In Pursuit of Passion..
There is a small NGO called the “Passionate Foundation” in Hyderabad. Their prime goal was to motivate the youth in the state to select alternative careers which they are passionate about & make it big in it. Dr Reddy Labs, Shantha Biotech, GVK Industries, GMR Group, Lanco, Nagarjuna Constructions – almost every success story from Andhra Pradesh comes from the traditional fields of Engineering & Medicine. Passionate Foundation bought out a book, which would be freely circulated in colleges & other places. The idea behind this book is to feature people who have made unconventional career choices like hair stylists, fashion designers, fitness trainer, florists, city planners and made a successful career out of it.
The obvious ones are biggies like Saina Nehwal, Pullela Gopichand, Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd. Some of the other names are big in the Hyderabad society, like a Dinaz who made a career as a fitness trainer, Suhani Pittie – a jewellery designer, Arvind Chenji a leading photographer, Ali Baig – a theatre personality. It has also some really less known names, which make more interesting stories.
I would like to thank Hemant at Radio Mirchi for telling the guys at Passionate Foundation my story and recommending them to feature me. Not many people know that my family wasn’t too happy with my choice to get into films initially. I was coerced into Engineering stream in junior college (MPC) & failed miserably despite best efforts. Despite being from a film family, why wouldn’t my parents want me to join films? Its a long story. It an interesting argument they had. Will save it for another day! Getting into the highly capital-intensive business of print media was my choice. I had no mentors in it. I jumped into it purely out of passion, made mistakes, learnt from them & totally love my job now. Southscope will be the beginning to my longer journey in the media.
While I am amongst the fortunate amongst the ones featured in the magazine, having faced very less obstacles in my career, my choices have been unconventional & I am as passionate as the rest of them. Do read my story. And do share yours if its an unconventional & interesting one. Adios!
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2 Comments to “In Pursuit of Passion..”
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Dear Sirish,
First of all thanking you for boosting my confidence level.Let me introduce My self am Praveen,A Engg Graduate,who forced to do Engineering in Information science by parents.But passionate about Visuals.After completing my graduation with struggle(main reason is Lack of intrest in coding).I joined some short term courses in computer related stuffs(recession time) but serious lack of interst forced me to back off.My parents were not ready to turn my passion in to profession.But later how ever convinced them and started working as assistant director in Malayalam movies.Still they are not able to understand me they want regular 9am-5pm job.I can’t blame them also because most of my freinds are working and earing good and living a setteled life , their son struggling and in a year mostly 3-4 mnths he is working.Rest of the time sitting at home.I always try to make them understand by telling the success story(Every one dreams big but destiny decides that).Now i have the stroy a person from one of the leading family in the industry itself says that his parents are against his passion. I never knew that you also came across the same barrier. Your article lit a new light in me.Now I have enough confidence to go forward.Defnitely our parents should be ready to think about the professions other than doctor and engineer.
Thanks
Praveen
Loved your bottomline quote, reminds of this quote, “If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.” — Frank Zappa