My Most Admired Professions

Admiration for a profession changes with time. My cousin, much elder to me, wanted to be a tram conductor as a kid. He passed out from a prestigious institution and became professor of History in his adult years. However, his passion was to collect books on crime , horror and everything in between. He had a massive library and his entire salary went into collecting rare books on weird subjects. He also had an encyclopaedic memory and could go on and on on his favourite topic.

In my teens I wanted to pursue a career in theatre. It had an adverse impact on my studies. Responsibilities at home made me realize the importance of education. My interest veered to Sociology. I wanted to do extensive research in the discipline.

I always had an ear for music. I read somewhere that Indian Classical music is therapeutic for specially abled kids. I pursued a course in Vocals with the intention to facilitate these children. But regular riyaaz or practice bored me. Also my guruji shifted to Government Quarters which was quite far from where I stayed. Subsequently, I too changed residence. The distance prevented regular attendance in class. Ultimately, I gave up in the middle of fifth year ( The course is for 6+2 years).

Destiny had something else in store for me. I had to start earning very early. I am a born dabbler. I developed many hobbies while working but dropped them as soon. What stayed was this keen interest in murder mysteries, investigation procedure, crime and detection. In fact I grew on Agatha Christies’ and other detective novels.

My professional career can be divided in almost two halves. The first half was spent in hospitality section where I soon started feeling over saturated as the function essentially lacked mental stimulus. The second half has been spent in quasi legal and quasi investigative work. Needless to say, I am passionately involved in the latter. I had this secret ambition of working in close association with the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI). Learn the procedural aspects and participate in core investigative work. However, that will always remain a dream I suppose.

Another area of interest has been the Universe. I wanted to be an amateur star gazer. Buy a telescope and install it on the terrace. But the terrace tights never belonged to me. And Capital’s polluted atmosphere would not let me see even a speck in the sky. But I often visit the NASA site and stare at the intriguing pictures, read articles and wonder a lot which borders more on the realm of imagination than on actual understanding. I was not a Science student. Mathematics terrified me. Physics went over my head. My lab experiments were completed by my bestie. But anything abstract is very attractive to me. In case you notice, even investigation is like chasing an abstract idea till you prove it concretely.

So I have not one but two very admired professions which I aspired for but could never follow. I have formal training or expertise in neither. But I love to pretend that I am an ace investigator and a genius astrophysicist. 😁😁😁😁