[Samurai]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Wait... i thought the movie shows a premier engineering college, much on the lines of IIT, and not an average, dime-a-dozen type of college.

Yeah, that claim is surprising, but I have not been to any elite college, can't comment on that. However, it really reflects how average colleges operate.

[sidd25]

Originally Posted by Samurai

There was this fella who quit Harvard to start a company, it didn't hurt him too much.

Agree, Most of the riches are college drop outs.

[SirAlec]

It may sound cliche, but i am doing what is shown in this movie, since 97 minus all that movie material jazz.

[DKG]

Out of curiosity, and trust me this is relevant to the film, could we hear what people consider as their interpretation of success in life?

Lets hear what people consider as important in life. What you desire for your kids

I have for years questioned these "accepted fundamentals" and they seem to have fallen by the way side.

[sidd25]

Originally Posted by JVH

Madhavan's character was never interested in engineering. So, it wouldn't have mattered if had completed his studies or not. This act goes with the movie's theme of following one's passion.

Believe it or not, during my engineering days, we had a guy exactly like 'Chatur' in our class. After watching the movie, I immediately called my friends and had a laugh about the character and the resemblance

This movie really brought back memories from the good ole engineering days. How I miss them

I hope his hindi skills were not like of Chaturs.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by DKG

Out of curiosity, and trust me this is relevant to the film, could we hear what people consider as their interpretation of success in life?

Lets hear what people consider as important in life. What you desire for your kids

I have for years questioned these "accepted fundamentals" and they seem to have fallen by the way side.

I will let this video speak for me:

YouTube - Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles)

[DKG]

Lets create a poll

Who do you want your child to be

Chatur - successful by falling in line with the system

Ranchod - successful by bending the system

Phunsuk - someone living life on his terms

Would be interesting to see the results

@bblost - will check out the video later

[sidd25]

Originally Posted by DKG

Lets create a poll

Who do you want your child to be

Chatur - successful by falling in line with the system

Ranchod - successful by bending the system

Phunsuk - someone living life on his terms

Would be interesting to see the results

@bblost - will check out the video later

Good Idea DKG, I am sure the results will be interesting.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Yeah, that claim is surprising, but I have not been to any elite college, can't comment on that. However, it really reflects how average colleges operate.

In TN, 90% of Self Financed Engineering Colleges work this way. Some of them are notorious (famous with the parents) for their approach to College education.

Read them as, students will be fined

• If they talk to the opposite sex in the bus, classrooms etc.
• They fail in the class tests

And the teachers are answerable if the students score poorly or fail. These are nothing but factories.

Personally, I didn't learn Electronics & Communication Engineering from my college (My scorecard would be shocking) but I learnt how to face the multitude of challenges life throws at us. Thankfully my college wasn't part of the 90% mentioned above. Thier motto was simple. If you want to study, you study. Else that's not their problem. Not the best attitude but then atleast they didn't torture me.

Same with my parents. They said that they have done their best to pay my fees and provide me the best possible. What I do with it is upto me.

Money = Success. IMHO, not entirely but then I'd be lying if I say Money <> Happiness.

[sidd25]

Guys a Poll attached. Good participation expected.

[anonymous]

For me the Poll itself is wrong and I guess this was the message of the film.
What would you want your kid to be? I do not want my kid to be anyone I wanted him to be rather I willl let him decide what he wants to be.

[sidd25]

Originally Posted by anonymous

For me the Poll itself is wrong and I guess this was the message of the film.
What would you want your kid to be? I do not want my kid to be anyone I wanted him to be rather I willl let him decide what he wants to be.

@anonymous
For that we have an option as Rancho.

[Samurai]

To be like Rancho is not an option. You just have to be wired different. You are either Rancho or you are not. You can't take a Chatur and ask him to be Rachno, it doesn't work that way. Therefore, you can't decide what kind of person your kid will become. You should let him be whatever he want to be, even if he wants to be Raju. You can encourage the kid to explore and learn, but you can't change the basic nature.

[kaushik_s]

Rancho in the movie is an exceptional genius. Not everyone can be like him. But this breed of people does exists, otherwise we probably still would've been in the stone age itself. These are the people who dared to think different, do different and probably change the world for a better tomorrow.
But they also show an average joe, i.e. Farhaan, who is not as bright as Rancho but has his own dreams and at last follows it and succeeds. Trust me, I know quite a few people who left their IT jobs and started doing where their heart lies. About the success, yes they are much more successful as they are enjoying what they are doing. Don't forget that the life is too short to repent later for not doing something when you had the time.
And definitely there is this other character(Raju) who doesn't dream big but just want to be successful on his own terms, i.e. by getting a job and a family and be happy with it. There is nothing wrong with that too, as that's what he wants to be. And that's what probably 80% of the common people like us.

About Sagarika Ghose's article, she is over-reacting like any media person these days does. She had a prejudiced mind about the movie in the first place and hence blocked herself from movie altogether.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

But the fact remains that those who go through formal education have a better chance of landing a job as compared to those who haven't. Having a degree does not help you in your job, but it helps you to get one.

I am not saying don't get a degree, but don't let the degree stop you from doing what you want.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Everyone is not so lucky to be able to work in a field they are passionate about. I liked to paint when I was young. If I had taken up painting as a career, chances are that I might have become a professional artist. There are also chances that I might have ended up painting movie posters and advertisement banners.

Or you could have been doing artwork for advertisement companies using your iMac. Don't always assume the worse.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Hence, in order to get a respectable job, I went through formal education and became an engineer.

We all have done that, nothing wrong with that. But that doesn't have to be the end.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

I understand that there is nothing better than being able to work in a field you are passionate about. But India is not the country where people can follow their dreams and become successful that easily.

Ah, this is where you are wrong. How is India stopping you?

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

There are examples of people who followed their dreams and became successful at what they loved, but for each successful person, there must be 100 others who tried to follow their dreams and failed miserably. We don't know them because nobody talks about them.

But they tried. If you don't try, you would never know.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Samurai, you are passionate about programming and decided to pursue a career in programming. I an glad that you are happy with your choice of career. But would you have pursued a career in photography, your other passion ? Do you feel that in a country like India, you would have been as financially successful if you became a professional photographer ?

I never looked at photography as a serious hobby then, I didn't even have a camera.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Please don't take it as a personal attack, I am just trying to use your case as an example, since you are one of those few people who are actually driven by passion. Most of us don't even remember what we were passionate about (except cars and girls) when we were in college.

Now don't assume I always had single minded goal of becoming a programmer. I didn't know until final year. Look at this post I made in 2005: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/82279-post8.html

The career prospects in 1990 were very different than now. There were no high paying jobs within the country. Mechanical and Electronics engineers had better propects than civil and computer engineers. Even IITians either went abroad or joined IAS/IPS cadre. First couple years in BE (electronics), I was seriously thinking of writing civil service exam and join Indian Forest Service, as I grew up around nature and forest areas. But the arrival of two dynamic lecturers in our department re-kindled my inner engineer, and got me interested in engineering again, especially digital circuit design. However, by the end of 3rd year, I had realised that there is any hardly jobs in India for a circuit designer from a 3rd tier college. But when the programming bug hit me in final year, I realised this was something I could turn into a profession. It didn't matter that software guys made less money than other branches of engineering. It didn't matter that there were very few jobs. I just knew I could do it well and more importantly I enjoyed it a lot. I really didn't care about the pay packet or future prospect in the field. When I finally made this decision, I suddenly felt free. I no more had to study useless stuff. I started designing my own study syllabus, created my own projects and worked on them intensely. What happened later, I have already explained in the other thread, so I shall not repeat it.

Now, did I reach my career goal after getting the first job? Not really.
Did I reach my career goal after getting the second job? Not really.
Why? Because I was not happy. I was working in the field of my choice, yet the work was far from satisfactory.

If you are not happy, how can you call it a success? Some say money is success, not true. Money is simply one of the means towards happiness. But it can't ensure happiness. Are all rich people very happy people? Hardly.

So I kept looking at options where I can work as I liked, and not necessarily for more money. This is how one pursues happiness, it may take a few years, or take a life time.

You may be already in a profession which is paying well. Ok, keep doing that for now. But, if your passion lies elsewhere, make an attempt. Explore options of how you can reach there someday, may be even after 10 years. If you have a talent for art, buy an iMac and Adobe Illustrator, and play around in your spare time. Take some part time courses, pursue it as a serious hobby. Who knows, you may have a gift, 10 years later that could be your profession. J K Rowling was surviving on welfare when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, she used to be a teacher and secretary before that.

Success is not just money, success is lot more complex than that. Maslov's hierarchy of needs explains the real path to success, step by step. Success is when you can satisfy your need for self-actualization.

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.

Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.

Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

Needs for Esteem
When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

Needs for Self-Actualization
When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.

Source: MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS