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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

from sweeper to rocket scientist

I  had  a  teacher  in medical  college  who  used  to inspire  all  of  us  the  lucky  group  who  were posted  in his unit  .  Himself a  gold medalist in medical college  he used  to tell us  everyday that 
" Even if  you  are  a  sweeper  you should sweep the floor  like  Michael Angelo does  a  painting  or as Beethoven  composes a song  "  Inspiring he was Dr Joy  Philip  ,  his  words flashes in my mind  whenever  i see  anyone  who  does  justice to his  profession  ....

                                                                            Fast forward 2011  ... One of my  cousin  is doing  BDS (dental surgery  )  .  The  problem  is  he  has taken  this quotation to  the other extreme  .  No  one including myself can smile at him  .  No sooner than  the smile exposes the teeth within seconds my cousin will  diagnose  the  problem with  the  persons teeth or gums  .  And unfortunately  the diagnosis is perfectly correct and he will give a ten minute lecture  on what  is to be done  .  From nightime  teeth grinding  to  tooth malalignment  his diagnosis  and explanation are perfect  and interesting  .  I  dont  know what the future holds for him  .. but one thing is sure  ... he  is  following  the  quotation in the first paragraph  and  watching  him in action is a pleasure  ....

Another Michael Angelo is my cousin in mumbai  .  He is a  fourth year architectural student  .... When i was in mumbai  i have watched  him  burning the  midnight  oil  and  continuing to burn the  midnight oil  till  break of dawn.  Yes  at least  on two days i have  watched him drawing and making models  without having  food or sleep  .... Ok , you may say  whats great about  it  ... The thing  is  even for one  moment  i didnt see  boredom or  frustration inspite  of this gruelling work  ...  Passion kept  him going   ...

                                                            Career  choices  in our  soceity  is dictated  by many  factors   ....  many people  get  carried  away  by  the  perceived  glamour  of  a  career  ,  its earning potential   ,  etc  .  The  demand (job prospects ) and earning potential are  important factors i agree  but equally  important  is ones passions  ..  My  batch  of  MBBS from medical college  trivandrum  had  many  good students  who are  now  doing  very well as  famous doctors  in india , US and UK  ...But  i am also reminded of two  of them  whose passion was  different  ....  But  recently  i came  to know that  one  of them is  the  Vice  President  of TCS  after doing  MBA  from  Cambridge  .  And  another  who has done a Ph  D in computer science  from UK and working there in the UK  ...At  least  in the latter  case  we  all knew  his passion was  in computer science  even while in  medical college  ..

                                                                                Today  my uncle was  discussing  with  me  about  vacancy  of storekeeper  in his godown  .  And  i couldnt  beleive  my ears  when  he  told me  there  were many B.Techs who applied  for that vacancy  last time it was announced  .  It  was  not  the issue  that  graduate engineers are applying for  a storekeeper  job  .   But  the  very purpose  of their  career  choice was defeated  .  With  the mushrooming of engineering colleges in kerala  anyone  with no regard to aptitude  pursued  it  dreaming  of  the  dream job  .  But  what they failed to realize  was that  any  job  requires  a  reasonable amount of passion  to be  successful   .  Had  some of these people followed their  respective passions  at least  they would  not  be in their current plight  ....

And  last but not  the  least ......what  about  this blogger  ...  yes  myself  ...i  am  passionate  about  what  i  do   ...  for  though  not  a michael  angelo .... i am involved  in my twin passions  of science  and teaching  ... my  job involves bit  of  medicine ,bit  of physics  and  lots of teaching ( word  doctor  means to teach  by  the way ... ) . 

dr haroon  h marikar



                                                                          



6 comments:

  1. So well written. I also remember Dr Joy Phillip encouraging us with this saying" If today you dont know something dont worry tomorrow you will know it!!" The context in which he said this was to ease exam tensions! What a gem of a character he was.

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  2. nice to know that my blog was helpful for you \
    regards

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  3. Misplaced comments about teeth can get one's own teeth dented!! ;)

    But being passionate about one's work is great - that way you will never get bored doing it.

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  4. Very nice write. While I fully respect every individual's choice of his/her profession, everyone need make sure it is for their own satisfaction, and your cousins show the way.

    As well as appreciating the two doctors who made it big in computer science, would say they really deprived two others from a medical admission and the denied two may not have made any lesser doctors if given a chance. So could have made their choice bit early.

    Next para reminds me of those days when common saying was BTechs(admitted thru proper entrance) are applying for constable jobs, which soon led to "Our police dept image is growing by the day". But those BTechs from the recently mushroomed eng colleges applying for sales jobs, I wouldnt count on them, as those wouldn't have been engineers if not for self financing colleges and I not sure if it was a career choice that led them to engineering.

    And I know you wouldn't choose to do something you won't have passion for , just thinking where that Physics came in. You didn't learn Physics. Did you? J :-)

    Just thinking what's happening in five years time...And looking forward to your blog then

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  5. @jayadevm well said ... i will warn him about his teeth :) ya passion is main driver

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  6. @binu thanks for reading and the long comment . Love long comments especially after i write long blogs ....hey radiology is the only subject in postgraduation after mbbs which has physics as a subject ..

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