My cousin Bharat studies at the same law college his father went to. He hates it. He loves to draw. His desk drawers are full of sketches depicting people, actions, scenery. Whenever he gets time away from his voluminous law textbooks, which frankly seem more suitable to be used as dumbbells to build biceps, he takes his pencils and pad and lets his imagination run wild.
I’ve seen Bharat draw. His eyes light up, his complexion changes, he becomes lost in his work, oblivious of the world around him.
In his second year as a law student, he narrowly passed the exams. His mother saw the results and went berserk.
“What is this, ha Bharat? What are these results?” She shrieked.
Bharat sat down. He made no attempt to reply.
“Is this why we paid so much money for your college, ha? Tell me?” She flung the result sheet at him. No words came out of his mouth.
“What will people think of you? Are your friends nearly failing too? Are you in some bad company? Say something.” She moved closer and raised her voice to a fever pitch.
“I’m not in bad company, mom.” Bharat’s voice was just above a whisper.
“Then, what is it?” She shouted in his face. “What’s your problem?”
“I don’t like law, mom.” Bharat whimpered. “I just don’t understand it. I like to draw.”
“Draw? These drawings are all rubbish.”
“But mom...”
“No buts. You have to buck up and study harder. I don’t want to see results like this ever again from you. Do you understand?”
Bharat took a deep breath. “Mom, there are colleges that have drawing classes. If I can...”
“Stop that nonsense. Bharat, why can’t you understand that you need to have a real career and get a proper job after college? You can draw for fun, but you have to concentrate on your studies, okay? You have to be practical.”
Bharat was left desolate, resigned to law books that seemed like Greek to him and a course curriculum that he couldn’t make head or tail of.
When I learned of my cousin’s dilemma, I was appalled. But, Bharat’s case is far from unique. Majority of students in colleges are there because they think they need a proper job, or because it is what their parents did.
I have always disliked the expression ‘Be Practical’.
What if Leonardo Da Vinci and Pablo Picasso had been told to stop their useless painting and be practical? What if Roger Federer and Sachin Tendulkar had been told to stop wasting their time playing sports and get a real job? What if John Lennon and R.D. Burman had been told to stop making music and concentrate on their studies? What a loss it would have been to the world if these legends had not pursued their passions.
But no, we must Be Practical, right? We must get a real career, a real job.
When I hear about cases like Bharat’s, I get the image of a horse being held back by the reins and directed where to ride, when the horse just wants to run wild and free into the meadows with no pre-ordained destination. Just like Bharat is held back by the reins of practicality when all he wants to do is to draw and have fun.
Why can’t we let the reins go? Why can’t we let people like Bharat be free to do what they enjoy? Why can’t we let ourselves be free to follow our own passion?
When people say ‘Be Practical’, what they mean is ‘Earn Money’, isn’t it? Is the sole purpose of our life to create and accumulate wealth?
I think it is an unreasonable requirement that society imposes on us to earn money. What is money anyways? It’s not even a real thing. It’s not a virtue of a human being like courage or compassion. In the history of mankind, money is a recent invention. Only few thousands of years ago did men print some numbers on paper and call it money. Before money existed, people exchanged goods and offered a service of value to others in return for what they needed.
Maybe we can aspire to do the same thing. Maybe we can offer something of value to the world. To produce anything of value, we must do what we enjoy doing.
If we follow the trail of money, we will be slaves forever. We will do whatever money demands, not what we want to. All our decisions will be dictated by financial considerations. We will be trapped in a prison that we cannot see or touch, a prison for our minds.
Investment advisors often use this term ‘financial freedom’. What they mean is that they will manage our money efficiently so that we will be able to buy what we want. By making sound investments, they will provide us with financial freedom. Meaning we won’t have to worry about money anymore. Money will be out of the equation.
The problem with this promise is that when people can buy what they want, like a house or a car, they want more such things. They get sucked into this vortex and never come out. No amount of money is enough money. There is always a hunger for more. This continues in a lifelong, elusive quest that people get stuck on.
There is a more direct path to financial freedom. Just stop worrying about money. Take money out of the equation. Grant yourself the freedom to do what your heart tells you.
I’m under no illusion. I know this is no easy ride. We have to overcome our inner self-doubt and fear of an uncertain future. We have to face a parade of voices of our friends and family that chant ‘Be Practical, Be Practical, Don’t be foolish, Be Practical.’
It will take courage. We have to let go off our own attachments and fears, get past the chants of society. Once we do this, we will experience a sense of freedom and lightness. With the shackles of dogma removed, we will be free at last to find our passions and fulfill our unrealized potential. Renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell said ‘Follow your bliss and doors will open where previously there were only walls’
When King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table went after the Holy Grail, they decided to split up. Each Knight would enter the forest at a point that he himself had chosen, a point where there was no path. If there was a path, then it was somebody else’s path.
This is our life. We must create our own paths, not walk on the well-trodden ones. We must trust that it will all work out. We will produce something of value, and success will follow. Yes, this takes a leap of faith. But once we make that jump, we will not look back.
I dislike the principle of ‘Be Practical’ so much that if I ever do something that everyone thinks is ‘not practical’ then I feel delighted. Then I know that I’m on the right track, doing something of my own free will that disregards the dark forces of practicality.
When I’m seventy years old and I look back on my life, if I find that I never did anything considered not practical, I will be bitterly disappointed. If I only did reasonable and acceptable things, then I didn’t do much.
What about you? Are you resigned to the banal existence of a practical life? Have you done anything in tune with your heart’s desires? Your time in this world is limited. Now is the time to set yourself free and follow your passion. Now or never.
