When passion becomes profession, life goes cra-Zee!

During one of my visits to Hyderabad last year, one of my school friends, whom I had not met in years, wanted to desperately meet me. We decided to meet for lunch.

After the customary "Abey kaisa hai, kitnnnee saal baad mil rahe hain yaar, aur bata, ghar par sab kaise hain," he said, "Bro, I wanted to meet you, especially for one reason. What's your job yaar? I mean, you keep writing on cricket and other sports, but what's your daily job?" It took me some time to make him understand, that covering sports, was my job.

I explained to him how cricket fascinated me since childhood and thus I decided to pursue Sports Journalism as a profession. The guy seemed pretty happy to see me doing something I was passionate about and at the same time was obviously very jealous!

I asked him whether he was convinced with his job. The guy probably had been waiting for somebody to ask him that question and he found solace in me. He told me how bad his job was, that it wasn't something he wanted to do in life and since he wasn't happy at work, his life was something jo ki – "bas kat rahi thi."

Ever since I joined Zee, I have realised the importance of doing something you are passionate about. In my previous organisation, I remember watching the historic 2012 Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal hiding (not literally) in a corner of the newsroom. While I happily took stories which were assigned to me, I knew I didn't want to spend the rest of my life covering stories/conferences related to political parties.

Almost every morning (read mourning), my sister and I would discuss 'how crap my job is’ over a cup of coffee. While I am not someone to come up with excuses in order to miss office, occasionally, I had to fall sick as my heart refused to leave for job.

I was almost on the verge of resigning, but my life took a cra-Zee turn! One of my friends told me about an opening at Zee, related to a sports job, and I couldn't have asked for anything else.

During my interview, when my Boss asked, "Do you enjoy writing on sports?," I assured her that I won't disappoint her once I was given the opportunity. Having worked at political desks for years, this was the job I desperately wanted. I am proud of the fact that even after completing almost three years at Zee, I am not tired of writing sports articles. I don’t write because I have to, but because I love to!

After completing one and a half years at Zee, when I was given the opportunity to lead my team, passion was the first criteria I looked in any candidate who turned up for the interview. And I am extremely proud of the fact that all the members of the sports team are in love with what they do on a daily basis.

For those who are already doing a job they are passionate about, it is important not to become complacent and to keep learning, striving for excellence.

Times have changed. Now there is not a single day, when the thought of missing office comes to my mind. Even though we have a 9-hour shift, at times, I willingly end up working for 11-12 hours because I don't want to miss a single moment from a live match!

Since I am extremely satisfied with my job, of late, I have started helping people discover their passion and work on it. It is painful for me to see talented colleagues, friends around me who are wasting their lives doing something, somebody else wanted them to do. While some believe it is too late for them to work on their passion, I have managed to convince a few people who have already started working on areas of their interests.

I can count on my fingers, the number of people I know who are happy at work. Give an empty bucket to a software engineer and he would fill it with tears in minutes explaining how painful his job is.

Just to make sure that it isn't too late for everybody else, I have decided to approach schools and colleges with the idea of asking them to encourage kids follow their passion from an early age.

When I discussed about my idea with one of my colleagues, her first reaction was, "It's a great idea, but don't forget, ye India hai." That was a very honest feedback and I am up for the challenge.

I am not saying I will change the world. I am not saying I will discover passion for everybody in my vicinity. All I am saying is, I will continue to help people find their passion, which is my newly- found source of happiness.

I reckon the world would be a much happier place if everybody knew what their passion was and if they could pursue it as a profession.

So to conclude, I have a question - Do you have a passion in your life? If you are already following it as a career or as a hobby, cheers! If not, what's holding you back?