Amid all the devastation and misery in the wake of the Kashmir deluge, the TV channels came up with a clip showing a lively kid ladling out food to people, who, like her, had lost their house and belongings. The curious reporter asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she replied, “Mein doctor banoongi. (I’ll be a doctor)” Without hesitation, she added, “Bachchon ki ilaaj karna chahti hoon. (I want to take care of children)”
This kid certainly had her heart in the right place. Did not we all pass through this phase of idealism, before the hard knocks of life made most of us more pragmatic if not cynical?
In my 20s came The Godfather which captured the imagination of very many of us. The Don was keen that Michael Corleone should strive to be a leading lawyer. His logic? One man with a briefcase can rob much more than ten with guns!
Fast forward two decades and we saw the advent of LPG—Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. Much of the conventional wisdom turned upside down. I remember a senior leader of a nationalist party saying, “Gone are the days when college students aspired for an officer’s job in a nationalised bank. Now they want to be investment bankers (whatever that means).” We have made rapid strides in our thinking, and become cleverer by half. Now we see filthy rich men who proclaim they have gone bankrupt, but gallivant in fancy cars and helicopters.
So you want to be a doctor? Have you thought of the number of years one has to put in? Why go through all the hassle? Why not start tuition centres or, better still, a coaching centre for the medical entrance exams? I wonder if many senior academics are ruing that this idea did not strike them when they were swatting those thick medical textbooks. Can’t crack entrance exams to the Ivy League technical institutes? Try again, and you have improved the ranks only just a bit. No Robert Bruce and spider stuff here. That does not pay in real life! Be bold and be the master of your own destiny. Open your own engineering college; maybe it will become an institute and deemed university in the blink of an eye. The roles are reversed and your brighter pals will be queuing up for an appointment with you.
Environmentalists, activists, public litigation experts, event managers, make-up artists for the big fat Indian weddings are some of the other specialties that are thriving by the day. After the marriage, one has to go to motivational speakers or else you never know when divorce lawyers will step in and extract their fat fees from you.
A general hospital in my district recently metamorphosed into a private medical college, and since they were still not cutting ice, made a large swanky morgue, and now they are on an even keel I hear. I noticed a well-tended garden surrounding the building. Could it be the secret of their success? But then, who comes to smell their flowers I cannot fathom. Let me put it this way. How many of us have heard of Kailash Satyarthi before the Nobel committee’s announcement? On the other hand, to make a fast buck in India, there are ever so many ways.