The Choice...

Consider a “Tree” (you may either consider a natural tree or a computer science tree). Imagine that you are at the root and your mission is to reach the leaf (Def in Computer Science: Leaf nodes: Nodes at the end of the tree). There are a lot of branches you could take to reach a leaf. Once you go with a branch, you cannot come back. So, the branch you take at each stage will determine your end leaf. This leaf would have been totally different if you had opted for some other branch. The significance of the difference would be much more if you would have made a different choice right at the start of your mission.

Our Damu sometime wonders how different his life would have been had he done  some things differently. He listened to his parents, studied hard, always topped in the class, went to college, got a job and managed to earn his first Rupee at the age of twenty two. Had he not studied as hard and had dropped out of the school after seventh class like his good friend Kashinath, he would have been a Lakhpati by twenty two, just like Kashinath. Kashinath, after gaining the wisdom till seventh grade, had taken up the responsibility of being a bus conductor (which incidentally was Damu’s dream job), had later bought two second-hand buses, and today owns an entire fleet of seven brand new buses.

The thought of not being a Lakhpati because of wrong choice leaves Damu downhearted. However he is not the one who likes being in the dejected state for long. He thinks of all the comforts he has in the current job and feels relieved at how easy it was all this while. His inability to answer the questions, “tell me something about yourself/ what are your five strengths & weaknesses/ where do you see yourself five years from now/ etc etc” during the Verizon interview of college placements gave him an opportunity to understand that this world uses are some basic and irrational questions to judge an individual’s ability during an interview. With this sapience, his task of proving himself was cut short. He just had to prepare for around twenty seven questions listed on www.interviewquestions.com and answer the interview. And voila, just the second interview of his life and he got selected in an IT service company, one of the best in India, and arguably the most ethical and value based company in the world. After working for three long years, learning the best programming processes, knowing the importance of personal grooming, being promoted once, with a MVP awards, three successful on-sight assignments, Damu had made a decision of joining a B-school. The two years at the school were packed with all sorts of management gyan or Business101. He wanted to apply all his knowledge. Damu had been selected in a MNC for consultancy profile but he wasn’t sure if that was a job he wanted. He wanted something different; he could feel there is a bigger opportunity lying just on the other side of the road. And one day he decides to cross the road.

Damu has made yet another choice which would lead him to a totally different fate. He has decided reject his campus offer. He has decided to start his own venture. He wants to start “Moto-Pilot Pvt. Ltd.” With this he dreams of spreading the Goa special concept of motorcycle-pilot throughout the country. With the kind of business plan he has, he feels Moto-Pilot would be the most successful start-up in the country.

He wonders however; how his and Kashinath’s paths, which he thought were based on totally different choices, have led them to very similar leaves.

Disclaimer: The inspiration for this topic comes from the movie “The Butterfly Effect”. The movie talks about how a person’s life is shaped by the events that happen in his life, and how dramatically different ones life would have been if some other events would have happened instead.