The thankless jobs

We had a guest lecture one of these days, and the IIT-IIM branded chief guest ended his lecture with a very poignant note: "There seems to be no connection between college grades and corporate success but integrity and trust are things that'd take you far in the corporate world, and you achieve that when you refuse to accept an unfair favor when you know for sure that there wouldn't be negative repercussions". Kind of like refusing to accept a bribe when you know there would be no implications. That note really caught a lot of attention. I'm starting with this note coz what I'm trying to say is close to this.

Many of "us" are suckers for publicity and fame. I would've said 'most of us', but I don’t want to pass judgments from void, and additionally, that really doesn’t matter. I myself am a terrible example. I *try* to be honest, but most of my activities are directed towards self development or self-gratification. I really haven’t done much in terms of public service, but I do have esoteric experiences – like I’ve taken few classes for blind children etc, apart from the forced public service I was made to do in school. The reason I couldn’t pursue any of those with vigor was because I didn’t and still don’t have a passion towards public service, and I couldn’t relate to them. This is exactly what makes me very guilty whenever I see someone working for the benefit of others. They kind of get a God-like reverence from me because I simply could not do such service. One such person whose posts have profoundly inspired, and made me feel guilty all the same, is Vikrum. As far as I remember, he was brought up in Brazil, but he’s learning more about India by traveling and doing public service. I don’t know much about him as a person, but he somehow manages to awe me.

Coming to the original point, many of the well-off and relatively better positioned friends of mine are very similar to me. Having had a good, subsidized education, we aspire for a job in some Multinational company, and all other material comforts peppered with. Although we have a lot of chances to get into NGOs or even journalism, which I would call a public service too, most of us aren’t planning to take it, simply because those opportunities don’t provide the softer comforts. I personally don’t have the passion into that kind of work, and although I admire those, I couldn’t convince myself to take up those - probably because those are thankless for the most part; probably because I have a tunnel vision; or probably because I’m a sucker for money and fame. Nevertheless, I do sincerely hope that I get the inspiration to get into a work that gives me some opportunity for service, may be later in life - could be NGO (but I doubt it), the education or the Government sector. But then, it all depends on the outcome of the mid-life crisis :) ... and I hope to take the road less traveled by.