MBA for a receptionist!

So here comes another Sunday. It’s been a while I rested on a weekend and not go for some partying or shopping. But I have to say as much as I love partying, travelling or shopping, this time I really liked a quiet and alone Sunday. As the first thing on my checklist was to get a good amount of sleep for my sleep deprived body, so I woke up in the afternoon when finally my back started aching. And then as always I had missed my breakfast and lunch at the hostel mess is an option that I never consider. So I decided to take a walk and treat myself to some paranthas. That is how I ended up settling for the nearest market to our hostel which is Kailash. I went there, got my cell phone recharged, another thing I can strike off the checklist and ordered some paranthas. At that point only one thing crossed my mind if only I could have mom’s handmade paranthas. I got my order and started eating. Just as I was engrossed in them, some advertisement struck my eyes. It was one of those kinds where you take out a printout and you go around the town pasting them on the walls. It read

Required-Receptionist

Salary- 6000-8000

UG/Graduates/MBA

I was stunned. It really shook me. I was so taken aback that I forgot I was having food. How can an MBA even think of doing the job of a receptionist, leave alone the salary. You go to a B-school, pay around half a million Rupees at least and then go through the entire rigor to be an MBA. They teach you operations, marketing, finance, HR, strategy and what not. How a person after learning so much, can even think of being hired as a receptionist? I started thinking, my mind now totally diverted from the fact that I had no food for the last 15 something hours and now a plateful of paranthas lied in front of me and only me. I thought, how can that person who gave that advertisement, think of hiring an MBA for the specific job. Well It didn’t require too much of thinking. It takes no Sherlock Holmes to figure out that we are living and studying in a fractured system. A system which has stuck to the old notion of just getting admission in a college and then go through the motions and one thinks he will end up having a job. This has what led to the dilution of what MBBS, MBA or other educations really meant. Many of us study because we think we don’t have enough education to match how much we want to earn. And we forget the fact that it not the education but the capabilities that matter. We forget that in the real world nobody gives a damn what degree you have, they see what you can do. What results you can deliver. I think the person who gave the advertisement, is aware of the same fact. He knows he might hire an MBA for the job of a receptionist but then that’s all he or she might be capable of. Here I am not questioning our education system, what I am questioning is our mindset, how we approach our life at college. Are we one of those who just go through the motions and are desperately waiting for two years to end, so that they can finally earn something, or are we part of the other breed who approach everyday as to learn something new and make a change in them. Are we the same what we were a year ago or there is a fundamental change in how we think, how we act. These all are questions I think all of us who have this huge burden on their shoulders to be dubbed as nation’s future should ask oneself. What am I here for?

AND I THINK REALITY IS UNDERRATED.

How did I lose my creativity?

Its 1.00 am, but its ok, the deadline is by 5.00 am. I know I can afford to wait for some ideas to come up. And the very next moment I see its 3.00 am, oh man the time is going too fast and I haven’t written a word of my assignment. I switch on my laptop and sit down trying to jot down something. I type in some words which at best can be used to describe my confused state of mind. I wait for some time, delete the whole line and try to get more ideas. Then I turn to professor Google seeking some inspiration, but as soon as a result pops up I was doing Ctrl+A and suddenly was taken aback by the very realization, it’s going to be termed plagiarism. Time seems running out on me. I leave my room for a short walk. Then I come back, time is already past 4.00 am. Now it’s the time where I am willing to write whatever comes to my mind and then after a short pause, I feel it’s all blank and the sound of an ECG losing the heartbeat of a person go through my mind. Suddenly I get an idea and I start typing it. Just to be on a safer side I turn my head to look at the deadly wall clock which said 4.50 am. The rest is better left unsaid.
What I wanted to convey here was my feeling how deadlines eventually end up killing a person’s creativity. There is a big trade off between time and creativity. You want to sit in a quiet place, observe nature and seek inspiration to create something. But if you have a deadline to meet invariably you will end up sitting in front of some liquid crystals and stare at brick, mortar or at best some plastics for inspiration. However I do agree most of the things in this world would not have been done if somebody did not put a date in front of them. What I felt was a big transition, coming to a b-school, going through the rigmarole of learning the ways of the corporate world. But eventually it’s the work that wins and makes you happy. But is this happiness worth losing my creativity?