I belong to less than 1% of the population
A capitalistic work setup, especially in India, asks you to be available 24/7. You are supposed to be “responsible and “answerable” for your work, no matter what time of the day. It makes you feel guilty to spend time with your family, pursue your passion, in short living the life you want. Many people love to travel, in fact, they work in a corporate to earn a handsome amount of money so that they can explore the world. But alas, they have to wait for that one time of the year to take a holiday when their work can be managed by others. If you take an emergency leave you have to answer a thousand people and also handle their tantrums. Why? Because you have a “responsibility” towards the company. What about the responsibilities we have towards our family or simply, OUR OWN SELF. Basically, you are denied your basic rights, and on top of that, you are made to feel guilty for demanding them.
People who do not engage in any modes of earning money, such as homemakers, are looked down upon. They often come across remarks such as “what do you do the whole day?”. A homemaker might just want to sit and read books, gather knowledge and enrich oneself. Pursue his/her passion of decorating the house, creating wall art, or just sitting and meditating. Thus, not engaging in any capitalistic system makes a person seem worthless. Do not get me wrong, I am not against earning money. Money is very very important, well, because at the end of the day we LIVE in a capitalistic world.
When you travel to the interiors of Indian rural places, you will often come across a plethora of NGOs and Government Schemes trying to bring about development. They implement a conventional method of education that the British had established to produce English-speaking clerks to run their empire. That education system has successfully produced a generation in Urban India that are skilled to work only as corporate slaves but find it difficult to survive in such an environment. This method has failed to produce results in the rural parts and therefore, the gap increases every day.
Now, a generation that has not been encouraged to think and embrace creativity does not know how to survive in claustrophobic corporate systems. Neither do they know how to capitalize on their inner talents and creativity — because isn’t expressing the creative side supposed to be for people with less to zero logical sense?
We live in a world where being designated as the Director or CEO of a company is stamped to be successful. I belong to that less than 1% of the population who begs to differ. Waking up in the morning and having ample time to relish a hot cup of tea amongst nature, without having to hurry or worry about logging in — is a definition of a successful life for me.
How? You ask me that. Isn’t that what people would have done if they had the option to. First and foremost, you do. The moment you decide that you won’t let the external factors meddle with your inner peace, you acquire an uncanny amount of courage to live the kind of life you want. Secondly, learn to capitalize on your inner talents and let your creativity flow. Express them to yourself first, and gradually to the world.
I know, that only less than 1% of the population will be able to relate to this. I am one of those people who know that there will always be someone who can do the presentation better than me. There are ample amount of people who can bring more revenue than I can. There are even more people who will willingly give up their creativity to impress their boss and do what they are asked to. I on the other hand, rather want to feel enlightened by reading a book on Ancient Civilizations and take out time for a walk amongst nature. Let others take the “responsibility” of proving their worth to earn corporate accolades. Gazing at the afternoon sun and the soft chirpings of birds bring more validation to me than any other corporate recognition.
