Mobile Phone Mayhem!

Let me begin this week's column by giving you my mobile phone number. Here it is: 98300... wait a minute! That is so silly of me. Really silly. Why would I want to share my cell number with 60 lakh readers of this iconic newspaper!

If I did, some of you would call me, and the phone would have a really tough day on Monday going kring-krriinngg-ring... never mind!

How many times have you changed your caller tune in the last 5 years or more?
I am sure most of you have. My 17 year old daughter (like most teenagers) changes her caller tune about once a month - maximum two.

Let me share something with you. I have had the same caller tune for the last many, many years. Since the time the movie Kal Ho Na Ho released... yes, lyrics by Javed Akhtar and the haunting melody created by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. You have guessed it right! It is Kal Ho Na Ho - has been for many years, and I do not intend to change it in a while. Lovely song, na.

After reading all those stories about how excessive use of the cell phone may damage health, one has started using headphones. The truth is I lose so many of these ear sets that one often goes back to the bad habit of talking on my cell phone with the instrument placed on my ear. Not good! And what is worse is when people use the mobile phone when crossing the road. Let us take a pledge to NEVER EVER talk on the cell phone while crossing the street.

Stay safe!

[This is the English translation of the Bengali article in Anandabazar Patrika's Knowledge Darpan | Monday, September 17, 2012]

"If you are passionate about what you are doing you will never retire from doing it."

Gone are the days when children dreamed of  becoming (and  parents wished  that their children would become) doctors, engineers or pilots. I have the deepest respect for doctors (my wife is one) and engineers (many of my friends are) and those professions that are considered traditional. More power to all those who want to become doctors, engineers or pilots – we definitely need them.

But today’s youth are now looking at other avenues. There are a whole lot of alternate careers out there that are not only exciting and interesting but also offer a comfortable packet at the end of the month. Institutes have mushroomed across the country, offering diploma and certificate courses in anything and everything from Radio Jockeying to Wildlife Photography. If you are health conscious and into body building you could plan on becoming a personal trainer or a dietician. The artistically inclined are going in for diverse courses like landscape designing or jewellery designing. Cookery shows and dance reality shows on television have many making a beeline for courses in hotel management and choreography. Then there are TV anchors, wedding planners, celebrity managers, personal groomers, and a load of other alternative careers to choose from.

I was lucky that I had the opportunity to make my hobby into my profession. I remember, I would get the funny look whenever I would write ‘Quiz Master’ against ‘Profession’ while filling in an official form.  I know people who enjoy their jobbies (hobby that has been turned into a job) so much that they don’t need to take a holiday. They even work 16-18 hours a day, not because they are workaholics or because they have to, but just because they enjoy what they are doing so much. If you are passionate about what you are doing you will never retire from doing it.

But a word of caution. Don’t take up an offbeat or alternative career just for the sake of it or just to be different. Go for it if and only if you are truly passionate about it. Else you could find yourself in big trouble!

[This is the English translation of the Bengali article in Anandabazar Patrika's Knowledge Darpan | Monday, September 03, 2012]