You're doing what!?

DREAM CAREERS

The desire to do your thing, rather than continue in an ‘acceptable’ profession, is slowly gaining momentum. Sameer Shisodia talks to a few youngsters who’ve given up well-paying jobs to follow their hearts

A friend of mine is in Australia as part of work on his PhD in wind turbulence. About a week ago — over chat — he mentioned he was planning to take up some bartending work while there. “Nice”, I said, though a little surprised. “Can’t do it in India, after all,” he said, almost reading my thoughts! “My parents would ask too often what I was doing with my life pursuing such things”. Jasvipul Chawla wants to try his hand at bartending even if it’s for a few months while Australia affords him the distance from such uncomfortable questions.

She was a techie at Infosys. And now, Reena Chengappa is a gardener! Or that’s what it sounded like to many who heard what she set out to do when she announced My Sunny Balcony to help people improve the aesthetics of their gardens, terraces and balconies. Yes, she’s gotten her hands dirty from day one and learned everything there is about flowers, pots, soil and people too that help her do a fantastic job of it.

These aren’t professions of choice for most. Definitely not for the moolah, and not even for the “cool” factor. These are things that we imagine only those who are less fortunate — because of lack of opportunity, or education, or left behind because of the harsh reality of economics — do. There are not things “people like us” choose as a career or even a hobby, right?

For a few, these are things they want to do because they want to do them and believe in — no other reason. Of course, that makes them the odd ones out. And oftentimes, those genuinely concerned find cause for worry in their decision to follow this calling. Hamsavardhan has done this more than once. After he completed his SSLC, he wanted to learn carpentry and went to an ITI (Government-run technical school).

The principal, seeing that he was from a ‘decent’ family, laughed off his desire to want to join the carpentry course, and advised him to join a regular college! And it got even more interesting. He adds, “Later, when I was just a budding potter-apprentice, my would-be in-laws visited the studio. They asked me to show them my work. I proudly displayed my three months of hard work to them. After looking at the work, they looked at each other and said, ‘this is all!!!?’”

For all these above choices, the respectability and social acceptance of the profession — linked to the economic opportunity it normally afforded — probably play a big role in the reactions people face or expect to face when pursuing them.

“These days, it is becoming quite fashionable to pursue ‘alternative’, off-the-beaten-track kind of careers and professions. None the less, it is a lot of hard work. Added to this, Indian society’s inherent prejudice against ‘manual labour’, which has traditionally been considered lowly. There is a slow shift, albeit mostly in urban centres. Families are beginning to accept their wards taking up hitherto unheard of professions,” says Hamsa. Now, of course, he’s started Esthete — a niche furniture design workshop and store.

Ashish Sinha runs Pluggd.in, India’s leading technology blog, but in the first few years after he left his “regular job” with a technology company, he did not even inform folks back home. “They wouldn’t understand the whole motivation and idea behind setting up a blog addressing the needs of startups, with no notion or hope of revenues. I only discussed with them what I was doing once I had set up an ‘office’ and was interviewed on TV in connection with a story — my profession now has tangibles they can connect with”.

Journalism itself was not a ‘top profession’ for an engineer and IIM grad, and to be a full time blogger — that too with no formal grounding or experience — merely because you thought and believed that someone needed to say it like it was and stick to writing about the products and businesses rather than the personalities involved, was not something even folks involved in the startup scene would condone as a smart move at that time.

“The impact the written, honest word could have, and the feedback I received just because I expressed an opinion and took a stand rather than merely reported events and facts got me hooked to the idea of writing about products, services and eventually startups in India. The financial numbers have only recently started to make sense, but in terms of the satisfaction I derived from making a difference, it was worth it every single day.”

Neeta Shankar would agree. She is a techie who does photography — professionally — including Creative Wedding Photography! She’s now considering switching to it full time because “I’m happier and more content when I have a camera in hand.” Relatives do advise her parents against her making the switch from a more preferred career to a ‘mere’ photographer — to them at best a hobby.

“In fact when I started out with photography this happened so often that I did have doubts for a while. But now I understand it’s not about others’ acceptance of careers beyond engineering and medical sciences. It’s about what makes me happy and what I think I can really make a difference in.”

“All I know is that seeing the world through my camera viewfinder makes me happy. And if I can spend all my time and energy doing just that and be able to earn my bread and butter, why not?” says Neeta.

There is a growing acceptance of these choices, of course. For one, people eventually demonstrate a different way of doing the same, much like Hamsa or Neeta have done. That’s very respectable money, even if it’s not what a “regular job” provides. And once you persist and your passion is apparent, people now respect you for that in itself — it’s often the dream they can only imagine living. Over the last few years, just the desire to do your own thing has gained a wider acceptance even if it’s amongst a small set of people.

Jishnu Dasgupta, bass guitarist for Swarathma, should know. On the way to a great career after an engineering and MBA degree — he started dabbling in music — his true calling. As he interacted more with mentors who understood and appreciated his passion, he decided to dive in completely and joined Swarathma big time.

They were a small, relatively unknown band at that time. “But just the fact that I could do what I wanted to — produce great music — was the new definition of success to me irrespective of how the future panned out.” As it turned out — it panned out great and Swarathma is one of the bigger, more popular bands in India. His father’s concern for his career has turned into pride and admiration.

But what if things had not worked out?Jishnu believes it would not have mattered. “Yes, a backup plan helps and I’d always continued working on my consulting practice alongside. But having done it once would have been reward enough even if it did not work out.”

Rohan Kini set up a store to take choice cycling mainstream and sell cycles the right way when he was doing really well as a software engineer at a very good workplace where he enjoyed both the work as well as the work culture. It’s been a rough journey but he’s enjoyed it thoroughly. The impact he and his store — the very well respected Bums On The Saddle — have had on Bangalore’s cycling scene is acknowledged amongst bikers and despite the struggles of entrepreneurship, it’s a journey he’s determined to continue with.

“We have a vision much larger than the tactical first steps one sees. Taking cycling to the next level — training, the community around it, even creating frames — is what drives us. The store is what people see and that’s ok. We believe in the vision and are sure it’ll work out financially as well. The important thing is we’re able to do this, learn a lot from it and make an impact to cycling in Bangalore and even India.”

Clearly — the following of one’s heart and doing things they’d rather be doing than just making money or chasing titles on a career graph is a goal in itself for many. What the world thinks of their choice of career is not a consideration, and their conviction often changes that opinion on its own strength!