Blast from the past!

An essay I wrote a couple of years back on 'Personality Development'.

Superhero. What are the first few famous names that occur to you when you hear the word ‘Superhero’? I’m sure it would be Superman, Spiderman or may be even Batman. What most people do not know is that Batman is not really a ‘Superhero’ even though the comic book creators have categorized him as one. Batman is in fact just a human being, with of course the additional benefits of having fancy gadgets. Where Superman is an alien brought up on Earth and Spiderman obtained his superhero powers by being bitten by a scientifically created spider, Batman is just your average Joe trying to fight crime on the streets of Gotham City.

I hold Batman as an example of who I want to become. Well, that is not entirely true. I don’t quite want to be a ‘caped crusader’ fighting off criminals. I don’t want BE him. I want to be LIKE him. After gaining admission into IBS, Chennai, I am compelled to live away from a known and sheltered place called ‘home’. I live now in an entirely different city. I fend for myself. My mother is not around to clean up after me and cook for me. Neither is my father around to swipe his credit card. (I am an only child, hence spoilt rotten.) I cook and clean and manage my own limited finances. That takes care of my personal development.

At college, I meet new people, get to know them better, accept them for who they are and learn not to judge them. I gather knowledge behind the career path I’d like to follow. I will obtain first hand work experience through SIP this semester. I have also had the misfortune of experiencing that no matter how talented or capable you are, you may not bear the fruits of your labor. You will be evaluated based on whether or not you are in the ‘good books’ of your superior. It is necessary to be shrewd and ‘play your cards right’ along with being talented and capable. It is only with a politically correct mix of the above, will you achieve your desired goal. After all it is a rat race out there and you are in fact just a rat. This is just the beginning of my professional development.

So here I am before you, an average Joe with the powers of personal and professional skills, ready to take on the world. I may not be ‘Batman’ fighting crime but I’m pretty sure that given a few years, I will be ‘Supermom’.