Sum of the parts or the whole?
Being a professional coming out of a reputed MBA college, you are always taught the imperative of effective communication. It should be structured, contextual and to-the-point. This essentiality gets further ingrained when the artist in us dishes out Powerpoint masterpieces for a living. Writing for me, was always a juxtaposition of those consulting presentations. Adhering to my school of writing was about using impenetrable vocabulary, nuances of complex sentence structuring sprinkled with flabbergasting adjectives, astonishing alliterations, mind-boggling analogies and witty metaphors. It should hold the reader in awe, what value or connect it imparts to him/her should be an afterthought. Its your canvas, give them the modern art that they neither need nor deserve, but collectively agree on its (inflated) worth. Reflecting back, it surely does seem like an exasperating farrago. Closely following the rising Indian standup comedy scene, this stand of mine has definitely taken a sitting. Conveying an ensemble of your mind, whether it be written or oral, should be about imprinting it on the audience. Writing should be simple, honest, engaging and relatable. It should be like speaking- flowy, in-the-moment and unadulterated by second thoughts. You tend to gain much more than just weight and ego as you grow, you tend to gain some wisdom as well. Or this might just be an excuse for being rusty, considering I am putting pen, paper and my thoughts together after a really long time!
Ramblings and digressions aside, lets start with a nostalgia trip. As a kid, I always used to have this impatient question while travelling "aur kitna time lagega?" "kitni dur hai aur?". Whether you were travelling for a holiday, party, examination or a funeral, the question always remained. You see, it was always about the destination, never the journey. We, as a society have been very engrossed with the idea to always have a significant goal in life. Without this significant goal, you are like a rudderless ship. The goal should be what makes you tick. We are programmed to function in an efficient way towards our goals. What happens when you reach the goal? Simple enough, create the next mountain to scale. We inculcate this innate inclination to always be 'very busy' in our lives. Don't want to be frowned upon like those meandering drifters. Why float when you can swim the Olympics. Glory is not in the run to the goal, but the scored goal itself. For the instagram influencers whose passion is to 'travel', it is always about the destination. Even our government only works towards one goal in mind, the next elections!!
Being a part of the rare breed of engineers and then MBAs, we never had trouble picking up our goals. It was always crystal clear, get into a good college, thrive and get a good job, go for an MBA, survive to get an even better job. Coming out of the college and the honeymoon of the high-flying job, you are slapped with the existential crisis of "What Next?" This is where the hand-holding ends as you are assumed to have grown up, or have grown old enough to find your own guiding light. The thoroughbreds shouldn't find this challenging - its the next promotion, fat paycheck paying job, own startup, find the love of your life, get married. And the climb begins again. But what if you reach the candy land and its not tasty enough? What if the infamous diminishing margins of utility law catches up? What if ice cream melts before you reach home? Lets say your promotion is due now or your job is not giving you much, would it the supersede enjoyment of a vacation you could have in this time or develop a hobby or spend time with family and friends?
I was pleasantly surprised when a fellow colleague mentioned that his 'goals' for the year were to get fit, read more and take at least 3-4 vacations. Take time for things that are not important. Sip the next cup of tea really slow, listen, unplug, run without counting the steps, play, don't crib about your job, snooze the alarms, un-schedule the meeting, travel (without posting the photos!), eat the melted ice-cream. An identity is a sum of the achievements. A being is a sum of its experiences.
P.S. This post reflects completely biased, fact-devoid opinions of the writer. Also, I am not promoting the bandwagon of 'going after your passion', because that's again a 'goal' in itself.
Ramblings and digressions aside, lets start with a nostalgia trip. As a kid, I always used to have this impatient question while travelling "aur kitna time lagega?" "kitni dur hai aur?". Whether you were travelling for a holiday, party, examination or a funeral, the question always remained. You see, it was always about the destination, never the journey. We, as a society have been very engrossed with the idea to always have a significant goal in life. Without this significant goal, you are like a rudderless ship. The goal should be what makes you tick. We are programmed to function in an efficient way towards our goals. What happens when you reach the goal? Simple enough, create the next mountain to scale. We inculcate this innate inclination to always be 'very busy' in our lives. Don't want to be frowned upon like those meandering drifters. Why float when you can swim the Olympics. Glory is not in the run to the goal, but the scored goal itself. For the instagram influencers whose passion is to 'travel', it is always about the destination. Even our government only works towards one goal in mind, the next elections!!
Being a part of the rare breed of engineers and then MBAs, we never had trouble picking up our goals. It was always crystal clear, get into a good college, thrive and get a good job, go for an MBA, survive to get an even better job. Coming out of the college and the honeymoon of the high-flying job, you are slapped with the existential crisis of "What Next?" This is where the hand-holding ends as you are assumed to have grown up, or have grown old enough to find your own guiding light. The thoroughbreds shouldn't find this challenging - its the next promotion, fat paycheck paying job, own startup, find the love of your life, get married. And the climb begins again. But what if you reach the candy land and its not tasty enough? What if the infamous diminishing margins of utility law catches up? What if ice cream melts before you reach home? Lets say your promotion is due now or your job is not giving you much, would it the supersede enjoyment of a vacation you could have in this time or develop a hobby or spend time with family and friends?
I was pleasantly surprised when a fellow colleague mentioned that his 'goals' for the year were to get fit, read more and take at least 3-4 vacations. Take time for things that are not important. Sip the next cup of tea really slow, listen, unplug, run without counting the steps, play, don't crib about your job, snooze the alarms, un-schedule the meeting, travel (without posting the photos!), eat the melted ice-cream. An identity is a sum of the achievements. A being is a sum of its experiences.
P.S. This post reflects completely biased, fact-devoid opinions of the writer. Also, I am not promoting the bandwagon of 'going after your passion', because that's again a 'goal' in itself.
Comments
Post a Comment