Using your passion to recharge the soul

Most of us during our childhood were repeatedly asked to concentrate on our careers and put our hobbies on hold. Exams would mean overtime at coaching class and calling off the hobby class.  As time passed, we let our hobbies take a back seat because we were told — and we accepted — that we couldn’t make enough money by pursuing our passions.

Many of us entered a corporate avatar and tried to make certain aspects of our work that we liked into a hobby. But a few chose a
different approach.

One such person is Jeet Gupta, 27, a graduate in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He works as a technologist at Morgan Stanley and lives in Malad.
His mother took him to a nearby music school when he was five.

That’s when his love affair with music and the Mohan Veena began. He did not, however, choose to play the Mohan Veena as a full time profession. “I didn’t get into music full time because I wanted to strike a balance between my career and my passion for music. Also, playing the Mohan Veena is my passion; I didn’t want to perform just for money,” Jeet says.

With Jayadev Calamur, 27, a media professional, things were slightly different. When he started working, with his first salary, he purchased his sister’s digital camera.

Initially, when he had a roll camera, he would click random things.
But now, he realised that the digital camera had a great zoom. That’s when the craze began. His camera became his shadow and soon, people began to appreciate his talent. But by then, he had already chosen his career and was happy with his day job.

“I don’t want to be a professional photographer. I’m pretty clear on what a career is and what a hobby is,” says Jayadev, who lives in Andheri.

Rohinton Daruwala, 31, a software engineer, had a passion for writing science fiction and poetry. But he wasn’t ready to risk trying to making a living by writing fiction. “I guess I didn’t have the courage or the application to take the plunge,” he says.

Jeet, Jayadev and Rohinton, like most of us, may not have taken the plunge and pursued their hobbies as their careers, but they do something that many don’t: take their hobbies to the next level.
Jeet takes time out of his busy schedule to practise on his Mohan Veena and polish his skills. He works with Music Technology Group, Barcelona, applying artificial intelligence applications to develop theories of musical expression, composes music, and regularly performs at shows in popular clubs like Prive and Blue Frog.

Of late, he has been learning electronic music production and experimenting, by fusing Indian classical with electronic forms of music. Not taking up music as a full-time profession worked out for the best, he says. “Now, since I am not into it full time, I have the option of performing at the right places and the right platforms. I don’t have to adapt to commercial expectations and can maintain my artistic integrity.” 

Jayadev keeps experimenting on his photographic skills. He regularly updates his photo-blog, photo streams and website, and takes on occasional assignments.

As for Rohinton, his writing bouts are few and far between, but he is planning to publish an anthology of his works soon.

We all know the amount of effort it takes to get time off our busy schedules and hectic social life, but for the three of them, it’s the sense of fulfilment that matters. “When a paragraph or word or sentence ‘fits’ right into something I’m writing, all the effort seems to be worth it. Or when someone tells me they liked something about a story that I myself didn’t know was there, I realise the story is more than just an hour’s amusement. Or while performing a poem, I can feel the audience moving with the words,” says Rohinton.

Jayadev, who has been taking pictures for over four years, now feels happy that he has a tiny fan following.

For Jeet, it’s the final product that keeps him going, “The reaction I get while I am on stage performing, or when a track I am composing turns out exactly the way I wanted it, gives me immense satisfaction. It’s the most beautiful feeling in the world.”