A couple of days ago I had a chat with a old best friend, Shaiju Matthew - the genius modest author of a best selling novel, filmmaker, screenplay writer and direver, a perfect aquarian who is extremely creative and talented and luckily happened to be my friend (heeeheee).
I can now proudly say I know a friend who is on Wikipedia. (I m such a selfish bugger). But this has been his own fight, his own battle with his own life, and he won one, and has made a permanent historical entry in the big world. Of course everyone around is proud of him, if you ask him how he did it, knowing Shaiju he'll make a modest line masking all the hardwork and sacrifice he had to make to get here. He'll simply shrug away or say something that would make you wonder how he got here in such a simple way. Trust me there is nothing that's simple. Shaiju (dont beat me for this, I am quoting your name without checking with you), always believed, he had potential to do something. He had that faith and it has only gotten stronger over the years.
Another friend of mine is now in Pixar, as a graphic animator who once used to tell me real stories about unicorn and dragons that existed and he used to draw them. He passionately believed that another world existed which is not visible to us, according to him there is an entirely new universe. And he (requested not to share his name), took this belief into his art, and today he is out there creating what he loved the most.
Then there is Rakesh Madupu, a data network wiz, he can do magic (coincidentally another Aquarian). If you spend 10 minutes talking to him, you would have learnt something new and exciting. If you sat for 5 minutes of his class in training, you can crack CCIE even if you knew nothing about data networking. He is a genius. He learnt all his skills on his own, just by books.
A colleague Rajat Saxena, he makes everyone around him at work feel like they're at a pool party and not at work. When he is in office, productivity would skyrocket to its maximum horizon. He is that good. He had the potential to turn work into fun.
Similarly I have been lucky enough to come across a few genius people in my life. There are geniuses, Edison once said “A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” and everyone is Talented, everyone has a potential. Every single human being is special. Its only the weight-age of passion makes all the difference.
Edison also said "“Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability…. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.”
As far as my story goes I am happy where I am with the clarity of where I am going.
So while talking tech, creativity, and so forth with a few of these awesome guys, it was a completely unexpected turn when with one of them we started talking about the question of, “How did we become the old guys? we're only 28! did we start too early that we're mid way already?” Oh! we are close to 30! we crossed 20 just a few months ago and now 30 is coming towards us fast and is accelerating! The background music from a few movies showing flashback scenes in black n white I had seen before … started to play in my mind as we talked. In the end we concluded that we have to keep on learning new things, and learn what we can from everything that comes our way
This morning I woke up and remembered a story that helped me get out of my “old man” thing from yesterday. It was told by a wise young man that another friend had met at a conference a few years back. It went like this,
When you’re young and up-and-coming, everyone tells you … “You … have such potential. Such great potential!”
When you’re older, everyone tells you … “You did such great things. You … really made an impact!”
The trick I’ve figured out, having had the chance to meet and talk with incredible people from all generations, is … to always be told … no matter how old you are … that, “you have potential.” The key to life is always being told that you have potential. And yes you all might have already figured out "positive attracts positive" :)
I can now proudly say I know a friend who is on Wikipedia. (I m such a selfish bugger). But this has been his own fight, his own battle with his own life, and he won one, and has made a permanent historical entry in the big world. Of course everyone around is proud of him, if you ask him how he did it, knowing Shaiju he'll make a modest line masking all the hardwork and sacrifice he had to make to get here. He'll simply shrug away or say something that would make you wonder how he got here in such a simple way. Trust me there is nothing that's simple. Shaiju (dont beat me for this, I am quoting your name without checking with you), always believed, he had potential to do something. He had that faith and it has only gotten stronger over the years.
Another friend of mine is now in Pixar, as a graphic animator who once used to tell me real stories about unicorn and dragons that existed and he used to draw them. He passionately believed that another world existed which is not visible to us, according to him there is an entirely new universe. And he (requested not to share his name), took this belief into his art, and today he is out there creating what he loved the most.
Then there is Rakesh Madupu, a data network wiz, he can do magic (coincidentally another Aquarian). If you spend 10 minutes talking to him, you would have learnt something new and exciting. If you sat for 5 minutes of his class in training, you can crack CCIE even if you knew nothing about data networking. He is a genius. He learnt all his skills on his own, just by books.
A colleague Rajat Saxena, he makes everyone around him at work feel like they're at a pool party and not at work. When he is in office, productivity would skyrocket to its maximum horizon. He is that good. He had the potential to turn work into fun.
Similarly I have been lucky enough to come across a few genius people in my life. There are geniuses, Edison once said “A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” and everyone is Talented, everyone has a potential. Every single human being is special. Its only the weight-age of passion makes all the difference.
Edison also said "“Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability…. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.”
As far as my story goes I am happy where I am with the clarity of where I am going.
So while talking tech, creativity, and so forth with a few of these awesome guys, it was a completely unexpected turn when with one of them we started talking about the question of, “How did we become the old guys? we're only 28! did we start too early that we're mid way already?” Oh! we are close to 30! we crossed 20 just a few months ago and now 30 is coming towards us fast and is accelerating! The background music from a few movies showing flashback scenes in black n white I had seen before … started to play in my mind as we talked. In the end we concluded that we have to keep on learning new things, and learn what we can from everything that comes our way
This morning I woke up and remembered a story that helped me get out of my “old man” thing from yesterday. It was told by a wise young man that another friend had met at a conference a few years back. It went like this,
When you’re young and up-and-coming, everyone tells you … “You … have such potential. Such great potential!”
When you’re older, everyone tells you … “You did such great things. You … really made an impact!”
The trick I’ve figured out, having had the chance to meet and talk with incredible people from all generations, is … to always be told … no matter how old you are … that, “you have potential.” The key to life is always being told that you have potential. And yes you all might have already figured out "positive attracts positive" :)
Naice one... :P
ReplyDeleteProud of your achievements brother Shaiju Mathew !!
ReplyDeleteVery well written article !! Best Wishes to you both !!!