Life worth living. Part 2

Theres a guy in my office. He raps. Everyone knows him coz he composed and rapped a song abt the company at the offsite. Most of us haven't spoken to him ever, still everyone likes him and he's virtually a celebrity.

Theres a girl who's real identity i dont know, except that she calls herself eM and blogs at thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com Again, nobody i know 'knows' her, yet we all talk abt her and admire her blog.

This is leading up to an idea I have, which i will not express explicitly, but give you an analogy. When it comes to products, we talk abt its USP - Unique selling proposition. Companies talk about 'core competency'. In both cases, the idea is of a strength that no one else has, and that can be used as an advantage. Market leaders are known, so are 'niche players' - each does something no one else can do as well as they can - and its their success that everyone admires and talks about. Then there are the also-rans. The Also-rans dont do much, and usually they dont survive very long.

Why is it diferent with people? Most of us are also-rans. The guy who plays cricket, but didnt make the school team. The guy who cleared the Medical colleges' entrance exam in the second attempt, will study and bleed money till he's 30 years old, and eventually become one of the doctors you seem to find every 100 yards away in a city. And the girl who completed her graduation, worked for a year at a decent salary, and then settled into marriage.

I'm an also-ran myself. The guy who entered IIT and finished in the middle of his class. Then entered IIM and again finished in the middle of the class. Not known by many outside my class and my hostel. And now working in Bangalore (like, it would seem, about half of the country's educated young population) with a company 'doing something with IT'.

Yet, the thoughts of mediocrity, ignominy, irrelevance - fill me with an emotion very close to rage. I talk of 'starting my own company someday', 'making some difference to the world i live in', 'accomplishing somethings that lives longer than i can', study the lives and thought processes of admirable achievers - all driven by a desire to break out of this silo of anonymity.

So where is this going, you ask. Frankly, i dont know. I wrote this just to crystallize my thoughts and remind me later someday what everything is all about, where the goal lies and what my motivators are. It is all to easy to fall into the silo of anonymity and watch life pass you by comfortably. Which is why i'm reminding myself what i hav to do.

I wasn't born a talented singer. I never trained in any form of dance, though i may have done well. I never made the school sports teams. Sacrifices and compromises were made to obtain a 'good education'. Now this education has to become the USP, and be used for success in business. Right now, i have neither the idea, nor the money, nor the expertise, nor the experience to take the plunge. 3-5 years from now, I will (have to). Till then, I'll just keep reminding myself.