The Pursuit of Crappyness

• “My ambition in life is to have loads of liquid cash in my hand.”

• “I want to get married to a rich guy who can get me anything I want.”

• “I guess I’ll just become an engineer like a billion others and do stuff I don’t want to do for the rest of my life.”

• “I don’t know what I’m good at. I don’t think I have any talent.”

• “You should join the Armed Forces as it’s a secure job and you’ll get a great pension after retirement. Plus the canteen and the various club facilities are great.”

• “You can easily become an IAS officer as you read a lot. You’ll get a whole lot of government power to abuse and the under the table bribes are just an added incentive.”

• “Why can’t you just go to an engineering college like the rest of your friends?”

• “A degree in English will get you nowhere.”

• “Your writing skills are useless as writing can never be a profession but only a hobby.”

• “I don’t know what I want to do in life.”

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These are some of the things my friends, family and acquaintances have said about me, themselves and others around us. All of them have a common theme. Most of the people I know just don’t know what they want in life. And even when they do they just can’t make themselves do it. They just follow the yellow brick road, in the pursuit of crappyness.

The problem with most of us is that the passion is lost. If you are not passionate about something then you have no driving force in your life. Your passion can be anything from writing to photography and from traveling places to serving the nation. It does not matter what single thing ignites the flame in you, what matters is the reason that the flame burns. And when people say they don’t know what their talents is then it’s just sad.

Talent might be a big word for some people, so let us use the phrase “area of interest”. Making a whole lot of money is not your area of interest. If that is your aim then you will do that for the rest of your money and never spend that money.

If on the other hand you are passionate about cars and want to buy the best ones from all around the world then that can very well be your area of interest. If you work day and night to earn money to be able to buy those cars then that is justified. Earning for the sake of earning will get you nowhere. Remember, it’s lonely at the top. And you won’t take all that money to the afterlife. Spend it on the stuff you love while you can.

I should have blogged on the 26th of Jan, Republic Day and all. Frankly speaking it was just another holiday from office. When people act all patriotic for a couple of days in the entire year I can’t make myself join them.

With people wanting to join the IAS for the money that comes with it and not using it as an avenue to help fellow countrymen and the multitude of scams that the country has faced last year, a day like Republic Day just makes you angry. Angry at the politicians who don’t give a damn, angry at the way the government jobs are treated and angry at the people who just want to get a nice degree here and settle abroad. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel. But I will always be an Indian resident and work here to benefit the country in whatever small way I can.

We are a nation of people who will watch movies like Rang De Basanti on Republic Day and feel all patriotic. The cast died in that movie and it was a worthless death. And for what? They killed one politician. One. It didn't change anything. Change is a slow process and it will take the participation of the whole nation. Killing does not help.

So while you sit there reading my blog….think. Think about your passion, the thing that makes you burn from the inside.

And be patriotic the whole year around.