While I was sitting by my balcony watching the sky and scratching my head, praying to the invisible power to throw a hot blog topic at me, my cell phone rang. I almost ignored it as I was doing something important that I don’t usually do. Yes, you got it. I was thinking. But, then again I thought of answering the phone. It might be something urgent. You bet it was. An HR executive of some Kolkata based IT company called me. She had a job to offer. It was the last thing I expected. I don’t usually get calls from HR’s as I don’t update my resume frequently. Linkedin does the job for me, usually.
I almost said – I am not interested. But I didn’t. Had I done it, I wouldn’t have been writing this post today. So, something in her voice stopped me from disconnecting the call. Something told me this could get interesting. So, I patiently behaved. Those who know me, know how difficult it is for me to behave. But, anyways…
So, this HR, she asked whether I was free to talk or not. I was not. But, I didn’t tell her that. It would have sounded weird disconnecting someone’s call saying – buzz off I am thinking. Lol. I patiently said - I was free to talk to her.
She asked me about my employment history like they all do. Then she came around to ask me about my Qualification. I knew the question would arise. My resume doesn’t have any mention of my qualification. It is as if you are looking at the resume of a person who never went to school. Well, I don’t need my qualification to get the attention of the recruiting executives. I get plenty of attention without any mention of educational history. This is not my arrogance doing the talking. It is the truth. I simply don’t need to talk about my qualification. What’s there in a degree anyways?
I answered with patience and not for once used a word of slang. I am so fucking proud of myself. Yes, I am grinning here. My answers didn’t satisfy her. She wanted to dig deeper. She wanted to know about my percentage in each board exam. I admit here my voice did get sarcastic and I almost disconnected the call. But, I controlled myself and gave the unimpressive history of my exams and percentage.
She couldn’t believe that I never risen above forty percent in my entire life. After the uneventful conversation, she said she would call me back once the content department’s head gave a go. Frankly, I was thrilled that she did not call back. But, the conversation gave me an idea. I did some quick research and found that…
Harper Lee – The Pulitzer winner had dropped out of college. She wanted to become a writer. The rest is well…I can safely history.
William Faulkner – Well, he hardly needs any introduction. At the age of 15 he dropped out of school and never went back.
Mark Twain – The greatest storyteller of earth had dropped out of school at the age of 12. He had never let his schooling interfere with his education.
George Bernard Shaw – This playwright dropped out at the age of 14. It is said that he found no value in formal education.
H.G. Wells – Wells was forced to drop out of school at the age of 11.
Jack London – Jack London was through with formal education at the age of 13 and dropped out of school.
John Steinbeck – Dropped out of college and did not get his degree.
You see degree is just a piece of paper. How much you have scored in your exam means nothing after college. Writing needs a heart that can imagine. High percentage hardly makes a writer out of anyone.
It is not only about writing. I will write a post about entrepreneurs who Dropped out of college next time. You think Bill Gates is the only one who dropped out? You will be surprised to learn there are many more than just Mr. Gates.
