Working hard for their money

Just as cell phones changed the face of Indian communication, the emerging trends in education are all set to bring about a revolution. Rashmi Bansal offers different “plans” to help you along

Once upon a time, careers were like fixed line telephones. You were lucky to get one and grateful for the connection, despite the hiss. Now, careers are like cell phones. You have many to choose from, and keep upgrading your handset and changing the ring tone. 

Depending on your socio-economic status you have the following talk time plans:

The Swami plan: This plan is  basically aimed at India’s vast and furious middle class. It involves spending some of the best years  of your life studying  for entrance exams like
IIT JEE, AIEEE, CET, CAT, XAT, and so on. If you  manage to crack these, you will be rewarded with a lifetime prepaid card which  entitles you to a good job, house, car and someone  to marry. Either from  campus or based on how cool  your qualifications and salary look in the classifieds.

Those who don’t qualify under  Swami plan can opt for the ‘mini Swami’ where they at least get the degree, if not the IIT-IIM branding. Hence  it is always safer to opt for engineering over Physics, History or Home  Science; and MBA above all else.

The network coverage is poor if  you graduate from a B-school in Jhumritalaiyya but it’s better than ‘no signal’. Which is how ordinary BAs  or BScs feel today, despite the love  and affection showered on them by  call centres.

The Bunty plan: Yeh world hai na world, isme yeh woh log hain jo kuch kar ke dikhaana chahte hain. Magar lack of angrezi skills and general spit and polish impede their progress.

While cell phones may now display smses in Hindi and Gujarati, jobs which offer the chance of rapid growth require people who think   in English.

The Bunty plan however does  offer some hope. There are a slew  of jobs, from mall security guard to  radio taxi driver that now employ 10th or 12th pass youngsters at decent salaries, in better working environments. These jobs are like lower end handsets with VGA cameras compared to the Swami plan which comes with 5 megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lens. But it is still a step up in life.

The Pappu plan: He can’t dance, saala, and he does not need to work  either. Pappus are the new rich kids  of India who we see in the movies,  and all around us. They don’t have  the zeal of a Swami but compensate  by forking out the cash for the most bling bling of handsets.  Degrees from foreign  colleges or in local  colleges through the backdoor (‘donation’).

Many Pappus have  the easy option of joining the family business. Others do need to get jobs but  will do so in due time,  after ‘discovering themselves’. The trouble is, there is always a newer, shinier model out there which makes it difficult to appreciate what you have in hand.

The Babli plan: In a country where ‘boyfriend’ is a person you never bring home, the cell phone is a girl’s best friend. And ‘further studies’ is the magic mantra which opens every locked door. Parents who never allowed their daughters to stay out late lovingly pack up and pack off their kids to hostels and PGs in distant locations. Because after all, ‘career ka sawaal hai’.

Cell phones have made remote areas more accessible. Careers have made life for small town girls more aspirational. How many will switch their careers off after marriage remains the question.

The bottomline is, zamaana mobility ka hai. It’s ok to experiment  with jobs, and even with life, because like the shops at every street corner selling connections, there is no shortage anymore. Koi na koi job mil jayega, the important thing — for Swami, for Pappu, for Bunty and Babli — is finding the one that gets them out of bed every morning!

Rashmi Bansal is the Editor of the popular youth magazine JAM (www.jammag.com) and a youth expert. She can be reached at rashmi@jammag.com