I, Idiot

Its the season of being Idiot with a capital 'I'. I, Idiot!

3 Idiots couldn't have had a better timing. A very depressing depression (esp for financial sector) had been going on for long enough time to make fresh graduates 'think' whether they actually want to be in the jobs they had chosen on campus. Stagnant salaries, downsizing, not much work on plate and a tendency to plan the future to a 'T' -- they all go well together as ingredients while brewing the chicken soup for soul.

Mr. Chanchad seems to have found the path to true calling. Have a B+ve attitude and top it up with the search for excellence. Success (he doesn't say Success = Money) will be sure to follow.

Well, obviously, Mr. Chanchad, or rather his real life embodiment Mr. Aamir Khan, would not want the audience to copy them in their acts entirely. It is be assumed, perhaps, that the audience will take away an inspiration message which must be applied within the "practical" realities of the existing education and corporate environment around us.

e.g. Its possible to drop a particular line of professional study and then take up a more natural talent oriented career calling. (That too, till a certain age. Want to become a professional gymnast at the age of 30? Go figure!)

Its, however, nearly impossible to do the other way round. Why are we not shown example of people where their parents forced one to become a cricketer and at the age of 25+ the individual realizes that he actually wanted to be an accountant. Will he be able to make up for the lost academic years and get an entry into the domain competing against freshers? Ditto for trying to change career streams. What if an investment banker wants to switch to software product management? (ssshhhhh... no cat-calls :D) Will he get a chance / shot at that? A start-up will not hire him as we will be a liability more than an asset for that new role. A established firm will not hire him, maybe, because the person is so experienced already that they do not believe he should be actually making such a move. And he cannot start a practice of his own as he doesn't know the industry standards and has no industry contacts / clients which can bring him business.

So, take away #1 ---> If you are going to have that elusive moment of heavens parting, inner voice being heard and true calling in life identified, please do that while you still can 'practically' follow up on that life changing path. Your kid's education, your house's EMI and your parents' medical bills should not get affected because you were caught napping all through your teen and twenties.

Another observation. When the movie became a phenomenon, many of my MBA friends started displaying "give me some sunshine, give me some rain..." song in their status messages across GTalk, Facebook, Orkut, Twitter. These MBA friends are all having just max 2 years of post-MBA work experience. However, I never noticed a single such status message from my friends from Engineering who had continued being an engineer and are now 6-7 years or experienced in their domain.

So, takeaway #2 ---> If that song is going to become your anthem strong enough for you to act upon it, it will happen only within a few years of one joining a particular career line. After 3-4 years have passed, one of the following would have happened:
a) You have become comfortably numb
b) You have become comfortably dumb; dumb enough to start liking your comfort zone and thus your job. And now you give universal gyaan like "as all job profiles become boring after some time, why change the current one?"
c) Your kid, your house, your parents mentioned above have become the deciding factor

As must be apparent, my takeaways are a reflection of my own personal situation and in no way general. Please add your takeaways pertinent to your situation in the comments.