Friday, September 23, 2005

28... Up, I think

Was watching this program 49 Up on ITV. It is a documentary tracing the lives of participants since they were 7 years old, at every 7 years interval. So you had 7 up, 14 up and so on. It is aired every 7 years and right from the start, the interviews have been conducted by Michael Apted, now a reputed Hollywood director.


You see one of the kids in the 7 Up program saying that he is going to study in Trinity College, Cambridge and then in 14 Up, that he wants to be solicitor. He does both. Many others don't make it. A few just opt out of the documentary (for the fear of humiliation). One of the participants wanted to be an Electrical Engineer. But goes on to work on shop floor. At 21, he has a desire to better his life and wants out of the job. At 28, he says, whats the point. Now at 49, he is mellow, calm and mostly content, though, looking back, certainly, there will be regret - what happened to all those dreams?


It is quite sad, how your life has a life of its own. The fire in you diminishes and you just give up in the face of the daily drudgery and a barely adequate existence.


I wish, somone back home had taken snapshots of lives of close ones - making them talk earnestly into the camera. Capturing their likes, dislikes, expectations, dreams. Asking them if they are content? Has it all gone well? Could it have been better, if they had tried just a little bit more?


What I have of me is just some hazy, superimposed memories. I would have liked to know how I really was.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is list of person to know
how you were.

28 up you already are, ask yourself.
21 up ask me.
14 up ask Mahesh Joshi
7 up ask Fido dido LOL.

AM.

Abhi T said...

Well, its not about impressions. Its about what I wanted to do at that point of time, the way I saw things. Most of the time, you don't share your intimate thoughts and feelings with others. So, where does that part of the life go?
It would be good if someone captured it.

Anonymous said...

21 up, you surely didnt want to join software company!

28 up, you dont want to get out of software company.

Most of the time, your friends can know you.

AM.

Abhi T said...

How do YOU know what I really want now.
What I really want now is to break your nose for assuming you know what I want. And then you will actually look better.
Anyway, I will (grudingly) grant that 21 up, I didnt want to be in IT. But if someone had captured on camera my intense dislike of IT at that point, wont it have been fun.
I dont want to stay in IT as I am now.
I have developed a feeling that I am better than the rest. I want to break that myth by working with smarter people. How do I do that. I think, I need to do an MBA (which just like my BE) will put me in company of the smartest people around and re-ignite my inferiority complex (after 10 years)

Anonymous said...

LOL. You wouldnt be able to do even that Ohhh! will I continue to look same?! :-(.

"I dont want to stay in IT as I am now."

LOL. You mean you need promotion but you still want to be in IT.

Btw, my opinion, dont do MBA. Waste of time and money. Dont ask why? Its just my intimate thought and feeling I am telling you. LOL.

AM.

Abhi T said...

Hahaha! :-)
Btw, I forgot,
I also want to be a crocodile. or have crocodile genes transplated into me somehow.

Anonymous said...

hey that's a good thought put into act by the documentry writer. Even I think we should

have a record of such things.
i'll tell u what i wanted to be and what i am:
at 7: i knew i was above avg with studies so always wanted to be doctor/engineer as those

were the only two reputed professions i knew of. i also wanted to be in the ind-cricket team ... pursuing that dream is not possible for all .. compromise

at 14: I understood that even commerce was a good line and one could be a CA in the end but

I despised accounts and economics , moreover i loved maths and science, again maths

over biology (too much theory) so engineering was fixed.

at 21: no no to MBA,want to be a techie guy. So work for some time and then think of

studying ahead. was not keen to enter IT but ultimately was lured by lucre.

at 27: was happy to be into s/w not for money but for the environment i was working in.

Now i wish to open a co. of my own, strongly motivted by a chum and slight vision.

but at 28: i dunno if i shud go for it forgetting everything else.


again most of thinking looks shallow if i look back in the past. i used to think that being good at studies was an imp. thing in life to have a brighter future. but today i see and realize that it is not that .. there are milliona of things that one can do even when not graduating from a professional discipline. only if i knew it before. no worries, i now know taht i need not worry if my offspring is not so good at studies.

About AM's comment on MBA, some things are which hold true for some do not hold the same for

all. it invites a debate ..

Thanks to AT that i cud give a thot to what used to be in my thots .. heheh

Anonymous said...

My comment was NOT in general, it was specifically for him, considering his age and experience. He will not learn much new except getting a degree. Dont know spending two years doing MBA is worth now. Finally it is just an opinion and didnt try to prove people doing MBA wrong or invite any debate on that.

AM.

Abhi T said...

Hi Anonymous (not you Amish),
Can you please let me know if I know you?

Thanks for your comments, though
Abhi

Anonymous said...

LOL

Yes its NV!

AM.