Less trodden path - From IRMA's Darpan five years ago...

A saying goes that if u want to teach a man put him among those who are superior to him. Believe me I was taught royally. When I came to this institute I came with a lot of superiority complex. After all I had been the topper all my life and worked with PT.

But each time this superiority complex pumped me up I was given a hammer from above.

The moment I started doing CP there was songeeta to outclass me. The moment I will harp abt my comp skills bharat bhai was there to humble me .As soon as I entered the badminton court TAU, and the chomu brigade smashed me to pieces. Boss would make me feel like asha parikh in the gym while maniac will show me what stuff real men are made-up of, when it came to trekking in the Himalayas.

When I came back to academics cocoon there was the prodigal koloo who will say “I MEAN” and proceed to say those things, which are MEANT for intellectual nerds.

Khair I have been a recluse all my life but the moment I entered this green heaven I found that group work key bina paas hona mushkil hai.

My first month was surprisingly cool and amicable with lots of time pass (under the garb of overconfidence). It was a unique admixture of C+s and – s, which brought me out of the slumber. After that there were a long periods of half hour gym sessions followed by 10 hour sleeping hauls and interspersed with some cut copy pasting. The escapist in me would come to the fore, as somebody would enter my personal space.

So I decided to work individually in groups. I found an ideal mate in Jha, the actual and original slothy creature who was partly nocturnal partly mango kernel (thanx to oriya fieldwork).

Than came the fieldwork. One of the most luxurious periods in my academic career. After several treks in the aravallis and 8 novels(Sherlock holmes) and 6 non-fictions I came to know what village life is all about.

Third term was fun. Leg pulling by kekda and copy-chatting with billu. But main to pehle se hi sab kuch padh kar baitha hun. Mujhe kya jaroorat padne Ki. Thanx to some intelligent free riding and murgi-hunting I was able to cross it.

Than started a segment called organised tourism segment.28 villages of official eco-tourism and 18 cities of unofficial eco-tourism. But still 130 pages of report. Mamoo (pks) found it too heavy to believe. So did I. BUT my argument was that I know too less to propound my theories so I am waiting for Shah alam bukhari (bong babu) to do some accha se, apna se report.

4th term was only NRM for me and free riding for others. Khair I continued my protected area management in the sloth bear sanctuary where nobody could come to their rescue.

The Bali ka bakra was again Jha. (Gardan kapai gayi), slit-throat competition for 25 rotis etc.

Jokes aside I found an ideal foil in john who matched my obsession but was always found baddy-maddy. I pray to Irma’s green-eyed monsters to instil in you people the same obsession, which we two carry. Rules should be followed to the book. But norms are there to be broken. . U remember how I got motivated by world cup histrionics to bring a TV which is as good as a radio or how I beat the tribals at their own game by copying their hairstyle. Those who dare to go the less trodden path always find less cow dung and hence lesser chance to be bare foot dung collectors.

Let me Auto summarize.

Let all those go to hell in a helicopter who named thee thus

Let all those free-ridden people rest in piece.

Let all those foculties tormented by me get tormented again by a tailor who does coat copee waste. Amen

Thanx to u all for Ur patient BEARings. Life in Irma has taught me a lot and made me realise that the world is as good as u are. Idealisms are good but so are realisms. A belief in Ur interests is worth all the money in this world. Second - Lastly aphorisms like these are only good till they are not used. Lastly When I look back I see that I have grownup intellectually but become a lot softer emotionally. Aur yeh CP to main kabhi band nahin karunga. kya karoon control nahin hota.

Reference:

Special note of thanx to Jha, maniac, bhogiroth, kekda, billu, manoss, boss and sirooo, john, doc babooo and other wild life in Irma who needed my expert destructive capabilities at some point or the other. Those who are not mentioned should get themselves listed in the IUCN red-shoe diary.

A RoadMap to the Less Trodden Path

Dear Nikesh et al

At the risk of being perceived as a preacher, which I try not to be, would like to extend a few practitioner's suggestions to you.

After five Years since I passed out of IRMA and four trial and errors, I can say some things safely for sure....

You priorities are going to change with each coming year. From LEARNING to EARNING, from CREATIVITY to STABILITY etc etc. But the best way to choose the "path" is

1. Ask yourself what interests you and why?? It might be an interest towards some cause like Education , Environment or your interest in a particular sub-sector like Microfinance, Microenterprise development, Cooperative action (as taught in IRMA), Banking, Insurance, Agri-Business etc.
2. Ask yourself what level you want to work at in terms of expanse and scale of activity. (Remember your on-job freedom flexibility, rates of success or depth of learning would be a direct function of this).
3. Identify your own personality - Do you want more of structure/systems or more of risk/freedom with decision making?? Larger organisation offer you the former while the minds with an entrepreneurial bent can prefer the latter.
4. Think of the end-output that you expect from your career/chosen field.

By the time you answer these you would have found the list of organisations of your choice....

Follow two basic criteria for at least the initial period of uncertainty/Confusion to choose amongst these....

1. Choose an Ethical Organisation - Nothing can put you off your field of interest more then a disillusionment/difference between the stated and actual objectives.
2. Choose a Democratic and Value Driven Organisation - You would always feel in safe hands. If not mentoring, it is the accumulated body of knowledge that is the most sure-shot way of avoiding a repeat of past mistakes.

Boil down to your preferred geographical area and salary expectations to zero in on the Chosen One. Please don't make these the initial considerations...

Remember you are not going to work for 3 years but 30 years and nobody has seen a Software Engineer's or an IRMAN's full life cycle !!!! So you can plan only as much.......

Sorry for the longish mail but hope it helps calm troubled minds !!!

Regards

Vivek