Papa kehte hai bada naam karega! :D :P

Last evening I was part of an event that had Pratish Nair as a speaker and as ever he delivered a brilliant thirty minutes that got me ‘thinking’!
You can’t listen to him and not have a great time; there is always the plenty takeaways! (Google him!)

“Do you dream?” he asks the audience; mostly school kids with their parents and a few others like myself that fit into neither. It was the response to this Q that triggered my ‘thinking’ because apparently these kids dreamt about becoming what they wished to be and some were really unique; Urban designer, liver transplant surgeon, standup comedian! Wow! Now I’m not sure how truthful it was because even he agreed that 99% of the time our dreams aren’t the ‘I see myself becoming a doctor/ engineer’ type! I was only happy that I wasn’t asked this question while in school; imagine saying “I mostly dream about running around trees with my boyfriend!” 😛

Talking of dreams and desires, quite recently an old friend sent me a picture of her slam book I had filled out in the last year of school! My answers were mostly rubbish I’d rather not discuss but what caught my attention was one particular answer; ‘I aim to be successful in my life’. I had to zoom in on the picture to double-check if it was MINE because it’s just not likely that I’d have given such a profound answer. C’mon, I’m nearly double that age and I’d still not mention ‘successful’, let alone dream of becoming it!

Let me tell you it’s not like I’ve no aims and ambitions but I haven’t ever dreamt about it like the kids apparently do! You’d think after all this, at this point in my life I’d have finally found my happy place but NO because I still find myself wondering why I’m doing what I’m doing! Most of us do, I’m no special. Only some act upon it.

So, what do I want to become??? Aaaaah well.. Jack of all trades, master of none only suits the situation best! Too cliche? Read on to figure out!

Doctor: Mom’s first dream profession for her daughter that taught her ‘Operation Unsuccessful’, I was going to be a Daddy’s girl afterall.

Architect: Mom spent so many years surrounded by these professions that she hoped for me to become one. I quite liked it too until I realised that it went way beyond Lego and line drawing.

MBA: Mom’s 25k turned out to be a Sunk-Cost because I quit coaching class in six months after having realized that the only ‘Probability’ problem that I could solve without getting stuck was the probability of my getting into an IIM; 0.

Singer: Yes, I’m trained in Carnatic music for a good eight years but if you were to ask me to sing I’d adopt one of the old tricks; fake-the-cough or escape! My grandmother would vouch for this. Yes, I am obsessed with Amit Trivedi and rant about his concerts but if ever given a chance to sing for/with him, I bet I’d turn it down.

Photographer: Suddenly I seem to have developed a great interest in capturing nature and wildlife on my phone while riding pillion but give me a camera and you’ll discover I’m no Farhan Qureshi, I’m only an ‘Idiot’ 😉

Driver: No no, not a truck driver, I mean no offense to them given I drive my poor Estillo as if it were a truck, but at some point I was so impressed and obsessed with the Fast & Furious series that I wanted to be Letty.

Fashionista: If my wardrobe and styling are anything to go by, you’d recommend the fashion industry but a peek into my past would make you think twice.
Model: I was a toddler when my pop took me to the audition for a Soap Ad. On being asked to step out in a towel, I cried and created a scene that didn’t make the cut and with that got washed away all hopes of my becoming a model.
Stylist: A friend once confessed to me that if it weren’t for my red pants, he’d have asked me out! 😛
Fashion Editor: Even today, every time I wear that black dress I need to Google ‘Pronunciation of Calvin Klein’.

Last but not the least:

CA: This is no untold story. Six attempts later I’m still ‘figuring’ out the difference between Revenue and Cash Flow and any calls related to tax are automatically forwarded to the husband!

Quite an exhaustive list, don’t you think!? ‘Been there, done that’, haven’t you all!? It’s some kind of comfort knowing we aren’t alone in this battle but having said that it’s a battle that one needs to fight alone either to die (doing whatever it is) or emerge a winner (taking the chance). Yeah, maybe we’ll fail but so what!??? Didn’t I become a CA after all those failed attempts? So go on, take the risk because today you can, tomorrow ka kya pata?

Wait.. Wait.. holy crap!!! I’m not even a CA yet. I haven’t applied for Membership. So officially I don’t have any proof of that degree.

Cheers!!!