17 September 2006

Which Taxi do u drive ... and 'why'??

As I was casually looking into old notepad files....I happened to come across this..

This seems to be a short write-up from a MIT( US ) guy.
I simply loved the way this person wrote... so i included it in myblog..
Hope we realise the importance of this article...
here it goes:

10 years after postgraduating from MIT this is probably what happens

Finally, the most lasting memory of my trip was this:
In the bungalow across the house of my NZ friend lived a taxi driver. He was about 60 and lived alone. His children were grown and out of the house; his wife, either dead or divorced. At the end of the day, he would park his taxi on the road, even though he had a garage. His was the only vehicle ever parked on that road. I wondered why he did not park his taxi in his garage.
Then I learnt that he had another car in his garage, his 'other' car. It was the car he would drive when he wanted to go alone. He would come home from work, leave his taxi and would go out on his personal errands in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt that was very profligate of an old taxi driver.
I was curious to see his 'personal' car but for two weeks, it kept eluding me. Then one evening, I happened to be outside when his taxi was parked on the road, the garage door was open and he drove out in his 'own' car: A gorgeous burgundy Rolls-Royce. It shook me to the core when I realised what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. But deep inside, he saw himself as something else: A Rolls-Royce owner. When he drove others, he drove them in his taxi. When he drove himself, he drove in his Rolls. The world looked at his taxi and called him a taxi driver. But he did not call himself a taxi driver. Taxi was just something he drove for a living. Rolls was something he drove for a life.
And we are all like that taxi driver. We drive some 'taxi' for a living, a semiconductor engineer, an investment banker, a CFO, a software businessman, a venture capitalist, or a university professor. Some of our taxis are big and glamorous. Some are simple and functional. But they are still just taxis. Now, there is nothing wrong in making an honest day's money, whatever taxi we drive. The problem begins when we start believing that we are what the world thinks we are: a taxi driver, a corporate banker, a software programmer, whatever. Think of it. None of us ever goes to bed as an engineer, we go to bed as husbands. We wake up as fathers and sons, not as MBAs. We party as friends, we vacation as wanderlusts, we love life as demigods in chrysalis. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and fulfillment on how high we climb in the corporate ladder, how much bigger and better a taxi we drive. And we ignore our Rolls Royce, keep it stale and dusty in our garage. If we ever decide to take it for a ride, the world reminds us that we would be 'wasting' our talent as IIT engineers and we would wasting x lakhs of rupees that Indian taxpayers have spent on
educating us.
I learnt from that taxi driver that I was not an engineer or a medical software guy. I just drove a taxi called Medical Softwares. My Rolls was something different: to be a free man, travel the world, read good books, exercise outdoors, stay healthy, and enjoy life. As it dawned on me, I started feeling a lot of peace with the choices I had made in my career in
the last 10 years, favouring my Rolls vis-a-vis my taxi. And it was a peace much deeper, much calmer .........

9 comments:

VIZARD said...

nice one gurlie....
liked this.read long time back but worth refreshing again.
V..!


http://vizardspeaks.blogspot.com

IThinkThereforeIam said...

tq:)

Sudhakar said...

" None of us ever goes to bed as an engineer, we go to bed as husbands. We wake up as fathers and sons, not as MBAs. We party as friends, we vacation as wanderlusts, we love life as demigods in chrysalis. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and fulfillment on how high we climb in the corporate ladder"

good one.. thanks for sharing

IThinkThereforeIam said...

my pleasure! :)

Anonymous said...

Nice Blog! I should thank only you!! Not the guy who wrote it. Thanks for sharing!!

Anonymous said...

It's really wonderful.

Happy Birthday!
Have loads of fun...

- Vikram Katikaneni

IThinkThereforeIam said...

Thanks anonymous... im surprised how did u knw my birthdy..
so vikram katikaneni...thats ur name..
thanks again

Anonymous said...

Hey Birthday Princess,
Don't stress yourself with my greetings, today is your day and all I can do is Wish You, I hope you'll treat 'em as my gifts to You. Heeeehehe, pure poor anonymous and unreal gifts.

The story of the day is...

Out of the boredom, I was just Orkutting and trespassed through some lovely girl by the name of ViVan... There, I had a lovely chance to watch her favo. Monkey and Tiger video then I've bypassed into your account which detoured me to your blogging. Overall, it's a wonderful day to get to know your blog which in return helped me to know some beautiful things. I thank the Almighty for all these settings on your special day.

OK, that's the secret, you see, what Orkut doing to our lives. I hope this will be another story in your dairy.

Kool, see you when I see you,

-VK

IThinkThereforeIam said...

hey VK
Vivan...ok..kewl!
so u r on orkut too...
Frankly ...yes... each one of us must be thankful to it...cos i found my v.v.old pals too!
anyways i'm glad u liked my blog..
thanks again