Parallel, but not an alternative

Some city folk show the way to balancing a regular job with one’s passion smoothly, with little or no thought of pecuniary benefits

May 18, 2014 05:20 pm | Updated 07:07 pm IST - Hyderabad:

Still nourishing a dream but have no time to follow it up? Are your profession and passion at loggerheads? If such reasons are not letting you pursue your passion, then be sure of the underlying cause — one is either not sure of the dream or is not confident enough to give his/her thoughts a push.

Then take a cue from a few young professionals who are turning their dreams into reality while still maintaining a steady job and a decent lifestyle. Examples are aplenty. Head honchos of companies run marathons all over the country. Doctors also dance and actors also cook.

Then there is the case of Ridhima Parvathaneni, a businesswoman who dares to dream of doing something most of us wouldn’t even imagine — help children of angandwadi workers eat out of decent plates and drink water from proper bowls. That’s her Indian Impact venture. Ask the 20-something if she ever lets her hair down, she replies, “of course I do. I lead a very normal life but have planned a timetable. That’s how running a logistic business plus my pet project have been possible.” In the meantime she also manages to be a squash player as well.

There are others who hold a regular job, manage a family and run a restaurant. “It’s in partnership. Thankfully my husband was way too excited about it despite being a vegetarian,” laughs Madhu T. Madhu also has a two-year-old daughter who keeps them up on some nights. “It is tiring but when you know you are pursuing your dream, it is a cakewalk,” she assures. Her husband, a techie, turns radio jockey by evening on weekends.

Elsewhere, those who hear of a young man who succeeds in managing home, office, gym and his pet projects think we are narrating a fictional story.

But Ajay Mittal actually manages to juggle swift sailing, preparing his own diet breakfast and dinner, working out, meeting his clients, popping in and out of meetings at work and then scheduling his personal tasks for weekends. “As a User experience designer I am into, well, designing things according to one’s requirements. Customising is a criteria and the extra bucks I make go towards my protein shakes and gym membership,” he laughs. He claims that while he is beating the chicken breast to be cooked for dinner, he finishes his meeting with his partner on phone. “Time management is the secret and whether or not you are earning big bucks, letting your dreams flourish gives you a sound sleep,” he assures.

Debabrata Dey who works at a seed business firm says his work is in tune with what he is. As a communication specialist his work helped him understand his capabilities to handle other forms of communication. “Though my passion started from childhood, it wasn’t a serious business for me until I designed my own wedding card. I used that medium of communication to tell the story of how my wife and I met. It clicked with most of my family and soon friends started to approach me to design their wedding cards. From then on I have only proceeded in fine tuning the areas where I have been working, in collaboration with my area of work. Communication isn’t only about emails and phone calls. It is a wide segment with a many sides to it,” insists Debabrata Dey.

This seems to be true with students as well.

They say they don’t want to wait till an opportunity comes knocking at their door. They instead want to pave their own path forward. That is why Jyotishman Dehingia who is pursuing his C.A. has given his passion for art a free run by way of making tattoos; and impressive ones at that.

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