A path that requires you to be yourself
Published: 04:05 PM,May 19,2025 | EDITED : 08:05 PM,May 19,2025
What was that profession you fancied when you were a child?
First, we used to like to imitate our parents, and as our horizon widens, so do the options. Soon it's people we come across - doctors and teachers.
There were other people too.
When you are a child you have a licence to stare and stare I did. The house was being constructed, and now the area was full of creative people. The masons, the carpenter who could shape the wood into doors, and all he would do is measure and slide the hand held wood planer, slices of thin wood curled and fell on the sides. They were curls of golden hair to my imagination. The placement of bricks with cement fillings. There was a certain rhythm to it. Hands of expertise are wonderful to watch because they perform with finesse. The women mixed the cement with sand and water, and they carried the bricks too. Women are strong, I noted.
For that matter, women played important roles in agriculture, especially in the rice fields in Kerala. Whether they were planting the seedlings, or harvesting, drying or threshing. They sang, laughed and worked hard. And most importantly, they were physically fit and strong.
As a child and up to now I continue to be fascinated by the creativity of dressmakers. Tailors might not be much celebrated, but things could stand still if their sewing machines stopped. And we have seen the demand for tailors every festive season.
Childhood days also had telephone operators and even lift (elevator) operators.
Jump to 2025, and we are talking about AI replacing many of the regular jobs.
Choosing the right path is going to be a different experience altogether for teenagers who are all set to graduate from high school. Within months they would have to choose their streams and head to colleges and universities. All this to build themselves as professionals in a few years' time. This period can be one of the toughest because there are a lot of decisions to make. The job market is more dynamic than ever before. New areas are being developed, and so, first of all, we need to know the choices that are available to be explored.
First of all, we need to identify what our interests are. Is a particular field the right one where you would want to be investing years of your life? The chosen career must be of your interest, the one that makes you feel great to go to work every day. In other words, a particular job might provide you with a lifestyle, but if you are not passionate about it, you might not attain job satisfaction.
We don't want a modicum of success. We need to be inspired and motivated too.
A career path is a complete journey encompassing long-term plans and strategic moves. We need to grow in experience and knowledge.
So when we try to decide on the career we would like to pursue, it is important to research the skills that we would require to learn and develop.
Do we have the right personality suitable for the job? This is another question to ponder about.
But usually with the amount of training that colleges put the students through, even the personality can go through transformation.
There are innumerable cases of students studying one particular subject and switching on to another career.
If you are not a student and you are an adult, please go into a session of introspection and reflect on your own journey. We realise there were so many unexpected events. No one can actually prepare us completely, just like the process a butterfly goes through. The tougher the experiences, the stronger the individual becomes.
Do you want to climb the corporate ladder, be an expert in the chosen field, or be an entrepreneur? What we need is resilience.
First, we used to like to imitate our parents, and as our horizon widens, so do the options. Soon it's people we come across - doctors and teachers.
There were other people too.
When you are a child you have a licence to stare and stare I did. The house was being constructed, and now the area was full of creative people. The masons, the carpenter who could shape the wood into doors, and all he would do is measure and slide the hand held wood planer, slices of thin wood curled and fell on the sides. They were curls of golden hair to my imagination. The placement of bricks with cement fillings. There was a certain rhythm to it. Hands of expertise are wonderful to watch because they perform with finesse. The women mixed the cement with sand and water, and they carried the bricks too. Women are strong, I noted.
For that matter, women played important roles in agriculture, especially in the rice fields in Kerala. Whether they were planting the seedlings, or harvesting, drying or threshing. They sang, laughed and worked hard. And most importantly, they were physically fit and strong.
As a child and up to now I continue to be fascinated by the creativity of dressmakers. Tailors might not be much celebrated, but things could stand still if their sewing machines stopped. And we have seen the demand for tailors every festive season.
Childhood days also had telephone operators and even lift (elevator) operators.
Jump to 2025, and we are talking about AI replacing many of the regular jobs.
Choosing the right path is going to be a different experience altogether for teenagers who are all set to graduate from high school. Within months they would have to choose their streams and head to colleges and universities. All this to build themselves as professionals in a few years' time. This period can be one of the toughest because there are a lot of decisions to make. The job market is more dynamic than ever before. New areas are being developed, and so, first of all, we need to know the choices that are available to be explored.
First of all, we need to identify what our interests are. Is a particular field the right one where you would want to be investing years of your life? The chosen career must be of your interest, the one that makes you feel great to go to work every day. In other words, a particular job might provide you with a lifestyle, but if you are not passionate about it, you might not attain job satisfaction.
We don't want a modicum of success. We need to be inspired and motivated too.
A career path is a complete journey encompassing long-term plans and strategic moves. We need to grow in experience and knowledge.
So when we try to decide on the career we would like to pursue, it is important to research the skills that we would require to learn and develop.
Do we have the right personality suitable for the job? This is another question to ponder about.
But usually with the amount of training that colleges put the students through, even the personality can go through transformation.
There are innumerable cases of students studying one particular subject and switching on to another career.
If you are not a student and you are an adult, please go into a session of introspection and reflect on your own journey. We realise there were so many unexpected events. No one can actually prepare us completely, just like the process a butterfly goes through. The tougher the experiences, the stronger the individual becomes.
Do you want to climb the corporate ladder, be an expert in the chosen field, or be an entrepreneur? What we need is resilience.