In the midst of all the corporate meetings, incessant jargon-fleeced rambling, the vicious circle of unending reports and plans, I miss the part when I actually enjoyed what I did because almost everyday I learnt something new.
Talking about learning I often reminisce, thinking about some of the brilliant lectures and talks we were exposed to – while in college. There were those when I just put my head down on the table and slept through the entire one and a half hours. And then there were those where I sat myself in the first row, listened intently and tried to write down everything that came out of the professor’s mouth.
I remember the audio-visual communications lectures where we were taught the the trivia that went behind film-making, the culture communications module we had wherein we were taken through art and its connections with communication (I was particularly awed by one session on the evolution of nude art), the classes on creative planning where we were taught to understand and appreciate fine and modern art and represent our renditions of them. At the end of these sessions, I used to step out enlightened and appreciative of the fact that education could be so much more than just rote learning.
Corporate learning is of a different kind. I welcome it. But the moment the cognitive process of acquiring a skill or knowledge of any type stops, it is time to step in and change things.
A session at work today brought upon these thoughts, and I deeply regret the fact that I was not brave enough to decide what I wanted to learn and pursue it at the opportune moment. History, art, physics, language and archaeology excite me immensely, and instead of attempting to look for an opportunity therein I simply drifted with the crowd and did what every other person was doing.
I still believe that there is room to make things better, to wrench myself off this mundane routine and follow my heart to do something that might pay a little lesser, but will make me happier.