THE JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES, THE ACE OF NONE

I’m at one of the transition stages in life. The ever confusing, ever irritating, the “what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life” stage. Having no specific plan, whatsoever of the future, I’m just finding out everything possible about any ideas that I might get.

So, when a job profile asks me, what are your interests and skills, I list down a bunch load of things. Well, I love dancing, have a flare for writing, am good with numbers, love fashion and can advise anyone about what goes around with what, always a part of societal discussions and how some groups are being undermined and neglected.

But then, I’m NO expert either in any of the matters I can so easily talk about. For everything I do, I have encountered someone who is better than me. People who are so good, at what they do, that they don’t fail to amaze me. People who are so damn efficient at their work, that I feel like I have so much to improve and so much to learn.

I dance when I feel like it, because it relaxes me, and I’m pretty good at it. But hell we’ve all seen some amazing dancers who can do all sorts of jumps and twists and turns. You know, what kind of people I’m talking about. The simply marvellous dancers, who just leave us jaw-dropped, and dance like there is no bone in their bodies.

And then when it comes to writing, man I’m no amazing writer either. The only quality that I have, is penning down what I feel. And that often involves very basic set of words. That is not to say that I don’t understand when other people use heavy words. But, I often wish that I had a strong vocabulary and words flowing through my head when I write, making me sound more worldly and pretentious. For ours is a civilization which believes such people to be wise! Ahh well, what won’t I give to seem wise to people who hardly know me!

And through all my knowledge of the things happening in this world, well that’s courtesy internet and comes from over analysing and thinking about everything that I read, watch and observe in the real world. I don’t know everything about anything; well, hardly anyone does. I’m sure you don’t, either. But then I know people, who are making some difference to their life and the world in their own small ways. People who know what they want to do with their lives, and have already taken the required path. All this, while I am still dreaming about the cheesecake I am going to attack after lunch.

It’s hard, knowing something about everything, and not knowing everything about something. Yes, it makes me someone who can talk to almost everyone about something or the other. But what about having a forte? What about being someone who knows what they are good at? Someone who can genuinely advise people on a topic, who people look up to?

So many questions, with only one overused solution given by all the smart ones, “Keep experimenting until you find what you are really good at!”

Yeah, like that would work with someone who is satisfactory at everything. Someone who is just a soldier, in this world full of knights!

P.S. For people like Farhan Akhtar, who turn everything they touch into gold, KUDOS!! You make us realise the importance of hard work!