am capable), end up being anything or anybody!!
Now, I'm completely comfortable with such a vague life goal but I'll grant that very few others (if anyone!) will be satisfied with such an answer. And, since this blog happens to be my very personal but very public diary, esteemed reader for your sake I enumerate a few of my possible ambitions:
(1)
One position in the world which without doubt is considered the repository of POWER in todays world is that of the POTUS, and 3 of my all-time heroes have been POTUSes (if that is the CIA plural?) viz. Abraham lincoln,Woodrow Wilson and FDR. Can I become a POTUS?..not unless Arnie manages to change the US constitution. Do I even want to?...No, I'd much rathr be the PMOI ( indulge me my abbreviations,plizz)...hopefully, by the time I'm in a position to aspire/ascend to that lofty position, THAT would be the repository / pinnacle of world power...but do I really want to be PMOI ( even assuming that by this time PMOI>POTUS?)...No, I'd actually like to be the General Secretary of the UN possibly ( however, not the emasculated chair that Mr. Annan presides over)...Why??...bcoz I don't believe that politics is a dirty word, I do believe that politics is for those with a sincere desire to shape society and the conviction backed by a desire to take a people or peoples to a better future.
Other heroes in thiss:
Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, M.Singh,A.B.Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh,APJAK,Churchill, Laloo ji (purely and only for spunk!) , Narendra Modi , Parrikar, Nitish Kumar, and of course Arvind Kejriwal !!
(2)
My fascination with science dates back to my cradle possibly, and therefore, a career in Science has always been one of my most sought after pursuits. I've had several life-experiences that have reaffirmed my faith in my abilities as a scientist, as also, I've had more than several experiences that have made me doubt my prospects in this field. But on the whole I'd say that a career in Science notwithstanding, no one can deny me from pursuing it as a (much more than!) part-time obsession/passion.
Having selected Engg. when all I really wanted to do was a B.Sc in physics, having majorly hagaoed in the IIT-JEE, then having been rejected by 6 top US univs after majoring in Engineering have all led to me believe that I've probably missed the bus on this route , but I don't give up so easily, and hence you never know if there is a Nobel prize in store for me or not..(heheh!)
Here(oes):
Feynman,Gauss,Einstein,Schrodinger/Heisenberg,Pauli,Dirac,Faraday,Boltzmann,J.C & S.N. Bose, M.Saha, Sarabhai/Dhawan/BrahmPrakash...this list is really mind bogglingly long !!
(3)
Who wouldn't want to be rich?..Atleast I'm not immune to such base desires yet, and, this I believe--There's lots of money waiting out there to be made iff you go into some form of entrepreneurship.So i'd list being a greatentrepreneur as one of my other ambitions.Given my passion for science , nothing would give me better pleasure than to merge these two passions and turn tech-preneur a-la-Danny Hillis for example.But to me the real joy of being an entrepreneur lies in the intensely rich human interactios that are necessitated and made possible only because one is an entrepreneur. Being an intensely people person I'd say that even going into entrepreneurship that is completely divorced from technology would be well worth it!In the ultimate analysis, the entrepreneur is invariably in a position to positively affect the lives of those around him, the society he lives in, and in particular cases business Maharajas have vastly enriched their countries and sometimes improved the world itself..( I mean who can fail to appreciate the Tatas' contribution to making the india of today?)
Heroes:
Tatas,D.Ambani,Birlas,Bajaj's,Iacocca,Welch,Morita,gates,Buffet,walton,A.P.Sloan,A.Carnegie
OTHER Careers for me, and If chosen Who I'd aspire to become:
(4) Writing/Poetry:
Asimov, Clarke, Kipling, Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Wodehouse, Christie, Narayan, Tagore, Wilde, O'henry, Russell, Tennyson, Frost, Longfellow
(5) Teaching/ Academia :
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan( 5th september ticked by unnoticed in an ungrateful nation),I.Asimov( whose lectures in Biochemistry at the Boston univ. school of madiceine are legend!), R.Feynman ( the Feynamn lectures in Physics!!)
>>from personal experience<<
But, what's my ambition? Given that my heroes include the likes of Lincoln, Vivekananda,Feynman,Asimov, Gates, Buffet,Chomsky,Ambani, Iacocca and the Tatas ( Jamsetji & JRD); I could, if I choose to follow their exemplary life-paths individually or in combination ( to whatever extent I am capable), end up being anything or anybody!!
Now, I'm completely comfortable with such a vague life goal but I'll grant that very few others (if anyone!) will be satisfied with such an answer. And, since this blog happens to be my very personal but very public diary, esteemed reader for your sake I enumerate a few of my possible ambitions:
(1)
One position in the world which without doubt is considered the repository of POWER in todays world is that of the POTUS, and 3 of my all-time heroes have been POTUSes (if that is the CIA plural?) viz. Abraham lincoln,Woodrow Wilson and FDR. Can I become a POTUS?..not unless Arnie manages to change the US constitution. Do I even want to?...No, I'd much rathr be the PMOI ( indulge me my abbreviations,plizz)...hopefully, by the time I'm in a position to aspire/ascend to that lofty position, THAT would be the repository / pinnacle of world power...but do I really want to be PMOI ( even assuming that by this time PMOI>POTUS?)...No, I'd actually like to be the General Secretary of the UN possibly ( however, not the emasculated chair that Mr. Annan presides over)...Why??...bcoz I don't believe that politics is a dirty word, I do believe that politics is for those with a sincere desire to shape society and the conviction backed by a desire to take a people or peoples to a better future.
Other heroes in thiss:
Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, M.Singh,A.B.Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh,APJAK,Churchill, Laloo ji (purely and only for spunk!) , Narendra Modi , Parrikar, Nitish Kumar, and of course Arvind Kejriwal !!
(2)
My fascination with science dates back to my cradle possibly, and therefore, a career in Science has always been one of my most sought after pursuits. I've had several life-experiences that have reaffirmed my faith in my abilities as a scientist, as also, I've had more than several experiences that have made me doubt my prospects in this field. But on the whole I'd say that a career in Science notwithstanding, no one can deny me from pursuing it as a (much more than!) part-time obsession/passion.
Having selected Engg. when all I really wanted to do was a B.Sc in physics, having majorly hagaoed in the IIT-JEE, then having been rejected by 6 top US univs after majoring in Engineering have all led to me believe that I've probably missed the bus on this route , but I don't give up so easily, and hence you never know if there is a Nobel prize in store for me or not..(heheh!)
Here(oes):
Feynman,Gauss,Einstein,Schrodinger/Heisenberg,Pauli,Dirac,Faraday,Boltzmann,J.C & S.N. Bose, M.Saha, Sarabhai/Dhawan/BrahmPrakash...this list is really mind bogglingly long !!
(3)
Who wouldn't want to be rich?..Atleast I'm not immune to such base desires yet, and, this I believe--There's lots of money waiting out there to be made iff you go into some form of entrepreneurship.So i'd list being a greatentrepreneur as one of my other ambitions.Given my passion for science , nothing would give me better pleasure than to merge these two passions and turn tech-preneur a-la-Danny Hillis for example.But to me the real joy of being an entrepreneur lies in the intensely rich human interactios that are necessitated and made possible only because one is an entrepreneur. Being an intensely people person I'd say that even going into entrepreneurship that is completely divorced from technology would be well worth it!In the ultimate analysis, the entrepreneur is invariably in a position to positively affect the lives of those around him, the society he lives in, and in particular cases business Maharajas have vastly enriched their countries and sometimes improved the world itself..( I mean who can fail to appreciate the Tatas' contribution to making the india of today?)
Heroes:
Tatas,D.Ambani,Birlas,Bajaj's,Iacocca,Welch,Morita,gates,Buffet,walton,A.P.Sloan,A.Carnegie
OTHER Careers for me, and If chosen Who I'd aspire to become:
(4) Writing/Poetry:
Asimov, Clarke, Kipling, Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Wodehouse, Christie, Narayan, Tagore, Wilde, O'henry, Russell, Tennyson, Frost, Longfellow
(5) Teaching/ Academia :
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan( 5th september ticked by unnoticed in an ungrateful nation),I.Asimov( whose lectures in Biochemistry at the Boston univ. school of madiceine are legend!), R.Feynman ( the Feynamn lectures in Physics!!)
>>from personal experience<<
Prof.P.Lal ( his discourses on the mahabharat at birla audi. kolkata are a tourist atraction.. a must visit if ever you're in Kolkata)
All my profs in Hindu Junior College, Chennai - especially Padmini Iyer & Ramalakshmi m'ams and of course our VP
(6) Singing/Music:
Kishore Kumar,Ghulam Ali, Bade Ghulam Ali, Bhimsen Joshi,Illayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh, G n' R, Iron Maiden, Queen, Jim Reeves, Nat "King" Cole,System of a down,Strings
(7) Proffesional MCing/QMing/VJing:
Siddharta Basu,Any of my BCQC seniors, my friend Prabhu ( for MCing!), both the cyruses on MTV, and gaurav from [V]
(8) Making Movies:
Kurosawa,Ray,Spielberg,Ratnam,Santoshi,Kundan Shah,Shekhar Kapoor,M.Bhatt,Ivory-Merchant,Peter Jackson , J.P.Dutta, and David dhawan ( deewan mastana alone entitles his presence in this list).. likewise, whoever made Andaz Apna Apna (RKS !!)
There now I've told you.
However, after this confession, it is meet that I add something in my defense.How feasible are my goals?..dunno..I MIGHT achieve everything and more on my list, then again I MIGHT NOT achieve anything or less...at this stage, and probably even in retrospect, it's enough for me that I wanted to achieve all of this irrespective of whether I actually do or not....
And, like my friend Prabhu once told me," I'm either destined for the history books or for the ignonimity of anonymity"...completely agree dude, me too, though I never felt this way till more recently, I guess we're just not the kind to be satisfied with mere "success"...
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