Beware of Skilled People

People around us are not always the right people. Last year I went to one of the colleges along with my nephew for pre-admission counseling. A teacher started nicely with the strict timetable that they maintain to help students succeed in the IIT-JEE exam. There was no free time for other activities even for self-study. The teacher said how hard one should work to get into IIT (though my nephew had no interest in joining IIT). The teacher did not even ask my nephew whether he wants to study at IIT or not. My nephew looked at me and we both smiled. It looked more like a prison than an education center to me. Many relatives and friends said, it is a very good college, it is very strict and all. 

Finally, he got admitted to some other college. My question is how can these teachers/sales guys (current scenario) mislead the students and parents when they themself never been to IITs. Pardon me, I am not questioning their capabilities to teach science. The way they snatch money in the name of hard work and IIT is not correct. Like this, we meet many people around us who mislead us with their speaking skills and media knowledge. 

We also find another extreme where people demotivate persons who wish to try something really tough and new - which is beyond their capacity. Examples, are IAS prep, IIT-JEE prep, entrepreneurship, climbing a mountain, being a pilot, agriculture, etc. undoubtedly, these people are nice but not the right people to ask opinions. These people are good at creating an illusion about the things that they have never tried or seen. Beware of them. 

My suggestion to all those who wish to try new things in life is this:

If you want to be an IAS, ask someone who is preparing for it or an IAS itself. 

If you want to be a pilot, ask a pilot. 

If you want to be an entrepreneur, then ask an entrepreneur. 

No one else. 

Risk is a must in life for success. Mentors too. Finding the right people/mentors is really challenging. Identifying them is a herculean task as well. Unfortunately, there is no app or SM to find the right people. You have to keep searching for them. There is no alternative to it. Unfortunately, the world is business. Sales guys are all around who want to sell their products. Students and those who wish to do new things are customers. Sales guys are not mentors. 

Moreover, you should learn to take your own decisions. Opinions are just opinions. Most of the time opinions are not out of the experience - remember this.   

Good things might happen easily not great things. 

-SB