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Monday, October 3, 2011



What question freaks you out? "Single?" Nope the most irritating question for most of us today, why today even yesterday and day before was
“What do you want to become?”




Every time when a kid boards a bus and there is no seat vacant, there will be an uncle who calls the kid and makes him sit as the third person in a two-seater. The first question he’d probably ask the child after knowing the name is “What do you want to become?” I am a software engineer now, most of us are, but how many of us always wanted to become one? This article is all about how the single question “What do you want to become?” had different answers at different times in life.


I was a 2 year old baby then, a pampered child indeed. Everyone admired all that I did and I enjoyed the spotlight, always. When all those, whom i can handle without flooding my eyes with tears, sat around I would carry a suitcase that was as big as it could possibly hold me in it.
Handling it was a big challenge in itself but I somehow used to manage carrying it with a few times of falling on the floor. The moment I cross the doorsteps, “Where are you going?” would echo all around. “Oppice”  was the answer every time. As a kid, I admired the way dad dominated the entire family. He was the one who decided on buying ice-creams and chocolates. He scolded me and mom but there were none to scold him for anything he did. All these gave me a thought. The one who goes to ‘oppice’ (office)  is the ruler of the world. So the only word that fascinated me was “Oppice”.


“What do you want to become?” “Oppice, Oppice”

I was so weak that cold and cough were my regular visitors. We started visiting a doctor too often. One day it went to an extent that I found it really hard to breathe.  Dad took me to the clinic without an appointment for the first time. We were waiting in the room full of people. The receptionist there gave us a token with the number 7. We waited there for almost 1 hour. Dad was the ruler of the entire world but he had to wait to meet the doctor. We were finally called inside. The doctor wanted to give me an injection and since I was so very cooperative he asked my dad to wait outside. My dad obeyed the doctor. That is when I decided that doctors were bigger than officers like dad. So I concluded that, to control the entire family I had to go to office but to control the entire world I had to become a doctor. 

“What do you want to become?” “Doctor”

Though this earned me a doctor set to play with, the ambition did not last long. I was enrolled in a school where my mom worked as a teacher. The teacher scolded us when we happily slapped each other and appreciated us when we killed happiness and wrote A, B, C, D well.  So to avoid getting scolded, I thought I had to become a teacher myself.  As my everyday schedule changed from playing with doctor set to learning rhymes, my ambition shifted from doctor to a teacher. I used to wrap myself in a 6 yard saree of my mother, when at home. I would spread the saree on the floor, lie in one corner and roll around to the other corner. Finally it would look something close to the way my mom wrapped up herself. I would take the handbag that touched the ground when I hung it in my shoulders. I stole my grandma’s specs that had a nose grip big enough to hold my entire face and a scale always completed my ideal teacher costume.  I marked attendance with names I knew written in a notebook and always said “Maintain silence” to the empty room.

“What do you want to become?” “Teacher”, then “IAS”, then “fashion designer”, then “animator”,...

Finally there came an era of software engineers, easy to become one, I thought. Here I am a software engineer.  But if you ask me if I wanted to become one, I would say a big “NO”. 


Now what do I really want to become? This still remains the biggest question for most of us.How many of us are really doing what we actually want to do? Software engineering is not the only profession. Wake up; follow your dream, your passion. I found the answer; I want to become a ‘WRITER’.

Now “What do you want to become?”

21 Scribbles:

  1. quite true..when i was achild every one wanted to knw what i wanted to become...

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  2. 'Great minds think alike' I guess :P On a serious note, this question had been haunting me from few months when things changed all of a sudden. And now I have accepted not to become anything, coz I am best at it :P My first aim was to become a doctor, and the last one being a journalist :P I haven't been good at one thing as my aim keep oscillating, but that way, I have learned a bit of everything. And I am happy with that :)

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  3. hi5! i guess its the same for most of us :)

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  4. Still struglling with this question....interesting story
    (as a kid for some reason I wanted to be a postman)

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  5. postman? thats so different... blog about that :)

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  6. Another recurring question in most of our lives.. When I was around 5 or 6 I wanted to become a Doctor..and when i was 10 I wanted to become a cookery show host (strangely the games I played influenced me a lot ) ..In my high school days my mum suggested that I become a lawyer seeing my retorts .. Now I'm gonna end up as a software engineer..But I'm still looking for something that is "out there" for me .. :) Nice blog btw :)

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  7. @vasavi- lawyer is very true :) most mum suggest that :P :) thanks for the comment :)

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  8. Very true!
    Quite relevant as far as I'm concerned. I may be doing my engineering but then I still wonder if I really wanted that. But then the question still remains- what do I want to become? - only time will tell.

    Following you! :)

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  9. @vijay- ya it always remains a question with temporary answers that keep changing :)

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  10. OMG!!! I get a mini heart attack every time someone asks me this question. The use of this sentence should be banned!! Lol!
    But seriously, I think its quiet sadistic to derive pleasure by rubbing salt on our(students') wounds...
    Nice article. M following u now.:-)

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  11. lol ya... but i am not more a student, stil lthey trouble me with this question :P :)
    And thanks for the follow :)

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  12. Thoughtful & frank post. Being a software engineer is actually good - well, you are at least something, and earning a hand full!

    I did quit my job to become a full time Blogger, and from my experience I should say that you ought to save a lot of money before quitting, if at all!

    But then, the challenge and the fun of working for yourselves and working at your own timing is definitely worth it. There is nothing like a creative pursuit (in my case technical too!).

    Destination Infinity

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  13. A thought provoking post, which inspired/made me finally jot down what I have been thinking of writing for some time now.

    The Story of a Simple Man: http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=83898

    Hope you like it.

    Cheers,
    Shrijeet

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  14. @destination Infinity- Software engineering might be a good profession if thats what u really like... I like writing and only writing... I scribble but I want to start writing :)

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  15. @shri- will read that now :) U must read this post of mine :) http://scribbledbygb.blogspot.com/2011/09/too-busy-to-care-tbtc-107-seconds.html

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  16. haah... nice thought and well narrated post... Yes one should find out what really he/she wanted to do in life... Discover your passion and follow it religiously. It will take you places :)

    Glad to come across similar thoughts GB! Great read!!! :)

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  17. thanks for the comment and hi5 for the similar thoughts

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  18. Everyone as a child wanted to become a doctor, a teacher (in my case fashion designer, animator as well).This is the question that is running on my mind since i got project !! still am strugling to find the answer !! Hope i will find my answer soon !! Good thought for the day :)

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    Replies
    1. Wow u wanted to become an animator? I din even know what it meant till my 10th class :) great! :)
      and thanks for the comment

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Thank You for taking pains, commenting :)

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